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Qatar? Why??

Nov 21st, 2022 by

We are pleased to mark England’s opening game (sans the One Love captain’s armband) of the 2022 World Cup by republishing a thoughtful piece by TTG that was first published on Gunnerstown after a dialogue over the controversies that have surrounded this event since good ol’ Sepp tentatively pulled the card bearing the name Qatar from its envelope (https://gunnerstown.com/arsenal/2022/11/21/qatar-why-a-gooners-honest-take-on-fifas-controversial-world-cup/).

Let me introduce myself. I have been an Arsenal supporter since 1958 and a season ticket holder for over thirty years. Five generations of my family have supported Arsenal stretching back to my paternal grandfather who watched them play in Woolwich. I’ve written for the Gooner virtually since its inception and am now the Rewind correspondent because I’m so old I can remember games that no-one else can because they weren’t born!  Since his death in 2019, I’m one of a number of people trying to extend the legacy of that wonderful Gooner, Dave Faber on a website, Goonerholics Forever. 

I’m writing at Paul’s request because we have decided to put up a banner on our blog questioning the choice of Qatar to host the World Cup. You may be starting to get sick of the debate about Qatar, and are anxiously waiting for the fun and football to begin but I wanted to tell you why most of the Goonerholic fraternity are so opposed to what we believe to be a terribly flawed choice.

Can you imagine if the tournament had been awarded to Cyprus which is of a comparable size? What would be your first reaction? I suspect it would be that it was a very dubious choice because Cyprus is a relatively small island. Cyprus is of course divided into two different regions controlled by different countries but it has a strong football culture, a thriving domestic league and is improving as a force in international football. I suspect the size of the island would militate against it being chosen to host a global event where thirty-two nations were gathering. Could they be accommodated comfortably at reasonable prices? Well Cyprus has superb accommodation and a great tourist infrastructure.

Imagine that Cyprus had a very dubious human rights record. Imagine it banned people of an LGBTQ+ persuasion. Imagine if it had a very restrictive view of the rights of women. Add to that the fact that migrant workers were found to have died in huge numbers (human rights organisations suggesting that the total runs into thousands) and their families were subsequently treated with scant regard with very little compensation and who during their ill-fated period in Cyprus were housed in appalling conditions. 

I imagine the likelihood of Cyprus being chosen would be fading now. It might reduce still further if Cyprus was considered to be too hot to play the games in during the height of summer and virtually the whole global football programme would need to be disrupted with the consequent risk of burnout and serious injury for international players. I suspect their bid would be off the table now.

What could possibly persuade FIFA who have as their remit the stewardship of the biggest sport in the world to choose a country that is about 100 miles long, fifty miles wide with no ready prepared stadia and a country where human rights abuses persist on a significant scale according to Amnesty International’s latest report? Cyprus would never be considered to host the World Cup so in the words of our slogan: 

Qatar? Why??

A lot of information about the circumstances of Qatar’s  bid have emerged quite recently and were not available when the tournament was awarded to Qatar. Netflix’s excellent ‘FIFA Uncovered’ and the investigative journalist David Conn have demonstrated clear evidence of bribery by Qatari officials to obtain the rights to stage the tournament. It was an award that was made at the same time as Russia were awarded the 2018 competition. The acknowledged best bid for 2018 was England’s (it got two votes and one was ours!) and the USA bid was considered by most objective observers to be immeasurably superior to Qatar’s. Both successful bids appear to have been successful because the hosts bribed corrupt FIFA officials.

Expenditure on stadia in Qatar that will almost certainly not be used again is estimated to be £200 billion. Remember the large number of immigrant workers who have been brought in, in very primitive conditions for peppercorn wages to build the stadia which are unlikely to leave any meaningful legacy for the Qatari people who don’t have a domestic league which can utilise these stadia. 

