In the twenty teens, Wembley became our second home. We always seemed to be there for FA Cup semi-finals, finals and Community Shields. The last win I witnessed there was in 2017 to win the FA Cup against Chelsea 2-1. The last time I attended was in 2018, when we lost 3-0 to Manchester City in the final of the League Cup. Arsenal were there in 2020 of course, winning the FA Cup and Community Shield – but in the grim atmosphere of having no fans allowed because of the pandemic. So, when we won a place in this year’s Community Shield, by virtue of finishing second in the league, the fans were eager to return to a place where we have seen much success over the years. Around 35,000 Gooners homed in on Wembley, taking advantage of the 5000 tickets returned by City. We, of course, sold out.
The SatNav decided that the North Circular Road was too busy on a big match day at Wembley. So we took ourselves on a tour of NW London suburbia. Edgware, Colindale, and Burnt Oak inter alia, and finally Wembley. The SatNav came up trumps and we were driving into the red multi-storey carpark just over two hours from leaving home. When I first starting booking Wembley official parking, about 15 years ago, it cost £20. This year it was £40. O tempora! O mores! (it is of course well known that Cicero was a Gooner).
Up and onto the concourse, we checked out the Wembley catering. Fine if you liked burgers or hot dogs at eye watering prices, but not much variety, let alone value. So a cheese burger each it was, despite the fact that I’m a pensioner (I did get £10 off the ticket) and into the stadium about 40 minutes before kick off. Thanks to the new system, where when you bought your tickets depended on the number of home league credits you had, we had superb seats on the lower tier, behind the goal and about 20 rows back. Two rows in front of us and just to our right were the Ashburton Army. They made plenty of noise, but thankfully had left the drum at home.
We were in bright sunshine, as we were to be for the rest of the day. I received a message from ClockEndRider telling me it was hammering down in Winchmore Hill about six miles away. Clearly the sun shone on the righteous.
The team was announced. The only surprise was Havertz leading the line, despite not having played there in pre-season. I think we all expected Eddie or Tross to be there. The team was:
Ramsdale, Timber, Gabriel, Saliba, White, Rice, Partey, Ǿdegaard, Saka, Havertz, Martinelli.
The strains of North London Forever rang out across Wembley. The teams came out. God Save the King was played. We were off.
The first period was played at quickstep pace, slow, slow, quick, quick slow. Stuart Atwell booked Partey, Havertz and Arteta for breaches of the new rule about gamesmanship. The first 15 minutes was all City, then Rice and Partey got a grip of midfield and we came right into it. Rice made a good break on the right and slid the ball to Havertz who had his back to goal. He spun and shot and Ortega made a superb save with his left foot. Ǿdegaard was coming more and more into the game, an indication of the extra space he was being given by the Rice/Partey double pivot behind him.
On the wings, Martinelli was skinning Walker and Saka was skinning Akanji. Saka got round his full back and cut it back superbly to Havertz, who should have scored but instead fired it straight at the goalie.
At half time it was 0-0. Arsenal had had the better chances and Ramsdale was practically untroubled in the Arsenal goal.
HT: Arsenal 0-0 City
City started quickly and won a corner. Stones headed powerfully towards goal and Ramsdale saved well. Ǿdegaard went down with a knock and needed the physio. He asked four times to come back on, to no avail. Evidently there is a new rule that says if you need the physio you can’t come on for 30 seconds, which seemed an eternity. Let’s see if these new rules are still being applied in October. City made a couple of subs, the ineffectual Grealish (perhaps he was still hungover) and Erling Haaland who had been magnificently controlled by the imperious Saliba – the blond Viking had zero shots on goal. On came Cole Palmer and Foden. Kovacic came off for our oft nemesis de Bruyne. Gabriel was booked for being kicked by Ortega (it’s worth mentioning that none of the cards carry forward to the League). Off came Timber for Tierney and Martinelli for Trossard.
I should mention at this point that the Arsenal crowd were loud, proud and magnificent throughout. I literally couldn’t hear the City fans. We were right in front of the wheelchairs, where a wizened little guy kept beseeching our team to break someone’s legs (okayyy!).
