{"id":1664,"date":"2020-10-29T15:34:31","date_gmt":"2020-10-29T15:34:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1664"},"modified":"2020-10-30T08:53:40","modified_gmt":"2020-10-30T08:53:40","slug":"trash-the-irish-underdogs-but-do-it-nicely-please","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1664","title":{"rendered":"Trash The Irish Underdogs, But Do It Nicely Please"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Dundalk\u2019s Italian manager, Filippo Giovagnoli (Image: \u00a9INPHO\/Morgan Treacy)<\/em><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal v. Dundalk FC<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Europa League Group Stage Round 2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thursday, October 29, 2020,\n8:00pm, Emirates Stadium<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Having seen off Rapid Vienna a week\nago thanks to a Luiz\/Aubameyang second half salvo after we struggled in\nmany of the same ways we suffered against Leicester on Sunday, Arsenal\u2019s second\nEuropa League group stage contest features the challenge of Dundalk FC,\ncurrently the loftiest Irish side (#127 overall) in UEFA\u2019s ranking of European\nfootball clubs.  The Irish club represents County Louth, the\nRepublic\u2019s north-easternmost county, and the town of Dundalk itself lies nearly\nwithin shouting distance of the Northern Ireland border so the club\u2019s\nsupporters must feel a good deal of complexity about all things British.  But a Dundalk win against Arsenal in London\nwould surely bring a smile to many an Irish face.  As cba, our longtime\nCounty Donegal correspondent might have pointed out, (mostly) good-naturedly,\nIrish people everywhere have valid reasons to feel that way about the British,\nbut I don\u2019t remember him mentioning which Irish club he supported, if any,\nprior to his passing shortly after the big man, Goonerholic himself, last\nDecember.  As TTG pointed out in the last drinks, Wednesday the 28th<\/sup>\nmarked a whole year since \u2018holic posted his last blog. It was indeed a very sad\ntime in this corner of the internet that deserves remembrance upon Arsenal\u2019s\nfirst meet-up with Irish opposition in Europe in many years (if ever, help\nNed!!), but it does my heart a world of good to think of cba and \u2018holic getting\ntogether to watch this one over a few pints of Liffey water.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In keeping with the many close connections between Arsenal and Ireland over the decades, I recommend this article by Mary O\u2019Shea, written a dozen years ago when Ulsterman Pat Rice still formed half of Arsenal\u2019s dynamic coaching duo as Arsene Wenger\u2019s his second in charge: https:\/\/www.bleacherreport.com\/articles\/66569-arsenal-in-ireland-what-the-gunners-mean-to-the-land-of-saints-and-scholars .  To our chagrin, Irish players have not enjoyed such success at Arsenal since then, but Rice, Brady, Jennings, O\u2019Leary, and Stapleton live on as legends in the memory of Arsenal fans.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Opposition<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historically, Dundalk are the\nRepublic\u2019s second most successful side in domestic competition after Shamrock Rovers,\nand the most successful of all Irish clubs since 1985.  Since 2003 the\nIrish league season has run through the Summer, so Dundalk have already\nplayed 15 league games this season, and currently sit third in the\ntable.  On Sunday they lost at Waterford\nwhere they failed to break the crystal, matching Arsenal\u2019s goal-less tally of\nthe same day.  Dundalk, as the defending\nIrish champions, secured their place in the group stage by defeating Faroe\nIslands side Klaksvik in the final qualifying round, but this will be Dundalk\u2019s\nsixth European match this season alone after they lost a Champions League\nqualifier and won three Europa League qualifiers; so Arsenal have no reason to\ncomplain of fixture congestion.  Last Thursday Dundalk lost at home\n1-2 to Norwegian side Molde, giving up two second half goals after leading at\nhalf time, so Arsenal and Molde jointly top the group going into Thursday\u2019s\nmatches.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dundalk’s manager is Filippo\nGiovagnoli, a 50 year-old Italian who upon being drawn in Arsenal\u2019s group said\n(https:\/\/www.irishexaminer.com\/sport\/soccer\/arid-40058720.html<\/a>) that fear\nwill not be a factor for his side.  But prior\nto the draw he, somewhat worryingly, declared a wish to be paired with\nTottenham Hotspur so Arsenal\u2019s task will be to refurnish Filippo\u2019s fear, and make\nhim wish he had been grouped with Tottenham after all.  