Arsenal (0) 0 Villarreal (0) 0

UEFA Europa League, Semi-Final, Second Leg

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Thursday, 6th May 2021. Kick-off time: 8.00pm

(4-2-3-1) Bernd Leno; Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding, Pablo Marí, Kieran Tierney; Bukayo Saka, Thomas Partey; Nicolas Pépé, Emile Smith-Rowe, Martin Ødegaard; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang,

Substitutes: Kieran Tierney, Gabriel Magalhães, Alexandre Lacazette, Willian Borges da Silva, Cédric Soares, Calum Chambers, Reiss Nelson, Mohamed Elneny, Eddie Nketiah, Mat Ryan, Gabriel Martinelli, Arthur Okonkwo.

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 56%

Referee: Slavko Vinčić (Slovenia)

Assistant Referees: Tomaž Klančnik (Slovenia), Andraž Kovačič (Slovenia)

Fourth Official: Matej Jug (Slovenia)

Referee Observer: Hugh Dallas (Scotland)

VAR Team (UEFA): VAR Bastian Dankert (Germany); AVAR Pawel Gil (Poland)

Attendance: A maximum of 300 attendees due to UK government coronavirus restrictions

No margin for error tonight, nothing less than a win (with no goals conceeded) will do. As we know, our season literally hangs on this result tonight, so a top performance from the team is essential. Let’s go!

Sadly, Granit Xhaka was injured in the pre-match build-up, so Kieran Tierney, who may not be completely fit is now in the starting line-up, and because of this, the formation for tonight’s match will change. The visitors started strongly tonight, with Bernd Leno being called into action as early as the fourth minute, when he spectacularly tipped a shot from Samuel Chukwueze over the bar and away for a Villarreal corner, which thankfully went nowhere. Arsenal look very nervous tonight, whereas the visitors look strong and confident, just waiting for a mistake in which they can capitalise on. Meanwhile, the game was merely drifting along, with neither side taking a chance in breaking out and trying something different in order to open the scoring. After twenty-five minutes, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was desperately unlucky not to score, when his right-footed shot hit the outside of the Villarreal post; so near and yet so far. Just afterwards, the visitor’s main striker Samuel Chukwueze collapsed with a pulled muscle, and Yeremi Pino took his place; maybe his enforced absence will inspire our strikers to strengthen the pace up front. We’ll see. With seven minutes before the break, an Emile Smith-Rowe pass found the feet of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whose shot was clumsily saved by the Villareal goalkeeper, then Francis Coquelin commited a foul just inside the Villarreal half, allowing Martin Ødegaard to send over a ball from the subsequent free-kick, but Pablo Mari’s header went wide for a goal kick. In the three minutes’ injury time, it looked as if we were going to score from a well-taken Kieran Tierney corner, but the ball was cleared comfortably by the Villarreal defence, and a minute later, referee Slavko Vinčić brought the first-half proceedings to a close.

No changes at half-time unbelievably, and Arsenal have forty-five minutes left to make something of this season. Within a minute or so of the restart, a clever Kieran Tierney flick found Nicolas Pépé, whose strong shot went narrowly wide of the far post; Emile Smith-Rowe also flicked the ball wide of the post after trapping the ball neatly in the visitors’ six-yard box. At the other end, Bernd Leno made a superb match-losing save from Gerard Moreno, which was a heart-stopping moment to say the least. Every time we move forward, Villareal caught us on the break, and our defenders were starting to look tired, and that situation brings with it errors, which is a concern to say the least. Gabriel Martinelli replaced a fatigued Martin Ødegaard after sixty-five minutes, and a little while later, Rob Holding was unlucky not to score when a Bukayo Saka free-kick found him in the penalty area, and his header went over the bar; he went even closer soon afterwards when his inspired header flew past the near post by inches. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the inside of the post after a superb cross from the right flank by Hector Bellerin, which was his last effort of the match, having been replaced by Alexandre Lacazette shortly afterwards, as was Kieran Tierney, being exchanged for Willian with eight minutes of the match remaining. Time and time again we pushed forward, with good chances created by Gabriel Martinelli, Alexandre Lacazette and Emile Smith-Rowe, but the Villareal defence held firm, unfortunately. In the five minutes of injury time, Eddie Nketiah replaced Hector Bellerin and despite plenty of passing and moving, we exited the Europa Cup at the semi-final stage soon afterwards.

Outpaced, outsmarted and lacking of drive, the truth of the matter is that we were beaten by a team who were better organised, and were focussed on getting into the final by pressing us in all areas of the pitch. With just two shots on target over the whole of the match, we looked exactly what we are; an okay side that is going nowhere fast. Leaving Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang out of this (as he still not completely fit after his bout of malaria, but still managed to hit the post twice), our senior players did not step up when needed, and we never imposed ourselves on Villareal at any stage of the game enough to win the contest. With the chances of qualifying for European competition almost an impossibility now (for the first time in over a quarter of a century), a serious review of Arsenal Football Club is needed in the summer, or else years of finishing mid-table could be a fact of life. And this club means too much to too many people across several generations for this to be allowed to happen.

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: West Bromwich Albion at the Emirates on Sunday 9th May at 7.00pm (Premier League). 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.

One thing has been bugging me throughout the European Super League fiasco and that is the spotlight put on the owners.

Without appearing to stand up for Stan Kroenke, I want to ask the question “would a different owner have made a different decision?” And to get to that answer you have to look at the owners of other clubs.

Manchester City

Manchester City are set to win the Premier League this season. They are also in the final of the Champions League.

Owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group, City have been bank rolled to 5 league titles In 10 years, if you include this.

No City fan will have anything bad to say about Sheikh Mansour, Khaldoon Al Mubarak or anyone else running the club.

Not only have they bought success to a club who playing in the 3^rd tier in the late 90s, their owners have overseen stadium improvements, training ground improvements, and turned the club into a global force both on and off the pitch.

And yet they still signed up to the European Super League.

Chelsea

Before Manchester City there was Chelsea.

Roman Abramovich changed football forever when he arrived at Chelsea in 2003 and “parked his Russian tanks on the lawn and is firing £50 notes at” every other club in the Premier League.

Chelsea have won 16 major honours since he took over the club, and it has only been someone richer coming along with Manchester City that has seen that rise even more.

Roman has given Chelsea over £1bn wrapped in loans since he took over. £500m of which has been in the last 6 years. He shows very little interest in getting Chelsea to repay those loans.

Like Manchester City, he has pumped in a huge amount of his own personal wealth with no intention of a return.

And yet they still signed up to the European Super League.

Tottenham

“You are not going to get someone that grew up on the Cally become a billionaire and buy Arsenal” is often said; pointing out the fact the days of life long local fan buying a club are gone.

But Tottenham have a life long fan owning the club, and another running it.

Spurs are owned by ENIC, who themselves are owned by Joe Lewis.

Lewis was born above a pub in Bow, left school at 15 to help out his fathers fledging business.  Roll on 42-years and he is now one of Britain’s richest men, although he now lives in tax exile in the Bahamas.

Chairman of Tottenham is Daniel Levy, a boyhood Tottenham fan who was first taken to a game as a 6-year-old by his uncle.

When talking about his ownership of Tottenham, Levy said “it is simply our turn to look after it, grow it and support it.”

On paper, Levy and Lewis should be perfect owners.

Boyhood fans who have made their money and have the best interests of Tottenham at heart.

And yet they still signed up to the European Super League.

Liverpool

Despite being American, Fenway Sports Group founded by John W. Henry and Thomas C. Werner were often talked about in different terms to Arsenal and Manchester United’s owners.

They seemed to have a passion for sport, and winning.

Unlike Stan Kroenke and the Glazers, they drove Liverpool towards success, not just sit their and watched their share price increase.

Whilst they did not bank roll success, nor claim to be boyhood fans, they made a lot of right moves and, perhaps most importantly, put the right people in charge of running the club.

One reason for Arsenal and Manchester United’s fall in recent years is they have had the wrong people running the club.

In 2017 they appointed Peter Moore, a Merseyside born businessman, as CEO. He oversaw Champions League and Premier League success.

Moore stepped down from the role in August 2020, replaced by American Billy Hogan. And it was Hogan who was involved in the European Super League talks.

So up until 2020, FSG had worked in the best interest of Liverpool and its fans, with a Liverpool lad running the show. And then from 2020 Hogan took over from Moore.

Would Liverpool have joined the ESL under Peter Moore’s? Who knows. But it perhaps shows that whilst the owners are the ultimate decision makers at the club, those they put in charge of running the thing day to day – Hogan, Ed Woodward, Ivan Gazidis, etc are perhaps even more influential.

Liverpool’s owners seem to have very good intentions, and are focused on winning.

And yet they still signed up to the European Super League.

Arsenal and Manchester United

Finally we come onto Arsenal and Manchester United.

It is easy to talk about both together as both are similar.

Neither are overly concerned with success on the pitch, they are motivated by the finances off it. The increasing share price of both clubs is most important.

Whilst FSG at Liverpool seem to understand that the quickest way to increase the share price is through on-pitch success, Kroenke and the Glazers seem happy not driving their businesses along aggressively. Seeing the share prices of their assets grow because of how big their brands are rather than on-pitch success.

The saying goes a high-tide rises all ships, and Arsenal and Manchester United certainly fall under that category.

