an Arsenal blog

A pinch of Pepe and a bag of Saka

Thu, 01 Oct 2020 12:30:03 GMT

Arsenal’s recent moves in the transfer market demonstrate a clear plan for the future of the defence. Pablo Mari and Gabriel Magalhães have arrived as Arteta’s desire for a left-footed centre-half is laid bare. William Saliba was signed last summer but arrived this. 19-year old and 22-year old centre-halves signed at great expense are demonstration of a succession plan.

Most of us assume that Arteta wants to, eventually, move away from the 343 (ish) system to a back four and a midfield three. That might be an incorrect assumption- Arteta has no history in management so many of us assume that Arsenal will turn into a Manchester City-lite. We will see but one would imagine that the intention is to pivot to a back four with Gabriel and Saliba at the heart of the defence.

Pretty much everyone knows that Arsenal’s midfield needs a facelift and at time of writing, the club is trying to kickstart the midfield regen with the signing of Houssem Aouar from Lyon. Upgrading in midfield is of the utmost importance to the Gunners- everyone was available on Monday evening and they went to Anfield with a midfield pairing of Granit Xhaka and Mohammed Elneny.

However, of greater curiosity to me is Arsenal’s attack and how it is shaping up under Arteta. It’s a small sample size of course, which includes the most difficult fixture of the season but the Gunners have averaged 13 shots conceded per game so far this season, while managing eight per game on their opponents goal in return. Only West Brom have a lower shot average.

Arteta’s team were outshot at home to West Ham United 14 to 7 and this has been a theme throughout his premiership- Arsenal have been outshot in 17 of their 23 Premier League games under Arteta. This article goes into excellent detail about why that matters in the long run and why it’s an issue Arteta needs to solve.

Now, it is entirely possible that Arteta has prioritised making the team more solid defensively- which he has managed- before repurposing the attack. In terms of raw talent, this is a frontloaded squad and you could argue that the individual quality in the final third can cope with tactical under-nourishment in a way that his defence and midfield cannot.

That would make a certain amount of sense. However, I do wonder if we are more or less seeing Arteta’s vision for the attack. While it is true that Arsenal don’t take many shots, the ones they take tend to be of high quality. They have even cultivated a signature goal, playing out from the back avoiding the midfield like it’s lava, progressing up the flanks and finishing with an Aubameyang curler from the left.

This is the sort of goal that requires scalpel like precision to pull off and, in my view, scalpel like precision is how Arteta sees his attack functioning. With the caveat that Arteta has forgotten more about football than I will ever know, I will confess that I prefer some jeopardy in attack. I like players that take risks, that take shots and that take opponents on.

I didn’t care how often Alexis Sanchez gave the ball away as long as he was posting double digits assists and goals. I didn’t really mind Aaron Ramsey leaving a crater in the centre of midfield if he was bursting into the box, scoring goals and creating space for others by giving defenders another headache in the penalty area.

A couple of weeks ago I wrote about the signing of Willian, who I described as a ‘human rhythm section.’ He has tied together attacks that have featured the likes of Neymar and Eden Hazard to his left and it’s not difficult to see why Arteta likes him. Mourinho loved Willian because he follows instruction and keeps the structure.

I was always dubious about the talk of Willian potentially playing on the left so that Aubameyang could move upfront or of him even playing as a number 10. Willian has played 98% of his football on the right-wing, it always seemed likely to me that the manager wanted him to play on the right and that the manager isn’t enormously enamoured of Pepe’s attributes.

Which is not to say he hates Pepe or thinks he’s terrible but you don’t sign a high profile 32-year old on a significant salary for the same position if you think the right-winger you already have is an absolute lock in your team. At the moment, it is very clear that Arteta’s first choice front three is Aubameyang, Lacazette and Willian.

My issue with this is that Lacazette and Willian are both “structure guys” for want of a better phrase. Aubameyang introduces some devil and is given liberty to abandon his post on the left. Willian and Lacazette are not players that take a lot of shots (I know that sounds counterintuitive given that Lacazette has scored in each of his three appearances this season).

I think Arteta doesn’t enormously value Pepe, not due to doubts over his talent, but because he doesn’t provide the structure Arteta wants. He is a bit more of an individual and I don’t think Arteta values individuality. It is true that Arsenal fans have, in general, been willing to make a lot of excuses for Pepe.

It’s understandable that we want the signing to yield value and, in my view, collectively we have probably been too prepared to grasp for straws when it comes to his inconsistency. [I don’t exclude myself from that]. He is a more talented player than Willian and the onus is very much on him to be more assertive and show it.

For my money, Arsenal’s three most productive attackers are Aubameyang, Pepe and Saka and, at the moment, two of those players usually start on the bench in favour of “the structure guys.” I think Pepe, Saka and Aubameyang could have some real chemistry as a front three and, even if you disregard tactical chemistry, Saka is really good at creating chances, Aubameyang is really good at taking them and Pepe can do a bit of both (and do lots of frustrating things in between).

Saka could hold width on the left, allowing Pepe to play more as an inside-forward. I think Aubameyang’s presence on the left is an obstacle for Pepe because Arteta doesn’t want to play with two inside-forwards. I understand the arguments against playing Aubameyang through the middle because of his lack of contribution to the build-up and his inability to play with his back to goal.

I wonder if we are overthinking it a tad. For a start, Arsenal don’t really build through the centre anyway. They build through the wings. Lacazette dropping into midfield to knit moves together is a nice to have, it’s an intermediate value attribute. I think the other forwards would replace that with advanced value attributes like creating and taking more shooting opportunities.

If Arsenal can add Aouar, hopefully that helps fill the chasm between the midfield and the attack but I think Saka helps Arsenal to advance the ball anyway with his ability to drive the ball forward. Aouar + Saka adds up to more than Lacazette dropping into midfield with his back to goal.

Time will tell whether this is Arteta’s plan but I am not so sure. I think his vision for the attack is to be super structured and precise and, personally, I think that has a ceiling unless you have the best attackers money can buy. In the next phase of the Arteta revolution, I would like to see just a pinch of spice added to the attack.

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Arsenal get set for Anfield again + Wenger is coming

Thu, 01 Oct 2020 06:51:17 GMT

Morning all.

Blogs is enjoying a well-deserved morning off, so I’ve been drafted in as cover. Rather than break with tradition, I figured I’d stick to previewing tonight’s game.

Four days after losing 3-1 to Liverpool in the Premier League, we face the Reds at Anfield again, this time in the Carabao Cup 4th Round.

While Mikel Arteta won’t admit it, this is a fixture we could really do without, especially with Sheffield United visiting the Emirates on Sunday and the transfer window closing 24 hours later.

Liverpool, who play in-form Aston Villa at the weekend, don’t seem that bothered either as evidenced by the fact Jurgen Klopp sent his assistant Pepijn Lijnders to do the pre-game press conference. It’s hardly surprising, remember, this is the side that sent their actual youth team to get hammered in the quarter-finals last season because their senior players were on the other side of the world preparing for the World Club Cup.

To get that far, the Reds apologetically beat us on penalties after a very entertaining-for-the-neutral 5-5 draw. That game was 11 months ago and is such a blur given everything that has happened since that I just went back and watched the highlights.

I’d totally forgotten that Gabriel Martinelli scored a brace, that Martinez probably should have done better for two of Liverpool’s goals and that Ceballos missed in the shootout. It also genuinely amused me that Unai Emery was asked in his post-game press conference about his decision to hand Mesut Ozil just his third appearance of the season.

I suspect the German will be the subject of a question in tomorrow’s post-game press conference even though he won’t travel. I don’t have any inside knowledge on team news, it’s just an educated guess.

