PSV v Arsenal 1 – 7: Eight Observations

TotalArsenal

PSV 1 – 7 NO CFs Arsenal

There are many good reasons to love the beautiful game, and it is especially its ability to spring a surprise that makes it such an endearing sport. Let’s face it, we all would have taken a 1-0 to the Arsenal, or even a draw from last night’s encounter with the Dutch champions. With no CFs available and no goals against the Hammers and the Tricky Trees in recent CL encounters, who would have thought Arsenal would hit the net nine times of which seven were deemed legitimate? I really think we are on to something special with Arteta and Arsenal, but it is all about evolution and we may not see the full potential for another couple of years (or more). Every season, the team grows stronger and what is so typical of this season is that Arsenal are now capable of big results such as the 5-1 v Man City and now the 1-7 v PSV. The PL title has Pool’s name on it, as they are as good as Arsenal and have just been much more lucky than us. I can live with that. The CL is a hard competition to win, but Arsenal are thriving in it and the European teams seem to suit our style of play really well. With the likes of Saka and Martinelli to return sooner or later, Arsenal may well spring a surprise and overcome one of the Madrid giants in the next round.

Eight Observations:

  1. Facing Arsenal cannot be easy for opponents. Who to focus on in terms of goal threat? With six different scorers, more than half the team, Arsenal must have been so hard to read for the PSV defence. I love this! Everyone has a responsibility to assist and to score (and to defend); it’s what total football is all about. Our full backs epitomise this. They are such athletes and have an incredible skillset. MLS produced a peach of an assist, Timber rose higher than Haaland to score the opener, and Calafiori scored a beautiful diagonal across the keeper. PSV were utterly bamboozled by the omnipresent goal-threat of the mighty Arsenal.
  2. Arsenal have their jet-engines back! Rice and Odegaard were the big difference between Arsenal and PSV. The Eindhovenaren have very decent midfielders at their disposal; they certainly made the difference v Juventus in the epic games they played against them. But it was boys against men last night, with Partey and Rice dominating the base of midfield and Rice and Odegaard also bossing the area in front of PSV’s ‘D-area’. Partey is having a great season but, as per previous post, if Declan and Martin can keep their newly found mojo going we are in for a treat. If you want to know the difference between the Premier League and Eredivisie, it’s all about intensity and time on the ball. Arsenal’s intensity and tempo were insane and Rice and Odegaard were just too much for sorry PSV.
  3. Ethan! The embodiment of elegant deadliness. Pundits don’t dare to say it out loud, but yes there is something Messy-esque about his style and ability. Can you believe that Arsenal have both Saka and Nwaneri in their team and they both come from our own Academy?! Ooh to BE.
  4. Merino is such a good buy. The sort of player who can play everywhere and will do his utmost to shine. He has taken on the Kai-role with real verve and now has three goals in four games. But it’s his ability to be everywhere and influence play that I like especially about him.
  5. The full-backs Timber and MLS did not impress me with their defensive tasks last night. Miles cannot make such full-on tackles when already on a yellow card (against one of the UEFA darlings he would have been sent off for it), and Justin made it far too easy for opponents to cross into the box – this was the only weakness in our defence. I will need to watch the game again to see whether Ethan and also Partey and Saliba could have helped him more, but it was too easy for PSV to attack us at the right side of our defence.
  6. Combine the qualities of an elephant and a giraffe and you will get the CB-duo of Saliba-Gabriel: defensive powerhouses.
  7. I was especially pleased with the second half performance. It would have been natural to sit back after Arsenal scored the fifth goal but the boys remained ravenous for 90+ minutes. Arteta and the players deserve all the credits for this.
  8. My final observation goes to our Belgian winger. Boy did he work his socks off yesterday and what an allround quality performance we got from Trossard. That was one of his best performances in an Arsenal shirt.

By TotalArsenal.

93 thoughts on “PSV v Arsenal 1 – 7: Eight Observations”

  • Thanks Total. Total football, indeed. The Dutch, who were the originators and masters of the concept also leaked a few goals during their heyday but invariably ended up outscoring their opponents. I thought them the better team in both the ’74 and ’78 World Cup Finals, but their brilliant, but cavalier approach cost them. Timber was super going forward but didn’t have Ethan doing what Bukuyu normally does to support him at the back. Mikel’s tactics had a lot to do with this. He got MLS, Justin and then Califiore to attack the opposition box trusting our defence to cope with any lost possession. Merino, tho’ ostensibly a number 9 played as a midfielder. The tactics were brilliant and, coupled with the intensity and tempo which you aptly pointed out created a heavenly mayhem which ultimately blew PSV off the park. Did you see the look on DeJong’s face when he sat down after being subbed? He was absolutely shattered.

    Points of interest are: Where does Benny Blanco return to the team? And with a fit Bukuyu (hopefully in April), where does Ethan fit in?
    The rest given the lads before this game was obvious in their improved energy levels. The break in Dubai should have offered a similar benefit, but Mikel is reported to have worked the squad too hard over there. If that is the case, he is learning.
    I think it was Kev in the previous post who named Mikel in the top three managers in world football. Amen. The man is The Man. Our man. I wouldn’t change him for anyone.
    Ya’all missed a glorious party here in Kerikeri. After training my Gooner team mates and I cracked some Eindhoven ‘Orchestra of Angels IPA’. That’s what we saw yesterday, heavenly mayhem, an orchestra of angels.

