Author: TotalArsenal

Silverware in the trophy cabinet is the ultimate goal, and it really feels fantastic to have added another shiny pot to Arsenal’s, earlier this month. An unexpected gift from Mikel and the boys and one that sees us back in Europe this season as well. There were a few highs and a great many lows during the C19-interupted season, but it would always have been a half-decent one in terms of footballing memories. And there is no greater (football) gift than happy experiences and memories. 

Auba treated us to some sumptuous goals and who can forget those Laca blasts past the Spuds’ goalie, home AND away, this season? Furthermore, there was the growth as the season went on of Ceballos and Pepster; the tenacity, runs and crosses of Tierney; the rebirth of Xhaka, Mustafi and Luiz, and; there were two youngsters who really impressed and gave us some considerable hope of top quality football in the future: Saka and Martinelli.

Gabriel’s goal v Chelsea away will surely never be forgotten and neither will be Saka’s phenomenal crosses and passes whilst holding his head up to pick the very best option.

Time will of course tell but we are looking at two of the most promising youngsters in Europe, I reckon.

I thought it was a clever move by Mikel to not overplay Saka and Martinelli so they would not get a bad injury, as so often had happened with talented youngsters at Arsenal during the Wenger years. Unfortunately, the young Brazilian still got injured during a training session, and he is likely to miss the first few weeks, if not months, of the new season.

Young Saka, he is only 18, managed to play an impressive 1755 PL minutes; only six Gunners played more in the league. He was mostly played as a wingback but still managed to produce 5 assists and 1 PL goal.

Feisty Martinelli, he is 19, managed 657 minutes in which he scored 3 PL goals but had no assists.

Both really shun in the Europa League with Bukayo scoring 1 goal and producing an impressive 5 assists and Gabriel, who equally stood out, scoring 3 goals and producing 2 assists. It was great to see them work together and they clearly enjoy playing football together. 

What is really impressive is that they are already contributing to the bread and butter stuff of football: goals and assists. After Ozil, Pepe and Ceballos, Saka also produced the most key passes; and Martinelli is our fourth highest goal scorer in the league (behind Auba, Laca and Pepe).

So I think it is fair to say that we have two fabulous prospects on our hands and Arteta will need to give them a lot of PL time as to develop them further. But how can they fit into a team that is most likely to include Auba, Laca, Pepe, Willian and Eddie (who also really impressed since his return from Leeds)?

Surely, when all are fit Areta will face another dilemma in terms of keeping everybody happy and developing our talents as quickly as possible in the meantime?

Here are some questions for you:

1. Do you agree that they are very talented and should get plenty of PL playing time this season?
2. Or should one or both go out on loan (till January)?
3. Where would you play them and would you play them together in a PL match?
4. In order to develop them into regular PL starters, do we need to let go one or two of Auba, Laca, Eddie or Pepe?
5. What do you think the potential is of both players in terms of PL goals/assists, if they get to play around 2000 minutes of football each?

By TotalArsenal.

 

 

Let’s do a few short discussion posts about some of the key decisions Mikel will have to make sooner or later. Today’s post is about the keeper ‘dilemma’.

Leno or Martinez

This is not an easy one, is it? Martinez has been sensational and was a key player in us winning the FA Cup and thus qualifying for Europe. But Leno had had a fine season too until it was ended cruelly through injury. Preferring the Argentinian to the German might make sense in terms of momentum but it would sit badly with our value of looking after our players when they get injured.

I must say to slightly prefer Martinez for his extra physical presence and the way he seems to fit in so well with our defence; especially his sweeping up behind the defence and ability to put off attackers when they are about to strike has been very impressive. But this could just be ‘beginners-impact’ and once the first mistakes will happen he may just lose it altogether.

And Leno was also impressive and is a brilliant shot-stopper. Bernd is also brilliant at putting attackers off and making point blank saves.

So once they are both fully available, what should Mikel do?

1. Should he play them both from one game to the next?
2. Should he sell one of the goalkeepers and get a new number two/ promote Macey?
3. Should he stick with the man in form, Martinez, and offer Leno the cup games initially?
4. Or should he simply reinstall Leno as his nr.1 and refer Martinez back to his cup-games-role?

Over to you.

By TotalArsenal.

Glorious late summer gossip, we love and loathe it equally. With Willian to be announced as a new signing imminently, apparently, rumours are getting stronger that his fellow Brazillian, Coutinho, is on his way too. I cannot really see us go for both, but stranger things have happened at THOF and it is after all the silly season… So why not contemplate what the arrival of not one but two attacking midfielder in their prime could mean for Arsenal in the coming season?!

With Mari, Luiz and Martinelli we already have three Brazilians in our squad. Just imagine Willian and Coutinho joining the squad, we really would field almost half a Brazilian team next season if Arteta wanted to do so. Add to these Martinez and Torreira and the majority of the team would be from South-America. Soares is Portuguese so can converse freely with the Samba-boys, and the team could look something like this:

Rumours have it that Auba, Tierney and and Xhaka are undergoing a speed-course in Portuguese and have changed their names to fit in. 😀

On a more serious note, could Arteta have plans to play both Willian and Coutinho and how could this be done? I guess the big question is about the formation and style of football he really wants to play. I suspect that he would like to play with four at the back rather than three and with a solid midfield and a creative midfielder in the hole. The team could look like this:

I hear some of you say “but Willian is not a defensive midfielder, he cannot play next to Xhaka”. Yet Ceballos (and Guendouzi earlier in the season) are also not DMs and yet they were played next to Xhaka.

DMs are no longer required in the modern game (Xhaka is also not a pure DM) if you ask me. Defending is a team game of denying space and time, intelligence, close ball control and great positional discipline; and if Ceballos can do this then Willian can do it too. In fact, Willian is quite the complete midfielder/attacker any manager loves in their team.