With five players injured – Chambers, Mustafi, Mari, Smith Rowe and Martinelli – and a further five looking like they could leave before the transfer window closes – Guendouzi, Sokratis, Torreira, Kolasinac and Macey – we can rotate most of the starters but the travelling squad as a whole is likely to be pretty similar.

Based on the side we put out in the last round against Leicester and those who started on Monday, I think we might line up something like this:

Runarsson

Cedric | Holding | Gabriel | David Luiz | Maitland-Niles

Ceballos | Willock

Pepe | Nketiah | Saka

If Aubameyang stays at home, that would leave seven of Leno, Saliba, Tierney, Elneny, Xhaka, Willian, Nelson and Lacazette to make up the bench. We could, of course, take a couple of Academy kids but none featured in the training photos that were shared by the club yesterday.

As for Liverpool, Thiago has tested positive for Covid-19 and is self-isolating and Jordan Henderson, Joel Matip, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and new boy Kostas Tsimikas are out injured. Wary of fatigue, Ljinders promised a side featuring “a combination of youth and experience”.

In the last round – a 7-2 win over Lincoln – they left out Mane, Firmino and Salah and started Minamino, Origi and youngster Elliott up top. Having scored on his debut against us, Jota is another option now at Klopp’s disposal.

If Monday’s game highlighted the gap that still exists between the sides, something Arteta spoke about openly, tonight at least gives us an opportunity to show we’ve learned a few lessons. If you’ve not yet watched Adrian Clarke’s analysis on The Breakdown, it’s worth it. As he points out, we were too slow in possession at the back, not quick enough to apply pressure when Liverpool attacked and we struggled to close the gaps between the lines.

Let’s see what happens. I can’t say I’d be overly fussed if we went out tomorrow. Then again, if we beat the best team in the country, it wouldn’t just be a feather in our caps, it opens up a real chance of more silverware. It’s amazing to think we’ve not won this competition since beating Sheffield Wednesday in 1993.

I was at Wembley that day and aside from Steve Morrow’s goal and the untimely demise of his shoulder, my residing memory is of a man behind me calling the referee a ‘sausage maker’ throughout the match. I still don’t have a clue what that means unless he did actually have a job working with processed pork products. It’s strange the things that stick in your head.

With five days left to do business, it looks as though the transfer market is starting to click into gear. Blogs mentioned yesterday that Lucas Torreira and Sead Kolasinac are closing in on moves to Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen respectively.

Later in the day, reports also surfaced of Marseille’s interest in Matteo Guendouzi. Having been linked with Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain, speculation over the 21-year-old’s future had died off a bit. Might we now settle for a loan deal in the short-term? Is the Stade Velodrome a suitably glamorous destination for Guendouzi? He’s apparently turned down Valencia, Villarreal and Atalanta already but he might reassess that stance if he can’t make a League Cup squad again.

As for incomings, Lyon’s president Jean-Michel Aulas has warned clubs interested in his players that all deals need to be done by Friday night. No doubt he’s posturing a bit there but he also seems concerned that the constant talk surrounding Houssem Aouar, Jeff ‘The Jeff’ Reine-Adelaide and Memphis Depay is affecting team performances. After reaching the Champions League semi-finals, Lyon have struggled to get going this season, didn’t win at all in September and are currently 11th in League 1. I feel quietly confident that Edu will secure Aouar but he’ll have to hurry up.

Finally for today, if you weren’t aware, October is shaping up to be Arsene Wenger month. The Frenchman’s much-anticipated autobiography ‘My Life in Red & White’ is launched in a couple of weeks and he’s going to be on the publicity trail. Big time.

We learnt yesterday, via Boyd Hilton, that he’s going to be a guest on The Graham Norton Show alongside the likes of Samuel L. Jackson and Dawn French and I’ve also spotted a couple of digital talks / Q&As he’s doing.

12 October, 6.30pm (£25 + copy of the book)
In conversation with the BBC’s Dan Walker – tickets here

14 October, 7pm (£6.88 or £25 for talk + book)
In conversation with the Guardian’s interview maestro Don McRae – tickets here

16 October, 7pm (£29.98 + copy of the book)
In conversation with Esquire Magazine – tickets here

At some point, somebody had better ask him about Chu-Young Park!

Right, that’s your lot from me.

If there are any developments on the transfer front, I’ll be covering things on Arseblog News throughout the day and Blogs will be back this evening with a live blog. Catch you next time.

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Arsenal have six days to sort out the midfield

Wed, 30 Sep 2020 05:49:48 GMT

One game against Liverpool down, one more still to come this week, although I suspect that the Carabao Cup tie isn’t high on our list of priorities – whatever Mikel Arteta has to say about it beforehand.

No manager is going to come out and admit ‘We don’t really care about this competition, we have more pressing priorities this season, and frankly we could do without the complication and extra fixtures.’ The team selection from both managers on Thursday should do plenty of talking, and from an Arsenal perspective some of our choices might be restricted due to the imminent close of the transfer window.

Some players who would ordinarily be involved might not be available or risked in case it scuppers a potential outward deal. Sead Kolasinac, for example, is being strongly linked with a €10m move to Bayer Leverkeusen. Good business if you ask me – it’d be like getting €10m for Sead Kolasinac. And while we’re all very focused on who is going to come, there is still a need to trim some of the fat from the squad. Yesterday, there were reports that Lucas Torreira’s people were in Madrid to discuss a possible move to Atletico.

What’s interesting about this is that we want a permanent deal done, they initially only wanted to take him on loan, but now appear to be ready to discuss an actual transfer. Quite how this deal will be structured is anyone’s guess, but if our interest in Thomas Partey is ongoing, it’s very difficult not to think that there’ll be some cross-party (no pun intended) discussion in that regard.

I don’t think it will be a swap, if it happens. They could buy Torreira from us for a fixed amount, and we could buy Partey, and the difference – based on the Ghana international’s €50m release clause – could be sorted out by the accountants, I’m sure. The issue with the release clause is that if you trigger it, it has to be paid in full, something Arsenal would want to avoid. All the same, Marca this morning insist Atletico’s focus is on moving the likes of Diego Costa, Thomas Lemar and Hector Herra, while Partey is considered ‘untouchable’ unless they get the kind of offer they can’t refuse – which is the very nature of a release clause.

The posturing over Houssem Aouar continues, with Lyon’s president doing his talking just as he always does in situations like this and … oh … what’s this? … a late bid from another big club just as it seems Arsenal are making progress? Maybe Juventus are interested, but it all sounds a bit tactical. Right now, if you were to put any money on any player signing for us, Aouar would be your safest bet. It’s not that it’s a sure thing, but from what I understand there’s some confidence in making this one happen. As ever, you have to prepare yourself for potential hiccups or snags, but it feels like it’s going in the right direction.

I still think it’ll be one or the other in terms of signing Aouar or Partey, but there’s no question that both would be a real game changer for us in midfield terms. For me it is the area of the pitch which demands the most attention, and when you look at the options we have it’s easy to see why.

Granit Xhaka – rehabilitated under Mikel Arteta, a player I like, but his limitations can be easily exposed in games against the quality of a side like Liverpool, for example. He is not at all press resistant, and his best performances come when he has time on the ball and the game in front of him. He can still be an important part of the squad, there is a long, long season ahead, and there aren’t many Liverpools in this league, but let’s not also be blind to the fact that he’s been part of our midfield struggles since his arrival in 2016.

Mohamed Elneny – Professional. Tidy. Safe. Honest. But again, quite limited. Like Xhaka, could contribute over the course of the season in a specific role, but he’s not going to elevate the level of the team in any way beyond where it is now.