  • Ethan is a sight for sore eyes, isn’t he? I believed in him, but I’d never, ever have thought he’d reach such height so fast. I hope rumours about he and Myles being called up by Tuchel are just that, though: rumours.
    There are two ways back into the starting XI for Ben imo, Stu: Jurrien sliding to LB-LWB, or to a right CB position in a back-3 … Truth is I wouldn’t bet much on it right now; but one way or another, he’ll play his part in the weeks ahead, he’s too good to be sidelined once and for all.
    To play such open football against us, Bosz mustn’t have bothered much about what should’ve been his homework. In front of their TV screens Howe and Potter must have felt insulted by his plan-setup … If things go wrong for PSV this week-end again, I wouldn’t be surprised to see ten Hag sit in the away team’s dugout come Wednesday …

  • Each observation is valid on its own, but I would join Stu to underline the importance of #1, the total football. Which could be jeopardized by introducing a classical – nevertheless elite – striker like Isak, David, Sesko, Vlahovic or Osimhen. For that reason – to keep our play less predictable – I would still prefer a versatile reinforcement like Pedro, Cunha, Nkunku, Kudus, Jota and Wirtz (or Gakpo, Marmoush and Dembele from the no longer available group).

    Anyway, #7 is my favourite from the list. That the new guys didn’t enter the pitch to see the game out, but to inject energy and hunger to the team, and it worked out perfectly. Apparently Arteta can motivate the lads to an insane performance. This display against PSV – and the one where we trashed Manchester City – would be enough against any team in any stadium (including Real Madrid or Liverpool), even without Saka, Havertz and Martinelli. So the challenge is: how often are the guys capable to deliver such performance?

    By the way, is calling Timber ‘Justin’ a running gag? I was not familiar with it.

    LG, that will be one of the next key challenges of the squad. We have White and Miles Lewis-Skelly who are both talented, reliable and full of heart. However to their bad fortune we also have Timber and Calafiori who are so much better than them at the moment. Arteta will have the pressure to rotate the position, thus balancing the current performance (short-term gains) with keeping the back-up full backs improving and motivated (long-term competitiveness). And let’s be honest, Mikel is not particularly strong in that; except for the left wing, where he could rotate Martinelli and Trossard properly.

  • Ha! A Freudian slip on my part, PB. I want him to, not only play football brilliantly, but also to sing and act…

  • What will the Arsenal do when Saka, Martinelli, Havertz and Jesus are fit again and Tomiyasiu as well! It may sound like a pleasant problem to have BUT with Nwaneri, Saliba, Tierney, Timber, Merino, Gabriel, Trossard, Partey and Odegaard playing like they are, well we’ll see….perhaps they’ll need some relief as the season goes on.
    Arteta seems well aware of his “dilemma” and somehow manages to present a team that works even when lacking 5 key players due to injury! He will be happy to see Saka, Martinelli, Jesus and Havertz once again as the run-in is beginning. I have doubts we can catch Liverpool BUT stranger things have happened. For the moment the Gunners are playing beautiful, passionate and intricate Football again, long may it continue.

  • I wonder if we’ll see either Ayden Heaven or Chido Obi Martin, or both, making an appearance for ManYoo this Sunday?

    Let’s hope that they don’t trip over their 30 pieces of silver…

  • Joshua Kimmich staying at Bayern is not exactly a shock, in fact it’s how I expected it to go.

    Kimmich has spent 10 years at Bayern, he’s pretty much a Bayern lad although not from Munich itself, hails from South West Germany. His family will be settled there and moving to London or Paris would have been too much upheaval, so the whole scenario was about finance and his agent played a blinder.

    Also signing a 30 year old kinda goes against how the club has run its transfer policy since Arteta arrived, well even before Arteta because Emery never got a lot of the players he wanted due to their age. All that on the back of some of the Mislintat ‘old codgers’ post Gazides.

    So I’m a bit disappointed because he’s a good player, but not too much given his age. Bayern have apparently offered him a deal until 2029, good luck with that…

  • Do you think Chido would have a run in the team after Kai’s injury, Kev?

    All the best agin the Irish, LG. Should be a fierce encounter.

