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Time to Assert Dominance

Jan 2nd, 2023 by

Tomorrow we welcome the club that formerly represented the so-called ‘Geordie Nation’ but now represents the somewhat better-heeled Saudi nation. The takeover by a consortium led by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in October 2021 has prompted predictions of transformation from the sickly shadow of a quasi-mythological ‘local hero’ generating only sympathy for claimed powers lost, to a predatory, footballing superpower. While in truth the club had only intermittent potency formerly, with the assistance of funds of the Saudi Treasury there has been definite progress. They may be seen as less now a magpie scavenging for scraps and more a hawk feeding off titbits while perched on a Sheik’s silk-enrobed arm.

Newcastle United, formed by the amalgamation of Newcastle East End and Newcastle West End, originally played in red shirts and white shorts. The famous black and white stripes were adopted as their permanent first choice kit only after being forced to change their red shirts in their first ever Football League game. That was away to Woolwich Arsenal on 2 September 1893, they drew 2-2 and Newcastle were clearly so pleased with the result that they subsequently stuck with the stripes as their first-choice shirt. 

The Barcodes’ heyday was almost in mythological times. They won an FA Cup and three of their four League titles between 1904 and 1910. They won their fourth and to date last title in 1925 and their last domestic silverware way back in 1955 when they beat City in the FA Cup Final, the third time they won the FA Cup in the 1950’s. Their only subsequent and most recent competitive trophy was the 1968-69 Fairs City Cup. Since then they have had two periods of excitement and hope, both unfulfilled. Keegan’s exhilarating team which achieved two second placed finishes in 1995-6 and 1996-7 was the most exciting team that I saw visit Highbury until Wengerball 1 eclipsed everyone else. The Bobby Robson era brought title challenges and three top five finishes between 2001 and 2004 and Champions League participation but the Geordies have had to live with Ashley-imposed mediocrity until Howe’s revolution began in 2022.

Tomorrow’s game will be our 190th competitive meeting with Newcastle United. We hold the advantage with 83 wins against 68 defeats and 38 draws. In the Premier League, at our place, our record is of course even more respectable with 21 wins, 2 draws and 4 defeats. However, those statistics are of no relevance to a match against this iteration of Newcastle United. The most relevant yardstick is the game at St James’ Park on May 16th last year when a weary Arsenal’s drive for a Champions League place was derailed by a ferocious Newcastle performance driven on by an exuberantly hostile crowd that left us flattered by a 0-2 defeat. That game is regarded as a statement performance on Tyneside with Arsenal representing the team they hope to become.

After the game, Arteta fumed, “They were 10,000 times better than we were today. It is fucking embarrassing to come here the way we have done it. Embarrassing. What happened today is fucking unacceptable.” Howe observed, “This game didn’t really have anything on it for us. And the crowd and the feeling was unbelievable. So, you think to yourself, ‘What if this was for something, what if it was to win something or qualify for something?’ It just showed what the club can be. We set the marker there in that moment, for what we want to be.”

You can bet your bottom dollar that Arteta will have his team focused on winning this game and rectifying that embarrassment and that Howe will have his players fired up to take our scalp again and put another marker down of Newcastle’s progress to prove that there’s a new stag on the hill.

Newcastle’s progress in 2022 has been very impressive. On 1 January 2022 they sat 19th with 1 win and 8 draws from 19 games. Today they sit third after playing 17 games with 9 wins (4 away wins), 7 draws (3 away draws) and a respectable 33 goals scored (15 away goals) and 11 conceded (6 conceded away) showing them to have the most secure defence in the league (we are second with 14 conceded). They come to the Emirates having won 6 of their last 7 games, unbeaten in 12 Premier League fixtures since a 2-1 defeat at Liverpool on 31 August. 2022 has proved to be a transformative year for them, with 21 top flight victories in a calendar year for the first time since 1995. 

The expenditure of over £200m by Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund in the two windows since they took over may have been a factor. They have added quality in Pope, Trippier, Botman, Guimarães, Wilson and Isak and English steel in Burn and Wood but in addition Schär, Joelinton and Almiron have been coached to produce markedly improved performances. Both Mikel and Pep have publicly acknowledged that Newcastle are title contenders this season.

Unquestionably the appointment of Eddie Howe to replace the hapless Mrs Doubtfire as coach in November 2021 was another significant factor in Newcastle’s transformation, Howe has shown himself to be an excellent coach and he is clearly one of the most talented young English managers to emerge in recent years. However, as Tim recently pointed out in a 7am KO blogpost (https://7amkickoff.com/index.php/2022/12/30/week-15-16-recap/), Howe is ‘whitewashing the ownership’s criminal human rights and modern slavery record’ and offers this link as evidence of Saudi’s despicable practices (https://archive.vn/ArQNr). Not to mention Jamal Khashoggi!

