Category Archives: Arsenal

MATCH REPORT: Arsenal 0 – 0 Newcastle

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Arsenal (0) 0 Newcastle United (0) 0

Premier League

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Tuesday, 3rd January 2023. Kick-off time: 7.45pm

(4-3-3) Aaron Ramsdale; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka; Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli.

Substitutes: Kieran Tierney, Rob Holding, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Fabio Vieira, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Mohamed Elneny, (Marcus Vinicius Oliveira Alencar) Marquinhos, Matt Turner, Nathan Butler-Oyedeji.

Yellow Cards: Eddie Nketiah, Granit Xhaka, Martin Ødegaard, Oleksandr Zinchenko

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 67%

Referee: Andy Madley

Assistant Referees: Lee Betts, Ian Hussin

Fourth Official: Jarred Gillett

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Stuart Attwell; AVAR Wade Smith

Attendance: 60,319

Another important match, this time between first and third in the Premiership and another night on which we need to get the full three points available. We are on a run of ten straight league victories at the Emirates, dating back to last season and we have now won fourteen of our opening sixteen top-flight matches; it is to be noted that the five other teams to have started a season at least as well as us all went on to win the title. Emile Smith-Rowe is still not available due to a groin injury, and on a darker note, Bukayo Saka and William Saliba are both one booking awayo from triggering a ban, which is something that any of us neither need nor want.

After the kick-off in the driving rain in North London, the visitors won an early free-kick after a foul by Granit Xhaka that went nowhere, and a minute or so later, our captain Martin Ødegaard had a great chance to score, but sadly his effort went flying over the bar. We started to take command of the match, pressurising the visitors relentlessly, and both Bukayo Saka and Granit Xhaka were unlucky in not scoring with some quick thinking chances within the first ten minutes. The game started to settle down, although there were some heavy tackles flying around, with the conditions not making things any better in that department. Callum Wilson spun around and took a snap shot at our goal, but Aaron Ramsdale easily saved the ball with little effort on his part. Martin Ødegaard was desperately unlucky not to score after Bukayo Saka put the ball through to him, but the Newcastle defenders blocked him in on the byline and the chance went as quick as it came, sadly. It was becoming fairly obvious to all that Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka were already threatening the Novocastrian defence on both flanks, and it seemed to be a matter of time before their hard work will see a reward. Ben White and Joelinton collided and the match was stopped for a few minutes whilst the Newcastle medical team came on the pitch to treat and assess him, and the game continued with the player being cleared to carry on. Gabriel Martinelli tried to pick out Eddie Nketiah but Fabian Schär intercepted him. He then beat Oleksandr Zinchenko but with only Callum Wilson in support, he was quickly pounced on by three of our players and lost the ball, which went aimlessly across the pitch. Bruno Guimarães and Callum Wilson were booked for fouls on Eddie Nketiah and William Saliba, and suddenly it started to look like the only way for the visitors to stop our players advancing down the pitch was to foul them. In frustration, Eddie Nketiah was booked for pulling back Fabian Schär and with eleven minutes before half-time, a spiralling Martin Ødegaard free-kick found the head of Gabriel, but his superb effort went wide of Nick Pope’s left-hand post. Martin Ødegaard tugged the shirt of Miguel Almiron but the Newcastle man wriggled away before eventually losing the ball; it was called back for the free-kick and another yellow card, which was the fifth today so far. This game has become a scrappy one, it seems just a matter of time before the referee produces a red card on someone, somewhere. Anyway, after two minutes injury time, no goals were scored, and both teams went into the break with honours even.

