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Fresh Slate

Jan 19th, 2024 by

Palace at home, a fixture that some Arsenal teams in the recent past must remember without fondness.  In April of 2016, the season we should have won the title but faltered to allow Leicester City to live their dreams, Palace scored on a late counterattack, and the game ended 1-1 bringing home the sense that Arsenal’s title challenge was all but gone.  This fixture’s history also includes the Emery era debacles of 2019, including the 2-3 loss in April when Mustafi’s defensive lapses had a direct role in all three Palace goals; and the 2-2 draw in October when the substituted Xhaka told the booing crowd what they should do.  It seems fitting then to recall those games as a warning because Arsenal’s season now teeters on the edge of a mid season collapse, the club having lost three games successively in all competitions. 

Fourth-placed Arsenal will kick off the second half of their season on Saturday lunchtime, home to Crystal Palace.  I say that despite the fact that the Gunners have already played 20, or one more than the exact half, of their 38 fixtures. But the way the team appeared to have switched off in their New Year’s Eve defeat at Fulham suggests not only that a complete reset is required, but that the Fulham game must be consigned in the players’ minds to the season’s first half.  

Arsenal have not taken all three points since their December 17th 2-0 home win against Brighton, so a positive result is imperative for the team to maintain any kind of title push.  The successive defeats to West Ham and Fulham concluded a miserable end to 2023 when the Gunners won only one of their last five league matches, scored only five goals in their last seven matches in all competitions, and fell out of first place.  Due to the Premier League’s new winter break, and the club’s warm weather training in Dubai, Arsenal have played only one match in 2024, nearly two weeks ago when they bowed out of the FA Cup to Liverpool despite dominating play and creating numerous chances in the first half.

The opposition

Assuming they manage to avoid relegation, Palace are likely to end the season in the bottom half of the table as they have done in every season but one since they were promoted in 2013.  But Roy Hodgson knows how to frustrate attack minded opponents, and Palace can be expected to deploy a deep block of defenders in an attempt to prevent Arsenal from finding the perfect through ball.  

The Eagles have won just one of their past 11 matches while suffering six defeats in that stretch, and they currently sit five points clear of the relegation zone in 14th position. In their 0-1 FA Cup defeat at Everton on Wednesday, Palace struggled to create opportunities while Hodgson’s substitution of young forward Eze was met with boos by some away supporters.  Hodgson commented later, saying “I wouldn’t have wanted to see Eze taken off either, but we play on Saturday and we need people like Eze who is one of our very best players.”

In this season’s reverse fixture, our second game of the season, Arsenal’s 10 men kept a gritty away clean sheet playing with the seldom seen back five of left-back Tomiyasu, the recipient of two cheap second yellows, center-backs Saliba and White, right-back Partey and keeper Ramsdale.  Raya, Gabriel and Zinchenko, all three of them first team regulars since that time, started on the bench.  Ødegaard scored the game’s only goal on a penalty kick that was won by Nketiah from a quick free kick that caught the defence napping.  Seeing as the Palace defense will almost certainly be difficult to break down again, Arsenal might need to come up with another instance of free kick magic in this one.

Arsenal XI

Left-back Zinchenko missed out against Fulham and Liverpool due to a calf problem but if he has recovered, must go right into the team.  If the Ukrainian can’t make it, Jakub Kiwior stands ready to make his third successive start in his place.  In Arteta’s pre-match presser he was non-committal on the question, saying “We are touch and go with a few, that’s what I would say.”  But parsing Arteta’s words a bit further, other than a few tactical tweaks the team worked on in Dubai, I would not expect to see any changes from this familiar set-up:

Raya

White  Saliba  Gabriel  Zinchenko

Ødegaard  Rice  Havertz

Saka  Jesús  Martinelli 

The ‘holic pound

Seeing as it’s an early kickoff following the winter break, I wouldn’t be surprised if the game begins slowly and halftime comes around without any goals scored.  But I’ll take a punt on the giant awakening in the second half, and the Gunners putting two second half salvos into the Palace net, with our defense keeping a clean sheet.  It’s anybody’s guess really, how well we will respond, but I’m inserting a tinge of optimism into the new year’s uncertainty, and predicting a refreshing Arsenal 2 Palace 0.

Have a good one, ‘holics, and Happy New Year to all who’re still reading.

Posted in Match Preview | 68 Drinks »

Half-term Report: Are We Making Progress?