Both have seen their share price increase due to the overall market cap of football increasing, rather than anything special they are doing,

It is no surprise they were the two English clubs leading the way in the ESL talks.

So in summary, there have been a lot of protests against owners in the last 7 days – most noticeably at Arsenal and Manchester United. But would a different owner have made a different decision to join the ESL?

Owners of Everton, Leeds United and Aston Villa all came out and spoke out against the ESL, but it is a very easy thing to do when you were not invited.

I bet had they been invited their tone would have been very different.

Sheikh Mansoor is a very different type of owner to Stan Kroenke, Joe Lewis very different to the Glazers, Abramovich different to John Henry. Yet all 6 owners came to the same decision (or the people they install to run the clubs came to the decision).

That decision was to join the European Super League.

Would a change of owner lead to a different decision in 10 years time when a European Super League rears its ugly head again? My feeling is no. It will not.

Keenos

Everyone have a good long weekend?

Without being able to go to the football it did drag on. Although no football meant no hangover and I ended up relaying the turf in my garden.

It is incredible what you can get done in your house when you do no lose 2 days at the game and then recovering the next day.

I am itching to get back though, allow my voice to be heard in the ground.

It will be interesting to see what happens when fans are back in the ground, especially with the protests against the Super League and owners.

In the past when there have been protests in a ground, Sky Sports have “turned down the pitch side microphones” so that they can not be heard on the TV. Will they repeat the trick? Muting the fans in the ground. Or will they allow the discontent at the top clubs be broadcast around the world.

The social media ”boycott” is now over.

It was interesting to see how people treated it differently.

At She Wore, we decided to not participate.

Our view was that it would have little to no impact. The clubs themselves should do more by instantly blocking abusers. Denying them access.

One thing Sky Sports introduced which was very productive was creating an “internal block list”.

You abuse one Sky Sport journalist, your name gets added and all other Sky employees will block you, as will the Sky official channels.

Clubs could do this in an instant.

You put homophobic or racist abuse under a tweet, your @ goes on the block list and not only will you be blocked by Arsenal and everyone to do with the club, but other clubs as well.

Yes, I understand people create “burner accounts” to abuse, but it will soon get tiresome if they tweet once, get blocked. Only so many times you can have the energy to set up a new Gmail and then new Twitter account.

What was interesting was that over the weekend Twitter actually seemed a cleaner place. My Timeline was filled with people having interesting discussions on all topics – from Arsenal to what happened at Old Trafford and Line of Duty.

My feeling is there was a lot of people involved in the social media boycott who sit their creating inflammatory posts every day to try and rile fans up. They are attention seekers and these sort of people were part of the problem.

It was interesting to see how some of these attention seekers interpreted the boycott.

Many announced they would be boycotting, but would continue to be posting to their YouTube channels. Channels built on abuse.

They also left the automation from YouTube to Twitter turned on, so their Twitter accounts were still tweeting.

Instead of boycotting, maybe these channels should look at their own behaviour and the behaviour of its stars? Stop broadcasting the abuse. Although this will make them less money.

It was also interesting to see how long people could last without the attention they crave.

Some boycotters were already back Tweeting Sunday and Monday. Showing that they crave attention on social media.

Get out your house, lay your lawn. Social media attention is fake, empty, will not fill that hole that is missing in your life.

It will be interesting to see if the boycott changes anything? Or if on Thursday when Granit Xhaka gives away a penalty the abuse begins again.

Thierry Henry came out of the weekend to discuss the Daniel Ek “bid”.

The most interesting line of the interview was:

“He [Ek] already said he collected the funds so he can make sure he can make a good bid. Now obviously they need to listen and see what they can do”.

This raises 3 points for me:

1) Ek is claiming to have raised the fans for a “good bid”. That does not mean that he has raised enough for the Kroenke’s to sell.

2) How has Ek raised the funds? He does not have the money himself to buy the club. Is it a consortium? If so who is involved? Is it loans? What are these loans to be leveraged against?

3) And when Henry says “now obviously they need to listen and see what they can do” it shows a lack of business acumen from Henry. The Kroenke’s do not need to listen to any bid.

I am sure this one will roll on for months, or years. Just like Alisher Usmanov’s open letters and Aliko Dangote’s interviews.

Ek is not the first billionaire to announce he wants to be Arsenal. He will not be the last.

Last thing. We designed these Arsenal Beer Mats in conjunction with KickOffMerchants.com.

Keenos

Now up on https://t.co/DYtSIZ2ysC

Please read the notes.#KroenkeOut pic.twitter.com/bax9Z6QKm6

— 🎗 ///SHE WORE/// 🎗 (@SheWore) April 26, 2021