The World Cup was conceived as a global football festival showcasing the best aspects of the game. There is no doubt that a Middle Eastern nation should be considered as a potential host but surely this should be one with an existing football infrastructure. The construction of these stadia which have to be air conditioned to make playing football in them remotely possible, is extraordinarily unsustainable in environmental terms, as is the need for spectators to fly continually from other states to watch the matches because Qatar does not have the facilities to house them. How can world leaders gather to consider anxiously the future of the planet at COP27 when a few weeks later the Qatar World Cup is allowed to proceed? 

Ordinary football fans from all over the world have been priced out of attending because of the cost of travel and accommodation. The topic of sportwashing is a controversial one but the strong inference is that FIFA have awarded the World Cup to Qatar simply because they were bribed to do so and turned down much better and more suitable bids which meet the criteria that FIFA set for hosts of the tournament.

We also feel the pressures on women and members of the LGBTQ+ community who might try to attend is an infringement of basic human rights that cannot be ignored and is again at odds with the ethos of a global football celebration.

Qatar, far from being a suitable host nation are about as unsuitable as a host nation could be and we feel it is important to draw attention to this now when there is maximum focus on the event. Football has too often turned a blind eye to circumstances which should have made fans think seriously about the moral background to the game. Qatar 2022 may well produce wonderful matches with brilliant players performing superbly but that still wouldn’t make it a viable or appropriate tournament. It is more likely that top stars possibly Bukayo Saka, William Saliba or Thomas Partey might suffer burnout come March or succumb to serious injury because of muscle fatigue. Multiply that situation across the world game and one really has to ask moral considerations aside, if it makes any sense at all to transport the world to Qatar in November and December so Qatar can buy a showcase for its dubious merits as a place to visit. 

But let’s return to that phrase ‘moral considerations aside’. The world of football can’t put moral considerations on the back burner while we watch a few football matches. Of course, one can object to all sorts of examples of sportwashing and there are other situations which must be highlighted, some of which exist in our own league. But the case against Qatar 2022 is so overwhelmingly strong that it may go down in history as one of the worst moments in the history of football.

Posted in Interlull, Review | 44 Drinks »

The Season So Far

Nov 19th, 2022 by

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May 22nd, 2022. Arsenal thrash Everton 5-1 at a sun-soaked Emirates Stadium as we are pipped to the final Champions League spot by our fiercest rivals. But the mood remains upbeat. Throughout the 2021/22 season, Arsenal supporters are beginning to see Mikel Arteta’s fabulous process show significant signs of development. Despite being consigned to another season without the prestige and honour of dining at Europe’s top table, the consensus is that if Arteta continues to be backed by the board, as he was the previous summer, another season of progress would follow. 

Going into the new season, the main priorities were signing a top number nine to replace the departed Lacazette and his grand total of 2 NPG (non-penalty goals) from the previous season as well as the hapless Aubameyang who was shown the door by Arteta the previous January. Also on the agenda was a central midfielder, ideally a number 6, to lighten the load on the imperious, but injury prone Thomas Partey. Our first major signing was slightly left-field, but exciting nonetheless, as we plucked Fábio Vieira, a 22-year-old attacking midfielder from Porto. The fee was said to be in the region of around £34 million. He was to be cover for Martin Ødegaard and he fitted the age profile as well as Arteta’s penchant for left-footed attackers who drift inside from the right. Our next signing was a very exciting one, as we picked up Gabriel Jesús from champions Manchester City for £45 million. This was the centre forward Arteta had been craving. A false nine who would regularly drop in between the lines contributing to our build up play. Whilst Jesús may not have been hugely prolific for City, he was by no means a regular starter and was often deployed on the wings by Pep. The Brazilian was certainly a signing that got Gunners fans off their seats. 

