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Match Report: Fulham 1 – 5 Arsenal

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Fulham (1) 1 Arsenal (1) 5
Premier League

Craven Cottage, London SW6
Sunday, 7th October 2018. Kick-off time:12.00 noon

(4-2-3-1) Leno; Bellerín, Mustafi, Holding, Monreal; Torreira, Xhaka; Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, Welbeck; Lacazette.
Substitutes: Martínez, Sokratis, Ramsey, Guendouzi, Lichtsteiner, Aubameyang, Kolašinac.
Scorers: Lacazette (2), Ramsey, Aubameyang (2)

Referee: Paul Tierney
Attendance: 25.401

Good to visit the newly-promoted Cottagers again after a four year hiatus when they lost their Premiership status at the end of the 2013-14 season after a series of unfortunate results. Of course, older supporters will remember their salad days when Johnny Haynes and 1966 World Cup winner George Cohen graced their ranks; and it is not to be forgotten either by those of us who both know and care when star striker Ronnie Rooke was signed from the West London club at the grand old age of 35. Not only did he help Arsenal keep their First Division status in a difficult season, but more importantly, his 33 goals in 42 matches (which is still a post-war record that holds firm today) propelled us to our sixth championship win in eleven peace-time seasons back in 1948. Indeed, his amazing overall goalscoring tally of 70 goals in 94 matches is surely one that our modern strikers should rightly aspire to.

Despite the absence of Mesut Özil from the team today due to a back spasm, the omens looked good for us in this autumnal Sunday lunchtime by the Thames in leafy SW6, and sure enough everything started off looking as a typical London derby should look to us all. At first The Cottagers looked confident on the ball, but they appeared to have no final product, therefore Bernd Leno had no particular issues in dealing with the shots that came his way in the first quarter of an hour or so. Slowly the tables were turning. Our midfield men were starting to pick up the Fulham stragglers that were hanging around looking for spare balls that never came their way, and within no time at all we left our mark on the match with a superb goal of movement that involved speed of thought and action. Alex Iwobi collected the ball on the left, slotted it to the overlapping Nacho Monreal who wasted no time in getting it across to the waiting Alexandre Lacazette, who held off the Fulham defender, span around and put the ball in the back of the net in the space between the goalkeeper and the near post. We then started to dominate the match; but unfortunately an error in midfield led to Fulham bringing the scores even just before half-time. Within five minutes of the restart, Alexandre Lacazette got his second of the match with an absolute peach of a goal that came about from a botched throw-in from the home team. Lucas Torreira won the ball, placed it high for Danny Welbeck to nod it down into the path of Alexandre Lacazette, who struck it sweetly for 20 yards into the back of the net. And from then on, it was Arsenal all the way home. Aaron Ramsey and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang were the substitution pairing after the hour, and the game changed yet again; Aaron Ramsey arguably got the goal of the game after a series of clever headers and neat flicks from his team-mates found him just outside the six-yard box and he nonchalantly himself flicked the ball past the goalkeeper into the net. Now the turn of our other star striker, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. He collected the ball from a cross by Hector Bellerín, pirouetted and smashed our spherical friend into the net for Arsenal’s fourth of the day. After more sterling work in the midfield, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang got the final goal of the day, with a low shot into the corner of the net. Fulham 1, Arsenal 5. Nine wins in a row, six in the Premiership. Wow.

At last, the genie is out of the bottle, as the real Arsenal have finally stepped up to the plate with style and class. Utterly ruthless, this is the mark of performance that we need to see from now on. Every man played their part, every man was well drilled and completely professional. So many great performances across the pitch, it is almost impossible to pick out an outstanding player, but it has to be said that Alexandre Lacazette was immense today. He was coming back to assist in midfield, collecting the ball in the channels and running with oppostion defenders taking them out of position for his colleagues to have a chance to shoot at the goal; a wizard, a true star. A message for the Premiership; Arsenal are back. Be scared, be very scared. Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as these early days are going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners.

Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Arsenal and Manchester United set to repeat Alexis swap deal?

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After Wednesday’s blog discussing the need for more balance in the team, one name popped up a few times in my mentions who would be potentially ideal.

Anthony Martial

It is easy to forget that the Manchester United winger is still just 22. He is a year youger than Raheem Sterling, and just a month older than Leroy Sane.

The Frenchman is on par with both with regards to natural talent.

He has had a tough time under Jose Mourinho which has clearly affected his confidence. But this is a player who hit 19 goals in his debut season in England. A figure that puts him between Sterling (23) and Sane (14) for most goals in a season

The statistics for the 3 are not too far off each other. Obviously they can be looked into deeper, breaking down per minute, etc, but I really do not have the energy for that.

Sane is the stand out player when it comes to stats, but he also come to the Premier League as a more established player, where as Sterling broke through as a baby at Liverpool and Martial joining Manchester United as a teenager.

Martial  was always going to have an uphill struggle to justify what seemed like a heafty price tag back in 2015, and this still unfairly hangs over him. Yet two summers on from his big money move from Monaco, is the £36m Man U paid for him really that expensive?

A year later City paid £37million for Sane. He might have been a year older than martial at the time of signing, but had pretty much played the same top level games (Sane 47 Bundesliga games & 11 goals; Martial 49 Ligue 1 games & 11 goals).

Martial was merely the first. He set the benchmark of what players considered as the most talented teenagers in football would cost.