  • Only away game of the French rugby team I attended was in Dublin, in february of the school year I spent over there in St. Benildus College, Dundrum, as a French assistant.
    The guy (French-Irish-Geography teacher) who put me up for what should’ve been a few days, and ended up being the whole year, was named … Patrick O’Sullivan; who would’ve guessed?
    He lived in Tallaght; the neighborhood had a “bad name” back then, but I only came across wonderful people during my time there. There were still some tiny, red-headed urchins walking huge horses around, it was full house for the local church all week-end, and the local pub turned me into a not-always-walking-straight-but-living-anyway ad for Guinness ; this is where I was taught what an Irishman was – “a complicated machine to turn Guinness into urine“ -,actually.
    The “highest pub in Ireland” – Johnny Fox’s – was a relatively short drive up the hill (hence the ad slogan); they had delightful seafood on the menu, and one sunday afternoon we were treated to a two-man-in-Stetson-hat-band gig, which ended up with one chasing the other around the stage while performing Disney’s “I wanna be like you” … One night, on our way down to my pal’s house, we were ordered to pull over by a “Gardi“, who checked out my friend’s ID, pretended our apologetic mumbling made any sense at all, took a last look at us, then at the neighborhood down the hill, gave Pat his papers back, told us “Yeah, I think you can make it”, and just drove away to whatever more serious police business might need his presence elsewhere.
    We had teacher only, or teacher-student indoor football games three times a week during the lunch break – I wasn’t rusty at all back then, and football is a wondeful way to fit in in no time – and of course (given the number of “Paddys“ having made a career in the red-and-white) many of them were Arsenal fans, which helped too.
    Well … those were the days ; so yeah that’s a game I never miss, the only one when a French loss doesn’t hurt too much, all the less so since lately, the Irish XV has been nothing short of brilliant …

  • Yes Stu, I’m pretty certain that Obi Martin would have had some minutes, maybe more than he’s already had at United but he took the silver, therefore he’s an irrelevance to me outside of an Arsenal/ManYoo match. One door closes and another opens, possibly for Harriman-Annous?

    I can understand Heaven leaving more so, as those in front of him are seemingly immovable, he’s an ex-Spud academy boy so the connection to Arsenal wasn’t that strong.

  • Fitting too many quality players into too few positions has never seemed a problem to me. But then I’m a simple soul. 😉

    Having too few quality players is actually a problem.

    How to fit Timber and White into the team Stu, or Nwaneri and Saka, dear me, isn’t that awful, how on earth will Arteta cope?

    Can you imagine if Arsenal bring in not one but two new strikers in August and Havertz, Jesus and Martinelli are fighting for a game?

    I’ll sign up for that…

  • Observations are brilliant and thought-provoking as always. Comments have been on the money too. Stu has made a comment that is befitting of its own article too (with a few tweaks) too. PB’s input also bear my endorsement.

    Stu, I am sure “Justin” Timber (lake) would be able to do all that you ask for. 😜

  • Well, Man City have gone to the Forest ground to lose 1-0 in a straight shootout for 3rd place. They had striker on, in Haaland, mind you but couldn’t find the back of the net as we didn’t, during our visit.

    Above begs the question as to whether our lack of goals in the last few games is down to our failure to get in a striker(s) in the January transfer window, as popular opinion has made us believe. I think Arteta has found a way to get us playing with unpredictable fluidity that makes each player a potential scorer; a ploy which seems to work better in Europe than in the EPL.
    We have to give Arteta his flowers after making Arsenal the only team guaranteed qualification to the next round with an unassailable result in the first leg.

  • *red-haired urchins*. Must’ve been some kind of Freudian slip, though – it’s the whole face that glowed, most of the time.
    Well, Les Bleus put on quite a show in Dublin … the possession after 20 minutes was Ireland 85% France 15%, then Dupont got injured, but suddenly everything just clicked and points started piling up. Scotland in Paris next week will be a final, which is is great news, but Antoine’s season is likely to be over, which is terrible news.
    Just seen Soton were 1-0 at HT, gonna watch the second; Aaron might pull one of these performances he’s capable of …

  • What a second half, LG. French champagne at its finest. Thanks for the lovely recollection of your time at St Ben’s. Did you have to endure the “terrible quotidianum” whilst there?

    Thanks for the kudos, Eris.

    I’ll sign up for that, too, Kevski. A super squad is in the making, but should we, wonder of wonders, reach the CL Final, who would be our starting X1. I recall Theo starting up top for us when RVP was out injured and Nick B was not trusted. With Kai out Gabi M with his lightening, Theo like pace could do a similar job.

    Our band can sing the following based on an old hymn (which I cannot remember the name of).
    With apologies to the hymn writer, and to Total for my geographical inaccuracy.

    From here on in I don’t think we’ll be
    swamping teams like we did over the Zuiderzee
    (tho’ wouldn’t that would be luverly),
    Rather trust Big Will and the Rock of Gabralter to remain staunch
    and our magnificent midfield to launch
    Bukuyu, Leandro and Gabi
    Our very own blessed trinity.

  • It’s Anthony Taylor in the middle and Paul Tierney on VAR. Hmmmm. A tasty encounter expected.

    Excerpt from the club’s website.

    Anthony Taylor has been handed his fourth Gunners game this campaign, with his last outing seeing him award a hotly-disputed penalty to Brighton in our 1-1 draw with the Seagulls in January. That was one of nine he has awarded in 24 Premier League games this term, four more than any other official.

    During our four-game winning streak over United, the Cheshire-based official has refereed two of them – the home wins in 2022/23 and 2023/24. It is the fifth time he will have overseen United this term, and they’ve beaten Manchester City and Fulham in their last two.

