Lovely win on Wednesday. That is how you qualify for the knock out stages of the Champions League in style!
The 6-nil victory over Lens not only secured our progression, but also means we finish top of the league.
Again, i would like to point out that Arsenal are top of both the Premier League and our Champions League group despite “Arteta being found out”. It is crazy that some still dismiss him as a poor manager. It is clear that they have their own agenda at play…
Finishing top means that we avoid other group winners in the next stage – so no Bayern Munich, Real Madrid or Manchester City. We are also likely to avoid Barcelona, Dortmund and Atletico Madrid.
Currently in second are Copenhagen, Napoli, Inter Milan, Lazio, PSG, RB Leipzig and Porto.
The victory was our best attacking performance of the season. Not a surprise when it was the first time Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz had played together this season.
That quintet is up there as one of the best attacking units in European football!
A few have commented about how we are less exciting in attack this season, and I have often blogged that the lack of Jesus is the reason behind this.
Jesus is instinctive and causes chaos for opponents. The way he plays excites and gets bums off seats. It is no surprise that we are a little less exciting when he is upfront. It will be interesting to see if we stick with the 5 man front line against Wolves!
It is interesting how quickly fan opinions can change in football.
Following a bucket load of debatable decisions, Arsenal fans were told by Newcastle fans, former players, and pundits, to basically “shut up and accept it” and to “respect the referees decision”.
An international break later and Newcastle themselves were on the wrong end of a debatable decision that saw a victory in Paris snatched away from them at the last minute. And the response was ever so predictable.
The same fans who told Arsenal fans to “get over it” were up in arms. Alan Shearer was tweeting his hatred of VAR. And pundits were coming out saying that the decision making was not good enough.
Newcastle fans have shown themselves as a microcosm of all football fans – tribal hypocrites.
When I blogged about the Newcastle debacle, I made the point that fans, managers and the media need to come together as one to make it clear that the VAR decision making was not good enough. That rivalries needed to be put aside.
There is no point saying “love VAR” and mocking opponents when a decision goes your way, then saying “f**K VAR” and demanding changes when it does not. Fans need to stay consistent and call out all poor VAR decisions – even if they go your way.
We have seen poor VAR decisions go against Liverpool, Wolves, Arsenal and Newcastle this season. There is probably more to mention as well. But the PGMOL will feel under no pressure to improve whilst fans continually fight amongst themselves and go out of their way to defend bad decisions that go for them (or against a rival).
I will not follow Newcastle fans lead by mocking them for the PSG decision. I will say that they as a fan base need to do better. That celebrating poor decisions does not lead to improvements.
Arsenal (5) 6 RC Lens (0) 0 Champions League Group B, Matchday 5 of 6 Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU Wednesday, 29th November 2023. Kick-off time: 8.00pm
(4-3-3) David Raya; Takehiro Tomiyasu, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), Declan Rice, Kai Havertz; Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Gabriel Martinelli. Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Ben White, Eddie Nketiah, Jakob Kiwior, Cédric Soares, Leandro Trossard, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Reiss Nelson, Mohamed Elneny, Karl Hein, Myles Lewis-Skelly, Ethan Nwaneri
Scorers: Kai Havertz (13 mins), Gabriel Jesus (21 mins), Bukayo Saka (23 mins), Gabriel Martinelli (27 mins), Martin Ødegaard (45+1 mins), Jorginho (86 mins) Arsenal Possession Percentage: 48%
Referee: Artur Manuel Soares Dias (Portugal) Assistant Referees: Paulo Soares (Portugal), Pedro Ribeiro (Portugal) Fourth Official: Miguel Nogueira (Portugal) UEFA Referee Observer: Kyros Vassaras (Greece) UEFA VAR Team in Geneva: VAR Tiago Martins (Portugal); AVAR Hugo Miguel (Portugal)
If we are victorious tonight against our French opponents, we will secure top spot in Group B, which will be a fantastic position to be in, going into the New Year. Fábio Vieira is ruled out of tonight’s game after having surgery on a groin injury, but Kai Havertz will be starting this evening after he came off the bench to score the winner against Brentford on Saturday.
Arsenal kicked off the fifth match of six (and the last home game in Group B for us) in a fantastic atmosphere here at the Emirates tonight. We started off calmly, in control, looking for our men with every measured pass.
We dominated possession of the match in the early stages, and over on the right wing, Takehiro Tomiyasu was causing the RC Lens defenders one or two issues that they don’t appear to be too happy about. Shortly afterwards, a Bukayo Saka pass found Gabriel Jesus, who tried to flick the ball back into Bukayo Saka’s path, but it went askew.