Jan 11th, 2024 by

I never enjoyed getting half-term reports at school. Being the subject of intense scrutiny and evaluation of performance was not as common when I was a schoolboy as it is now and the recipients of the report were very heavily invested in my progress emotionally and financially and their expectations were high.

That might describe most Arsenal supporters. They have a huge emotional investment, many pay a fortune to follow the side and their expectations after last season are very high. Let us try to assess if we are living up to those expectations.

Results and Performances 

The season began at Wembley in early August, a good place to start, with the Community Shield and our first trophy of the season. It came after a penalty shootout which was necessary after a goal by Cole Palmer was cancelled out in injury time by a deflected Trossard effort. Our most notable performer on the day was Jurrien Timber who looked a terrific acquisition at left back. 

The league  season began at home against Forest. The team set-up looked ultra-complicated with Partey at right back but a fine early start saw a 2-0 lead at the break. Sadly just before the break, Timber was stricken with what looked a serious knee injury. He reappeared after the interval only to break down immediately and a breakaway Forest goal made the last ten minutes much less comfortable than they should have been. Timber was later confirmed to have sustained a severe ACL injury and the rest of his campaign was immediately thrown into doubt. A GHF celebratory meal was also hit by late withdrawals due to a combination of car problems and illness (thankfully neither of the latter proved serious).

We moved on to Palace where we triumphed 1-0 with an Ødegaard penalty. Our superiority was compromised by a ridiculous sending-off for Tomayisu whose second yellow came for ‘delaying a throw-in’ when he had only just picked up the ball. The next home game saw a stumble against Fulham as we conceded a goal in the first minute which Ramsdale might have prevented. After getting control and moving into a 2-1 lead after Bassey was red-carded we conceded a late equaliser from a corner to drop two valuable points. 

Our next home game was against Manchester United. Rashford opened the scoring with his obligatory goal against us only for Ødegaard to equalise immediately. A Garnacho strike was ruled out for offside with a few minutes to go and late goals by Rice and Jesús gave us a deserved victory. Rice had settled seamlessly into the team looking every inch the top-class midfielder we had craved. We then won at Everton despite the best efforts of VAR who found a way to rule a fine Martinelli goal offside. A Trossard strike in the second half gave us the points. The big talking-point was the introduction of David Raya, a loan signing from Brentford, in place of Aaron Ramsdale. A controversial move and one which many Gooners deemed unnecessary.

Champions League football returned to N5 in mid- September and saw us crush a PSV side on a long  unbeaten run in Holland. We celebrated our return to the big time with a sparkling 4-0 win. Sadly in the next game, the North London Derby, we were much more profligate squandering the lead twice to enable Son to notch a brace in a 2-2 draw. A Carabao Cup win at Brentford followed where Reiss Nelson celebrated a rare start with the only goal of the game. We then travelled to the Vitality to crush Bournemouth 4-0 with Kai Havertz being given the chance to open his Arsenal account with a penalty. Havertz’s progress was almost exactly the opposite of Rice’s whose assured entry continued. Havertz appeared overawed by the move and made little impact in his early games.

We suffered our first defeat of the season at Lens in our second CL game. Jesús had given us the lead but a Raya error let them back into the game and we finished looking a little naive in the ways of top European football.

Our next game saw us welcome last year’s Nemesis, Manchester City. A tight, attritional game followed but we grew increasingly assured as the game wore on and with a few  minutes to go a deflected Martinelli effort earned us a well-merited and momentous victory. We moved on to Stamford Bridge expecting to overcome a very inconsistent Chelsea side but found ourselves 2-0 down after a ridiculous penalty decision against Saliba and a mishit Mudryk cross gave them the lead. We found a way back into the game when Rice scored from distance after a Sanchez error in goal for Chelsea and then Trossard popped up at the far post to touch home a Saka cross meaning the points were shared. 

Our next European away-day saw a very much more mature performance in Seville where we triumphed 2-1. The win owed much to a superb performance from Jesús who clearly relishes CL football. He scored one and laid on another for Martinelli with a sumptuous assist. 

Our next GHF gathering preceded a very comfortable 5-0 triumph over Sheffield United who looked every inch relegation candidates. A Nketiah hat-trick was an encouraging feature of the match but he was unable to help us progress in the  Carabao Cup in the next game, where a heavily rotated side lost 3-1 to West Ham at their place. Many Arsenal fans were appalled by the clumsiness and intrusiveness of the security arrangements in the Hammers’ rented home. 