What is obvious is the need for a deeper central midfielder to bring the ball forward and connect quickly and effectively with the more attack-minded players (just as sub Joe Willock was asked to do regularly) whilst also finishing off attacks with goals. That is not Xhaka, who is more like the anchor in midfield and guardian of formational discipline. And that is also why Arteta has tried Guendouzi next to Xhaka and has played Ceballos there in so many games recently (and why Torreira is struggling to make it into the starting-11). The obvious problem with Guendouzi and Ceballos is that they hardly ever score goals. No doubt this will come but it may take a few seasons yet. 

It seems that Ceballos may not so easily continue his loan at Arsenal, but even if he did stay he cannot play every game and Willian would provide great competition. The Brazilian is of course versatile and could also play in Coutinho’s and Pepe’s position, hence he would be a great signing for us (fingers crossed it does get confirmed soon).

Of course, I am just guessing at this and I really don’t expect us to sign both Willian AND Countinho; yet it could work and the football on display would surely be mouthwateringly good!

By TotalArsenal.

Allezkev, our favourite red and white taxi-driver on the blog, asked:

Total a question – and for anyone as it goes, if Arsenal do sell Alex Lacazette do you think that Arteta will replace him or will he go with Nketiah and Martinelli when he’s fit, bearing in mind that Aubameyang will switch ‘on paper’ to centreforward?

I love Laca’s spirit and work-rate and for that reason alone I would be sad to see him go, but his departure would open opportunities for others. Eddie and Martinelli are both hard workers, who ‘get in there’, bully, and are a similar threat in front of goal as Alex L. The great thing about these youngsters is that they are already taking their chances, and with a bit more confidence they will hopefully grow further in the coming season.

Lacazette has been a bit of a disappointment for the bread and butter stuff: goals and assists. In his last season for Lyon he scored an impressive 37 goals in 45 matches in all competitions; in his three seasons at Arsenal, Alex managed to score an average of 16 goals per seasons from an average 42 games, with only 12 in his last season. For a CF that is not a great return. Martinelli has 10 goals in 26 appearances; Eddie has 9 goals in 36 appearances for Leeds and Arsenal.

So letting Laca go and having Eddie and Martinelli compete for the ‘CF-nuisance and regular goals and assists role’ would work for me. However, I don’t think moving Auba central would help us a lot. He seems to prefer staying on the left and nobody can argue he is not effective from there.

The problem is that we have become far too dependent on Auba’s goals. We need to spread the goals more. Marti and Eddie are likely to grow but they will have to get in the region of 15-20 goals in all competition for Arsenal to make real progress. Can they do it? Not sure.

As per previous post, I am hoping for an attack of Auba-Pepe-Willian. The Brazilian can either play behind them in the hole or play a more disciplined right-winger role. Saka, Martinelli, Nketiah, Nelson can then compete with them and play a lot in the cup games. Freeing up Pepe, and with that the ability to fire up his super-lethal left foot, could really add to the total goals this team is capable of. Willian servicing them both whilst taking his own chances would be the icing on the cake.

The one big thing that we need to improve is turning the great aerial crosses of Tierney, Saka, Pepe and sometimes also Bellerin into headed goals. Auba and Laca are not strong headers of the ball and many a cross goes waisted. Pepe, Marti and Eddie offer improvement in that respect but will it be enough?

I still feel we are missing (a) Giroud on the bench, and if Laca were to go, I would be tempted to get an experienced PL attacker who will be given an (unexpected) opportunity to finish their career on a high (a bit like Arteta got when he joined Arsenal from Everton).

So ideal scenario for me is:

1. Auba signs, Laca moves on;
2. Pepe starts centrally, flanked by Auba and Willian (subject to him joining us at last);
3. Eddie and Marti get to play centrally too, but mostly in the cup games and as PL subs;
4. We get an experienced PL attacker who is strong in the air and can do hold-up/link-up play with their back to the goal – mainly used as a ‘Plan-B on the bench’.

Looking forward to the views of our fellow BKers (and anybody out there who wants to join in constructively).

By TotalArsenal.

 

On various blogs, including this one, doubts have been raised about the need to sign Willian on a free. From a pure football-technical point of view, I can only see benefits in signing him on a free. He offers experience of winning the league which very few Arsenal players can say they do (only his fellow countryman Luiz if I am remember rightly). Willian is sixth best key-pass-deliver in the PL and scored nine PL goals and produced seven PL assist in just 2600 minutes of football last season. 

I like Nelson and I am sure he has a bright future, but Arteta will want to move on next season and he cannot say no to an experienced PL player at the top of his game. Nelson will get chances, either at Arsenal or on loan, but he will have to convince Arteta that he can deliver the goods in every game he plays. Willian has a great work ethic and will revel at Arsenal, using his experience to help us make the difference when it matters. Signing him up for three years and for Nelson to compete with him with the aim to usurp the Brazilian eventually makes perfect sense to me. Yes he became 32 today but there are a couple of good years left in him, of that I am convinced.

Some have mentioned that we already have Pepe and Willian would play in his place, so it makes little sense to have him join Arsenal. But I say we need to strengthen our right flank for next season. Our left flank is looking awesome with the likes of Tierney, Saka, Martinelli and Auba combining so effectively, but something was still missing on our right flank. Putting Willian in midfield with the aim to link up with both Pepe and Bellerin looks like a great move to me.

As per these two teams below, Willian could add real value without Arteta having to bench an experienced player. 4-3-3 looks perhaps too attacking but if Saka and Willian are drilled properly on their defensive and positional responsibilities it could work a treat.

I am a huge fan of 4-5-1 and Willian would once again fit perfectly in this formation. Against any of our top-four competitors this would give us both great protection of the defence and great midfield/passing/attacking play.