Just after a Kai Havertz header (courtesy of Takehiro Tomiyasu) went narrowly wide of the right-hand post, we took the lead on the thirteenth minute when a high ball was played into the penalty area, Gabriel Jesus laid it off for Kai Havertz, who simply knocked the ball into the back of the net from six yards.
Shortly after the restart, Bukayo Saka was “sandwiched” between two RC Lens players and he crumpled to the ground, holding his leg; he managed to get up and carry on, but he was hobbling around a fair bit.
We grabbed our second goal after just twenty-one minutes when Bukayo Saka drifted in from the right wing and although he almost lost the ball twice, he retrieved it both times before merely poking it to Gabriel Jesus in the penalty area. The little Brazilian sidestepped a defender, leaving him prostrate on the ground, he jinked and turned, and slotted the ball into the bottom corner of the net.
A couple of minutes later, David Raya pumped a long ball up the pitch into the path of Kai Havertz, who in turn slotted the ball into the path of Gabriel Martinelli, whose lovely curling shot was parried by goalie Brice Samba, right into the chest of Bukayo Saka, who simply bundled the ball into the net.
Four minutes later, we scored our fourth goal of the evening when Gabriel Martinelli ran quickly onto a long ball down the left wing, lost a few defenders, took his time and beautifully curled a shot into the far corner of the net.
One major point of concern tonight was the amount of fouls that Bukayo Saka was receiving, both on and off the ball; if ever a player needs protection from the match officials tonight, it must surely be him.
The visitors claim for a penalty was denied when a ball hit Kai Havertz’s leg and went onto his arm; VAR took a look and quite rightly cancelled it out. Facundo Medina hit a screamer from twenty-five yards, which hit the post and bounced back into play, but we appeared to take it in our stride and carried on pressurising the visitors.
Just before the break, Bukayo Saka passed the ball to Gabriel Martinelli, but he whacked his shot into the side netting, and in the first minute of injury time, our fifth goal was scored when Bukayo Saka ran deep into the RC Lens half, and passed the ball to Takehiro Tomiyasu on the overlap, who immediately crossed it and our captain Martin Ødegaard volleyed the ball into the bottom corner of the net from about ten yards. Five-nil to the Arsenal at the half-time break! Phew!
Mikel Arteta has made a double substitution for the second half, with Ben White and Jakob Kiwior replacing Takehiro Tomiyasu and Oleksandr Zinchenko. The visitors were making a better fist of things in the early stages of the second half far more than they did in the whole of the previous one, showing more spirit and fight. However, we started to wake up a bit and play the kind of football that got us five goals in the previous half, although obviously, the urgency has dissipated somewhat.
Gabriel Jesus hassled and harried the ball back off from the visitors, but sadly commited a foul in the process. Gabriel Martinelli made a fantastic run through the middle of the pitch, but he was tackled by a phalanx of defenders and he lost the ball in the process, obviously.
The visitors were trying to split our defence using the long ball style of play, but our defenders were easily clearing the ball out of harm’s way.
Bukayo Saka was replaced by Reiss Nelson after sixty-five minutes, and we almost grabbed a sixth goal when Kai Havertz caused mayhem out on the left wing and pulled it back for our captain to shoot.
Martin Ødegaard’s shot was somehow saved by Brice Samba, who dropped the ball but gathered it up just before Gabriel Jesus could pounce on it. Ben White whacked a ball over the bar following a Martin Ødegaard corner, and with fifteen minutes of the match remaining, Jorginho replaced Declan Rice (with an eye towards the Wolverhampton Wanderers match on Saturday afternoon) and just after Eddie Nketiah replaced Gabriel Jesus, we were awarded a penalty when Gabriel Martinelli was elbowed across the face; normally our captain takes the penalties, but he graciously handed the ball to Jorginho, who made no mistake from the penalty spot.
In the three minutes injury time, the visitors had a couple of chances which were easily dealt with, and despite some good possession play from our boys, the match petered out to its natural conclusion.
A fantastic performance by the boys here at the Emirates tonight; six-nil, with six different goalscorers.
The first half sealed the visitors’ fate, and although we played some great football in the second half, the damage to RC Lens had already been done. Sensible substitutions by Mikel Arteta throughout the second half preserved some legs for the Wolverhamtpon Wanderers game on Saturday afternoon, which is going to be an inportant match for everyone. Anyway, as far as tonight was concerned, top of Group B, and we qualified as group leaders with a match to spare. Well done, chaps!
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: Wolverhampton Wanderers at the Emirates on Saturday, 2nd December at 3.00pm (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
For a long time, Unai Emery was at the top of my list to replace Arsene Wenger.
I had him down as a bright young manager who had taken a starless Sevilla to success time and time again in the mid 2010’s, and someone who looked like he had what it needed to make the step up and become the next superstar manager.
At the time, I saw him as someone who could challenge the likes of Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola as one of the great thinkers in our game.