We kicked the second half into life, and almost immediately there seemed to be a change of attitude with Arsenal pressurising Newcastle United for the first few minutes of the half. A free-kick for the visitors saw them come close to scoring, and then a mistake by Aaron Ramsdale almost allowed the visitors in but Sean Longstaff and Joe Willock could not find space to shoot, thankfully. But Newcastle kept possession though and the ball zipped across our six-yard box, inches past Callum Wilson, thankfully, which was a real let-off. Martin Ødegaard tried to spread the ball across to the right-hand side but Joelinton got back and closed him down. Bukayo Saka was brought down on the edge of the penalty area by Joelinton, who was duly booked for his trouble, and although the subsequent free-kick went nowhere, it strengthened our resolve to put pressure on the visitors to try and open the scoring. Gabriel Martinelli received a fantastic ball from Ben White out on the left wing, and his shot on goal after cutting inside was easily picked up by Nick Pope, and former Gunner Joe Willock received the ball and ran down the left wing to bring it over the halfway line but our defenders easily halted his progress. A disappointing Gabriel Martinelli corner was easily cleared by the visitors’ defenders, and with sixteen minutes of the game remaining, Ben White was replaced by Takehiro Tomiyasu, and the substitution started to wake us up a bit, with Gabriel Martineli coming very close when his header narrowly went by the far post. Granit Xhaka played Gabriel Martinelli in on the left for Martin Ødegaard to make the run and slipped the ball to him. He moved it on first time for Granit Xhaka but he could not connect with it in the penalty area. The chances are coming, with a superb goalscoring chance by Eddie Nketiah which was kicked away with an outstretched leg by Nick Pope, and a minute or so later, Granit Xhaka crossed the ball for Eddie Nketiah to head the ball straight into the arms of Nick Pope. In the five minutes’ injury time, we had a surefire penalty appeal turned down by referee Andy Madley, which was confirmed by VAR and after that, the match just petered away to its natural conclusion.

All in all, a very frustrating evening for us. Although we had sixty-seven per cent possession, we just could not convert our domination into goals, despite some superb efforts over the course of ninety minutes. It did descend into a bit of a scrappy match (with eight yellow cards being handed out across the teams by referee Andy Madley), we still did enough to win the match, but we just could not break the Newcastle defence down. Still these things happen, at least we came away with the same point that we started the match with, which overall, is okay. Disappointing, but okay.

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: Oxford United at The Kassam Stadium on Monday, 9th January at 8.00pm(FA Cup). 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

William Saliba contract extension “bad news for Arsenal”

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Back end of last year, it was announced that Arsenal had triggered the 1-year contract extension in William Saliba’s contract. This is bad news for the club.

The fact we have had to force Saliba to extend his contract for a further year shows that current negoations have stalled.

If everything was going well for Saliba, he would have signed a new deal by now and Arsenal would not have had to activate the clause in his contract.

The extension just means that Arsenal will not lose him for free this summer, but will not reduce the chances that he departs.

All it means is we will now get a fee for him in the summer if he has not agreed a new deal. And I think he has one foot out of the door.

He is playing fantastic in his first year of Premier League football and is now justifying the hype.

Arsenal took it slow with him, loaning him out to Nice and Marseille to get the first team football he needed to reach his current level. We were unable to give him those minutes as he had plenty of faults to iron out. Plenty of growing too.

He also had his personal issues. It is easy to forget he is just 21-years-old.

During that time on loan, he went from teenager to man. He grow on the pitch and off. Matured.

At times he seemed frustrated that Arsenal were loaning him out. He was a young player with lots of influencers in his ear talking bad about us. But since joining with Mikel Arteta’s first team squad this season, he has integrated well.

There will be no shortage of takers if he does not agree a new deal with Arsenal. And many of those have probably already made contact letting him know what he could earn if he joined them.

And that is the problem Arsenal face with negotiations.

If you have someone like PSG telling him (through intermediaries) that they will pay him £250k a week, that is what he will demand at Arsenal.

But is he worth £250k a week? He has played just 16 Premier League games.

Some will say “if someone else is willing to pay that, then that is his value. We should pay it”. But this is poor business.

Just because someone else is willing to overpay for something (or someone), does not mean you should.

In football, what you pay a single player can have a huge impact on everyone else.

We are currently also in negotiations with Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli. I would say Martinelli and Saliba are at a similar level, Saka is a few runs on the ladder above the pair.

Saka is now a truly world class player. He would start for almost every club and country. Martinelli and Saliba would not walk into most teams, and are bench warmers for their country.

If you pay Saliba what he demands, then that pushes up what Martinelli wants, what Saka wants. It also pushes up what those below Saliba demand. Other first teamers will start to demand a similar salary as him.

And then just like that, you have lost control of your wage bill again, are haemorrhaging money without improving the squad, and all because you bowed down to one players demands.

It will say a lot about him if he decides to move to a lesser league for easy money and easy trophies. Playing in France will not challenge him. Will not improve him – Neymar has earned a lot of money in the last 5 years and won a lot of trophies. But he has gone backwards as a footballer.

I am still hopeful he will realise Arsenal is the best place for his career. That playing week in week out for us will see him become a regular for France.

