Tottenham only have themselves to blame for North London Derby postponement

33 Replies

Football fans are hypocrites.

We all hate diving, yet turn a blind eye when we win a game through a penalty that never was. we all hate VAR until the offside decision is given in our favour. And so on.

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.

Therefore I am very dissapointed that todays North London Derby game against Tottenham has been postponed.

But it is not Arsenal’s fault.

The Premier League set the tone back end of 2021 when they postponed a Tottenham game due to Covid.

Then as the festive period rolled on, games got suspended left, right and centre due to “covid and injuries”.

The Football League then postponed the first leg of Arsenal and Liverpool’s League Cup game due to “Covid, injuries and the African Cup of Nations”.

Teams should not be asking for games to be supended. That is all.

However, having seen almost every other club getting a game postponed, it is no surprise Arsenal went down this route. And you can not really blame the club.

As soon as the authorities opened the gates to postponments, it would have been unfair for them to suddenly close them.

What we need is to start next year with a clean slate. Make it clear that games will not be postponed. That teams either put out an XI or forfeit the game.

A final thought.

It is interesting to see the media turn on Arsenal this weekend, whilst they have remained fairly silent on other postponments.

Sky have led the criticism. It seems Gary Neville et al are happy to support postponments when it does not affect their TV show. As soon as a game is postponed that leads to no Sky Super Sunday, they are up in arms.

Do not just blame Arsenal. Blame Tottenham, Liverpool, Manchester United, Wolves, Leciester City. The Premier League. Blame them all.

Pandora’s box was opened when Tottenham begged the Premier League to postpone their game against Brighton.

Todays game should not have been postponed. No game should have been postponed.

Keenos

Arsenal should be targetting Vlahovic AND David

1 Reply

Dusan Vlahovic

The Serbian striker is one of the most in demand players in world football at the moment.

It is a toss up between Dusan Vlahovic and Alexander Isak as to who I think we should be targetting. Both are a similar age and have a similar profile.

In the end I have opted for Vlahovic over the Swede due to him backing up his excellent breakthrough season (21 goals in 37 Serie A games) with 16 goals in 19.

Isak meanwhile has struggled this season with 4 La Liga goals in 15 games after scoring 17 in 34 last season.

Vlahovic is one of the hottest players in the world this season and there will be no shortage of clubs lining up to secure his services.

Mikel Arteta seems to want a “Giroud-type” upfront. Sacrificing a bit of pace in behind for a forward that can hold up play; bringing his young attacking midfielders into play.

Vlahovic seems to be the right type of striker, with the work rate and hold up play to go with his goals. He also fits in with the age profile of those around him.

He will be a huge investment but will only get better and would be the ideal man to replace Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang for the long term.

Jonathan David

Arsenal were first linked to Jonathan David in 2020 whilst he was still playing for Gent.

At the time I viewed him as a second striker. Arsenal were short of a decent number 10 and he looked like a viable option to play in behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

He would provide a different outlet for the team in comparison to Mesut Ozil – more pace and power than technical ability.

In the end he joined Lille for €30 million.

Whilst in France he has played further forward, but his bet performances have come playing just off Turkish striker Burak Yılmaz.

Arsenal are not only in need of new strikers, but they also need to reinforce the positions in behind the striker.

As it stands we have Bukayo Saka, Martin Odergaard, Gabriel Martinelli, Emile Smith Rowe and Nicolas Pepe.

Pepe is likely to depart in the summer which will leave Arsenal with 4 players for 3 positions. Ideally we want at lease 5. David could fit in as that 5th option.

The Canadian would provide top class cover and competition for Odergaard; giving us a different option behind a main striker.

He is also capable of doing a job out wide; so if Odergaard is out and Arsenal decide to keep a technical rather than physical 10 (IE play Smith Rowe there), David could fill in out wide.

David would also become Alexandre Lacazette’s replacement, becoming the 2nd choice striker behind (hopefully) Dusan Vlahovic.

Instead of us having to sign a new striker to replace Aubameyang, another to replace Lacazette, and an attacker to replace Pepe, we could go for just Vlahovic and David and that is all basis covered.

In the 4 attacking positions, we would then have: Vlahovic, David, Saka, Odergaard, Martinelli and Smith Rowe. Charlie Patino and Folarin Balogun than provide additional youth cover

Keenos

Arsenal should not seek to postpone North London Derby

2 Replies

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.

Keenos