Even after his PSG “struggles”, I was not put off by him – he still has the highest win ratio of any PSG manager in history and won 7 out of 8 domestic trophies with them.
I was buzzing when he joined The Arsenal. It felt like the right decision. We had avoided mimicking Manchester United and going for a David Moyes-esque manager. Emery was the man to take us back to the top.
But it did not work out for Unai, and after 18 months he was replaced by Mikel Arteta.
There had been rumblings when he was at PSG that he struggled to manage big ego’s, and that this was a key reason for his departure.
Emery came into an Arsenal dressing room that was probably at its most toxic in history.
We had the ego’s of the likes of Mesut Ozil and Pirre-Emerick Aubameyang, both of whom believed they were bigger than the club and more important than the manager. Their behaviour under Emery was nothing short of a disgrace and, as senior players, influenced junior counterparts.
His struggle to speak English fluently led players to mock and undermine him at every opportunity and, following 7 games without a win and having lost the dressing room, he was sacked.
No one was upset when Emery departed. It was probably the first time in 15-years that all Arsenal fans had agreed. It was the right time for him to go.
Aston Villa have had a fantastic start to this season. That has led the likes of Tony Adams to say “Emery could have won the Premier League with Arsenal last season“, and fans who celebrated his departure to now claim the club should have never got rid of him.
As above, I think Emery is a fantastic manager, but that does not mean that I think he was the right man to take us forward.
One thing Arteta did when he joined was “clear the decks” of the bad eggs. Within 2 years of joining, Ozil, Aubameyang, Guendouzi, Mustafi, Sokratis and Kolašinac all found themselves either sold, released or loaned out.
Arteta and Edu worked as one, removing a lot of overpaid, ageing players that were dragging us down. They replaced them with young, hungry talent. Players that would listen to Arteta, but into his methods and follow him to hell and back.
Due to the language barrier and lack of self-confidence, I am not sure Emery would have been able to ship out what we had and bring new players in under his spell. You could not picture Emery doing what Arteta did during the All or Nothing documentary.
That is not to say that I do not think Emery is an excellent coach. He clearly is. But sometimes managers work better in different environments.
Aston Villa is not to different a place to Valencia or Sevilla.
The expectation is not high. They do not have fans that demand the club to be challenging for the title each year. And they do not have the big ego players. Villa Park is an environment that suits Emery better.
4-years since departing The Arsenal, Emery has also improved his English massively, and this makes a huge difference in the dressing room.
I do not think it can be underestimated how bad a position Arsenal were in off the pitch prior to Arteta and Edu coming in. They have basically ripped up the entire club on and off the pitch and rebuit it. New players, new coaching methods, new training facilities.
We are now reaping the benefits of that on the field, whilst the likes of Manchester United continue to struggle on and off the pitch with the same problems we had.
Arteta is a bit like Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger. He is more than a coach. He sees the bigger picture beyond what the first team are doing. I am not sure Emery has that foresight.
As for Tony Adams, he is an Arsenal legend. Mr Arsenal. But he has also not shown himself as being the most guided speaker since his retirement. This is not the first time he has wrongly criticised the club.
By saying “Emery could have won the title at Arsenal” is a dig at the club. Probably a bit of bitterness still sits within him that Arsenal have continually (and rightly) rejected his offers to work as a coach for us.
The word “could” is actually an interesting turn of phrase, because it means that no one can say what Adams said is wrong.
Emery could have won the league with Arsenal last season. But he did not. Arteta could have won the league with Arsenal last season. But he did not. Ljungberg could have won the league with Arsenal last season. But he did not. Keenos could have won the league with Arsenal last season. But he did not. You could have won the league with Arsenal last season. But you did not.
All of the above could also have taken us to second in the league, but only one person actually achieved that – Mikel Arteta. Talk of what others could have done is pointless. Emery could have got us relegated….
Emery is doing a great job at Villa. In 2023, only Arsenal and Manchester City have gained more points and he has a win ratio of 61.7%.
Villa’s home record this season reads played 6, won 6, with 23 goals scored. They have not lost at home in the league since 18 February – when The Arsenal beat them 4-2.
In that time they have beaten Tottenham and Newcastle. Villa Park is certainly not an easy place to go and take 3-points.
But Brentford was similar. They had only lost three times at home since the start of last season. Our 1-nil victory a couple of weeks ago means that we are responsible for 50% of their home league defeats in the last season and a half!
Emery is doing a great job with Villa, but was not the right man to take us forward. That man is Super Mik Arteta.
Keenos
Nearly four years to the day since The Arsenal sacked Unai Emery.
A few weeks later, they appointed Mikel Arteta.
Arteta turned Arsenal into title challengers. Emery is doing a top job at Aston Villa.
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 