With some crucial early business done and dusted we headed into pre-season full of confidence. As a result, we won all seven friendlies. Towards the end of pre-season, we again turned to Manchester City, this time for a left back as we pinched Oleksandr Zinchenko to provide stern competition for Kieran Tierney. But it was a player we had signed three years previously who was making waves. We had signed William Saliba in 2019 but he had been out on loan in France ever since. Now aged 21, Arteta seemingly deemed him ready to fight for his first team place. In he went to the starting eleven for the first game at Crystal Palace. A ground where we had struggled in recent times. Once again, we were chosen to kick off the season away on a Friday night. A strong defensive performance brought about a 2-0 win. White and Saliba impressed immensely. “It was only Crystal Palace though.” Comfortable victories over Leicester and Bournemouth ensued, preceding a pair of 2-1 home wins against Fulham and Aston Villa with late winners being required in both. So, what did it all mean? We had won all our opening 5 games of the season for the first time since 2004. Still, “we hadn’t played anyone decent”. It wasn’t like Liverpool failed to beat both Crystal Palace and Fulham or Manchester City had dropped points to Aston Villa.

On to our first Big Six encounter of the season. United away. A huge chance to lay down a marker against a rival away from home. We thought we had got off to a great start with Martinelli putting us ahead early on. But it was harshly ruled out for a foul, and we went on to lose 3-1 in unlucky circumstances. Obviously, such joy-sucking parasites as Gary Neville and Richard Keys fed on this loss like malnourished vampires, playing up to the narrative of “they can’t do it against a decent side”.  However, we quickly recovered, swatting aside the Brentford Bees before the international break. (Because apparently we really needed one of those). 

Into October. It looked to be a titanic month for The Arsenal with nine games scheduled, five in the league, four in Europe. Now let’s not forget, we were widely expected to drop off in this period. Did we? Let’s have a look. (Spoiler alert, we didn’t). First up was the NLD at home. The 3-0 loss at the Toilet Bowl just five months previously was still a sore memory, but we could put that to bed here. And we did. A Partey screamer preceded a Kane equaliser (pen, obviously) before a Lloris howler allowed Jesús to tap home to restore our lead. We then saw the hilariously bad Emerson Royal get a straight red before Xhaka stuck in a third. We probably would’ve scored more if Conte didn’t respond by bringing on 5 defenders. 

On to Last season’s runners-up. Despite having a poor start to the season, Liverpool’s visit to North London signalled another chance to show the world that we could mix it with the big boys. And mix it we did. Martinelli gave us the lead inside a minute before a Saka brace, sandwiched by a pair of Liverpool equalisers. It was a game that showed our attacking prowess, with Martinelli tearing Alexander Arnold to shreds, but also our resolve after being pegged back twice. This was the moment people began to believe. Apart from Gary Neville who was still adamant we would finish 12th and Cristiano Ronaldo would suddenly wake up aged 25 again and fire Man United to the title with 18 games to spare. I digress.

We scraped past Leeds at Elland Road before succumbing to a 1-1 draw at Southampton. Oh well! Got to give the rest of the league a chance, I suppose. We ended the month by thrashing Nottingham Forest 5-0 at the Emirates as we ended that marathon month still two points clear at the top. Oh, and we were also still top of our Europa League group. So much for dropping off!

We had two final league games before some of our players jetted off to the desert to play in a World Cup in the esteemed football loving nation of Qatar. It must be true – Sepp Blatter said so! First up, Chelsea at the Bus Stop. We won. We do that quite a lot these days. It’s quite nice. Makes you wonder why we didn’t do it before. We then lost to Brighton in the Donald Duck regional cup with our second stringers, before beating Wolverhampton Wanderers 2-0 at Molineux. We also won our Europa League group meaning we qualified automatically to the Round of 16 and avoided the danger of a play-off tie against one of the big boys from the Champions League (unlucky, Gary!). So, what does it all mean? After 14 games our record looks like this: played 14, won 12, drawn 1, lost 1. 37 points from a possible 42. Our best start to a season and the 3rd best across all clubs. Every side with at least 37 points at this stage of the season has gone on to win the league. 

So, is it now time to reassess our aims and objectives for the season? In August, the aim was undisputedly a top four finish. And bar a collapse of epic proportions we will achieve that with distinction. The 70-point mark is generally the bar you need to reach for top four points meaning we would likely only need around 33 points from our remaining 24 games. We are currently on track to finish on 90+ points which would be a greater tally than the ‘Invincibles’. Obviously, we have to accept that the remaining two thirds of the season will probably not be as plain sailing as the opening third therefore we may not reach that, but should we be aiming for a higher target? It is likely we will finish in the top 2, we are top of all the metrics; expected goals, expected points and the like, which suggests this is no false position. We are top because we deserve to be, because not just our results but our performances have merited it. 