Having tasted defeat domestically for the first time we moved on to Newcastle who were threatening to  become serious title rivals. The game turned on a multiple controversy when Newcastle were credited with the only goal of the game. Was the ball out? Was Joelinton fouling Gabriel? Did Joelinton handball it and was Gordon offside when he scored from a few feet out? I was incredulous when the goal was awarded and it highlighted both the amateurishness of the VAR regime and the degree of anti-Arsenal prejudice that exists around the game.  We defended well but looked very blunt in an attacking sense.

We returned to London and to the Champions League with the return fixture against Seville. Again, we played with authority and class and recorded a comfortable 2-0 victory. We followed this up with a 3-1 defeat of Burnley at home. Vieira was sent off just after coming on but we won comfortably with Zinchenko notching a spectacular strike. We then travelled back to Brentford with a clearly nervous Ramsdale replacing Raya against his parent club. The game was notable only for a very valuable late winner by Havertz who headed in at the far post a few minutes after coming on as a substitute to give us a 1-0 win. This kickstarted a change in fortunes for the German who at last began to look like a quality player. A few days later we entertained Lens at the Home of Football and produced an extraordinary first half performance where we were 5-0 up by half-time. Havertz started the scoring and we looked as fluent and exciting as we have looked all season. That put us top of the group with a game to play, a very satisfactory resumption of Champions League hostilities. 

We then beat Wolves, but not without some alarms. 2-0 up after Saka and Ødegaard scored within the first quarter of an hour, we conceded with ten minutes to go to a team we had outplayed until then. It was reminiscent of the Forest opener back in August.

Our away trip to Luton then proved much more taxing than we anticipated although Luton are finding their form and proving a tough nut to crack. They certainly were on this occasion. 2-1 up at half-time, we conceded twice in the early minutes of the second half with Raya looking very unconvincing. However, Havertz equalised and then deep into injury time Declan Rice produced a decisive header to win us the game 4-3. Opinion was split between those who worried about our defensive fragility against a pretty ordinary team and those heartened by the fighting spirit of the side. A big test awaited next at Villa Park against a Villa team revitalised by Unai Emery. McGinn gave them the lead after seven minutes. We dominated the game, had two goals chalked off by VAR and were denied a stonewall penalty when Jesús was fouled by Luiz. It was difficult not to feel hard done by but the fact remains that we were toothless in another big away game against a rival.

Our trip to PSV in the Champions League was the ultimate dead rubber but Arteta sent a strong side to Eindhoven to play a team who had carried all before them other than on their trip to London in September. The  need to risk Saliba and the failure to blood promising youngsters underlined the lack of trust Arteta has in parts of the squad. A creditable 1-1 draw saw us emerge top of our group  and we now face Porto in the last 16. 

Brighton were next up at the Emirates and we produced an excellent performance of authority, creativity and teamwork which saw us emerge 2-0 winners. Jesús and Havertz scored and we moved on to Anfield for a crucial clash just before Christmas. An early Gabriel header was cancelled out by some Salah magic facilitated by slack defending by Zinchenko. That 1-1 draw saw us top at Christmas but unfortunately we have hit a mini-slump in our last two league matches.

Against West Ham we had a huge share of possession, an incredible number  of touches in their penalty area and countless shots on goal. Yet Areola barely had a serious shot to save in ninety minutes. It was Artetaball at its most frustrating and that 2-0 loss was our first home defeat this season.  Any hope that we would bounce back away to Fulham on News Years Eve was dashed after a promising start when Saka scored an early bobbler. A modest Fulham side that we had outclassed at the Cottage eight months ago won deservedly 2-1 against a very leggy looking Arsenal team. 

The FA Cup defeat at home to Liverpool, added to the current prevailing disappointment among supporters because it was such an unnecessary defeat. We dominated the first half but just couldn’t score and we also seem to have developed a fallibility at set pieces which led to Kiwior’s own goal. Our own set pieces are becoming increasingly frustrating and a late Diaz goal gave an unrealistic score-line to a game we could and should have won.

So, we enter the league break in downbeat mood after leading the table at Christmas, and after being well worth a hard fought draw at Anfield. What conclusions can we draw?

