{"id":2940,"date":"2021-04-29T06:18:14","date_gmt":"2021-04-29T05:18:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2940"},"modified":"2021-04-30T05:07:18","modified_gmt":"2021-04-30T04:07:18","slug":"no-yellow-submarine-riffs-here","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2940","title":{"rendered":"No Yellow Submarine Riffs, Here"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><a id=\"WsX7OHLOTsh9X0G9a5TraA\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1140924438\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n<script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'WsX7OHLOTsh9X0G9a5TraA',sig:'zzBaCreHZuxqDN6LUpdB6w6AE-MTYS-4tjobCbUrnOo=',w:'594px',h:'358px',items:'1140924438',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script>\n\n\n\n<script src=\"\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" async=\"\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>As far as modes of transportation go submarines generate in me an unnamable hue of emotion, not the least because I never had really stepped into one, forget taking a tour into the depths of the majestic world of underwater mysteries. Growing up I was madly in love with the works of Jules Verne, and Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea \u2013 with the enigmatic, anti-imperialist, vengeful yet generous Captain Nemo inspiring in any child the romantic dreams of adventure and justice, while raising awareness about the limits of both \u2013 planted a seed of fascination, excitement, wonder and also a little fear (think of the chapter when Nautilus was trapped under the Antarctic Ice) about the Nemo\u2019s beloved submarine and hence all submarines.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, I have never really wanted to live in any submarine, yellow or not, but equally can\u2019t feel too excited about sinking one either. I am more in favor of gently but sternly returning the yellow submarine back to its dock (Base? Bunker? Choose your favorite submarine stowing destination), putting it firmly back in its place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And we do indeed have a history of taking care of Villareal at the knock-out stages of European competitions. In those days when we always only used to be just in the top four league positions and just manage to get into the later rounds of Champions League, we had beaten them twice. In 2008-2009 season Champions League quarter-final we won at home 3-0 after drawing the first league away 1-1, the great Robert Pires playing in the wrong shirt for the full ninety minutes in that match at the Emirates.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before that in our last European match at Highbury in April of 2006 Kolo Toure\u2019s goal \u2013 Hleb with an assist and not a pre-assist, as he was often accused of (or credited with) \u2013 giving us a slender 1-0 advantage in the first leg of the 2005-2006 Champions League semi-final before the return match away at Villareal. The match was heading towards a nil-nil draw when Villareal striker Jose Mari &#8212; I believe\/hope no relation to our stalwart defender Pablo, who I think grew up in the Valencia region supporting Villareal &#8212; fell theatrically to the ground hurt by the shirtsleeves of Clichy. <em>Plus \u00e7a change, plus c\u2019est la m\u00eame chose<\/em> etc., etc. \u2026 speaking of thespian forwards here, not Ga\u00ebl\u2019s shirtsleeves (I have no clue about the sartorial peculiarities of our once longstanding left back). Juan Riquelme was already celebrating the goal when his penalty-kick was saved by Lehmann in the 89<sup>th<\/sup> minute. And we were off to the final!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While this Arsenal side are nowhere near comparable to the great Arsenal teams of that era, the current version of the Yellow Submarine is comparatively closer to that Villareal team kept away by mad Jens\u2019 outstretched hands. Villareal is currently occupying the 7<sup>th<\/sup> position in the La Liga table, with 49 points from 33 matches. In the intervening years they were relegated for one season, and since their return back to La Liga in 2013 their league positions have been 6,6,4,5,5,14,5. Even though their recent league form is less than mediocre, they do boast Mr. Europa League, one Unai Emery, as their manager. How much a nice man by all accounts our previous head coach might be, we can be guaranteed that proving a point against the club that did kind of fire him will give the ex-Arsenal head coach an extra incentive against his younger Basque counterpart. And given the current league form and position Europa remains the only freeway to find their way back to the Hollywood of European football next season. Just like us, you may want to add.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I haven\u2019t watched even a single Villareal match this season so don\u2019t have much tactical insights into our semifinal opponent. But reading this detailed enough analysis <a href=\"http:\/\/www.thehardtackle.com\/round-up\/2021\/04\/28\/villarreal-vs-arsenal-preview-probable-lineups-prediction-tactics-team-news-key-stats\/\">http:\/\/www.thehardtackle.com\/round-up\/2021\/04\/28\/villarreal-vs-arsenal-preview-probable-lineups-prediction-tactics-team-news-key-stats\/<\/a> I notice that Emery has kept his (in)famous \u201cchameleon\u201d approach to formations, but with Parejo, Chukuwuze, Moreno and Alcacer they have a potent enough attacking force capable of scoring different types of goals. Francis Coquelin had left neighboring Valencia to join Villareal this season, but it seems Etienne Capoue generally gets the nod from the manager ahead of him. Poor Francis, from playing with Santi Cazorla and winning FA Cups\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Santi \u201cel mago\u201d Cazorla is of course another connection between these two clubs, Santi having returned back to his old club after recovering from that hideous injury (or rather after recovering from the treatment of the original injury). Having left Villareal at the beginning of this season to join the Qatari league, he is still at the business of making assists, scoring goals, and providing joys to anyone watching him play. I don\u2019t know about others, but I really hope that once he has ended his playing career, he will find his way back to the Arsenal, maybe to even start with as a valuable member in his good friend Mikel\u2019s coaching team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mikel seems to have plenty of things to smile about before this match. It seems all of the injured and ill are back and in contention before the match, some of them even noticeably earlier than the expected returned date! I really don\u2019t remember this happening ever in our history. Unless Mikel is bluffing to confuse his opponent \u2026 or is he?