Have we ever looked forward to the final day of the Premier League season with such an absence of interest? Our worst league standing in more than two decades already guaranteed, even the second tier of European club competition – once unthinkable for this proud club – no longer available via the league position, and only thing to really hope from this game was that none of our key players get an injury that will keep them out of the FA Cup final next weekend.
There were few schools of thought about the potential starting line-up before the game: play essentially a second or even third eleven with all of the potential starters for the Cup final either on the bench or fully rested, or play the strongest eleven on that day to ensure that not only we prepare for the cup final with a confidence boosting victory but also respect the relegation battle in which our once mirthful opposition was now desperately involved, or play a kind of hybrid team that while respecting the relegation battle still avoided any possibility of the key players being kicked – or elbowed, kneed, slapped, headbutted…choose your least favorite form of assault – around and given the history of the opposition, that fear was more than justified.
But our brave new manager doesn’t deal in fears. He had asserted leading to the weekend that he would choose the team likeliest to win the match and he was true to his words. Emi Martinez was given a chance to continue to practice his impressive goalkeeping skills behind the most inconsistent defense in all of premier league, a defense that is capable of producing dogged rearguard and incredulously porous displays with equal measures of unpredictability. The bets on the not-so-sublime, if not entirely ridiculous, defensive display was noticeably increased by starting in a 4-3-3 formation away from the three in central defense which had lately been Arteta’s choice to establish a modicum of shape and structure. Ainsley Maitland-Niles on the right and Kieran Tierney on the left with David Luiz and Rob Holding in the middle. The midfield included the now familiar combination of Xhaka and Ceballos, with Joe Willock getting a rare start to add some drive and (hopefully) creativity in our worst midfield in the last two decades. The front three included three of our most accomplished forwards with the captain Aubameyang chasing the golden boot starting on his now customary left, Pepe on the right, and Lacazette – who had in the last few weeks seem to have shaken off that prolonged funk and started scoring some good goals – down the middle.
The opposition needed to better the result of whatever Aston Villa could get against West Ham to stay up. The only player in the Watford team that I cared for either way was Danny Welbeck, who despite his Manchester United roots was loved by many of us Arsenal supporters in his five years stint with us, primarily for the intelligence, work ethics and professionalism whenever he put on the jersey. He was not the most accomplished finisher, but he was a very useful player for us, with key contributions in both of our last two successful FA cup runs. A series of injuries had unfortunately held him back in his career, but the fact that the two best Premier League managers – of diametrically opposite personalities — have both held him in high esteem and trusted him in key matches speaks volume of his qualities.
The match started with us seeing most of the ball. In the first minute Auba ran on to a long pass from Luiz and his cross from the left into the middle was meant for Laca, who was bundled over by the crudest of challenges and as the ball drifted towards the edge of the box Ceballos gave it a mighty thump but his shot was flew over. The assault on Laca looked as clear a penalty decision as there could be. Not at all unsurprisingly, the referee – waste of electrons and photons really to write anything more about him — ignored it entirely and waved the game on. However, the VAR team did their job, reviewed for any potential obvious error, and the error being of such blatantly obvious kind, had to give us a penalty. The captain stepped up, sent Ben Foster other way and coolly slotted in for our first goal.
Arsenal 1 (Aubameyang 5’) – Watford 0
The somewhat muted celebrations – which perfectly matched the occasion, to be honest – were noticeable primarily for the players wearing our new home shirt for the next season. The design looked good and given the strange times we are living in the fact that we are wearing next season’s jersey already didn’t register high enough in the bizarre-o-meter to write any more lines about it.
However, Auba was now on 21 goals and still very much in the hunt for the golden boot, and the team seemed to be very well aware of it.
Watford responded well to going down, with fullbacks joining in with the wingers and especially on their right side Sarr – who had given us trouble previously playing for Rennes in 18-19 Europa league – was lively, fast, tricky and Tierney had to be at his best to manage him. Two central defenders mean there were gaps opening up between Luiz and Holding who were displaying, individually and collectively, some of their least wanted qualities. Danny was moving in and around the box sprightly, combining well with his fellow attackers, but there were not enough poise and guile in their play in the final third to make us pay for the gaps that had started to open up. It was also noticeable that the collective defensive discipline of our last two wins had deserted the team. Evidently the players, to avoid losing out on a place in the cup final held back – even if unconsciously – from wanting to attack all 50-50 balls or attempt the body-in-line blocks.
Ceballos was playing well almost as an auxiliary defensive midfielder next to Xhaka, dropping deeper, intercepting passes, turning swiftly and driving out of our half. Tierney and AMN both were doing their duties well enough and not many dangerous crosses were allowed from the flanks.
Pepe, with starting position just in front of AMN, couple of times dribbled the ball forward with pace and right through the middle instead of driving down the flanks. He didn’t have enough physicality to hold up the ball long enough or drive beyond central defense. Joe made a similar run through the middle but delayed his final pass too much. Watford was seeing more of the possession.
Around 24th minute we broke out in one such counter-attack, Joe gave it to Pepe who delivered an excellent cross to Auba on the other side of the penalty box. Auba controlled well and provide a cut-back to onrushing Tierney who almost passed the ball into the far corner of the goal with Foster’s view being blocked by his own defenders. It might have taken a little deflection as well. Tierney’s first goal for the club. In the last few matches he had attempted a few shots at goal and if he were to add the occasional goals to his already impressive all-round display then … well, let us not get ahead of ourselves.
Arsenal 2 (Aubameyang 5’, Tierney 24’) – Watford 0
A few minutes later the Watford captain clattered AMN to the ground. Fortunately, our right back escaped unharmed. Around 30th minute Holding provided a lovely long pass in the box aiming for Laca, who controlled it with an equally sumptuous first touch but then miskicked the ball. It could have been a memorable goal if Laca was able to put the finishing touch.