I think Arteta will be telling his players, privately, to go for it, but as far as the press are concerned, he will be keeping it coy. It is not easy to manage an overachieving group of players, your aims are always shifting, we’re breaking new boundaries almost on a weekly basis. There are parallels to the 15/16 season here. Several Big Six sides are underperforming (Liverpool and Chelsea), some of them are in perpetual transition (Man United) and some are infamous trophy dodgers (no prizes for guessing who I’m referring to here). One is performing as expected and one is shattering all former expectations. Of course, the key difference here is in 15/16 all the big six had a year off which allowed Leicester to do what they did whereas this time the league is much stronger. And it would be much less of a shock if Arsenal won the league compared to the reaction when Leicester won it. But a shock it would be, nonetheless. It’s like comparing the shock of winning the EuroMillions to seeing your dog get up on its hind legs and start reciting Shakespeare but who knows what awaits us post-Christmas. 

I think the aim is now the title. “Reach for the moon. Even if you miss, you shall land among the stars” seems an appropriate saying here. If we finish second no one will be calling for Arteta’s head despite some disappointment. If you offered any rational Arsenal fan a second-place finish in August, they would’ve snapped your hand off. But what would you rather have, a second-place finish and no trophies or fourth place and the Europa league? Which hints at progress more? I would argue the former. 

It’s difficult to give the players less than 9.5 out of 10 for the season so far. I can’t see how Arteta can justifiably be given less than full marks. Let’s hope we keep up this incredible form post-Christmas.

COYG!!

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Posted in Review | 12 Drinks »

Merry Christmas Gooners!

Nov 12th, 2022 by

Arsenal ended the first half of the season (which to be pedantic is not the first half of the season as only 14 games have been played) five points clear of the pack after a 2-0 win at Molineux tonight. It was a measured performance, far from the commanding effort we saw at Stamford Bridge last week but Wolves were obdurate opponents.

I had a very strange day today. It was streaked with a mixture of normality interspersed with some odd moments. Mrs TTG and I made our way up to London, she for a school reunion and I to Ashburton Grove for the match. Nothing unusual there save for the fact that the match was a Rugby League match – the World Cup semi-final – which we lost surprisingly since we beat the same team by about fifty something points a few weeks ago. It went to a golden point and Samoa got it. A very surprising result following on from an amazing result at the Emptihad where Brentford took all the points against Citeh, a result very few people expected and one which ensured we would top the table over the World Cup break whatever happened at Molineux, and also at Christmas. If only Leeds could hold onto a lead it might have been even better! 

Our game with Wolves therefore came without quite the pressure it might have had, although watching Arsenal, even this team, makes me nervous. Wolves had their new manager in the building, even if he wasn’t officially in charge and they gave us a difficult first half. We enjoyed the lion’s share of the possession but sadly lost Granit Xhaka early, with what looked like the effects of an illness. After the game Arteta mentioned that several players had the same bug. He needed very early treatment and was eventually replaced by Fabio Vieira. Vieira is a VERY different player from his namesake Patrick; he really needs a good course of protein and gym work to build him up but he has a silky touch with his left foot which was later to stand us in good stead.

We dominated the game without looking continually incisive and on 8 minutes Guedes who looked offside to me tangled with Saliba on the edge of the box. Nothing nasty was given, which, given that GSD’s favourite VAR official Mike Dean was in charge, was surprising. We had two players sent off here two seasons ago and Martinelli was sent off for two offences in 6 seconds last season, so we had a precedent for calamity here.

Guedes fired over later but the main attacking protagonist in the first half was Jesús who had a goal ruled out for offside, hit the bar and flicked a header wide. Wolves sat behind the ball and denied us space out wide where Saka and Martinelli were well contained. It was a pretty flat first half but we were not hugely troubled. We clearly needed to move the ball faster!