    Referee: Anthony Taylor
    Assistants: Gary Beswick, Adam Nunn
    Fourth official: Darren Bond
    VAR: Paul Tierney
    Assistant VAR: Tim Wood

  • Arsenal in Munich next May, that Stu would a great day.

    As for the team, well I guess if everyone is fit it’s going to be a difficult selection.

    Saka has to start, that’s as far as I’m going to go, but let’s not dream too much let’s get there first.

    ManYoo today will be looking for one of those many performances against Arsenal at OT that often occur when we’re quite good and they’re quite crap, that is we play like a pub team and they play like Brazil circa 1970.

    Hopefully last seasons win at OT will mean that our players will this time approach that jinx venue with a more positive mindset.

    I’ve only seen Arsenal beat ManYoo once in person, a two goal man of the match performance by Alan Sunderland back in 1979, strangely enough Arsenal won the previous season at OT 1-2 so maybe it goes in pairs?

    My overriding memory other than the clinical way Sunderland took his two goals was hearing the Arsenal fans singing after all the Mancs had left and we’d been held back for safety reasons. Hearing Arsenal songs fill and echo around OT is one of my fondest memories of that era along with beating Spurs 5-0 at WHL.

  • Arsenal

    Raya;

    Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori;

    Rice, Partey, Ødegaard;

    Trossard, Merino, Nwaneri

    Substitutes

    Neto; Tierney, White, Kiwior, Zinchenko; Jorginho, Lewis-Skelly; Martinelli, Sterling.

    Manchester United

    Onana;

    Lindelof, De Ligt, Yoro;

    Mazraoui, Fernandes, Casemiro, Dalot;

    Eriksen, Garnacho;

    Zirkzee

    Substitutes

    Harrison, Mee; Amass, Heaven; Collyer, Fletcher, Moorhouse; Hojlund, Obi

  • My first visit to OT was a good one as I saw Arsenal beat United 0-1 (Trossard goal), and I was sat at the Away end too, being at the mercy of my Manure supporting in-law.

    SOME INTERESTING STATS (COPIED OFF THE SITE) :

    Manchester United have lost their last four Premier League games against us, their longest losing run against us in their history.

    United are yet to win consecutive league games this season, this is their longest wait for back-to-back league victories since 1968/69 (games 32 and 33).

    Mikel Arteta has won seven of his 10 Premier League games against Manchester United – of all managers to face the Red Devils at least five times in the competition, he has the highest win rate (70%).

    Leandro Trossard scored our winner against Man Utd in this exact fixture last season – the only Arsenal players to score a Premier League goal at Old Trafford in consecutive campaigns are Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Emmanuel Adebayor.

  • Having fought our way to the final of the Champions Trophy, we have just lost narrowly to India. After a long night, I need a pick me up. Seeing Martinelli on the bench is just that.
    Come on boys.

  • It’s been a totally dominant performance by our boys but with nothing to show for it. Now Trossard gets into the book for a non-threatening situation. We concede from the free kick, as I was typing that. What a free kick by Bruno Fernandes. The wall should do better.

    We have to do better and crack them open in the second half.

  • To think we concede from a set piece. Just what we didn’t need: a pick-me-up for them and their fans (who haven’t stayed quiet, by the way).

  • I appreciate Heaven’s double hand ball was unintentional but it enabled him to control the ball and clear. Surely a penalty?

    Miraculous saves from Raya, and what a tackle by Declan.

  • Stu, Luckypool would get that given for sure, but Arsenal have had only 2 penalties in the Prem this season so it not being awarded is no surprise.

  • Morning guys, been away for a few days.

    Shame about the draw at Old Toilet, but still decent result given the circumstances.

    Let’s see who will play tonight.

  • Arsenal XI: Raya, White, Kiwior, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Jorginho, Rice, Zinchenko, Sterling, Tierney, Merino.

    Subs: Neto, Saliba, Partey, Odegaard, Martinelli, Timber, Trossard, Calafiori, Setford, Butler-Oyedeji, Kabia, Nwaneri.

    Good morning, gentlemen. Good line up. I trust Declan will get rested second half.

  • 6 changes, is that enough rotation to keep everyone content?

    Good evening Stu, I think we’ll see a lot of substitutions over the 90 minutes.

    I so so enjoyed watching the scousers cry yesterday evening, made my bloody week.

  • Great goal from Zinnie. He was on loan at PSV during his city days, hence his muted celebration.
    Tchoumeni out of the quarter final first leg. (If they make it).

  • A bit harsh booking Kiwior for next to nothing but ignoring an ankle ligament lunge by Peresic on Tierney.

    The guy on the Arsenal right wing is playing well, who is he?