Whilst there has been plenty of talk and speculation over the destination of Aaron Ramsey in recent weeks, and months, Anthony Martial’s contract is also set to expire at the end of the season.

Like with Ramsey, it looked like the two parties were close to agreeing a new deal over the summer, but I am unable to find an article confirming it is complete.

Martial and Ramsey swapping clubs would suit all parties. Arsenal need a wide man, Man U need a central midfielder.

Ramsey would suit Manchester United more than Arsenal at this moment in time. Likewise Martial would fit into the Arsenal time like a glove; providing the width and pace we currently miss in wide positions.

Instead of losing a player on a free at the end of the season that they do not really require, both clubs would be gaining a player that they do want.

From Aaron Ramsey’s point of view, Manchester United are probably the only Premier League club who could match his reported £200k wage demands and offer him the first team football he desires.

As for Martial, Arsenal could dramatically increase his current £75,000 salary to the £115k region, keeping him within the current wage structure.

Martial would get the play time his talent deserves and a coach that promotes free flowing attacking football.

It is a deal that the more I write about, the more I speculate, just makes sense.

Keenos

Match Report: Qarabag 0 – 3 Arsenal

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Qarabağ FK (0) 0 Arsenal (1) 3

UEFA Europa League, Group E, Matchday 2 of 6

Baku Olympic Stadium, Azerbaijan

Thursday, 4th October 2018. Kick-off time: 5.55pm

(4-2-3-1) Leno; Lichtsteiner, Holding, Sokratis, Monreal; Guendouzi, Elneny; Kolasniac, Smith-Rowe Welbeck, Iwobi.

Substitutes: Bellerin, Lacazette, Özil, Martinez, Torreira, Mustafi, Xhaka.

Scorers: Sokratis, Smith-Rowe, Guendouzi

Yellow Cards: Holding

Referee: Davide Massa (Italy)

Attendance: 68,500

Tonight we play the defending champions of the Azerbaijan Premier League, who sadly didn’t manage to qualify for the UEFA Champions League in the summer; after a process of elimination they now find themselves playing us in Group E of the UEFA Europa League. The team known as “The Horsemen” are currently occupying third position in their league, and normally play their matches at the 5,800 capacity Azersun Arena, but for the purposes of European competition travel to the 68,700 capacity Baku Olympic Stadium where we will be meeting them on the field of battle tonight. Qarabağ FK are 66th in the UEFA club rankings table (Arsenal are in ninth position), and have played 86 matches in various European competitions; their playing history of 32 wins, 22 draws and 32 defeats must surely speak for itself,

With some of our top players missing (Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang through illness, Aaron Ramsey because his wife is about to give birth to twins and Henrikh Mkhitaryan due to political shenanigans between his home country and Azerbaijan), we started the match in the best possible way, despite sporting a highly unusual and contrversial 3-4-3 formation. After just four minutes, a Mattéo Guendouzi corner was headed goalwards by Nacho Monreal; somehow Sokratis got in the way and clumsily guided the ball into the back of the net. Not ones to look a gift goal in the mouth, Arsenal kept going and for the next ten minutes or so, looked as if we were going to increase our goal tally. Not so. Qarabağ stepped up to the plate and not only ran at us, but their strikers were finding gaps in the midfield to break through, which caused a problematic situation in our defence. Emile Smith-Rowe was desperately unlucky not to score with a chance from a fluid movement that he initially started, but all in all we were mighty glad when the half-time whistle blew.

On our return for the second half, Nacho Monreal was substituted for Lucas Torreira and things started to step up a bit. Mr. Emery dispensed with this ridiculous 3-4-3 idea and went back to a more familiar formation which oscillated somewhere between 4-2-3-1 and 5-3-2 depending on the danger. Anyway, three minutes afer the restart, Emile Smith-Rowe scored his first goal for the club, and a well-taken finish it was too, with a tasteful flick from Danny Welbeck into the path of Alex Iwobi who glided the ball into space for Emile Smith-Rowe to tuck it away for the second Arsenal goal of the night. A few minutes later, the Arsenal Academy graduate made way for Mesut Özil, and on seventy minutes Alexandre Lacazette replaced Alex Iwobi as well. Although Qarabağ had some interesting ideas with regards to the interraction of the ball between their midfield players, all their clever play was in vain, when Mattéo Guendouzi put the match beyond doubt eleven minutes from time, to not only seal our victory but also ensure that we sit comfortably at the pinnacle of Group E in the Europa League, equal on points with our next opponents, Sporting Club of Lisbon, who we meet in the away fixture on 25th October.

Despite a very good and satisfying win, we have an extremely annoying habit (that doesn’t go away) of losing concentration at vital points in the match and simply gifting opportunities to the opposition, which if not addressed will come back to haunt us one day soon, probably against Liverpool in November, unfortuntely. Bernd Leno was exposed at times in the first half, and his skill plus agility managed to keep out Qarabağ adequately. Despite all this, the lads played well (particularly the Academy boys, Alex Iwobi and Emile Smith-Rowe), and our inspired substitutes from an ever-confident bench are starting to look just as strong as the starting eleven. After all, eight wins in a row across all competitions at the highest level in this day and age is nothing to be sneezed at, and the chaps must surely feel confident going into the London derby against Fulham on Sunday lunchtime. Can’t wait! Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as these early days are going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners.

Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve