RC Lens (1) 2 Arsenal (1) 1

UEFA Champions League Group B, Matchday 2 of 6
Stade Bollaert-Delelis, Av. Alfred Maes, 62300 Lens, France
Tuesday, 3rd October 2023. Kick-off time: 8.00pm

(4-3-3) David Raya;Takehiro Tomiyasu, Gabriel Magalhães, William Saliba, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), Declan Rice, Kai Havertz; Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Leandro Trossard.

Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White, Thomas Partey, Emile Smith-Rowe, Eddie Nketiah, Jakob Kiwior, Cédric Soares, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Fábio Vieira, Reiss Nelson, Mohamed Elneny, Karl Hein

Scorers: Gabriel Jesus (14 mins)
Yellow Card: Gabriel Jesus
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 67%

Referee: Marco Guida (Italy)
Assistant Referees: Filippo Meli (Italy), Giorgio Peretti (Italy)
Fourth Official: Matteo Marchetti (Italy)
UEFA Referee Observer: Vladimir Antonov (Moldova)
UEFA VAR Team in Geneva: VAR Paolo Valeri (Italy); AVAR Michael Fabbri (Italy)

Attendance: 38,223

Despite Arsenal’s chartered flight being grounded for almost five hours at Luton Airport because of bad weather, the group got to Lens okay and in good time, despite having to cancel their pre-match news conference due to travel delays. Bukayo Saka is available for tonight’s match, as is Thomas Partey, who has been unavailable for selection since August, as he was suffering with a groin injury, and is on the substitute’s bench this evening.

We kicked off this evening’s proceedings in an exciting, noisy atmosphere, one which we have come to expect with European competition at this level, of course.

The match started at a good, quick pace with action at both ends. We conceded an early corner, which was cleared fairly easily by our defenders, and although David Raya was tested early on in the game, mainly by an Adrien Thomasson header, the home side’s efforts did not amount to much.

After just fourteen minutes, we scored the first goal of the evening when Bukayo Saka pounced on an error by a defender; he quickly slotted the ball to Gabriel Jesus, who made no mistake in introducing the ball to the back of the net.

The goal certainly calmed the crowd down, and took the wind out of the sails of the FC Lens players, who were now very much on the back foot as we were slowly dominating the match. Oleksandr Zinchenko chipped the ball into the path of Kai Havertz and he volleyed it from a narrow angle towards the near post, as goalie Brice Samba managed to block his shot well.

On the twenty-fourth minute, the home side grabbed the equaliser with a clever shot from the left side of the penalty area by Adrien Thomasson, which obviously changed the dynamic of the game.

The match started to get more intense now, with heavier tackles taking place, and players of both sides going to the floor holding their limbs in pain.

An injured Bukayo Saka was replaced by Fábio Vieira after thirty-three minutes, and after a corner which was half-cleared by the FC Lens defence, we kept it in play and Gabriel tried to get in behind the home side’s defence but the flicked pass over the top of the defence rolled out harmlessly for a goal kick. Oleksandr Zinchenko carried the ball through the centre of the pitch, linking up with Leandro Trossard on the left, but the home side got numbers back quickly, so we switched the ball across the park via Declan Rice instead, but he had no luck either in trying to break down the FC Lens defence. Shortly afterwards, the referee blew the whistle for half-time, bringing first half matters to an end.

The home side kicked off the second half, and both teams showed their competitive edge early on, and Leandro Trossard was unlucky not to score when his effort from close range was saved by Brice Samba with his feet.

After Leandro Trossard was fouled out on the left-hand side, our captain took the free-kick, which looped into the penalty area, but it was cleared easily by the FC Lens defence. The home side broke quickly down the left wing and win a free-kick. It was whipped in quickly but Kai Havertz managed to head the ball away.

Elye Wahi ran in behind our defence, but Takehiro Tomiyasu was on hand to deal with the danger, but then Deiver Machado crossed the ball into our penalty area, but Adrien Thomasson’s shot went wide of David Raya’s goal.

Declan Rice slotted a lovely ball down the line for Gabriel Jesus but he was unable to keep it in play, but a minute or two later, after a loose ball, the home side capitalised on it and Abdul Samed’s shot went narrowly wide of David Raya’s post. A superb Martin Ødegaard corner went to the feet of Declan Rice who was desperately unlucky not to score when his low, left-footed shot was saved by Brice Samba’s feet again.