The second half began in a similar fashion but we broke the deadlock in the 55th minute as our quicker passing paid off. Jesús found Vieira with a delightful ball and Paddy lite chipped it over Sá for Ødegaard to just beat Saka to the finish. After this the main danger was the huge and fearsome Adama Traoré. Ramsdale bravely foiled him after a one two with Guedes. Ramsdale took a blow to the throat from which he made a blessedly quick recovery after blocking an effort from Traoré. Wolves tried a number of substitutions but lacked a focal point in a lightweight attack and Gabriel and Saliba were largely untroubled at the back.

The game was effectively settled in the 75th minute with a not dissimilar goal from our first and the same eventual scorer. Martinelli robbed the Wolves right back and backheeled the ball to Zinchenko who hit a hard cross which was deflected to Martinelli. His shot was blocked and fell to Ødegaard who blasted it in. After this, we ran the clock down sensibly and made a lot of substitutions bringing on Cédric, Nelson and Elneny for Vieira, Saka who was not at his best tonight and Zinchenko who I thought was less effective than I suspect Tierney might have been. He is not match sharp yet and that may be why he made a number of small mistakes.

Like last week, I thought Partey was immensely effective throughout the match. Tonight, he was hugely influential in an understated way but he is a massively important cog in this team. Ødegaard stepped up tonight and executed a particularly beautiful turn at the end. He is another understated player but he does a fine job. Ben White was similarly excellent as he so often is and Gabriel Jesús was a one man attack without the goals. Whatever, he is immensely valuable to this team.

So, who honestly thought we would be 5 points clear of Citeh at the break for the World Cup? We are 8 points clear of the Spuds with a game in hand, 15 ahead of Liverpool and 16 ahead of Chelsea. These are heady times but we face the unpredictability of this break for this ghastly World Cup. Many players will be injured, mentally and physically exhausted and who knows what the impact on the title race will be? But, how exciting is it that we are even asking that question with a very strong vested interest?

So, that’s our last league game before Christmas. An ecstatic C100 felt compelled to bare his remarkable torso and was caught on camera in an early Christmas celebration. Merry Christmas, Holics. Let’s hope the lead stays in place.

Posted in Match Report | 92 Drinks »

Fearless

Nov 12th, 2022 by

Soccer Football – Premier League – Chelsea v Arsenal – Stamford Bridge, London, Britain – November 6, 2022 Arsenal’s Gabriel celebrates scoring their first goal with teammates Action Images via Reuters/John Sibley

So accustomed I have become to see us play in the Premier League this season on Sundays I had completely overlooked that this weekend’s away match at Molineux is a rare Saturday evening affair. Fortunately, I read this wonderful (possibly the best, if you haven’t heard of them yet) Arsenal blog called “Goonerholics Forever” where a bunch of misty eyed — but with a steely resolve and an overdeveloped sense of humor – Gooners keep talking about Arsenal in honor of their spiritual leader, the inimitable Goonerholic, who had sadly left us way too soon, and one of their posts sent a jolt of reminder to me that I need to write this preview today, not tomorrow.

But it is only a pleasure and a privilege. And while mentioning ‘Holic in the previous sentence, the thought came to my mind that how much he would have loved this version of talented, hungry, humble, disciplined Arsenal team and their fearless approach to the game. And I must confess that at a time when some of the worst proclivities of mankind are on brutal, shameless display, it has often been very difficult to look forward to weekend football. And yet, for that very reason enjoying the simple pleasure of watching Arsenal play felt a kind of defiance, and also a source of inspiration. Good people outside the Goonerverse may have kept their admiration limited to Arsenal’s results and the performances, but I myself – and going by the full-throttled singing reverberating across grounds home and away, may be also the match going fanbase – found an emotional resonance that I felt goes beyond the regular connections of a football fan, beyond tribalism, beyond pride, beyond the vicarious triumphs. The only explanation I can offer – aren’t we always a mystery to ourselves? – is that the kind of lucid fearlessness that has characterized Arsenal’s performances this season is perhaps a glimpse into what I myself can strive to be.  

