Burnley v Arsenal, Will Arteta Stick Or Twist?

So next up for the Gunners is what can be deemed a difficult trip to Burnley. A team that fits the template perfectly for Arsenal kryptonite over the years. A big strong physical side with the potential to disrupt and spoil any attempts at any fancy football whilst giving the opposition defence no easy ride.

After looking on jealously this past week as many teams got stuck into European football (Europa league and above) it really did hit home how important it is that Arsenal get back into the European competition as soon as possible. It almost had the air of an international football break as the midweek had an empty feel to it with no interest for Arsenal.

Time will tell if the extra day’s recovery has any kind of advantage over the teams that are currently competing in Europe. A Saturday kick off at 3pm was such a rarity over the last few years due to the Thursday/Sunday Europa schedules that it felt nice last week against Norwich and again we get to experience it today. It’s something we could witness again as the norm if Champions league football was secured come the end of the season, wishful thinking maybe but not impossible. Admittedly being more involved in Champions league usually equates to more TV schedule kick off time and date changes but it’s a nicer problem to have than no Europe at all.

Knowing the physical and aerial dangers posed by the likes of Chris Wood and Ashley Barnes one of the big questions posed to Mikel Arteta will be how to set up the defensive back line and with which personnel? Last week, we witnessed a great first partnership between Ben White and Gabriel who snuffed out pretty much any dangers posed by Norwich. Will Mikel pursue some continuity to allow that partnership to grow by sticking with that pairing? He could alternatively add a third centre back into the mix by drafting in one of the more physically imposing defenders such as Pablo Mari, Callum Chambers or Rob Holding? Holding unfortunately has been ruled out so that leaves the option of Chambers, Mari or pushing Tomiyasu inside and playing someone else in the right back role.

It seems a bit unfair on Ben White that the memories of a tough baptism of fire against Brentford’s physical, long ball approach has virtually written off his abilities to handle any attack that sets up that way. He had a bad day at the office that day as did pretty much the whole starting eleven and despite his transfer fee he is still young and learning his craft. He needs a game for redemption to show the fans and pundits alike, “See, I’m not a weak link to this method”. Until he does come out unscathed from taking on such an attack that cloud of doubt will no doubt remain and hover like a bad smell.

The addition of Tomiyasu has added much needed height from a defensive aspect and it was refreshing to see him winning pretty much every high ball flown his direction last week. It could be an effective enough foil to complement White who could drop and sweep for long balls played to his side as the Japanese defender challenges.

The important thing is we have a capable squad with a number of strengths that could be utilised depending on the opposition we play. Mari hasn’t come off well from the Brentford game either and has been written off by many but many times last season he was a very capable defender. One game should never be used to draw all conclusions on a player. This is why they train all week, why they review their performances as a team. They can work on where they went wrong and make sure those same faults are not a regular occurrence.

Midfield will be an interesting choice. Last week Ainsley Maitland Niles took advantage of a suspended Xhaka and an un-risked Thomas Partey to line up in his preferred position alongside Sambi Lokonga. He did alright there whilst not showing anything to prove he would be starting if all available players were fit. The question is whether Mikel Arteta will partner AMN or Lokonga with Partey. It’s pretty nailed on that a fit Xhaka would be favoured over both by Arteta but with him not available it’s hard to call. Sambi Lokonga would get my vote as he hasn’t put a foot wrong since coming in and just oozes a silky calmness you don’t teach but comes naturally.

In the no.10 role Emile Smith-Rowe started the game on the bench whilst Martin Odegaard took up the responsibility. The selection last week may have been forced by Smith-Rowe’s illness that caused him to pull out of the England u-21 squad left him short of full fitness. Whilst on paper it seems a straight battle between the two playmakers to start in the no.10 role it wouldn’t be a shock to see Smith-Rowe deployed in one of the wide roles. In his youth he played across the three front positions often and he did make one or two starts in that position last season. Smith-Rowe playing wide right or left could come at the expense of Pepe or Saka for example.

One thing Mikel Arteta has this season is options and he has at his exposal the option to bring in Martinelli and Smith-Rowe. Either way they are all players that would be good choices from bench if game isn’t going our way.

Aubamyang as captain would give the impression he would be a starter but Lacazette could easily be chosen to add more of a physical presence and hold up play up front. Aubamyang could be deployed on the left side of attack as another wide option.

It does seem a lot of changes suggested whilst Mikel has been more of an advocate for sticking with winning line ups over making drastic changes. We will see come 2pm when line-ups are released.

