We all have blood running through our veins; I’m just the same with the exception that my red and white cells equal Arsenal. You see Arsenal is as much a part of me as my blood we are totally inseparable, one without the other is simply impossible.
My family ties with Arsenal go back to 1913 (109 years) when my maternal Grandfather witnessed the first game at Highbury. I have no idea if he was already an Arsenal fan but there was never any doubt in his later years. He lived on Stavordale Road and delivered coal by horse and cart around Highbury, a big strong man standing six feet five inches tall, arms like tree trunks, with coal dust permanently embedded in his face, an imposing figure of a man and someone to be feared.
On match days Stavordale Road became a parking lot and Grandpa saw this as a source of revenue. When a car got parked, he would be there to open the car door and greet the driver, he would place his hand, heavily, on the driver’s shoulder and say “hey mate, if you give me a bob (shilling) I’ll make sure that nothing bad happens to your car”; the driver would look into his coal grained face and then down at his hob nailed boots and quickly cough up a bob. The fear factor (what Grandpa might do to his car if he said no) rarely failed. When the street was full he’d zip up to the Drayton Arms and down a few pints of brown and mild then trot up the hill to Highbury to watch his beloved Gunners – he was very wise in the use of his ”bob’s”.
My paternal Grandfather (who funnily enough also delivered coal by horse and cart), lived on Caledonian Road N7, was also a fan; our combined family was huge I had twelve uncles and thirty plus six male cousins, all Arsenal fans, well except for four sad souls who were Spuds supporters. I never got to meet him as he and his eldest son both died within two weeks of one and other whilst serving with the British army during WW11, leaving my grandmother with six sons and three daughters to raise on her own.
To say that we lived and breathed Arsenal is a monumental understatement: family occasions were dominated by Arsenal dialogue, before Sunday dinner the men would all go up the pub and we kids would stand outside listening to all of the Arsenal banter and waiting for our bags of Smith’s crisps, with the blue twist of salt and bottles of Tizer. I really had no other choice than to become an Arsenal supporter and I’m happy to say that it has remained as a dominant part of my life, so much so that all family, business and social functions were always scheduled around Arsenal games.
So you see my DNA is also known as a….Dysfunction Named Arsenal.
Brentford 0 – 3 Arsenal. A late summer stroll in the park.
Ah what a happy return to PL football. I wanted to see attitude, pride and professionalism and that is exactly what we got from our boys.
Garth Crook’s Team of the Week contains key players of Arsenal’s Spine
Eight short observations from a masterclass performance:
Partey and Xhaka together makes such a difference. I am less of a Partey fan that most on this blog, but his influence cannot be underestimated. Thomas is imo a limited passer of the ball (too many unforced errors) BUT he offers great midfield ‘presence’ and his positioning is simply excellent. Thomas gives us shape and structure, and nobody messes with him.
Xhaka in a more advanced role is working really well (to my surprise). His ability to see the right pass and execute it quickly is second to none in the team, except for the Ode maybe. His left foot can deliver balls with both speed and feeling, as was demonstrated by his fine banana shaped cross towards GJ9 for our second goal. Granit moves the game on quickly and yet he also defends his area well.
The defenders dealt really well with all the high balls pumped towards them. Rather than one defender going to meet the ball it would often be two, thus sandwiching the CF and not allowing easy lay-offs for the second attacker. It made the Bees attacking plan stingless. The defence also dealt well with the Stoke-esque throwies into the box and corners. They really meant business today.
Our full backs positioned themselves very well today. Both White and Tierney were excellent in balancing out supporting our attack and not leaving too much space at the back.
I think we missed the Ode but Fabio did a good job for the team. His goal was pure class and he fitted in very well. I also noticed how Martinelli had a free role during large spells of the game, and I need to watch the game again to see whether he in effect was playing the Ode role rather than Vieira. Martinelli may not have played well in terms of goals and assists but he covered a lot of space and brought the ball forward on many occasions. Really mature game by him.
I praised the midfielders and I would like to add the fab performances by Saliba and Jesus. WS,GX, TP and GJ gave us a mighty strong spine today. William brings calm and natural dominance, and Jesus brings energetic leadership. We could add Aaron to this spine as well. He brings to the back what Jesus brings to our attack. This spine can win us a lot of games this season.
There was something old fashioned about Arsenal’s outfit today, especially with those long grey socks, but I loved it. It made us look like hard, no-nonsense workers.