Howe’s team selection is largely predictable. Since December 2021 he has almost invariably played 4-3-3, and he demands a high-pressing, dynamic performance. Interestingly he has regularly played 5 or 6 English players bucking a Premiership trend in recent years. Pope is an able ‘keeper. The back line of Trippier, Schär, Botman and Burn have been parsimonious this season; these centre backs will use their height and physical strength to deal with any high balls into the box but if he continues at left back, Burn should be vulnerable to Saka’s speed and ball skills while, although Trippier may match Martinelli for pace, his tendency to join attacks should leave space behind for Gabigol, Zinchenko, Xhaka or Eddie to exploit. It’ll be interesting to see whether Howe sticks with his back four or if the challenge of facing this Arsenal team makes him opt for a back three. It’s conceivable that Howe may bring Burn inside to left centre-back or bring Lascelles back to play a back three against the league leaders though playing as a wing back may challenge Burn. 

If Howe plays his usual 4-3-3 the midfield is likely to be Longstaff, Guimarães and Willock with Joelinton making a fourth on the left when Newcastle lose possession whilst in possession the latter often alternates front-line support with Willock. Guimarães is a class act and will need to be marshalled carefully by Thomas Partey. Joe Willock has been playing well and will be up for this game against his former mates from Hale End. The newly invigorated Almiron and the lumbering Wood have been the recent front pair with the former drifting in to great effect from the right but Wilson and Saint-Maximin started from the bench for 30 minutes against Leeds on Saturday and while the Ecuadorean’s place is assured, I expect to see Wilson return to their starting eleven on Tuesday. I would be surprised if Saint-Maximin starts on the left ahead of Joelinton and it would be a huge statement of offensive intent by Howe as the Frenchman’s often match-winning dribbling and unpredictability are offset by his poor pressing and reluctant defensive work. If he plays, expect Saka to get plenty one on ones with Burn. Isak and Shelvey are still crocked though the former may make the bench given this game’s importance to their growing self-esteem.

I caught the last hour or so of the Barcodes’ game against Dirty Leeds. Unsurprisingly after 6 consecutive wins and playing their 12th game without defeat, they played with considerable confidence and an expectation of victory. They dominated the second half and spurned several good chances. However, particularly in the last third of the first half, Leeds’ energetic pressing and swift passing and movement opened the Newcastle defence up several times suggesting that Ødegaard might be able to find our mobile front three in promising positions. Until he was substituted late on Almiron represented their biggest attacking threat and he crafted several opportunities from the right after good interplay with Trippier. That pair should inform our selection at left back in my opinion. They had little threat down their left until Saint Maximin came on and I dare say we will see him come off the bench at some point as I suspect starting him would be too gung-ho for Howe. Their other threats are the long ball from the keeper over the middle for Wood to head on or for Wilson to run onto. They are, of course, also very dangerous from set pieces because of their big target men and Trippier’s accuracy with a dead ball. The right-back is also particularly dangerous from a centrally placed free-kick. Wilson is a talented centre forward and our centre backs will certainly know they’ve been in a game. They will need to be on their toes. Wilson, Almiron, Joelinton and Willock are also enthusiastic practitioners of Howe’s high press. However, given all those positives, a Newcastle vulnerability is the temperament of several of their players, notably Guimarães and Joelinton. Their frustration boiled over as the Leeds game wound down. They clearly expected to beat Leeds and undoubtedly they believe that they will challenge for the title. In contrast, we will need to keep our cool.

The Arsenal come into this game sitting 7 points clear at the top of the Premier League after an exemplary first 16 games of the season having picked up where they left off in their first two post-WC games against West Ham and Brighton. Both recent victories showed the flair, technical ability and dynamism of our front three and the vision, ability and sheer brilliance of Ødegaard. It was particularly encouraging to see Eddie’s link up play and brace of goals and we must hope he can keep that up. Partey was imperious in both games and is vital to our forward progress and defensive screen. Sadly, the defence proved to be a tad vulnerable against Brighton. I do think this was in part due to the substitution of an impressive Benjamin White by a very rusty Tomiyasu compounding rustiness from Saliba. They should both benefit from several more days of work on the training ground.

With the FA Cup tie coming up next Monday, there is no need to rotate any of our key players and there is only one position where I would suggest there is a decision to be made. Personally, I would start Tierney at left back rather than Zinchenko as the threat down Newcastle’s right side from Trippier and Almiron is significant and the Scotsman is by far the better defender whilst he still offers attacking verve himself. Hopefully Martinelli’s own attacking threat may cramp Trippier’s style and I would back Tierney against Almiron one on one. However, I expect Arteta to start Zinchenko as he greatly believes in the disrupting effect of the Ukrainian in that inverted position between the lines. I hope it works again. In that case Xhaka will be required to be alive to the need to cover our left flank when we lose possession. He will need to have more of a defensive hat on than he has had to wear of late. 