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This makes predicting the starting line-up more difficult than it generally is. For example, if Kieran Tierney is really fully fit and there is absolutely no gamble involved then I see no reason for not playing him, but on the other hand why not reintroduce him back gently by giving him thirty odd minutes from the bench in the weekend before using him in the decider at home? But then again will we not be better off playing him only in these two Europa matches given their relative greater importance compared to the league matches for this season? But then \u2026 etc.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I am assuming David Luiz, Lacazette and Tierney are all just fit enough to be on the bench for this match but not quite ready to be started. However captain Auba has completely recovered from malaria and there is no reason to need to reintroduce him gently.&nbsp; In that case the line-up I would like to see would be:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Leno<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Chambers \u2013 Holding \u2013 Mar\u00ed \u2013 Saka<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Partey \u2013 Xhaka<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">P\u00e9p\u00e9 \u2013 \u00d8degaard \u2013 ESR<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Aubameyang<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Saka can fly up the left flank and combine well with ESR with Xhaka dropping deeper to cover for him, as we had done so effectively a few times last season. Defense by all reports is not Villareal\u2019s forte and keeping pressure on them, with the abilities of our highly talented forward line, I think we can score an early goal or two and that will then set us up well for the match.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, I think Mikel will stick to his recent tactics of using Ceballos as a left sided midfielder, and Dani\u2019s familiarity with the Spanish football also may count in his favor. I think Mikel will start with:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Leno<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Chambers \u2013 Holding \u2013 Mar\u00ed \u2013 Xhaka<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Partey \u2013 Ceballos<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Saka \u2013 \u00d8degaard \u2013 ESR<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Aubameyang&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>My hope is that realizing very well that the league no longer provides even the safety net of Europa (though it is still mathematically possible it is highly unlikely) for the next season Mikel and the team will ensure a disciplined yet innovative display and complete focus at every area of the pitch. We won\u2019t manage a clean sheet, but we should be able to score at least a couple of goals past them. Maybe even three, optimist that I am! So, a 3-1 away victory for the mighty Gunners then, with Captain Auba scoring a double and Lacazette coming on as a sub to replace his friend scoring a late third. Big match players stepping up in the season defining games. Enjoy the match wherever you might be watching from.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Come on Arsenal!&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>And with only 4 more days to go&#8230;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>One day, our shirt may be sponsored by Spotify though Stan may disagree. However, if you want to see an iffy spot kick, check this one out. Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the &#8217;70-71 Double with Goonerholics Forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An ice cool Peter Storey casually strokes that critical last minute penalty kick just a few inches past Gordon Banks to equalise and force a semi-final replay. 54 apps, 6 goals in 1970-71<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"642\" height=\"364\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Screen-Shot-2021-04-28-at-20.23.44.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-2942\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Screen-Shot-2021-04-28-at-20.23.44.png 642w, https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Screen-Shot-2021-04-28-at-20.23.44-300x170.png 300w, https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/04\/Screen-Shot-2021-04-28-at-20.23.44-75x43.png 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 642px) 100vw, 642px\" \/><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images As far as modes of transportation go submarines generate in me an unnamable hue of emotion, not the least because I never had really stepped into one, forget taking a tour into the depths of the majestic world of underwater mysteries. Growing up I was madly in love with the works [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2940"}],"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\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2940"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2940\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2982,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2940\/revisions\/2982"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2940"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2940"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2940"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}