{"id":2324,"date":"2021-02-05T13:00:17","date_gmt":"2021-02-05T13:00:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2324"},"modified":"2021-02-06T15:40:48","modified_gmt":"2021-02-06T15:40:48","slug":"our-goalie-brings-all-the-boys-to-the-park-and-theyre-like-hes-better-than-yours","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2324","title":{"rendered":"Our Goalie Brings All The Boys To The Park, And They\u2019re Like, He\u2019s Better Than Yours"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<a id=\"IuktDlPwRXZylZeFgtSkiQ\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1300001188\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'IuktDlPwRXZylZeFgtSkiQ',sig:'ij4JtoUm_gD5VUayzuW7f9FpsUFkF2nzA5hk9BF7rno=',w:'594px',h:'368px',items:'1300001188',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src=\"\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" async=\"\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, here we are again. After getting well and truly Pawsoned against Wolves the players have to get themselves ready for Villa tomorrow lunchtime. There are some things to take away from the midweek game, beyond the obvious fact that the current refs\/laws are asses. We produced an excellent performance for the first half that we will certainly hope to build on. Partey and Pepe both continued an upward trend in their recent influence on the team. Every player fought hard right up to the last whistle. And after the way we dropped points the players may also be carrying with them a sense of injustice. I certainly hope they are.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In this league nothing is a given and there is still a lot to play for. I would love to see us adopt a siege mentality from here on in. Us vs Them all the way and, far from thinking we might get the occasional favour, we must remember we cannot even expect to get a fair rub of the green. (No conspiracy theories here &#8211; just a reasonable acknowledgement that there is no consistency and little sense to the decisions we are seeing every week). Our squad has been shorn of deadweight this January and there is an opportunity for those still involved to build a mentality that compliments the obvious on-pitch improvements we have been seeing recently. Tomorrow it will be interesting to see how the team responds to a loss that has left a bitter taste.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Of course, David Luiz will be missing for us (unlike Southampton\u2019s Bednarek as the FA cover themselves in more <s>shit<\/s>, er, glory.) The Brazilian\u2019s absence may be seen as a good or bad thing, depending on how you rate him, but we have another ready to go as a replacement. Gabriel will be looking for a strong performance that sees him reclaim the position he lost due to indiscipline and then Covid. We will also be without Bernd Leno, no debate there &#8211; that is definitely a bad thing. We are waiting on Matt Ryan\u2019s fitness to see whether he can start. Oh, that we may play Emi Martinez\u2019s Aston Villa with Runarsson in goal. As the man with the supremely cool sunglasses said \u201cfate, it seems, is not without a sense of irony.\u201d Indeed not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, the lad from Iceland won\u2019t get any better with us on his back and aside from a dodgy game against The Oilers he has been decent enough, making a couple of good stops when he came on against Wolves. He has our support. If he plays, let us hope that he treats the opportunity like a dangerous cross into our box and <s>lets it fly right past him<\/s> grasps it firmly with both hands. That\u2019s the stuff. And he also takes a mean free kick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pepe has to keep his place. He is in great form and must be given the chance to build on it. Saka is also undroppable. The boss is left to perm two from the returning Auba, Laca, ESR, Gabigol and new boy Odegaard who might get a start. Worryingly, Tierney is still out. Boooo!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Runarrson<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Hector, Holding, Gabriel, Cedric<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Partey, Xhaka<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Saka, Odegaard, Pepe,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Auba<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am fairly confident that the defence and midfield will be as predicted. The options up top are such that we might see a different looking side to the one above, although I think Arteta may decide ESR has earned a rest and that our second loan signing from Real Madrid is ready for a start. It would be no surprise though if ESR and Laca were in the side and Auba shifted to the wing. And Gabigol must be knocking on the door. We will have to wait and see what Arteta does. Although do not let our varied options stop you making predictions in The Drinks (comments) at the bottom of the page. For anyone who correctly guesses the team you will get\u2026 the satisfaction of knowing that your astute prediction will be preserved on t\u2019internet for posterity!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Villains<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Craig Pawson and Jon Moss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And Mike Dean. Always Mike Dean.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Okay, okay. Time to let it go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Well, not Mike Dean, obviously. Grrrr.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although if The PGMOL let him go my joy would be unconfined.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Villains (take 2)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Starting for Aston Villa will be one of our own, Emi Martinez. He might play the traditional blinder against us but after an excellent season he has made a couple of errors recently and will not fancy facing our attack in its current form. Villa as an outfit are pretty good and having a good season. They sit a point and a place above us but they also have two games in hand. Their defence is fairly tight and usually consists of Fantasy League favourites Targett, Konsa, Mings and Cash (who, when they retire from football, are all set to form a folk rock Supergroup.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Douglas Luiz is having an excellent season in midfield, the waspish John McGinn runs his socks off and we may see Ross Barkley get the nod now he is back from injury. Otherwise El Ghazi and Trezeguet are both good players.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Obviously Jack Grealish is a threat that we will have to keep an eye on, we all know his quality. And Ollie Watkins is a fine player who has come in, worked hard and scored goals for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Their recent form has been LWLWL. Having been turned over by The Irons last time around let us hope we can break the pattern they are developing and consign them to a second loss in a row, leapfrogging them as we do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The holics\u2019 pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This is a tough one to call. The bookies have Arsenal as slight favourites. The two goalkeepers may be crucial and, depending on how they perform, the score could swing a lot. However, the holics\u2019 pound is going on a victory to the good guys, as ever. Our attack is functioning well but against the creativity of Grealish and without Leno we may not keep a clean sheet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am going for 3-1 to The Arsenal, partly because William Hill have it at 16\/1 (you may be able to shop around for a slightly better price) which I think is a very fair price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If you are feeling cheeky then you can get around 33\/1 on Runarsson to get sent off!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think we will see a reaction from the lads and I expect us to perform well. That will not necessarily be enough to get a result at Villa Park. Tomorrow\u2019s opposition have put in their own fair share of excellent performances this season. They were very good in their 3-0 thrashing of us at our place, yet it is also fair to say that we were extremely poor that day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, I think we have more to prove than they do. The poor result in the last game should not fool anyone into thinking that our form is on anything other than an upwards trajectory and we will be desperate for three points tomorrow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So go and earn them lads!<br><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I hope you all enjoy the game wherever you are in the world and wherever you are watching it. What\u2019s that? You\u2019re watching from home, you say?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have a good one \u2018holics.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images Well, here we are again. After getting well and truly Pawsoned against Wolves the players have to get themselves ready for Villa tomorrow lunchtime. There are some things to take away from the midweek game, beyond the obvious fact that the current refs\/laws are asses. We produced an excellent performance for [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2324"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2337,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2324\/revisions\/2337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2324"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2324"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2324"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}