Unexcited about The Arsenal’s Champions League return

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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.

In another example of greed, the Premier League are reportedly looking to “increase the TV rights deal with 25% more games being shown live on TV”.

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

David Raya, Fabio Vieira, Offside, Leandro Trossard and more…

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David Raya

On-loan keeper David Raya was a surprise starter on Sunday. It lead many to assume that he was not Arsenal’s number one. But was the decision just tactical?

Mikel Arteta spoke post-game about how pundits would not question him making tactical changes in the outfield, altering the team depending on the opponent.

In the previous 5 games against Everton, we have averaged 68.2% possession. In the previous 3, that rises to 72.7%. Yesterday we had 75% possession.

Arteta made the decision to play Raya, who is superior to Aaron Ramsdale with the ball at his feet, due to his expectation that we would dominate possession.

It will now be interesting to see whether Arteta continues to rotate his goal keepers based on opposition, like he would with outfield players…

Fabio Vieira

Talking about rotating players to exploit the opposition, Fabio Vieira came in for Kai Havertz. Again, some doubters saw this as Havertz being dropped. I think it was tactical.

Yes, I thought Havertz might have a big part to play in sunday’s game, but there is a reason why I sit behind a keyboard whilst Arteta stands on the touchline.

Everton beat us last season through compacting the midfield and making themselves very hard to play through. They force teams outside where they then rely on their wingers to help their full backs and know they have the power in defence to clear any high balls into the box.

Havertz likes to play central. He tends not to drift too far outwide. His inclusion would have led Arsenal to play into Everton’s hands with the congested midfield.

When Arsenal play with Oleksandr Zinchenko, Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli and Eddie Nketiah, we end up very narrow on that left hand side.

Fabio Vieira makes that run from in to out. He gets himself round the back of the winger, and also the full back. That allows him to get to the touchline and play balls on the deck into the box.

When you compare the heat maps of Vieira on Sunday against Granit Xhaka last season, you can see how wide Vieira played despite being in the “same position” as the ex-Arsenal captain.

Vieira playing wider has two affects on the games.

Firstly, he can find himself with space and time to influence the attack. Secondly, it drags Everton’s defence over which can then open up space on the right hand side.

I think Havertz will be a big player for Arsenal. But he does not yet have the natural instinct to get himself outwide.

We should not see Vieira starting over Havertz as a negative, but as a positive.

Arteta now has a collection of players that can all come in and slightly alter our attack depending on opponents.

Offside

I am still confused as to how that was offside on Sunday.

There is a debate to be had over the angle for the offside cameras at Goodison Park, but I do back the technology.

What I do not understand is the laws surrounding “deliberately playing the ball“:

*‘Deliberate play’ (excluding deliberate handball) is when a player has control of the ball with the possibility of:

  • passing the ball to a team-mate;
  • gaining possession of the ball; or
  • clearing the ball (e.g. by kicking or heading it)

If the pass, attempt to gain possession or clearance by the player in control of the ball is inaccurate or unsuccessful, this does not negate the fact that the player ‘deliberately played’ the ball.

The offside came from Gabriel trying to play a sideways-backwards ball to William Saliba. The Everton player charged towards the ball and attempted to intercept it.

I am really confused that this is not seen as a deliberate attempt to play the ball. If the Everton player was not trying to play the ball, what was he doing running towards it?

“It was not a case of instinctive stretching or jumping, or a movement that achieved limited contact/control” – He was in full control of his body and knew exactly what he was doing – trying to intercept the ball and knock it back to his midfield.

He was in full control of his body and the ball went in the direction he wanted to go – his touch was just heavier than he hoped due to the speed he was travelling.

I do not get how an attacker in the 6 yard box jumping over a shot can be deemed “not interfering with play”, and then they deem a player deliberately playing the ball can be deemed as not deliberately playing the ball….

Leandro Trossard

Interesting to see people say “Leandro Trossard should have started” after his fine goal.

Trossard has been a brilliant signing for Arsenal. He offers us depth in a multitude of positions and works in tandem to with Martinelli to keep that left hand side fresh for 90-minutes.

He scored a fantastic winner, and his Man of the Match performance has led many to say he should start regularly, and it is a mistake by Arteta that he has only started 1 league game this season.

It ignores the fact that Martinelli had given Arsenal the lead, and it was only a ref error that led to the goal being ruled out.

In another world, Martinelli’s goal is given, he does not pick up an injury, and Arsenal win 4-0.

Yesterday was not proof that Trossard should start ahead of Martinelli. It was proof that we have two very good options on the left hand side.

You do not need to pick a side, you can support both players!

Corner time

A lot has been made about The Arsenal taking 26 seconds to take the corner which lead to the match winning goal. It is almost like Neville, Sky Sports et al go out of their way to discredit an Arsenal win.

To bring our 26s into perspective, last season it took sides on average 33 second to take corners.

Brentford have regularly topped the goals from corners charts since their return to the Premier League. They also take more time over set pieces than any other clubs. This shows a correlation between taking your time over a set piece and scoring a goal from them.

