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To soar or limp home from Sheffield?

Jun 27th, 2020 by

Arsenal’s fourth consecutive away match since the season resumed is set for Sunday lunchtime kickoff at Bramall Lane in the quarterfinal round of the FA Cup. In the previous round, a match played on the 2nd of March shortly before the Covid-19 hiatus, Arsenal defeated Portsmouth away by 2-nil, thanks to goals either side of halftime by Sokratis and Nketiah. One day later the Blades reached this stage by defeating Reading away.

Mikel Arteta’s side were teetering on the precipice before this week’s tonic of an away win at Southampton.  Arteta admitted as much saying “I was concerned with the way we threw the game away against Brighton – it really touched the team and confidence is everything in this game.  But I could see that the reaction was really positive and we just demanded them to play together and enjoy themselves. It was an important win for us.”

(Photo courtesy The Guardian)

The Gunners will need to make and take their chances at Brammall Lane to keep their confidence growing before Wednesday when they play their first home match since West Ham United on the 7th of March.  

Facing Chris Wilder’s Sheffield United in an away Cup tie represents a stern test for this increasingly youthful Arsenal side, who must be tactically ready for the Blades’ unique style of play described below by Michael Cox.

(Screenshot courtesy Arsenal FC)

Predicted Arsenal XI:

Between the posts Emi Martinez must continue to fill in for the injured Bernd Leno.

Despite David Luiz’ renewed availability after suspension we should expect to see the same defenders who effectively denied Southampton, namely: Bellerín, Mustafi, Holding and Tierney, if the latter recovers from the knock that saw him limp off in the second half against Saints.  If Tierney is unfit Sead Kolasinac is ready to step in but there could also be another redemption opportunity on the cards for the former Chelsea man.

In midfield Granit Xhaka may partner Joe Willock with Reiss Nelson and Bukayo Saka providing pace on either flank.  Eddie Nketiah should get a chance to lead the attack giving Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang a rest and a chance to provide the team with fresh legs in the second half.  Matteo Guendouzi appears not to have emerged from Arteta’s doghouse following the Brighton fracas, if media reports are to be believed.

The appointed referee is Paul Tierney, who in my admittedly hazy memory has not given us as many problems as several other referees of the current bunch.  Let’s see what Mr. Tierney can do not to bugger our chances as Bramall Lane bays for blood.

Quick resolution is to be preferred so I am plumping for Nketiah to score twice in the first quarter of an hour and for Holding and company to see it out from there until Aubameyang scores from midfield to make it 3-0 at full time.  But if things do not go quite according to plan, there are no replays at this stage so if the match is level after 90 minutes, there will be an additional 30 minutes of extra time, and a penalty shootout will decide a winner if the game is still level at 120 minutes.

But not to seem overly optimistic I should add the manager’s note of caution uttered this week: “There are a lot of things we have to learn.  I know what this team can do but only when we are 100% focused and committed to what we do.  If not, we are at the moment, average.”

Lastly, I commend to you the new-look preview https://www.arsenal.com/news/sheffield-united-v-arsenal-preview-goals-more at Arsenal’s official site for an abundance of features, historical tidbits and other socially distanced fun including the quiz, “Can you name Arsenal’s FA Cup quarter-final scorers since 2000?”  I expect you will be able to provide more correct answers than I managed.  

Cheers, ‘holics, cheer loudly at the good parts, and enjoy the game.

Posted in Match Preview | 123 Drinks »

Saints Be Praised

Jun 26th, 2020 by

Today it is my great pleasure to write a report on our first win in months, securing us the three points we so desperately needed. It is a marker of our disjointed return to football that I enjoyed this rather underwhelming match so much but at this stage I would have been glad of a lot worse as long as we won.

The opening ten minutes were quiet, until Auba was put through via a Tierney long ball for a chance he should have scored but which cannoned off the bar.

Mustafi had already seen a yellow for a daft challenge way out on the right wing. He really has no sense of when he needs to commit. Hearts were in mouths when the excellent Saka went down on 15 mins but thankfully he resumed play without any ill effects.

On 20 mins we went 1-0 up courtesy of a howler from the Southampton goalkeeper Jack Mcarthy. The ball was played back to him and he made a gift of it to the relentless Eddie Nketiah who followed it up to pass home his second league goal of the season on what was a good performance from the young man.

Our own keeper Martinez had a solid game despite not being put to work as much our defence usually ensures. He made his first save after 25 minutes and despite spells of Southampton pressure would have been reasonably happy with the protection offered to him by Mustafi and Rob Holding, who earned the nod from Alan Smith for Sky Sports Man Of The Match.

