As you would have noticed there have been a lot less blogs since the sad passing of Her Majesty the Queen last Thursday.
We have reduced our output out of respect, whilst also taking the decision to only write a blog if there was something meaningful for say.
The blog about Marquinhos will have to wait!
Arsenal releated news mainly revolves around games being moved.
The home match against PSV tomorrow has been postponed. I do not really understand that.
As someone who has done plenty of Euro away trips, I feel for the PSV fans who would have splashed out hundreds on flights and hotels only for the game to be cancelled. It really should have gone ahead and would’ve given us the opportunity to pay our respects in the ground.
Moving the weekend game against Brentford does however make sense.
Monday will be “all hands on deck” for the Queens funeral. All police leave will be cancelled.
Police Regulations set out that Officers are entitled to a period of at least 11 hours between rostered shifts.
Moving the game back to 12noon ensures the police working the Brentford game will get their 11 hours rest.
With it being a local-ish derby, it will not cause many problems for fans. Most will be travelling in from in or around London.
The only frustration – from a selfish point of view – is that unless I want to get to the pub at 10am, there will be no pints before the game.
It isn’t great that is has been moved, but is understandable.
The other big game moved is our fixture against Chelsea in November – also moved to 12noon.
This game has been moved to 12noon for TV reasons and shows once more that TV companies do not care about match going fans.
A few beers before and after a game are a big part of the game – it is not just the 90 minutes.
Noon kick offs are awful.
Everyone is barely awake, the atmosphere usually subdued. It just is not the same.
There is also talk that the Manchester City mid-week fixture will be postponed from Wednesday 19th October to accomodate the Europa League game against PSV.
Again, this shows that UEFA do not really care about the fans.
The Mancs would have already splashed out on train tickets (currently £98.10) as well as hotels for an overnight stay.
It all shows once more that the comments from UEFA and the media after the European Super League was hot air.
We have had a few days off out of respect of the life of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II.
We are a strong and resilient nation so this week we return to some sort of normality, including hopefully football returning.
Without opening it up for too much debate, I’m of the stance that football should have gone ahead at the weekend. That it would have shown more respect to her life to follow other sports in a minutes silence a rendition of God Save The Queen.
Due to no football, there is not much really to blog about this morning other than the naming of the Brazil squad for the upcoming international break.
A bit of fuss has been made about our 3 Gabi’s being left out of the Brazil squad. It really is a non-story.
Opposition fans have used it as a stick to beat Arsenal with. Saying it shows we overrated our players.
Brazilian manager Tite has explained that Gabriel Jesus has been dropped to enable him to look at other forwards. This would indicate Jesus is a guaranteed starter come the World Cup.
Would be like Gareth Southgate leaving Harry Kane out so he can have a look at Ivan Toney.
Meanwhile Gabriel Martinelli has just 3 caps for his country. He has not been dropped, he is just on the fringes of the squad. Always an outside bet to make the World Cup.
With Neymar and Vinicius Junior fighting it out to start on their left hand side, it is no real disgrace to to miss out.
The fact he is probably next in line after these two shows just what a talent he is.
When you also take into account they also have Jesus and Richarlison that have played on that flank, the left hand sid is arguably Brazil’s strongest position.
If Martinelli played regularly on the right hand side I am sure he would have got in ahead of Anthony and Raphinha.
As for Gabriel Magalhaes, he has never been capped for his country.
For a long time Thiago Silva and Marquinhos have been the first choice pairing for Brazil. Eder Militao has become the 3rd choice in recent years.
Tite has selected Juventus’ Bremer and Roma’s Ibanez in his final squad. Like Gabriel, both are uncapped.
There really isn’t much between the 3 in terms of age and profile. You could probably pick 2 of the 3 at random and it wouldn’t make much difference.
Personally I am just happy that all 3 get a little break. And with the World Cup in December, it could be an advantage having less players called up to it.
I won’t be too upset if those players on the fringes of their national team (Cedric, Ben White, Gabriel, William Saliba, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Emile Smith Rowe, Fabio Vieira, Gabriel) miss out.
Add in those whose countries didn’t make it (Kieran Tierney, Martin Odergaard, Olexsandr Zinchenko, Mohamed Elneny) and those who are not close to selection (Rob Holding, Eddie Nketiah, Marquinhos) and it could be that the vast majority of our squad is “left at home”. This will be a huge advantage.
Those left at home will be nicely rested and raring to go come the return of football on Boxing Day.
It will also allow the club to give the likes of Bukayo Saka, Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka, Gabriel Jesus and Takhehiro Tomiyasu a breather on their return.
Rather than rushing those players back for the hectic Christmas schedule, they could all be given a week off and we ca utilise the freshness of those players not selected.
As the season reaches its business end, those clubs who had a lot of players on a 6 week winter break could be at a huge advantage.
Enjoy your day. And remember if you are struggling with what has happened over the last few days, our DMs are always open.
Kybunpark, Zürcherstrasse 464, 9015 St. Gallen, Switzerland
Thursday, 8th September 2022. Kick-off time: 5.45pm
(3-4-2-1) Matt Turner; Takehiro Tomiyasu, Rob Holding, Gabriel Magalhães; (Marcus Vinicius Oliveira Alencar) Marquinhos, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Granit Xhaka (c), Kieran Tierney; Fabio Vieira, Gabriel Martinelli; Eddie Nketiah.
Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White, Bukayo Saka, Martin Ødegaard, Gabriel Jesus, William Saliba, Karl Hein, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Catalin Cirjan, Matt Smith, Amario Cozier-Duberry
Scorers: Marquinhos (16 mins), Eddie Nketiah (62 mins)
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 70%
Referee: Mohammed Al-Hakim (Sweden)
Assistant Referees: Fredrik Klyver (Sweden), Max Robin Wilde (Sweden)
Fourth Official: Bojan Pandžić (Sweden)
VAR Team at UEFA HQ, Nyon, Switzerland: VAR Rob Dieperink (Netherlands); AVAR Edwin Van De Graaf (Netherlands)
UEFA Referee Observer: Darko Čeferin (Slovenia)
UEFA Delegate: Borja Bilbao (Spain)
Attendance: 20,000
We start our 2022-23 Europa League campaign this afternoon at an away trip to FC Zűrich in Switzerland. It certainly seems a while since we were playing in European competitions, so tonight will be a special evening for everyone associated with the club. Apparently, we are currently ranked tenth in Europe on the Nielsen Gracenote Euro Club Index, and are the favourites to win this season’s Europa League, ahead of Manchester United, Inter Milan and Barcelona, according to simulations of the tournament based on Gracenote’s Euro Club Index. A fantastic prediction, but many a slip twixt cup and lip, as we all well know. However, due to athletics and music events the venue has been switched from Zűrich’s Stadion Letzigrund to the smaller St. Gallen stadium.
Although the opening stages of the match were quite sluggish, we had a scare when an error by Matt Turner gave the home side a chance. He received a back pass from Gabriel outside his box and passed it straight to Aiyegun Tosin, who from a very tight angle hit the post; thankfully, there was an Arsenal defender covering on the line anyway, but it was still a bit of a start early on in the game. A few minutes’ later, Eddie Nketiah crossed the ball and Gabriel Martinelli glanced a header wide of the far post, and shortly afterwards, Gabriel Martinelli hit a bicycle kick in slow motion and it went well wide of the goal. On the sixteenth minute, Eddie Nketiah ran down the left and crossed for Marquinhos, who firmly hit the ball into the top corner of the net for the first goal of the game (on his debut as well), and a well-deserved one, too. Shortly afterwards, Fabio Vieira ran onto Albert Sambi Lokonga’s ball over the top of the FC Zűrich defence and dinked the ball over the keeper, only for it to land on the roof of the net, and then it was so close to an Arsenal second as Granit Xhaka, from thirty yards, took a touch and hammered the ball towards the bottom corner, which was incredibly well kept out by a good diving save from goalie Yanick Brecher. We had complete control of the match with good passing movements in the midfield and some superb efforts on goal. However, it all went badly wrong when, a minute from the half-time break, Eddie Nketiah went to clear a corner but accidentally kicked Fidan Aliti instead. Mirlind Kryeziu had to wait for a VAR check, which confirmed the penalty; he calmly stepped up, waited for Matt Turner to go one way and slotted it the other and into the net, to go into the break with honours even.
The stadium observed a minute’s silence following the news of the passing of Queen Elizabeth II. We started the second half in good heart, and showed our desire to win the game as we attacked the home side with urgency. After an excellent shot by Eddie Nketiah, in which he was unlucky not to score, Kieran Tierney ran forward and hit a low left-footed shot that was kicked clear by Yanick Brecher. Our pressure was intense, in which a few chances were tried and missed by Takehiro Tomiyasu and Gabriel Martinelli, and in many ways we couldn’t score for trying, unbelievably. Just after an effort by Aiyegun Tosin, in which his right-footed shot from more than thirty-five yards was unbelievably saved in the top centre of the goal, we grabbed a second goal when a cross by Marquinhos found Eddie Nketiah, whose header from the left side of the six-yard box ended up in the top left corner of the net. As often happens when a goal is scored, our opponents had a burst of life in which Nikola Boranijasevic’s right-footed shot from outside the box was blocked, and after some pressure on our goal, Mikel Arteta replaced Fabio Vieira and Marquinho for Bukayo Saka and Martin Ødegaard. The match started to become and end-to-end affair now, with both sides making efforts to score, with Arsenal looking the team more likely to get a third goal. With thirteen minutes of the match remaining, Eddie Nketiah was replaced by Gabriel Jesus, and his presence on the pitch certainly encouraged our players to push that extra yard and suddenly the game swung towards Arsenal in the last five minutes of the match. A shot from just outside the FC Zűrich side via the left foot of Bukayo Saka was blocked and almost immediately, Gabriel Martinelli slotted the ball to Gabriel Jesus, whose left-footed shot was saved by Yanick Brecher. In the four minutes’ injury time, panic set in within the home side in which a Ivan Santini header was saved by Matt Turner, and a soft penalty appeal was denied by the referee. Our last attempt of the match came when Granit Xhaka crossed the ball for Gabriel Jesus, whose shot was saved quite easily by the goalie. It made no difference, as we ran out more than worthy winners on the night.
All in all, leaving the penalty aside, we were not too troubled by FC Zűrich too much tonight. In many ways, Mikel Arteta expected the same thing really, as his choice of players tonight merely reflected that. Next week’s game is against PSV Eindhoven at the Emirates; somehow I think that game will be tougher than this one tonight here in Zűrich.
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: Everton at the Emirates on Sunday, 11th September at 2.00pm (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
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 