Before Declan Rice joined The Arsenal, he was a top, top midfielder.
It is testament to both Rice and Mikel Arteta that in their short time working together, Rice has quickly progressed and is now a world class performer.
Rice always had the natural attributes to become one of the best central midfielders in world football.
A powerful individual, he always had great technique for someone in his position. He is now adding improved tactical and positional awareness to his armoury.
Rice was always going to be limited at a club like West Ham.
Playing in an average team, with average coaching and surrounded by average coaches, his development had stalled. He was not being pushed on or off the pitch by team mates or manager. A big fish in a very small pond.
The demands of playing at Arsenal are so much greater than a club like West Ham. He can no longer coast through games and still be praised for being the best player on the team.
Rice has spoken recently about how much he has learned from Jorginho. He is also competing in his spot with Thomas Partey.
Like Rice, Partey is also one of the best defensive midfielders in the world. And it was only a couple of years ago that Jorginho was considered one of the best footballers on the planet – the Italian-Brazilian is one of footballs great brains and will become a top manager.
Rice has learned more in a couple of months from Jorginho and Partey than in had playing alongside Mark Noble for over half a decade.
You can see Rice’s development through his positional awareness.
At Arsenal, he now plus as the sole defensive midfielder, a role he was unable to undertake at West Ham where he was often part of a midfield two.
Rice is now developing a 360 degree view of the pitch. He is aware of what is happening behind him, ahead of him and to both sides. Most of the time at West Ham he only had to be concerned about what was happening in front of him as he played in a team the just looked to defend the box.
It is incredible his growth in such a short space of time. He clearly has the hunger and desire to learn, to get even better. At an elite club like Arsenal, he will only continue growing.
Keenos
Rice is finally fulfilling the potential he showed at a young age. Under Arteta, he will only get better.
We have just added our second set of #Arsenal inspired shin pads
Our second set are based on the clubs current kit!
Wednesday, 20th September 2023. Kick-off time: 8.00pm
(4-3-3) David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), Declan Rice, Kai Havertz; Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Jesus, Leandro Trossard.
Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Emile Smith-Rowe, Eddie Nketiah, Jakob Kiwior, Cédric Soares, Takehiro Tomiyasu, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Fábio Vieira, Reiss Nelson, Mohamed Elneny, Karl Hein.
Scorers: Bukayo Saka (8 mins), Leandro Trossard (20 mins), Gabriel Jesus (38 mins), Martin Ødegaard(70 mins)
Yellow Cards: Ben White
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 59%
Referee: Felix Zwayer (Germany)
Assistant Referees: Stefan Lupp (Germany), Eduard Beitinger (Germany)
Fourth Official: Sven Jablonski (Germany)
UEFA Referee Observer: Alexandru Deaconu (Romania)
UEFA VAR Team in Geneva: VAR Marco Fritz (Germany); AVAR Juan Martinez Munuera (Spain)
Attendance: circa 60,000
Tonight sees our return to the UEFA Champions League for the first time since the 2016-17 season, when we were miserably ejected from the competition by Bayern Munich in the Round of Sixteen. Still, that was then, and this now and who knows what we are able to achieve with our gallant squad of Young Guns? For this match, we will be without the services of Gabriel Martinelli, who was injured in Sunday’s victory at Everton, and David Raya continues to be in goal tonight as well.
Despite the awful weather, our supporters are in good heart, and after a minute’s silence for the recent disasters in Libya and Morocco, the match got underway. PSV are the first team to have an attempt on goal tonight as Noa Lang was allowed too much space to run towards the penalty area before he hit a low effort to the near post but fortunately David Raya got down quickly to save comfortably. The visitors look very confident as they continue to put us under pressure; however after just eight minutes, we took the lead when goalkeeper Walter Benitez dropped a shot and Bukayo Saka was on hand to capitalise on the goalie’s error. A fantastic start for us! Just a minute or so later, Gabriel Jesus was desperately unlucky in not grabbing the second goal, and then a good run on the edge of the penalty area by Bukayo Saka saw our man find some space. He skipped a challenge and then found Leandro Trossard, who sent a cross to the back post but Gabriel Jesus nodded the ball wide under pressure from the PSV defence. After twenty minutes, Leandro Trossard grabbed our second goal of the evening when Bukayo Saka ran down the right wing and picked out Leandro Trossard perfectly and the forward hit a wonderful strike into the bottom corner of the net. We continued our pressure on the PSV goal when Kai Havertz ballooned a shot over the top of the crossbar from close range, and a couple of minutes later, a Gabriel Jesus effort came even closer to scoring our third goal. The visitors came back at as, and although a Johan Bakayoko effort went wide of the post, we were dominating the match. We were committing players forward all the time, to try and grab a third goal before half time, and with seven minutes of the half remaining, Gabriel Jesus scored our third goal of the evening when Leandro Trossard managed to get behind the PSV defence on the left wing, looked up into the penalty area before sending a perfect cross to the feet of Gabriel Jesus, who simply drove the ball into the back of the net. Unfortunately, Ben White got tangled up with Sergino Dest and he undeservedly received the first yellow card of the game, and although two minutes injury time was played, nothing really happened, and we went into the break very much in command.