These two were augmented by Kieran Tierney who at times filled in as an auxiliary centre half. This was an interesting tweak to our formation as it meant Saka played a more wing back role, patrolling the entire flank, with Auba ahead of him in an inside left position. When Tierney switched into his usual left back slot we saw Saka push up and Auba drift inside further (into Eddie’s territory) so they were not constantly stepping on each other’s toes. In principle I think this nod to Total Football might be a good tactic to have up our sleeves, provided we keep hold of the players involved, although Eddie and Auba will need a bit more practice and communication to both stay open in space.

The match had started out fairly evenly but after our goal we got on top, albeit in a low-key kind of way. Southampton progressed the ball forwards reasonably well without creating any good chances. They had some joy down our right where Bellerin was not at his best, although he made a couple of good challenges and, despite having lost a half yard of pace, he is still our quickest defender. Danny Ings was their main threat and midway through the half he controlled a ball over the top with a touch that God would have nodded approval at, although, unlike Ings, he would have found a finish.

We never really looked solid in midfield where we had only Ceballos and Xhaka instead of our usual three (this so we could accommodate Saka, Auba and Nketiah, as mentioned above, with Pepe on the right). Xhaka added some solidity and security whilst the lightweight Ceballos showed some nice touches that counted for less than the times he went missing. He is a frustrating player. He has great technical skill but he does not take responsibility on the pitch for every action and so lacks consistency. It is well known that our midfield needs work so I’ll simply say that a better team than Southampton would have taken us to task.

Just before half-time we got a glimpse of what Pepe can do when a lucky deflection (Note: NOT a pass from our midfield) put him through ahead of his fullback. He played a gloriously weighted pass into Eddie’s path only for the young man to fluff his lines with a poor attempt at a shot. Auba had also been well placed for the pass. This brought Pepe’s quiet half to an end.

He is wasted in this team. By the time he was subbed after twenty minutes of the second half he had received 8 passes. I’ll repeat that. 8 passes all game. None of them were behind his fullback and it is pointless to play him passes along the centre line, when he has the entire opposition team between him and the goal, and then complain he does not do enough. This issue comes straight back to the slowness and lack of vision of our midfield. If we had vintage Cesc in this side Pepe would be scoring 15 leagues goals a season and assisting the same again. None of which means that Pepe always does everything he could, he is no Martinelli in his approach and I personally was disappointed that it does not look like he used his three months of lockdown in his home gym adding some much needed physical strength to his upper body, but he is the most underutilised player in our team as we just give him none of the service he thrives on. It is like having an exquisitely sharp sushi knife and giving it to the kitchen porter to slice the spuds with.

The Saints started the second half brightly but the first good chance fell to us when a long ball from Martinez got Auba in only for the defender to cut out his pass to Eddie for a tap in. Close. He ended the day without scoring for a fourth league game in a row, a first in his Arsenal career, but no-one could say he was not well into the game.

Bellerin and Pepe managed to combine for once as the record signing pulled a lovely cutback for the Spaniard who saw his shot blocked. Ings and then Redmond both had decent chances soon after and on another day we could have conceded. Fortunately we did not, even when the old enemy Shane Long forced an excellent save from Emi, although I suspect he might have been VAR’d offside if the net had bulged.

Laca, Kola, Willock and AMN came on at various points for Eddie, Tierney, Pepe and Ceballos. Of those I simply cannot see what Kola adds. The fact that he makes exactly the same mistakes as when he arrived shows a struggle to learn or adapt that I don’t think will be appreciated by Arteta, for all that he seems a solid professional.  We rejigged our formation and although it gave a disjointed impression we seemed to have bodies in the right place to keep the Saints’ uninspired if workmanlike attack at bay.

Five minutes from time Jack Stephens saw red for fouling Auba when he was through one-on-one. This law is rubbish. The challenge was not malicious or dangerous, he had to attempt it, he was unlucky not to make contact, and I think red cards in these situations are not good for the game. On this occasion his punishment was confounded when Willock side-footed home the rebound after two quickfire efforts from Lacazette. The game was safe and played out quietly apart from a great headed chance for Laca at the death which he failed to connect with properly. His lack of form is a worry.

So we took the points, both goals came via our academy, we kept a clean sheet and we have something to build on. Although we have plenty to work on it was a job well done yesterday and we can celebrate that today. Enjoy it Holics!

I will end with congratulations to Liverpool who have deservedly won this weirdest of league seasons after an outstanding string of top performances. And a reminder to everyone reading this that there is still one, and only one, Invincible team ever to grace our league. By far the greatest team the world has ever seen.

Posted in Match Report | 49 Drinks »

Saints to preserve us?

