I was supposed to write this match report from a hotel room in India, in the middle of the dark night, my creativity fueled by sleeplessness, drinks, and a long day of visiting friends and relatives that despite sapping physical energy – or maybe, because of that – tends to light up the imagination. Bereft of such natural stimuli, a couple of untimely shots of espresso are my inspiration in this grey Boston afternoon. Also, an ecstatic eight-year-old boy who has been doodling cartoon of his heroes, Auba and Laca, reenacting their inimitable handshake, the drawing further decorated by a stick figure of Dúbravka lying helplessly inside his own goal. And, of course, an inspirational second half performance from our beloved The Arsenal.
A few days before we were talking about what (he wanted to know) I remember to be our best performances at Emirates. The come-from-behind 2-1 win against that Barcelona vintage – one of the greatest club teams in history – in 2011 was at the top of my list. Coincidentally that match was played on 16th February as well. That team of promising young Turks never really achieved anything memorable at the end of season, and soon afterwards for one reason or another most of them had left the club and the club entered a new phase, not relying entirely on young talents but carefully and judiciously adding established players: a few glamorous effervescent talents of world football (Özil, Alexis) as well reliable, and intelligent professionals who are less of world stars but no less valuable. Of the latter type, Mikel Arteta was the perfect example. As a player he was an excellent leader even before he was made the club captain, and his intensity, commitment, seriousness, intelligence – all ably supported by high quality technical abilities and tactical awareness – had helped the club to get out of an alarming little phase of footballing chaos and continue its reputation as a progressive, creative footballing team that had helped to attract talents like Cazorla or Özil or Alexis later, and we had enjoyed three FA cup successes in quick succession, continued champions league football and the metronomic regularity of St. Totteringham’s Day. Arteta the captain had shown such a genuine love for club and had embraced its values with such wide open arms that it had felt inevitable when he left that he will be back one day patrolling the touchline.
I personally was fine with that stature of our club – an attractive football team winning cups, playing in Champions League, making incremental progress towards winning the league back again. But of course football, like life, doesn’t move in a continuous upward curve and the ones that can respond to the inevitable downward slopes with patience, fortitude, and intelligence, and then fight for their core values while remaining open to necessary changes are the ones who eventually come back up again.
Last three years have been the longest few in my Arsenal supporting life. A lot has really happened off the field and irrespective of how we may individually feel about each of the decisions being made by the club one thing was becoming clear that as a football team we were falling headlong into a dysfunction that very swiftly went from alarming to catastrophic. Forget the results: the football was unwatchable. Unwatchable for the entirety of the match, match after match. No creativity, no shape, no structure, no spirit and no discipline.
In matters Arsenal I choose to be an optimist, so I have been encouraged by how Mikel had gone about reversing the trend. With iron hands in velvet gloves approach towards his players, an uncompromising demand on commitment, discipline and work-rate, and a footballing vision that carries the imprints of his two great mentors in Wenger and Guardiola he has been able to inspire a few halves or good performances since he joined, but a result like today’s was absolutely necessary to convince the players themselves and then transmit that belief fully to the supporters.
The team selection was curious, but not inexplicably so. Steve Bruce’s Newcastle was expected to play with two deep banks of four players, so having Ceballos – in the post-match interview Arteta praised Dani had apparently “trained like an animal” – linking defense into attack and moving the ball fast vertically instead of a traditional deep-lying protector in Torreira made sense. Laca’s recent wretched form in front of goal meant sooner or later he will miss out on the starting line-up. But it was unexpected to see Nketiah down the middle whereas most of us would have probably played Martinelli on the left and Auba down the middle. Probably Martinelli was being saved for the important Europa match where being the away team he will have the space to attack in front of him and his directness and pace will be more of a threat.
So, the team, from left to right: Leno; Saka, Luiz, Mustafi, Bellerin; Xhaka, Torreira; Aubameyang, Özil, Pepe; Nketiah.
The first half was a slow affair, where despite us having majority of the possession there was neither incisiveness nor any genuine quality in the final third. Newcastle defense was well-organized and balls moving slowly and/or sideways didn’t create too much of an alarm for them. Ceballos and Özil both were enjoying a lot of possession but there was not enough movement off the ball for them to open up spaces. Rather, the first real goal threat came from Newcastle around 14 minutes when a cleverly taken corner resulted in a deflected shot off Ceballos’ head that Leno had to jump acrobatically towards his left to save. The awareness that the team cannot just wait for things to happen and they need to force the issue may have clicked on a few players’ mind then and there was an increase in intent. Saka, not for the first time this season, looked the liveliest and the likeliest to make something happen. Around 20 minutes he cut inside and his rasping shot flew over the bar.
There were a few exchanges of corners, including an excellent one by Pepe from which a more alert David Luiz may have had a chance to work the goalkeeper. Arsenal was structurally solid and kept their defensive shape and discipline for the most part – though in all fairness it was a relatively easy thing to do as the only genuine threat came from the mercurial Saint-Maximin who was giving Bellerin a harder time than Hector had probably expected – except for an unnecessary pull-back in the middle of the pitch in a truly Xhaka-esque manner by none other than the man who probably invented the art of needless yellow cards, Granit Xhaka himself. But credit to him for not repeating any more moments of thoughtlessness in the rest of the match, and being not only neat and tidy on the ball but also imaginative in the second half.