Hence the team I expect Arteta to start is:

Ramsdale

White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko

Partey

Ødegaard, Xhaka

Saka, Nketiah, Martinelli

This game is another huge test for our young team. It is a test against another contender not just of our abilities – I believe that we are the better team – but also of our belief that we can beat the other strong contenders and win this league.

Both defences are parsimonious, both attacks are talented. I expect both teams to come out with the intention of winning this game. I also expect a low scoring, tight, nerve-jangling contest. I would be delighted with a good old fashioned 1-0 to the Arsenal. 2-0 would send me into orbit!

The Holic pound? It’s still going to Ukraine along with sundry others. 

Enjoy the game, Holics. If you can.

Come on you Gunners!

Posted in Match Preview | 45 Drinks »

The Old Year Ends with a New Era

Jan 1st, 2023 by

A few months after Arteta started his own managerial career in Arsenal, I remember watching a Guardiola interview – or maybe I read the interview transcript but remember it as watching Pep talking, the Hippocampus can be a very creative organ – where when asked about how much he taught his ex-assistant about football Pep mentioned that the reverse is also true, that he learned from Mikel as much as he taught him. At that time, it felt like a very successful manager’s public act of support for one of his pupils. But as Arteta’s career has unfolded with Arsenal and now has started to blossom, the thought strikes me that maybe what Pep was saying wasn’t merely an act of generosity but a close depiction of reality.

For example, take Zinchenko’s role in Arsenal’s first goal away at Brighton on the New Year’s Eve. Captain magnificent Ødegaard drove into the opposition box dribbling past a few players, the deep block of Brighton defense cleared the danger, and their midfield was positionally well-placed to transition into a counter-attack. The peerless Partey anticipated the transition and with a silky elegance stopped it with a perfectly timed tackle, and there was your (nominal) left back – high up on the pitch and floating around in a left side half-space between Brighton defense and midfield – re-springing the attack from in front of the penalty box to Martinelli. The Brazilian got a stinging shot on target that was deflected by a Brighton defender onto the path of Saka, placed perfectly near the far post. Saka took a trademark first touch to cushion the ball right onto his left foot, then a super cool pass-the-ball-into-the-net finish, from one of our own who just keeps getting better. Two minutes on the clock and Arsenal were 1-0 up.

Brighton 0 – Arsenal 1 (Saka 2’)

The Ukrainian captain, an excellent technician though he is, is not a natural left back like Tierney, and he suffers in comparison to the Scotsman’s defensive abilities. But he gets selected – when he is fit, which has unfortunately been a bit of a challenge since he had joined, we are now blessed with two very high-quality left backs both of whom have a less than desirable relationship with the injuries – ahead of Kieran in important league matches because he plays this unique tactical role to perfection. Others can correct me, but at neither Barcelona nor Bayern do I remember any of Pep’s left backs interpreting their role the way Zinchenko does, and I am willing to argue that this innovation was started in Manchester City in the mind of Pep’s then assistant.

This re-jigging of the left back role also plays to the strength of Martinelli and allows Xhaka to flourish beyond all expectations (of supporters, Mikel may always have had this in mind) in an advanced left-sided midfielder role. It’s fascinating that even though this asymmetrical tactical formation is now predictable, it’s hard to tactically prepare against because if the opposition chooses to overload their right side all Arsenal needs to do is switch the play on the right to two of the best left-footed players in the premier league to rampage through the left side. You can either double-mark Saka, or you can add an extra player to solve the puzzle of Zinchenko-Xhaka-Martinelli triangle. It’s like Kasparov playing Grunfeld defense with black: somewhat complicated, and even though predictable and you can study it to death it’s rather difficult to have an answer to especially when being executed by a master.

Arteta’s starting eleven replaced Tierney from the West Ham eleven, and if Brighton had thought that by using the pace and technical abilities of Tariq Lamptey, supported by a seasoned central defense lying deep, they would keep the Arsenal left side under control the second minute goal might have come as a surprise blow.

Ramsdale

White – Saliba – Gabriel – Zinchenko

Partey – Xhaka

Saka – Ødegaard – Martinelli

Nketiah

But credit to the Seagulls, they always play well at their home ground, and even after conceding so early they started to dominate the possession and played some good football to progress through the middle of the pitch as well as their right side where Zinchenko – Gabriel pair were caught out a few times. There were also hints that Arsenal quite willingly played a bit on the back foot looking for sharp transitions instead of choosing to dominate the game with the ball. Brighton had a few half-chances and Ramsdale had to make a couple of saves. There were a flurry of corners aimed at Arsenal’s goal, but the defense handled the pressure with a sufficient degree of ease. Arsenal created their own chances on the other side, including a sumptuous flick by Ødegaard for Martinelli that, if not cleared by the Brighton defense, would have been one of those ever- memorable goals.