Not that we always played swashbuckling attractive football, or always played with tactical acumen, or always shown the right know-how to control matches. We have shown all those qualities to indicate a team that is constantly growing in abilities and confidence, but not consistently enough to be called anywhere close to the finished article. However, what we have consistently shown is the ability to respond to any situation, especially difficult situations, with resilience, camaraderie and an unpanicked focus on the end goal – unruffled by persistent thuggery or incompetent officiating. That kind of authentic courage is a rare quality, whether on a football field or in a nation. It is not entirely impossible that my impression of the Arsenal team is somewhat influenced by witnessing such rare courage on a larger, grander, national scale, as it has been unfolding in a troubled corner of Europe.

This last match before the unfortunate hiatus in the league season offers Arsenal a golden opportunity to strengthen their position at the top until the season restarts after Christmas, when different players will resume their club duties with wildly different levels of rest, physical/mental preparedness, and as a consequence teams will likely to find it very hard to maintain consistently good form and even by the unpredictable nature of the premier league, results are likely to throw up surprises with unexpectedly high frequency.

Arsenal has ten first team squad members traveling to this unique winter World Cup in the desert, but not all of them are expected to go too far in the knock-out rounds. The Brazilian duo of Martinelli & Jesus, the English trio of Saka, Ramsdale, White, the young Frenchman Saliba and maybe Xhaka captaining the Swiss team are the ones likeliest to go far enough to require post-World Cup recovery to potentially render them not fully ready for our first match at home on Boxing Day once the season resumes. I myself think the encouraging showings by Reiss and Eddie notwithstanding, and even considering ESR’s likely return from injury, we will struggle significantly in the final third if all three of our current forwards cannot return to the squad quick enough back to their absolute best. 

On the other hand, we will have some key players fully rested during this month-long break and that should counterbalance some of the concerns about players’ unavailability: Ødegaard, Gabriel the defender, Zinchenko, Tierney, ESR (hopefully he recovers completely by then and with enough practice under his belt).

Returning back to the immediate concerns of the away trip to Wolves, my predicted starting eleven has no surprises.

Ramsdale

White – Saliba – Gabriel – Zinchenko

Partey

Ødegaard – Xhaka

Saka – Jesus – Martinelli

The 4-1-2-3 is purely a nominal formation. As many here have already observed, Arteta’s team attacks with all the five front players down parallel channels, Zinchenko drifts in towards the left sided central midfield position next to Partey, and the three- man defense of White-Saliba-Gabriel stays as high up the pitch as possible, relying on their qualities on the ball and athleticism to thwart breakaway attacks from any quick turnovers. The superior technical qualities and the calmness in possession of Partey and Zinchenko also allow Arsenal to play rapidly and incisively through opposition press without losing tempo.   

Arteta and his coaching team are meticulous in preparing specifically for the opposition with often surprising but highly effective tactical tweaks – Tomiyasu as a left back against Liverpool to cut off the long diagonals to Salah was an inspired move, and like a Holmesian de-puzzling to Watson, feels obvious only after the genius has been explained – and I am sure they will have something special in mind for the dangers of Traore or Neves. I haven’t followed Wolves closely – well, haven’t really followed them at all – this season but a look at the league table and their recent run of results tells me that they haven’t been as consistent as often have been the case in recent seasons. The team still has many seasoned internationals, some technically gifted players in key positions and despite the recent spate of managerial changes retain the high pressing physical qualities that make them very hard to beat, and anything less than our very best will be punished.

It is possible that the World Cup bound players would be – albeit unconsciously and not intentionally – little less committed in fifty-fifty challenges compared to what they have shown until now, but I am hoping the spirit of fearlessness and that admirable professionalism that now runs through the spine of this team would be enough to see us through. In our last two league encounters – both in February earlier this year – we had beaten them 1-0 away before winning at home by a similarly slender margin of 2-1. We should expect a tight and cagey affair like those two games, but a match to ultimately turn comfortable for us towards the end, giving us a 3-1 victory is my (acceptedly optimistic) prediction.