I don’t think Arteta’s vision is to continue playing a 3-4-3 formation for long, but say he is planning to do so Willian would still fit in. I strongly feel that Pepe would be most effective through the middle so he can much better find time and space to trigger his left lethal foot. With Auba on the left, Pepe central and Willian on the right wing, but with a license to roam centrally, we could be on to a much more effective attack:

Arsenal are desperate to get more goals from midfield and Willian would be just the player to do that. Nelson can learn from him, Pepe will benefit from the quality link-up play and on-field coaching. Ceballos will learn from him (if indeed he stays). Saka, Willock, ESR will all learn from him. Auba will get great service. We will get an extra 12-18 PL goals/assists a season. What’s not to like?!

So for me it is a no-brainer: Willian to Arsenal would be great news.

By TotalArsenal.

 

As you all know the club announced plans to make 55 staff redundant, yesterday. In its statement the club makes clear why it needs to do this:

https://www.arsenal.com/news/club-update-2020

These are of course extraordinary times, and if the club are to lose out on about £100m in gate and matchday income alone then it makes sense that it will look for ways to cut costs.

Here are some financial facts so we can put things in perspective. Our turnover for the year ending on 31 May 2018 was just over £400m (£403m), and our wage bill for that year was an eye-watering £240m.

Income streams for the club were as follows:

Gate and matchday income £99m

TV and Broadcasting £180m

Retail £26m

Commercial £107m

Property development £15m

Player trading £2m

Net profits were £70m for the 2018 season.

I used this Guardian document as my source:

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2019/may/22/premier-league-finances-club-guide-2017-18-accounts-manchester-united-city

In recent times, other clubs have tried to reduce the non-football related staff costs – Pool and Spuds come to mind – but had to retract their plans after a public and supporters’ outcry.

I fully understand the cold business rationale but Arsenal football club is not just a company, it is an institution based on values and a famous motto: Victoria Concordia Crescit. Victory Through Harmony as a motto can be interpreted in different ways but surely the essence is that we want to win by sticking together through both the good and bad times? Strength in unity.

C19 is an awful crises and now more than ever we need to stick together and survive together. 55 redundancies would save about 1-2% of our total wage bill at most. Without knowing the exact total of salaries of the affected staff, I would imagine that they on average do not cost more than say £55k per annum per person; so we are talking about a total of just over £3m per annum, which clearly does not impact our total wage bill that much at all.

Surely, rather than putting 55 staff in a difficult financial, and possibly existential, position there are other, less painful ways to make a £3m saving. By all means, offer voluntary redundancy to those who want to go, but keep hold of the rest as they are all part of the family.

If FFP rules allow it, the Kroenkes can fill the gap easily; and if not, surely some maneuvering of player wages during the summer transfer window would do the trick… We all want Auba to stay and Willian and whoever else to join, but doing so whilst letting 55 dedicated Arsenal club staff go is morally wrong.

By TotalArsenal.

 

 

 

 

my lay of the arsenal land

 

1. this post is meant to provide an answer to PB’s brilliant one, but the first thing i have to put out of the way is that … i agree with his main point, ie our passing’s not nearly good enough. i don’t mean only the key passes that he did a great job studying: the number of times we gave the ball away during the final was a nerve-wracking source of frustration to me – and for anyone still living under wengerball’s spell, i guess – although, to be fair, now that i am calmer, I’ve started wondering if this profligacy was not part of mick’s plan, i actually think now he might be demanding from the lads that every single pass be a risk taken, and its consequences accepted whatever they might be.

2. now, what’s the “lay …” of the title??

we’ve acquired certainties in the past two months, hierarchy being one of them. provided everyone were fit, i think suggesting the following one (in mick’s favored 3-4-2-1) is not erring too much:

team A:

			martinez
		mustafi	luiz	mari
	bellerin	ceballos		xhaka	tierney
		pépé		auba
			lacazette

team B:

			leno
		holding	chambers	saliba
	soares	willock		saka	maitland niles
		nelson		martinelli
			nketiah

team C:

			macey
		ballard	sokratis	medley
	osei-tutu	torreira		smith	kolasinac
		smithrowe		johnjules
			balogun

on loan: mavropanos

in the wings: okonkwo, hein, swanson, coyle, clarke, olayinka

in limbo: özil, guendouzi

almost gone: elneny, mkhitaryan

Which gives us for the start of next season, taking the injuries into account (mustafi, mari, chambers, martinelli):

team A:

			martinez
		holding	luiz	tierney
	bellerin	ceballos		xhaka	maitland niles
		pépé		auba
			lacazette

team B:

			leno
		saliba	sokratis	kolasinac
	soares	torreira		willock	saka
		nelson		smithrowe
			nketiah

team C:

			macey
		clarke	ballard	medley
	osei-tutu	olayinka		smith	swanson
		coyle		johnjules
			balogun

on loan: mavropanos

in the wings: okonkwo, hein,

in limbo: özil, guendouzi

almost gone: elneny, mkhitaryan

3. what can this squad (not) achieve?

SPOILER: we won’t be champions next year!!!!!!!

1. a) we ended up with 56 points, and ever since 16-17, a team needs 97,5 points on average to be champions (85,3 points from 10-11 to 15-16). that would mean nearly doubling our total; this just won’t happen

SPOILER (2) we won’t be champions any time soon!!!!!

we can’t – nobody can, even ‘pool – compete with oil-state funded citeh, we just can’t, won’t be able to, and actually i don’t want us to…

1. a) they got a venue that cost ‘em next to nothing, while ours might well have bankrupted us, had it not been for The Great Man’s genius, who took us into the champions’ league year in, year out, with squads that most other managers would have been very happy not to go down with
2. b) they have an extra -ordinary squad, coached by an extra -ordinary manager
3. c) they can splash out whatever money they feel like splashing out; the sheer numbers of what they spent on defenders only are just mind-blowing (all the more so since eventually, they end up benching players like stones, otamendi, …); we won’t ever be able to do that (i don’t want us too …) – we have to be imaginative/creative
4. d) they have just been allowed by fifa /SAT to bend the rules as they see fit (i don’t want us to, ever), nobody will stop them now from doing whatever they want to, whenever they want to
5. e) ‘pool have been playing like a f…..g extra -ordinary attacking machine for the last two years, under the command of an extra -ordinary manager.

as much as i’d like to do so, let’s not dream on: there’s no way we’ll have caught up with them within ten months; they’ll be ahead of us too – again

(sorry kev, i did read about your story with them)

BUT WE HAVE TO PLAY CHAMPIONS’ LEAGUE FOOTBALL ASAP; SO WHAT????????