Compared with last season’s (exceptional) form we are some way behind the curve:

 Juego de Posicion – the salvation of Arsenal or over-complication ?

I met a couple of mates for a drink at the ground before the first game of the season. We spent most of the time trying to figure out what the formation might be. Nobody really believed Partey would play as a  conventional right back and we waited to see how Havertz interpreted the left 8 role. I spent the first half admiring the football and being bewildered by the incredibly complex positions that Arteta demands his players take up. He is a slavish disciple of Juego de Posicion, a coaching concept that divides the pitch into zones. 

The players have specific tasks and responsibilities within these zones depending on the phase of the game.  The options are predetermined by the position of the ball. If the ball is on the left wing in midfield,  the zones that must be occupied are entirely different than if the ball is on the right half of our penalty area or by the opposition’s left corner flag. 

The team must use continuous ball-oriented formations  when in possession. These must be coordinated to give the team as many passing options and running lanes as possible. Still with me? (I raided a coaching manual.) The days of on-field spontaneity are largely over but it seems this season that every team is both heavily coached and highly organised.  We seem much more formulaic and much less willing to see our players demonstrating the individual flair that so excited us for most of last season. 

Nevertheless, there have still  been real  positives . Declan Rice has proved a superb signing and justified every penny of his huge fee. William Saliba is a superb centre half who is improving still further from a very high base. He has a great partnership with Gabriel.  In his briefest of cameos, Jurrien Timber looked a marvellous acquisition and, lest we forget, the team up until Christmas had lost only twice in the league and both defeats occurred in the most unfortunate of circumstances. However, the last two defeats were different, were worrying and have affected the belief levels of most Gooners going forward.

There are significant questions to be answered and I will touch on a few of the most obvious as  I conclude this half-term report 

  • Why are we finding it significantly harder to  score or to create chances this season? Are we seeing football with the handbrake on and if so why? Is it because of a change of style, attitude or have Arsenal, to an extent, been worked out?
  • Did we really need to replace Ramsdale with someone who,  so  far, doesn’t look remotely an upgrade and who has absorbed quite a bit of our available transfer budget? We are told Edu has already agreed to conclude the transfer at the end of the loan period which will inevitably force Ramsdale out of the club. Is the ability to play out with feet surpassing the traditional and basic goalkeeping skills that have served us as a club well for a very long time?
  • Recent transfer dealings appear questionable. Raya has been mentioned, Kiwior does not impress me, Jorginho is a place holder, Vieira has yet to remotely look capable of challenging Ødegaard and even Trossard after a great start has become becalmed. Our two Citeh recruits are talented but one can also see why Citeh let them go!  Add that to Pépé, Willian, Tavares, Lokonga, Cédric, Runarsson, Marquinhos and Mari and maybe we haven’t invested with quite the acumen often attributed to us. Particularly, is Havertz a good acquisition? Has he adequately replaced Xhaka who was so effective as a left 8 last season. And most importantly has he come close to justifying an eye-watering fee of £60 million? He can’t be classified as a failure yet but he certainly hasn’t proved a success either. Our left side just isn’t working like it did last season.
  • What will become of ESR, a bright shining hope of the club two years ago but a peripheral figure nowadays? Will he be with us at the end of this transfer window? Similarly does Arteta give enough chances to emerging talent or is he distrustful of  emerging talent from the youth programme?  Note how Klopp was prepared to bring in youngsters into the heat of an even and  goalless FA Cup tie. 
  • Should we retain Partey given his injury record and with rumours circulating around alternative explanation for his absence?  I think we’ve missed him terribly this season but his fragility is increasing to a worrying degree. Zinchenko, Jesús and Vieira are similarly fragile and have missed several matches this season. One is tempted to wonder  about the due diligence of the medical input to our recruitment team. 
  • What would constitute progress this season? Is it realistic to target the title this season or did we overachieve last season? Is the Champions League, where we have looked so comfortable this season a feasible target? 

As I write this, there are strong undercurrents of discontent circulating around the Goonerverse (one of the most entitled places in football) with Arteta’s performance. Let me say that I personally find this quite extraordinary. Whatever the relative shortcomings of the team this season (j which was quite amazing) and despite two poor performances over the holiday period, Arteta has rebuilt this club almost from its foundations upwards. He has turned us from a mediocre mid-table side (and one which under Emery was flirting with the relegation zone) to one that is considered one of the finest in the country and one that the PSV manager, carrying all before him domestically this season, considers among the very  finest in Europe. 