Ethan Nwaneri first PL game minutes was a very nice move by Arteta and I look forward to seeing more of this promising 15 year old. His forhead reminded me of that of a young, just starting Cesc somehow. But this last point is really about the other boy wonder we have: Bukayo Saka. He just turned 21 and is once again delivering the goods. I don’t think he is at his normal best yet, and yet he is the PL second highest assists maker after the genius KdB. What a player.
Two weeks rest now and then we will face the mashable Spuddies. How do you like your mash?! 🤩
After what seems a small eternity, and before what will feel like an eternity as we face an international break, Arsenal will face the Bees away tomorrow.
Citeh and the silly Spuds won their games today, so we need to win to go TotL again. We all know what happened at the Gtech Community Stadium last season, and the disrespectful tweets that were issued by Brentford players afterwards should motivate the boys to give their all.
We know that the Bees’ supporters and players treat these games as a nothing to lose, carnevalesque occasion. So we need to mean business from the start, show them who is boss and also finish them off when the opportunity comes. I want to see us push very hard and never let them settle.
Lineup:
Ramsdale
White, Saliba, Gab, Tierney
Partey/Sambi – Granit
Saka, Ode, Marti
GJ9
Partey is a fitness doubt but my guess is he will play. I would be tempted to play GJ9 in, Martinelli’s position and Eddie in GJ9’s. Eddie needs a start and he just takes his chances quicker than Martinelli. I also like the extra height that he would bring in. Oth boxes.
Anyway, enough of the talking, we need action on the pitch. I want to see us play at our most focused and hardest yet this season.
Seven changes to the starting eleven is a lot and it showed. The team dominated from the start but we lacked the crisp passing and natural team movement to produce quality chances. Zurich were well organised defensively and they made the pitch look small,and it was often a bit scruffy to watch.
Our first goal came from a smartly worked counter attack, utilising the available space fabulously. Vieira produce a snookerball-pass into the running path of Eddie. The latter looked up and found Marquinos in space and time for him to place the ball high into the net. Boom 1-0.
Marquinos played very well and made us forget Bukayo. He seems to have a similar skill set and with a goal and assist he really delivered. His crossing into the box was of a very high standard and I was impressed with his physical strength too. Early days but it’s looking promising.
Eddie delivered too, aslo with a goal and assist. His header from Marquinos’ fabulous cross was text book excellent. Head it down with a bounce and the keeper will have little chance. Martinelli had a similar chance v the Mancs on Sunday but headed the ball high-diagonally and De Gea was able to make a good safe.
Martinelli really missed his Gabi brother. Plenty of effort as always but he looked lost without Jesus on his side. But then who wouldn’t?! 🤩
The defence lacked its usual calm but did the job well in general. Four individuals who needed time to gel. The pen was poorly conceded as a result of a lack of coordination in defence. But individually all defenders did well.
Xhaka and Lokonga did quietly a very good job and Arteta did well to stick with the duo, both for the sake of continuity and balance. Vieira showed a lot of promise and reminded me of young Jack. It feels like he needs easing in for a while, as we certainly missed Ode’s ability to string it all together for us. Yet that pre-assist for the first goal was a pure Ronnie O’Sullivan snooker placement on the St Gallen grass surface, and one of the passes of the season.
Tomi and Kieran did well and especially Wishaw’s finest had a great game, getting back to his very best. Tomiyasu still looked a bit rusty but playing this game will have done him good.
Altogether a good game and great result, and a brilliant prep for Sunday’s game v the Toffees.
Tonight (early kick off!) Arsenal are playing Zurich to start their European campaign. There’s more romance in playing the lesser European competitions, as we meet often unfamiliar teams in unknown cities. The CL is so predictable and set up in such a way that the big clubs will have a very strong chance to reach at least the last eight. The Europa League is much less predictable and it gives the supporters a great opportunity to travel and discover some unknown beauty of that great continent, mainland Europe.
Zurich is a city full of bankers – and feel free to change that first letter to a ‘w’ – but it has a rich history and plenty to offer. For a start, there are 1200 water fountains with high quality drinking water. Muesli was invented there. It’s the birthplace of Dadaism which had a huge influence on surrealism and post-modernism. You will find James Joyce’s grave there and the largest church clock in Europe.
But Arsenal are actually not playing in this fine city, but up the road in St Gallen. The Diamond League athletics event is in town so the football has to be played somewhere else.
Most likely, and rightly so, our wider squad will be used, although I expect Mikel to totally rest only a few first team players. A good start in the EL is important and for that we need to take it seriously from the first game.
