{"id":8441,"date":"2023-10-02T18:12:15","date_gmt":"2023-10-02T17:12:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8441"},"modified":"2023-10-03T22:45:04","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T21:45:04","slug":"a-surprising-familiarity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8441","title":{"rendered":"A Surprising Familiarity"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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It feels that at every rare occasion \u2018les sang et or\u2019<\/em> qualify for the European competitions, they meet the mighty red-and-white from just across the channel. In Ars\u00e8ne Wenger\u2019s first season at the Champions League as Arsenal manager \u2013 Arsenal didn\u2019t qualify for the CL for the 97-98 season, finishing the 96-97 league season in third position, by goal difference, behind Newcastle \u2013 we had faced RC Lens at the group stages. Away at Stade Bollaert-Delelis Lens managed to equalize towards the end of the match that Arsenal was leading for the most part thanks to an early Marc Overmars goal. But it was at their away match \u2013 at Arsenal\u2019s adopted European home ground of Wembley \u2013 they had truly surprised the gunners, earning a famous 1-0 victory thanks to a goal by Mickael Debeve. That RC Lens team also included Smicer, later a Liverpool regular. That set of poor results ensured that Arsenal\u2019s first season \u2013 of an uninterrupted, record-setting 19 years stretch to follow \u2013 back at the top tier of the European competition ended in a rather unmemorable manner, failing to qualify from the group with Dynamo Kyiv top and RC Lens as the runners-up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We exacted revenge of sorts a couple of years later at the semifinals of the 2000 UEFA Cup \u2013 Bergkamp scoring the solitary goal at home, with Henry and Kanu ensuring a 2-1 away win \u2013 though it is unlikely that any Arsenal fans will want to remember that season for the many heartbreaks that it caused, on and off the field. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since then, \u2018the blood and gold\u2019 have had somewhat of a mixed time. They won the (now defunct) UEFA Intertoto Cup twice, in 2005 and 2007, moved back and forth between Ligue 1 and Ligue 2, most notably finishing as runners-up twice in that time frame \u2013 in 2001-02 behind Lyon, and last season behind the mighty PSG, missing out on what would have been their second league triumph by the margin of a solitary point. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This latest round of revival \u2013 two seventh position finishes following promotion from the second tier, and then last year\u2019s surprising attack on the recently acquired monopoly of the Ligue 1 titles \u2013 owes a lot to their manager Franck Haise, and his signature tactical approach of midfield diamond and high wing backs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are multiple opinions about how RCL got their nickname of \u2018the blood and the gold\u2019: according to some the colors carry the memory of their Spanish connection as the medieval town of Lens for a while belonged to the Spanish Netherlands before being passed back to France in the seventeenth century by the Treaty of the Pyrenees, while others affirm that the name is a homage to the coal miners who had formed the backbone of this working class town in the industrial age (red for their blood, gold as coal was so highly valuable for a long time). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

No such doubt exists about how RCL will form their starting line-up:  Haise always organizes his team in what are all essentially different variations of the 3-4-3 formations, with the front three switching between 1-2 or 2-1 styles depending on the opposition and RCL\u2019s own defensive approach. The structural consistency comes from the three center-backs, two central midfielders and the two wing backs. They do not press the opposition high up on the pitch, but at the same time they do not drop back or form low blocks. In possession they like to move their three central defenders and one midfielder very close to the center circle and rely on the ball carrying and passing abilities of their wide center backs to recirculate and continue to put pressure on the opposition defense. The Argentinian Facundo Medina, one of those center backs, is particularly adept at this ball carrying role, as well as in passing ambitiously and progressively. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the last year\u2019s successful team, Lens have lost their talismanic captain and playmaker Seko Fofana to the Saudi Pro League. The French born, C\u00f4te d’Ivoire <\/strong> international was instrumental in how Lens used to operate in the opposition half, equally good at passing and dribbling and an excellent half-space operator. In Fofana\u2019s absence, Sotoca in right midfield and Polish international Frankowski on either wing \u2013 a two-footed player similar to our very own Trossard or Tomiyasu \u2013 are the primary creators, and a significant percentage of RCL\u2019s goals last season were created by crosses and cut-backs from the wings. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The departure of Fofana and their chief goal threat from last season, the Belgian Lo\u00efs Openda who now plays in Bundesliga for RB Leipzig, has evidently weakened Lens significantly \u2013 they are currently struggling at the relegation threatened 15th<\/sup> position in Ligue 1 (with ex-gunners Lacazette and AMN faring worse for Lyon, sitting in last place at 18th<\/sup> !), with four losses, two wins and one draw from their first seven matches. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal team is doing comparatively well, despite not yet getting near to the level of the free-flowing exhilarating display that had characterized much of their football last season. The expectations are higher this year and this group of young talents are no longer a surprise to any. Quite understandably, Mikel Arteta is focusing more on controlled dominance, tactical variations and an ability to spring surprises to push this squad further forward to the type of success that this great club has been missing out on. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An away European match at a passionately supported club is never an easy proposition, whatever the current form of the opposition may be. We will need to be at our best to ensure that we return with all the three points and build more assuring momentum to our European adventure. The injury news seems to be not too disheartening, Martinelli and Trossard likely still missing out in addition to the unfortunate Timber. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t think we will see too many changes from the weekend\u2019s successful outing at Bournemouth. I myself would have preferred to see Nelson instead of Nketiah and Jesus down the middle, but I suspect if Jesus is indeed played down the middle, it would be Fabio starting on the left. My predicted line-up:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

White \u2013 Saliba \u2013 Gabriel \u2013 Zinchenko <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00d8degaard \u2013 Rice \u2013 Havertz <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka \u2013 Jesus \u2013 Vieira     <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everyone going to the match, enjoy the trip and the game, and I look forward to hearing your voices on the television. I predict a challenging but ultimately assured 3-1 victory for the away team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come on Arsenal!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It feels that at every rare occasion \u2018les sang et or\u2019 qualify for the European competitions, they meet the mighty red-and-white from just across the channel. In Ars\u00e8ne Wenger\u2019s first season at the Champions League as Arsenal manager \u2013 Arsenal didn\u2019t qualify for the CL for the 97-98 season, finishing the 96-97 league season in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"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\/8441"}],"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=8441"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8441\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8446,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8441\/revisions\/8446"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8441"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8441"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8441"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}