Arsenal is a very hard club to manage. Graham and especially Wenger made us habitual winners and in Wenger’s case, winners in an incomparable style. But look what Arteta inherited – a dysfunctional club, a very torn dressing room and a fan base that had ceased to believe. 

 In Charles  Watts’  recent book he opens with a press conference in which Arteta underlines that his first big aim was to rebuild the connection between the fans and the team. He did this emphatically last year. It is undoubtedly less vibrant this year but might that be because the fan base has started to develop expectations that are unsustainable for a club working to be self-financing? 

I believe in Arteta. He is not the Messiah and sometimes he is a very naughty boy. (Just ask Richard Keys!) I do think that he has a stubbornness that works against him and it seems from the outside that he is a very difficult manager to impress once you’ve lost his confidence – reference ESR in this respect. Yet Arteta is the very best hope we have of returning Arsenal to the very top table of European football. Give the man a chance and accept that his way may not be yours but that he deserves our unwavering support at this time. 

Posted in Interlull, Review | 35 Drinks »

Arsenal vs. Liverpool, FA Cup: Storm Clouds and Silver Linings

Jan 8th, 2024 by

No Jesus or Martinelli, and Havertz up front instead of Nketiah. Kiwior at left back with Ramsdale making a welcome return between the sticks.

And in the second minute Ramsdale shows his mettle with a brilliant ball right over the defence and into the path of Nelson who really should do better than round the keeper and hit the side netting. The shape of things to come, unfortunately.

Arsenal have started really well, playing with the verve and speed of last season and the 5th minute sees a good attack with Saka cutting in and Odegaard should shoot but doesn’t.  More foreshadowing of the rest of the first half.

11 mins and Arsenal can’t buy a goal. Saka robs a defender and passes to Havertz who cuts back on the by line to Nelson whose shot is well blocked. The ricochet falls to Odegaard who thunders against the cross bar on the return and the chance fades.  Good blocking from Liverpool and very close indeed.

On 21 minutes Liverpool break well from deep with a good ball by Alexander Arnold leading to a cross knocked out for corner by White. The resulting corner is well delivered with Nunez – close to unmarked – heading wide.  The first meaningful attack from Liverpool and we are perhaps fortunate not to concede. Certainly, a better striker would have made more of it.  Another theme of the game…

Arsenal are still pushing forward and the pressing, movement and speed are all very impressive. The 26th minute sees super movement from Saka who moves the ball out to Nelson, who passes back to Saka, with the resulting shot being scuffed rather. Impressive football all the same.

On 29 Arsenal rob the Scousers and the ball falls to Havertz, central on the edge of the box. Havertz is a player who, at times, seemingly has the ability to speed up rather than slow down time and the chance is gone.  Very poor and not for the last time today, either…

On 37 the ball comes out to White on the edge of the Liverpool box who connects perfectly and hammers a shot which the keeper saves well to push over for a corner.  From the resulting Saka corner, Havertz has a header from around 6 feet which he puts wide.  It gives me no pleasure at all to say it, but he looks no more of a goal scorer for Arsenal than he did for Chelsea.

On 43 Havertz again dithers in front of goal when Nelson intercepts brilliantly as Liverpool try to play out from the back and the ball falls for Havertz who mis-controls and shoots tamely yet again at the keeper.  Just before half time, in response Alexander-Arnold bangs the bar with a fierce drive from the edge of the box. Half time is called and we really ought to have scored a couple.  The poor performances of the last 2 games look to be in the past as we are playing with a snap last seen away at Anfield before Christmas.

Half-Time – Arsenal 0 Liverpool 0

The manager makes no changes at half-time, and Arsenal start where we had left off with a super through ball from Saliba freeing up Saka who spins his defender in the box but can’t quite connect properly with his shot which ends up trickling through lamely to the keeper.   

It’s end-to-end stuff now, with both sides determined to avoid the replay. Liverpool chances appear to be classic Liverpool – on the break. We need to be careful. 

A free kick on 57 takes us close with Odegaard feinting to deliver into the box but putting in Havertz – who made a clever run off the defence — to cross and create a great chance which neither Gabriel nor Saka can quite get over.

This move is reprised a few minutes later when Nelson finds Havertz in a similar position – another excellent, intelligent run from Havertz, it must be said – whose cross, the keeper pushes on to Saka, who exhibits a marked lack of cool and knocks out for a goal kick.