  • “O me of little faith” … watching the Madrid game!
    1-0 to the Colchoneros at HT – Real barely got a touch of the ball that they were behind already (Gallagher). The former Chelsea lad tackled the ball off Courtois’s hand into the net. That’s one of the many vintage characteristics of the Simeone boys, they’re masters of tackles. Actually, at he start of the move which ended up with the goal, it was one of Griezmann’s – he’s always excelled at it – that gave them control of the ball.
    Watching them is like playing a rerun of the very best Uruguayan or Argentinian teams in history. It’s not so much because of the setup, which doesn’t seem to really matter that much – it’s defense-minded of course, as soon as they’re dispossessed they regroup in a low block on the edge of their box – but more about the fire in their bellies (the “grinta”), the jaw-dropping technical level, the talent they have for creating danger from scraps (Alvarez in particular), the way the ten field players run themselves into the ground from the getgo …
    What a tough nut to crack for us they’d be, should they prevail tonight; the contrast is striking with Real who’ve been sleek, brilliant, gentle-on-the-eye so far … but have created next to nothing beyond the 30-yard-line …

  • Atleti are likely to play more like the teams which play us with two banks of 4. Or the low block set up we have found hard to breach this season.

  • Real Madrid, it is then. Only worry is how we manage selections for the EPL games on either side of this quarter-final tie. As the team keeps maximum focus on the UCL, you can only hope we still get some wins on the board.

  • Real Madrid at home 1st Leg is going to make the tie difficult, with their crowd behind them and the referee’s on side it’ll take a miracle to progress even with Saka back.

    Odegaard will be up for it as will Saliba, but being realistic, can we knock out the holders with this team?

    Of course we can.

  • Kev, if we had Havertz and Jesus about, I feel we can make it a difficult game for them and maybe, go on to win it. No one thought we could beat them 0-1 at the Bernabeu, in February 2006.

  • To resuscitate my cynical self, there are games where the display is more important than the result, and there are games where winining/qualifying is important regardless of the performance.
    And – somewhat interestingly – you only know it after the game; never before.
    If we win ugly, then it is always the result prevailing the display. If we put up a convincing performance without the desired result, then it is usually the other way around.

    Nevertheless Sterling and Zinch were really positive improvements, and it was great seeing Rice taking the game rather seriously. However Trossard, White, Kiwior and Jorginho were quite disappointing. I hope it was due to the rust, not the mentality.

  • I agree Eris, Havertz in particular would have been perfect for those kind of games but we’ll have to make do with Trossard I guess if Saka is fit?

    I kinda suspect that Rice will pick up a 2nd yellow at the Emirates and miss the 2nd leg, it’s almost preordained, his yellow card was so unnecessary by a very fussy referee who seemed intent on leaving his mark.

    I can see it now, we go to Spain with a narrow lead and the referee will get carried away by the atmosphere and we’ll end up with 10 men in no time whilst the ref awards Real everything.

    All we can hope for is we get a Barcelona supporting referee.

  • So Real it will be …
    If PL refereeing has driven us crazy this season, let’s brace ourselves for the very same nonsense (or is it too much sense?) in this CL Ro8, only … on steroids. No other team in the world would have benefited from the decision about Alvarez’s so-called 2-touch-pen. What a disgrace that was – the thing is it’s only an extra link added to the never-ending chain of refereeing bias in their favour in the CL.
    Anyway … I just hope that – whether Bukayo’s back or not – we won’t just recite our football, like unimaginative schoolboys, but jump down their throats from the getgo, invent, bring about chaos. I want MA and the boys to completely take me by surprise, to not allow me to know exactly how each and every one of our moves will spread out – and yes, the OT performance left a bitter taste in my mouth … If they can give me that, well whatever will be will be, I’ll be content.
    Now, neither Tchouameni nor Mendy will be available for the first tie, on top of their long-term absences (Alaba, Miliotao, Carvajal, … ) which have left their defense completely depleted since the start of the season already. Kroos has left a huge hole – a gaping abyss actually – in midfield too, but to be fair to them only Rodri would have had what it takes to only pretend to fill this hole. I have seldom – maybe never – watched a game like yesterday’s, when you could almost touch the bad vibrations between Bellingham – Vini Jr. – Mbappé ; at some point Jude B. gave out to Vini, as though they were problem kids in a U18 team, as for the Brazilian he wouldn’t give an assist to Mbappé, even if his life depended on it …
    The soul of this current version of Real is Valverde ; as for Rodrygo he is a wonderful, creative player, but I think his performances are hampered by the bad blood running in the above-mentioned trio’s dysfunctional little family … I’d take both of them in the Arsenal in a heartbeat, just as I would Camavinga, all the more so since we’ll need a top-level player by Declan’s side next season, that a left-footed one would be great, and that Eduardo mustn’t be happy with his being benched so often down there – even though he always wakes them up, brings some positivity into this mob, just as he did yesterday (down here he’s known to be an easy-going, happy-go-lucky lad, I’m pretty sure he’d love to be given the opportunity to play his football in a sound environment …).
    Barça have given us the blueprint to play by, they’ve destroyed them twice, once in La Liga and once in the Spanish Super Cup ; if we’ve ever had more than an outside chance of knocking Real out of the CL, this is the one.
    COYG !!

  • Fine comments post- match by all.

    I thought Arsenal were classy yesterday. The boys put up a show for the fans but they did not set out to further humiliate PSV. Having once witnessed Bayern beating Ajax by 8 goals in a friendly in which Cruyff was meant to be honoured, I am always appreciative of a team cultivating restraint and empathy.

    PSV showed their class too and we saw fine goals by both teams.