Lucas Torreira – Gone, basically. It’s thanks for memories, Lucas – in particular that goal in the North London derby – but overall it hasn’t worked out. He wants to go, we’ll let him if the deal is right.

Joe Willock – I think there’s talent and potential there, but more and more I think he, and Arsenal, might be best served by a loan move where he can compete to start games regularly. Made 44 appearances for us last season, but so many were bit-part cameos. He’s 20, and a season elsewhere will give us a better idea of how he can develop.

Matteo Guendouzi – Not wanted. He’s back in full training, but it’s hard to think the rift between himself and Mikel Arteta can be healed properly. Could play on Thursday, but someone we’d like to sell for a fee so we can use that money elsewhere.

Mesut Ozil – Like Guendouzi, well and truly out in the cold. Like the Frenchman, didn’t even make the squad for the Carabao Cup. He has less than 10 months left on his contract – there isn’t a snowball’s chance in hell of an extension – and even if he does make some kind of a comeback, he represents the past, not the future.

Dani Ceballos – Last, and kind of least, because while I really like him and think he’s a player who should be starting for us week in, week out in the Premier League, we can’t ignore the fact he’s not our player. Perhaps we can do a deal with Real Madrid, but if he plays really well for us, his value increases and complicates any potential permanent deal for him if that’s something we want to pursue.

Ever since he took over, Mikel Arteta has made it clear that for the team to start building towards what he wants – and the last few days have made it clear he sees Liverpool as the standard – we have to improve the squad. He acknowledges that he can do things to improve us, to work hard, prepare his team, increase the output of individuals and the collective, but ultimately you can be as smart as you like but you won’t win a Formula 1 race in a Ford Cortina.

We all know the answer, it’s now down to the club to try and make it happen. Fingers crossed for the last 6 days of the window.

I’ll leave you with yesterday’s post-Anfield Arsecast Extra which includes discussion of the game, Lacazette, answers the ‘Is Nicolas Pepe a flop?’ question, and lots more. Listen/subscribe below.

Download – iTunes – Spotify – Acast – RSS

This Arsecast Extra was recorded with ipDTL

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Arsecast Extra Episode 374 – 29.09.2020

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 12:15:11 GMT

Welcome to another Arsecast Extra, the Arsenal podcast, with myself and James from @gunnerblog.

On this week’s show we discuss last night’s 3-1 defeat to Liverpool at Anfield. How much can we be frustrated in losing to a team as good as they are? We chat about some big moments, including the red card that wasn’t, Lacazette’s miss, Mikel Arteta’s team selection, how far we can go with this squad of players without further investment, and Aubameyang as the central striker to get on the end of chances like Laca’s. There are listener questions about shots conceded and shots taken, whether we might get any surprise departures before the close of the window and if they might sting, the ‘Nicolas Pepe conversation’, what Granit Xhaka’s substitution might tell us about his future, reliving transfer values and loads more besides.

Remember, you can send us questions via which we’ll try and get to each week. Send them to either @arseblog or @Gunnerblog (or both) using the hashtag #arsecastextra. Best to send them Monday morning so they get noticed more easily.

You can subscribe to the Arsecast Extra on iTunes by clicking here. Or if you want to subscribe directly to the feed URL you can do so too (this is a much better way to do it as you don’t experience the delays from iTunes).

You can listen without leaving this page by using the player below, download the Acast app for iOS or Android, or download the MP3 directly using the link below.

Also, if you’re a fan of the show, please leave us a rating/review on iTunes, it’d be greatly appreciated.

Download – iTunes – Spotify – Acast – RSS

This Arsecast Extra was recorded with ipDTL

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Liverpool 3-1 Arsenal: The champions dominate, but Gunners can have some regrets

Tue, 29 Sep 2020 06:06:49 GMT

Match report – Player ratings – By the numbers – Video

If recent results against some of the big teams have – rightly – given Arsenal cause for optimism and hope, last night was a stark reminder of just how big the gap is between us and the best team in the league. Make no mistake, Liverpool were good value for their win, they played with a intensity that was hugely impressive and very difficult to deal with, and they are a side that is assured, mature and knows exactly what to do.

Their pressing is almost frightening at times. I’m sure more than one Arsenal defender had flashbacks as they were going to sleep last night of red shirts fizzing towards them as they looked for someone to pass to in our defensive third. The coordination of it, that snap as they hunt down their prey is really something.

However, even in games over 90+ minutes in which one team is superior, there are always moments, and two stand out for me this morning. First, I think Sadio Mane was extremely lucky to get away with just a yellow card for a straight arm/punch into the face of Kieran Tierney. He was obviously wound up for this game, because a minute earlier he absolutely clattered Hector Bellerin in midfield – borderline yellow in itself – and the challenge on Tierney was a red card for me.

I’m not here to blame what happened on that decision, or say that we lost because of that – but a sending off that early would certainly have made life more difficult for Liverpool. I’m also slightly unsure of why we see replay after replay of handballs, marginal offsides etc, and this barely got a second mention once the yellow card was issued, but there you go.

The second moment is the Alexandre Lacazette chance midway through the second half. We’d definitely been better in this period than the first, and the introduction of Dani Ceballos gave the midfield some of what it was missing. His pass to the Frenchman was superb, but what followed was so poor. The touch was bad, the shot was bad, and it was a glorious opportunity wasted. In games like this, when you know chances are going to be few and far between, you have to be more efficient.

It came just a couple of minutes after he’d had another sight on goal, and maybe it was because he knew he was offside, but his tame dink into the keeper’s arms wasn’t a good look. I know he’s scored in all three Premier League games so far, and on the surface it’s very difficult to argue with that, but I can’t help but think he’s somehow emblematic of the gap I mentioned earlier.

There is only so much Mikel Arteta can do with this squad of players, and the limitations they have were obvious last night. We all know that midfield needs reinforcement, a Granit Xhaka/Mohamed Elneny partnership isn’t going to take you anywhere new, but I think we need to think very, very strongly about the centre-forward position. We have a world class striker in Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a player who can last 90 minutes too – something Lacazette rarely does (effectively anyway), and that’s a problem he’s had since he first arrived.

Again, it’s not simply his fault that we didn’t get something from that game, but if we’re serious about bridging the gap to a side like Liverpool, it’s time to start moving away from players who are part of the reason that gap exists. It’s not easy, it’s not going to be possible to do it all in one go or one transfer window, but that miss felt like a pivotal moment last night, and in the end it’s one we came to regret.

It’s also hard not to think that this system, which has worked so well – and which saw us produce some moments of good stuff last night too – is now pretty easy to work out for the opposition. Arteta has spoken more than once about having tactical versatility, and I like how committed we are to playing the way he wants out from the back, but there was a blueprint for other teams to see how to nullify us. Of course not every team can do what Liverpool do, they are outstanding, and champions for good reason, but you can see why we’re so desperate to bring in someone like Houssem Aouar and why interest in Thomas Partey remains.

If you are looking for positives, it’s that we stayed in the game until Diogo Jota’s late debut goal for Liverpool. They were well and truly on top, their 21 attempts to our 4 tell the story, and between them, our three central defenders made 25 clearances, which illustrates the pressure we were under. At times we rode our luck. You have to in games like this, and against opposition that good, but as long as the scoreline doesn’t reflect their dominance, you have a chance of nicking something. In the end though, it wasn’t to be.