On 62 Arteta subs Nelson for Martinelli. Nelson has been really good. But perhaps a smart move to have Martinelli running at a tiring defence.  Indeed, in the first 5 minutes after he came on Martinelli slaughters Alexander-Arnold and Konate. He blots his copy book, though with a corner reminiscent of end days Ozil: fired in knee height to the first defender.

By 70 minutes, personally I think it is clear that we would benefit from some further substitutions.  We have ESR, Trossard and Nketiah on the bench.  Liverpool by this point are taking over. Our chances and possession are diminishing, Liverpool look re-vitalised with a couple of young subs – hmm, a lesson, perhaps? – and on 76 create probably the best chance to this point with Diaz twisting and getting a shot off from 10 yards, forcing a superb save from Ramsdale which he pushes round the post. From the resulting corner, the odious Jota hits the bar. 

Odegaard gives away a foul between the right-hand corner of our box and the touchline. Alexander-Arnold delivers well to the near post and Kiwior is unfortunate to connect and put into his own net. This has been coming. So has the substitution of Havertz. However, we have to wait until the 87th minute. This is way too late. Liverpool score again right at the end and the game is dead.

Final Score – Arsenal 0 Liverpool 2

This was a classic game of two halves. We should have had it sewn up by half time. Yet there is more to it than that.  Klopp out thought Arteta in the second half and, perhaps, Arteta outthought himself again, making poor substitutions, most of which were too late. We were ponderous in front of goal with shots taking too long to get off and when they came, almost without exception, being poorly hit.  On the other hand, the performance was much better than the dross we served up against West Ham and Fulham and the approach play, particularly in the first half, was crisp and quick.  There really is no need to throw out the baby with the bathwater. More quality in front of goal kills this off. 

Personally, I would rather not see a knee-jerk reaction resulting in our buying an overpriced attacker in this window. We are still learning as a young team.  For me now, Arteta has to do some more introspection and see where the things which he has changed haven’t worked and that we are behind where we were last year. We don’t have any fixture congestion in the second half of the season as a result of today. We need to take the next 2 weeks break to recharge and go again. Arteta needs to look at those things which are not working. I would posit that among these are Raya, Havertz, and not using sufficiently well the squad depth offered by Nelson and Trossard in particular.

COYG.

Posted in Match Report | 59 Drinks »

Saddle up!

Jan 6th, 2024 by

And so to the Stadium of Stone on Sunday afternoon, with a horse to get back on after two unfestive league defeats over the holidays. Yet, a new year, a different competition and, hopefully, a fresh start.  

History leans to our side. Sunday’s 3rd round match will be our 14th FA Cup tie against Liverpool. We have won eight of the previous 13 and lost five. Two ties went to replays. One, in 1923, was lost. The other, in 1980, was eventually won on the fourth attempt.

Thirteen Titanic contests over more than a century, from which a selection of three:

1913

The first time the two clubs met in the FA Cup was in the Second Round on a very wet February 1, 1913. Liverpool won 4-1. They had much the better of the first half and went into the break 2-0 ahead. We rallied after the half-time oranges. A header by Charlie Lewis, a stalwart of the attack on either side of the Great War, from a cross by outside right George Burrell cut the arrears, but the equaliser would not come. Liverpool scored twice more before heading North to dry out.

The ‘wretched weather’ might explain why the crowd at the Manor Ground totalled only 8,653, the smallest at the 16 cup ties played that day. The Bradford Telegraph attributed it to a poor Woolwich Arsenal team that would finish the season bottom of the old First Division, having won only three of their 38 games (and you think two losses in a row is a disaster!). ‘The Arsenal are doomed,’ it wrote. ‘The last days of first-class football at Plumstead are near at hand.’ Indeed, they were. The final game at the Manor Ground, a 1-1 draw against Middlesbrough, was played barely two months later, on April 26, 1913. Our next game would be at Highbury.

The relatively remote location of Plumstead did not help the club’s parlous financial state that prompted the move. The gate receipts for the Liverpool tie were £343. By comparison, eventual Cup winners Aston Villa, who drew the biggest crowd of the day, 50,000, to watch West Ham be beaten 5-0, took in £1,863. The Burnley Gazette marvelled at the ‘phenomenal’ attendances at the cup ties overall with ‘no fewer than seven games bringing in a revenue of four figures’. Adjusting for inflation, watching the game would cost just over £5 in today’s money. That wouldn’t get you a pint now.