    Great stuff about our next opponent, Duc. My biggest worry is the quality of refereeing we are going to get.

  • Well, our CL record agin them is impressive, a 0-0 draw at home and a 1-0 win at their gaff, courtesy of Thierry doing what Thierry did. My (at the time) seven year old son and I were at the Emirates for our 1-0 win over them in the 2008 Emirates Cup. An Adebayor goal, if my memory serves me. More vivid is the memory of a 17 year old Jack Wilshere coming off the bench to absolutely torment Sergio Ramos.
    I wasn’t aware of the bad blood described by LG. I did notice the disconnect between Jude and his team mates, but put it down to his increasingly seemingly moany nature.
    Savage, that decision against Alverez. And Declan’s yellow was a another plank in the argument for conspiracy.
    Nice touch, Total mentioned re: “cultivating restraint and empathy”. I think Mikel sent on the big guns late on in search of a winner, with the extra win bonus money in mind. Not sure if it continued into the knock out rounds, but difference in the League phase was 700,000 Euros for a draw and 2.1 million Euros for a win.
    Let’s hope Chel$ki go to extra time and exhaust themselves this morning.

  • Glasgow Rangers are in danger of self-destructing vs Fenerbahce, the Blues 2 goal lead frittered away as the Ibrox fans are in disbelief and traumatised. Mourinho doing what Mourinho does best.

    Chelsea are coasting, Man United are enjoying the luck of the scousers and the Spuds are cruising against Ahh Zed. If any of that trio win in europe and Arsenal fail we’ll never hear the last of it.

  • Mancs home and hosed, Spuds and Chavs through, Rangers into extra-time, been mostly watching Rangers, it’s the best game on tv.

  • Penalty kicks at Ibrox, Mourinho has been booked, yeah, I know that’s hard to believe…

  • That’s 3 or 4 times I’ve watched Zubimendi. I may have been unlucky, but I just can’t see what such a player would add to our squad. (Again, from this tiny sample): there’s dozens of DMs like him around; he’s 26, so very little chance of seeing him improve after donning the red-and-white, and (last but not least) £60m??? – I definitely must’ve missed something …
    Anyway, talking about our 25-26 midfield I’ve read somewhere MA hadn’t said no to Myles shifting to his natural left DM/BtBM position. Well good luck to any – and I do mean “any” – midfielder trying to claim one of the engine room berths, once the Rice-LewisSkelly partnership will have been given the nod …

  • On Zubimendi, you and me both, LeGall. I take in games in the Spanish league very often and was a bit surprised to hear of our interest. He is a good player, no doubt, but he is not an upgrade on anything we have in the first team and coming through the academy; neither does it look like he can improve us. Arteta may have seen something he is looking for; I hope the others in the brain trust can see it too, before making a decision to acquire. £30m, tops, if we must.

    The Ref let ManU get away with a lot, yesterday. The next round of the UEL will be very interesting as there as some tasty ties to see. United will do well to go beyond the next round, methinks. Chelsea will only get a proper game by the semi-finals. Too many lower tier teams in the UEFA Conference league.

    On to the weekend.

  • Glad to know we’re in agreement, Eris – I value your assessments highly, they often make me rethink about my own. And since you mention the academy, I’m still under the mind-blowing impression Copley’s performance in our U18 Youth Cup tie against Utd made on me. He’ll turn 19 at the start of next season, and, with Merino, is all the backup the Declan-Myles pair would need.
    Another one I’m in agreement with is Hornby about VAR, Real, and the abyss football might be headed for:
    https://nickhornby.substack.com/p/a-new-low?publication_id=1987367&post_id=159065885&isFreemail=true&r=bgl4s

  • I know that the deal hasn’t been sealed quite yet but it seems that Berta is looking likely to replace Edu, and if so we might see some transfer targets changed in order to get better value.

    Berta will know the Spanish and Italian markets well and he’ll also hopefully have some good contacts in South America?

    Given his Brazilian roots it’s odd that Edu failed totally to give Arsenal the inside track in South America. I mean Brighton do ok in South America so why can’t we?

  • A new low
    VAR strikes again

    Nick Hornby
    On Wednesday night, VAR disallowed a goal – a penalty, anyway, during a penalty shoot-out – for an offence that was literally invisible to the naked eye. Nobody in the stadium saw it. The referee didn’t see it. The TV commentators didn’t see it without the benefit of a replay, at which point it became clear to them, if to nobody else. The Real Madrid players who stood to benefit didn’t appeal. After the game Diego Simeone, the Atletico manager, asked the journalists at the post-match press conference to raise their hands if they had spotted it. No hands went up. Only the VAR noticed.

    Julian Alvarez, the penalty taker, slipped as he was kicking the ball, and in the process was adjudged to have kicked the ball with both feet at the same time. He did not do this deliberately, obviously, and slipping whilst taking a penalty does not confer an advantage on the penalty taker, or it didn’t on this occasion. The laws do not allow for the kick to be retaken, as they do for other infringements during penalties; it just does’t count.