Lee Mason – the eight-year-old quips that he looks like an overgrown baby; sorry Lee the primary school sarcasm is brutal :–) – was easily buying into the theory that wispy Dani is pushing and tackling the large unit of Saint-Maximin so much that every-time they came together Newcastle earned a foul. Hope Dani doesn’t get into his head that he has some kind of a magical power.
Even though the attack was not quite coming together there was a good link-up play between Özil and Nketiah from which Nketiah’s effort flew straight to Dúbravka. Ceballos with his nifty little turns, ability to suddenly accelerate and good close-control – reminiscent of the irreplaceable (at least, not yet replaced) Cazorla – maintained a measure of control over the middle of the pitch which was allowing Özil to float between the two banks of defenders and picking up ball in spaces. I think this is the first time in this season Mesut Özil could play as Mesut Özil, thriving in the ambiguity of space and using the positional discipline of defenders and defensive midfielders against themselves, and not having to continuously drop deeper to pick up the ball brought out the occasional luster to his game which has been missing for a very long time. We are probably never going to see the Özil of 15-16 season again but maybe in this (most likely) swansong of a season he can leave behind more indelible memories. The half ended with a promising moment: a great free-kick by Pepe that was saved finger-tip by Dúbravka.
The half-time break felt interminable as the TV pundits on the studio were being a tad bit too critical of what has been until then admittedly a blunt attack, but more so because of the repeated showing of some irrelevant club in North London winning away at mighty Aston Villa with a last minute goal. The eight-year-old was half resigned to one more draw, and as the teams appear back on the TV screen his plea of just scoring a goal touched both my heart and nerves.
The team started the second half brightly. I guess just like it happened in the Leeds match the team was reminded at the break that they have a responsibility to live up to their abilities. An excellent move down the right by Pepe led to what seemed like an easy chance for Nketiah who somehow managed to hit the cross-bar from point blank range. Pepe was growing in the game and it was noticeable that there has been a conscious tactical tuning to the team’s attacking play: instead of using the right side merely as bulwark and/or decoy and asking Pepe to cover the entire right side and hence use him primarily in the role of defending from the front while the left side creates the chances, Pepe as a creative winger was being ably supported by both Nketiah coming out to his right and Hector overlapping. Xhaka had by then assumed his customary “left back” role, pushing Saka forward and essentially using Nketiah and Auba as a strike partnership.
The increased tempo and an improved movement off the ball led to our first goal around 53 minutes. Pepe floated in an accurate but otherwise innocuous looking cross which Auba attacked over the head of their right back and headed back across masterfully into the goal beyond the outstretched left arm of Dúbravka. In post-match interview Auba confessed he has been practicing that particular header. He doesn’t score many headed goals, this particular route can become another productive avenue for him, especially given that he will generally outjump most right backs even if he starts behind them.
The second goal was a thing of beauty. Auba and Saka exchanged passes down the left and Saka found himself near the by-line with two defenders around him, a classy nutmeg through the legs of one and then his pin-point cutback curled emphatically by Pepe’s left foot. Interestingly Mustafi of all people was actually in the penalty box at that time and whether that was intentional — to create diversion as Pepe attacked the empty space quickly to reach the ball even before defenders could realize what was happening – or not, it worked beautifully. 56 minutes, we are up 2-0, and Pepe (unfairly criticized in my opinion as I think he will become a highly effective and productive player once he becomes familiar with the league) with a goal and an assist.
After the second goal the team started to show signs of uncertainty. They are still carrying scars of awful things happening earlier in the season and were visibly unsure about how exactly to approach the rest of the game. However, the coolness of Xhaka, Luiz and Mustafi (despite a couple of stray passes), and truly wonderful control of ball and tempo by Ceballos slowly helped us back regain the domination. In between Newcastle fashioned out a few good moves, including a very impressive Saint-Maximin hitting the bar after a great run. Leno was beaten and, on another day, it could have ricocheted off to a defender or Leno into the goal. But given what the team has been through they deserved a little bit of good fortune.
As the team started to control the game again Saka went on a mazy run and was almost through to the penalty box but a collision of legs left him in the heaps. He was probably marginally more to blame for the coming together. But it once again showcased his prodigious talent. With cotton wool in one of his nostrils, he was back on the pitch relieving us all of any potential injury fears. Around 82 minutes Ceballos was replaced by Torreira. He left the field among ringing applause of appreciation. I am one of those who think if Real Madrid sanctions it we should get him on a permanent basis. The class, the ability, the quality are all there and he is quite the fighter. Around 85 minutes Nketiah was replaced by Lacazette. The boy said hopefully he will score a goal today.
