Throughout the last couple of months of the pandemic, I have had a consistent view.
Football games should not be postponed due to “Covid and injuries”.
Every Premier League side has registered over 50 players across their A and B lists. To announce they are unable to field a starting XI and 7 subs is just laughable.
It was interesting to note that last weekend, faced with forfeiting the tie, no FA Cup game was postponed due to Covid. Every team managed to put out a side.
Then we return to the Premier League and all of a sudden Everton v Leicester City is postponed due to the visitors being unable to field and XI. It is just a joke.
In Mikel Arteta’s post-game interview after the Liverpool game, he all but said we are down to the bare bones.
Injury, suspension and the African Cup of Nations have stripped us of a team of players. But we should not request a postponement.
We have one of the most expensively assembled squads in sport. A wage bill which dwarfs almost every team in England and beyond. We have no excuses not to be able to field and XI.
And in fact we can field an XI:
343 is the formation that saw Arsenal lift the FA Cup, and it is an XI where 10 of the players have been capped by their country.
Moving down to the bench, that is also strong:
Leno Mari Tavares Kolasinac Patino Smith Rowe Nketiah
It might not be the strongest bench in the world, but every single player has made a senior appearance for Arsenal. Combined the 7 players on the bench have played over 1300 domestic games.
In January Arsenal have let Ainsley Maitland-Nile’s and Folarin Balogun go out on loan. If the club were concerned about a player shortage whilst the ACoN’s is on they should have let both until the end of the month.
Sunday needs to go ahead. Arsenal need to stand apart from the rest of the league and make a point of playing games even when the squad is ravaged.
Having players out has never been a reason to postpone games previously. It should not be now.
Anfield Stadium, Anfield Road, Anfield, Liverpool L4 0TH
Thursday, 13th January 2022. Kick-off time: 7.45pm
(4-2-3-1) Aaron Ramsdale; Cédric Soares, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhães, Kieran Tierney; Albert Sambi Lokonga, Granit Xhaka; Bukayo Saka, Alexandre Lacazette, Gabriel Martinelli; Eddie Nketiah.
Substitutes: Bernd Leno, Rob Holding, Nuno Tavares, Calum Chambers, Pablo Marí, Mika Biereth, Salah-Eddine Oulad M’Hand, Omari Hutchinson, Charlie Patino.
Red Cards: Granit Xhaka
Yellow Cards: Gabriel Magalhães
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 22%
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistant Referees: Simon Bennett, Stuart Burt
Fourth Official: Craig Pawson
VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Darren England; AVAR Timothy Wood
Attendance: 53,394
After the disappointments of last Sunday’s FA Cup third round match against Nottingham Forest, tonight’s semi-final first leg at Anfield is one game that we simply cannot be allowed to fail, as this competition is our only chance of silverware this season. With missing players due to AFCON, COVID-19, injuries and suspensions, it will be interesting to see how our team fare tonight in such a hothouse atmosphere.
Arsenal kicked off the proceedings tonight and we were attacking the Kop end in the first half. A good cross by Cédric Soares tried to find Eddie Nketiah, but he collided with Alisson, the Liverpool goalkeeper and as such, the home side were awarded the first free-kick of the match. Liverpool were trying to pin us back into our own half, but we managed to hold our own under some fierce pressure. After just ten minutes, Cédric Soares was replaced by Calum Chambers as he had an injury to his right-hand side, which meant that he was unable to continue. We were fortunate not to concede a couple of goals when a mistake by Aaron Ramsdale was charged down by Jordan Henderson that fortunately went nowhere, and then a half-hearted attempt by Andy Robertson went narrowly wide. Although the home supporters are creating a certain noise level, our supporters are doing their best to be heard, as well, shouting and pushing the boys on as best they can in this cacophony of sound. After nineteen minutes, Alexandre Lacazette tried his luck thirty yards from goal after a mistake from Liverpool skipper Jordan Henderson but he was unable to get the ball on target and it went well high and wide. After twenty-four minutes, we were down to ten men when Granit Xhaka was dismissed by referee Michael Oliver when he denied Diego Jota a goalscoring chance when he was bearing down on our goal attempting to collect a high ball. In order to reshuffle the pack, Eddie Nketiah was replaced by Rob Holding just before the half hour mark, and using the advantage of the extra man, Liverpool sensed a weakness in Arsenal’s ranks and piled pressure on us relentlessly. Every man played their part in trying to keep the home side back as balls were flying into our penalty area from every possible angle, and somehow our defenders manged to clear their lines. Four minutes before half time, a flurry of activity from our attackers led to both a corner and a free-kick (for a foul on Bukayo Saka) that went nowhere, sadly. Michael Oliver blew the half-time whistle after two minutes’ injury time, and amazingly, not only did the first period end goalless, but neither team registered a shot on goal. An incredible statistic.