    This being a hot-ticket overpriced Champions League game, nobody in charge had the courtesy to inform the crowd. On the screens in the stadium, a green tick was simply changed to a red cross. More fool you if you happened not to notice. Real Madrid missed one penalty, but Atletico missed two, including Alvarez’s effort, so they went out of the competition, despite winning the game on the night.

    This stinks. VAR didn’t have to get involved in this moment. They chose to. If they had decided to ignore it, nobody would ever have mentioned it again. Is that why we have it? So that some jobsworth watching a monitor can insert himself into the narrative of the game, even though nobody asked him to, or wanted him to?

    Why it’s so often Real Madrid who seem to benefit from these moments is beyond the purview of this Substack, but I have my suspicions, and I will not report any of you who wish to air yours in the comments. Remember the linesman’s flag going up super-quick when Bayern Munich had a chance against Real in the closing seconds of the semi-final last season, despite all official instructions telling him to keep it down in exactly those situations? And the referee blowing his whistle to stop play, even though he didn’t have to? That referee was Szymon Marciniak. Mr Marciniak happened to be the ref in charge of Wednesday night’s penalty shoot-out, as well as the ref who erroneously awarded PSG a decisive penalty against Newcastle last season. Are we at least allowed to say that he’s useless?

    I can only re-iterate: VAR is having a profound effect on the excitement of a game, especially for supporters inside a stadium. We are quickly learning not to celebrate goals, knowing that there is a bureaucratic process that has to be endured before we are told whether our team has actually scored or not. In Eindhoven, fans had to wait for around four minutes to learn whether the third Arsenal goal was going to stand or not; during the delay, the refereeing expert on TV helpfully explained that the decision, when it came, would be “purely subjective” – so much for the scientific precision of technology. A couple of weeks prior to that, Bournemouth fans had to wait eight minutes, a new English record, to hear whether their goal against Wolves was good. (It wasn’t, but luckily most of them had lost the will to live by that point.)

    Ask any football fan and they will all tell you the same thing: we would rather live with bad decisions in the moment than wait eight minutes for what still might be a bad (or purely subjective) one. What we are heading towards are stadiums full of tourists, gaping at the famous players as though they were exotic fish; and then, when the tourists realise that going to a Premier League match is as enthralling, as noisy and as passionate as a trip to an aquarium, they will stop coming too.

  • Great article. I loved the comment below it: “I’m just surprised the result of this wasn’t somehow Michael Oliver giving a red card to an Arsenal player.” 🤣

    Louie Copley. Great name. Are we seeing something we haven’t seen since the ’80’s, when Rocky, Paul, Michael and Big Tone all came through?

  • Enjoyed the article, Kev. I do like the idea of VAR “helping” the on-field Ref get to the correct decision. When it comes to unsolicited interventions that only create controversies, I feel the role of the VAR needs to be curtailed.
    As we have experienced, when allowed to rule on “inconclusive” situations, some partisan Refs may use it to achieve a set agenda.

  • Hear FIFA and UEFA are considering a rule review for that Alvares’ incident.

  • Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Partey, Rice, Odegaard, Trossard, Martinelli, Merino

    Subs: Neto, Tierney, White, Kiwior, Zincheko, Calafiori, Jorginho, Butler-Oyedeji, Nwaneri

  • We’re in control but I wouldn’t mind a bit more urgency. Should be more space in the second half for the boys to finish the job.

  • That Old Deep Block Magic
    Has me, in a spell,
    That Old Deep Block Magic
    That we, know so well.

  • 1-0 to the Arsenal, makes me feel young again, like it’s 1989 again.

    George Knows!

  • “Tell me why I don’t like VAR
    Tell me why I don’t like VAR
    I wanna shoot ooo oo the whole edifice down”

    Criminal. A clear and obvious penalty. Helen Keller (bless her) would have noticed Cucurella’s arm move in the direction of the ball.

    Big Dan Burn, the local hero. Nice to see some Geordie joy.

  • Cucurella knew what he was doing that’s why he pretended to be annoyed with the linesman after falling over, Step One: deflect attention away from the offence.

    Same offence at Anfield against Liverpool and it’s simply a penalty, but then the scousers, both players and fans, are much better at appealing than us.

    Enjoyed the League Cup Final, I’m not too bothered about Newcastle but seeing Liverpool bottle it again was exquisite, there’s nothing as good as seeing them knocked off of their perch.

    Great to see George Graham in the stands and looking so well at 80 years of age.
    Hard to believe that the Original Double of 1970/71 was 55 years ago this May!

  • He did look well, Kev. Do you remember his one two and volley against Liverpool in, I think it was that season?
    Congrats, LG on the Six nations crown. The beginning of a belle epoque for French rugby?