Proposed Lineup:
Turner
Soares-Tomi-Hold-Tierney
M Smith-Granit
Marquinos-Vieira-Martinelli
Eddie
I would expect Mikel to not start with so few first teamers, though. Maybe more like this:
Turner
Tomi-White-Gab-Tier
Loko-Xhaka
Marquinos-Vieira-Marti
Eddie
A solid defence, another chance for developing a good partnership between Sambi and Granit, and trying out a new attacking combination…… What is not to like about that?!
If you play like the big boys, you can get beaten like them. Arsenal are seasons ahead of MU. They want to play football like us, dominate like us, pass like us. But they can’t. Instead they have to play counter football. We were outdone by a few well executed moves to which we lacked pace and positioning. But this is exactly the risk our style of football carries within it; the same happens occasionally to City and Pool. It was a painful but excellent lesson for the team.
When you play high press total football, you have to score at least half of your chances. We had plenty and we did score two. One was cruelly taken away by the farce of VAR. In a game like this it is clear we miss another experienced attacker. Martinelli and Saka and Odegaard are making leaps forward, and Bukayo did score, but I think Jesus was the only one not bothered by nerves during such a tough away fixture. We should have scored a couple before we finally did.
Still, I also want to stress what great talents we have in Saka, Martinelli and Odegaard and they are learning so fast from experiences like this and outperformed their home side counterparts. They are worth their weight in diamonds, and the ly shine like them.
Our midfield was awesome and we hardly missed Partey. I thought that Sambi played with confidence and he positioned well, and Granit and Martin bossed proceedings.
The gap between our high line and Ramsdale was too big. I wonder whether Aaron was not fully fit for this one as he decided to not come out and put off the attackers on the key moments. Rashford had too much space and time to put his shots away.
Vieira and ESR brought something to the game straightaway and that was encouraging, especially from the young Portuguese sensation. It was nice to finally see him play.
A question: when we play a very high line are White and Zinchenko our best full back options/ are they quick enough?
Of course it is now important to learn a few lessons and move on swiftly. Win the next game and we are still TotL. A draw between City and Spuds will see us three points clear then; a win for one of them will see us create a four point gap with the loser. We played fabulous football and should have won but for an awful VAR intervention and some lack of confidence when we could have scored. The Big picture is extremely bright. Bring on the Toffees (but first we go to Zurich)!
Arsenal are going to Old Trafford with the unbelievable luxury that after six games, whatever the result tomorrow, we will remain TotL. Yes we have struggled there often in the last fifteen years but this time we are going there without the usual pressure of needing a result. No pressure.
It’s the home side that need a result and have to make up ground on us this time round, and this has been more often the case in recent years. They will be worried to get beaten and outplayed and that their fragile momentum, much needed after two early losses, will be shattered again.
So win, draw or lose, Arsenal will be fine. Key is of course that Arsenal play well, show character and resilience and fight till the end. No shrinking, ill-discipline or flippancy please. Just play with a high tempo, pass the ball round, make them work and take our chances when they come our way. Key is for the boys to start with focus and without too many nerves. It’s normal to be a bit nervous there, especially for such a young team, but we go there as league leaders because we are beating teams whom our competitors struggled against. So let’s go for it boys and give those Ten Hags a proper game.
The Guardian’s predicted lineups
The Guardian’s lineups are usually close to the actual ones. They have the Ode and Aaron as doubts; the same goes for Zinchenko. It would be great if two out of three could start but the replacements – ESR, Turner and Tierney – are all capable of rising to the occasion, although Turner may find this a really big challenge if he were to start.
Emile is due a start anyway, and he will relish it. Lokonga will face a big test against this very attacking midfield but he has two great defenders – White and Saliba – behind him. No doubt, Bukayo will also help out defensively.
The two attacking Gabis will have to play really well on the left, and Granit will be key again. He needs to stay focused and avoid provocation. The new Granit should be able to do that. The same goes for Big Gab and Ramsdale, if he starts.
I am looking forward to this game at OT, which I cannot say has often been the case. A real challenge to judge our progress in a game we could afford to lose. Of course we don’t want to do that. 3-1 to the good guys. Bring it on!
The Villains are coming to THOF and Arsenal have a great opportunity to make it 5/5 wins and stay TotL.
It looks like Stevie Gerrard’s time as Villa manager is nearly up, but the Scouser is a fighter and he will not go down without a fight. Villa are both a physical and technical team and they have some fine players. Yet they are not growing under the former Mr Liverpool and some are even saying they may well be in for a relegation fight this season.