Then we scored a goal from a long throw! I never remember us scoring a goal from a throw into the penalty box. Even though the tactics may have not been the most inspiring, the execution indeed was sublime. Tierney threw the ball in a looping trajectory aimed at our captain, who with his back towards the goal and being tightly marked, used the bottom of his right boot to bounce the ball off the ground up to a perfect height for him to execute a sumptuous overhead kick that flew in the top right corner of a dumbfounded Ben Foster’s goal. If Aubameyang ever to write an autobiography – or someone to write it for him, which seems to be the fashion these days – the title “Goal from Nowhere” can be hardly bettered.
Arsenal 3 (Aubameyang 5’, Tierney 24’, Aubameyang 33’) – Watford 0
Watford, to their credit, didn’t lose their focus and kept attacking us. There were the occasional kicking out at our players – which I am certain that Arsenal players nowadays come fully prepared to expect as our oppositions more often than not are held to a much more lenient standard – but despite a heart-in-the-mouth moment for our scintillating Scot, no lasting damage was done. Phew!
Then David Luiz did a very David Luiz thing, gifting Watford a penalty by a mistimed tackle on Welbeck. Their corpulent captain stepped up, and thumped it mightily past Emi Martinez who despite guessing it right just wasn’t fast enough to get his hands behind the shot.
Arsenal 3 (Aubameyang 5’, Tierney 24’, Aubameyang 33’) – Watford 1 (Deeney 43’)
This was David Luiz’s fifth penalty giveaway this season in PL, some kind of a record I gather. It has now become a cliché to even mention how clichéd it is to describe Luiz’s game as this pendulum swing between wonderful to devious. Hopefully he got the bad vibes out of his system before the final.
Second half started without any substitutions. Then Xhaka played a perfect parody of himself, absolutely needlessly getting himself a yellow card for mouthing off the referee. It is understandable that the sight of a beard on that face can cause one to lose all sense of proportion, but greater reserves of character are required of Arsenal players. Lacazette ran over to Granit and one could easily guess, based on his gesticulations, what he was telling his teammate: don’t be a f***ing fool!
At that time many of us would have anticipated that Xhaka were to be taken off as he was one rash challenge away from missing the final, but Mikel kept his faith in him and credit to Granit that he controlled his impulses very well and kept his cool for the rest of the match.
By then the match had taken on a distinctive basketball-esque feel, balls pinging from one penalty box to another, bypassing much of the midfield. There were lots of scrambles in our goalmouth, they missed a few chances to test Emi, we tried a few counter attacks that fizzled out, they saw a couple of yellow cards (how novel!), from one of our corners Pepe delivered a tantalizing ball that Holding headed above. But we were being put more and more under pressure.
Around 56th minute Arteta changed things around. Nketiah replaced Lacazette who we hope will be all the hungrier for a goal in the final. Kolasinac came on for Willock who tried a few things but didn’t make much of a mark. We switched to a more familiar 3-4-3 now with Kola slotting back on the left sided defender, Tierney and AMN moving up as wingbacks. In between Emi made another save from Danny.
AMN started moving forward more now that we were secured by one additional player in the defense. From one of his overlapping runs he combined well with Ceballos and Pepe and tested Ben Foster with a stinging drive. If he had looked up and towards his left he would have seen Auba was in a bit of space. But it was a good instinctive attempt the kind of which often leads to a goal.
Sarr on the other end was still causing problems. From one of his deliveries on the ground in front our goalmouth Danny ran in front of our static defenders to turn the ball in our goal.
Arsenal 3 (Aubameyang 5’, Tierney 24’, Aubameyang 33’) – Watford 2 (Deeney 43’, Welbeck 66’)
It was a goal they deserved, and given our lackluster defending Watford sensed an opportunity to score more. Arteta made a couple of substitutions around 70th minute: Ceballos was replaced by Torreira, and Reiss came on for Pepe. In his 20+ minutes of stay Nelson showed some excellent skills and strength to drive down to the byline a few times past their defenders and deliver a few promising cut-backs and centers. He has had a few problems with injuries since he moved back this season from his loan spell in Hoffenheim, but especially after Arteta took over he looked threatening every time he played. Unlike Saka or Martinelli his campaign hadn’t caught the eye so much, it has become evident that he has great abilities and a very high ceiling, which I personally am looking forward to seeing him achieve in the next few years with us.
On the other end Danny thought he had scored his second goal of the match with a deftly executed backheel flick. Martinez, with a combination of anticipation and athleticism, made quite an extraordinary save.
As the match was approaching the final minutes Eddie won the ball in a midfield duel and ran on to the goal, with his captain accompanying him on his left. Instead of taking the chance himself he selflessly laid it out for Auba to score his hat-trick – which would also have ensured Auba gets his golden boot award, albeit shared with Vardy — but Foster smartly narrowed the angle and saved Auba’s effort. I think Arteta and the Arsenal hierarchy may use this moment to demonstrate to Aubameyang how much he is loved and respected in this team.
There were a few more opportunities for them that they failed to make the most of. Nelson continued to impress, and the final whistle was blown. Watford players looked dejected as the news of other results came in, but as Mikel put so succinctly after the match that if they had played like this for the entire season, they would have not been facing relegation on the final day.
Even as this strangest of the premier league season ended with us situated deservedly at the lowly 8th position with 56 points with +8 goal difference (56 goals scored and 48 conceded), and outside the top six for the first time since many of our first team players were even born, I myself cannot look forward eagerly enough to the next season. Whatever be the outcome of the transfer window, even whatever be the result of the so-very-important Cup Final next weekend (winning that would be quite remarkable in the context of this season, but no less likely for that), I am looking forward to us playing matches next season.
It is partly due to the array of young and exciting talents we now have, adding on gems like Tierney and Martinelli to those coming through the academy and the youth set-up: Saka, Nelson, AMN, Willock, Nketiah, Emile Smith Rowe, but equally if not more due to the positive impact that Arteta has made in a very short time. The football seems meticulously planned, prepared, and the players continuously striving to do better (or they are not playing), taking responsibilities for their actions and owning up to errors. There is a refreshing sense of pragmatism, transparency, humility and self-awareness in Arteta’s messages which also have led to a strong sense of the collective purpose in the team. There is a clear recognition of the noticeable lack of qualities in many of the key areas, and willingness to work hard to compensate for it. But those lacks must be addressed to get Arsenal back to where we have always belonged.