  • Too bad Saturday’s performance is unlikely to stick in memories, though … the Scots were by far the most entertaining team – as they often are; they “only” miss another Irvine-Hastings to make it back to the top. Next … the July series; will you attend one of the 3 tests? Dunedin – the first one, july 5th – maybe; you’re a “southerner“, aren’t you?
    Tbh my fan mind was focused on basket-ball last week-end. I think I told you my boy was assistant coach of “Nationale 2 – Group C” team “Gravenchon” (an Esso refinery town, a few miles east of Le Havre). Well … they’re top of their group at the moment, on their way to making it to “Nationale 1” – 3rd level of French basket-ball; but Saturday and Sunday were cup days for them, they played the Ro8 (against “Pontoise” – a town north of Paris), and the semis (against “Roncq” – a Lille suburb) of the French basket-ball equivalent of the EFL Trophy (whatever its name is now); and won both of them, so that they’re due to play the final – against Beaupuy-Marmande (south-west towns, a few miles from Agen – rugby country, historically) – on April 26th, in … Bercy, no less. There was a live stream on a local YT sport channel, so I watched them both – I’ve been better lately, but I’m still stuck home, won’t be able to make it to Paris either.
    All of which means I didn’t even see the end of the Chelsea game; I’d seen enough actually, those “Blues “ are the ugliest team I’ve watched this season – Fofana is well known to be a thug, but why would he change? The PGMO stooge of the day deemed it acceptable for him to trample a man under foot, so why bother? Usually I curse international football breaks, but this one is most welcome imo, as a team we’ve been huffin’ and puffin’ lately, these two weeks are all we need to get ourselves together before dashing to the finish ….

  • Congrats to your son, Duc. Sounds like a great journey forward. Sad to hear you cannot travel those sort of distances as yet. Here is hoping for ongoing recovery for you.

    Loving all those French name places; makes me want to travel to your fine country once more.
    I agree with you on the benefits of an international break right now. Unless of course it leads to more injury drama.

  • No, mate, I am up in the Bay of Islands in the Far North. My ancestor (Great grandfather) settled in Dunedin, having left the ancient Earldom of Angus in East Scotland back in the mid 1800’s. The family moved northwards over the generations, my Dad was born in Christchurch, I was born in Auckland, our Queen City. My sons were all raised up here in Kerikeri in warmer, sub tropical climes.
    The only All Black game I have attended was during a Lions tour back in the early ’80’s. Football has always been my priority.
    Congratulations on the success of your son and his team. What joy it is to see our children prosper. I hope and pray your health recovers to allow you many more seasons yet.
    Yes, as Total noted, those French place names are hymn like in their loveliness. My personal fave is L’Isle sur la Sorgue in Provence. San Tropez, St Emilion, Côte d’Azur, Annecy… sigh.
    Our towns name, Kerikeri carries the meaning, “to dig, to dig”, so called because of the volcanic nature of our soil, perfect for horticulture. It is known colloquially as “Kerikeri Oil”. A passing tourist quipped some years back that Kerikeri is so lovely it was named twice.

  • Stu, I saw that George Graham goal on the Big Match TV highlights, at that time my Father ran a shop in, of all places, Tottenham and he needed my help so I didn’t get to see regular games until 1971-72.

    Fil du Duc du hoops

  • I bet your dad did a roaring trade in boxes of tissues and head ache tablets…

  • Unfortunately Tottenham won the FACup in 1967, which made us all feel very sad as at that time Arsenal had last won it in 1950 Stu.

    Everyone played on a Saturday in those days and my Dad needed me to help him in the shop when the Spuds were at home as it got very busy. We moved to East London in 1972 and so I was free to go every week, home and away, after that.

  • My son – I told you that before too, I think – is also in charge of the youth teams of another club, south-east of Rouen. He’s their own personal “Per” (he’s the same height, actually – 1.97m, well … Per is 1.98m). When he played football his buddies called him … Peter Crouch (!!); there was no way I could ever drill “Smudge” into their thick heads. Anyway, this season “his” U13s and U21s have been doing very well so far, in particular, btw … but those are not my points, right now.
    The name of his club’s twin towns?:
    “Le-Mesnil-Esnard-Franqueville-Saint-Pierre”; it’s just down the road from where Jacques Anquetil spent most of his adult life: “La-Neuville-Chant-d’Oisel” (“The-Bird-Song-New-Town”)
    Not bad, eh?

  • Not bad? That’s beautiful, mate.
    We have a place named “Whykickamoocow”, believe it or not. Our longest place name is “Taumata whakatangi hangakoauau o tamatea turi pukakapiki maunga horo nuku pokai whenua kitanatahu”, which translates into English as “the place where Tamatea, the man with the big knees, who slid, climbed and swallowed mountains, known as ‘landeater”.
    Our loveliest would be “Te Rerenga Wairua”: “The departure of the spirit”. This is our northern most point of land, just north of our home.

    I propose a hikoi (march) upon the Emirates if rumours of Gabriel going off to Saudi are not swiftly dealt with.

  • Gabriel isn’t going anywhere and certainly for nothing south of £70m

    It might be his agent putting it out there?

    I reckon that all our key players will re-sign.

    De Robot.

  • Let’s hope Big Gab stays. My gut feeling re this is 50:50. I wonder whether Calafiori is seen as ideal left sided CB going forward, and if the club can cash in they may be tempted.

  • Yeah Total, that has also crossed my mind re: Califiori, after the last time we had uncertainty with him and the Saudi League, Arteta has made sure he has options at left-half.

    My major concern would be if we lost Big Gab is how it might effect Big Bill and if it might make him unsettled?

    They seem very much a duo.

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