Then the second goal came. We had a corner from the right side. Saka delivered a high-quality ball that Gabriel tried to get onto the end of but was cleared by a Brighton defender. Martin was hanging around at the edge of the penalty box, and he followed the clearance quicker and sharper than his marker Mitoma and hit the ball into the ground to spin up and loop past Sanchez in Brighton goal. His celebration afterwards indicated he meant it, in the post-match interview he claimed he meant it, and given his technical qualities I am inclined to believe that he indeed meant it (we had another left footed creative player in the recent past who scored a few goals like that).

Brighton 0 – Arsenal 2 (Saka 2’, Ødegaard 39’ )

Going into the half-time with a well-earned two goal lead away at Brighton is exactly the kind of marker of progress that has created so much excitement around this young Arsenal team, who I think is still very much a work in progress, and can and will improve significantly over the new few years if fully supported by the club management and owners.

One of the young home-grown players who symbolizes this progress is Eddie Nketiah. Always a prolific penalty-box finisher, his game used to be marked by some noticeable technical limitations that in modern football – where players like Inzaghi no longer exist at the very top level – makes it almost untenable to play as a central striker for a club fighting for the titles. But in the last year and half he has progressed and matured significantly under Arteta’s tutelage and now, in deputizing for the injured Jesus over the last two matches he has justified the club’s faith in him, not only continuing his fine goalscoring form from the end of last season but also replicating some of the other key aspects of Jesus’s all-around game.

Early in the second half it was Nketiah the poacher that put Arsenal in a very comfortable position. Arsenal regained possession in their own half, Ødegaard drove through the middle with the ball on his feet before passing to Partey – the verticality that Thomas provides both with his passing and his movements is such a key facet to Arsenal’s thrilling speed of attack. Not only our defensive shape but our attacking quality drops noticeably in Partey’s absence; this is less of a criticism of other players than an appreciation of his importance Partey who put the ball into the path of onrushing Martinelli with a perfectly timed pass. Martinelli sped into the box, and his stinging shot could only be palmed away by Sanchez for Eddie to score with a cleverly placed outside-of-the-boot finish.

Brighton 0 – Arsenal 3 (Saka 2’, Ødegaard 39’, Nketiah 47’)

After this third goal Arsenal sat back even more, and with Tierney and Tomiyasu – very good to see him back, hopefully he is close to being fully fit — being brought in for Zinchenko and White, it seemed Mikel decided to simply see the match out. Credit to Brighton that they didn’t quite give up or feel sorry for themselves; they kept trying to create attacking overload. Mitoma was their best player and from a sequence of fast and precise exchanges he ran onto a ball and scored past Ramsdale with a cultured finish.

Brighton 1 (Mitoma 65’) – Arsenal 3 (Saka 2’, Ødegaard 39’, Nketiah 47’)

Then came what I felt was our pass of this season. Defending deep into our own half as Brighton intensified the pressure, Ødegaard controlled a clearance from the defense, and from the position of a deep lying defensive midfielder he bypassed the entire Brighton midfield and defense with a first-time pass that was perfect in every way – right pace, right positioning, and meant exactly for the player that Martinelli is with his speed and his angled runs from out to in. Lamptey is fast, but not fast enough to catch Gaby on a foot race, and the Brazilian finished through Sanchez’s legs.

Brighton 1 (Mitoma 65’) – Arsenal 4 (Saka 2’, Ødegaard 39’, Nketiah 47’, Martinelli 71’)

Saliba hasn’t been as imperious and impeccable since his return from World Cup as he was in the first half of the season. But this was always expected and was bound to happen at some point of time in the season. Along with Gabriel he has formed a formidable defensive partnership and they cover for and complement each other expertly, and their partnership allows Arsenal to play in the front foot by keeping the defensive line so far up. But still in the Premier League the odd moment of fallibility will get punished, and that is exactly what happened with Brighton’s second goal. There was a searching ball through the middle and even though Saliba got to it first he mistimed his clearance, and put it right in front of Ferguson to finish smartly past Ramsdale.

Brighton 2 (Mitoma 65’, Ferguson 77’) – Arsenal 4 (Saka 2’, Ødegaard 39’, Nketiah 47’, Martinelli 71’)

This is when the match became a little frenetic and chaotic, much to the chagrin of an unimpressed Arteta on the sidelines. Brighton’s performance for the next 10-odd minutes reminded me of late Wenger-era Arsenal, when losing by a few goals the team would suddenly wake up in the last quarter and just by sheer force of a whirlwind of creativity and chaos would try to get a result (a 3-3 away draw at Bournemouth was a perfect example). Arsenal lost control, and a bit of confidence, Tomiyasu and Saka finding Mitoma too much to handle, and the Japanese winger scored another goal which was fortunately for us chalked out by VAR – even though the decision was right, if it were applied to us, we would probably not have been too impressed given how fine the margin was – helping the team to settle and see out the match.

The ever-dependable Holding came on to shore up things, in place of Ødegaard who is quickly becoming the great player that he always was predicted to be. But unlike many other young prodigies with superlative talents, it is his grounded attitude, and an alchemic combination of humility and confidence just in right measures, that makes him such an admirable player, and someone that the entire team evidently looks up to. He seems to me the perfect talisman for the new Arsenal who I sense are entering a new era.