I expect a hard match and I hope the ref will be on top of things from the start. Ings, Watkins, Coutinho and Buendia are of course good footballers who can score all sorts of goals, but it is the lack of cohesion in the Villa team that makes the team less than the sum of its parts. They got beaten by Bournemouth, Palace and the Hammers and the only win came at home against the sorry Toffees.
The big question for us is whether to play the current first choices or to rotate again. It looks like Partey is still out and Zinchenko is a doubt. There are rumours that Elneny is also injured, but I am not sure what to make of that.
I expect and in a way hope that Mikel goes for the strongest team and worries about the MU game later. Three points tomorrow please.
So the lineup is likely to be:
Ramsdale
White, Sal, Gab, Tiern
Elneny/AMN-GX
Saka, Ode, Marti
GJ9
Part of me would like to see the squad used v Villa but with some continuity:
I have supported Arsenal for in excess of 50 years and during that time I have had the pleasure of seeing a fair number of shall we say not top-quality centre backs. In fact when some of them played they were referred to as Centre halfs. This list would include such legends as Ian Ure, Andy Linighan, Igor Stepanovs, Gus Caesar, Sebastian Squillaci and Pascal Cygan.
On the flip side, I have also had the pleasure of seeing some truly great Centre Backs. My personal list would include.
Frank McLintock. Purchased as a midfielder in 1964 for £80,000 which at the time was a club record. His initial time at Highbury was not particularly successful, but although only 5 foot 10′ he was converted to centre back where he proved a great success and went on to captain the team to their first double in 1971. Particularly satisfying was the fact that the League was won at White Hart Lane.
McLintock was partnered by Peter Simpson who was signed as an apprentice in 1961. For those not familiar with the term apprentice it involved cleaning the senior players boots and living in guest houses normally with other young apprentices. Simpson worked his way through the Youth team and Reserves before finally breaking into the first team. In total he was an Arsenal player for around 14 years and was a great servant to the club. How he never played for England I will never understand, a very underrated player in my opinion.
David O’Leary was another product of the Arsenal youth scheme. He signed for Arsenal in 1973 and made his full debut in 1975. O’Leary was a classy defender very comfortable on the ball. He went on to make 722 appearances for Arsenal, surpassing George Armstrong’s record, during a very successful career.
Tony Adams, Mr Arsenal. One of the true Arsenal Greats, Adams spent 19 Years at Highbury having come through the youth set up and in my view was the greatest captain I have had the pleasure of watching, despite well publicised drinking problems and a spell at Her Majesties pleasure. He played in excess of 500 times for Arsenal and won the 1st Division title four times, 3 of these uniquely in different decades. A true Arsenal Great he has a statue outside the Emirates stadium in recognition of this.
Martin Keown. Keown was another to have come through the Arsenal youth programme. Having finally achieved first team status, Keown was sold to Aston Villa for £200,000 and then to Everton before returning to Highbury 7 years after he left and costing £2 million, 10 times more than for what they had sold him for. Keown was a hard as nails centre back who took no prisoners. He is fondly remembered by many Arsenal fans for jumping on Ruud Van Nistelrooy who had just missed a penalty against us.
Steve Bould . Bouldy joined Arsenal from Stoke City for 390,000 in 1988 and formed one of the truly great Arsenal defenders along With Nigel Winterburn, Tony Adams and Lee Dixon (also stolen from Stoke). He played nearly 300 games for Arsenal, scoring 5 goals one of which was Arsenal’s first ever Premiership goal.
Sol Campbell. Much to the delight of Arsenal fans and the hatred of Spurs supporters, Sol Campbell was stolen from Spurs on a free transfer in 2001. In nine years at Spurs he had won one League Cup winners medal. In the following five seasons at Arsenal he won two League titles and two F A cup winners medals, encompassing a double. He was part of the famous Invincibles team. He also scored a headed goal in the Champions League Final against Barcelona where a 10-man Arsenal held out until the last 10 minutes before two late Barcelona goals won them the trophy.
Kolo Toure. Toure was signed from the Mimosa club in the Ivory Coast for the princely sum of £150,000. A hugely energetic player, Kolo played in a number of positions before settling in at centre back alongside Sol Campbell. He went on to play 225 games for Arsenal and was part of the Invincibles team. In 2009 he was sold to Manchester City for £14 million (how’s that for a return on investment.) and went on to join an elite number of players who have won the Premiership with more than one team.
