Category Archives: Arsenal

Match Report: Everton 0 – 1 Arsenal

Leave a reply

Everton (0) 0 Arsenal (0) 1

Premier League

Goodison Park, Goodison Road, Liverpool L4 4EL

Sunday, 17th September 2023. Kick-off time: 4.30pm

(4-3-3) David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), Declan Rice, Fábio Vieira; Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli.

Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Gabriel Jesus, Emile Smith-Rowe, Jakob Kiwior, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Leandro Trossard, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Reiss Nelson, Kai Havertz

Scorers: Leandro Trossard (69 mins)

Yellow Cards: Gabriel

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 74%

Referee: Simon Hooper

Assistant Referees: Adrian Holmes, Simon Long

Fourth Official: Anthony Taylor

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Stuart Attwell; AVAR Nick Greenhalgh

Attendance: 39,414

For this afternoon’s match against Everton at Goodison Park, it is to be noted that the club had sixteen players away on international duty during the past week or so, and every one of them have returned with no injuries reported, for which we can breathe a large sigh of relief about. However, Thomas Partey has an ongoing groin injury, and David Raya makes his Premiership debut in goal for us today.

After a respectful minute’s silence for the victims of the Moroccan earthquake and the Libyan flood disasters, we kicked off today’s encounter with the Toffeemen in a controlled and patient manner, in a noisy atmosphere. The early exchanges were dominated by ourselves, placing lots of pressure onto the home side’s defence. Eddie Nketiah flicked the ball nicely into the penalty area with the back of his heel but Jarrad Branthwaite read the danger well and easily tapped the ball back to goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. Dwight McNeil was caught hesitating on the ball and our captain tried to slot the ball into the path of Bukayo Saka, but Jarrad Branthwaite was again on hand to kick the ball behind for a corner. Bukayo Saka sent the ball deep into the Everton penalty area and the ball was knocked behind again for our third corner of the match so far, which was wasted, sadly, when Fábio Vieira carelessly blasted it into the crowd. After just twenty-one minutes, Gabriel Martinelli scored a goal which was controversially disallowed by VAR for Eddie Nketiah being offside, and ironically, a few minutes afterwards, our disallowed goalscorer was replaced by Leandro Trossard as it appeared that he had pulled up with a muscle injury. William Saliba classily picked the pocket of Beto in our penalty area, and as the ball came back into our penalty area, Abdoulaye Doucouré tried to turn William Saliba, but fell down thus claiming a penalty of course, which was denied by referee Simon Hooper, thankfully. Bukayo Saka was caught by a late challenge, but it looked like it wasn’t serious, and he was able to continue playing. Damian Rice, Martin Ødegaard and Ben White combined nicely with some clever and quick footwork, which culminated in the latter whacking a strong left-footed shot toward the Everton goal which was stopped by Jordan Pickford. As half-time approached, it was clear that although we are playing some wonderful possession football, we cannot break through the Everton defence to take a decent shot on goal. In the four minutes’ injury time, Ashley Young was deservedly booked for sliding in on the back of Leandro Trossard, and despite some great football by ourselves, we finished the first half honours even, with one solitary shot on the Everton goal, courtesy of Ben White, of course.

Everton commenced second half matters, and we immediately sprang into action taking the game to Everton. Declan Rice touched the ball on for our captain inside the penalty area, and he hit an effort that Jordan Pickford pushed away. Gabriel was booked by referee Simon Hooper for blocking Beto’s run into our penalty area which was a ridiculous decision, and then Leandro Trossard crossed the ball into the Everton penalty area, but Jordan Pickford pushed it away for an Arsenal throw-in. We won the ball high up the pitch and Martin Ødegaard slipped a lovely ball into the path of Eddie Nketiah inside the penalty area; he went for the shot but James Tarkowski slid in and made a crucial block. Then, several of our players were demanding a penalty as an Oleksandr Zinchenko shot struck James Tarkowski on the arm, but the VAR check came back quickly and nothing was given, which was disappointing to say the least. Gabriel Jesus replaced Eddie Nketiah after sixty-five minutes, and four minutes later, we took a well-deserved lead from a well-practiced short corner as we finally unravelled the Everton defence with some quick, one-touch passing to tee up Leandro Trossard for a fine finish. Five minutes later, Ben White delivered a deep cross to Fábio Vieira at the other side of the penalty area; he stretched in order to connect but it looked awkward and the ball went wide of the Everton post. With ten minutes of the game remaining, Kai Havertz and Takehiro Tomiyasu replaced Oleksandr Zinchenko and Fábio Vieira; with fresh legs on the pitch, we managed to control the match as it went into its final stages, despite some counter attacking from the home side. Although there were four minutes injury time, Everton never really threatened us in this period, and we ran out worthy winners on a ground that has not been too lucky for us in recent years.