The match ended with that 4-2 scoreline. We kept our winning run going, but Brighton played with enough courage and creativity to indicate that their reputation and league position are well-earned, and no one will find them an easy opponent.

Happy New Year everyone! Wishing you all peace, stability and prosperity. 2022 has been a profoundly traumatizing year for many in the world, but none so more than Zinchenko’s fellow Ukrainians who have shown a remarkable combination of courage, resilience, love for their own nation, and a lucid understanding of history. If in 2023 you decide to support many of the well-run and effective organizations that help them, you will have my personal gratitude.

Posted in Match Report | 16 Drinks »

Happy Hunting

Dec 30th, 2022 by

‘On New Year’s Eve, there will be an exhibition of seagull downing on the South Downs’ sounds like an announcement Kenneth Horne would have made in an episode of Round the Horne, a radio comedy programme that older ‘holics may fondly remember (YouTube it, young people). Yet skewering the blue and white striped variety is the serious task facing the Gunners when they venture into Brighton and Hove Albion’s Amex Stadium in Fulmer on the final Saturday of the year for the Premier League’s last game of 2022.

These particular Seagulls have proved more obdurate prey of late than they should have done. We have failed to win eight of the previous ten meetings, the most recent being the 3-1 defeat at the Emirates in the League Cup in November. A battle lost to win the war, asked 21st Century Gooner in his match report. Perhaps so. The extra few days of preparation afforded by not having to play a league cup tie immediately after the World Cup break were put to good use when the war resumed against West Ham on Boxing Day.

Sussex-by-the-Sea

There is little match history between the two clubs. However, in the 1930s, Herbert Chapman would take his teams to Brighton for golfing holidays-cum-training camps and played the occasional friendly at the old Goldstone Ground. The municipal authorities made some play of these visits in their publicity materials as evidence of the town’s attractiveness for tourists seeking a healthy and recreational holiday.

The tradition continued under Chapman’s successor, George Allison. The team trained at the Goldstone Ground before the 1936 Cup Final against Sheffield United. (Your bonus historical trivia: that was the first Cup Final for which the BBC broadcast live commentary.) The players returned to the South Coast after a drab 1-0 victory to recuperate with three league games and a London Challenge Cup final still to play — or perhaps to recover from draining the Cup after filling it with wine.

We had first met the Seagulls competitively in the previous season’s FA Cup, winning 2-0 there in the Third Round on our way to a quarter-finals exit at the hands of the other Sheffield side, Wednesday. Yet, our next encounter with the Seagulls would not be until 1979 in the old First Division, their first match in the top flight. We trounced them 4-0. The overall record now stands at P26 W14 D5 L7.

The opposition

Graham Potter, who lost only two of his six matches against us as Brighton manager, moved on to the Bus Stop in September, taking the mussy-haired and annoying Cucurella with him. Roberto De Zerbi replaced Potter, arriving after a war-truncated spell in charge of Shakhtar Donetsk. He has won four, drawn two and lost five of his eleven Brighton games so far, most recently brightly beating relegation-threatened Southampton 3-1 on Monday.

De Zerbi habitually played 4-2-3-1 at Shakhtar. It is his preferred formation at Brighton, having phased out Potter’s 3-4-2-1 after a month. However, in the only game he has coached against us — the League Cup tie — he used 4-4-2 with the promising Julio Enciso, an 18-year-old Paraguayan striker who arrived in the close season, playing alongside Danny Welbeck, formerly of this parish. 

For Saturday’s league game, expect the Italian to continue with the 4-2-3-1 he reverted to for Monday’s win and the previous Thursday’s surprise league cup elimination on penalties by Charlton.

Brighton had more of its squad at the World Cup than one might have imagined: Leandro Trossard (Belgium), Robert Sanchez (Spain), Moisés Caicedo, Jeremy Sarmiento and Pervis Estupiñán, who arrived in the summer, assumedly in the expectation of Cucurella’s departure (all Ecuador), Tariq Lamptey (Ghana), Kaoru Mitoma (Japan) and Alexis Mac Allister (Argentina).

All played some part against Southampton on Boxing Day except for Mac Allister, who was celebrating in Argentina and won’t be back until January 3. 

With Caicedo suspended for picking up five yellows, De Zerbi will be without his first-choice double pivot. Pascal Gross and Billy Gilmour will likely understudy behind a midfield three of the underrated Solly March, Adam Lallana, and Mitoma, with Sarmiento coming off the bench if De Zerbi needs to change things around. Trossard will be the spearhead, with the injury-plagued Welbeck again off games. 

In defence, Joel Veltman or Lamptey and Estupiñán will be either side of the seasoned Lewis Dunk and Levi Colwill, the 19-year-old centre-back bought from Chelsea in the summer who is filling in for the injured Adam Webster. Sanchez, who seems to play well against us, will be between the sticks.