If PSG come in for Saliba, we can not compete. All we can do is try and maximise the sale price. And the one-year contract extension does that.

Keenos

Free transfer XI – who could Arsenal snap up for nothing?

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Morning and Happy New Year!

The transfer window is now open. I think we all know who our primary targets are!

But also from yesterday, clubs can agree contracts with players whose contracts expire at the end of the season (as long as they are currently playing in a different country).

I remember when the Bosman ruling first came in.

It changed Championship Manager forever and, in the early years of the game, you would basically sign 30 of the best players in the world for nothing and sell most of them straight on. It took them a couple of years to sort that out!

Nearly 30 years on, and what happened in Championship Manager is now happening in real life. You could build a brilliant team from those players whose contracts are expiring.

Goalkepeer – David de Gea

As de Gea plays for Manchester United, Arsenal would be unable to offer him a contract until his current deal actually expires.

This makes very little difference as if a player wants to join a club within the country they play in, they just won’t agree a deal elsewhere.

Being a grown up in football means you realise “tapping up” is part and parcel of the game. Clubs and players agents / intermediaries will speak to each other long before clubs begin negotiations to establish whether there is an interest.

Manchester United do have an option to extend de Gea’s contract by a year. Expect them to enforce that clause before cashing in on him. Probably Juventus bound.

Right back – Hector Bellerin

Arsenal are clearly not in the market for a right back.

Ben White is our break-out player this season and has to now be considered as amongst the best right backs in Europe. We then have Takehiro Tomiyasu backing him up and teenager Brooke Norton-Cuffy out on loan.

Right back is probably the weakest area of the Free Transfer XI, with Wolves’s Nélson Semedo the only man playing consistently for a half-decent top 5 European leage team.

I am going to be loyal to my boy Bellerin though, whose 1-year contract with Barcelona will unlikely get renewed. Expect him to rejoin Real Betis.

Centre back – Milan Skriniar

The Slovakian captain seems to have been linked with Tottenham for an eternity.

Inter have been trying to tie him down to a new deal for a long time, but are unable to meet his financial demands.

He is reportedly on less than £100k a week, and his Italian employers are unable / unwilling to offer him much more than that.

Expect Skriniar to end up at PSG, probably doubling his salary in the process.

Centre back – Evan Ndicka

We recently wrote about how Evan Ndicka is a good outside bet to join Arsenal.

Just 23-years-old, he ticks a lot of boxes that Mikel Arteta demands for a defender. He is also naturally left footed.

Ndicka’s recruitment would see Arteta have the option of William Saliba and Ben White on one side of the defence, and Gabriel and Ndicka on the other side.

The only issue is we will be unable to offer Ndicka guaranteed first team football, whereas a lesser team like Tottenham would.

I think we might pull this one out the bag and Ndicka will be an Arsenal player next year.

Left back – Alejandro Grimaldo

We were first linked with Benfica’s Alex Grimaldo 3 and a half years ago.

Despite further rumoured interest from the likes of Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan, Napoli and Manchester City over the years, the former Barcelona academy player still plys his trade in Portugal.

We were reportedly offered him last summer as potential cover for the injury-prone Kieran Tierney. Instead we signed Oleksandr Zinchenko.

I have a theory that Arsenal might decide to cash in on Tierney this summer. And if that happens we might decide to return for Grimaldo as cheap (free!) cover as Zinchenko’s cover.

An alternative if Tierney leaves is that Tomiyasu becomes cover at both left and right back. This would worry me considering his (and Zinchenko’s) injury record.

I think Arteta and Edu will go for the later as the solution, with Norton-Cuffy and the highly rates Lino Sousa getting promotions to the first team next year as young, exciting, further cover.

Grimaldo will probably end up in Italy.

Defensive midfielder – Mohamed Elneny

The list of defensive midfielders coming available on a free transfer is basically a list of the best DMs on the 2010s.

N’Golo Kante, Sergio Busquets, Nemanja Matic, Jorginho, Axel Witsel, Steven N’Zonzi and Mohamed Elneny.

Almost every player on that list is a shadow of the man they used to be. The Kante you would be signing in 2023 looks like a horse that should have been put out to stud a few years back. No where near the talent he was when he was named PFA Player of the Year in 2017, and was so key to France winning the World Cup in 2018.

Elneny is the only player mentioned above that still looks to have plenty of miles left on his clock. And he is who I would have wanted us to go for, were he not already an Arsenal player.