What is important is we build on the 3 points gained last week. Burnley currently occupies one of the bottom three places but a win for them would allow them to leapfrog Arsenal. They are yet to win a home game in the Premier league after a draw with Leeds and losing to Brighton. It might be a bit more motivation for them to register points for their fans especially to make up for their 2^nd half collapse against Everton on Monday gone.

What Arsenal need to do is take full advantage of Burnley’s fragile confidence and not provide a booster like they did in the same fixture last season where a mix up playing out from the back gifted them an easy equalising goal.

There is a great opportunity to take the three points today, come on boys, let’s do this.

Enjoy your day people

P.S I decided to put myself forward as a fans forum representative for season ticket holders this season. Fans get to vote for their representative. Please help me out by casting a vote for me Dwayne Bingham.

Cast your vote here

Thanks guys

This post has also featured on Gunners Town site which I write for.

Arsenal damned if they do, damned if they don’t against West Brom.

In what seems at the eye of a very turbulent, virulent storm the Arsenal had a chance to potentially break a run of goalless winless games with their Carabao third round tie against West Brom. A game you would be forgiven for having fresh memories of Premier League West Brom of last season rather than one of the form teams of the Championship who are scoring goals for fun.

Winning was not a standard formality and Mikel Arteta had to be mindful to pick a team that would be capable of winning the tie. He went as strong as he could sacrificing the opportunity to blood any fresh faced youngsters in the process. It was easy to predict newly signed Martin Odegaard and Aaron Ramsdale would make their first appearances for their new employers.

West Brom surprisingly made eleven changes from their last Championship game which on paper should have made it an easier task for the Gunners to complete but playing weakened teams can often have the opposite effect on the opposition as psychologically the expectation levels go through the roof which can add pressure on the stronger team to not only win but score early and score lots of goals in the process.

The lineup did raise a few eyebrows to start with when it was unsure how the defenders would line up. Kolasinac, Chambers, Tavares and Holding led to initial assumptions Tavares would be shunted to right back again to add to his bizarre run out there on Sunday and Kolasinac squashed the initial rumours he was in Turkey finalising a move to Fernabache. The Tavares idea was baffling considering Ainsley Maitland Niles was on the bench. However once the game started it was clear Tavares occupied his natural position on the left with Chambers playing right back. Kolasinac slotted into the defence as the left sided centre back alongside Holding.

Against stronger opposition a risk of sorts but against a roughly young team less of a risk. Elneny occupied the midfield shield alongside Xhaka whilst Odegaard was tasked with adding the quality to supply to the attackers of Aubamyang, Pepe, and Saka.

Have to admit after an initial shaky start the team settled into their flow. There was never quite the big threat from West Brom and most of their attacks were dealt with quite comfortably. The only real dangers came from our own players with a couple of under hit passes playing the defence into trouble at times. One moment required Aaron Ramsdale to rush out quickly to beat the ball away from the incoming Zahore which resulted in the West Brom attacker coming off worse in the challenge.

The midfield held their own but it was clear how integral Partey would be in the midfield axis when he returns. Mohammend Elneny in the first half seemed to have more touches than any other player on the pitch. Always looking to receive the ball but the range of delivery and movement was limited. If anything it hamstrung our progression up the field. Not to be critical of Elneny, I believe he is a useful squad player to have, he just keeps things basic and ticking over. He did what he had to do for this game but against better opposition he wouldn’t be a difference maker.

We went in at half time 3-0 up with Aubamyang getting off the mark with two and Pepe adding a third. We managed to take advantage of the West Brom high line getting in behind the defence and although the finishes may not have been elegant by any means you need that bit of luck for the ball to rebound to your attackers in those situations.

Second half the goals flowed, the pick of the goals from a team perspective was scored by Saka, linking up well with Odegaard to receive a back passed one-two and slot past the keeper. From an individual perspective Aubamyang scored a peach to complete his hat trick with the type of finish we used to see from him. This season I have a feeling these will be a lot more frequent than the last 12 or so months.

On reflection it was the perfect game for Arsenal to build up some confidence before the trip to Etihad. After being hit with Covid it was great for Aubamyang and Lacazette to firstly get minutes and secondly bag goals. The new boys were able to get minutes out there with Odegaard slotting back in like he never left. There was a bit of initial rust but he grew in confidence the longer the game went on. Aaron Ramsdale had a steady debut, did everything right when called upon and has certainly put to bed any of the last lingering doubts over his transfer to Arsenal. Tavares does look a good attacking threat, so comfortable on the ball and navigates out of one on one situations with ease. The real test is how he copes defensively against decent attacking teams. For now his integration into the team is going well.