Dundalk last played at this stage of the Europa\nLeague in 2016 when they faced Maccabi Tel Aviv, Zenit Saint Petersburg, and AZ\nAlkmaar, and became the first team from the\nRepublic to win a group stage match in any European\ncompetition.  Dubliner Chris Shields, their captain and\nlongest-serving player, was a mainstay of that Dundalk side so his experience\nwill come in handy against the Gunners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Team News and Arsenal XI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some degree of rotation seems to be\nin order, so the only question relates to the exact speed of Mikel Arteta\u2019s\nrotisserie, as it were.  Bernd Leno may\nhave played his worst game in an Arsenal shirt in Vienna, where he made three\nglaring errors and was lucky only to be punished on one of them.  A few\ndays later, Leicester\u2019s James Maddison nearly scored from midfield after Leno committed\nanother clanger.  Could it be time to rest Leno and give a first start\nto R\u00fanarsson, our\nnew backup keeper?  Indeed, on Wednesday R\u00fanarsson\u2019s\npicture figured prominently on the club website, but Mikel Arteta has shown his\nplayers a lot of loyalty, even when they are going through tough patches. \nHaving recently sold Emiliano Martinez, Leno\u2019s only real competition for the\nno. 1 spot, Arteta has little choice if he wants to play with the highest\ndegree of confidence in his keeper, but after two consecutive subpar displays I\nwouldn\u2019t be completely surprised if he took a slight risk and put the Icelander\nin Thursday\u2019s team.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In central defence Gabriel really shouldn\u2019t\nneed a rest this early in the season, and I expect him to retain his place\nwhere he has shored things up smartly in his first few games.  Calum\nChambers is nearing readiness for selection once more, which is timely news\nconsidering that Rob Holding will be out for several weeks after he injured his\nhamstring in the warm-up against Manchester City two Sundays ago; David\nLuiz suffered a muscular injury on Sunday; Shkodran Mustafi looked every inch\nnot the part as his second half replacement; and William Saliba and Sokratis were\nexcluded from the 25-man Europa League squad.  As Mustafi recently returned\nfrom long-term injuries while Chambers has only been in training, we will most\nlikely see the former of the two but it would be refreshing to see Chambers\nback in the team.  On their flanks Cedric\nSoares and Sead Kolasinac may give Hector Bellerin and Kieran Tierney a\nbreather.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Up front, Willian, who suffered calf\nstrain at Manchester City has a niggling injury and his availability is\nuncertain.  Bukayo Saka, whose leg was\nclattered by a Leicester tackler, is available for selection.  Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre\nLacazette have looked slightly off the boil in their last few games so I would\nkeep them on the bench and ready for second half action if needed, but go with\nEddie Nketiah as lone striker with Nicolas Pepe and Reiss Nelson providing\nservice on either side, and the seldom sighted duo of Joe Willock and Mohamed\nElneny in central midfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

R\u00fanarsson<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soares – Mustafi – Gabriel – Kolasinac<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willock – Elneny<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Pepe – Saka – Nelson <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nketiah<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Enjoy the game, wherever you may be\nwatching.  Seeing as Arsenal top the\ntable after our win in Austria, another of the same against the Irishmen would\nput us in fine fiddle for the rest of the group stage.  I wouldn\u2019t harp on it but it\u2019s important to\nkeep our noses to the stone, and not count our shamrocks until they bloom in\nthe Spring.  Playing good football\nwouldn\u2019t hurt though.  Our friends \u2018holic\nand cba would have appreciated it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arsenal v. Dundalk FC Europa League Group Stage Round 2 Thursday, October 29, 2020, 8:00pm, Emirates Stadium Having seen off Rapid Vienna a week ago thanks to a Luiz\/Aubameyang second half salvo after we struggled in many of the same ways we suffered against Leicester on Sunday, Arsenal\u2019s second Europa League group stage contest features the challenge […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1664"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1683,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1664\/revisions\/1683"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1664"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1664"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1664"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}