Author Archives: keenosafc

Arsenal fans need to “have a little patience”

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Manchester City were not going to become a bad team over the summer.

Likewise, after just 8 weeks with his players, Unai Emery was never going to turn us into world beaters.

City broke the Premier League points record in 2018/19, and anyone who watched them demolish Chelsea in the Community Shield would have known they had lost none of their superiority over the rest of the Premier League.

At half time, a chap in front of my in the queue for a beer said “why are we letting a team come to our ground and dominate us”. It showed a lack of respect for City, who will probably dominate all 38 league games this season.

Whilst City might have been without Kevin de Bruyne, Vincent Kompany and David Silva, they were still able to put out the world must expensively assembled defence with Kyle Walker costing more than our entire back back 5.

They also added Riyad Mahrez to a collection of brilliant forward players. Leroy Sane spent the entire game warming up – showing he is missed more by his country than his club.

It has to be remembered it too Pep Guardiola 12 months and £500m to build last years Premier League champions, so anyone who expected Emery to turn Arsenal into a side that could compete with City after 8 months and £70million spent perhaps needed to get a reality check.

The game was not a complete disaster, result withstanding, however their were some valid concerns.

Petr Cech was at fault for the first goal and nearly put a 2nd into his own net. I am not really sure why he started above Bernd Leno.

Another to have a predictably poor game was Granit Xhaka, who also had an average World Cup for Switzerland.

Matteo Guendouzi was fantastic, bar a silly error that nearly cost a goal. And Xhaka has to be worried about both the Frenchman’s ability and that if Lucas Torreira. It would not be a surprise to see both move ahead of the Swiss player as the season go’s on.

It was an error strewn game from Arsenal’s point of view, but you could see the players trying hard to play the game in the new managers vision.

We as fans need to give Emery the time to build the club.

Look at Jürgen Klopp at Liverpool; who is starting his 4th season in the Premier League. Liverpool finished 4th last season, their highest finish under the German. He is yet to win anything in England.

Spurs are the same under Mauricio Pochettino. He is also trophyless.

These managers are still being given the benefit of the doubt behind Manchester City.

I did not expect us to turn big champions overnight. Even competing for the title against a City side who won the league by 20 points last season is a big ask.

Playing against City in his opening game, we were never really going to see how Emery has changed the club.

Up next is Chelsea…

Keenos

Match Report: Arsenal 0 – 2 Manchester City

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Arsenal (0) 0 Manchester City (1) 2
Sunday, 12th August 2018

(4-2-3-1) Cech; Bellerin, Mustafi, Sokratis, Maitland-Niles; Guendouzi, Xhaka; Ozil, Ramsey, Mkhitaryan; Aubemeyang.

Substitutes: Elneny, Lacazette, Torreira, Lichtsteiner, Holding, Iwobi, Leno.

Welcome to the working week. After the backstage shenanigans of the previous few days, and the love me/hate me opinions about the Kroenke takeover flying around like broken beer bottles in a pub fight from all and sundry, it truly is a blessing to get back to normal with what we all do best, which is getting behind the chaps on a matchday; and this not being just any old match either – the first game of a new season, which also heralds in some stressful situations, namely the visit of the the Premiership champions, a new manager, new players, and most importantly, for the first time in living memory, real hope for a successful new era, nearly a fifth of the way into the 21st Century.

Okay, let’s start as we mean to go on; it is a fact that the lads are not going to meet this kind of quality in the Premiership throughout the season, but having said that, the standards that Citeh have set over the past few seasons in England are ones that we need to aspire to, and very quickly indeed, otherwise the only way that we are going to get into Europe next season is by a budget airline of our choice.

Overall, it was a very difficult afternoon for Arsenal, as they were playing one of the top teams in Europe, and it has to be said that we were fortunate to be able to keep the score low, as there were times that Manchester City looked like that they were going to get a hatful against a very unconfident and shaky defence. The midfield were unable to stamp any authority on the game, which of course led to the strikers not always getting the service they needed in order to take their chances on the visitors’ goal. Both of the Mancunian goals were preventable, as a tighter, more solid Arsenal defence would have neutralised the threat long before it became apparent.

Mr. Emery has his work cut out for him; this is very early days remember, and the weeks and months ahead could have some sticky moments along with experimentation with line-ups and formations which will be the order of the day. Expect players to leave and new faces to arrive, but above all this, we have all got to stick together behind the team and the manager, as this is crucial for our future success. Stick with the winners. 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.

Too late to start protesting Stan Kroenke

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Boycotting and protests pointless for Arsenal fans

The time to protest was 6 years ago.

That is when the club went stale under the leadership of-then majority shareholder Stan Kroenke. It was 6 years ago Arsene Wenger should have left the club, and 6 years ago that Ivan Gazidis should have been held accountable and the ticket price inceases were a final straw for many.

It was December 2012 the the Black Scarf Movement (BSM) were at their peak as a fans supporters group. Thousands signed up as members, making them the biggest Arsenal supporters group, and thousands turned up for a march through Islington showing their disgust at the way the club was run.

It was at this point that supporters groups should have come together, backing the BSM to create a collective voice. Twitter was in its infancy, but there were already key social media influencers. There were also countless bloggers and a few podcasters (not as many as now).

6 years ago was the time to rise up as one.

Instead, people looked after their own interest. Did other Supporters groups and influential bloggers also fail to back the march , was it in fear of losing their place at the top table and some nice custard creams with Ivan ?? who knows….

That meant the momentum from that original BSM march was lost. It failed to gain the backing of other groups and bloggers as they were scared of losing the feeling that they were important to the club. In recent years, those people who sucked up to Ivan et al have realised that the club do not care about them.

So what would boycotting or protesting Stan Kroenke taking full control of Arsenal get now?

Well it would not make Kroenke decide to call it a day, to sell up.

He is about to invest another £550million into the club. Why would he make that decision to then sell up because a few fans stand shouting on a round-a-bout?

As for people talking about boycotting, about hitting Kroenke “where it hurts in the pocket”, lets look at the facts…

  1. Season tickets for the season have been sold. Arsenal already have 3/4’s of the yearly gate receipts in the bank.
  2. The vast majority of revenue comes from TV companies. Boycotting will not stop TV companies paying our share.
  3. Emirates are secure as our shirt sponsor until 2024.
  4. The value of our new kit manufacturer deal is linked to how many units they will sell, not how many people turn up to a game.

So boycotting will not affect the 4 main revenue streams of the club. Not buying a pint or a scarf from the club shop has very little affect on revenue.

So why bite your nose off to spite your face? Why stay away when it changes nothing? Why stay away when the time to boycott and protest was 6 years ago.

On Sunday, turn up and support the team, the new regime. The changes at Arsenal in the last couple of months have been huge.

Boycotting and protesting will not make Kroenke suddenly decide to sell up and walk away. It will literally change nothing.

Myself, I am looking forward to Sunday. It is going to be a great season.

Keenos