Then came the City strike. Just outside our penalty area, Partey was spun by Foden who made rapid progress upfield. His ball to Palmer was cut out by Tierney but only as far as de Bruyne. He nodded it to Palmer who took a touch and then rifled it into the top corner of Ramsdale’s net. Completely unsaveable and a magnificent strike.
Arsenal 0-1 (Palmer 78)
Rice came off for Eddie (Havertz moved into midfield, but eventually he was subbed by Vieira, as was Gabriel by ESR). Ramsdale made two excellent saves from Foden and Rodri. That could have been the game right there. We were not looking that threatening in this period. Several players, including Ǿdegaard were showing signs of fatigue in the hot sunshine. But, roared on by the crowd, we kept plugging away.
On 88 minutes, Rodri committed a mugging on Partey as he strode through the centre circle. No card of course (I made it his third bookable offence). Eight minutes of added time were announced (get used to this folks). In the 92nd minute a collision of heads between Partey and Walker saw a four minute delay as they were patched up, Partey being left looking like Stuart Broad with a broad white stripe round his head. 100 minutes gone. People were just beginning to drift away (not us of course). We won a corner. It was taken by Saka but nodded away by Rodri back to Saka, who collected the rebound and played it short to Trossard. He beat a man, then on the edge of the area fired in a fierce low left footed shot that deflected wickedly off Akanji and into the goal right in front of us. Trossard had bought a ticket and won the lottery. How many times have we bemoaned the semi-circle of death and beseeched someone to shoot. Cue pandemonium, limbs, celebration and a huge noise. The City players looked stunned.
Arsenal 1-1 (Akanji OG 100)
Two minutes later the final whistle went. It was to be penalties. They were taken right in front of the raucous Arsenal crowd. Captain Ǿdegaard stepped up and calmly scored. Kevin de Bruyne came forward and …..hit the bar!
Trossard and Sake scored, as did Bernardo Silva. The loathsome Rodri came forward and hit a poor penalty that was SAVED by Ramsdale. Oh sweet, sweet moment (the pressure clearly got to him). Fabio Vieira made the long walk from the half way line with the opportunity to win the game. He struck it sweetly into the top corner! For the 17th time we were Community/Charity Shield champions!
Thoughts. Timber – what a player, what a buy. Saliba was huge. Ramsdale and Partey were excellent, as was Trossard when he came on. Rice was very good, intercepting well and making space for others. The City hoodoo was laid and a trophy placed on the mantelpiece.
Last thought. Arteta has now gone to Wembley 12 times as a player and manager and has won 12 times. The final of the Champions League this season is at Wembley. Just saying!
On to Forest at home next Saturday and the first ‘holic get together of the season. We’re off and running.
A brief reminder to everyone that, if you act by Friday evening 7pm BST, you can get involved in two GHF competitions to add spice to your enjoyment of the forthcoming season.
The Holics Ropey League is open to all visitors to this fine establishment and the entry code will be sent to anyone who expresses in the ‘Drinks’ (just click on the word Drinks below to access this snug) a desire to join this elite group of evil bar stewards. You have to enter the Premier League Fantasy game at fantasy.premierleague.com to select your squad before being able to use that code to enter this league. There are only two additional rules for the Holics Ropey League: (1) you must at all times have at least one Arsenal player in your squad; (2) at no point must you draft any Sp*rz player to your squad. Sanctions are swift and merciless. Entry is free. The prize is the adulation of all other competitors for at least the close season.
Another competition this season is the Predictathon in which you must predict the final table positions of the 20 teams competing in this season’s Premier League, the first coach/manager to be sacked or to resign and the winners of the League Cup and FA Cup. Details of how to enter are available by clicking the GHF Contests tab at the top right of this web page. Entry requires a minimum £15 donation to the Willow charity that does wonderful things for young people with life-threatening diseases and was set up and for many years run by ’71 double hero, Bob Wilson. The prize for the winner of this competition will be God-like status in the virtual bar of GHF with multiple virtual refreshments offered by the regulars, and should you attend a GHF re-union, at least one complimentary Negroni.