A good result on a tough ground, which means that we are now in fourth place in the Premiership. Overall, we controlled matters extremely well right from the initial kick-off, and although Everton had their moments, they never really did too much to threaten us in any department. The atmosphere at Goodison Park is always febrile, and our chaps managed to do two difficult things, namely impose their own game on the home side, and silence the home crowd, both of which showed great spirit and fortitude. Well done everyone!

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: PSV Eindhoven at the Emirates on Wednesday, 20th September at 8.00pm (Champions 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

Havertz key as Arsenal look to end Goodison hoodoo

Leave a reply

Everton away has been a bit of a bogey team for us in recent years.

We are now 5 games without a win at Goodison Park; 4 defeats and a single draw. That run takes us back to the 2017/18 season when we thrashed them 5-2.

Those 5 games were tough to watch, with Everton running out winners by a single goal in their 4 wins. We have only scored twice in 5 games.

Considering how poor Everton have been in recent years, it is a shocking statistic. As a result, I am not filled with confidence for Sunday’s game.

Last season, Sean Dyche did Sean Dyche things in his first game in charge of his then new side.

He put out a very solid, big back 4. In front of them was a 5 man midfield which contained plenty of height and hard work. Dominic Calvert-Lewin was upfront.

The game plan was clear. The back 4 sat deep, with a midfield 3 of Doucoure, Gueye and Onana not venturing too far out of their own half. McNeil and Iwobi tucked in as they looked to suffocate Arsenal’s space.

There main attacking hope was to be from set pieces, and low and behold that is how they got their goal.

We huffed and puffed and could not break them down, despite having 71% of the possession.

I expect Dyche to go for similar tactics this weekend.

He is a disciple of the Sam Allardyce methodology. He does not try and win games and, on occassion, when he does get the odd victory over a decent team, he goes on Match of the Day telling everyone what a managerial genius he is.

Dyche would rather fail to win 4 games in a row then beat a top team, then win those 4 games and lose to an Arsenal or Chelsea. It is an odd mentality to have.

I think Gabriel Jesus leading the line could be important this weekend. He has the movement to distrupt an opponents defensive structure.

This could be the sort of game where Kai Havertz also shines. The German is excellent at finding pockets of space in and around the box. You can certainly see the ball being on our left or right, Jesus making a move, taking his marker with him, and Havertz drifting into that space.

Havertz will also be important for corners.

A few people are calling for Leandro Trossard to start the game. But with Everton having one of the tallest teams in the league, we need to ensure our “big boys” are out in force for those corners.

Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel, Declan Rice and Kai Havertz will be our key 5 to defend those corners.

Today is the beginning of a tough little run that sees us play Tottenham, Manchester City and Chelsea in gthe next 5 games. You fill this period could define whether we remain on City’s coat tails, or begin drifting out of the title race.

UTA

Keenos

How will Arsenal’s Senior Management Team look post-Vinai?

Leave a reply

Morning all!

Following on from the new that Arsenal CEO Vinai Venkatesham to step down next summer, we thought we would look into what Arsenal’s Senior Management Team will look like post-Vinai.

In recent years, Arsenal have had a few different management structures, from a single person who oversees everything to joint management at the top.

Back in the late 2010’s, Ivan Gazidis was CEO, with Vinai, Raul Sanllehi and Sven Mislintat as equals underneath him.

Vinai, as Chief Commercial Officer, focused on the business side of Arsenal, Sanllehi oversaw football operations and Mislintat the recruitment side.

Following Gazidis’s departure in 2018, there was a power struggle within the 3 equals below him.

Sanllehi and Mislintat both seemed to look to position themselves to replace Gazidis and, following disgrements on Arsenal’s transfer policy, Mislintat left.

Mislintat’s departure left Arsenal with just Vinai and Sanllehi. They entered a sort of power sharing agree, with Vinai promoted to Managing Director and Sanllehi promoted to Head of Football. This lasted a little more than 2-years before Sanllehi left.

Sanllehi’s departure in 2020 saw Vinai appointed as CEO nd given sole responsibility for the day-to-day running of the club. He would oversee a new senior management team that also saw Edu take on many of Sanllehi’s duties as the clubs technical director.