I have never heard Neville, Sky or anyone else criticise Brentford for how long they take over them, in fact they are universally praised.. So why criticise Arsenal now? I think we know why…

Keenos

Match Report: Everton 0 – 1 Arsenal

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Everton (0) 0 Arsenal (0) 1

Premier League

Goodison Park, Goodison Road, Liverpool L4 4EL

Sunday, 17th September 2023. Kick-off time: 4.30pm

(4-3-3) David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), Declan Rice, Fábio Vieira; Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli.

Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Gabriel Jesus, Emile Smith-Rowe, Jakob Kiwior, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Leandro Trossard, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Reiss Nelson, Kai Havertz

Scorers: Leandro Trossard (69 mins)

Yellow Cards: Gabriel

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 74%

Referee: Simon Hooper

Assistant Referees: Adrian Holmes, Simon Long

Fourth Official: Anthony Taylor

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Stuart Attwell; AVAR Nick Greenhalgh

Attendance: 39,414

For this afternoon’s match against Everton at Goodison Park, it is to be noted that the club had sixteen players away on international duty during the past week or so, and every one of them have returned with no injuries reported, for which we can breathe a large sigh of relief about. However, Thomas Partey has an ongoing groin injury, and David Raya makes his Premiership debut in goal for us today.

After a respectful minute’s silence for the victims of the Moroccan earthquake and the Libyan flood disasters, we kicked off today’s encounter with the Toffeemen in a controlled and patient manner, in a noisy atmosphere. The early exchanges were dominated by ourselves, placing lots of pressure onto the home side’s defence. Eddie Nketiah flicked the ball nicely into the penalty area with the back of his heel but Jarrad Branthwaite read the danger well and easily tapped the ball back to goalkeeper Jordan Pickford. Dwight McNeil was caught hesitating on the ball and our captain tried to slot the ball into the path of Bukayo Saka, but Jarrad Branthwaite was again on hand to kick the ball behind for a corner. Bukayo Saka sent the ball deep into the Everton penalty area and the ball was knocked behind again for our third corner of the match so far, which was wasted, sadly, when Fábio Vieira carelessly blasted it into the crowd. After just twenty-one minutes, Gabriel Martinelli scored a goal which was controversially disallowed by VAR for Eddie Nketiah being offside, and ironically, a few minutes afterwards, our disallowed goalscorer was replaced by Leandro Trossard as it appeared that he had pulled up with a muscle injury. William Saliba classily picked the pocket of Beto in our penalty area, and as the ball came back into our penalty area, Abdoulaye Doucouré tried to turn William Saliba, but fell down thus claiming a penalty of course, which was denied by referee Simon Hooper, thankfully. Bukayo Saka was caught by a late challenge, but it looked like it wasn’t serious, and he was able to continue playing. Damian Rice, Martin Ødegaard and Ben White combined nicely with some clever and quick footwork, which culminated in the latter whacking a strong left-footed shot toward the Everton goal which was stopped by Jordan Pickford. As half-time approached, it was clear that although we are playing some wonderful possession football, we cannot break through the Everton defence to take a decent shot on goal. In the four minutes’ injury time, Ashley Young was deservedly booked for sliding in on the back of Leandro Trossard, and despite some great football by ourselves, we finished the first half honours even, with one solitary shot on the Everton goal, courtesy of Ben White, of course.

Everton commenced second half matters, and we immediately sprang into action taking the game to Everton. Declan Rice touched the ball on for our captain inside the penalty area, and he hit an effort that Jordan Pickford pushed away. Gabriel was booked by referee Simon Hooper for blocking Beto’s run into our penalty area which was a ridiculous decision, and then Leandro Trossard crossed the ball into the Everton penalty area, but Jordan Pickford pushed it away for an Arsenal throw-in. We won the ball high up the pitch and Martin Ødegaard slipped a lovely ball into the path of Eddie Nketiah inside the penalty area; he went for the shot but James Tarkowski slid in and made a crucial block. Then, several of our players were demanding a penalty as an Oleksandr Zinchenko shot struck James Tarkowski on the arm, but the VAR check came back quickly and nothing was given, which was disappointing to say the least. Gabriel Jesus replaced Eddie Nketiah after sixty-five minutes, and four minutes later, we took a well-deserved lead from a well-practiced short corner as we finally unravelled the Everton defence with some quick, one-touch passing to tee up Leandro Trossard for a fine finish. Five minutes later, Ben White delivered a deep cross to Fábio Vieira at the other side of the penalty area; he stretched in order to connect but it looked awkward and the ball went wide of the Everton post. With ten minutes of the game remaining, Kai Havertz and Takehiro Tomiyasu replaced Oleksandr Zinchenko and Fábio Vieira; with fresh legs on the pitch, we managed to control the match as it went into its final stages, despite some counter attacking from the home side. Although there were four minutes injury time, Everton never really threatened us in this period, and we ran out worthy winners on a ground that has not been too lucky for us in recent years.

A good result on a tough ground, which means that we are now in fourth place in the Premiership. Overall, we controlled matters extremely well right from the initial kick-off, and although Everton had their moments, they never really did too much to threaten us in any department. The atmosphere at Goodison Park is always febrile, and our chaps managed to do two difficult things, namely impose their own game on the home side, and silence the home crowd, both of which showed great spirit and fortitude. Well done everyone!

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: PSV Eindhoven at the Emirates on Wednesday, 20th September at 8.00pm (Champions 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