Shortly afterwards, the home side took the lead with a Elye Wahi first time shot from the centre of the penalty area. Reiss Nelson, Emile Smith-Rowe and Ben White replaced Leandro Trossard, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Kai Havertz almost after the restart, in order to bring the game to FC Lens, and it has to be said that as it looks now, FC Lens are making life fairly difficult for us here tonight.

Eddie Nketiah replaced Martin Ødegaard (who passed the captain’s armband to Gabriel Jesus) with ten minutes of the match remaining, and then Gabriel pushed the ball over to Emile Smith-Rowe but it was headed away by an FC Lens defender.

Emile Smith-Rowe picked it up and hit the ball from the edge of the penalty area but it went straight at Brice Samba in the FC Lens goal. On the ninetieth minute, a ball was drilled in low from the right wing, which was struck first time by Reiss Nelson and it was cleared off the line by Jonathan Gradit, who scooped the ball away to prevent us scoring.

Sadly there was a bit of a scramble afterwards and Gabriel Jesus along with Salis Abdul Samed were booked for their troubles. In the four minutes injury time, despite a lot of pressure on the FC Lens goal, we were unable to grab the equalising goal, and it came to pass that we lost our first match of the season here in France tonight.

A bad night for us here in France. Not only did we lose this match by the odd goal in three, but we lost Bukayo Saka to an injury, which is a worry, especially with Manchester City visiting the Emirates on Sunday afternoon.

All in all, it was a very disappointing match tonight for us. We allowed FC Lens to get back into the match, and not only that, once they had grabbed the second goal, we looked like we tailed off. There were lots of lessons to be learned from tonight’s game, let us hope that we learn them quickly. And Bukayo Saka’s injury is not a serious one, either, as we do not need to go into the Manchester City game with him missing on Sunday afternoon.

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 the Emirates on Sunday, 8th October at 4.30pm(Premier League). Be there, if you can. 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

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— Kick Off Merchants (@KOMerchants) October 3, 2023

With Manchester City at the weekend and a few Arsenal players carrying knocks, will Mikel Arteta be tempted to make Europa League-style changes tonight in the champions League?

For the Europa League, Arteta tended to put out what I like to call a 50/50 team.

Half the outfield players would be from his regular starting XI, the other half would be second string.

If we were playing Lens in the Europa League, Arteta would go with this tactic without blinking. So why would he feel the need to put out a stronger team just because it is the Champions League.

In the League Cup, we also played a 50/50 team against a full strength Brentford side. The Bees currently sit 13th in the table. Lens are currently 15 in Ligue 1. They have just two league wins all season.

We should be looking to put out a team that we think can beat Lens and not necessarily our strongest team.

I would rest Bukayo Saka (if he is fit). He has been in the wars lately and gone off in both of our last two Premier League games with a knock. We should be able to beat Lens with Reiss Nelson up top.

Likewise, I would give Gabriel Jesus a break.

The Brazilian is not too long back from injury. Give him a mid-week off, play Eddie Nketiah, and then Jesus is fully rested to play up-front on Sunday.

Declan Rice would be another I would be tempted to leave out. He is a big player and could be the difference against Manchester City, who are without Rodri and Kevin de Bruyne. If Jorginho can not out play a Lens team, he should not be at Arsenal.

Next one I would give a midweek break to would be William Saliba.

The Frenchman was on the “late fitness test” list for Bournemouth on Saturday. His one-on-one match up against Erling Haaland will be a battle. Takehiro Tomiyasu showed v a physical Bournemouth side that he is more than compotent in defence.

So my team for tonight?

And then I would be looking towards Emile Smith Rowe and Fabio Vieira to come on for Martin Odegaard and Leandro Trossard in and around the 60 minute work.

But I also get why Arteta might not go down this route.

it is important to qualify from our Champions League group top. Too often in the Arsene Wenger years we ended up finishing 2nd and got drawn against Barcelona or Bayern Munich.

Yes, you have to play the best if you want to be the best, but it will be nice in March (I think?) if we were to be playing someone like Red Bull Salzburg, Feyenoord or RB Leipzig rather than one of Europe’s real big boys.

As Inter Milan showed last season, the draw can quickly open up for you if results go your way (the beat Porto, Benfica and AC Milan on route to the final).

It is also important that we wrap up the group quickly.

We want to get 12 points from those opening 4 games and be gauranteed top with 2 games to go. Then we can begin resting players ahead of the hectic Christmas period.

You do not want to be travelling to PSV on 12 December and putting out your first XI because you still need a win to finish top. You want to be able to put out a 100% second string team for that.

We have 8 games scheduled for December. We need to try and make that PSV game meaningless so that it reduces the workload for the first XI.

Saying that, I think we can beat Lens with the team I put up.

Play the team, not the occassion, put out an XI you think can win the game, get the 3 points, then on to City.

Keenos

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— Kick Off Merchants (@KOMerchants) September 22, 2023

I had another blog planned for today, but that will now be a lunch time read.

Last night Arsenal announced some new terms and conditions on away fans:

Coming out of Covid, the club decided to go to war against the away fans and scrapped the Away Scheme. Long term readers of the blog will know I was a member.

There had been talk for some years prior to Covid that certain fan groups had begun attacking away fans with lots of credits. They were simply jealous that fans like myself who had done the hard yards for over a decade (and some of my mates even more) and went to almost every away game as a reward.

Instead of working their way up the credits from 0, they continually pressurised the club to make changes, labelling all away scheme members at touts. They got their way. But the club scrapping the away scheme got them no nearer to the likes of Spurs away.

After coming for the away scheme members, the focus shifted to home fans and we saw the recent introduction of a home ticket ballot for those who are not season ticket holders, and a drastic reduction in tickets allocated to silvers.

Those tickets were taken from Silver members and passed onto a Red member ballot (which silvers can enter). Again, the club do this at the behest of certain fan groups who felt they deserved as much as a right to go to games as a silver who had spent a decade or more as a red.

With the ballot in tatters, and fans who went to 15+ games a season now 0 for 8, the club have continued an attack on its heartbeat and have now gone back in for away fans.

A year or so ago, the club announced they would be holding some away tickets back for collection. They said these were “targetted memberships” who they suspected of touting. In the last couple of weeks, they have changed this targetted collection to random collection.

And now we have the latest terms and conditions.

If a fan fails to pick up an away ticket, they lose the credit – fair enough. But then if they fail to pick it up twice, they lose 10 credits. And 3rd strike they potentially get moved down to zero.

It takes a decade to go up to 40+ tickets. And even that was not enough for Bournemouth away (side note: the club were happy to splash pictures of 10 year old kids in the away end, knowing full well they were not in the ground on their own memberships).

All of that hard work, horrible trips up north on a cold rainy Tuesday night, can be flushed down the drain if you go and get Covid, have a bereavement, get called away to work or any number of reasons why you might miss a couple of games in quick succession.

For me, there are two attackers here. The first are the club and the second, sadly, are fellow fans.

As above, it is well known that some fan groups disliked the away scheme and they did everything in their power to petition the club to scrap it. This is where this all began.

More recently you have had a loud minority who have been pushing for further sanctions.

It is the group of fans who think they have a right to go to Tottenham away, to Chelsea away, and so on, just because they have had a season ticket for 2 or 3 years.

They have no interest in doing those hard yards. Burnley away. Newcastle on a Sunday with no trains back. Everton on a Tuesday night. No. All the want is Tottenham, Chelsea or West Ham.

The irony is, even with these changes, they will be no nearer getting a ticket for a big game away. They will still be on zero credits because they do not want to go to a less glamorous matches.

They have basically created a situation where they gain nothing, but hundreds of fans lose out.

And most are the new breed of fans. Probably paid for a Club Level ticket to queue jump the season ticket waiting list. Turn up in a retro shirt bought for 3 times its value of Classic Football Shirts. Love AFTV. For them going to football is just an instagram moment. Something to boast to the boys at work on a Monday morning about.

Where were the fans demanding changes in ticketing when we were not playing very well? Where were all of these fans in 2017 when we face Koln in the Europa League in-front of 43,500, with at least 10,000 of that being German. They were nowhere to be seen.

These rats have only come out from under their rocks more recently, now that we are good again. They now want to go to Manchester United, to Tottenham. But ask them if they wanted to go to Manchester City in 2016? You could not have even paid them.