Which he did. But before that he provided a neat assist to someone else who also needed a goal very much. For all his technical abilities, awareness of space, and ability to move away from his markers Mesut Özil doesn’t score enough goals. Even in his pomp he was happier providing the assist than scoring and I remember Arsene openly cajoling him in public interviews to take more shots himself. He has scored quite a few memorable goals for us but just like his assists his goal scoring too has dropped off vertiginously in the last couple of years. As mentioned earlier he played a lot more like the old Mesut Özil today – not just in all those touches and glides which never deserted him even in the bad days but more in creating opportunities in the final third with Ceballos providing him the midfield foundation so that he can afford the unpredictability of his movements without costing the team defensively – and the cute finish that slipped past Dúbravka brought a visible smile of joy and relief to his face. He likes those unconventional “dropped shot” finishes, sometimes they don’t work at all and I am not convinced today it worked fully, but just enough to put Dúbravka off. After scoring the goal Arteta took Özil off so that he could leave the field with standing ovation. Willock came in for him with just a few minutes to go.
Then it happened. Around the fifth minute of the stoppage time, Lacazette, our player of the season last year, going through the most barren patch of his entire career, always working hard but every single missed opportunity visibly draining away his self-confidence, finally scored a goal. Another excellent move down the right with Willock feeding Pepe who provided a simple cut-back to Laca from which he scored. It was a most un-Lacazette like finish. He doesn’t score many from scuffed shots or tap-ins, his shots in or around the penalty box are almost always emphatic. This one was a somewhat hilarious exception: he miskicked his right foot shot on his left foot and the ball looped and spun straight into the top corner. His elation, shared by everyone in the team, and the collective release as they celebrated jubilantly together was a joy to watch. That camaraderie is what often makes the difference between success and failure in a team sport.
Arsenal 4 – Newcastle 0.
Goals: Aubameyang (assist Pepe), Pepe (assist Saka), Özil (assist Lacazette), Lacazette (assist Pepe).
If an Arsenal fan had spent the last year or so in a silent meditation retreat and he was treated to this result after his first day back joining the human chaos, he will take it as just another day at the Emirates. As it should always be. Arsenal, with those players playing together in attack, should more often than not have results like this at home. But the rest of us shouldn’t easily forget the ineptitude of last one year and should not take this for granted. I am certain that the Arteta revolution will gather momentum and the team will continue to get better, but whenever the occasional bad performance and bad results come about, we should still stand by the team and the manager, and not forget that for nearly the entire span of 2019 this team’s performance was no better than that of a relegation candidate.
Can we go on a run in PL, Europa, and FA cup now? If the team can resurrect something tangible from this season then it will be proudest moment of an eight-year-old boy’s Arsenal supporting life. And we all can start believing that we are back, or on our way back, where we belong. We belong among the best not because of any misplaced sense of entitlement, but because this is a club that, despite everything that has happened in recent past, champions and represents the best values of the game that we all love: creativity, camaraderie, discipline, harmony.
lovely, dr faustus. thorough and interesting. love the image of your kid drawing 🙂
Great report straight from the
heart Dr F, thank you.
I must admit to pessimistically
hoping for a 1-0 win today but
credit to the boys for keeping
it going 2nd half to stick it to
the hapless Magpies. A happy day
and hopefully the end of our winter
of discontent.
Thanks scruz. Thanks for posting, and the kind words. 🙂
Thanks OM. We have +2 goal difference now. Scarcely believable 😂
And impeccable timing on the
report too – I wandered happily
to bed several hours ago, woke
up and sipping sleepily through
my coffee I can read about a
4-0 win for The Arsenal.
All Monday mornings should be
like this!
Very nicely penned match report, Doctor Faustus. 🙂
8 year old boy knows what he is talking about, and I agree Ceballos and Özil enjoy playing together. Great game for Saka, too. I just finished watching the recording, which family duties made me break into three separate viewing sessions, but I loved those last 10 minutes and the flourishing camaraderie. Also I’m enjoying the clean sheets and the relative solidity of our defence. Credit to Arteta and the players.
I did in fact suggest Dani as CM
in August or September, most
likely that MA was back-reading
the drinks on the old site and
spotted my idea 😉
Now, where did I leave my
trumpet….
Excellent report Dr F. That’s the match I saw.
A switch seemed to click around 30 minutes: “Ah! We’re supposed to try to score goals when we’re out on this grass!” Prior to that Newcastle we’re edging it. From then until the two late chances at 2-0, we controlled the game like in the old days. Almost a more enjoyable performance than result.
I’m glad to hear your 8-year old is following your lead in sporting wisdom.
Dr.F
Thankyou for an enlightened, detailed and very interesting report. You brought the game to life for those who did not see it and brought out key issues for those who did. We are slowly getting our Arsenal back. Optimism is returning !
Good stuff, Dr F. Here’s to many more opportunities for similar reports in the future.
COYG
That’s a report that few in the global media will better today, Dr F. Very nice set up. The velvet mind driving your steely pen matches MA8’s steely fist in his velvet glove rather nicely.
I hope that neither Auba nor Laca will depart in the summer but stranger things have happened (I never thought that Cesc, Robin, Nasri and Song would disappear as quickly a they did after the Barca game you reference). Arteta may be finding opportunities to see how well Saka, Martinelli, Eddie and Pepe will be able to carry the load if they do.
A request Dr F.
Are you able to post Faustus Jnr’s drawing?
Thanks for a very detailed report Dr F flavoured with an a East Coast perspective. After the turgid first third, the team woke up and put in an encouraging display for the rest of the match. Hopefully this result will give the them confidence for the upcoming matches with Olympiacos, Everton and more.