(WARNING: no buy – unless the below-mentioned sales are completed)

1. a) finishing fourth should be our goal.

as compared to 10-11 to 15-16, the number of points needed to do so has actually gone down (10-11 to 15 -16: 71; 16-17 to 19-20: 66).

THAT we can do, without changing anything to the squad, because you know what?:

1. b) arsenal have an excellent squad (see the A/B/C teams above … let’s keep in mind what these lads’ve just achieved), coached by an extra -ordinary manager

… while chelsea/m.ud/tottenham/leicester have only very good/excellent squads, coached by very good/excellent managers

(welcome back to the wenger years’ situation!!!)

1. c) we can win the europa league – if the “restart” period (and our semi-final, in particular) has proved anything, it was that on one or two-tie games, we are now able to kickass any top-level team out of any cup.
2. d) we should be following ‘pool’s example, i agree with that point (which wasn’t made by pb, but is made by many) but i don’t agree with WHAT should be followed (ie, spending money – THEY didn’t, actually):

d1) klopp was “sworn in” in 2015, he won his first title in 2019, that’s what i call trusting a process – by the way, winning the champions’ league before the PL speaks volumes imo, about how difficult it has become, to end up ahead of the city cheats, in a league contest

d2) what “next-to-zero pound, hard-working players” have brought to them has been played down way too much; their successes may be brought down to salah/firmino/mané/van dijk/alisson by many; i, for one, choose to bring them down to alexanderarnold-robertson-henderson also

d3) keita-fabinho in midfield are just excellent midfielders, nothing more; alongside van dijk no solution (lovren/matip/gomez) has been totally satisfactory … and you know what? they just live with it, they don’t spend their time making a fuss about it, and their fans don’t go to anfield in order to abuse these “weaker links”.

d4) if we chose to be obsessed by the money they supposedly spent on buys, we’d be trailing them again, because they’ve already gone to the next step, and guess what? trusting’s the academy’s the one.

here’s what klopp told the guardian a few weeks ago:

Jürgen Klopp backing youth to strengthen Liverpool’s squad; Manager admits financial fallout could pause transfer plans; Klopp believes academy talent can improve the champions; He … feels players such as Neco Williams, Curtis Jones and Harvey Elliott can provide back-up for a team that demolished the competition this season

Klopp has always been keen to leave a pathway open for academy talent – Trent Alexander-Arnold being the prime example – and believes uncertainty in the market offers opportunity for more to follow

“And in football now we get confronted with how much do you want to spend? How much can you spend if you don’t know how much you can have?”; “What we want is to create our transfers internally”; “You have to be creative and we try to be creative. We try to find solutions internally”; “We have three or four players who can make big, big steps”

d5) the way they handled their recruitment was indeed brilliant – but they took their time (again), in order to make sure their buys fitted their very specific needs, and bought (salah-firmino-mané-vandijk-alisson) 24 to 26 (not 30+) yo players, for a mere £50m on average (not taking into account the approximate £120m they made out of selling coutinho to barça)

so much so that at the end of the day, they had bought themselves this quintet for £25m on average; THAT’s what I call doing business

d6) (by the way, as much as I love the two guys, I think we should be considering selling leno – now that emi’s come of age: kepa was worth £70m, don’t tell me we can’t make good money out of bernd’s sale; as well as … 32 yo auba!! he can fill up our coffers, but it’s now or never. i know that by doing so, I’m tinkering with my A/B/C team thing, but I could prove that laca, for example, has been – statistically – just as good as auba, over the past three years.

anyway, this post is far too long already – but these are the sales I alluded to up above)

4. well, it’s high time i tackled pb’s “passing” problem

i’ll say it again: I agree with you completely, pb, the way we seem to be recklessly giving the ball away can often be unbelievably frustrating – but i do believe giving in to that frustration is just a case of seeing the half-empty glass, my friend:

1. a) arteta implemented his successful system for the first time in southampton, barely 6 weeks ago; this is a work in progress if ever there was one, let’s trust the process
2. b) the process has already born fruition, actually: our 18-pass move ending up with auba’s goal in the semi, is obviously what mick wants to achieve, but sustaining that level of excellence a whole season takes time, much time – again; let’s give it to mick and the boys
3. c) our progress on that front will depend very much on dani:

HIM we have to buy – he’s a remarkable player indeed, but let’s remember he’s become that good ever since he scored his confidence-boosting winner against sheffield only – that was 5 weeks ago. the lad needs time too; i think he could be instrumental in solving the problem you pointed out, pb, if only he could provide the same vision, passing quality, 20 meters further up the pitch.

… he will, let’s give him time (chorus)

1. d) pépé’s two assists for auba in the semi-final, then in the final were brilliant stuff – he’ll provide him/us with many more in the months ahead
2. e) our best assist-provider has been bukayo, so far, but he hasn’t been picked lately – understandably so (mick has stopped picking him before he got overplayed, he must’ve had jack’s misfortune in mind)

now if my “september 12th, 2020” A-team were to read as follows:

		martinez
	holding	luiz	tierney
bellerin	ceballos		xhaka	saka
	pépé		auba
		lacazette

we’d probably be much better off on that “passing” front, too … without wasting money over any joorabchian troll

5. CONCLUSION: hale end vs. buying
6. a) we have a dream generation in store; I expect not to be the only one who’s convinced of this
7. b) this would be the worst time to favour buying over trusting them:

b1: we have made it to the europa league, eventually, which means that even though the more experienced A-team were to perform at the level they’ll be expected to in the PL (so they would start a majority of games), our younger B-team could be trusted with at least 12 full games at top-level: 8 in the Europa league (6 group stage + 2 round of 32); 2 carabao; 2 fa cup – not to mention the PL playing time they’re bound to be given, anyway (all the more so with the 5-change-rule).