Nice warm up for new season Countryman.
The first of many away day reports to look forward to.
And in the Women’s world cup,
England have just dodged about a 100 bullets and a player sent off, to prevail over a very impressive Nigeria on penalties in round of 16.
Now on to Colombia or Jamaica in qtr final on Friday.
Great report, C100. Not only was Cicero a Gooner but he stood in the clock end of the Colosseum. Well, he would have if it had been built then….
I thought both sides were not at full tilt and that Arteta did a great job of organising his team to force the 115-charge, side-built-on-a-shoestring wide and largely neutering them.
I thought it telling that the crowd gave up a massive boo when the in-stadium cameras showed pictures of this years Mike Dean – Howard Webb. He seems to have done nothing to promote consistency of decision making among those whom he is supposed to be directing.
Super penalties by our players, with the possible exception of Saka who rather scuffed his. Vieira’s was unsaveable.
Can’t wait for next weekend.
Thanks for an excellent report c100.
I have lots of curry suggestions around Wembley , given its Indian population it has some great restaurants but you returned home. Please note Holics want reports on the quality of curries as much as the game !
I saw the same game as you but you didn’t have to listen to Messrs Matterface and Dixon. Lee made very little sense all afternoon. I’m ambivalent about pre-season matches . I felt we slightly overdid the celebrations but I think this was for Citeh’s benefit and to psych up our own players. I won’t criticise any of the new signings as they need to settle in but Timbef had a classy veneer about his fame and Saliba woukd have been MOTM if Lee Dixon wasn’t choosing it . I think Trossard brings a huge amount to the team and I’d start with him instead of Havertz on Saturday .
But it’s nice to have a trophy. Do we hold the record for Charity / Community Shield wins?
Spillchucker woes – It’s Timber and game but you wouldn’t recognise me if I typed correctly
Cheers C100. I had such bad memories of that League Cup final, I was absolutely convinced we’d lost 4-0 until I read the actual score in your report! I actually mentioned that score to WST yesterday but, mind, you, he couldn’t even remember the year. Best forgotten. Yesterday on the other hand was very enjoyable.
TTG, no I think Man U are still a long way ahead of us for number of CS wins.
Spillchucker though, TTG? Converting an actual word into an imaginary one? AI wonders never cease. 😁
Informative and atmospheric report on a game I missed, driving home from the far north.
Atmospheric despite the lack of curry house descriptions. I assume wizened wheelchair was referring to Rodri, of course. Thank you c100, hoping to read many more of your away day missives as the season heats up.
We might have lost a miserable 2018 League Cup Final to Citeh ( I was there and saw Mustafi at his very worst ) but don’t rule out us being awarded it when Citeh are cast into the darkness because of their cheating .
Great report, C100 and nicely contextualised. My daughter and I were also at those last two accessible Wembley occasions and I recall having little expectation of success at the latter because the gap in quality between the teams had been depressingly large for some time. Indeed, their vectors had been pointing in radically different directions for some time and it was hope rather than expectation that dominated pre-match emotions that day. Yesterday was a far cry from that and evidence of Mikel Arteta’s team-building and tactical prowess. We are real competitors again.
Every man played his part. There were no passengers. Everyone was at it and worked his socks off. There were absolutely superb performances from Ramsdale, Saliba, Gabriel, Timber, Partey, Ødegaard and Trossard. Frankly, Timber’s performance at this stage of his Arsenal career is astonishing. Rice was more influential in the second half than the first in which we appeared to concede possession and ownership of the midfield for the opening 20 minutes. His profile in this team will hopefully continue to rise as he learns Artetaball and gets to know his teammates. Havertz worked hard and failed to take a great opportunity to score (as, later, did Saka) and we know he’s not a centre forward (even the Chavs do too) but he contributed well to link up play and tracked back effectively. He too will grow into this team.
It’s all looking very promising.