De Zerbi has Brighton playing out from the back rather than humping long balls forward for the execrable Neal Maupay. This tactic would, in any case, be pointless as Maupay was offloaded onto Everton in the summer for a cut-price £10 million. De Zerbi also deploys a high press, so the game’s outcome could turn on which side is better at forcing turnovers.

The Arsenal

More of what was produced in the second half against West Ham would surely see off the Seagulls. Can the team provide it? Arteta repeatedly stresses the need for consistency in performance. Few Gooners can now doubt the team’s talent, determination or spirit. The question is whether the players can sustain all three, match in, match out, until May.

As we know, Gabriel Jesus and Reiss Nelson are ruled out by injury. Arteta says both Emile Smith Rowe and Takehiro Tomiyasu are getting closer to returns, the latter more so than the former. Both have been involved in some training sessions. A place on the bench for Tomi is conceivable.

It would seem invidious to drop anyone after the West Ham performance. Yet great managers ruthlessly question such assumptions. In this case, I suspect only the left-back berth is seriously in contention. Oleksandr Zinchenko will, I fancy, again start on the bench but get a few more minutes than his 17 against West Ham as he plays his way back to match fitness for January’s testing schedule.

Thus, I expect the same eleven as started against West Ham to start at Brighton:

Ramsdale

White, Saliba, Gabriel, Tierney

Partey, Ødegaard, Xhaka

Saka, Nketiah, Martinelli

A visit to the Amex is always a test, but one we must pass to go into the New Year happy and prospering.

The ‘holic pound

The bookies have us as short-odds favourites. The value is to be found in a 3-1 away win at 16s and 3-0 at 20s. My hunch is that it will be a goal closer than that at 2-0.

Enjoy the game, ‘holics near and far.

Posted in Match Preview | 47 Drinks »

Arsenal Welt West Ham with Wenger Watching

Dec 26th, 2022 by

Well, that was interesting.

David Moyes brought a slightly spirited West Ham to the Grove for an evening kickoff against an Arsenal squad that leads the league. The game played out under the watchful eyes of Arsène Wenger, who came to a game for the first time since his departure day in May of 2018 (“Hope to see you soon, well done, bye bye…”). And, this was our first game without talisman Gabriel Jesus, after a seven plus week break for some tournament that was happening in the Middle East. So, no pressure lads.

Writ large, we tonked them. It wasn’t as easy as all that, though, just as some holics thought. While West Ham isn’t going to fool anyone with their approach, their defensive organization and ability to land a punch against the run of play stood them in good stead.

BT8, in his excellent preview, got the team nearly spot-on; only Saliba for his Holding marred the perfection. After five minutes we were ahead after some beautiful passing down the right; unfortunately the goal was called back for offside. It looked like Saka touched it through to Eddie, who was past the last Hammer, before Eddie returned it to Saka to score. For the first quarter hour it was all Arsenal, except for a goal: calm, cool possession, intricate passing play, and lacking the final ball. Arsène must have felt like he was watching an old home movie.

West Ham looked to have nothing other than Bowen breaking down the right on the counter, and maybe some Antonio able to create something from a long ball over the middle. I’d have to call Bowen their man of the match, as he was integral to almost everything they created (Declan Rice who? Oh, that mote of dust in Mø’s pocket?). On 13 minutes Bowen powered up the right side on a break, and fired a shot-or-cross that Ramsdale snagged before it could do any damage.

After another equally-long period of Arsenal dominance, where final balls just didn’t come off, or where last-ditch defending forced a corner or a recycle of the ball. We nearly broke free when Ramsdale bowled out from a save after a Hammer corner, but while Xhaka got it to Eddie his turn and attempt to pass for Saka was cut out by their defense.

And then it happened.

Completely against the run of play, again down their right, Bowen and one of his teammates brought the ball up at speed, and Bowen was tripped by Saliba just inside the box. I say tripped, but it really should be “tripped”. Their feet touched. And Bowen took another couple steps and when he realized he wasn’t going to get the ball, he went down. To the letter of the law it was a foul, so I won’t complain, but those types of foot touches are NOT given all over the pitch all game long. The game would be boring, slow, and unwatchable if they were… Benrahma stepped up and took the spot kick, and Arsenal were behind for the first time at home all season.

Arsenal 0-1 West Ham (Benrahma, 27′)

For the rest of the half Arsenal ratcheted up the pressure, to no avail. Arsène must have been going through PTSD watching the team suffer and work with no response other than excellent effort. In the last decade of his reign how many times were we hit on the counter by clearly inferior team sticking to their gameplan? Too many times.