becoming a first-choice first-team player at arsenal football club should be regarded as  making it to the top of an eight-thousander, and some of our lads (joe, reiss, eddie, emil, …) need a few more games of this type to leave the very last lung-scorching meters behind: 2020-2021 presents them with a golden opportunity to do so

b2: trusting hale end is the clever long-term strategy, if we do keep aiming at attracting the very best young players: if we don’t trust this generation, which one will we, then? i have a feeling the next time we’ll knock at a talented young lad’s parents’ door, we might well be told to s.d off. if i were in one of these parents’ shoes, trust me, that’s what i’d do

right now, i’d very much like to know what abraham’s/hudson-odoi’s relatives and/or advisers are thinking about the ziyech-werner deals … and which (documented) rumours about lampard/chelsea they’re going to spread from now on.

b3: hale end is the solution to the “give-me-your-money-or-i-will-run-down-my-contract” blackmail that 28-29 yo well-performing players are now systematically pulling on us (and others).

as good as he may be, i resent any 32 yo player demanding a £75k-a-week pay rise along with a more-than-one-year contract extension. we should always have in store top-class youngsters (and be ready to play them), so we’d be in a position to make one – and only one – proposal (in auba’s case, £25k along with a one-year extension, seems very fair to me) to the experienced player – should he refuse it, he’d be sold, or benched ‘til his contract were run down.

i have nothing against auba, of course, but right now we have laca/eddie/martinelli/reiss/bukayo under contract, so much so that we shouldn’t give in to blackmail again (after mesut’s!!! – wasn’t that eye-opening enough??): if we do keep giving in, all players will know we are but weaklings, and this madness will never end (that’s what blackmail has always been all about).

that’s all folks, see you ‘round, congrats and thanks to all those who will have made it to this full stop.

By Legall

The catastrophic decline of chances created

Before starting to analyze the PL games under Emery, Ljungberg and Arteta, let me share a few claims and disclaimers:

Claim 1: Arsenal is topping the chart of dropping points after leading. The common consensus is that this is a mentality problem – leading to many pundits proposed replacing most of the team. I strongly oppose this narrative. I think it happened, because by shifting the focus of the defence, we gave up on the ball-possession and chance-creation play signature to Wengerball, and when playing for a 1:0 victory (successful against Newcastle, Bournemouth, Leeds, Olymoiakos and West Ham this season), this is a risk impossible to eliminate.

Claim 2: Playing for 1:0 is unattractive, and is a mid-table strategy. I know – zero irony used – that nobody is playing literally for 1:0 at Arsenal. Yet, when prioritizing the defensive midfield at the expense of pressing, and shifting to counter-attacks instead of the trademark possession game, that might still not be playing for the 1:0, but ’not minding’ if the score remains unchanged.

Disclaimer 1: While the number of goals or assists could be intuitively a fine indicator of „attacking intent”, I discarded it along with the ball possession percentage. The one and only KPI used in the analysis below will be the number of key passes. This is good for individual statistics (shows who is capable of consistently providing them), disregards unproductive ball possession like back passes and side balls, and doesn’t care about excellent goalkeeping or poor finishing. For the sake of this post let’s consider the number of key passes as the equivalent of (half) chances created.

Disclaimer 2: This is not an anti-Arteta post. I love the guy. I admire what he did with many of the players. I have no difficulties in sharing his vision or values. Yet I might be challenging whether we are going in the right direction. While the goals conceded did improve (and there is a lot of space for further development) we paid the price of scoring less goals – especially against mid-table opponents.

Sorry for the long introduction, so let’s get started.

In the paragraphs below I will show 6-6 games (5 PL + 1 other) from Emery, Ljungberg and Arteta, the scoreline, the key passes of the opposition and us, distinguishing from the chances created by the starting line-up (unless there had been a substitution in the first half). There is no intentional pattern which games I chose. All data are from WhoScored. And – spoiler alert – I will show how many key passes were performed by Mesut Özil. (If TA could make a table out of it, that would be perfect.)

Unai Emery

Arsenal 2:1 Burnley

KP: 15 + 0 (-) vs. 12

(Legend: 15 key passes from starting players [including substitutes before 46’], 0 KP from other subs, Mesut didn’t play so no KP provided, 12 key passes by the opposition.)

Arsenal 2:2 Tottenham

KP: 15 + 3 (-) vs. 9

Arsenal 2:2 Southampton

KP: 8 + 1 (4) vs. 15

Leicester 2:0 Arsenal

KP: 15 vs. 6 + 0 (1)

Arsenal 1:1 Wolves

KP: 7 + 0 (3) vs. 16

Arsenal 3:2 Vitoria de Guimaraes

KP: 11 + 2 vs. 11

Fredrik Ljungberg

Norwich 2:2 Arsenal

KP: 11 vs. 8 + 0 (4)

Arsenal 1:2 Brighton

KP: 8 + 1 (2) vs. 16

West Ham 1:3 Arsenal

KP: 6 vs. 7 + 1 (2)

Arsenal 0:3 Manchester City

KP: 3 + 0 (1) vs. 11

Everton 0:0 Arsenal

KP: 5 vs. 5 + 1 (-)

Standard Liege 2:2 Arsenal

KP: 7 vs. 10 + 1 (-)

 

Mikel Arteta

Bournemouth 1:1 Arsenal

KP: 8 vs. 12 + 0 (4)

Arsenal 1:1 Sheffield United

KP: 7 + 1 (4) vs. 6

Arsenal 4:0 Newcastle

KP: 12 + 1 (4) vs. 8

Arsenal 1:2 Olympiakos (120’)

KP: 9 + 2 (2) vs. 11

Arsenal 2:1 Liverpool

KP: 1 + 1 (-) vs. 19

Aston Villa 1:0 Arsenal

KP: 7 vs. 3 + 2 (-)