Arsenal board and owners, over to you!
Another top draw match report, Dr F, and a top drawing to accompany it.
dr. faustus, ned’s got it right. really great report. i would give luiz less of a blame for the penalty (though he certainly got it wrong), mainly because rob gave up the ball so poorly at the edge of our box. so i blame that one on rob, regardless of it was luiz with the lunge.
and i so look forward to the young talent we have in and around the squad. it seems to have gone quiet on the balogun-for-sale front, so maybe he’s going to buy in to the milieu arteta is projecting forward. i also look forward to having a healthy mari and saliba in the side, a rejuvenated hecate (still young, at 25!), retaining dani, and shedding kola, özil, papa, and others. i do hope rob stays, i think he had a good enough return from covid-pause to have him in the squad.
we have a good future ahead of us, assuming we’re able to keep and improve, not lose and tail away. winning the cup saturday and staying in europe will be a big step forward into that future.
a note to that, if we don’t: i remember so many times arguing with fellow supporters of the “wenger out” bias asking them if they knew how hard it was for him to do what he did, keeping us 4th or above all those years. now they know, and we can see how 18 months of a seriously inferior coach can drop us right back down to before the days of rioch. my fingers are crossed that arteta gets the support he needs, and not from agents, but from kse and the kroenkes, and a clear-sighted arsenal fc management team (sanhelli and edu, i’m looking at you!).
Re: This week’s drawing: Has Auba turned into a wild chicken? I wouldn’t want to meet up with those claws. 🐔🐔🐔
that goal so reminded me of another we scored against the same team.
Wild turkey, should have said.😎😎
Thanks for the report, Dr. F. Shame the “corpulent captain” has been relegated. The possibilities for alliterative re-uses are multifarious, but the beneficiaries I am afraid are likely to be those who write about football in the lower echelons. And I don’t even think Deeney got a goodbye kiss.
I had forgotten about that second half chance for AMN, but wish he had scored for his sake and ours. He hit it hard enough but right at Foster. Proof, anyway, that Watford did not control the entire second half.
Excellent report Dr F.
Good to see young Dr F’s mix of symbolism
and social commentary is developing
nicely
does anyone think sarr might be a good pickup? he has given us a tough time when we’ve played against him…
yes to that scrub
he’s worth a look
he has done well against us
though sadly that’s not the
recommendation it used to be
I’d guess Foster, Sarr, Welbz,
Peyrera and maybe Doucore
will be looking to move
scruz not scrub!
deeney probably, too, mack 😉
Deulofeu, too.
Watford have a few over-30s, Foster and Deeney among them, which may limit their options. Danny and Pereyra are 29, so one last mid-table club, or perhaps one of the promoted clubs, for each of them at best.
Sarr is young, a full international and worth £20 million, so will probably have suitors. We are well stocked on the left wing, however. Sarr has the same agent as Theo Walcott, as it happens. Perhaps he will go to Everton.
Ned,
I think Sarr can play on either
side but is listed on transfermarkt
as a right winger. Though we have
Nelson and Pepe. Seemed to be
playing as a wing back for Watford.
Is he a better option than Hector?
I forgot about Deulefou, I’ve no idea
what he will do – which is pretty much
the same as when he plays!
I heard Danny wanted to stay
in London. Palace, Wham and
Fulham or Brentford are possible
if they come up I suppose.
Dr.F
A masterly report that was in truth much better than our performance . You have a very healthy habit of taking positives from even disappointing performances and there were some with Ceballos, Tierney and the Nelson cameo you mention .
Our switch to a four man defence did not work well and unless we use Saliba and Mari or sign someone of quality at CB it has to be three at the back for us.
I share your respect for Welbeck whose fitness has been his curse and wish him well.
Great reporting sir!
Ps- Scruz thanks for that Henry goal one of my favourites and just in front of me at Highbury. It was against Charlton who switched to yellow but that doesn’t diminish the brilliance !
Apologies for not mentioning the young master’s excellent artwork . Again much better than our performance
My absence of interest was such that I had a more enjoyable day, Dr F but I thoroughly enjoyed reading your summary. I haven’t even seen the highlights but, peculiarly, I have seen the Corpulent Captain’s* post-match interview which I thought was very respectful of our club and its players.
Wonderful final paragraph. Tough times ahead and in MA8’s own words ‘a magnificent challenge’. No better man than him to undertake it.
* this made me wonder if, unbeknown to me, Captain Mainwaring himself had become a Hornet.
Btm
Deeney was a keen Arsenal fan as a young lad. Not a lot of people know that or would have guessed it . His demeanour post match was exemplary .
Excellent match report Dr F and a fine illustration from F Jr. Like scruz I am happy to exonerate Luiz for giving away the pen as that chance was entirely down to Holding’s awful pass out of the box straight to a Watford attacker. I am inclined however to blame him for not covering the front post when the ball came over for Danny’s goal.
What an odd match. An early VAR penalty award, much regretted by the chump with the whistle, two further fine goals against the run of play, defensive ineptitude, conceding a pen and a goal then hanging on to our lead through the brilliance of our ‘keeper (once again). Whilst I feared that Matt’s predicted 4-0 victory might lead to a complacent work-shy performance in the cup final, despite the win, this shambles doesn’t generate much hope for the cup final. I’m feeling nervous. I hope we can rediscover the spirit that defeated the Mugsmashers and the Oilers.
The best I can say for this performance is that it confirms that with this personnel we need to play 3 at the back and produce a high work rate throughout the team (hence Özil is history). The Villa game showed that this team might be able to win by playing a backs-to-the-wall defensive game with fast break-aways but lacks the midfield guile and creativity to break down teams playing that way. I don’t think we will be bossing possession against Fat Frank’s Chavs so here’s hoping that we can get our defensive heads screwed on and that our forwards can convert the chances we get.
Once again, and as noted above, the report and graphics probably more interesting than the game. Also agree with the above on Sarr who looked lively and likely.
Unfortunately this game also confirmed to me that Holding won’t make it with us. His calmness (and good bloke factor) cannot hide a lack of mongrel required for his position and an unfortunate tendency to often make a costly error.