I also think we can look at the goals we conceded and admit we could do better defensively, and I include the goalkeeper in that. Those are things you can work on, but I don’t think there’s any shame in being beaten by a team as good as Liverpool, and perhaps it’s not the worst thing in the world for those higher up to be given a reminder of the work we still need to do. Arteta can do as much as he can on training ground, in terms of preparation and organisation, but he also needs backing in the transfer market to help us take further steps forward. There’s just no escaping that.

Afterwards, the Arsenal boss was full of praise for Liverpool, and sounded relatively pleased with his team’s efforts:

It’s a really tough place to come for anybody in the world. They set incredible standards. They’ve been together five years, we’re in a different moment of our journey. They weren’t able to do that three or four years ago or two years ago. But you can see, these are the standards, this is what we have to reach. We have a long way to improve but I’m really pleased with the way we competed, we stayed in the game for 85 or 90 minutes and this is not easy to do here.

But also made it clear how much we needed to do better when Lacazette was sent through:

We still have some problems with the ball but we had the best chance of the game and when it comes to Anfield, you’re not going to get ten chances. When you get through one against one with the keeper you have to take one to get something out of the game.

It’s worth remembering that this game was between a team which scraped into 8th on the last day of last season against one which ran away with the title, and which hasn’t lost a game at home since April 2017. Regardless of how buoyed you might have been by the FA Cup win or the Community Shield performance, it’s impossible not to look at it in that wider context. We haven’t done a great deal to strengthen our squad from the same group as last season, so perhaps if there’s some angst or frustration this morning, it should be seen as something of a positive. We did stay in the game, we did have that chance to equalise and perhaps hang on, but progress under Arteta was never going to be linear.

There were going to be bumps on the road – there will be more too, don’t worry – and last night at Anfield was like playing with oncoming traffic. Eventually, you’re going to get hit. It’s never fun to lose, but when you’re a work in progress as we very much are, you have to do everything you can to learn from games like this one, and I’m sure that will be Arteta’s mindset this morning.

Liverpool v Arsenal isn’t the game which will define our season, not by a long way, but if the goal and the ambition is reach that level, it’s still a useful measuring stick.

—

Ok, that’s it for this morning. James and I will be recording an Arsecast Extra for you this morning. As ever if you have questions or topics for discussion, send to @gunnerblog and @arseblog on Twitter with the hashtag #arsecastextra – or if you’re on Arseblog Member on Patreon, leave your question in the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server.

The podcast should be out around lunchtime (UK time), so keep your eyes peeled in all the usual places for when it drops. Until then, take it easy.

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Liverpool v Arsenal – live blog

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 18:15:45 GMT

Join us for live blog coverage of our Premier League clash with champions Liverpool at Anfield, kick-off 20.00

We’ve got up to the second live text commentary, updates, goal clips, observations and occasionally witty asides. If you want to join the chat, register an Arseblog Live account.

To do that, go to Arseblog Live – click login on the top right, and then choose ‘sign up’ to complete the process with your username/password, or you can use your Twitter, Facebook or Google account to register.

You can also get Twitter updates of key events – goals, cards, substitutions etc – by following @arseblog_live

CLICK TO LAUNCH Liverpool v Arsenal – LIVE BLOG

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Liverpool preview: Tierney to return + Just kill VAR

Mon, 28 Sep 2020 06:07:47 GMT

It’s Liverpool tonight as we go to Anfield for the first of two trips in a matter of days. This one, it’s fair to say, is the really important one because Premier League points are at stake.

We’ve beaten Liverpool twice recently, once in the league after lockdown, but that was more down to their mistakes and us hanging on than the quality of our own performance. Then in the Community Shield where I think we were decent value for a penalty shoot-out win. Despite that though, Liverpool at home are a very different proposition. It’s April 2017 since they last lost a game at Anfield, so that very clearly demonstrates how tough it’s going to be take three points – or even one – tonight.

Mikel Arteta was asked about this evening’s opposition, and said:

I don’t see any complacency. You can see that in the 24 or 26 players that they have in the squad, there is not one player that plays half/half on the day, that is not very interested, that they just play for moments in the game.

They just go for it every single minute of every game. And throughout the season, to do that for 10 months, that’s a massive compliment, I think for them.

It sounds very much like the kind of thing he wants from his own team and his own players, but obviously Jurgen Klopp is a lot further down the road with his work at Liverpool than Arteta is at Arsenal. It takes time to get things right, there are going to be bumps on the road as you look to build a competitive squad, but at least the destination is clear.

As for tonight’s team, the only significant piece of news is that Kieran Tierney is back in full training after missing the West Ham game because of a tight hip. Obviously he comes straight back into the team, but it’ll be quite interesting to see who else is in there. I’m assuming that we’re not going to throw any kind of curve-ball in terms of formation/system, so will it be David Luiz at the heart of the defence, or new signing Gabriel?

Tierney could play as the left wing-back ahead of Ainsley Maitland-Niles or Bukayo Saka, with Gabriel moving to the left of the back three, but that would mean a slightly different way of playing. What Tierney does in that position is different from anyone else, it has created a kind of reliance on him almost, so I’m curious to see how this one plays out over the course of the season and where he might be utilised.

For today though, I suspect Arteta will pick him where he’s been at his best, and my guess that he’ll stick with the new man in the middle despite Luiz’s experience. The more senior Brazilian has been struggling with an injury, Gabriel is fitter, bigger, stronger (and other Daft Punk stuff), and at a ground when you’re going to need everybody to be at their physical best, I think that will see him start. After that, it’s Xhaka, Ceballos, Willian ahead of Pepe, Aubameyang and Lacazette.

We held our own against Liverpool in the Community Shield – a glorified friendly I know but it was still a game both sides took pretty seriously once it kicked off. It shows we can compete with them, but we shouldn’t be under any illusions about how difficult it is going to be tonight. Points are at stake, Liverpool will be as desperate to retain the title as they were to win it last season, and they have quality players who can hurt you in the blink of an eye, as we well know.

Mikel Arteta was actually in the team the last time we won at Anfield, which tells you plenty about how things have gone for us there down the years. If you offered me a point right now, I think I’d snap your hand off, but let’s see how this one goes.

As ever we’ll have a live blog for you, plus the match report, stats, player ratings and more on Arseblog News.

—

Meanwhile, another Premier League weekend, more handball nonsense. Again, how can I not laugh when something bad happens to a rival team? For the old enemy to be on the receiving end of a ridiculous decision is obviously hilarious, but I hope everyone out there is preparing themselves for the inevitable. At some point this handball rule/VAR thing is going to do to us what it did to Sp*rs, to Crystal Palace on Saturday, to Man United last weekend, and it really won’t be funny then.

It always felt like there might be some teething problems with VAR, but it’s now actively making things worse – which is a bit of an issue for a technology which was supposed to make things better and to improve the standards of officiating and decision making. Do we need to change the rules? Perhaps. But for me the easiest solution is just to bin VAR, chalk it down to experience, an experiment that didn’t work and which strips so much from the game itself, and move on.

We should be able to accept that human error is part of the game and deal with that. An assistant referee getting an offside wrong because a striker’s toe is half an inch ahead of of a defender is the same as said striker mis-kicking the ball in front of an open net. Players make mistakes literally all the time, it’s the reason why goals happen, why excitement and the flow of the game enthralls us, so why do we expect officials to be absolutely flawless all the time? VAR is an attempt to make that happen, and it’s an abomination.

I genuinely think we’d all be much happier without it. Who would miss it? The interminable replays, delays, rewinds and decisions which make no sense – even to those who are on the right end of them. Take it out the back, shoot it in the head, and let football be football again. If you’re going into every game with an existential dread of some faceless technology, there’s something really very wrong with it.