Key findings:

• Arsenal created more chances under Emery (possible legacy from Wenger).
• After Özil missed the first 3 months of the campaign he became an integral part of all 3 managers’ first team and was the main source of key passes.
• The best games we played under Arteta he was the orchestrator of the attacks: 2:0 against MU (H), 2:2 against Chelsea (A) with 10 men, 4:0 vs. Newcastle (H), 3:2 vs Everton (H), 1:0 vs West Ham (H) – his last game.
• Even when the attackers don’t shine, Özil delivers.
• The other notable victories happened without him and without convincing attacking play:
  • In the 2:0 win vs Southampton Nketiah was gifted a goal, and we scored the 2nd against a 10-men team
  • We managed to deliver our 2nd 4:0 victory in the PL against Norwich, with 2 gifted goals by Auba, irregular (but fine) goals from Xhaka and Cedric with only 6 key passes in the whole game
  • In our surprising away win against Wolves they had 10 key passes, we had only 4. Our first ’assist’ was a lucky deflection, and 3 of our 4 key passes came in the dying minutes
  • We won against Liverpool by playing Russian roulette for gifted goals – a feat that will be impossible to replicate
  • We beat Man City fair and square in Wembley – the only game on this list which was a real joy to watch – yet we had 4 key passes compared to City’s 15 (KdB provided 9 himself)
• According to Premier League history Arsenal created 88 (first place) „big chances” in 2015/16, 81 (2nd place behind Man City) in 2017/18, 72 (5th place behind City, Chelsea, Liverpool and Bournemouth), and 48 this season tying 12-14 places, behind clubs like Burnley and Southampton.
• Arsenal’s main chance creators in the PL this year: Mesut Özil (2.1 KP/game) – 6th best in the Premier League behind KdB, Maddison, Grealish, Buendia and TAA (defender), while on level with Willian and Fernandes – others are Nicholas Pepe (1.3) and Dani Ceballos (1.2). Saka provides 0.8 KPs (+ 2.3/game in the EL), plus Nelson, Xhaka and Tierney have high EL key pass statistics. Ceballos is not (yet) our player, Ozil’s days are counted, and many pundits consider Pepe a flop, wishing we signed Zaha instead (0,9 KP/game) with 9 goal contribution in 3300 minutes compared to Pepe’s 17 in 2627.

My conclusions:

• While most reviews, analyses and press conferences conclude that we have to be more ruthless in front of goal, the statistics show that we score quite many from our key passes while we concede far less from the lot of key passes by the opponent. The lack of ruthlessness is a problem only because we create so few chances.
• In fact we deliver a distressingly low number of key passes. And not only against the strongest opponents, but against peer mid-table teams and relegation fugitives. This often leads to boring, unentertaining games, even if we take all 3 points at the end of the day.
• I’m not reasoning here for Mesut Özil! I like the guy, admire his technique and charity work alike, but more is required of him. I’m arguing here to have a midfielder in the team who is capable of providing quality key passes on a consistent level.
• We have to take care of the chance creation challenge really soon, preferably in this transfer window! Especially if Özil leaves and Emile Smith-Rowe is not yet at the level of dealing with this responsibility alone.
• While we have to strengthen the midfield I wouldn’t recommend going for Thomas Partey. He is expensive, and he is a DM with a single assist in 3600 minutes.
• It’s never about splashing the cash. Arsenal is famous for making good signings: Martinelli, Auba, Holding, Leno, Cazorla, Tierney, hey even Luiz and Sanchez were great purchases. I don’t envy Barcelona’s investments in Dembele or Malcolm, or United paying top dollars for Maguire, Lukaku or Fred, not to mention Chelsea’s crazy spending spree for Kepa, Torres, Kovacic, Bakayoko, Batshuayi or Drinkwater. But paying reasonable money for a niche position shouldn’t be out of question.
• Let’s face it, we missed most of the assist-kings already. Fernandes went to MU (I demanded well ahead to sign him in this very blog), Nkunku joined Leipzig (where he assisted 15 time in the Bundesliga), Havertz seems to go to Chelsea, Szoboszlai agreed with Napoli, Jonathon David is heading to Leeds. Not too many of them remained: Donny van de Beek from Ajax, Rodrigo Bentacour from Juventus, Jack Grealish from Aston Villa, and Isco from Real Madrid are the big money players (MV around 40M), while Jesus Corona (FC Porto), James Forrest (Celtic) and Evander (FC Midtjylland) could be signed for about 10-12M.
• Still, if we believe the gossip, Philippe Coutinho from Barcelona/Bayern could be our savior (a swap deal for Guendouzi and some pocket money is rumoured); the Brazilian attacking midfielder made 17 goal contributions this season (scored 9 and assisted 8) in merely 2000 minutes. He knows the Premier League inside out, he has just turned 28 in the summer, so seems like a surprisingly good deal to me. His salary is a big issue, but hopefully could be resolved among the parties involved.
• I really like our wingers. All of them, even Mkhi. But we cannot rely on them providing enough dangerous crosses to compete for CL places without a huge striker like Giroud (or Crouch). We need players who have the vision and passing skills to assist our attackers even in central midfield. Keeping Ceballos might be a step towards the right direction, clearly not enough. Anyway, while crossing and heading is the epitome of British football (at least it used to be), it is clearly not the Arsenal way.

And let’s not forget that our key passes and big chances statistics are mediocre only because they include the last wave of Emeryball and the performance of Mesut Özil. Without him – or a proper replacement – we might be re-living the late games against Leicester, Tottenham and Aston Villa. And don’t kid yourselves, no matter how much do you appreciate youth development, you will find the Arteta-OUT train more and more appealing.

I’m not saying we cannot go down at Villa Park. But before getting used to that we should start scoring 4-5 goals against Watford, Brighton and Sheffield like Manchester City, Liverpool and Chelsea did, even in away games. Let’s aim for a 4:0 win every match, and worst case scenario we still end up winning 3:2 on unlucky days.