We completely controlled the last twenty minutes of the half, getting into their box through a variety of routes, to no avail. Gabi kept putting in crosses, then was crunched by Coufal’s follow-through after the defender got the ball; he got the top of Gabi’s foot, though, and it earned him a yellow card. The freekick resulted in nothing, but a corner just before the end of the half led to what could have been controversial in the days before VAR. Fabianski saved a shot from the corner, and the ball was passed to Mø; his vicious slapshot hit Cresswell, and the MWTW Oliver pointed to the spot for a handball. VAR correctly chalked off the call, as the ball clearly hit Cresswell in the head, not in the arm. And then it was halftime.

In the second half Arsenal came out full of purpose, clearly intent to get back into the game and power on to a win. We came at them again and again, winning the ball back almost as soon as we’d lose it, with the outstanding Boxing Day crowd in full voice of support. And they were rewarded when Mø finished a great passing move with a beautiful reverse pass to Saka, who slotted past Fabianski while being played onside by Souček. It capped the number of minutes Arsenal had been behind all season at 82, for now. Game on!

Arsenal 1-1 West Ham (Saka, 52′)

Roger Waters must have been thinking of a game like this for West Ham’s defense when he wrote “Comfortably Numb”, because we were coming through in waves. Saka outmuscled Rice to a high ball, heading it to Mø, who passed it to Xhaka. Granit found Gabi outside on the left, and once Gabi left his man stranded in the box there was only going to be one outcome: 2-1 to the Arsenal as Fabianski was beaten at his near post by a Brazilian arrow.

Arsenal 2-1 West Ham (Martinelli, 58′)

Suddenly the mood of the crowd was lightened, and Arsène was serenaded with the famous old chant “One Arsene Wenger”. The gaffer must have felt warm to his toes, as well as being happy that we’d turned over the scoreline. There was still work to do, though, and we set about it with an industry that astonished. West Ham was reeling, and couldn’t keep the ball for any meaningful amount of time. Every time we lost it, or they took it, we took it right back. Our pressing was full of intent, cooperation, and delightful amounts of energy, from the entire team.

And then there were three. A complicated team move involving damn near everyone (I even thought I saw MA8 and Arsène on the pitch) circled the D with passes from Gabi to White to Mø, who slipped a delightful pass into Eddie inside the box. Eddie rolled his man and struck a sharp shot into the far corner of the flailing Fabianski’s net. It was all Eddie deserved, he worked harder than I’ve ever seen him in Jesus’s stead, showing how much he has grown in his all-around play this season. He was running full tilt, pressing and harrying West Ham, all the way to the end of the game.

Arsenal 3-1 West Ham (Nketiah, 69′)

That was it, really. We controlled play beautifully, passing the ball with the crispest of confidence. An illustrative moment was when, just before he was subbed in the 87th minute, all Antonio could do was turn in circles as we passed the ball around him again and again. Mø even beat two of their defenders with a nutmeg Cruyff turn away from their trap on the sideline, to much applause. Our captain and MOTM deserved a goal for his sparkling play on both sides of the ball, but his three attempts in the second half were just wide or high of Fabianski’s far post. West Ham offered no real threat until a shot from Fornals in the 94th minute that was well-saved by Ramsdale, just before MA8 symbolically lit his victory cigar by bringing on Mo’neny for Partey.

So a welcome return to league football and another milestone is passed. Our old gaffer will have left the grounds pleased to see that his ex-captain is an able helmsman for the Arsenal caravelle, and that the crew assembled by our management team can win even when it’s ugly-delicious. We took the Hammer’s punch, dove right back into the fray without swaying, and emerged victorious.

Eight points clear of Manchester City on Boxing Day: who would have thought? Revel in it, ‘holics. Let it roll aroud on the tongue like a fine port or Armagnac, savo(u)r it, enjoy it, bathe in it…it’s been a long time since it felt like this to be an Arsenal fan. So, so good.

Posted in Match Report | 42 Drinks »

Gunners Finally to Resume Premier League Table Dance, Home to Spammers

Dec 24th, 2022 by

December 26, Monday, 8pm GMT, Emirates Stadium

In their long-delayed 15th game of the Premier League season to be played on Boxing Day, six weeks after Arsenal defeated Wolves away thanks to a Martin Ødegaard double in their last game prior to the World Cup interregnum, the Gunners will at last resume their title chase at home against West Ham United.

What have the Arsenal players been doing all this time?  Well, the ones who haven’t been with their various national squads in Qatar spent part of the time playing in victorious friendlies against Lyon and Milan, two matches held 500-odd miles to the west of Qatar as part of the “Dubai Super Cup” in the emirate of Dubai.  Arsenal then continued what amounts to their second pre-season with a 2-0 home loss against Juventus on Saturday December 17, in another game I did not see. That game was followed this week by a behind-closed-doors friendly with Luton Town which ended 0-0.

But nearly all the players who were at the World Cup were back with Arsenal for those three friendlies, so there has been time, albeit brief in some cases, to get back into the rhythm of daily Arsenal training.  But how will the team be able to refocus their physical and mental energies back to the task at hand, i.e., the weekly rigors of a Premier League title challenge?  It’s hard to say, but most of Arsenal’s World Cup contingent have had at least two weeks since returning to the squad.  Ben White, Matt Turner and Thomas Partey returned on December 11, and Granit Xhaka, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Bukayo Saka shortly thereafter.  Only the return of French defender William Saliba, whose team played in the final, was delayed longer.  According to Mikel Arteta in his pre-match presser, Saliba was expected to return Friday, three days prior to facing the Hammers.