Saka gained more valuable minutes as he seeks to gain full fitness and Pepe getting off the mark was good for him to gain confidence.

I believe you will struggle to find an Arsenal fan treating the victory over West Brom as more than it was: A decent run out against a weakened team. Arsenal know they will be up against it against Manchester City but the cloud of negativity that hovers over the club after the poor start to the season will have been tamed just a tad.

The players can go into training for the weekend with more of a smile and positive vibe. Good team morale is as important as individual talent when it comes to football. The pressure will still be there but facing Manchester City having not scored a single goal compared to your best striker finding his shooting range makes all the difference psychologically going into a big game.

The draw for the third round resulted in a home tie against AFC Wimbledon (Thanks Kevin Campbell). Should be a nice game with some cheaper tickets where we could blood some youngsters this time.

Enjoy your day people

This post has also featured on Gunners Town site which I write for.

Monday Musings on an Arsenal Front

Ok Gooners, so we’ve had a couple days to digest that match from Friday, the anger levels will have reduced, the red mist cleared enough to reflect a bit more objectively and draw some positives that we can build on. No? Fully understand. It still hurts doesn’t it? A whole weekend ruined. I don’t know about you but for me the remaining games of the weekend just didn’t have that same appeal any more. Match of the day was skipped and with the added annoyance of playing on a Friday it made a wretched weekend last even longer.

It’s not an ideal start to the season and only adds to the pressure that befalls Mikel Arteta. The togetherness and team spirit needed going into a new season isn’t quite evident yet and it’s hoped all is well behind the scenes. Let’s get it straight here, amid a number of rumours floating about no one truly knows. Take the rumours on twitter with a pinch of salt. One thing we can expect is to get the reasons delivered to us in HD when Amazon releases their cash cow at the end of the season.

So next up is Chelsea, a team that could really rub salt into the wounds or could be the confidence boosting jump start we desperately need. It’s not looking great at the moment with the potential loss of both Aubamyang and Lacazette for that fixture. The loss of experienced forwards will be a massive blow and it’s hoped “doubtful” gets upgraded to “available” come match day. They aren’t fully ruled out so we have to hold onto that with a some semblance of hope. As mentioned earlier I’d hold fire on the speculation as nothing is definite at this time. It wasn’t long ago when Aubamyang was accused of all sorts of defiance and trouble making only for it to be revealed he had contracted Malaria. Yes, I understand two players at same time coming down with something doesn’t seem right but I’m going to reserve judgement until more is revealed.

Alleged internal unrest aside what we mustn’t forget is the return of the ~~Highbury~~ Emirates faithful next Sunday. A packed stadium full of Arsenal fans acting as the twelfth man to cheer the team on cannot be understated. Regardless of our views on the ownership or the current manager or even individual players on the pitch what we must do is make sure we come together as one. Beating Chelsea is on par with beating Spurs and you don’t get a sweeter feeling than experiencing that and losing your voice in the process.

We’ve got a week to get our house in order, we may miss vital personnel, and we may also have the chance to blood new signings. Odegaard rumours refuse to go away and it seems there some truth into his unwanted status at Real Madrid and the possibility of returning to Emirates is very real. A signing I would welcome and hope gets over the line. The young Norwegian is just one of a few names bouncing around. One thing is for sure, after the sale of Joe Willock to Newcastle there’s funds to spend. One player who won’t be coming is Tammy Abraham as his transfer to Roma is 90% over the line as at time off writing he is en route to Rome for a medical.

From an outgoing perspective there’s still question marks hanging over the futures of Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Reiss Nelson, Sead Kolasinac, Willian, Lucas Torreira, Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding. A current injury to Eddie Nketiah has probably halted any transfer dealings for him whilst Flo Balogun could well do with a loan to aid his development.

Its stick or twist in the transfer market as the club seems to favour moving on these players before bringing in replacements. A few of the names mentioned could still do a job in the team so it’s interesting to see how things unfold over the coming fortnight.

Well that’s it from me, I hope your week improves from the weekend, and I’ll sign off now with listing a positive, a negative and some food for thought.

Positives:

Performance of ESR, Tierney and Lokonga
Kit looked nice

Negatives:

Playing out from back problems are still here
Forwards crisis

Food for Thought:

Is Ben white suited to a back three over a centre back pairing?
Just who should be kept on to play Right back and who should go?
Should Martinelli be our central striker during our forward crisis?

