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Match Report: Arsenal 2 – 1 Liverpool

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Arsenal (2) 2 Liverpool (1) 1

Premier League

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Wednesday, 15th July 2020. Kick-off time: 8.15pm

(3-4-3) Emiliano Martínez; Rob Holding, David Luiz, Kieran Tierney; Cédric Soares; Lucas Torreira, Granit Xhaka, Reiss Nelson; Bukayo Saka, Nicolas Pépé, Alexandre Lacazette.

Substitutes: Hector Bellerin, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Dani Ceballos, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Shkodran Mustafi, Joe Willock, Sead Kolašinac, Matt Macey.

Scorers: Alexandre Lacazette (32 mins), Reiss Nelson (43 mins)

Yellow Cards: Lucas Torreira, Granit Xhaka, Dani Ceballos

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 31%

Referee: Paul Tierney

Attendance: A maximum of 300 attendees due to UK government coronavirus restructions

Is there ever a good time to play the Premiership champions elect? No, Not really. Hang on! Is there ever a good time to play Liverpool? No, not really. After the disastrous defensive display last Sunday in the North London derby, assertiveness and concentration will be the order of the day today. Any which way you look at it, this will be a difficult contest tonight, make no mistake about it.

The most exciting thing to happen in the first five minutes was the sound of fireworks from outside of the stadium; other than that it was a rather sluggish start to an end-of-season Premiership game. Our midfield started to look more solid with Lucas Torreira committing himself to important tackles on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sadio Mane, but soon the visitors started to assert themselves with Roberto Firmino hitting the post with a clearance from Emiliano Martínez that rebounded off his leg. The visitors started to push the ball around in our half more confidently, with our chaps struggling to break out; although we were doing well in holding Liverpool, the inevitable came in the nineteenth minute when Sadio Mane ran in between Rob Holding and David Luiz to score from just outside the six-yard box after a pinpoint cross from Andy Robertson. After the drinks break, the visitors merely continued where they left off with closing down our midfield and using their full-backs to get behind our defence to fire crosses in to their strikers at will. After half an hour, Alexandre Lacazette capitalised on a poor pass from Virgil van Dijk, went round the Liverpool goalie and equalised with a superb close finish. Now we have a contest! The visitors were knocked off their stride with our goal, and we started to play with purpose. Cédric Soares was being first to the tackle now, and Kieran Tierney was playing with confidence winning balls and spraying passes up the pitch. With two minutes to go before the break, young Reiss Nelson received a cross from Alexandre Lacazette (who picked up the ball after a schoolboy error from Andy Robertson) and slotted the ball into the corner to put us into the lead for half-time.

Within a minute of the restart, Lucas Torreira received a yellow card for a late challenge on Trent Alexander-Arnold, and he himself got the same punishment from referee Paul Tierney when he felled Bukayo Saka a minute or so later. Now it was Liverpool’s turn to apply pressure, with one or two chances that tested our defenders, but despite some troubled moments, the defence held firm. Emiliano Martínez tipped a Mo Salah attempt ovr the bar, whilst Lucas Torreira, Alexandre Lacazette and Reiss Nelson were replaced by Dani Ceballos, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Joe Willock to sharpen things up after fifty-eight minutes. The visitors started to apply pressure down the middle of the pitch, and although scoring chances were created, the Arsenal defence held firm. With the amount of pressure that Liverpool were putting us under, it is a case of all hands to the pumps, and the best that we can hope for now is a “smash’n’grab” raid. Cédric Soares was replaced by Ainsley Maitland-Niles with fifteen minutes of the match remaining, and Granit Xhaka was booked for an unfortunate slide tackle that was worse than it actually looked. With five minutes left, Bukayo Saka was replaced by Sead Kolašinac, and Emiliano Martínez was absolutely heroic in our goal, keeping out some intensive Liverpool shots; with a minute left, Joe Willock was unlucky not to score when he blasted a shot over the visitors’ bar from fairly close range. An excellent Emiliano Martínez save kept us in the driving seat, but the sands of time were running out for the visitors, as we ended up the winners tonight by two goals to one.