On December 3rd, the day after Gabriel Jesús’ only World Cup start, we found out that he injured his right knee, and would have to return to London for surgery.  The Brazil medical staff expected him at the time to be sidelined for at least three months, and I have seen nothing to contradict that estimate.  What a jolt of bad news, potentially derailing our title hopes, and presumably sending Edu scrambling for reinforcements in the transfer market.  In any case, the next chapter of our season will not include our iconic Brazilian striker.  It’s a big disappointment but such challenges were always going to occur during the length of a Premier League season, and especially considering that the first three months went off with nary a glitch.  

The question is, how can Arsenal rise to this and the many other challenges ahead.  We will begin to get some answers against the Hammers, but no doubt there will be plenty of surprises along the way.  Speaking on Sky Sports on Monday, Arteta was expecting as much when he said: “We have the confidence that we are in the right path but as well we have the red lights and alarms there because what is coming in the second part of the season is something unprecedented and we need to be ready for it.”

The Hammers

As recently as the week before the World Cup there were people in the media, social or otherwise, saying that West Ham’s first 15 matches (including nine losses but only four wins) were so poor that David Moyes deserved the sack.  With no Premier League games played in the last 42 days, the East Londoners remain in 16th spot in the table entering this match but Moyes is still the Hammers’ manager so at least the Spammers didn’t hit the panic button and do away with their most successful manager in recent history as certain other clubs have done.

In terms of reintegrating players back into the squad, West Ham enjoy one advantage over Arsenal because they had only three players in the latter stages of the tournament compared to the Gunners’ five (Martinelli, Jesús, Turner, Ramsdale, Saka).  England midfielder Declan Rice and Brazil forward Lucas Paquetá are the two most prominent West Ham players who remained with their national teams until the knockout rounds.  But Nayef Aguerd, the Hammers’ Moroccan defender who appeared in only four league matches for them before he featured in Morocco’s steadfast defence until injuring his thigh in their triumph over Spain, will probably miss this match.  On Tuesday it was reported that the Hammers could be forced to play without Michail Antonio and Gianluca Scamacca, their only two strikers, so they might not be able to put as much pressure on the Arsenal defenders as a result.  The expected makeshift striker, Jarrod Bowen, will try to ramp up the pressure as much as he can, but his absence from the West Ham midfield could also leave that area weakened.  Defender Kurt Zouma will miss out due to knee surgery, so old hand Angelo Ogbonna may come on in his place.  But no matter who plays for them, the Hammers are facing a relegation scrap, so Arsenal cannot expect an easy three points in this one.

Arsenal XI

Excepting the injured Gabriel Jesús, some of the players who didn’t play much at the World Cup should be prime suspects to feature against the Hammers.  Many of that group were first choice prior to the World Cup anyway, but in the case of White (sent home early), Ramsdale (spent the tournament on the bench), and Zinchenko, Tierney and Ødegaard (countries did not qualify), they should be well rested and have extra motivation to get right back into the first team.  But Zinchenko and Tomiyasu may not quite be ready to play 90 minutes according to recent reports, while Smith Rowe (I was hoping he would be ready by now!) and Nelson are both sidelined with injuries.  Based largely on which players featured in our friendlies against Lyon, Milan and Juventus, the team should look something like this:

Ramsdale

White  Holding  Gabriel  Tierney

Partey

Ødegaard  Xhaka  

Saka  Nketiah  Martinelli

Man with the whistle (MWTW)

Michael Oliver, need I say more?  Quite possibly, but I certainly oughtn’t.

The ‘holic pound

If the above-mentioned MWTW doesn’t mess things up too badly like the Grinch Who Stole Christmas, we could look up at the end of the day and see an 8-point gap has opened up between ourselves and Manchester City, who do not play until Wednesday, at Leeds.  What with Gabriel Jesús being out for a while, I can think of no better scenario than for his replacement, Eddie Nketiah, to bring home the bacon with a briskly dispatched first half brace, and our defence to see it out calmly from there: Arsenal 2 West Ham 0.   That’s my prediction, and I’m sticking to it!

Keeping that positivity flowing, I wouldn’t be too surprised to see Eddie take things up a notch now that he will be surrounded by a cast of first-teamers, rather than the bench-warmers that we have become used to seeing him play with in his Europa League and Carling Cup starting opportunities.  So bring it on young man, there’s no time like the present to flower before our very eyes.

Enjoy the game, ‘holics, and the long-awaited return of our Arsenal-focused routines.  And Merry Christmas to everyone who’s celebrating.

Posted in Match Preview | 61 Drinks »

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