I hope as the season passes the positives far outweigh the negatives. Fingers crossed!

Enjoy your day people

This post has also featured on Gunners Town site which I write for.

New Season, New Hope. Bring on the Bees.

So here we are, the summer has flown by (hasn’t even felt like it’s started if you’re in the UK) and now we reach the point of a new season to get our teeth into.

A new season, a season that comes with a new hope, a hope that we can eradicate a lot of the negatives from the previous season and build on a steady upward curve back to where we expect to be.

Whether you are a fan of the manager or not first and foremost we are fans of Arsenal Football Club and want success and the very best fortunes for the club of our hearts. Football fortunes are not achieved overnight and we are currently delving in a dip of a J-curve to where we want to be.

I totally understand optimism is waning as a lot of our transfer business is certainly incomplete and in an ideal world we wouldn’t be in this situation. One thing we can admit is this is not a new phenomenon and we have often left business (to the fans frustrations, even well into the Wenger years) to the very last day.

Football transfers when you don’t have an unlimited stream of money flooding your club are often approached like a game of poker. The price of a player can shoot up based on leaked information or the potential buyer showing their cards early and getting dragged into a bidding war.

We’ve heard the testament of former players about transfer deadline day and a lot of the actual decision making is out of the hands of the players even when they want a mover early into a transfer window as negotiations are left to the money men to duke it out for their best interests.

We as fans know where we need strengthening and we know the club are doing business behind the scenes, unfortunately we cannot expect names to be dropped in Mikel Arteta’s press conferences as that can affect negotiations. We just have to hope they are working on securing the right players and get the deals over the line.

One of those deals doesn’t seem to include Aaron Ramsdale anymore. A linked player that has truly split the fan base’s opinion on the abilities he has to offer. Other keepers will now be sought as pretty much all Arsenal fans will agree Runnarson falls short of the level required for a back up keeper.

Either way, transfer business will be on hold whilst we focus our attention to our opening day opponents Brentford, newly promoted and first timers to the premier league. Definitely a likable club and a team we cannot take for granted. Over the years we’ve had a few former players represent Brentford. Highly rated Josh Dasilva fancied bettering his career chances at Brentford over Arsenal and has gone on to develop into a key and impressive member of the Brentford squad. He now has the platform to show his talents at the highest level in England and has every chance to fulfil his potential at this level.

Dominic Thomson made the move to Brentford a couple years back and although not a first team regular, time is on his side to break into the first team.

One former player we remember fondly is Nico Yennaris, oops I mean Li Ke enjoyed a good career at Brentford. Although no longer at the club he completes a trio of former Arsenal player with recent connections between the clubs.

The real danger we have to look out for tonight is Ivan Toney. A player who steps up to the Premier League off the back of a highly prolific season in the Championship where he broke the record for most goals scored in that division over a season. Gone are the days when a striker from the Championship had to prove they were good enough for the Premier League.

We have had recent evidence from the likes of Ollie Watkins at Aston Villa or Patrick Bamford at Leeds United who have proved themselves as fully capable of delivering in the Premier League. Toney needs to be kept quiet at all costs, the ~~Griffin park~~ Community Stadium crowd will be buzzing with new season buoyancy and it’ll require our defence to be on top of their game to keep the crowd and the Brentford attack quiet.

I’d expect new boy Ben White to make his full debut and his recovery pace will be key to stemming the flow of the oppositions attacks. Partey will be a big miss and I hope the injuries won’t be such a regular feature this season.

Up front I genuinely believe despite the lack of pre season goals that our captain will deliver this season. Write off Aubamyang at your peril, he still has the quality in his boots and do not underestimate how much an early goal into the season will help him kick on. I don’t believe any more striking talent will be coming in and so the responsibility will lie at the feet of Auba, Laca and a now up to speed Pepe.

Yes, there is a hell of a lot that needs to be fixed at the club but I’m still looking forward to this season and what it could bring. We don’t have the added distraction of Europe and so should make a far bigger impact on the league table than we did last season.

I can’t wait to get back into the Emirates and cheer on the boys, alas for tonight I’ll have to settle for my Armchair but I’m certainly looking forward to having football back. Come on Arsenal!

Pre match prediction: Brentford 1-3 Arsenal

Finally, for a bit of fun feel free to join my Gambeanosnitch FPL league. Link and/or code below:

https://fantasy.premierleague.com/leagues/auto-join/768b48

This post has also featured on Gunners Town site which I write for.

Season Done. No Europe No Problem For Gunners.