Apart from the obvious departures ( papa / guendozi / kola? / ozil? / maitland-niles ?) and Xhaka (please !!) I also have a question mark over whether Arteta really wants to keep Lacazette. I suspect he’s waiting on the Auba outcome before this decision.
We haven’t had a proper Summer clearout for a long time but if there is to be no Europa for us next season then it may be time to fundamentally rebuild the squad now for a proper crack next time around.
Of course I want to win the FA Cup but I also worry that doing so may result in us stalling somewhat on what really needs to be done.
Interesting times.
UTA.
NG@22: I don’t think winning the Cup will stall us on rebuilding. Arteta appears to be crystal clear on what needs to be done. None in this bar has any illusions that winning the Cup will magically make the structural issues in the team go away. Europa League football will bring more money and perhaps make recruiting a tad easier. Auba may be more inclined to stay at a club that has shown itself capable of winning trophies; he will be important to holding the team together over what will probably be a two-season rebuild. Beating Chelsea will also avenge the Baku disaster and draw a line under the Emery era.
This is excellent
A decade in the making – Emiliano Martinez
I wrote Emi off about two seasons
ago and also back in August said it
was a big risk having him as our reserve
keeper.
My humble pie has been delicious.
C100
A lovely description of Emi’s struggle . I find Jeorge Bird’s insights excellent .
My cousin is a Reading season-ticket holder and at the end of last season he was amazed that he had enjoyed so little first-team time at Arsenal as he apparently had an extraordinarily good loan spell last season . He was immensely impressed and I remember him saying ‘ someone that good has to get into your first team’.
I have to say I’ve seen him as we all have in League Cup games and the CL and PL on occasions . I’ve always liked him but I’m told he was prone to poor games( but then who isn’t?) If you look at the 5-5 at Anfield earlier this season he didn’t have his finest moments there. But he has been superb for us since he came on at Brighton
Cheers Dr F !
I’ve liked Martinez since the first time I saw him. Even at a young age he was a “ proper” goalkeeper – never afraid to come and claim the ball, and catch it – none of this ‘ere continental punching malarkey. It’s notable how many shots he holds on to, he commands the are well and it turns out he’s pretty good with his feet too – definitely a plus for the modern keeper. Also he has that bit of extra height which has enabled him to pull off a few fingertip saves that an even slightly shorter keeper may not have reached.
Nothing against Bernd Leno, who has been excellent for us, but if we have to sell one of them to raise money, I hope we keep Martinez as our No 1. Hopefully we can keep both but I don’t think either of them will be content to play second fiddle for long.
Can I just say, as remarkably nobody else seems to have bothered, that apart from looking like a ridiculous tool with that abomination of a beard, that Mike Dean is an absolute disgrace. His open bias against The Arsenal is so blatant – and if anyone is going to accuse me of being a one eyed Gooner, there is plenty of evidence doing the rounds to prove it. I don’t do Twitter, so I don’t have it to hand to post here, but somebody might. It really is fine he was suspended, barred from our games or, better still, put out to grass. Middle of the Sahara would be nice.
TTG posted these data showing that we are remarkably successful in collecting yellow cards for far fewer fouls than our rivals:
http://dailycannon.com/2020/07/arsenal-get-battered-by-referees-liverpool-and-leicester-dont-the-stats/
and here are data showing that to compensate for liberally awarding our players yellow cards for far fewer fouls than our opponents, our esteemed whistlers balance that out by declining to burden us with penalty kicks to the same extent as they do for our rivals:
Jolly decent of them, dontcha fink?
We used to suffer when we were challenging United for the League because referees were so intimidated by Ferguson they gave ridiculous penalties to United, allowed them to kick teams off the pitch eg, the Nevilles, Butt and Scholes and Fergie- Time was not a complete myth.
When Mike Riley was refereeing I think he gave penalties to United in six successive matches of theirs that he refereed.And now he is in charge of the PGMOL! What concerned me recently was to see Jon Moss give a ridiculous second penalty to United at WHL only for VAR to overrule it. It was a terrible decision. A couple of weeks later Moss awarded a penalty to United at Villa which was outside the area and was actually a case of Fernandes kicking the Villa player . Amazingly , VAR upheld it! United got fourteen penalties in the League this season and 19 in all.Can you imagine how big an advantage that is? It could be worth as much as 15-18 extra points over the season .
To really wind yourself up read this old piece from the Guardian looking at Riley’s record in favouring United . I detested him and the evidence of his bias is here
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2004/nov/03/theknowledge.sport
Neither UEFA nor Man City come out smelling of roses from the full CAS report on the ‘disguised equity sponsorship’ allegations. To put it in non-legal terms, UEFA cocked up getting evidence to substantiate that City had executed an end-run round the Financial Fair Play regulations in a way seemingly suggested by hacked City email or that the allegations were so old that statutes of limitations applied. “There is not sufficient evidence on file to establish that arrangements were actually made…” and “The theoretical possibility that [the arrangements] may have happened can certainly not be excluded, but that is not the standard [of proof] to be applied” is hardly clearing City’s name. Seems like a Scottish court’s verdict of ‘not proven’. CAS also ‘condemned’ City for being uncooperative with the investigation, which was the bases of leaving it with a 10 million euro fine even though the main charges (and thus the two-year CL suspension) were dismissed. City was also ordered to pay 100,000 euros of UEFA’s costs.
https://www.tas-cas.org/fileadmin/user_upload/CAS_Award_6785___internet__.pdf
Mike Dean has ref’d 75 Arsenal games and 74 Man United ones. At 18-6, he has awarded the Mancs three times as many penalties. Or put another way, one penalty to the Mancs every four games, one penalty to us every 12.5 games. He has awarded more penalties for the Mancs than any other team.
And in the seven Arsenal v Man United games he’s officiated, he has given the Mancs two penalties and us the unsurprising total of none.
The opposition goalkeepers must hate facing Auba. And yet, he appears to be a very friendly guy. What a conundrum.