There were some very good individual performances, particularly Saka, Pepe, Ozil & Ceballos. The players are responding well under the drive & tutelage of Mikel Arteta and we are all filled with a barrel of optimism for the future. We have a coach the supporters can believe in and the players are of the same accord.
Much talk & deserved praise for the emergence of Bacary Saka. He appears to have skills, physicality and a real football brain far beyond an 18 yr old prospect – I believe he has it in him to be an outstanding no 10 eventually.
@13, Uply, is it too early to decide that Saka is the kid we want to build the team around for the next decade? Shades of Cesc at the same age? If so, it’s time to get the golden contract pen out.
Good calls BtM @14.
1) Offer contract that cannot be declined (Manure have no doubt already whispered numbers in his pearl-like either directly or through an intermediary).
2) Continue his development in midfield.
One of the more cynical contributors to Goonerholic would frequently assert that there was nothing wrong with Emery’s coaching and that it was the ‘shit bucket’ squad that Arsene Wenger had bequeathed to him that had completely destroyed The Arsenal’s foundation stones and caused the plummet towards relegation under Unai L’Un.
I think yesterday showed that we have more depth in the squad than many thought. Players that we thought were dead or dying are showing up for the new manager, confidence is starting to build and pay dividends. That, coupled with the arrival of youngsters Saka, AMN, Tierney, Martinelli, Pepe and Nketiah as very capable first team contributors, augurs well for the near term future, irrespective of what happens in the summer transfer window.
Time now for a sustained, unbroken series of wins, home and away. I’m enthused to see Pablo Mari become an important part of the back four that underpins that.
Even though the old blog will never be replaced, or the writing of The Guvna, one of the joys of our new setup is the variety introduced by a group of writers, each of whom brings their own style to the blog. I agree with BtM above. I thought this match review by Dr Faustus is the finest I’ve read on this game, including all the other blogs I look at and several newspapers (although Henry Winter in The Times and Jonathan Liew in The Guardian are pleasingly positive). You have an unhurried and forensically detailed way of writing Dr F that is very pleasing to read and I can’t wait to read your next contribution.
I am so excited by Saka. He gives you those moments that are worth the price of admission all by themselves. I am thrilled to hear from Ornstein that meetings to extend his contract are already ongoing and that things are looking good. Ealing is a wealthy suburb, let’s not stint on the wages eh? The other thing is that he will need some defence against the dark arts training. He was kicked out of the game against Burnley after a bright start and we looked bereft without him. There are many defenders in the Prem who do not take at all kindly to being nutmegged and made to look foolish and Bukayo can look forward to more than his share of reducers. We shouldn’t be too prissy about this, many of us will remember Lauren, after some multiple step overs from a 19 year old Cristiano Ronaldo, putting him into row 6 with a tackle we all cheered to the echo. He just needs to learn to ride the tackles.
Btm
How well I remember those strictures from a man who wanted Emery to be allowed to work out his contract. Lord help us if that had happened. Football is a game of opinions and I disagreed with a number of his!
I rewatched the highlights last night on MOTD and the improvement in the second half was remarkable. Arteta’s character and presence of mind shine through in a way that Emery’s never did, partly because his English was so random .
This is a decent squad and has looked better since Arteta has coaxed much better performances from the likes of Mustafi and Luiz. I’m still hugely underwhelmed by Xhaka. Not only is always he a brain fart away from a crisis , he is monumentally slow and crablike in his passing unless he has acres of space in which to ping balls around . In a league where teams press you to death you rarely get that luxury . Compare the incisiveness of Ceballos yesterday. He created more promising moments in one game than I have seen Xhaka do all season.
But Arteta picks him and he knows ( much) more than I do. Boy must Xhaka have some compromising pictures of the Arsenal hierarchy 🙂
I have been as critical of Xhaka as anyone in this bar and would happily have seen him never wear the shirt again after his hissy fit against Palace. However, while I share TTG’s frustration at his slowness of movement and thought, he has been critical to the offensive success and defensive integrity of young Saka. His intelligent positioning as Saka moves forward allows such cavalier braggadocio and secures the flank against breakaways on the inevitable occasional loss of possession. He has been key to the renaissance under MA8 as indeed has the other prodigal, Mustafi. His dominance in the air in our own box and distribution of the ball (two errors yesterday, only one potentially fatal) have also been critical to the greater defensive solidity and assurance playing out from the back under MA8.
Gird your loins, boys. They may both be integral to the team for a couple of seasons.
That was an uplifting report, Dr F, and a delightfully woven narrative, doubly appreciated as I have seen only highlights of the game.
If Arteta can remake the team in the image of his qualities as a player that you catalogue — intensity, commitment, seriousness, intelligence, all ably supported by high-quality technical abilities and tactical awareness — we shall be back where we belong in short order.
To TTG’s point @18, this is a decent squad. As the youngsters coming through (Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah, Guendouzi, Nelson, Willock, AMN and Tierney) are phased in for the ageing seniors (Auba, Laca, Ozil, David Luiz, Sokratis) over the next season or so, it should be capable of challenging for titles and trophies — and, with the addition of maybe no more one or two top players, be winning them
BtM@16, TTG@18. Excellent gloating, lads.