1950

The first Arsenal-Liverpool FA Cup game likely to have impinged on the memories of at least the senior members of this fine establishment is the 1950 Final at Wembley, even if they heard tell of it while being bounced on their father’s knees. Remarkably, we had reached Wembley without playing a tie outside London. 

Another Lewis, Reg, would be our goalscorer that day. His temporally symmetrical brace from inside left — a one-on-one with Liverpool keeper Cyril Sidlow after 18 minutes and a low drive from the edge of the penalty area 18 minutes after half-time — gave us a 2-0 win and the Cup for the third time, the penultimate trophy of the extended Chapman era. 

Again, it was a wet day with a sodden pitch, but unlike in 1913, we were the better team in what one reporter called a grim and thrilling game, but another said never rose to any great heights. We came with a plan, which was to cut off supply to the Scousers’ dangerous wingers, Billy Liddell and Jimmy Payne, leaving equally dangerous centre forward Albert Stubbins to founder in the middle against the ‘Iron Curtain’ of our defence lowered by centre-half Leslie Compton. By the by, Leslie’s brother and TTG mother’s heart throb, Denis, the Brylcreem boy himself, was on our left wing (in the footballing, not the ideological sense).

Neither side played in their traditional red shirts to avoid the colour clash. Liverpool wore white, with black shorts. We wore gold shirts and white shorts. For those who keep sartorial notes, the King wore a black bowler hat and a brown overcoat for his penultimate Wembley final.

Pictures from British Pathé News: https://cutt.ly/wwF0igQh

1980

For a third game to recall, I was tempted by the Double-winning 1971 final, with its iconic image of Charlie George lying flat on his back in the Wembley sunshine, arms outstretched, after beating Ray Clemence from distance for the winning goal. TTG and C100 did such a wonderful job with their commemorative piece (click on the tab above) that I will instead choose the epic three-replay semi-final of 1980, the longest tie in FA Cup history, seven hours of tense, enthralling football.

The first game at Hillsborough ended scoreless. Four days later, the replay at Villa Park was a 1-1 draw after extra time, as was the second replay at the same ground, with Kenny Daglish grabbing a last-gasp equaliser for the Scousers. Between the two replays, we had drawn 1-1 at Anfield in the league and at Highbury against West Brom and beaten Juventus in Turin in the semi-final of the Cup Winners Cup—nothing new in fixture congestion.

On May Day, the teams regrouped on a blustery Thursday evening at Highfield Road, Coventry, for the unprecedented third replay. Brian Talbot settled it after 12 minutes. Frank Stapleton picked a stumbling Ray Kennedy’s pocket on the wing and crossed for Talbot to head crisply past Clemence. The Scousers battled on. We were backs against the wall for the entirety of the second half, ‘defending desperately’, according to Frank McGhee in the Daily Mirror, or ‘composed and resolute’ if you prefer the Observer’s description. Liverpool squandered chance after chance but could have played all night without getting the ball in the net. It was one of those nights when David O’Leary and Big Willie Young stood tall, and Pat Jennings had glue on his gloves.

We went onto our third consecutive final — a record — but lost to West Ham, the last time a team from outside the top flight won the Cup. Four days later, in Brussels, the Cup Winners Cup slipped from our grasp in a penalty shootout with Valencia after the game had finished 0-0. But in Coventry, we had at least prevented the Scousers from doing the double.

2024

It is not inconceivable that Sunday’s victor will similarly prove to have denied the other a double. Equally, the FA Cup may be both managers’ best hope of any silverware this season. Thus, the match will likely be as intense as the league game before Christmas.

That may be what is needed to stir us from the torpor that pervaded the team against Fulham. I would contend that peak Arsenal beats peak Liverpool this season. Yet, it is hard not to argue that, of late, the Scousers are the team nearer peak form.

Availabilities may be the difference. Zinchenko’s calf (late fitness test) and Tomiyasu’s absence at the Asian Cup leave us light at left-back, so it is helpful that Salah will be away at AFCON alongside our own Mohamed Elneny. Klopp will also be without Wataru Endo (Asian Cup) and Dominik Szoboszlai (hamstring). Your match day trivia: the digraph ‘sz’ is the thirty-second letter of the Hungarian alphabet, and not to be confused with ‘zs’, the forty-fourth and last letter. Khmer has the longest alphabet, with 74 letters, since you ask.