Up and running in fine style, C100. Bodes well for the new season.
Arteta should milk the win for all the mentality-boosing he can, but he won’t overlook the fact that City is a different side when it has Haaland and de Bruyne on the pitch at the same time.
Thanks for the shout-out on the prediction game. Everyone who expressed an interest should have received an entry blank; if not, you can download one from the GHF Contests tab above — as can anyone else who would like to play. Complete and return (and donate to Willow) by the 7 pm Friday deadline. A goodly number of entries have already flooded in, but if you haven’t joined the lists yer, don’t delay.
Thanks C100, a fine start to the season. I missed the game due to the vagaries of television executives but I have seen the goals now, Trossard’s was going in anyway of course.
Thanks also for the kindly mention for our HolicsRopeyLeague, 10 regulars in now I think and should be good clean fun without utensils as always…….
Back home. A remarkably smooth journey on tbe Eurostar both ways this time.
well in, c100. glad you were able to get such good seats, our goal and the penalty shoot-out must have been a fun watch! i do love your away-day posts, though i agree i want to know about the curry and other food outside the stands.
here’s to our new season on the back of that piece of silver plate. let’s go for Sterling from now on!
@13 scruz, Sterling is the poor man’s Mbappé, I am still expecting the real thing any day now……………………..
On some actual news it seems AMN has signed for Lyon. Best of luck to him there, it’s a nice place with some great food😃
Marquinhos Ligue Un loan sounds likeca good deal all around.
matt, i knew someone was going to say that 😉
bt8, good for both of them, especially if marquinhos comes out of it as well as saliba did. good luck and a long career for amn!
OM @15 – all that poulet de Bresse, Crozes-Hermitage, Fleurie and Julienas? What a problem?!!!. Need anyone to carry your bags, Ainslie?
Best ignore the Beaujolais Nouveau….
Trev, I think you might be ‘too good’: https://www.football365.com/news/lopetegui-leave-wolves-termination-talks-ongoing-ex-pl-boss-favourite-replace-him
Not sure if points are allocated if this happens just before the League starts? :-p
Great stuff, C100 – The Arsenal’s Alan Whicker ! Very enjoyable !
Ollie, indeed !
I am predicting this week’s National Lottery numbers if anyone is interested. Cost for the full set is a cool £2 million. Bargain !
Excellent curtain-raiser for the season — the match and report both! Thank you Countryman! Glad you all enjoyed another of our successful Wembley days.
BTW, shouldn’t our goal be credited to Trossard ? His shot was on target so in that case irrespective of the amount of deflection it’s still his goal. He was excellent as he has been since he joined us.
Saliba was imperious. Getting him to commit his future with us is one of the best businesses we have done in the summer.
Timber was superlative too. A quintessentially Ajax player, and like them all seems to be perfectly placed to play for Arsenal. 🙂
Ollie, the season hasn’t started yet so I don’t think it counts. Over to adjudicators.
Wolves decision was made a month ago and he agreed to stay on for the time it took for them to choose another manager.
Ollie@20 and other interested parties: I will take amendments to tin-tack predictions, provided they are received by Friday’s deadline. However, if there is any ambiguity over the timing of Lopetegui’s departure, assuming he does go, then TTG, as the Grand Arbiter of the Predictathon, will adjudicate on whether he left before the season started or not.
And to confirm the rules, it is the first manager to leave after the season starts.
Re the prediction competition Ned and I have agreed that if you picked Lopetegui to be the first PL manager to be sacked can change their prediction as long as they beat the deadline for the start of the competition . Please let Ned know your revised choice before the start of the competition, ie that is 7pm UK time on Friday 13th
wolves are going to have a great season, yeah, they are, that’s right, that’s the ticket, a great season.
trev, very well played.
the scruzgoons are now in the ropey league. beware!
Lopetegui out now confirmed: Gary O’Neil set to take over.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/66437744
I imagine the Yam Yams fans will be delighted with that decision.