So the season has (domestically) drawn to a close, Arsenal ended the season in 8^th place in the end. Certainly not a finishing position we would have expected at the start of the season but here we are. I often highlight the impact the pandemic played as part in this outcome and its definitely a factor but not an excuse. All 19 other teams faced the same changes to situation. Some adapted better than others whilst many on assessment would feel they could have done much better.

An inexperienced manager faced a daunting challenge not faced by any experienced manager in history. He faced challenges, struggled to resolve initially then found a way to improve. Regardless of the circulating last 23 games (or now 24 games) form table that did the rounds for the past week enough damage was maybe done in that bad November/December spell to really sway the opinions of many fans on whether he is the right man to take the club forward.

We ended the season strongly and if anything it has shown we have a base to build from, the introduction of a number of youngsters in 2^nd part of season played a part in the upturn in form and should lay the basis for Arteta to build around next season. Whether it’s too little too late for the fans and those responsible for the hiring and firing we will see. It’s important that whoever is in charge come August that we get behind the team and be that 12^th man.

As confirmed after the results yesterday that assault on the new season will come without European football. For the majority of fans it will come as a blessing to not be involved in the Europa Conference League. A competition that will provide the cons of Thursday/Sunday fatigued football minus the pay off with the golden carrot of Champions League football to expect.

It was a competition when first announced was sneered at; it really seemed a bit of an embarrassment to be part of. Yes its European football but the standard/level of teams involved really hit home how bottom of the barrel we would be scraping if we qualified. The fact it was a reality going into the final round of games had fans calling for the team to lose just to avoid it happening.

I personally never wish Arsenal to lose and wanted a good win against Brighton first then deal with the consequences second. Although I did not agree I did emphasise with the Arsenal fans that thought that way. In the end we avoided qualifying for the competition and missed out on finishing above Spurs. The ideal outcome would have been Everton putting in a better effort against Man City and taking that spot whilst we won and Spurs lost to Leicester. Good thing I’m not a betting man as I’d be out of pocket.

A few positives from yesterday:

Pepe:

The Ivorian has had an indifferent start to his career at Arsenal, not helped by the price tag and expectation to single handedly win games for us because of it. It is refreshing to see his contributions this season have improved and there are signs that the player we first expected has reared his head and leaves us with optimism that his upward turn in contributions will continue into next season. Yesterdays 2 goals showed how much of a danger he can be and how important a run of games can have on a player.

Holding/Gabriel Clean sheet:

Yes, you read right, Holding and Gabriel played together and we achieved a clean sheet. There has been many grumbles that the two cannot play together and through a combination of bad fortune and some avoidable situations the stats backed up that claim. Holding has had a much improved season, whether he is seen as the elite level Arsenal fans expect the jury is still out but there’s no denying he’s always given his all for Arsenal and has registered some impressive performances.

Gabriel seemed to have experienced second season syndrome halfway through his first season. He started the season on fire, looked the player we have missed for many a year then he got struck down with Covid 19 and since his return his performances have not matched the levels prior the sickness. He hasn’t become a bad player overnight and has just struggled to return to his optimum level,. A full preseason will help him get back to the levels we have witnessed. He has a higher ceiling of potential than any of the other defenders we had this season and there’s nothing to indicate he can’t raise that bar once again. It was nice that the two managed a clean sheet and got that monkey off their back.

Fans back:

Like a broken record I cannot overstate how the pandemic and crucially the lack of fans have played a part in our fortunes. It was refreshing to witness the fans cheering on the team not just in our game but across the Premier League for the past two rounds of games. It makes a difference, it really does. As an away player the abuse can help raise your own game, look at how Tierney played his part in our opening goal despite getting booed for pretty much the whole game by the Crystal Palace fans. Additionally the roar from home fans can inspire the home team onto victory. There was a feel good factor that could be seen in the player’s faces from playing in front of the fans yesterday. The fans acted as a 12th man and it made a difference yesterday. The freak stats of there being more away wins than home this season in the Premier League will be a thing of the past when the fans are back regularly next season. God forbid Covid 19 doesn’t take control again and some normality resumes. I certainly can’t wait to get back to the Emirates.

For now there’s a lot to reflect on for the season past, there’s likely to be a big summer of transfer activity not to mention the uncertainty of our ownership and whether the #KroenkeOut movement will prevail. These topics I will address in future posts but for now let’s wave goodbye to a season we would rather not experience again in our lifetime. Enjoy the Conference League Spurs!

This post has also featured on Gunners Town site which I write for.