By PBarany.

Arsenal 2 – 1 Chelsea. The Gunners win the FA Cup for the 14th time!!

Who would have thought that Arsenal would beat in succession Sheffield United away, Man City at Wembley and then Chelsea in the FA Cup final? Arteta guided his much criticised squad to victory and has now already a major trophy to his name.

Before the game I stressed the importance for Arsenal to score first, to keep the midfield tight with an extra midfielder and to not allow the Chavs to penetrate us from the wings. Unfortunately, we allowed the Chavs to run straight through our midfield early on and for Giroud to flick the ball in our box to Pulisic. the talented American still had enough to do but he produced a fine finish and we were behind after just five minutes into the game. 0 – 1 to the bad guys.

So we let them score the first goal which is seldom good. However, sometimes scoring a goal that early in the game – especially in a final – can lead to losing focus and  allow the opponent to retake the initiative; and that is exactly what happened.  We started to win the battles in midfield and exploit the weakness on Chelsea’s right flank through balls over the top and good link-up play between Tierney, AMN and Auba. And soon we were rewarded for our concerted efforts: Auba was fouled in the pen box and he took the penalty with great, great calm. 1-1.

The second half was evenly balanced without Arsenal being threatened much by the West-Londoners. Giroud was wallowing round in Luiz’s pockets and after the young American PulledaSicky and went off with a bad hamstring injury early on in the second half, it felt that we would come out gloriously victoriously eventually.

It was clear from the first half that we needed one or two moments of quality to win the final, and who else than Auba delivered with a Henryesque move involving both his feet and the daftest of finishes. AubaBangBangMeyang does it again!

1 – 2 to the good guys and FA Cup nr14 will be nicely placed at the Home of Football. 

Player Ratings:

Martinez – Tears of Joy after the game. So committed and eager to keep the Chavs out: 8.

Tierney – Incredible focus and timing in everything that he does, and what a ball for Auba that led to the pen: 9.

Luiz – Majestic leadership and dominance of our defence: 9.

Holding – Super eager to win every ball. Once or twice out of position or slow to react but full of commitment: 8

AMN – Superb first half and more quiet in second half, but nothing happened on the Chavs right wing from an attacking point of view because of The Tank: 8.

Xhaka – Very busy game and after a sluggish start he commanded the midfield and gave great protection to our defence. Excellent positioning and reading of the game: 9

Ceballos – Great partnership with Granit and he added the creative spark to our midfield: 9

Bellerin – Inspired run that led to our second goal and a very committed performance from Hector despite some defensive lapses at times: 8

Pepe – Inspired performance and is much improving under Arteta in terms of involvement in all areas and aspects of the game. Unlucky to see his superb goal ruled out (Auba offsite) but good, unselfish assist for Auba’s winner: 8

Laca: Worked his socks off to keep defenders on their toes and create space for others – the paddling legs under water of the graciously attacking Arsenal swan: 8

Auba – MOTM Masterclass in attacking football. Beyond Perfect. Two superb goals: 11

By TotalArsenal.

 

Here we go – the FA Cup final, we hold the record in both appearances (21) and  victories (13) – Arsene Wenger holds the record of most victories by a manager (7).

Throughout my life I’ve listened to the finals on the radio (2) live at Wembley (6) and on TV (8) the other 4 were before my time. My personal excitement in the FA Cup has never waned and I used to travel as much as I could to see us play in the early rounds of the competition and it always amazed me at how much local excitement there was when we played in lower league cities. It is football at its best with top clubs always at the risk of being ousted by “Giant Killers”.

But here we are a third Arsenal v Chelsea FA Cup Final our first was in 2002 – who can possibly forget the goals from Ray Parlour and Freddie Ljungberg and a few days later we beat Manchester United to gain our second League and Cup double under Arsene Wenger. 

Arsenal entered the competition in the third round and was drawn to play Watford of the First Division. They took the lead in the eighth minute, where good play by Nwankwo Kanu allowed Thierry Henry to round goalkeeper Alec Chamberlain and tap the ball into the empty goal. The lead was doubled two minutes later: Kanu again found Henry, who “unselfishly squared the ball to midfielder Freddie Ljungberg for another tap-in.” Gifton Noel-Williams moments later halved the scoreline, heading the ball in from a Gary Fisken cross. After squandering numerous chances to increase their lead, Arsenal added a late third and fourth goal from Kanu and Dennis Bergkamp, before Marcus Gayle scored what was a mere consolation for Watford in stoppage time.

Arsenal faced cup holders Liverpool at home in the following round. A solitary goal scored by Bergkamp in the 27th minute saw the home side progress in a match layered with controversy: Martin Keown, Bergkamp and Liverpool’s Jamie Carragher were all sent off in the space of ten minutes, the latter for hurling back a coin at the crowd. Against Gillingham in the fifth round, Arsenal twice had their lead cancelled out, before Tony Adams scored the winning goal of the match.

Arsenal played Newcastle United in the sixth round on 9 March 2002. It was the second meeting between both teams in a week, and in spite of Arsenal winning the first fixture and scoring the opener in the cup tie, Newcastle held them to a 1–1 draw. A replay was scheduled two weeks later at noon. Arsenal won by three goals to nil, but during the match lost Robert Pires to injury; he was ruled out for the remainder of the season with medial knee ligament damage. An own goal by Middlesbrough’s Gianluca Festa, from an Henry free-kick, was enough for Arsenal to win the semi-final.

The final was deadlocked and in the 67th minute Chelsea brought on Zola replacing Hasselbaink but the substitution did not have the desired effect as Arsenal went a goal ahead. Adams cleared the Chelsea danger and Wiltord’s reverse pass found Parlour with acres of space to manoeuvre. The midfielder advanced as the Chelsea defence backed off and looked up before curling the ball from 25 yards. His effort went over a diving Cudicini, into the top right-hand corner of the Chelsea goal.