Right, have a good one – catch you later for the game.

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Sunday round-up: Talking fridges and a glorious chip

Sun, 27 Sep 2020 08:06:52 GMT

Who the hell is Mark Allen? That was my first thought when I woke up this morning.

Why? Well, I was having dream that I was listening to the Arsenal Vision Podcast via my fridge. I know smart devices are a thing these days, but podcasts via a fridge is just an unnecessary thing that nobody needs. However, there it was blaring out of my NordMende as I was trying to find space for two cod fillets, and Paul was going on and on about how unfair it was that Mark Allen had been left out of the squad just because he got a red card in a recent game for punching an opponent.

There was some talk about how sometimes it’s ok to punch someone in the mouth and that referees need to be understand this. I don’t know who he punched, or why, but the discussion was about how unfairly he’d been treated by Unai Emery – still boss in my dream world – and there was going to be some kind of leaflet campaign launched in protest at his exclusion. Then they started arguing about which font to use and I woke up and I needed a drink of water because I drank too many Old Fashioneds last night.

Therefore today’s blog is going to be a short one.

We can start with the news that Lyon have reportedly rejected a bid from Arsenal for Houssem Aouar. That’s positive, I guess. It means that we’re actively trying to buy him. Their president Jean-Michel Aulas, said:

For Houssem, Arsenal are too far from his value.

The really simple solution to all this is to get closer to said value. We just sidle on up there from a distance – ensuring of course that we know the difference between small and far away – and once we’re there we say ‘We’re here!’ and yer man will have no choice but say ‘Zut Alors! You got me. If my earlier complaint and unwillingness to sell was predicated on your substantial and obvious distance from Houssem’s value, I am now well and truly snookered given that you are indeed much, much closer to it.’

That is how transfers work, my friends. It’s not quite a talking fridge, but it’s uncomplicated in its very essence. Let’s see what happens there, but he’s a player I really like so if we can make it work, it’d be great. The Lyon guy has form for being vocal in public ahead of transfers so if there’s no smoke without fire, this guy has the matches in his hand saying ‘What, me?’

Arsenal 4-0 Sp*rs

A scoreline to cherish on any occasion. Arsenal Women last night went through to the semi-finals of the FA Cup by beating that lot. What a pass from Vivianne Miedama this is, sending hat-trick hero Lisa Evans through on goal:

That pass. That finish.

@VivianneMiedema
@LisaEvans_17 pic.twitter.com/gyHGHdqybm

— Arsenal Women (@ArsenalWFC) September 26, 2020

But what about this?

Oooof! That is just superb. For a horrible second I thought the keeper might get a touch – not to keep it out, but just enough to spoil it a little. Thankfully though, she did not, and the vision + execution from Jordan Nobbs is untarnished. There’s just something so aesthetically pleasing about a goal like that. Smashing one in from 30 yards is great, obviously, but there is a slight element of hit and hope about it, but a chip is just so deliberate that when it comes off as perfectly as that one, it’s so good to watch over and over again.

If you want some post-match reaction from Arsenal boss Joe Montemurro, you’ll find it here on Arseblog News. Tim’s coverage of the Arsenal Women is unrivalled in terms of quality, access and regularity, so if you’re a fan – or you want to learn more about the women’s team – it’s all there on the dedicated Arsenal Women section. And if you don’t, that’s fine, nobody says you have to, but don’t tell us about it because we don’t care.

Right, there is only one cure for too many Old Fashioneds, and that is bacon and bread and brown sauce – in a sandwich, not in a blender or anything and drunk like some kind of milkshake because that would be disgusting.

Or would it? I will see what my fridge tells me. Till tomorrow.

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Mikel Arteta is Fat Tony

Sat, 26 Sep 2020 07:07:35 GMT

A very quick Saturday round-up for you.

I was watching Mikel Arteta’s press conference yesterday, and listening to him being asked questions about transfers. It occurred to me, as he gave nothing away whatsoever beyond the admission that we’re still in the market for players, that the Arsenal manager is Fat Tony from The Simpsons.

Ok, he’s not fat, he’s not called Tony, nor is he a caricature of a mob boss, but his complete unwillingness to talk about transfer business in any way is very similar to the way Fat Tony operates when being questioned by Chief Wiggum.

Later, Wiggum accuses Fat Tony of murder.

“What’s a murder?”, he says.

Journalist: Do you have any news about Lucas Torreira’s departure.

Arteta: No, we don’t have any updates on Lucas or any other player at the moment.

Journalist: What about links to Jorginho.

Arteta: We are still open to improve our team, we are looking for different options depending on what happens with some of our players here so we are getting prepared just in case we need to do something.

Journalist: Does Jorginho have qualities you like?

Arteta: Sorry, but I cannot talk about players that play for a different team.

Journalist: But Jorginho?

Arteta: What’s a Jorginho?

Journalist: He’s a midfielder?

Arteta: What’s midfield?

Journalist: It’s a position on a football pitch?

Arteta: What’s a football?

Ok, the last couple might have been made up, but no matter how hard they try, he will not give anything away in a press conference. It’s like Arsene Wenger on steroids. The former boss was long enough in the game that he might occasionally give a snippet of info, or a semi-smirk which was enough for people to say ‘LOOK! WHEN HE SAYS THERE’S NO TRANSFER NEWS HE VERY SLIGHTLY SMILED AND RAISED ONE EYEBROW. FROM THIS WE CAN EXTRAPOLATE THAT STORIES LINKING US WITH A TRIPLE SWOOP FOR SEBASTIEN FREY, HATEM TRABELSI AND SALOMON KALOU ARE TRUE AND ALL THREE WILL BE SIGNING IMMINENTLY.’

This was before the days of social media when such high quality investigation would result in 13 million Tweets to the @arsenal account saying ‘ANNOUNCE FREY! ANNOUNCE TRABELSI! ANNOUNCE KALOU! ANNOUNCE ANYONE!’

Now, despite questions from the press, a trillion memes and GIFs, and a man standing outside the house of the poor chap who runs the @arsenal account with a homemade sign saying ‘A NONCE PARTY’ – leading to entirely the wrong kind of people being attracted to the neighbourhood – Arteta is giving nothing away.

Maybe there is nothing to give away. Maybe we’re not close to signing anyone or selling anyone, but he’s just not willing to play that game. He wants what we do as a club to be discreet – as much as transfers can be these days with so many avenues for information to leak out. It’s hard to keep things under wraps when The Arsenal Wombat on Twitter notices that the brother of the girlfriend of a player we’re reportedly interested in has followed a man whose cousin’s company manufactures the boxes for the Arsenal Membership packs, but there’s nothing you can do about those external things.

From inside, Arteta’s Arsenal are going to play their cards as close to their chest as possible. Wenger’s classic ‘If we have some news, you’ll be the first to know’ is overdue an airing, and to be perfectly honest, I think it’s good. It’s the right way to operate because there are so many layers to transfer deals that even if a manager said something in good faith, it’s possible that a complication could make a ‘lie’ of it down the line. There have been countless occasions when players have been 99% in, and 99% out the door, but at the last minute something has happened which nixed the deal.

If rabid speculation about potential arrivals and departures is your thing, it’s not as if there aren’t countless outlets you can go to for that. If not websites and newspapers, then Twitter accounts which specialise in transfers. Some of them have good info, some of them are literally just wankers sitting in their pants making stuff up for likes and RTs, but then it’s up to you to decide who is worth your time/follow or not. If you can’t be arsed with any of that, it’s easy enough to filter out. And when there’s actual news, when something has happened 100% – then it will be rock solid from the official channel, or the manager if he decides to go with it.