Bath @ 28,
Not showing on my screen are the top and bottom ends of that table but I do remember that United’s touchline to penalty award rate was 1.47% – a pen for every 135 or so touched in the area. Ours is 0.12% and we need a massive 895 touches in the area to get one !
Extraordinary stats Ned and ones which seem to be repeated for a number of high-profile refs . We have Anthony Taylor on Saturday who definitely gave us the benefit of a couple of close decisions in the last Cup Final but was brave …and right …to send off Moses . .
i think the referee bias stems from our perfection in 03-04.
that arsène predicted it, was ridiculed, came close, was further ridiculed, then led us to perfection, pissed the press of something fierce…and (IMHO) pissed off the EFL hierarchy by (a) beating preston north end’s 115-year old record, and (b) beating forest’s unbeaten streak, and (c) being johnny foreigner while doing so (and, worst of all, being french!).
arsenal’s class and successes across the years have always pinned targets on the backs of the players…if you can’t beat them on an even playing field, find ways to do so…and the inefficiencies in the whole PGMOL system has given waaay too many opportunities for opposing teams to cash in in recent years.
I think Dean’s befuddled look was
because it usually takes 3 minutes
into the game for him to fuck up a
decision and he was early
Thanks everyone for your kind comments.
About the Martinez-Leno question, I am of the opinion that we must keep them both in the next season. Leno was one of our player of the year contender before he got injured. And Emi has been magnificent as well, but he has only player for a couple of months at a stretch now.
Bernd will return from a serious enough injury and it may take him a while to find his rhythm back, especially the fearlessness which is a key requirement in dominating the box. Meanwhile we don’t yet know whether Emi may suffer from inconsistencies or not in a long campaign. And then there are always the injury worries. I think we need two top class goalkeepers in the team in modern football to compete evenly across all the competitions. Both of ours are good with ball on their feet, so switching them (injury/poor form/fatigue/rotation) will not create any noticeable difference in the effort of playing out from the back, which will surely be a key component of our playing philosophy if it is not already so.
We have so many other things to address I think even if there is good money available this window for any of our top two goalkeepers we should keep them both and be fully assured that at least in one key department we are well covered for all eventualities. Especially given that the defense in front of them will not become watertight overnight. Arteta will need months of work and in addition one or two more transfer windows to get that to the top quality.
@30
Ned,
A good article by David Conn
in The Grauniad today on
Shitty’s 2-1 win over Uefa.
Though his conclusion that
the owners look ruthless and
classless is hardly a shock.
I did wonder whether more
than 3 people are needed for
the tribunal.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/jul/28/verdict-that-kept-manchester-city-in-europe-delivers-some-glancing-blows-cas-judgment
Trev @34, I can see the whole table if I click on it in our dialogue box then click on it again in the window that opens up.
Anyway, your recall is almost perfect, Arsenal had 859 touches in the opposition box per penalty awarded, a rate of 0.12. Manure had 68 touches per pen getting a penalty award on 1.47% of touches.
Not credible. You’d think an organisation aspiring to perfection would be critically examining such data and demonstrating its integrity by publicly questioning it? Arsenal penalties matter!
Cheers Bath.
I would also like to see some stats on how many pundits and co-commentators ever agree that we should have had one of our rare penalties, how many disagree, and how many replays / minutes does VAR take to endorse a decision in our favour and, conversely, to try to upgrade or impose a decision against us, compared to other teams.
Given that the VAR is the same biased numpty who was denying us decisions on the pitch a week before, the comparisons would be interesting* / utterly depressing* ( delete as applicable).
Bath,
The multiple touches in various windows technique does indeed achieve the desired result.
Obvious when you know, innit !
Even Matthew Upson, a pundit who I presume could be considered “one of our own” seeing as he is a former Arsenal defender, was adamant at first and second viewing on NBC TV that the challenge on Lacazette against Watford was nowhere near a penalty until VAR seemed to be taking time to review it. Upson seemed to be auditioning for the role of Mike Dean’s defence attorney, as if he needed another one in the ranks of the pgmol. ☹️
Score one for VAR in this case. The penalty was indisputable with evidence from several camera angles, although I shouted for a penalty on first viewing and couldn’t understand Upson’s knee-jerk rationales.
Thanks for that link @40, OM. As I suggested earlier, ‘not proven’ is not ‘not guilty’.
There is a passage in the full report, not touched on by Conn, which says, in effect, had UEFA had the evidence that Man City gave CAS but withheld from UEFA, then they (UEFA) would have come to the same conclusions as CAS over the ‘sponsorship’ payments. However, this passage is written in such a way that when I read it my first reaction was, is this CAS signalling something other than this was testimony that City had had all along. CAS notes that it is inexplicable that City didn’t give UEFA testimony that clears it in the first place.
Conn was on the mark about City being ruthless and classless over all this, but he could also have gone after UEFA for making a Horlicks of this case, because the CAS report does.
Back-drinking there is a genuine concern from reasonable people ( not the nutters on Untold) that we are competing against teams that have significant , albeit subconscious support from the refereeing fraternity . I’ve long chided United friends that they get at least ten points a season given to them by referees .
I think the League season ends with a major controversy . The ‘ ghost goal ‘ in Villa/ Sheffield United has had major implications. It literally relegated Bournemouth and this in a season where VAR was supposed to eradicate any unfairness . To no-one’s great surprise the implementation by the tosser Riley and his cronies has been chaotic, uneven and unfair. I think Bournemouth have every right to request compensation. If Citeh can beat UEFA with a very shabby case I’m pretty certain Bournemouth could cause massive embarrassment for the Premier League if they pursue a case . Certainly most clubs in the Premier League would not let the matter rest .
Re Scruz’s point re the success of the Invincibles causing resentment I remember my Dad sitting me down in about 1960 and explaining gravely that Arsenal were an unpopular club because of their past success. He cited the Chapman era when they were criticised for spending too much, introducing a stopper Centre half in the WM formation ( we don’t have any of those now 😀) and being too hard to beat . So resentment of Arsenal isn’t a new thing .
His exact words were ‘ Son, when it comes to Arsenal you either love them or hate them ‘.
‘Twas ever thus.
TTG, your Pa spoke the truth. It does seem to be a longstanding issue.