Enjoy the match everyone. Come on Arsenal!

Posted in Match Preview | 33 Drinks »

Arsenal Lose the Battle, to Win the War?

Nov 10th, 2022 by

Arsenal were knocked out of the Carabao cup at the first hurdle as they gave up a 1-0 lead to lose 3-1 to Brighton (AND Hove Albion) at the Emirates on Wednesday. We took the lead thanks to a superb curling effort from Eddie Nketiah after an outstanding solo run and pass from Reiss Nelson. However, we were undone by a penalty from former Gunner Danny Welbeck and a couple of exceptional second half finishes from Mitoma and Tariq Lamptey.

Whilst some fans may be disappointed by the loss as it can be viewed as an opportunity for a trophy and a day out at a Wembley car park, it was obvious that this competition was the least of Mikel Arteta and Arsenal’s priorities. Many may be reminded of the days where Wenger would use the League Cup as an opportunity to blood the youngsters and play eight 16-year-olds which was always exciting and probably one of the reasons we never won it under his tenure, but most clubs have bigger squads these days and will just give run-outs to some fringe players. And that’s what Arteta did making ten changes from the win at Chelsea. There was a first team debut (and probably one to forget) for the Estonia number one, Karl Hein, Cedric got a rare start, Lokonga was given another go and we went with a front three of Nelson, Marquinhos and Eddie. 

The opening 15-20 mins were low key, both teams trading off pot shots from outside the box. But on 19 minutes we broke the deadlock. Nelson received the ball in his own half, turned away from a couple of Brighton midfielders, carried the ball into the final third before laying off an excellent pass to Nketiah who had peeled away to the left-hand side. He opened his body up and curled in an excellent finish high into the top corner. An Henry-esque finish! It was a goal that showed that Eddie is much more than just a fox in the box. I have been waiting a long time for him to score a goal like that. I think he is very underrated by most Arsenal fans but for me, he gets into a lot of premier league sides. One of the best back up strikers around. 

However, things began to unravel soon after. Welbeck was sent through, it looked as though Hein would get there first but he slipped on the turf at the worst possible moment and as a result he could only bring Welbeck down and it was undoubtedly a pen. Thankfully Hein was only shown a yellow. Welbeck dusted himself down and calmly sent Hein the wrong way. I noted that he didn’t celebrate which I liked because he always celebrated when he scored against United! 

We started the second half strongly, creating several chances. Eddie hit the post with a fierce drive with the keeper well beaten. Shortly after, Marquinhos sent in a dangerous cross from which Nelson’s header was well saved by the Brighton ‘keeper. It looked like it would only be a matter of time before we restored our lead. But it was Brighton who went in front. They broke down our left-hand side after an impressive switch of play. Sarmiento drove forward and fed Mitoma who had come on as a half time substitute, the Japanese international took a touch and curled it past Hein. We huffed and puffed but couldn’t regain our rhythm. Twenty minutes from time Brighton got a third. Tariq Lamptey waltzed past Cedric with ease and poked his effort into the far corner. From that point onwards the game seemed to fizzle out from an Arsenal point of view, and we were out of the energy drink cup. 

Time will tell if that proves to be a blessing or not, but you sense that it probably will. The 4th round is bizarrely scheduled for the 21st of December just three days after the World Cup final. On a night where Spurs, Chelsea and West Ham also went out you get the feeling this will only free up space in the hugely congested calendar. And for the people who say we have thrown away a chance of a trophy, I would say, we are top of the league, through to the round of 16 in the Europa League and we still have the FA cup to look forward to in the New Year. So, make the judgement yourselves. Personally, I don’t believe we have the squad to compete on four fronts. I don’t think that’s a reflection of our transfer business, more just an indication of how ludicrous it is to have two domestic cup competitions. Quite frankly, no one cares. 

If we win at Wolves on Saturday night this game will well and truly be forgotten. And that’s a game of much more importance anyway. Onto the next….

Posted in Match Report | 22 Drinks »

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