Also in their neck of the wood the devastation of the burning down and demolition of the Crooked House pub 2 weeks after a property developer bought it. Apparently large mounds of earth blocked fire engines getting near to the fire. Britain ‘s wonkiest pub built on pit land had the optical illusion of a marble running up a mantle piece. A real shame and I hope it gets investigated properly and hopefully make whoever rebuild it brick by brick.
Ollie @20, it has been a longstanding tradition that the Charity/Community Shield match is the curtain raiser for each new season. Therefore technically the season has started.
However, in the little corner of the football world that is GHF this is deemed not to be so and the Grand Vizier (who also selected Lopetegui) has spoken, therefore I have submitted a new candidate.
Very vizierly I must say, I will get on with my entry asap.
Grand Vizier, how does one submit a new candidate ?
I had enough trouble submitting the first one via Excel on a Mac – mostly cos it isn’t on a Mac, and I am to computing what a fish is to a bicycle !
Looks all right to me, Trev.
via GIPHY
Trev@35 @ others: Just email your change to the same address as you sent your entry. Teams of operators are standing by…
Good luck to Matt Turner at Forest. I suspect we shall see him on Saturday.
I assume that his departure means that Raya’s arrival is as good as a done deal. Mike MacDonald’s suggestion that Arteta will be the first manager to substitute goalkeepers during matches in the same way as outfield players are changed according to the state of the game pops back into my mind.
Ned @38, Mike’s game analysis is generally extremely informative but ingame substitution of the goalkeeper for tactical reasons is one of the daftest suggestions I have ever heard.
Has a goalkeeper ever been subbed for dropping a clanger or clangers in a game?. I can’t think of an example.
England used to alternate Clemence and Shilton each game during the 70s but that is a lot different to this scenario.
SP @40, I do believe that has happened in at least one match I have watched on TV but I can’t tell you who was involved. I think it was an international and I don’t think I’ve seen it in the PL.
My 2 cents on tactical subbing of goalkeepers mid-match is that first, it is a high-tariff substitution that would be easy for the opposition to nullify by changing their tactics, and second, that, net for net, as it were, there is a risk that any short-term gain would be more than offset by the long-term loss of the stability to the defensive unit that comes from playing together regularly. Conceivably, Arteta could counter that by giving his keepers 30 games each across all competitions and paying no heed to any notion of cup and league keepers, just the best horse for the course on the day, but he would be entering novel territory to say the least.
I remember reading somewhere that when Guardiola was at Bayern, he considered playing Manuel Neuer in midfield on occasion (although never did so). I assume somebody else would have been in goal, but with Pep you never know!
@19 CER,
I hope to be in Julienas around the end of Sept / Oct to eat or drink those things. I’ll pop in and see how AMN is doing 😉
A full starting XI in the HolicsRopeyLeague 👍
Still more than 24 hours before boarding ladies and gents…..
I entered the Predicatathon fray today, trebles all round 🥂🥂🥂
OM @43 – lucky you! Lovely time of the year to be there….
Yeah, gotta snag a flight at some reasonable cost first 🤞
But looking forward to catching up wIth old friends in Julienas and
then heading down to meet some more in Normandy, great cheese and
aged calvados. Life is good until the next health check 😂😂
OM@44: Good man, and an inspiration to any remaining Predictathon laggards, I hope. The deadline is bearing down.
The Raya loan-with-an-option-to-buy deal is intriguing. Was the structure forced by us running up against financial fair play limitations after splashing out on Rice, Havertz and Timber? Or has Edu boxed clever? We get a second top-quality keeper for a season for £3 million, which seems fair value, while there is little downside if it doesn’t work out for either Raya or Ramsdale. If anything, the deal short-changes Brentford, who may have to wait a year to get the remaining £27 million or take back used and perhaps slightly damaged goods.
Unsuccessful for Spurs Silver now (and I got the ‘rude’ version of the e-mail this time, it’s getting worse). Not sure how their fucking probabilities work.
Yeah, I was wondering about that Ned. Although I am also hearing reports of an obligation to buy if he plays a few games.