Absolutely no two ways about it, there’s nothing like a win (especially against the Premiership champions) to put a smile back on our faces, especially after Sunday’sresult. And with thirty-one percent possession too. The confidence these three points will give us going into Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Manchester City is incalculable, and it shows us that when the chips are down, this squad of players can deliver. Wembley here we come! Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Manchester City at Wembley Stadium, Wembley, London HA9 0WS on Saturday 18th July at 7.45pm (FA Cup). Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.

Racism is unacceptable at The Arsenal – and those that defend racist comments are complicit

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So yesterday was an interesting one on Arsenal Twitter.

Throughout the lock down, AFTV have been hosting a “watchalong”. It is an odd concept where people can watch them watching football. Not my cup of tea but seems to be enjoyed by some.

In the 90th minute, when Tottenham’s Son Heung-min was being substituted, Claude uttered “DVD going off”.

Now for those who are too young, or not from London, DVD is a racial slur used against those from China, Korea and the far east.

It derives North and East London where  illegal DVD sellers would be selling their stock in high streets and pubs. They always carried plastic bags of DVDs, some films that were not even out in the UK. They were predominantly Chinese.

There grasp of the English language was limited. Mainly only capable of saying “DVD, DVD”. If you asked the quality, the response would always be the same: “Good quality, good DVD”.

If you asked “what else do you have” they would bring out a second bag, filled with porn. Literally if it exists, they had porn of it.

The sellers were actually embroiled in modern slavery.

They had been trafficked here for a better life from China. Had their passports taken off them and had to “earn” them back by selling illegal goods or working in prostitution I(for the women).

The “tax” of coming across was so high that very few would ever actually earn their freedom, and most would end up as a victim of modern slavery for a long period.

These illegal DVD sellers were all over North and East London. From Tottenham to Leyton, Walthamstow to Hackney. In the 00s you could not sit in a pub without one of them coming in trying to sell you a DVD.

This lead to people of Chinese origin being labelled “DVD”. A Chinese person would walk past and someone would utter “DVD”. This then extended to other people from the far east. People that “looked Chinese” but would be from Korea or elsewhere.

During the mid-00s, Park Ji-sung was staring for Manchester United. This led to man fans labelling him “DVD”. Shouting it at him when he came to the touchline. When he was substituted. It was casual racism.

Looking back on it, it was odd. You would not shout a racial slur at a black player, on an Asian. But it was deemed OK to scream it at a Chinese person.

The fact that I have used the racial slur numerous times in this blog but not mentioned any of the black or Asian slurs (N-word, P-word) shows that, on some level, it is still not considered “as bad”.

I will be completely open and honest, I used it. When on forums, I would not write “Park” but DVD. Everyone knew what I meant. Everyone did the same. I shouted out it from the stands. Looking back on it, it was odd. It was accepted and no one would ever pull you up on it. Not like they would if you used the N-word or P-word.

When Son arrived at Spurs, like Park many labelled him “DVD”.

Last year, a West Ham United fan was been fined after pleading guilty to a racially aggravated offence at a Carabao Cup game against Tottenham Hotspur at the London Stadium in October. He had called Son “DVD”. This was not an isolated case

This sort of racism towards those from China / Korea does not receive the kind of publicity that the racial abuse of those from a black or Asian origin gets. It is the same with people that still label those from an Irish background “pikey”. Listen to Tyson Fury on the subject.

Many call it “casual racism”. I do not actually like the term “casual racism”. It is just racism.

Many of those defending AFTV do some from a lack of knowledge. They do not realise that labelling Son “DVD” is a racial slur.

AFTV attempted to dupe everyone by saying that Claude was actually saying “Spurs will bring out a DVD after this victory”. It was clearly a lie and the fact the they have now deleted this video shows they know from the beginning it was wrong. It just took sponsors to pull their money to make them take a step back.

The attempted to defend Claude is what was most disappointing in this episode.

Claude aimed a racist slur at Son, he should have been a man and apologised. Instead they concocted an elaborate lie and came out aggressively supporting him.

Let’s remember that after Everton, Robbie went out of his way to label those who criticise AFTV as “racist thugs” and that they should “not be welcome at games”. There was zero evidence of racism.

He also sold a story to The Sun saying he was never able to take his father to Arsenal due to racism. Again, a claim which had zero evidence.

And recently he fronted a TV documentary discussing racism in football. One of the contributors was Cass Pennant.