One of the great prides that Gooners should have in their club is that the 1990-91 team went on to win the league despite the vindictive 2-point deduction for the first ‘Battle of Old Trafford’.
An interesting transfer rumour from a reliable source:
TTG/bath: I was once told in the old bar by some (Terry? BtM? I don’t remember) that being the first successful southern club in English football to break the monopoly of success of the teams based in the northern industrial belt had originally contributed to Arsenal’s unpopularity in the wider segment of English football. It made sense to me, though I have never really read any such historical analysis anywhere.
bath@49: Leicester, Newcastle and the neighbours also reportedly interested in Diawara.
Dr.F
I think that is an entirely credible theory.
There was an enmity towards Arsenal because we were rich , had Lord Mayors of London and nobility on the board and had the marble halls with the uniformed commissionaire . I remember reading a fine Arsenal history – ‘ Forward Arsenal’ by Bernard Joy ( an ex player turned journalist) which I committed chunks of to memory as a boy . In it he tells a story of a director of one of the Northern clubs like Sheffield Wednesday or Preston arriving at Highbury and one of their directors quipping to the commissionaire – ‘ is the Lord Mayor here today ‘- to which the commissionaire chirped back- ‘ No, not today, he only comes to the important games!’.Give that man a pay rise !
Arsenal had a wonderfully patrician manager after Chapman in George Allison. He was an ex- broadcaster with a very deep, plummy voice. Newsreel exists of him showing schoolboys around the stadium which is classic 1930s stuff . He also starred in ‘ The Arsenal Stadium Mystery’ which I remember watching while jet-lagged one night in New York on a cable station . The cultural dissonance felt extraordinary!
Well in for the half-ton, Dr F.
We were the first southern club to win the Football League, but that wasn’t until 1931, almost 40 years after we had become the first southern club to join it. Herbert Chapman was accused on promoting boring football because he fielded a team that defended deep and counter-attacked rather than giving free rein to the individuality of its stars as was the norm elsewhere. It did score 127 league goals in 1930-31, so it can’t have been that boring.
it’s a war information thing from 1941, ttg. fascinating. and a very plummy voice, indeed.
VBO and VBW for Brentford.
Very big occasion and win.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/53508321
Taking a cue from Dr. Faustus,
didn’t realize those were two-legged semifinals. good for brentford!
So we thought our football club was grasping when it came to extracting money from fans? Well, as they say, hold my beer. The New York Mets have populated the seats at their baseball stadium, Citi Field, with photographs of fans. They have charged them $86 each for the privilege.
https://nypost.com/2020/07/17/mets-will-have-5000-fan-cutouts-in-citi-field-stands-for-opener/
In fairness, the proceeds go to a Covid charity. But nobody tell Josh and Stan!
TTG @52, Superb story of the Commisionaire. Class!
scruz @54, I love that clip. Thanks for sharing. A wonderful piece of history. How did you find it?
So after the Cup Final Lord Mayor’s show is done and the ragged trousered philanthropists come trundling along, right at the rear, thinking that even that is too grand a position for the ‘likes of ’em’; Arsenal will need to start the excavation process before laying the foundations for squad rebuilding process that will guarantee the return of top four trophies.
But if you trawl through the player list, it’s not too easy to find a grand bounty to be had from the clear out that many expect. Macey, Sokratis, Kolasinac, Torreira, Elneny and Guendouzi look to me to be those closest to the exit. I’d add Mustafi to that list and one of Chambers/Holding but for the impact of injuries to all three. If Aubamayang signs up, Lacazette may be considered for release too, although I’d vote to keep him.
With Mavropanos already loaned and Medley likely to join him, we’re still likely to start next season with Saliba, Mustafi, Holding, Chambers, Luiz and Mari as centre backs. Limited funds may be directed initially to two new midfielders, one commanding presence capable of winning the ball and another capable of brilliant creation. Signing of the ‘next Van Dijk’ may be delayed by yet another year?
@52, that made me laugh, TTG.
$86, C100? A snip. We have folks happy to pay much more than that for stupid aeroplane flights.
Scruz,
Thanks for finding that
I originally found it on Talking Pictures, a satellite station showing old ( clean) films . Allison was an accomplished broadcaster and that voice is really something. Harry Redknapp he isn’t !
I recommend Forward Arsenal as a read for anyone who wants to understand the standing of the club in the thirties and the way in which Chapman revolutionised the club. It also underlines the impact of players like Leslie Compton and Joe Mercer in the fifties. The account of the 1952 Final in which we almost held a top Newcastle side with nine men is particularly moving . When I first read it we were about seven or eight years out from our last trophy . It seemed a huge gap but that gap eventually extended into 17 years .
Imagine how the Totts must feel!
My youngest grandson is a Gooner but his best friends support Liverpool and Manchester City . He is not impressed by our currently straitened circumstances and you can’t tell a kid of his age nowadays you waited as long as I did for a trophy. It would be lovely to win the Cup again on Saturday but in his lifetime as a Gooner we’ve already won it three times!
That book sounds good. Sadly it’s currently on sale on Amazon starting at £49.31 incl p&P for a good used copy shipped from the USA or £454=6.80 incl p&p for a new copy. I’ll keep an eye out for a better deal.
Fat fingers! Sorry.
That was £456.80 incl p&p for a new copy.
Got one! £14.55 from Abe’s Books. Sounds like a good investment.
Sounds like I heard about Brentford’s Griffin Park a smidgen too late, yesterday’s being the last match to be played there. Maybe a bit like QPR’s ground but with more pubs nearby? The BBC describes it thus:
“A compact ground brimming with atmosphere despite its capacity being under 13,000, Griffin Park is also famous for a non-footballing reason.
It is the only ground in the English league system to have a pub on every corner, something Brentford will not be able to replicate at their new stadium, which is squeezed in between railway lines and the M4 motorway.“
Nathan Ake signed by Manchester City, who must have been impressed by more than just his hair. Was Arsenal ever in for him, or was it assumed he was too privy?
Pricy, not privy.
Who knows bt8?