I’d have a little more time for it if your antagonist were around here and able to defend themself, which I have no doubt they would have done; robustly. They doesn’t need me to defend them, and I wouldn’t bother to do so if they were around. With luck they’ll see this comment after we go live and will tell me where to shove my defence.
The old adage has it that time spent in reconnaissance is never wasted, similarly, time spent in magnanimity isn’t wasted either.
COYG
Thanks everyone for all the kind words. It’s a privilege to write for the Goonerholic community. And it’s particularly joyful when the report is for a 4-0 win. But it also made me appreciate again the ability and willingness of our dear departed maestro to do this 2-4 times a week out of sheer love.
Bath, let me ask the budding cartoonist if he is comfortable sharing his work. 🙂
It was only when I watched the game this morning that I noticed they had won the toss and turned us round, so we were kicking into the North Bank in the first half.
Bastards. I hate that. I’m even more glad we stuffed them.
Dr F, of course. Artist’s prerogative at all times. 👍🏻
CM100, I do too usually but as we were dead centre row 8 in the Clock End Upper, we got a spectacular view of every SH goal! Indeed the spin on Laca’s was such that we and the folks around us thought he had put it over the bar. Only when he wheeled away did we realise it was in the net.
Bath, shall I tell him he has a future as a cartoonist? 🙂 🙂 See attached.
Supercool drawing there. Faustus, your son has a potential career as a professional cartoonist if he keeps along this path, and the key is he got the angle of Auba’s bow exactly right. scruz, any chance the drawing could be inserted into Dr F’s match report?
Dr F @26, excellent and as bt8 observes, a keen eye for essential detail, notably Auba’s hairstyle. I sense a new L.S. Lowry is amongst us. Do congratulate him and tell him he now has an international following. 👏🏻👏🏻👏🏻
I also agree it would make an excellent frontispiece to Dr F’s match report. It is of course a precedent that might be lead to an expectation of this byline.
Keown says it was a “big turnaround” and I am not one to argue. https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/51526063
have a view, gents.
Pangloss,
I merely commented that one of the most frequent commenters on the old blog mounted a spirited defence of Emery in defiance of mounting evidence . He would be welcome on here to defend his views but didn’t think the idea of a blog like this appealed to him after Dave’s death which is perfectly understandable.
It’s a pity because we enjoyed lots of lively banter. We disagreed on almost every aspect of football , Walcott, Wenger, Emery and the ability of Chris Wilder. I don’t think he’d be remotely offended by us recalling his loyalty to Emery which in some ways was laudable …if he’d been a better manager 🙂
On another tack news has reached me ( purely tittle-tattle but from someone who knows the club well) that not only did Guendouzi blot his copybook in Dubai and that the absence of Nelson and AMN from the 18 was a result of them failing to impress Arteta with their attitude. Watch this space .
Brilliant! Well done all around.
Dr.F.
I’ve seen much less meritorious art in several London exhibitions or galleries at inflated prices. It’s a lovely picture . Please congratulate the artist and may I put in a pitch to be his agent ! Splendid embellishment to your excellent report.
As a postscript how did Newcastle expect to cope with Storm Dennis !?
Excellent frontispiece. Thank you Dr F, Faustus Jnr and Scruz.
Perhaps an appropriate frontispiece might be something we should try to add to most reports?
A draw between the Chavs and Mancs tonight might serve our needs best?
Kudos to Dr F the younger.
Re: Nelson and AMN’s reported attitude. This clearly matters to Arteta who made a point of how Ceballos had shown a poor attitude in training but turned it around, implying that injury or no, Ceballos would not otherwise have been considered for selection.
Thanks scruz for posting the drawing.
Thanks bath/TTG/bt8.
TTG: he fancies himself more as putting on the #14 for the red-and-White than drawing it. 😂
Time will tell, I am fine any which way.
Given how you all have been so kind, if he draws post-game cartoons like that I will post it here.
It seems young Guendouzi got a little taste of the Arteta medicine. Hope that will help cure the ailment of taking things for granted.
Thanks Ned. Was there report about Nelson’s attitude as well? I though Mikel told earlier he really likes how hard Nelson works.
There are stories about Guen in
a couple of papers this morning
but it doesn’t seem like any big thing.
AMN and Nelson haven’t kicked on
like Saka and Martinelli this season.
With Soares being brought in it
does seem clear AMN will no longer
be back-up RB and it’s going to be
a tough fight for him to get a place
in CM now.
A draw would have been best
but Manure winning was a better
result than Chavski winning –
7 points to make up. Just have
to keep up our new winning
thing.
Dr F@38: My source for Nelson’s reported attitude is TTG@32 — whether that counts as a “usually reliable source”, I shall leave to your best judgement… 🙂
OM@40: Agree with you there. Looks like Fergie time has been replaced with Ole VAR.
Amazingly we are six points off a CL spot with 12 games to go. Beat Everton next weekend and we move up to ninth, and could even snag eighth if Norwich get anything out of their visit to Wolves. Sheffield United and Man United should beat Brighton and Watford respectively, but it would help if the neighbours could split the points with that crew from the bus stop.
