No new 8 for Arsenal as Hale End graduate flourishes on loan

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In the North-West of England right now, there is only one young English midfielders name on everyones lips. Charlie Patino.

Arsenal fans have been speaking about the young midfielder for a few years.

In his sole start for the club – in last seasons FA Cup defeat to Nottingham Forest – he looked like a boy playing a mans game.

Technically gifted, the then 18-year-old looked like he still needed to do a lot of physical growing if he was going to fulfil his potential.

Like with many players looking to make the transition from talented youth team player to senior pro, Patino needed first team game time. Something he could not get at Arsenal (although some fans were oddly calling him to be playing in the first team despite clearly not being ready).

The club decided to loan him out to Championship side Blackpool this season, and Patino has flourished in the seaside town.

He has been one of the few shining lights for The Tangerines, who 22nd in the Championship at the time of writing.

And as if by design, 12 months after he was subtistuted in that 3rd round defeat to Nottingham Forest, he was back facing them in the FA Cup putting in a match winning performance.

His ability on the ball has never been in question. where he has grown whilst on loan is in physicality and defensive output.

Against Nottingham Forest, no player on the pitch made more successful tackles (4) than Patino, and he won more aerial duels (4) than any other Blackpool teammate. Not bad for someone considered more of a creative than defensive player.

And this was not a one off.

He has played deeper during his team fot Blackpool, often as the most defensive midfielder in the team. And Blackpool fans have not stopped talking about his defensive contributions. His physical development has been immense.

Patino is turning into more of a Xavi Alonso / Andrea Pirlo defensive midfielder (rather than a Thomas Partey replacement). And this means exciting things for Arsenal.

Mikel Arteta plays with a single defensive midfielder, and then two 8s ahead of him – Granit Xhaka and Martin Odegaard providing a good balance between defence and attack.

Left footed, 6ft, classy passer of the ball – short and loan, able to operate in tight spaces with an increased defensive awareness and physicality. The cool kids would probably call him a Granit Xhaka re-gen.

And he is turning exactly into that.

If Xhaka is the sourcerer, Patino is on the right track to be his apprentice.

At 30-years-old, Xhaka is playing the best football of his career.

No longer considered a liability, someone we need to sell, his leadership has been key to our rise to top of the league. Talk of Youri Tielemans to come in and repalce him has been eradicated.

He has 1-year left on his contract, with Arsenal having the option to extend by a further year. That will take Xhaka through the next two seasons. He will be just shy of his 33rd birthday.

At the same time, we have just triggered a 2-year extension in Patino’s contract, also taking him through to 2025. We now need to tie him down to a longer deal.

And to do that, we need to show Patino his path through to the Arsenal first team.

He would have been frustrated during the World Cup seeing former team mates Jude Beillingham, Jamal Musiala and Yunus Musah perform so well for their countries. I am sure this would have turned his head whilst his Arsenal career had seemingly stalled.

But there is a clear and obvious path for him to the Arsenal first team, as long as he keeps his head down and continues to improve all aspects of his game.

By the time Xhaka’s contract with us runs down in 2025, Patino will still be just 21. That gives him 2-seasons in and around the Arsenal first team, learning from Xhaka, from Partey, from Odegaard and more.

Over that two-year period, he will get enough game time as Arsenal will play 50+ games a season and continue his development. And then if he has shown he is good enough, he will become the heir to Xhaka’s spot in the team.

It will probably be a year of him playing second fiddle, coming off the bench and getting cup games. Then in the second year he should be competing with Xhaka for a starting spot.

What he needs to do is keep his head down and keep working on his game.

His transition from creative to defensive midfielder shows he is a smart player with a willingness to learn. That is always a fantastic starting point for any young player.

Hopefully he can continue to play well for Blackpool, remain fit, and kick on further.

Fabio Vieira is a “like for like” replacement for Odegaard. Patino can become that for Xhaka. And just like that we have squad depth in both the 8 positions without the need for further investment.

Onwards and upwards with Arteta’s red and white army.