Jun 24th, 2020 by

I have risen from the darkened room to which I have recently retired, in the hope that I can help to resurrect what is turning into a horror show for Arsenal supporters everywhere. You don’t need me to recap the sad events since Project Restart kicked into life. Nor will readers need to be reminded of the importance of Thursday night’s swift return to the south coast.

Present circumstances are unique, but a close analogy might be the start of a season, say last season when we began by losing away to Man¢iti and lost our next game. That season ended with us being justifiably disappointed to finish in 5th place, which this season would, barring a surprising court decision, see us qualify once more for a seat at football’s top table in the shape of the UEFA Champions League.

The analogy isn’t, of course, exact. Last season we were managed by a Spaniard in his first managerial season in England and, following our second defeat, we embarked on a long unbeaten run. This season we are managed by… err… a Spaniard in… um… his first managerial season in England. The major difference is that on 18 August 2018 we had 36 matches left in the season to turn things around, while on 21 June 2020 we have only eight.

We would naturally like not to have to resurrect a season, and if we had to, would probably prefer to do so somewhere other than at St Mary’s, which has not been a happy hunting ground for us since Southampton’s return to the Premier League for season 2012-13. Six away games have seen us garner only five points with the only win three years ago courtesy of goals from now-departed Alexis Sanchez and Olivier Giroud.

The fag end of season 2019-20 has seen the footballing gods continue to be unkind to us, bringing injuries to Granit Xhaka, Pablo Mari and Bernd Leno. This makes it a little easier for a novice previewer to predict the back five, which will surely be:

Martinez

Bellerin – Luiz – Mustafi – Tierney

Ahead of them, who knows? Perhaps

Guendouzi – Ceballos – Pepe

Lacazette – Saka

Aubameyang

Perhaps not. Perhaps Mikel will play Kolasinac rather than Hector. Maybe he’ll want to rest Saka. Maybe… drumroll… he’ll find a place for Ozil. I have, literally, no idea.

The ‘holic pound

Sadly for followers of the ‘holic pound, we don’t really do betting at the Palais Pangloss; Oxonne is philosophically agin it, and I think that if the Arsenal lose I’m sufficiently upset that I don’t want to suffer a financial loss as well, on the other hand when we win, I’m so uplifted that I’d hardly notice the buzz of winning some money. As such, I lack familiarity with the betting sites so can’t tell you where, if anywhere, good value is to be found.

If I were a betting man, then obviously I’d have to back a win for the Arse. 1-0 has a nice familiar ring to it, and Lord knows we need comfort now. Realistically, though, if we manage to start firing there’s a reasonable chance that we’ll run riot, and I can’t believe anyone thinks we’re going to keep a clean sheet any time soon, so maybe the punt should be on 3-1 to the Good Guys.

And finally

Now more than ever is a time to have faith. Believe in the club you support. Believe in the talent within the squad – they will turn this around. Pray that they do so quickly.

Thursday night in Southampton would be a good time.

Posted in Match Preview | 143 Drinks »

Last gasp agony

Jun 20th, 2020 by

An extraordinarily late and frankly undeserved goal from Neil Maupay who had earlier been involved in a controversial incident when Bernd Leno was seriously injured in a first half incident saw Arsenal fall to a second successive defeat since the restart of Premier League football. Maupay who scored the winner in the game in London in December also tried to get Matteo Guendouzi into trouble at the final whistle. A season that for me has been ghastly throughout seems to be getting worse and worse!

We moved from rainy Manchester to the sunny South Coast for our second game of the restarted season. Understandably Mikel Arteta rang the changes after a bitterly disappointing night at the Emptihad. What seemed like it might be a 4-4-2 line-up actually morphed straight into 4-3-3 with Saka playing in a central playmaking role, the berth Mesut Ozil, who was on the bench, might have expected to take. Kolasinac replaced Tierney  who dropped to the bench with Rob Holding returning given our dearth of centre backs. Pepe was restored on the right hand side.

I was pleased that the commemoration of those who have lost their lives in the pandemic was greeted with a respectful silence. The clapping that was used to mark it at The Swamp on Friday is ok if you are acknowledging the retirement or death of a great servant of a club but not the death of over 41,000 people.

The first ten minutes were very open compared with the tentative opening on Wednesday. Saka and Guendouzi caught the eye early on. Saka rattled the bar in the seventh minute and two last – gasp challenges foiled Lacazette and a fine Ryan save to his left from a diving header from Lacazette kept the scoresheet blank. Then Leno in chasing a ball which he tried to catch while staying within the area was tipped off balance by a crafty but hardly malicious challenge from Maupay. It was another horror moment following so many in the past- Eduardo, Ramsey, Diaby , Holding, Bellerin, Chambers and now our excellent German custodian who angrily berated Maupay as he went off suggesting that the seemingly innocuous touch might have been the causation of his serious-looking injury.