Then you have the club.

I actually feel sorry for Mikel Arteta.

Since joining as manager, Arteta worked hard to bring players closer to the fans, and both home and away is louder than it has been for years. Those decision makers on ticketing have killed that momentum in one evening.

Without going too far down the conspiracy rabbit hole, this feels like a planned attack on someone like me – a fella in his 30s who has been doing home and away for 15 years.

For many clubs, Arsenal included, the away fan base is the heartbeat of the club.

There is something special about being an away fan. You do all these miles to all these places, feel like it is us against an entire town or city. You meet the same people week after week. Faces become “alright mate”, alright mate becomes friends. And before you know it there are 7 of you sharing a room in Swansea.

It feels like the club is trying to get rid of the current generation of fans who go to away games.

You see, it is the current generation of away fans (of all clubs including and beyond Arsenal) that forced changes with ticket prices.

Back 10 years ago, we were getting charged £65 to go to places like Chelsea and West Ham. Fans from all clubs got together for the Twenty’s Plenty campaign. This forced clubs to bring in the current £30 price cap (side note: Arsenal used to give a further £4 discount. That was stopped this year….).

It is the likes of Black Scarf Movement who campaigned for years for the re-introduction of Safe Standing. Many clubs, excluding Arsenal, have now successfully introduced it.

And when the Super League reared its ugly head, it was the communities of away fans up and down the country that mobilised themselves and other fans followed.

I remember during Covid, standing on the Bear’s roundabout protesting. It was like being at away game. 90% of those faces were known from away days.

It was the away fans that stopped the Super League, and I believe since that day the club have labelled us as troublemakers and been working out how they can reduce our influence.

They were uncomfortable with the power that away fans held following the Super League protests, and these changes are simply an attempt to break our spirit. Destroy the bonds built over a decade or more. It is Sun Tzu style war games.

You kill the head of the army (the away fans) and the rest of fan base will fall in line.

They hope to get rid of the Keenos’ of this world from away grounds, and replace them with a fan base that they can control. Fans that maybe sit in club level or in boxes. Fans that will not be bothered about protesting the next Super League. Fans that actually support us playing Real Madrid, Barcelona and PSG every weekend….

Now I do get that touting is an issue. But it has been an issue since before I started going football in the mid 90s. Every club suffers from touting up and down the leagues.

The club are dressing this latest attack on away fans as trying to stop touting and reduce the “closed shop” of away tickets. But too many fans who have spent thousands of fans watching their club up and down the country are going to get caught in the crossfire.

Like with silvers, one of the major issues for away fans is the allocation has been cut.

First they came for the away scheme, and you said nothing
Then they came for silver members, and you said nothing
Now they are coming for away fans, and you will still say nothing
Next they will come for season ticket holders…..

— 🎗 ///SHE WORE/// 🎗 (@SheWore) October 2, 2023

Box holders now reportedly get tickets for any away game they want, whilst “players and staff” also get tickets for the away end.

It is all cute and everything seeing 6 members of David Raya’s family in their Arsenal shirts, but that is 6 tickets that could have gone to actual fans…

I would not be surprised if next season, we see a further reduction in away tickets go on sale to the “common fan” with more going to Club Level. And how long until we see an away fan ballot?

For those with 0 credits that will support a ballot, read on.

We have on average 2,500 tickets per away game. We play 19 league games. By the time you take away the tickets set aside for corporates, sponsors, players and staff, around 2,000 go on sale to fans. That is 38,000 over the course of a season. Less than how many season ticket holders there are.

So by pushing for a ballot as your next step, you are less likely than now to be able to get your hand on a ticket….

In around 2012, with us without a trophy in 7-years, the club reopened the away scheme, inviting new members for the first time in a decade. They did this because they were beginning to struggle to sell out tickets.

It will not take too much of a downturn for the new hangers on to depart. Arsenal will stop being a “cool place to be seen” again.

They do not even want to do Newcastle away now when we are good. Try getting them to go when we are down in 6th with 3 wins from the opening 7 games.

And at that point, the club will be back cap in hand to those long term fans like me and many of you reading. They will be cap in hand begging for us to return. Probably even reopen the away scheme.

Keenos
Just a normal fella from North London who has done thousands of miles, spending thousands of pounds, following the club he loves.