Keenos

Arsenal’s top stars need to wake up

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This is our best chance of winning the league since 2016. But if our top stars do not wake up, we could throw away the opportunity to be champions.

Let’s start with the incompotent refereeing in the 1-1 draw v Brentford.

There equaliser should not have stood, with the PGMOL coming out and admitting their officials messed up.

There were actually mutiple reasons the goal should have been disallowed, starting before either of the two offside calls. The first was the foul on Zinchenko as the original free kick was swung in.

Zinchenko was clearly tasked with marking Ivan Toney. But as the ball was put into the box, he was clearly being held by a Brentford player which stopped him challenging for the ball.

This foul gave led to Toney being on his own in the box, able to put the cross in without any pressure.

In the fianl frame, Zinchenko has finally be released by the Brentford player and is back close to Toney, but not close enough.

Had Zinchenko not been fouled in the build up, he would have been on Toney, challenging him in the air in the box. Instead Toney was able to play the ball back across goal with his right foot.

VAR should have picked up on the foul and disallowed the goal.

At the same time, you also have Gabriel being blocked. The player blocking him was comitting two infringements.

The first, he was fouling Gabriel. That foul stopped the Brazilian getting closer to Toney. And secondly he Ethan Pinnock was clearly offside.

By blocking Gabriel, regardless of whether or not it was a foul, he was interfering with play.

VAR should have picked up on either the foul or offside and disallowed the goal.

Then finally, we have the offside prior to Toney putting the ball into the back of the net that was not even checked.

VAR should have picked up on the offside and disallowed the goal.

4 infringements, VAR missed them all, and Arsenal dropped two points.

A draw was probably the right result, and had we have won 1-0 it would have gone in the “champions win when playing poorly” box.

Brentford are a decent outfit. They play to a game plan which is to slow the game down and focus on set pieces.

The blocking at corners and free kicks were by design, not accident. They knew exactly what they were doing in fouling Zinchenko to get Toney free. It is the sort of infringement VAR was bought in to stop.

They have now gone 10 unbeaten. In 7 games against top 6 sides, they have lost just once – to The Arsenal. We got away with a draw but it could have ended worse had Brentford taken their two clear cut first half chances.

We are still top of the league going into the Manchester City game, but to win the league we need to see our stars wake up.

In 2015/16, we were top after 22 games. 5 wins in 15 saw us drop to 4th before we eventually finished 2nd.

Dropping points against the likes of Stoke, Southampton, Swansea, West Ham, Crystal Palace and Sunderland in the second half of the season cost us. Those 5 games were 13 points dropped. We ended up 10 behind Leicester.

We had Everton last weekend and Brentford this. With Manchester City up next before away trips to Aston Villa and Leicester City, we could easily enter a downward spiral similar to what derailed us in 2016.

The last few games, Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli, Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka have all looked off the pace. Not at the races.

You can accomodate one or two of them having a drop off in form, a bar run. But to have all 5 struggling at the same time is costing us points.

For us to win the league, they need to wake themselves back up and get back to the high performance level that they have played at for much of the season.

Leandro Trossard looked a livewire when he came on for Martinelli, scoring the goal that should have seen us win the game. It was the substitution that was the game changer I predicted.

Trossard has to start against Manchester City, with Martinelli on the bench

Also, Gabriel Jesus can not come back soon enough.

Eddie Nketiah has been fantastic since coming in for him, but we need to re-energise the front line. And Jesus has the infections energy that just brings the best out of those around him.

Jesus would also be an option in the wider positions. We could easily play him wide right, Trossard wide left and Nketiah through the middle. That would give a break to Saka and Martinelli who both look like they are running out of steam.

After the back to back Midlands away day, we face Everton, Bournemouth, Crystal Palace and Leeds at home – with a trip to Fulham sandwiched between.

This is when I expect Arteta to rotate his front line. Mix and match. Give Saka and Martinelli a break.

In terms of Xhaka, he has been phenomenal this season but has just come off the boil.

We could opt to play Zinchenko further forward, and Kieran Tierney or Takehiro Tomiyasu at left back. That might freshen things up. The option to play Zinchenko instead of Partey is also present.