I wasn’t privy to that information
😉
But personally I don’t think we
need another CB though I know
some do
WBA coming up – I thought that
might mean the return of
Kieran Gibbs but he doesn’t
seem to be in their team.
Is he injured does anyone
know?
I hope it hasn’t come to Kieran
not being able to get into the
WBA team, that would be a sad
fall from grace
Bad news on Mus being out until
October but good news that
Hector is fit for the weekend.
Ozil’s agent said he wouldn’t
move until 2021, which is bad
news for our bank balance.
Was Arsenal ever in for him, or was it assumed he was too privy?
The scouting report was the shortest in history. And I quote – He’s toilet.
Heh @74.
I posted a link to She Wore’s very rational analysis of our record against the Chavs this season and why we have cause for optimism but it seems to have been caught in our spam filter. It’s worth checking out. It lifted my spirits anyway.
[editor: this one?] https://shewore.com/2020/07/30/2-more-sleeps-before-arsenal-appear-in-another-fa-cup-final/
A plethora of privy pins, even prior to the arrival of the preening pun master. 😳
Kieran Gibbs apparently injured his hamstring on July 5th and has not played since, according to the westbromnews site where there is also speculation about whether or not he will be back next season.
OM@72, bt8@78: There are a couple more Arsenal connections in the West Brom squad coming up to the Premiership. Semi Ajayi, their ever-present CB this season just ended, was with our U-23s for a couple of seasons. He played 30 games and was an unused sub four times for the first team. He went on loan to Cardiff and then joined them on a free in 2015. He as since become a full international for Nigeria and seems to be its current first choice CB. For most of the season, he was partnered in the heart of the WBA defence by Kyle Bartley, another who came up through the Arsenal ranks and managed one first-team appearance before being sold to Swansea for £1.5 million. Kieran Gibbs is still there but only made 14 league appearances this season. Mostly second choice left-back to Conor Townsend even pre-injury.
I saw West Brom play Brentford a few weeks ago and Kieran played for the Baggies. A very significant figure . If he hadn’t headed the Hull effort off the line in 2014 we might have had a reset in Arsenal history .
I’m seething at the Ozil situation. The man is a World Cup winner but I’ve lost all respect for him . He’d rather sit there and take his ridiculously inflated salary rather than ply his trade. That deal is crippling the club. Not surprisingly he was unwilling to reduce his salary . Clearly he has every right to do this but he does a job that so many of us would have loved to do and he’d rather sit tight and take the money rather than use his talent and leave the best legacy he can. He won’t even merit a footnote in Arsenal history other than as the highest paid/ worst value player in Arsenal history .
What do we do? It’s hard to do anything when you have a parasite like that on your books but an online petition from Arsenal fans underlining their lack of respect for him might be a wake-up call. A sad end to a story that started so promisingly. I wonder if he will even watch the game on television on Saturday?
OM@73: If I could pick up £18.2 million for resting up for a year, I’d be tempted to stay put, too.
TTG@80: I wonder what Ozil considers his trade to be. Here is the case that it is no longer football. He is 31. His international career is behind him. Even if he is still motivated to win domestic cups and league titles, any club likely to add to his haul is unlikely to sign him, and not for what we pay him. I don’t see him drifting down the leagues for want of alternatives or heading off to do coaching badges. He is a smart, articulate and knows his commercial worth.
Clearly, he has long been planning his post-playing career with his esports and branded clothing businesses plus who knows what other enterprises. What he does on social media is so unlike most footballers; it is business brand building at reach and scale, and done with some skill. He could take one last playing contract in Asia or the Americas, as his agent hints, if that helps him build his M10 brand in key markets. Or Turkey, if he has political ambitions. But playing football would be ancillary. Just as it will be for him over the next 12 months as that is what his business plan calls for.
Here’s the Gibbs clearance at 1 min 24 seconds in.
Ned,
Watching that one my heart rate exceeded normal limits. Many other good ones including Ashley Cole v. QPR near the end.😢
bath@61, it was a search on youtube something like george allison AND highbury AND children, or somesuch.
ttg@64, definitely clean. promoting the war effort, too. i’ll have to see if i can find a copy of “forward arsenal” at a used bookshop next time i am in blighty.
If we get enough Holics asking for it they may reprint it ! Bernard Joy , the author was an amateur first team player who I think, played for someone like Corinthian Casuals before he joined Arsenal. He was a centre half of some ability but I think the war cut into his career.He was the main football correspondent for the London Evening Standard for many years
It will be Fulham v. Brentford in the Championship playoff final, meaning shorter but not necessarily easier jaunts than they would have been to Bournemouth, and probably Watford too.
Though I have nothing against
Fulham I hope Brentford win as
it is a very long time since they
were up. And of course Bees
replacing Hornets fits well.
Ned, TTG,
I think between you the Ozil
situation is summed up nicely.
We appear to be up the
junction. Ozil will go to MLS
I’d guess as he won’t be
welcome in China and the
Turkish league is too small a
market. If it does play out this
way all I can do is never buy
any of his brand stuff.
As Matt says @89, Ned @82 and TTG @80 have summarised nicely the Özil situation.
Alhough as Ned has observed @81, it would be rather nice to see £18.2m slosh into our individual bank accounts annually for simply turning up to training every day, I think that most people would find it very difficult to do so for long. Many would miss that sense of self worth or even pride in doing a good job and gaining the respect of one’s peers and also in this case the admiration of thousands of fans. Others would quickly become aware of a growing sense of shame or even guilt at so blatantly cheating or stealing from one’s employer even with the contract clutched in one’s grasping paw. Others would become aware of the contempt with which one’s peers would undoubtecly come to regard them. Thee man’s greed clearly outweighs his self respect. He is summed up by the phrase, “laughing all the way to the bank!” We were mugged and I suspect Gazidis lost his job because he was the arch patsy.
Unless Özil has a clinical diagnosis of depression, the man is a contemptible wretch and deserves no respect from any Arsenal fan. He is cheating the club and the fans. No Arsenal fan should give him the time of day. The terms reptile and vermin are too good for the man.
Ozil basically retired after the 2018 World Cup.
bath@90: Feel free to wire me £18.2 million immediately. I will let you know in a year’s time how I got on….