Apologies to anyone I may have missed. What’s interesting is many of these players came through the youth system or were purchased at relatively low transfer fees. Two of these players who came through the youth scheme stand out in my mind. Adams and O’Leary. I remember both these players looking a little undernourished when they broke into the side, but both displaying a calmness and self-belief which left me in no doubt they were great players in the making.
I can honestly say I have not seen a young centre back display these attributes until a few seasons ago, when a certain young Rob Holding made his full debut against Liverpool. Due to injuries and players being unavailable, Holding was paired with another inexperienced centre back Callum Chambers. Unsurprisingly, Arsenal were beaten 4 -3 at the Emirates with the loss of three points, which would prove crucial later in the season. The previous season Arsenal were playing away at Swansea with Chambers playing at right back. Leading one nil. Swansea bought Montero on as a substitute left winger. It soon became apparent that Chambers couldn’t cope with Montero and he was ripped to shreds with Swansea winning 2 – 1, with Montero playing a key part. Personally, I blamed Wenger for not providing Chambers with sufficient support. To my mind Chambers was never the same player after that and always looked nervous.
Although we conceded four goals to Liverpool that day, having gone 1 – 0 up shortly before half time. l am sure I saw glimmers of that same quality I had seen in Adams and O’Leary. When he was eventually put in the first team squad late in the season, Holding was a revelation. He played fantastically well in all those games demonstrating a confidence way beyond his youth. Rob Holding cost the princely sum of £2 million, although with add ons I understand this was to rise to £10 million. Either way, what a fantastic piece of business. As well as displaying great defending and calmness on the ball, he won the heart of many a Gooner with his tough tacking on Arnoutovic, a player who had effectively ended Matthieu Debuchy’s Arsenal Career by needlessly pushing him off the pitch. This was further enhanced when he crunched Diego Costa in the Cup Final and expressed concerns about his mental state. Costa being a player who had so often bullied Arsenal defenders in the past.
When you consider Manchester City played around £50 million for John Stones. Rob Holding represents fabulous value for money. I was convinced that if he remained robust and injury-free we would be looking at a future Arsenal legend and possibly a future England Captain.
But, although Rob is still at Arsenal he seems to be missing out on the role and importance I had in mind for him. I still believe he has it all but whether this will come to fruition at Arsenal remains to be seen. I am curious what his next step will be:
Fight for a place in the first team;
Become an Elneny-like squad player;
Go out on-loan and play a large number of games this season;
Eight very quick observations from our hardest win of the season so far:
Our defenders almost had a perfect game v the beast of the Cottagers. Mitrovic was very impressive in terms of how he tries to make space for himself and others. Our team controlled him well but for a moment of indecision by Big Gab. Was it the fear factor or just a blip in concentration? These sort of goals we will concede a few times this season; it’s almost inevitable. I am glad for Gabriel that he could undo his mistake`and that will have made him sleep much better.
The Ode is playing out of his skin at the moment. He danses around the pitch but with the vision of an albatross. His passes and crosses were at times from a different dimension. Martin is Mesut with attitude.
Ramsdale to the rescue. It was good to see Bernd in the Fulham goal and I thought he did well. But the outstanding saves of the game were made by Aaron. He was quietly one of our best players.
All our attackers lacked a bit of final composure yesterday. Saka missed a half decent chance but also Martinelli and Jesus, who simply have a bit more fan credit at the moment, were below par in terms of their execution. But I also want to stress that Fulham defended very well.
Saka is just such a useful player. He can play almost anywhere and I saw him having spells in all four corners. His dribble and pass let to our equaliser and he was continously involved. Bukayo may not be at his sharpest but even then he is one of our best players.
Elneny started brightly with very good positioning and tidy passes. Like Partey does a lot, he did seem to be less involved towards the final third of the game. Still I thought Mo stepped in well for Thomas.
Kieran was a bit rusty and maybe a bit nervous too, but I am glad he had a start and I hope he will start again on Wednesday. I don’t think Zinchenko is really injured but that he and Thomas are spared for the game at the Old Toilet Bowl. They may both play the last thirty minutes v Villa but I don’t think they will start.
The last fifteen minutes were awesome. The pressure on Fulham was unbelievable and it all paid off. Every game is a cup game right now, it seems. Only by giving everything for ninety minutes can we win. These boys know and live this, and Arteta has done so well to get them to this stage.
Bergkampesque 