The Man City game is not one where we should be making wholesale changes. Perhaps just Martinelli for Trossard.

We might blame the officials for the draw against Brentford, but we also did not help ourselves.

Newcastle, Everton and Brentford all played a similar way.

Slow the game down, men behind the ball, look to maximise set pieces. We struggled to break down all 3. The fast, snappy passing was not there.

As we enter the second half of the season, more teams will now sit deep, pack the midfield and deny us space. We need our superstars to re-find their form so that we can break down these teams.

Failure to do so will result in too many dropped points and a repeat of the 2015/16 fall-away.

We are still top of the league. We have won 4 from 7 since coming back from the World Cup. 14 points from a posisible 21.

If we maintain that form between now and the end of the season, we will end up with 85 points. I am not sure that will be enough!

Keep backing the boys and we go again Wednesday.

Keenos

Match Report: Arsenal 1 – 1 Brentford

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Arsenal (0) 1 Brentford (0) 1

Premier League

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Saturday, 11th February 2023. Kick-off time: 3.00pm

(4-3-3) Aaron Ramsdale; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Oleksandr Zinchenko; Martin Ødegaard (c), Thomas Partey, Granit Xhaka; Bukayo Saka, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli.

Substitutes: Kieran Tierney, Jakub Kiwior, Rob Holding, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Leandro Trossard, (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Fabio Vieira, Matt Turner, Amario Cozier-Duberry.

Scorers: Leandro Trossard (66 mins)

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 69%

Referee: Peter Bankes

Assistant Referees: Eddie Smart, Nick Greenhalgh

Fourth Official: Simon Hooper

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Lee Mason; AVAR Adrian Holmes

Attendance: 60,254

Sadly, we remain without injured pair Gabriel Jesus and Mohamed Elneny, and today’s match also comes too soon for Emile Smith-Rowe, who is recovering from a thigh problem. Reiss Nelson, who has not played since November because of a hamstring issue, has resumed training but is not ready to return, unfortunately. Still, all these things considered, three points against Brentford is a must for the chaps this afternoon.

A steady start by us here at the Emirates, but somehow an early opportunity for a goal happened for our captain Martin Ødegaard, who was in a lot of space on the edge of the penalty area, but sadly his effort was blocked. Shortly afterwards, a lovely pass from Martin Ødegaard as he spotted the run of Gabriel Martinelli in the visitors’ penalty area, hoping that he could exploit the space that he had found himself in; but his first touch was heavy and he was pushed wide, earning a corner for his trouble. Oleksandr Zinchenko was completely unmarked in the Brentford penalty area when the corner fell for him but his shot flew up high into the stand. After about a quarter of an hour, Martin Ødegaard had somehow managed to bundle the ball through in the penalty area to Bukayo Saka who limply poked the ball at goalkeeper David Raya from close range as he was put under pressure by Bees’ defender Rico Henry. Suddenly and surprisingly, the visitors broke out and just inside our penalty area, Bryan Mbuemo and Ivan Toney played a clever one-two. Terrifyingly, the ball came back to Ivan Toney in the middle of our penalty area and his shot bounced off the crossbar, which was the visitors’ best chance of the match so far, and thankfully it was wasted. Our overall play today is far superior to Brentford, and it is a shame that our clever play and determination has not lead to a goal as yet. With about five minutes or so before half-time, Ben White chipped a lovely ball to the back post for Granit Xhaka to run onto, but defender Mads Roerslev got there before him to head it behind for an Arsenal corner, which went nowhere. Then, picking up on a loose ball, Martin Ødegaard played a couple of one-two’s with Eddie Nketiah before the latter appeared to place it comfortably into David Raya’s arms, who looked relieved at the ease in which he caught the ball. In injury time, yet another superb Ben White cross found Bukayo Saka who disappointingly headed it into the ground and it was easily cleared by a Brentford defender. Although we have the lion’s share of possession in this half, it has not converted into goals, unfortunately. We need to do a lot better, and become far more clinical in the second half in order to grab maximum points today.