The second half started with much expectation from everyone in the crowd here at the Emirates, and there is a gneral hope that the boys can capitalise on their three-goal lead. Shortly after the restart, our captain placed a perfect pass to Gabriel Jesus just inside the PSV penalty area, but sadly, he was unable to turn the defender. The visitors tried to catch us on the break, but the resulting effort from Johan Bakayoko was easily covered by David Raya, and a few minutes afterwards, Reiss Nelson and Takehiro Tomiyasu replaced Leandro Trossard and Oleksandr Zinchenko with an idea by the manager to rest players before the North London derby on Sunday afternoon. We continued to apply pressure on the PSV defence, and although we were actively looking for that elusive fourth goal, the pace of the game has changed a little bit, with Arsenal seemingly happy with the goals that they already have, and PSV seemingly happy in not conceding any more goals either. With twenty minutes of the match remaining, Mikel Arteta made some more changes as Emile Smith-Rowe made his first appearance of the season; he came on the pitch along with Fabio Vieira; Gabriel Jesus and Bukayo Saka made way for this duo. Kai Havertz held the ball up and then found Emile Smith-Rowe, who used his upper body strength to hold off a defender and passed it neatly to Reiss Nelson, who in turn slotted the ball to Martin Ødegaard, who took a simple touch before hammering an unstoppable twenty-five yard strike into the bottom corner of the net to make it four-nil to Arsenal on the night. We were still hungry for yet more goals though, as our strikers continued to apply massive pressure on the PSV defence; Reiss Nelson was desperately unlucky in not grabbing a fifth goal when his shot was blocked, and as the match petered out, with the crowd starting to leave, there was a huge sense of a job extremely well done.
Tonight, our captain Martin Ødegaard was absolutely immense, leading by example and getting his just reward by scoring the fourth and final goal tonight. Declan Rice and Kai Havertz had complete control, and it was heartening to see Emile Smith-Rowe making his first appearance of the season, let’s pray that it won’t be his last. David Raya had very little to do in our goal, and Leandro Trossard constantly and consistently showed his class througout. A job very, very well done tonight, 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: Tottenham Hotspur at the Emirates on Sunday, 24th 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
🔴🔴GIVEAWAY🔴🔴
We have a set of our Bukayo Saka & Emile Smith Rowe Shin Pads (m) to giveaway
These have a slight blemish, rather than bin them we thought we would give them away. To enter:
Maybe I am just becoming a grumpy old bastard, but I am not that excited in the return of Champions League football tonight.
We have not played in UEFA’s premier competition since 2017, and I can understand why fans are a bit giddy today – especially those 20 or under. But I have seen us play Champions League football for 19-years in a row, so it really is not something too special for me.
I was there at Wembley in 1998 when the club made the horrendous decision to play Champions League games in North-West London to maximise profits. I sat watching the 2006 Final from my University house in the middle of my final year law exams wishing I was out there.
I have been to Rome, Munich, Milan, Paris and more. The competition has never been that close to my heart, and I will always prefer the FA Cup.
For me, the Champions League is not about establishing who the “best team in Europe is”. It is all about generating the most money for UEFA and those clubs participating. That is why UEFA are changing the format to something no-one wanted. It is all about more games generating more revenue to pay for those 5* hotels that UEFA delegates love so much.
So yes, from a financial point of view, it is good that Arsenal are back in the Champions League. But from a footballing point of view, I do not care.
Including in their plans is a new television kick-off time of 6:30pm on a Sunday.
It is example 32438578352 that Sky Sports, the Premier League, et al’s response to the European Super League was simply fakery. They have no interest in the match going fans that they “stood up for”. There only issue was that they were not invited to the party.
It is hard enough already to get home from Newcastle, Liverpool and more for a 4:30pm Sunday kick off. A 6:30pm kick off will mean you will not be back to the local train station until around 7:30pm. And then if you do manage to get the last train, you are back at Kings Cross or Euston for midnight.
Fans who see football as a TV show, who complain each week about their favourite show club not being on TV devery weekend, will love this. They will be saying “but without the TV money Arsenal will not exist”.
That is simply not true.
Football survives across the world without TV deals as big as the Premier League’s, and without huge international fan bases.
I go football to watch The Arsenal. I would watch us regardless of whether we had William Saliba, Martin Odegaard and Gabriel Jesus or James Tarkowski, James Garner and Dominic Calvert-Lewin. I would be there week in, week out regardless of whether we were Premier League or Leauge Two.
I support Arsenal because I love the club, I found somewhere where I belong, not because we have global superstars playing for us, win trophies or play in the Premier League.
As we have seen with Manchester City fans mocking Luton Town, football is now filled with TV fans who just do not get it (note: I am not talking about all TV fans). They support their team not because they are local or have family ties, but because they win trophies or have their favourite players.
When their team stops winning trophies, they will find a new hobby. When their favourite player leaves, they will support the club they join. For me, this is not what being a football fan is all about.
Luton, meanwhile, are a community club whose fans have been on a journey over the last decade. From 5th tier to Premier League. They are everything that Wrexham try to market themselves as.
On a side note, it is laughable that Wrexham’s new TV show describes them as an “underdog” last season, when they are financed by two millionaire actors and were buying to players from League One and had the higher wage budget than many clubs two leagues above them. “Watch them win their first title in 40-years” – I imagine many of their new TV fans will not even realise they were playing in the 5th tier….
Luton have done brilliant to go from the brink of extinction to Premier League football in a decade.
I would rather watch my club in the ground week in, week out surrounded by locals, at 3pm on a Saturday and win nothing than watch a global brand on TV every week winning trophies. The new breed of Man City fans are everything their older fans hated about Manchester United.
At some point we need to say “no” to the TV companies.
More games on TV and more revenue will not equal better players. Premier League clubs already over pay for mid-tier players in comparison to elsewhere in Europe. Do Chelsea really need another £50m a year to overspend on random players?
All more games on TV benefits is those fans that see us as a TV show. And you will all moan when your Sky subscription has to go up to pay for them.
Anyway, I look forward to the game tonight. I will be there in the ground even if I am not excited, backing my team 100%.
UTA
Keenos
We have just added our second set of #Arsenal inspired shin pads
Our second set are based on the clubs current kit!
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 