In the meantime, with the transfer window hurtling towards its inevitable SLAMMING SHUT, Mikel Arteta needs to channel his inner Fat Tony again. As Josh and Stan Kroenke stand there wondering why the Arsenal boss is standing at their front door, he speaks:

“I’m afraid I must insist. You see, our fans, they have been most vocal on the subject of the transfer monies. ‘Where’s the money?’ ‘When are you going to get the money?’ ‘Why aren’t you getting the money now?’

“And so on. So please, the money.”

Till tomorrow. I’ll leave you with a brand new Arsecast, listen/subscribe below.

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Double Mugsmashers week incoming + the tumbleweeds of the transfer window

Fri, 25 Sep 2020 06:22:42 GMT

It’s Friday and later on Mikel Arteta will meet the press ahead of our trip to Anfield on Monday. That’s a very difficult game as we know, and we’ll be playing the Mugsmashers twice next week because last night they beat Lincoln City 7-2 in their third round Carabao Cup tie.

The dates of the fourth round fixtures haven’t been announced yet, but the games are scheduled to be played ‘in the week commencing September 28th’. Which is the very date we play them in the Premier League. Jurgen Klopp said last night, “Thank God we have two home games. Sorry, Mikel. You have to come to Liverpool twice!”

So, that certainly gives the manager something to think about for a fixture sandwiched between a game against the Champions and a home fixture against Sheffield United – who we know fine well are a good team after our encounters with them last season. My predicted line up for the Carabao Cup tie against Liverpool is as follows:

Runarsson, Saliba, A chair, Kolasinac, Cedric, Three small boys wearing a big kit to look like a grown up, Willock, Nelson, Nelson from the Simpsons, Steve, Lacazette.

Subs: John Lukic, Not Guendouzi, Not Ozil, the world keepy-uppies champion, Also Not Guendouzi, A scared mug, Partey.

We did have a cracking tie against them in last season’s competition, a 5-5 draw which ended in a penalty shoot-out which we lost, so something similar again would be fun. In as much as this competition can be. I know there are financial considerations, but given the fixture list – domestic and international – taking place in a season which is starting late and which has to stop in time for Euro 2020, it does feel unnecessary. But then when did player welfare ever matter for anything?

So, a busy week next week on the pitch, and it’s going to have to be a busy week off it too. After the Sheffield United game on October 3rd, there’s an Interlull, and the transfer window closes on October 6th (bearing in mind that a secondary market between Premier League and EFL clubs remains open until October 16th). There are still things that Arsenal would like to do, it remains to be seen just how much we’ll be able to do.

So far, there’s nothing particularly concrete about any incomings or outgoings. The one around whom there’s most noise is Lucas Torreira who, according to reports, is desperate to go to Atletico Madrid. From what I can gather, the situation is as follows:

1: Torreira really wants to go to Atletico because he had a lovely phone call from Diego Simeone and now he will countenance no other solution to his situation other than moving to Madrid.

2: Atletico only want him on loan but Arsenal want to sell him.

3: Two Italian clubs made offers to loan him but with an obligation to buy but he turned those down because [see point 1].

4: Arsenal want Thomas Partey so they are using this as a kind of negotiation tool to see if they can do a deal which doesn’t include having to pay the full €50m release clause.

5: Atletico Madrid are discussing this with Arsenal.

6: They are also categorically not discussing this with Arsenal at the same time because they say he is not going to leave and they expect him to stay this season. He is Schrodinger’s Partey.

7: Atletico need to sell someone before they can do any deal with Arsenal for Torreira.

8: Just not Partey.

9: Well, maybe Partey.

So, as you can see, there’s a lot going on. Or not going on. Or going on at the same time independently of each other, but all loosely connected. Look, if Arsenal really want Partey, and Atletico really want Torreira, and Torreira really wants Atletico, and Partey really wants Arsenal, it’s inconceivable to think that the two clubs and all involved won’t be speaking about it, and trying to find a way to make it happen that suits all concerned. Let’s see what happens.

Elsewhere, here’s the latest on other potential departures.

Sokratis: No offers.

Guendouzi: No offers.

Kolasinac: No offers.

Lacazette: No offers.

Mustafi: No offers.

Everyone else: No offers.

As I’ve said though, I think stuff will happen the closer we get the close of the window and clubs are more willing – perhaps desperate – to compromise. That includes us too. We might value a player at a certain amount, but if the market tells you there’s no interest in that player at that amount, you might have to lower your price or think about swap deals and loan deals that aren’t ideal but at least get you something.

The fact that fans aren’t going to be back in stadiums any time soon will surely have an impact on the market too. A revenue stream most clubs were counting on will now not be returning, adding to the financial pressure they’ll be under. There is a solid argument to be made that those clubs who have billionaire owners could use this situation to their advantage, driving cash-strapped clubs into sales at knock-down prices to boost their squads, but that, of course, is predicated on being owned by a billionaire who is willing to help finance that kind of thing. And that ain’t us.

Right, I’ll leave it there for this morning. We’ll have all the news from Mikel Arteta’s press conference over on Arseblog News, and I’ll leave you with a brand new Arsecast with three guests, a t-shirt competition, and a new drama series you won’t want to miss. All the links to listen/subscribe are below.

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Episode 598 – The ones who were there

Fri, 25 Sep 2020 04:45:13 GMT

Welcome to another episode of the Arsecast – the Arsenal podcast.

On this week’s very busy show I’m joined first by James Benge to talk about the midweek Carabao Cup win over Leicester, the impact of the young Academy players, Nicolas Pepe, and a certain someone who didn’t play. Then, to get some background on new signing Alex Runarsson, I chat to author Matt McGinn who literally wrote the book on Icelandic football and who can give us some insight into the new signing. Finally, ahead of Monday’s clash with Liverpool, some perspective from that side of the fence with Neil Atkinson from The Anfield Wrap. You can also win a t-shirt from FourFourTee.com.

Get 10% off an Arsenal order from FourFourTee.com by using the code ARSEBLOG at checkout.

Follow James @jamesbenge – Follow Matt @McGinn93 – Follow Neil @knox_harrington

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Who are you?

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 12:30:04 GMT

Man Utd beaten and largely outplayed by an XI containing (I would say) between 0 and 2 players who would get into the Man Utd side, and we are yet again told that the major issue is that they haven't signed good enough players. It's incredible.

— Michael Cox (@Zonal_Marking) September 20, 2020

The transfer market dominates football discourse and analysis to the point that the shark has been jumped and football matches are, essentially, considered 90-minute exercises to see what a team needs to buy. It gives me pause for thought when I attribute so much weight to Arsenal’s pursuit of a new central midfielder.

However, I do consider this a glaring requirement for Arsenal before the window closes next month and I think the difference between Arteta’s side being a top six team and a top four team probably rests on whether they are able to recruit in this area and how well they do it. It was a similar situation for Manchester United earlier this year.

Bruno Fernandes was such an obvious upgrade on Fred and Andreas Pereira and the Portuguese duly turned United from a top six team into a top three team. Even Liverpool have been moved to upgrade in this area of the pitch with the signing of Thiago from Bayern Munich. There is a very broad consensus on the Gunners’ need for adjustments in the engine room.

When Arsenal were chasing a winning goal against West Ham on Saturday, Mikel Arteta summoned Mohammed Elneny from the dugout prior to Nketiah’s late winner. I think Arsenal themselves realise the need for new midfield blood, their behaviour in the market this summer has been to take care of the low-hanging fruit (Cedric, Mari, Willian and Gabriel) as quickly as possible to give themselves space and time to reconstruct their midfield.