I imagine we will see us spend a bit of money in this area, recruiting someone who is young and can potentially replace Thomas Partey long term.

Elneny is clearly settled in London. Do not be surprised to see him join Watford or Fulham.

Central midfielder – Youri Tielemans

Probably the stand out man for many fan looking at the expired list.

Clearly a talent and a lot has been written on him over the last few months. Arsenal have a long standing interest but with Granit Xhaka’s renaissance we potentially no longer require another “8”.

There will be a lot of interest in Tielemans and the ball will be in his court as to who he joins. I think that will be whatever “Big 7” side he thinks he will most regularly play at.

My gut is Newcastle will offer him huge money and that starting place he demands.

Central midfielder – Houssem Aouar

For teams that miss out on Tielemans, there are plenty of other options.

Adrien Rabiot is a fantastic player, but you have to deal with his mother.
Thomas Lemar has never really fulfilled his potential.
Ilkay Gunodgan provides a good short term option.
Toni Kroos and Luka Modric both have contracts expiring at Real Madrid.
Naby Kieta has had his injury issues with Liverpool.
Houssem Aouar is still only 24.

Houssem Aouar is an outstanding talent and the only one on the list who is “yet to get a crack at the highest level”.

Someone will take the risk this summer. Just not sure it will be Arsenal.

Real Betis could be the ones if Nabil Fekir departs.

Right winger – Lionel Messi

Might next season be the year Messi finally decides to prove he can do it on a wet and windy Tuesday night in Stoke? Probably not.

I imagine prior to his World Cup winning performances, he was considering the MLS as his semi-retirement home.

But he showed on the international stage that he is still one of the best players in the world.

With Cristiano Ronaldo getting lots of flak for his impending move to the Middle-East, I think Messi will decide to remain at PSG for at least one more season. It will be another nail in the coffin of the Ronaldo v Messi debate if he continues to perform in the Champions League whilst Ronaldo becomes a billionaire Sheikh’s play thing.

Left winger – Wilfried Zaha

I recently wrote a blog trying to make the case for us to sign Wilfried Zaha.

I think if a January deal for Mykhailo Mudryk falls through, Zaha could be a good option.

He would provide solid cover and competition in all 3 attacking positions, behind Gabriel’s Jesus and Martinelli, and Bukayo Saka.

I think Zaha is on his way out of Crystal Palace, but doors are continually closing.

Cody Gakpo has shut the Liverpool door, and Mudryk would kill any move to Arsenal. Tottenham or Newcastle could be his destination.

Striker – Marcus Thuram

Eddie Nketiah splits opinion.

He is a decent striker, but you probably would not be able to mount a title challenge for 38 games with him upfront.

The issue is there are not too many top forwards in world football, and even less that are happy being second choice.

With so many teams now playing just one upfront, gone are the days you could have Thierry Henry, Dennis Bergkamp, Kanu and Syvian Wiltored and keep them all happy.

Manchester City lose their second choice striker (Jesus) last summer as he wanted first team football. You have to wonder how long they will keep hold of Julian Alvarez.

Tottenham have struggled for a decade to sign cover for Harry Kane. They have ended up with the hybrid striker / winger option in Richarlison.

Liverpool have spent big on Diego Jota, Darwin Nunez, Luis Diaz and now Gakpo in an attempt to replace (or improve on) Sadio Mane and Firminho. Whilst Chelsea have signed Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Romelu Lukaku, Kai Havertz and Timo Werner i nthe last 3 years.

Christopher Nkunku will be their 5th new striker in 4 seasons when he joins in the summer.

Maybe with Eddie (and Martinelli), it might be “better the devil you know” rather than looking to sign someone to cover Jesus?

Marcus Thuram would be an option if we want to go down the route of Jesus’s replacement being able to play across the front 3.

There are also the likes of Memphis Depay, Roberto Firminho and Moussa Dembele coming available on a free. All 3 can do that role of covering down the middle and both flanks.

Youssoufa Moukoko is certainly one to keep an eye on; still jsut 18 he has been hyped as “Dortmund’s next big thing” for a couple of years. Would not be surprised if he joined Chelsea, making it 6 strikers in 3 years.

Thuram would certainly be a good option if we were to go into the market.

If I were to have a “top 3” realistic free transfers for Arsenal this summer, it would be (in order): Ndicka, Thuram, Tielemans.

Let us know your thoughts.

Keenos