@41
better than the Daily Fail
🙂
Young kids with no attitude
problems are exceedingly rare
I think and MA was positive in
comments about Nelson.
No reason Nelson should walk
back in to the match day squad
based on performances this
season so looks fair to me.
@42
Agree Ned. A Spud chav draw
would be good. I imagine
Abraham is back next week
and he is key for the Chavs.
Batshuayi is not good enough
and OG rusty, unsuited and
possibly gone at PL level.
They’re both quite crappy sides
really these days.
OM@39: Saka got a big break this season with both our left backs getting crocked. He has taken it brilliantly, but otherwise might not have got much playing time as a left winger, and we wouldn’t know if he had kicked on. AMN had a similar break with Bellerin’s injury, which I think he took well enough. But Saka is an attacker, which AMN is not, so marauding runs up the wing, crosses and shots come naturally to him and catch the eye. Nelson has had an injury as well as having to push our record signing out of the team. Thus he has had less than half Saka’s playing time. It will be interesting to see what Arteta does with Saka when Tierney is available again in early March. Even Martinelli, who is arguably the best prospect among an outstanding crop of youngsters, is going to have to fight for games while Auba and Laca are still here.
ned@45, if ma8 can instill a culture of competition amongst the oldsters with the youngsters’ pressure, we’re in great shape… great point about saka, too. amn doesn’t seem to have the forward aggression gifted to young bukayo (let’s see that nutmeg again, “whooop!”).
i’m curious to know how it might have worked with amn if emery had the idea to drop xhaka back into rb cover when amn was deputising for hecate. rather, his solution was to push up the wings, play 3 at the back, and crowd the midfield…not a good look.
if amn gets the attitude right (see: ceballos), i can still see him be a valuable member of the squad.
@45
An entirely reasonable view Ned.
To take a harsher view ( that I’m not
sure I agree with myself because
actually I enjoy watching our younger
players in the PL)
AMN could be a useful squad member
(though that may not help his career)
but he’s had a good run at RB
and not been able to make that
position his own plus he hasn’t
been able to push his way into
what has often been a dysfunctional
CM this season.
In Nelson’s case he has had several
opportunities this season and he’s
done ok but so far lacked the end
product to justify his place on either
wing even when Pepe has been
clearly struggling at times.
Of course Saka and Martinelli are flavour
of the month just now and it could all
be different this time next year !
To be honest if I was AMN I’d
probably see how it goes over
the rest of the season and then
think to move in the summer
for regular football.
just watched a raft of highlights from yesterday, and have to compliment granit xhaka. often i’ve criticized him for square, backward, or slow passing. however, for özil’s goal he sprang mesut at the halfway line with a lovely through ball, leaving mesut with acres of space to charge into, leading to the goal. well done, granit.
Scruz@46: My guess would be that Arteta will end up playing a holding midfielder similar to the role in which Guardiola deployed Busquets at Barcelona, Xabi Alonso at Bayern and Fernandinho at City, ie, more a deep-lying central midfielder than a conventional defensive midfielder. It is the role he is getting Xhaka to play, but it is also the role that is AMN’s best shot for a place in the team if he shows he can cut the mustard.
It was a nice ball from Xhaka,
helped by the total runaround
we’d given Newcastle for the
previous couple of minutes.
I want to believe Xhaka and
Mus are born again but it’s
difficult, I keep getting flashbacks
OM@48: fair point. For AMN, the question is where is he in the pecking order viz-a-viz Torriera, Guendouzi and Chambers as Xhaka’s long-term replacement.
@52
I think your guess @50 is right
about what MA wants.
I wonder if Luiz isn’t the closest
we have at the moment but he
isn’t a long term option.
AMN seems at best 3rd in that
pecking order just now.
And anyway Luiz is busy forming
our triple axis of insecurity with Mus
and Xhaka. 2 clean sheets in a
row makes me laugh every time
I think of it.
Two consecutive clean sheets using the triple axis of insecurity? It must be the laughing gas taking effect, OM. 😉
Great piece on Manchester City from Jonathan Liew in The Guardian.
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2020/feb/17/manchester-city-backers-are-not-the-sort-to-take-punishment-lying-down?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
Thanks CM100.
Looks like it’s going to take years
and everyone will be dissatisfied
at the end.
The thing I liked about the piece is the way Liew calmly highlights the Abu Dhabi regime for what they are. Terrorism law number 7 is terrifying. We shouldn’t give them the free pass because they built a new academy in East Manchester.
Tbh I care much less about the Champions League.
CM@55, excellent piece. Thanks for posting. Jonathan Lieuw is one of the best sports journalists currently (and a Gooner to boot) and hits the nail right on the head here. This is going to get very messy if the $hitteh owners don’t get their way by stamping their feet and bribing the necessary people in the time honoured tradition of their culture.
I agree with you about the CL. Overblown competition with mostly uninteresting games.