I think time was another factor as we wanted him before the season start. And although it would be nice to think Edu boxed clever, Brentford haven’t seemed notably foolish in the market in the past.
Anyway, speculation aside, welcome to The Arsenal David Raya!
Going to be an interesting battle……
And regardless of anything else, well done Edu on getting this one done and finding a home for Matt Turner. We are i think stronger which is the main point.
Well done on the half-ton Matt.
Ollie @49. Fourth strike out in a row for me. Arsenal live is going to be a thing of the past. Time to move on.
Ollie, Bath and others in this situation. I really sympathise – the system doesn’t work. But remember that STholders must attend at least 17/19 league matches this year, or place their ticket on TE, or transfer their tickets, to keep their STs next year. I think that will mean a lot more tickets coming up on TE, especially in the last week before the games. I know it’s a balls ache having to check, but it is a possible life line.
ST holders on here, remember your fellow holic’s if you can’t attend a game for whatever reason.
Didn’t realise that, C100. I have been scouring TE for Man U tickets last week or two. Seen a few pop up, but unavailable by the time I managed to select one.
Waiting until the last week of the game generally doesn’t appeal so much due to logistics issue for me (I will do it on occasion/dessperation) but hopefully it will allow a few more people to get in.
Cheers Ollie, Raya providing his first assist
And I mean I didn’t realise the conditions for ST renewal. Quite ‘ironic’ considering a few years ago I rejected the ST offer after all as only upper tier, and thought I’d have to relinquish a lot of midweek tickets per season and so Silver was quite perfect for me. I actually also enjoyed seating in a different seat most matches.
Arsenal kick off Saturday morning at 6:30am my local time. That means there’s only one practice sleep remaining before the real sleep, and it’s nearly time to test my alarm clock.
I’ve derived much mirth from the meltdown at the Armitage Shanks over Kane.
Levy should never have let it go this far but he always ends up screwing his own team . I think he may stay but if Levy senses he won’t renew he will be very keen to see him out the door .
If Courtois had done his ACL earlier Real may have been interested in Raya with the deal that Edu has obtained
Ollie/Bath,
If there’s a game which it looks like 21CG and I can’t attend, fear not, we will let you know.
In other news, £110 m fir Caicedo? Suddenly the Rice deal looks like the going rate….who knew? Apart from “Bloody Edu”…..
A few predictathon entries may be looking a bit glum this morning. No Kane at Spurs, No Caicedo at Chelsea, but instead at Liverpool.
Indeed, C100 @60, and the window still has the best part of 3 weeks to run. I never had any expectations for my ability to foretell future events, nor that insider knowledge of forthcoming transfer activities in the remaining days of this window would enhance my ability to predict the last resting place of each club this season.
However with rumours emerging last night that Levy will try to get Mitrovic from Fulham to replace Harry Kane should encourage the cottagers to revive the interest from his Saudi suitors.
Meantime, this morning, it seems that Levy wants to change the deal that’s been agreed as he’s allegedly decided that he’s no longer happy with the terms.
@58 Me too TTG, Levy has been the hit comedy of the summer.
And if by some chance Bayern don’t win the league this season you’d have to have a heart of stone not to laugh
Patino loan to Swansea confirmed.
I was a little upset by the protracted Rice transfer in the summer as I had been looking forward to 10 solid weeks of Kane to Madrid/Paris/Munich/Riyadh speculation. Ah well I guess pleasure deferred…
COYG
Best of luck to Charlie in Swansea
Rumors of a desperate late Chelsea bid for Caicedo.
That would amuse as I don’t actually care where
he goes – much like Caicedo himself as it happens
Could be many a slip for Kane yet 😉
Deadline day for the GHF PL Predictathon. You have until 7 pm UK time to submit your entry if you haven’t already done so. Details and an entry blank are to be found under the GHF Contests tab above. Don’t delay.
Nelsons for Caiceido? Eye-popping.
Klopp being a total cunty fake scouser – referring to Alexis Mac Allister as ‘Macca’!
*puke emoji*
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>