Ned,
This year has given us plenty of
practice at sitting at home and
I do feel ready to turn professional
– idlologist is the term I think I’ll
use. Not ideologist as the spill
chucked tried to make me as that
would clearly be work.
TTG@86: Bernard Joy played for the Casuals, before, during and after his Arsenal career. In 1936, he captained the Casuals to victory in the Amateur Cup Final, and was close to pulling off a unique double by winning the FA Cup final the same year. We beat Sheffield United 1-0, but as understudy to Herbie Roberts at centre-half, Joy wasn’t in the Arsenal team. The same year, he led the Great Britain side to the quarter finals of the 1936 Olympic Games in Berlin. GB lost to Poland 5-4, coming back from 5-1 down with Joy scoring twice in the final 12 minutes. He was the last amateur to play for the full England international side, a feat unlikely to be repeated. He must have been a pretty decent centre-half. You are right about the war decimating his Arsenal career; he played more than twice as many war-time games for the club as he did non-war-time matches. He retired from Arsenal half way through the first season after the war and went to work for the Star newspaper as a football writer.
Ned,
Many thanks for that update . Joy was very much a gentleman and I came across him at a couple of football dinners as he retained links with both the amateur and professional games. My school team used to play a Casuals team every season and there was a dinner afterwards at which I recall he spoke once. Arsenal were very much his first love and he became the ‘ go- to ‘ Arsenal authority during the trauma of the sixties at Highbury .
Arsenal had a different feel to the other big clubs then. It was an egalitarian world and a lot of the relatively small town Northern clubs like Preston, Bolton and Burnley had strong teams .
Arsenal was undoubtedly the glamour club of English football in the fifties and still into the sixties although the Totts stole our thunder with their double . Arsenal was a brand before we thought of such things in a football context and we probably had the highest transfer budget of any of the sides in the fifties and sixties . I remember us paying record or near record fees for Don Howe, Ian Ure , Frank McLintock , Mel Charles and Joe Baker and of course we had the long drawn-out saga with George Eastham which led to us paying a chunky fee for the times . Not all of our buys worked out but Baker and McLintock did and Howe became hugely successful as a coach in two spells with the club . None of this is in my edition of Forward Arsenal which ended around 1953 from memory . I’m sure Clive has strong memories of this era
cracking stuff TTG, there’s a
book by Joy in my Dad’s bookcase
back in England and I’ll look for it
next time I’m back – though Dennis
only knows when that will be.
It’s time now though for thoughts
to turn to Wembley…..
I don’t want to preempt the
previewer but I think Emi will
be in goal 😉
And also I think the winner will
come for a tantalising cross to
the edge of the 6 yard box for…
schmack.
Just as Gary Bailey did in 1979!
Coutinho for £9 million and we lose the troublesome Guendouzi. We pay half his wages .
That doesn’t sound the worst deal to me for a 27-year old with very satisfactory PL experience. Interestingly I hear that Arteta is very keen to push a deal through .
Maybe we might see Sarr, Partey , Ceballos ( loan ) and Coutinho. Possibly another centre half as well .
Out –
Guendouzi
Kolasinac
Elneny ( loan)
Mkhitaryan
Mavropanos ( loan)
Holding or Sokratis
Torreira
All bets off if Auba leaves but would he leave a team he’d just led to Cup success😃?
We’ve got a ‘keeper who knows what this is all about.
https://www.arsenal.com/news/martinez-my-emotions-ahead-cup-final
Well in scruz for the big ton. Hoping Laca remembers to do something similar when the ball bounces our way tomorrow, assuming it might do once or twice.
Another player with an apt name.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/53598844
At least, more apt than Dobadly.
cheers, bt8. thanks to matt for the assist.
ttg@102, i’d live with that, if we got coutinho for guendozi like that. i thought the partey deal was dead, and with amn and others looking for that wingback/midfield spot, is sarr appreciably better? he did look good against us, and if we can get him for cheap he’ll be a good squad option, i suppose, but i’d think amn would definitely be on his way then. why do you think all bets are off if auba leaves? we’d have more money, and others would step up…we’d keep balogun, and other youth would have the opportunity. i don’t want to lose auba, mind. and i agree with the rest of your list, though i’d prefer to keep holding and lose papa…
Well in for the ton, Scruz. Crisp and emphatic finish.
Turns out it’s the Emirates FA Cup but the Heads Up FA Cup Final. I think. Is anybody else confused?
Don’t know what Heads Up is and don’t intend to find out.
Whose wages would we pay half of in a Courtinho for Guendouzi swap? Would these be permanent transfers or loan deals? Terms sound very loan-like on the face of it.
bt8@109: No burying your head in the sand:
Heads Up is a partnership between the Football Association and the charity Heads Together, and led by HRH the Duke of Cambridge, which has harnessed the influence of football to encourage people to discuss mental health openly since its launch at last year’s Community Shield.
To mark the culmination of a season-long campaign by Heads Up in football, title sponsor Emirates has relinquished their rights to allow the game to be renamed the Heads Up FA Cup final, underlining the importance of the issue.
Sounds like Heads Up is an extremely worthy cause, Ned. The FA and all others involved are to be commended for their support of mental health charities, and I certainly know Dave would have strongly supported it too, what with his writings about the marches from Selhirst Park to the Emirates in support of much the same cause.
… hurst
Scruz
I don’t think the Partey deal is dead at all. Much will depend on tomorrow. If we win and are in Europe that will increase our funds and make us more attractive to him . Re Sarr I think you are referring to the Watford winger . I am referring to Malang Sarr who is one of the most promising defenders in Europe and left Nice on a free transfer. Again tgere is a lot of competition for him as you would expect but I mentioned on here a couple of weeks ago that an acquaintance who gets heavily involved in club transfer finance thought we were in pole position to sign him. As he can play centre back or left back and is very quick and left- footed I think he would be an asset . Watch this space
ttg, thanks. i hope you’re right, both on partey and your sarr. i didn’t know about him, and couldn’t imagine we’d be going for watford’s. i’ll watch!
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>