Leno was replaced by Emi Martinez who was called into action early on to make an excellent save low down to his right from Mooy. We recovered some equilibrium towards the interval with Aubameyang and Lacazette combining well only to be thwarted by good defending by Webster for Brighton. A disjointed first-half ended goalless.

Half- time Brighton 0 Arsenal 0

The overall impression at this stage was that this Arsenal side is some way from the one that Arteta must desire. Inevitably with the shortage of centre backs we look vulnerable defensively to set pieces although Mustafi had a decent game next to a clearly very nervous Rob Holding. We started the second half trying to play at a faster pace and Aubameyang was ruled just offside after breaking from thirty- five yards out. VAR confirmed it was just offside.

Martinez made a good near- post save from Maupay and Ryan saved from Aubameyang after he combined well with Lacazette. Then on 67 minutes we saw the value of the inverted winger when Pepe moved inside and swung a delicious shot over Ryan into the top left – hand corner.

Brighton 0 Arsenal 1

If we felt that this was the catalyst for a more confident Arsenal display to emerge  we were mistaken. Our vulnerability to high crosses is well – known but the short- corner routine on 75 minutes saw Ceballos fall asleep and Lacazette fail to provide right-side cover as Dunk threw himself at the cross from the left and speared it past a despairing Holding on the line.

Brighton 1 Arsenal 1

A raft of substitutions followed on each side although Arteta was prevented from bringing on Tierney with Nketiah by what seemed to be a slip by the fourth official. Eventually Tierney was joined by Willock and Nelson for Ceballos, Saka and Pepe.

Aubameyang strived hard to score with two deflected efforts and Mustafi had a header well saved by Ryan. Meanwhile Bissouma was named Man of the Match after an impressive performance of cynical blocking and several late tackles. That the hapless Atkinson could book Lacazette for one foul and excuse Bissouma numerous fouls was incomprehensible. Burn, booked early on was lucky to stay on after clattering Peoe on a couple of occasions.

Our afternoon turned completely tits-up in injury time when Brighton broke down the left and a smart move between McAllister, Connolly and Maupay saw the French striker score delicately at the near post.

Brighton 2 Arsenal 1

It was a nightmare end and in his after-match interview a clearly angry Arteta accused his side of failing to compete for the goals and missing too many chances. Time did not permit him further analysis but my initial conclusions are that this side requires serious surgery. Losing at Citeh in the odd circumstances of Wednesday’s game is one thing but to lose to an ordinary side of honest toilers like Brighton ( or in Bissouma’s case a purveyor of the dark arts albeit one that might improve our side ) is quite another. Certainly we need a strong midfield leader despite Guendouzi’s honest toil and clear quality, we must get a stronger defensive base and get much more convincing at playing out from the back. In the early stages it felt like the early days of Emery’s tenure and while Saka shows immense promise we need more creativity in midfield and must be more ruthless upfront.

From memory this is almost exactly what Bath said in his perceptive note yesterday. I hope we give Arteta a chance to build a proper framework although he will have to do so without being able to parachute in star names as our financial position won’t allow us to. Since Thursday we have lost Mari and Leno to injuries that may keep them out until the end of the year. That reduces his options still further because we were starting to feel those were two positions where we had solutions in place. The media love an Arsenal crisis and having watched Southampton yesterday we may find our game with them very taxing next week. This will generate lots of press negativity. I hope we realise we have a top-quality coach in place but we need to give him the time to find the tools to build a new Arsenal.

Posted in Match Report | 76 Drinks »

Gunners must turn tide in Brighton

Jun 19th, 2020 by

The matches come thick and fast in Project Restart and though the ink has barely settled on a miserable trip to the Emptihad we are back on the road again, perhaps halfway down the line by now. The weekend sees us journey from London down to Brighton for a game that offers the opportunity to rebuild confidence after a match in which, according to Mikel Arteta, “everything went wrong from the first minute…… every possible accident that could have happened did”.  Hard to argue with that and I won’t, onwards we go.