Will Arteta rotate to freshen things up? I doubt it.

For us:

Raya

White, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko/Kiwior

Ødegaard, Rice, Havertz

Saka, Jesús, Martinelli

Neither manager will give an inch. Liverpool will press and counterattack, as they do in away games; we shall attempt to turn a majority of possession into goals. Unless torpidity overtakes us again, I can only see this being won by the odd goal, 2-1 perhaps, and possibly after a replay that neither manager will want.

We shall be in all-white. It will be the third time we have worn our ‘No More Red’ strip in support of the work undertaken by the club to help keep young Londoners safe from knife crime and youth violence. 

Enjoy the game, ‘holics, near and far.

Posted in Match Preview | 39 Drinks »

New Year, Same Old Arsenal

Jan 1st, 2024 by

What is going on? From top at Christmas to 4th on New Year’s Day. Arsenal have gone from a title challenge to a top four scrap in a matter of days following a pathetic loss at Fulham. 

It is not often we see an Arsenal side as flat as they were yesterday. At least against West Ham chances were created. But yesterday it looked as though the away side had completely given up. 

Personally, I don’t buy into the narrative that these players are suffering from “fatigue”. We are halfway through the season for goodness’ sake. Despite injuries we have a bigger squad than most. However, it seems there are certain players whom Arteta simply does not utilise enough. Reiss Nelson. Emile Smith Rowe. It is no wonder that the likes of Saka and Martinelli look fatigued. 

The less said about the abject display the better. We seem to have forgotten how to break down low blocks. And that is a major problem given the number of them we face. It felt like a throwback to the late Wenger/Emery days where it was unclear what we were actually trying to do. We failed to register a shot on target in the second half. Pathetic!

If we lose to Liverpool next week, we will be in serious danger of ending the season trophy-less once again. For me that would be unacceptable. We need to turn this around quickly. Perhaps this winter break of sorts is exactly what we need. 

I do believe this side has a long-standing mental block when it comes to any form of pressure. We’ve seen it time and time again. For years we have mocked Spurs for being bottle jobs. But are we really any different? The top four and the title have been bottled in consecutive campaigns. I will not throw the toys out of the pram just yet as I do believe this is just a blip but you cannot afford many blips in this league. 

I do believe we are in dire need of a proper centre forward to be the difference maker. Last season the argument was that we were still scoring lots of goals and everybody was chipping in. This season, that is no longer the case. We need a 20 goal a season striker and it really is that simple. Will we get one? I seriously doubt it. Ivan Toney is available but will cost a pretty penny or two and has not kicked a ball in anger since May. Victor Osimhen will not be available until the summer. If we do sign a striker, it will likely be one that no one knows or is expecting.

So, what will 2024 bring? We remain in the knockout stages of the Champions League. Porto awaits in February. How far we go in that competition will depend on what we do in January. For too long we have been promised we will compete with the elite and for too long those promises have gone unfulfilled. One title challenge in over a decade is not enough. The odd FA cup is not enough. I do not wish to sound entitled but I don’t think I am being ungrateful when I say, 1 title in 20 years is simply not good enough. It is no where near good enough. 

I love Mikel Arteta as the rest of us all do. He has taken us from a decade of underachievement to the brink of the title. Last season was incredible. We overachieved last year let us be clear on that. The goal was top four, and we absolutely smashed that target with distinction. so much to the point we were disappointed with second. But this year it is different. The aim was to win the title. That remains possible. And I do believe we will improve both in terms of performances and results. But I do believe one of the premier league or champions league must be delivered this year. I think both are unlikely. 

Jurgen Klopp had delivered a champions league by now for Liverpool. Yes, Arteta is a rookie manager but he is four years into the job now. The time to deliver tangible success has come. And I do believe he is doing a good job. A very good job indeed. But the fact remains that time is slowly beginning to run out. He has successfully achieved his goal of raising our expectations. We went into the campaign with genuine belief we could win the title. Imagine saying that to an Arsenal fan three years ago.

As I said, we can still do it. The league is as competitive as it has ever been this year and I firmly believe it will be a three-horse race until the end. Everyone will drop points to everyone. But we simply must deliver.

On to Liverpool!

Posted in Match Report | 44 Drinks »

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