At the time he was called out on have convicted football hooligan Pennant on the show. It was only weeks after he said “thugs had no place in the game”, yet he was happy to interview Pennant. Maybe Pennant was just his kind of thug?

AFTV have a history of brushing racism and xenophobia under the carpet.

Some of their comments include:

  • Troopz questioning Granit Xhaka’s heritage saying he could not be Albanian because he had no heart
  • Lee Gunner labelling Xhaka “Failbanian”
  • Claude nicknaming Mohamed Elneny “Tutankhamun”
  • “Yardman” abusing Stan Kroenke and Raul Sanlleh based on their nationality

And this is without taking into account the comments from “Mr DT” & “Lee Gunner”; both of whom have abused people from Turkey, India and Thailand previously.

Chuck in the homophobia and transphobia and it is clear and obvious that these people are of bad character. And Robbie turns a blind eye because they earn him a lot of money.

If AFTV really wanted to take a stand against racism, they would have acted yesterday correctly. They would have acted previously when they “stars” have racially abused players previously. They would have silenced the xenophobes that they put front and centre.

Instead they accept the racist, xenophobic, homophobic and transphobic abuse.

The fact that yesterdays “setting the record straight” video contained 14 adverts shows they have one interest and one interest only. Making money. AFTV monetise racism.

The Claude incident is the tip of an iceberg on a concept designed to spread hate to make money.

AFTV do not represent Arsenal fans.

Racism is unacceptable at The Arsenal – and those that defend racist comments are complicit

It is time to end them.

https://twitter.com/LeeGunner82/status/1178792591606845441

Keenos

Time to write off 2019/20 and look forward to the future under Arteta

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Season is basically over lads.

With the news that Manchester City’s ban has been overturned by CAS, top 7 is what is needed for a European tour next season.

Following Sunday’s defeat to Tottenham, we now sit 4 points off of Sheffield United in 7th.

With Arsenal set to play Liverpool next game, I think the best we can hope for is 2 wins from the last 3 games – with Villa away and Watford at home the last two games.

For any chance of finishing 7th, Arsenal need Sheffield united to lose twice.

They travel to Leicester, host Everton, before a trip to Southampton to finish the season.

Leicester have just been spanked by Bournemouth. Their wheels seem to be coming off, although we could not take advantage.

We also need to jump ahead of Tottenham who travel to Newcastle and Crystal Palace, and face Leicester at home.

Spurs will need to win 1, draw one to ensure there is no St Totteringham’s day this year.

And we only have ourselves to blame.

This season will be defined by Arsenal’s inability to hold on to a lead.

We led both Crystal Palace and Watford by 2 goals earlier in the season, only to end up drawing 2-2 in both games. 4 points dropped.

Another 2 points were dropped from a winning position against Wolves at home. That takes us to 6.

We led 1-0 at home against Chelsea only to concede 2 late goals and lose. Running total is now 9 points dropped from winning positions this season.

Back to back dropped points against Crystal Palace and Sheffield United. 1-nil up in both. 1-1 at the final whistle. 4 more points dropped taking us to 13.

We led against Brighton. We lost against Brighton. 16.

Against Leicester we were 1-0 up. They equalised with 6 minutes to go. Another 2 points dropped. 18 in total.

And then finally against Tottenham. 1-0 up. Lost. 21 points in total dropped.

You can not expect to be competitive in the league if you can not keep hold of a lead.

Even if we had have converted half of those dropped points into wins, we would be on 60 points and level with Chelsea in 3rd. Actually we would be above Chelsea as some of those dropped points were against them.

A huge concern is just how often we seem to let wins turn into draws, draws turn into defeats in the last 10 minutes.

In 5 of the 9 games we have dropped points from a winning position in, we have conceded a goal in the last 10 minutes of the game.

Under Unai Emery, we continually fell behind in the first half; leaving us chasing the game. It is the reverse under Mikel Arteta. We take the lead and then lose it.

Hopefully this problem can be resolved as Arteta continues to develop his team in his vision, improving fitness and concentration of players. We also need to finish better, turning a 1-nil lead into a 2-nil and so on.

We are not too far from being a top 4 team.

Since the 1st of January, we have the 4th most points in the league and have conceded just 14 goals in 15 games.

Things are not as bad as people make out. We just need a few tweaks, a few improvements.

But this season is a write off.

FA Cup could be our saviour?

Keenos