Liverpool started the second half in earnest, and almost immediately they pushed us back into our own half, and Takumi Minamino almost caught Aaron Ramsdale off guard, but fortunately our goalkeeper managed to backpedal and recover in time. We caught the home side unawares once or twice with some good “smash’n’grab” play, which although didn’t achieve its aim, it still made Liverpool uneasy. Aaron Ramsdale made some spectacular saves to keep us in the game on several occasions, and although we defended superbly well under the circumstances, our forwards were getting no brevity at the other end. Our best bet to score tonight could be from set pieces, but the way the match is going tonight, anything can happen. Our defensive wall when Liverpool came forward is made up of five blue shirts, and with twenty minutes of the match remaining, it’s a system that works well. Bukayo Saka was desperately unlucky not to score when he was in a one-on-one situation with Alisson, but he was unable to control the ball, and the goalkeeper retrieved it easily. Entering the last quarter of an hour of the match, the game started to spark into life again with some real end-to-end play from tired legs. With eleven minutes of the match remaining, an injured and fatigued Bukayo Saka was replaced by Nuno Tavares, and our backs-to-the-wall performance continued as the clock wore down. The home side pinned us back in our own half, but our excellent organisation at the back, combined with sheer determination denied our opponents time and time again. With a minute of normal time remaining, Aaron Ramsdale snatched at the ball, and as it fell loose, and with an open goal at his mercy, Takumi Minamino blasted the ball high and into the Kop. In the five minutes injury time, the pressure continued from Liverpool, and the harder they tried, the more we put our bodies in the way of them. As the final whistle blew, our courageous ten men can look at this match tonight as a job well done.
Incredible result by our men at Anfield tonight; we played with ten men after Granit Xhaka was sent off after just twenty-four minutes, and we held Liiverpool, despite being under extreme pressure for large periods of the match. Every man played their part, every man played with heart and desire, none more so than Ben White, who seemed to be everywhere this evening, thwarting the Liverpool strikers seemingly at will. Also, just how great were our supporters tonight? They were constantly singing throughout the game, at times outsinging the Liverpool supporters! This result is as good as a win, no doubt about that, and it makes next Thursday’s match at the Emirates a nail-biter. Oh, and before that we have the little matter of the North London derby as well! Exciting times.
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: Tottenham Hotspur at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on Sunday, 16th January 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.
With so many young and new players in the squad we were always going to have some fantastic highs only to take two steps back the next week.
After the performance in the defeat against Manchester City, my response is “it will be all for nothing if we don’t back it up with wins”. And next game out we lost.
Under Mikel Arteta it has constantly get like 2 steps forward, 2 steps back. And after the positive run towards the end of 2021 we have started 2022 with back to back defeats.
The one against Man City we could all stomach after our great performance and Stuart Attwell’s poor. But what we saw against Nottingham Forest was unacceptable.
It perhaps highlighted how much work we still need to do on the squad.
We had players out injured (Tomiyasu, Smith Rowe), with Covid (Xhaka), suspended (Gabriel) and at the African Cup of Nations (Partey, Elneny, Pepe, Aubameyang); whilst Tierney, Ramsdale and Lacazette were all left on the bench.
That XI would beat the XI that we put out Sunday.
Eddie Nketiah showed that he doesn’t have it. The hype around Charlie Patino needs to stop – let him have 18 months in the U23s / out on loan. Cedric needs replacing and Lokonga can not be expected to be the senior midfielder for the next 4 weeks. Finally Tavares has played well enough earlier in the season to show there is a player there, but he had a bad night.
After 3 games we were 20th. After 20 we are 4th.
We are on the League Cup semi-final but out of the FA Cup.
Despite a rollercoaster of a season, we still have a chance of a trophy and a return to Champions League football.
I guess the important thing is let’s not go over the top when we have a high, and let’s not get too despondent when we have a low.
We back this team to the end of the season. There are still plenty of memorable moments to be made.
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 