C100
The Grauniad is viewed with disdain by many of my contemporaries and business colleagues but it possesses and demonstrates some of the best-crafted journalism existing in mainstream media today . Both the Liew article and Barney Ronay’s piece -which there is a link to -are very thought-provoking and beautifully crafted . Citeh are owned by loathsome people and they will provoke a storm because that is how they react to adversity. Many of the richest people I know react similarly to any setback or criticism. It’s bullying and for Citeh it’s literally on a national scale .
Re the Champions League it provides the income and the platform to attract tge best players- the ones who might win you the League . I enjoy the games and atmosphere . We took it for granted for so long .
Finally the Nelson/ AMN remark came in a conversation with someone who has lots of contacts at Colney and with ex-players. It was literally ‘ Guendouzi wasn’t the only one to blot his copybook in Dubai . You might notice ANN and Nelson weren’t in the squad either!’
I suspect Arteta is, as has been said on here, someone who expects commitment and a positive attitude in training and possibly didn’t see it. I’ve heard Guendouzi is a difficult ( stroppy) boy before but don’t know any specific details .
Didn’t know Liew was a gooner.
Happier reading today was that
we’re already working on a new
contract for Saka. He could be
anything in 5 years time and I
hope all those years are with us.
@42 Ned,
Just watched the Ole VAR
highlights. Hohoho. That was a truly
poor decision on Zouma’s
disallowed goal. I suppose
people will question VAR etc
but that was just good old-
fashioned incompetence.
Robbie Burton has moved to
Dinamo Zagreb. A bold move
by him and all the best to him
in the future.
Jonathan Lieu must have had a glance at my @77 in the previous drinks. 🙂 Man City is part of a project that puts football in the service of geopolitical power, and that game is played to power politics not sporting rules.
One of the most corrosive trends of recent years is how anyone who criticizes or disagrees with a government is now characterized as ‘a terrorist’, from Uighurs to left-wing Democrats, and thus fair game in that government’s eyes for extreme measures of repression. It is a trend that has spread with alarming speed from authoritarian regimes to autocracies, semi-democracies and now democracies. It is an Orwellian world where the people are the enemies of the people.
OM@62: Dinamo Zagreb has a good reputation for developing young players, and growing them beyond what is needed to win the Croatian league on a regular basis. Burton appears to have joined the club’s development team, which plays in the second-tier of the league, but I would not be surprised to see him at a club in one of the top five European leagues within two or three years if all goes well (and following in the footsteps of the likes of Modric and Kranjcar among many others). He is 20, was on the fringe of our first team squad and probably stuck there for the foreseeable future with Willock and ESR, both younger than him but ahead in the pecking order to succeed Ozil. So moving on seems the sensible thing to do. Best of luck to him.
I join in the good wishes to Robbie Burton . I’ve only seen him play live once when I was very impressed. I suspect he is not big or strong enough to play the holding role nor quite creative enough to leap beyond his rivals so it is a pragmatic decision and his fee will pay Mesut Ozil’s salary for three weeks . I suspect we will have either a sell-on clause or a buy-back option .
In other news Son looks as if he has injured himself quite severely on one of his diving expeditions . This leaves the Totts very short of firepower for the rest of the season
TTG@59: I am not surprised to hear Guendouzi being described as stroppy. You can see that in his attitude to refs whenever he thinks he has been fouled or gets the whistle against him for a foul he doesn’t think he has committed. He is also always one of the first in when the handbags threaten to come out. Top players need that streak in them, but equally they need to be its master, not its servant.
TTG@65: Burton is bigger than Modric. Dinamo Zagreb loaned the young Modric to a Bosnian club to toughen him up (the Bosnian league reputedly being the most physical league in Europe), so maybe they’ll do the same with Burton. What doesn’t kill you, cures you.
Son is one of the most underrated strikers in the Premiership, so his broken arm will hurt — and not just him.
oh, i am sorry about son…that he’ll only be out three months… 🙂
Cheers Doctor F!
That was a fuckin’ excellent day out!
Liverpool cannot manage a shot on target in the entire game.
Great possession stats, though. Let Klopp chew on that one for a while.
Esso
Glad you enjoyed it . You seem to make Ceballos play well ! Hope to meet up with you at another time !
A cracker of a Scottish Cup tie seems headed to penalties either the extra time score Motherwell 4-4 St. Mirren after the hosts were trailing 1-4 at halftime.
Also, Portsmouth, our soon to be opponents in the FA Cup 5th round, went through to the final of the EFL Trophy with a 3-2 home win against Exeter City, just to give them as many competitions to be thinking about as Arsenal.
booooo pompey, too bad for the grecians!
Son sung blue
Tottenham can do one
Son sung blue
Every bunghole grows one
Me and you are subject to a laugh now and then
But when you take the blues about a Son
You sing them out again
Sing them out again…
Scruzgooner @74
😂😂😂👏👏👏
bt8b@70: Unfortunately, one goal is not much of a lead to take to Anfield. But here’s hoping…
@72bt8
For the first time in my life
I checked a Motherwell score
on the Internet today 🙂
Out on penalties alas – a poor
reward for a rousing fight back.
@64 Ned
Yes, it looks a good choice by
Burton. Similar to Willock going
off to Benfica I suppose though
of course he’s in Huddersfield
now.
I hope we’ve inserted some
just in case clauses in the deal
as he’s only 20 and you never
really know with young players.