Midfield surgery was always going to be dependent on sales because Arsenal are looking for someone immediately transformational in their starting eleven. In their current fiscal situation, that means selling players and it probably means clearing Torreira and Guendouzi from their decks.

Assuming we are all agreed that Arsenal require at least one central midfielder in this transfer window, what are the qualities that this Cazorla / Ramsey / Vieira / prime Özil hybrid will need to offer? Arteta has moved to a 343 formation, which means they play with a central midfield two in an era when most teams play with a three.

The duo of Xhaka and Ceballos is good, it’s not absolutely elite but it is good. They are due some slack because they are a midfield two being judged against contemporary trios. They are intermediate value passers and both, in their own ways, specialise in moving Arsenal from the defensive third into the middle third.

Xhaka does this with his passing, Ceballos is more physically dynamic- his ability to break play up with interceptions and by pressing opponents in the defensive phase are underrated. The Spaniard is also press resistant and can receive the ball with his back to play on the edge of his own area as Arsenal play out from the back.

The issue is that all of Ceballos and Xhaka’s qualities are useful in progressing Arsenal from A to B but not from B to C. I must have said this a thousand times now but Arsenal have shed ball-carriers at quite a rate in recent years. Cazorla, Wilshere, Rosicky, even Iwobi and Sanchez, helped Arsenal’s final third entry game.

Currently, Arsenal just doesn’t have that link in the chain. That third midfielder role is on time-share between the left wing-back (Maitland-Niles or Saka), Willian on the right and Lacazette who drops into midfield to link play. All of them shift into midfield during various phases of the build-up play.

However, Maitland-Niles doesn’t really have a final ball, Willian drops inside to make space for Bellerin to overlap and Lacazette’s time in midfield is spent with his back to goal and a defender riding his coat tails. None of these roles really drive Arsenal forward. Maitland-Niles causes some jeopardy with his decoy positioning but none of this really moves defences around.

Arsenal have struggled against low block defences because they lack imagination and guile between the midfield line and the attacking line. At this point, we have to consider that Mesut Özil is being omitted from the team for reasons not related to his ability or his attributes. However, Arsenal don’t necessarily need an Özil clone or dedicated playmaker type, per se.

One of the key attributes Arsenal’s midfield has missed since Cazorla’s demise is the ability to take the ball on the half-turn under pressure and immediately change the gears of play. Ceballos only really does this to an extent; but he doesn’t quite have the energy or dribbling ability to get it to the edge of the opposition area on a regular basis.

A younger, fitter Abou Diaby or Jack Wilshere would transform the Arsenal midfield. You may have noticed that I omitted Bukayo Saka a couple of paragraphs ago when I spoke of players that “time share” the third midfield slot. I think Saka has all the makings of an excellent third central midfield player on the left side of the pitch.

Firstly, he can help facilitate a left-sided overload with Aubameyang and Tierney. Brazil used to do something similar with Neymar, Marcelo and Philippe Coutinho forming a virtuous triangle on the left side of their attack. Saka has ball carrying abilities and his passes to Aubameyang and Ceballos were crucial in unlocking the West Ham defence on Saturday evening.

For the second pass, Ceballos wandered away from the midfield structure and evaded detection from a well-marshalled Irons defence. This is a quality the team have lacked since Aaron Ramsey’s departure, however, playing in a midfield two doesn’t really allow Ceballos to wander away from the structure and move opponents around in their own area on a regular basis.

Saka chalked up 11 assists last season so we can see his creative potential. Even if Arteta agrees with my learned assessment that Saka could and should play as the third central midfielder in a 433, Arsenal still require surgery in the market. Many have noted the similarities between Aubameyang’s goal against Liverpool in the Community Shield and his strike against Fulham.

Arsenal pass out from the back in both scenarios and in both scenarios they completely miss out the midfield in the build-up. They cannot spend an entire season missing the midfield out and expect to drastically improve on their goal scoring potential. They need that piece in the middle of the pitch to receive a pass from the likes of Xhaka, Ceballos and Ozil and then, in turn, find one of the front three.

In short, the gap between midfield and attack is too big and Arsenal are a tad too reliant on the wide areas to build their attacks. They miss that player that can progress them from the middle third, either on or off the ball. I don’t know who that player is, I don’t know if it is Thomas Partey or Houssem Aouar, but I do know that these are qualities that need to be imported into the team.

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Leicester 0-2 Arsenal: Eddie celebrates sometimes, Arteta on Ozil’s absence

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 06:03:56 GMT

Match report – Player ratings – Video

Arsenal are through to the 4th round of the Carabao Cup thanks to a 2-0 win over Leicester last night. Football writing sentences don’t get much more exciting than that, let me tell you.

What can we say? Well, the team was pretty experienced all things considered, with the likes of Bernd Leno, David Luiz, Mohamed Elneny, and Nicolas Pepe all starting. We also had five Hale End Academy graduates on the pitch from the start in the shape of Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Bukayo Saka, Joe Willock, Reiss Nelson and Eddie Nketiah – and for me these guys were the story of the game.

Early on Nelson almost scored with a lovely curling effort which the keeper tipped over, while at the other end Leno had to make an excellent save after Iheanacho was sent in behind our defence rather a bit too easily. That’s twice in the opening three games of this season that the German has been called into action early on to make an important stop, to prevent the complexion of the game changing in favour of the opposition.

Nelson was lively, but Saka even more so. He has this ability to kind of spark into life, more noticeable in encounters like last night when the overall quality of the game isn’t particularly great, and he should have had a penalty when he was obviously bundled over in the box. The referee thought otherwise, there’s no VAR in this competition (until the later stages maybe?), and play went on, but it demonstrated the danger the 19 year old can cause.

We took the lead in the second half, Nicolas Pepe driving into the box, and trying to square for Nketiah. The first attempt was blocked, his second hit the post, rebounded out, hit Christian Fuchs and went in. As scrappy an own goal as you’ll ever see really, but they all count. I’ve seen people talking about Nketiah’s reaction – critical of him because after the ball has gone in, he’s making an exasperated ‘I wanted it to feet!’ gesture at Pepe, rather than celebrating the goal.

I think Pepe did try with the first ball to find him, and I don’t think it was easy for him either because there were a clutch of Leicester defenders in the way. As for not celebrating or being annoyed, I don’t think there’s any reason to be worried or upset by it. He’s just desperate to score goals, it’s not at all uncommon for players to not react when their team scores – I feel like they sometimes view a goal as less of a thing to celebrate than we do as fans. It’s just a part of the job, something they’re trying to do all game, and if you watch the replays he, Maitland-Niles and Pepe end up laughing at it. Storm in a teacup stuff really.

Eddie was unlucky not to score with a nice lob which Wes Morgan cleared off the line, and to be fair we got away with one in our own box late on when Ayoze Perez got away from Kolasinac too easily, heading wide from a free kick when he really should have hit the target. But, Nketiah wasn’t to be denied, securing the game in the 90th minute with the kind of finish the game deserved. Substitute Hector Bellerin made the goal, bursting into the box and beyond Leicester’s defenders to square it for the striker. The ball got there despite some Leicester interference, the goalkeeper was hilariously static, and as he fell over a defender, Eddie stuck out a leg to poke it home and make it 2-0. He celebrated that one .

In the end, a fairly dull evening – it’s games like this one where the absence of supporters in stadiums really does have an impact. There’s just enough glitz and glamour to Premier League fixtures in general to make it bearable, but a cup tie like this feels like nothing more than a training game with the backdrop of solitary shouts from players and managers, and the still too treble-y thwack of the ball as it’s being kicked (add some bass to those mics, sound guys!). The reward for victory is a 4th round tie against the mighty Lincoln City or plucky underdogs Liverpool who play later tonight.