The second half got underway, with a determined Arsenal pinning Brentford back into their own penalty area, which could be a good omen for the rest of the half (maybe). Granit Xhaka placed the ball through to Bukayo Saka, but the angle was tight; he fired it at goalkeeper David Raya, who was forced into an acrobatic save at the near post. After an effort by Brentford that was fairly easily neutralised by our defence, Martin Ødegaard peeled off into space in the penalty area and he hit the ball cleanly on the half-volley, which was impressive. There was a lot of power behind the shot, but the angle favoured David Raya, who held onto it near the goalpost. On the counter attack, the visitors were starting look extremely dangerous, which could of course, be their gameplan today. William Saliba lost the ball just outside our penalty area and Bryan Mbeumo found Mathias Jensen, who in turn, almost telepathically found Ivan Toney, who got dangerously close to opening the scoring when his shot spun around Aaron Ramsdale’s post. In a match that has become end-to-end action, we really need to be more alert and attentive in our own penalty area, otherwise there could be an issue here. We are seeing a lot of the ball today but are incredibly frustrated in front of the visitors’ goal. Granit Xhaka had a “go” from long range but it was easily blocked by a Brentford defender, and shortly afterwards, Mikel Arteta made his first substitution of the afternoon when Leandro Trossard replaced a largely ineffective Gabriel Martinelli, to see if he has the key to unlock the Brentford defensive door. After a frustrating moment in which Gabriel hit the ball straight at David Raya in the Brentford goal, we finally got the goal that our play deserved. Bukayo Saka crossed the ball, and our substitute Leandro Trossard’s left-footed shot from very close range flew past David Raya and ended up in the bottom left hand corner of the Brentford net. The relief amongst our players and supporters is there for all to see, and with twenty-four minutes of the match remaining, the time remains for us to grab more goals if possible. After a couple of chances, the unthinkable happened. Following a scramble in our penalty area, Christian Nørgaard simply poked at the ball and somehow Ivan Toney was there to see it over the line to equalise the scores, despite a heartstopping VAR offside check lasting two or three minutes, as it was thought that Ethan Pinnock was offside in the build-up, but the Stockley Park gang decreed that the goal stood. So frustrating for us, as now in theory, this game could go either way. We immediately flew at them following the restart, and Leandro Trossard flicked it on to Eddie Nketiah but he had his back to the goal so he was able to tee up Martin Ødegaard, who somehow managed to return it to Eddie Nketiah again. Although his pass to Leandro Trossard was blocked, the ball fell to Oleksandr Zinchenko, whose shot bounced harmlessly wide. Fabio Vieira replaced Granit Xhaka, and in our next attack, Ben White curled it in for Leandro Trossard, but Mads Roerslev kicked the ball away at the back post. With minutes left of the match, Leandro Trossard fed the ball through to Eddie Nketiah in the Brentford penalty area, but he was tackled by Ethan Pinnock in a last ditch attempt to stop him, which was successful this time, and then Martin Ødegaard slipped the ball through to Eddie Nketiah but Ben Mee stopped our man from advancing any further by simply taking the ball from him and launching it into the stand. Game management appears to be the order of the day now, and in the four minutes injury time, there was an unpleasant melee when Ivan Toney went to the ground claiming injury, but after a brief hiatus, the match continued. We won a free-kick just outside the penalty area with just seconds to go, but it was criminally wasted and referee Peter Bankes blew the whistle for this disappointing match to end.

After last Saturday’s defeat at Everton, it almost pales into insgnificance that we had sixty-nine per cent possession today, nor that we had twenty-three shots on goal (seven on target), and that we walked away with a point; what is extremely concerning is that we are unable to hold the lead and that we did look extremely vulnerable on the break, along with the problem that we appear not to be able to be clinically ruthless in attack. Full marks to a well-organised Brentford (even though their equalising goal looked to be offside), but if one considers that our next game is against Manchester City in four days’ time, we have to ensure that we go into that game having ironed out these issues, otherwise our Premiership title challenge this year could take a nasty turn for the worst.

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: Manchester City at the Emirates on Wednesday, 15th February at 7.30pm (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