Looking forward to GSD’s preview
on the Olympiakos game – I’m
wondering what approach MA
will take. I expect we’ll be fairly
aggressive as is MA’s wont but
curious to see the team selection.
Only catching up after a few busy days. Nice piece, Doc. Elegant stuff. Cheers.
Faustus Jnr put a huge smile on my face. Absolutely top class. Well played young man.
Good luck to Robbie Burton.
City deserve punishment. Are they the only ones though? It strikes me there are other clubs who also deserve to have UEFA pulling the trigger on sanctions.
Totts without Kane and Son? They will struggle.
Sign Saka up ASAP.
Matteo, stop whinging and get your head down. That boy looks stroppy and Mikel is the guy to get it out of him. When stroppy stops feeling sorry for itself it turns into a nasty streak like God had. Don’t bitch, but take no shit.
Right. That’s me caught up.
Cheers Holics.
I’d go with the following tomorrow night, Matt.
Martinez,
Bellerin, Sokratis, Luiz, Kolasinac,
Torreira, Xhaka, Willock,
Pepe, Nketiah, Aubamayang
Martinez needs to keep his eye in. Sokratis will bust a gut in Greece. Kolasinac will want to show he should be first pick LB. Willock will do better than Ozil in Piraeus. Pepe and Nketiah deserve more game time.
A draw there won’t be a bad result.
Good team Btm . I think he may play Nelson if he is in his good books again
We have won once in four visits to Olympiakos, all Champions League group matches. A draw wouldn’t be the worst result, although the bookies have us as marginal favourites. Both sides go into the game on the back of 4-0 home wins in the league but the hosts are in the richer vein of form, unbeaten in 24 league games this season and conceding just nine goals.
Despite being unbeaten this season, Olympiakos are only two points clear at the top of the Greek Superleague and play their nearest challengers, PAOK Salonika, on Sunday. Might they be tempted to rest some players tomorrow?
TTG @ 71
He hears every word I yell at him! Yes, a meet-up would be well in order; just not sure when my next appearance will be is all!
Time for a slightly more in-depth post than usual, as for once I have time on my hands. Theme of it largely prompted by the excellent review penned by Doctor F, but also by he and his son’s current relationship with Arsenal.
I went on Sunday with my youngest (Patrick, guess who he was named after!), just turned 16 in December. Last game we went to together was Brighton away on Boxing Day 2018, a turgid 1-1 draw from being ahead initially. Having checked my spreadsheet, games before that we attended together were Southampton away, lost 3-2, Palace away drew 2-2. Only win we’d seen together for far too long was 2-0 Watford at home last season, which quite frankly although enjoyable, was not an exactly convincing performance. I’m not saying he was growing away from Arsenal but his fervour was definitely diminished. I think the school ‘bantz’ were getting a little tedious. Then Arteta arrived.
Almost overnight there was an definite change in attitude. Conversations about Arsenal were much more prolonged and animated than in the previous few months. When we watched the Chelsea (Home) game together we were incensed by the unfairness of the result. Watching the United game together on New Years Day really felt like a whole new beginning. January continued to see a real upturn in interest and so I started to plan a means of getting us both back into the stadium to see a game together.
Not moaning but that can prove logistically difficult for myself, but thanks to the excellent friendship and generosity of French Gooner Ollie, once of this parish, and WestStandTone from Arseblog arrangements were successfully made.
And what a day it was! Superb Tapas in El Molino, followed by serious pintage in The Eaglet (and afterwards!), including bumping into a old Aussie Gooner mate over for the match, and then seeing Auba and Laca score and winning 4-0! Fuckin’ excellent!
But it was more than that. It was not just the passage of time that made it seem so vital. It really felt to me like a genuine reconnection with the club, the players and all of our fans. And I could see that in Patrick’s eyes and it meant so much. I’m loving the Arteta effect to date, and I just want it to continue. Doubtless there will be ups and downs, some quite significant. But compared to where we were in November, just feels like heaven to me.
Wenger’s suggested change to the offside law so that an attacker would be onside if any part of their body with which they can score is level with the second-last defender won’t eliminate marginal calls. There would still be a line demarcating offside from onside. However, at least it would mean that the attacker would have to be entirely clear of the last defender to be offside. That is unequivocally offside, so it will seem fairer than the present situation where a goal gets disallowed because VAR decides the attacker’s nose was offside.
https://www.rte.ie/sport/soccer/2020/0219/1116228-wenger-looking-to-fast-track-offside-rule-changes/
Nonetheless, it would be a nightmare for VAR to draw those lines it uses for offside decisions through a forest of legs if the Wenger proposal was adopted. The IFAB won’t be in an hurry to make a change.
Esso@86: Well put. Whether you are one of 60,000 in the Emirates or of a couple of hundred at a non-league game, those emotional connections to the team, to mates, to the game is the core of the experience. It is why clubs have fans, not customers. Football without fans would be just another businesses.
Great post Esso.
I thought the Eaglet had closed. Was it just shut for a refurb?
Top stuff Esso. Just top, top stuff.
Countryman.
Yes. Changed hands and reopened. Was quite ok. And unlike the poxy Tollington they let U18s in.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>