Afterwards, Mikel Arteta was asked more about players who weren’t there than the ones who had won a game and kept a clean sheet. In particular, Mesut Ozil who didn’t even make the squad. Nor did Matteo Guendouzi or Lucas Torreira, the latter linked strongly with a move to Atletico Madrid so potentially not risked because of that. The manager’s answer to the first question about Ozil’s absence was quite telling:

I am really happy with the performance of the players here, how difficult they are making things for the coaching staff to select the squad.

You can read the transcript of the press conference here, and when asked if he could understand why there were so many questions about the club’s highest earner, he said:

Of course I understand, I respect your questions but I have to try to do my job as fair as possible and pick the players that, in my opinion, are in a better condition to play.

What now? I don’t know. Genuinely. If Ozil can’t make the squad for Carabao Cup game like this, then when he is he going to be picked? He hasn’t played a single minute since March, and it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen any time soon. Maybe – and I realise this is pure speculation – there’s something going on with him like there is with Torreira, that Arsenal are trying to facilitate a move somewhere, and don’t want to risk a player who has had issues with a delicate back for a long time. I mean, I wouldn’t bet any money on that: it’s not 100% implausible, but it’s 99% unlikely.

Will this issue come up again? Unquestionably. Do Arsenal need to find a solution? Of course. But if a manager doesn’t want to pick a player but the player absolutely doesn’t want to leave then what you have is stalemate. Very, very expensive stalemate in the case of Ozil, and this could well be a situation that is only resolved next June when his contract expires.

Right, that’s it for this morning. I’ll be back with more here tomorrow, including a brand new Arsecast. Until then.

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Leicester v Arsenal – live blog

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 18:00:19 GMT

Join us for live blog coverage of our Carabao Cup 3rd round tie against Leicester at the King Power Stadium, kick off 19.45

We’ve got up to the second live text commentary, updates, goal clips, observations and occasionally witty asides. If you want to join the chat, register an Arseblog Live account.

You can also get Twitter updates of key events – goals, cards, substitutions etc – by following @arseblog_live

CLICK TO LAUNCH Leicester v Arsenal – LIVE BLOG

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Carabao Cup rotation likely + Covid worries delay return of fans

Wed, 23 Sep 2020 05:27:48 GMT

Arsenal are in Carabao Cup action tonight, as we face Leicester City at the King Power Stadium later on.

With Liverpool coming up next in the Premier League, it’s an interesting one for Mikel Arteta. If the trip to Anfield were at the weekend, I suspect we’d see a side with no risks taken whatsoever. The fact that it’s Monday night means we have a couple of extra days to recover, so we might see some players involved who normally might sit this out – even if they’re on the bench.

There are players who could use this game to get some match fitness into their legs; there are players who haven’t featured at all this season, or indeed for some time, who will be looking at this game as some kind of signal regarding their own futures. If, for example, Matteo Guendouzi and Mesut Ozil don’t feature in this one, what does it say about their chances of being selected for more important fixtures? What about someone like Nicolas Pepe who hasn’t started in the Premier League yet this season, as Willian has taken his place? A performance which gives Arteta pause for thought in that regard would be good for him and for us.

There are also young players who will chomping at the bit to play and who should be involved as we look to rotate, and potentially a debut for new goalkeeper Alex Runarsson. There are some injuries to contend with. Cedric, who would surely have played otherwise, misses out with a calf injury, while Sokratis, Kieran Tierney and Emile Smith Rowe remain sidelined. It’s still too soon for defenders like Calum Chambers, Pablo Mari and Shkodran Mustafi so it could mean a debut for William Saliba.

On the young Frenchman, who featured for the U23s last Friday night, Arteta is again making it clear he’s a player for the future even if he’s been less involved than some people might have expected:

I think William is doing really well, adapting to the country, adapting to our club, and we have to bear in mind that he had a really challenging season last year with the amount of injuries that that he had. He is going to be really important in our future and things sometimes take some time. And we have to respect that.

So, we could see a team like: Runarsson, Maitland-Niles, Saliba, Luiz, Kolasinac, Saka, Elneny, Willock, Pepe, Nelson, Nketiah – but also find room for Ozil, Guendouzi or even Lucas Torreira if Arteta was so inclined. There might even be a place in the squad for one or two from the U23s to make the bench depending on who else is involved and who we’re not inclined to risk.

On the competition itself, it feels less relevant than ever given the hectic nature of the fixture schedule this season. The manager insists he’ll be sending a team out to try and win the game but suggests we’ll take it more seriously if we make progress towards the later stages. He says:

We’re going to take the Carabao Cup seriously, that’s for sure. And, obviously, with the fixtures that we have, the number of games, it is very difficult.

Maybe not the first game, but (it gets more difficult) as the competition moves a little bit more forwards, with how teams, not just ourselves, are going to treat the competition.

I can’t pretend I’m overly invested in this one. I want Arsenal to win, as I always do, but this season’s targets go beyond this competition, and might be made slightly less complicated by our involvement in the League Cup. The winner gets to play the winner of the Lincoln City v Liverpool tie tonight. We had a cracking match against the Mugsmashers in this competition last year, so let’s see what happens.

It’s not on TV but we’ll have a live blog for you later on if you want to follow the game that way.

—

Meanwhile, the return of fans to stadiums has been put on hold due to the rise in Covid-19 cases. Like many countries, the UK is seeing a spike, what looks like a second wave, and as such the government announced that plans to bring supporters back would have to be shelved.

It’s obviously a blow for fans who haven’t seen their team play live since March, but also for the club – and football clubs in general who were hoping to see some part of their matchday revenue streams start coming in again, even at a trickle. The wider implications of this for those lower down the football ladder are obviously a major concern, but it’s not unreasonable to think it will have an impact on us as well.

There is a desire, a clamour, to see us spend and bring in the players we all know we need to make us more competitive. Yet, the financial outlook is bleak – as per the AST’s latest updated analysis – so finding the balance between what you might call ‘capital investment’ in the team, and simply having the cash to keep things going, paying wages and everything else, becomes even more tricky.

Arsenal had earmarked the game against Sheffield United on October 3rd as the one which would see fans return in limited numbers. It’s now unclear when it might happen but it doesn’t feel like it will be anytime soon. The news comes on the same day that West Ham announced that manager David Moyes, and players Issa Diop and Josh Cullen tested positive for Covid-19. Given that we played them just a few days ago, it’s a concern, although apparently testing has taken place with no positives at our end, thankfully:

Arsenal were among the Premier League clubs who underwent routine #COVID19 testing on Monday and despite coming into contact on Saturday with West Ham (who have since returned 3 positives), all #AFC results came back today as negative @TheAthleticUK #WHUFC https://t.co/mmiH8K7C8I

— David Ornstein (@David_Ornstein) September 22, 2020

Whether there’s more to come on this story from an Arsenal point of view due to the incubation period of the virus remains to be seen, but it’s a sharp reminder that football’s bubble is easily pricked by this thing. If it’s out there in wider society, it doesn’t take much for it to find its way into West Ham, Arsenal or other clubs.

In the meantime, let’s keep fingers crossed that everyone is ok, and remember to do the sensible things for yourself and others. Wash hands frequently, minimise your own potential exposure by wearing a mask where required, and let’s do our best to look after each other. This could be a long winter ahead, so we all have a responsibility – even if it’s understandable and easy to be frustrated by aspects of so-called normal life these days.

Catch you later for the game.

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