Wenger made a defensive-minded change almost immediately, taking Bergkamp off for Edu. A clash between Henry and Terry in the 75th minute resulted in both players receiving a yellow card for unsporting behaviour. Winger Boudewijn Zenden replaced Melchiot a minute later; the attacking change altered Chelsea’s positioning. With 10 minutes of normal time remaining Arsenal extended their lead, when Ljungberg scored. A similarly executed goal to Parlour’s, the Swede ran forward, evaded the challenge of Terry before curling the ball past Cudicini from the edge of the penalty area. Ljungberg was serenaded by the Arsenal crowd, who chanted “We love you Freddie, ‘cos you’ve got red hair.” Chelsea struggled to find a response; Guðjohnsen’s foul on Parlour late on highlighted the team’s frustrations. Riley blew for full-time after normal and stoppage time. Once Arsenal received their medals, Adams was given the cup and he shared the honour of lifting it with Vieira, his stand-in captain.

Here is a look back:-

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ks4swBIWinY

Next up we met in 2017 – the “Mertesacker Final”

Arsenal, as a Premier League team, started their campaign in the third round. In it, they were drawn away at Football League Championship Preston North End. At Deepdale, Arsenal won 2–1 with goals from Aaron Ramsey and Olivier Giroud. In the Fourth Round, Arsenal drew fellow Premier League Southampton. At St Mary’s Stadium, Arsenal won 5–0 with two goals from Danny Welbeck and a hat-trick from Theo Walcott. In the Fifth Round, Arsenal were drawn against non-league National League Sutton United away. At Gander Green Lane, Arsenal won 2–0 with goals from Lucas Pérez and Walcott. The match was also noted for Sutton United’s reserve goalkeeper Wayne Shaw being investigated by The FA and Gambling Commission for eating a pie pitchside despite there being betting odds on him doing so. In the quarter-finals, Arsenal were drawn at home against National League Lincoln City. At the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal won 5–0 with goals from Walcott, Giroud, an own goal by Luke Waterfall, Alexis Sánchez and Ramsey. In the semi-final at neutral Wembley Stadium, Arsenal played against Premier League Manchester City and reached the final after a 2–1 win with goals from Nacho Monreal and Sánchez.

Despite what was expected to be a tight affair in the Final, Arsenal dominated the early proceedings and opened the scoring with a goal from Alexis Sánchez in the 4th minute, shooting past the advancing goalkeeper from six yards out with his right foot. The goal was initially flagged as offside due to Aaron Ramsey being in an offside position. After discussing with his linesman, referee Anthony Taylor overrode the decision and awarded Arsenal the goal due to Ramsey not attempting to play the ball. Sánchez also handled the ball in the lead up to the goal but this was not seen by the referee. Arsenal then hit the post twice from close range in the first half through Aaron Ramsey and Danny Welbeck.

In the second half, Victor Moses received a second yellow card for diving in the penalty box in the 68th minute, leaving Chelsea with ten men. Chelsea equalised through Diego Costa in the 76th minute when he controlled the ball on his chest in the penalty area before shooting low to the left with his right foot. Three minutes later Aaron Ramsey scored for Arsenal by heading in an Olivier Giroud cross from the left from six yards out.

After producing an extraordinary man-of-the-match performance in the FA Cup final triumph for Arsenal, Per Mertesacker admitted that “everyone had written me off” after spending more than a year without making a start for his club.

The 32-year-old German has suffered a serious knee injury and has also been overlooked by manager Arsene Wenger but was called upon following a defensive crisis which ruled out Laurent Koscielny, Gabriel and Shkodran Mustafi for the final against Chelsea.

“Two weeks ago I was on holiday – I didn’t expect to play,” Mertesacker said. “Everyone trusted me and supported me throughout the season and the manager gave me the opportunity. Arguably he played the best game of his Arsenal career.

 

Now we have our third Final against Chelsea and my My wishes and Hopes are that we carry the Cup home and plat in Europe in 2020/21.

Arsenal FA Cup Final Appearances
#		GF	GA		Year	Venue
1	Cardiff C	0	1	Arsenal	1927	Wembley Stadium
2	Arsenal	2	0	Huddersfield	1930	Wembley Stadium
3	Newcastle	1	2	Arsenal	1932	Wembley Stadium
4	Arsenal	1	0	Sheffield U	1936	Wembley Stadium
5	Arsenal	2	0	Liverpool	1950	Wembley Stadium
6	Newcastle	0	1	Arsenal	1952	Wembley Stadium
7	Arsenal	2	1	Liverpool	1971	Wembley Stadium
8	Leeds	1	0	Arsenal	1972	Wembley Stadium
9	Ipswich	1	0	Arsenal	1978	Wembley Stadium
10	Arsenal	3	2	Man. United	1979	Wembley Stadium
11	West H	1	0	Arsenal	1980	Wembley Stadium
12	Arsenal	2	1	Sheffield W	1993	Wembley Stadium
13	Arsenal	2	0	Newcastle	1998	Wembley Stadium
14	Liverpool	2	1	Arsenal	2001	Wembley Stadium
15	Arsenal	2	0	Chelsea	2002	Millennium Stadium
16	Arsenal	2	0	Southampton	2003	Millennium Stadium
17	Arsenal*	0	0	Man. United	2005	Millennium Stadium
18	Arsenal	3	2	Hull City	2014	New Wembley Stadium
19	Arsenal	4	0	Aston Villa	2015	New Wembley Stadium
20	Arsenal	2	1	Chelsea	2017	New Wembley Stadium
21	Arsenal			Chelsea	2020	New Wembley Stadium

GunnerN5

Message from TotalArsenal:

Today’s post is in honour of GN5’s sister, Gloria, who very sadly passed away last week at the age of 80. GN5 and his sister are  originally from Highbury but both emigrated to Northern America and were very close till the end. The funeral will take place on the day of the FA Cup Final and let’s hope the boys will do both Gloria and GN5 proud. Gloria Concordia Crescit! R.I.P.