Our recent record against Brighton is not particularly encouraging, one win in five and that back in 2017, with the nadir our home defeat in December during King Freddie’s short-lived reign. Although it is not a game I wish to remember, duty calls and so I will remind you that we started slowly, were dominated at home by Brighton in the first half (yes, that’s right, thine eyes do not deceive, the ignominy of it all still galls six months later) and although we improved after the break with the introduction of Pepe more sloppy defending gave Brighton an 80th minute winner. The boos rang out and though they certainly won’t this weekend we will need to be much sharper mentally and physically this time. Graham Potter, Brighton’s current manager, played three centre-backs that day and we duly conceded to one of them at a corner. I see no reason he will not try to repeat a winning formula and it is to be hoped we will be aware of the danger. The Seagulls squawked noisily in their opposition to neutral venues before this oddest of seasons resumed as they believe rightly or wrongly that home advantage will be significant in their battle against relegation – they are currently two points off the bottom three. Well, at home they are and we will see on Saturday whether they were right. I believe the first 15 or 20 minutes will be crucial as they so often are after a bad game. Concede early and our fragile confidence will again come into play. We must be made of sterner stuff this time, rock like in defence, a certain rapacity in attack and a morale boosting three points should accompany us home from the sea.   

Who will play?

So who are the men we entrust with the task of sticking it to Brighton? Though I cannot pretend to know the thoughts in Mikel’s mind as he balances the needs of an immediate win against the demands of a busy schedule my guess is that he will stick with most of the starting line-up from the last game. Some changes however are enforced. Mari is lucklessly out for the rest of the season already, Luiz is banned and Xhaka unlikely to be available. Of those not involved on Wednesday it’s extremely doubtful Torreira, Soares or Papa will suddenly be deemed fit enough but needs must in Rob Holding’s case and with he and Mustafi our only available actual CBs I expect that to be our default pairing. Rob has not had many opportunities of late but he is by all accounts a nice lad (just ask scruzgooner if you don’t believe me) and I very much hope he takes what may realistically be a last chance for him with Mari to sign and Saliba to arrive soon. See, there is a place for sentiment in football!

In central midfield too, options are limited and I expect Guen and Dani to be our starting pair unless Mikel has a surprise rabbit in the shape of Joe W to drop back or AMN to provide a more defensive centre. In attack Mikel has again spoken very positively on Eddie this week, which in all likelihood means no place for Laca. The wide players are I think anyone’s guess – mine you see below but it could easily be Saka, Martinelli or Pepe starting in place of Nelson or even Auba based on his body language on Wednesday. On Ozil I won’t comment for tactical reasons (that is code for I have no clue what is going on). Our early season dream front four of Ozil, Pepe, Auba and Laca feels a long time ago now with all available and only one likely to start. Regardless, reading between the lines on Ozil’s probable absence it should mean another opportunity for Joe Willock.

The side then………

Leno

Hector – Mus – Rob – Tierney

Guen – Dani

Nelson – Joe W – Auba

Eddie

It is an XI with great potential but also an XI that, it must be faced, may give away goals and lack the know-how to battle out a bits and pieces type win. It is a learning process for several of them and in an unforgiving league we must support them with opportunities and I am glad that Mikel has the balls to do so. It would be great to see the youngsters get a run and put together two or three well-worked goals but after Wednesday any old win will do to get us moving again.

The Opposition

And what of Brighton? With the quick turnover in games I must confess I have not looked at them in any great detail. I do know they had yet to win in 2020 before the break, a run of 9 league games. They struggle to score but have a good defensive record. Sadly, that is a profile we have not excelled against this season. They have a full squad to choose from and will no doubt scrap hard etc etc. I do also know we are better than them and I of course say that with the greatest respect for their little club.  Three points are up for grabs and it is never good to let seagulls get the fishy on the little dishy (with apologies to Alex Glasgow).

The Holic Pound

As an inveterate gambler from an early age I will happily recommend a punt. The bookies make The Arsenal only slight favourites to win this one outright and a 1-1 draw is the most fancied result at 6/1. Not surprising as Brighton with 11 draws this season and a goal a game ratio are only a couple short of our own 13 drawn games. That being said, I am not in the business of betting against an Arsenal win and I believe good value lies in the 20/1 available for 3-1 win. We are good enough and the youngsters brave enough to see us home. I also expect to see Auba back on the scoresheet but the odds are not attractive at this particular moment.

A quick tidy up of some other news sees David Luiz’s agent kindly reminding us that 23rd June is the day for contracts to be sorted by and we will know by then whether his client is staying. Arteta has been positive in saying that he will not judge Luiz solely on one game – a courtesy several of the players on Wednesday must hope he will extend to them too – and that he would like Luiz to stay. I would not put my own pound on Luiz staying but we shall see shortly and I assume also get updates on the situation with Dani, Mari and Soares too.

Finally, it only remains for me to wish a happy and safe trip to the comfort of their sofa, armchair or other preferred item of furniture for all the bonny Gooners everywhere

Posted in Match Preview | 93 Drinks »

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