Richard Garlick was appointed in 2021 as Director of Football Operations and was soon joined by Julia Slott as Chief Commercial Officer. Last year, was Edu promoted to Sporting Director.

So Vinai departs with the club having a similar structure to that of the Gazidis days – a CEO overseeing the entire club, then one person overseeing the commercial side (Slott), one over seeing the football side (Garlick), and one in charge of recruitment (Edu).

So what are Arsenal’s options now?

If history repeats itself, we could see Slott and Garlick take up the post-Gazidis Vinai and Sanllehi roles.

Slott would be solely responsible for the commercial side of Arsenal, Garlick responsible for the football operations, with the pair working in tandem and reporting directly into the Kroenke’s (Josh on a more day to day basis).

The second option is that we try to mimic the current structure, with Slott becoming the new CEO.

Slott will be following the path of Vinai if this happens – moving from Chief Commercial Officer into the CEO position.

She would then be replaced in the structure by newly appointed Omar Mohammed Shaikh.

Shaikh is the new Partnerships Sales Director and operates at a level below Slott on the commercial side of the business. He was previously Vice President of Commercial Development at Liverpool, reporting directly into the CEO.

It does not take too much mental gymnastics to think that the club knew about Vinai’s intentions some time ago and saw Slott as his natural successor. As a result, they appointed someone who could fill her shoes, allowing Slott to make that step up.

The issue the club faces is Slott is very unpopular with many Arsenal fans having fumbled the changes in the ticketing processes. Her appointment would see plenty of disgruntled noises from the terraces, and risks alienating fans.

Arsenal is a good place to be right now. On the pitch, off the pitch and on the terraces, it feels like One Arsenal. Slott’s appointment could undo that.

The result could be that we end up in a similar position to Manchester United when they appointed Ed Woodward.

Manchester United declined rapidly under Woodward’s 10 year leadership and relations between club and fans created a hostile atmosphere at Old Trafford. The feeling is that a Slott appointment as CEO could re-open old wounds.

So the solution?

If the club want a less controversial figure, they could opt for Garlick as CEO, with Edu and Slott reporting into him.

Garlick has been behind a lot of the improvements we have seen with the financial side of the team.

Since his appointment, we saw highly paid players depart which drove the wage bill down. This allowed for new investment in younger, exciting talent. He has also been key in the new contracts for the likes of Bukayo Saka, William Saliba and Gabriel Martinelli.

Garlick is a football man having been Director of Football Administration at West brom before moving to the Premier League as Director of Football. But is he suitable for CEO?

A CEO in any business has to be a commercial strategic leader.

They would have a track record of track record of developing and delivering strategies, building successful teams and delivering growth and profit. It is not quite what Garlick does.

My feeling is that the CEO should be “business first, football second”.

You operate a strong and successful business model, a strong and successful football team should follow – the additional revenue leads to being able to recruit better players, coaches, etc.

If the CEO comes from a football administration background, their decisions could lead to decisions that might be a positive for the football side, but a negative for the business of Arsenal. The result could lead to financial insecurity.

But what for Josh Kroenke and Tim Lewis?

I have seen some say Josh might step into the CEO role. I would be very surprised.

CEO of a business is a not a part time job. He would have to be working in London, for Arsenal, 60 hours a week.

Considering his roles with the Denver Nuggets and Colorado Avalache, as well as his other business interests, I doubt he will have the time to commit to Arsenal full time.

The other name continually mentioned is Tim Lewis.

Lewis was formally a partner at law firm Clifford Chance, where he worked alongside the Kroenke’s on their deal to buy Arsenal. He was appointed as a non-executive director of Arsenal in 2020.

In October last year, he resigned his partnership with the firm to “place more emphasis on his work with Arsenal”.

In March 2023, he became “Executive Vice-Chair”. In simple terms, Lewis chairs Arsenal board meetings in the absence of either of the Kroenke’s, and he is the man that reports directly into them.

It is not clear what further day to day involvementhis Lewis has with Arsenal, nor if he is even an employee of the club. There is a feeling from outside that he is heavilly involved in every major decision the club takes.

Could Lewis be the man to step into Vinai’s shoes and take a more official role in the club?

There is certainly a headache for the Kroenkes and Tim Lewis. As board members, they will be responsible for appointing Vinai’s successor.

The power struggle and poor appointments after Gazidis left crippled our club.

We wasted millions on poor recruitment, saw our commercial income plummet, huge fan discontent and the football team decline. We can not afford to make the same mistakes again…

Keenos