Arsenal not the 1st “Big 6” club to have a slow start

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The way the press have gone on, you would think Arsenal’s slow start in the Premier League was the first time one of the so called “Big 6” had a sluggish start to the season.

This is simply not true.

Just last season, Tottenham had 14 points from the first 12 games of the season. They were 14th. One place ahead of where Arsenal currently sit, with just one point more.

The week before, with 11 games played, Manchester United sat 14th with 13 points from 11 games.

Manchester United finished 3rd, Tottenham 5th.

In 2015/16, Chelsea were 16th after 12 games with just 11 points. There struggles would continue throughout the season as they eventually finished 10th. The season after they would win the league.

And in 2014/15 Liverpool were 12th after 12 games with 14 points. They would recover to finish 6th.

Finally in 2008/09, the first season under the ownership of the Abu Dhabi United Group, Manchester City were 13th, with 13 points from 12 games. Below them in 16th were Tottenham.

Arsenal are currently 15th with 13 points from 11 games.

It is not good enough, but every other side has been in pretty much the same position over the last dozen years.

Every one of those sides recovered from their slow starts to win trophies over the next few season, except Tottenham.

Onwards and upwards.

Keenos

Edu needs to bin nearly half the squad, and allow Mikel Arteta the time to rebuild The Arsenal

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The players, not the manager, are not the problem.

Yes, Mikel Arteta picks those players, and has perhaps been to loyal to too many of then, but his hands are tied.

Arsenal have a huge amount of money tied up in players who simply are not good enough. And then many of those who would be good enough have had a huge drop off in form.

We have amassed a squad of players who do not have the talent to back up their egos; who are more interested in their own PR, social media, etc than putting in performances on the pitch. They have over inflated opinions of their own ability.

The same set of players let down Arsene Wenger in his first season. They downed tools for Unai Emery at the back end of 2018/19 leading to his sacking towards the end of the year. And are now doing similar to Mikel Arteta.

Graeme Souness summed it up during the post game punditry. How many players in this Arsenal squad are actually good enough? And not just in terms of ability but also in character.

The upcoming summer Edu needs to work miracles.

We have some players naturally leaving as their contract expires. He also needs to get as much money as possible selling senior pros, as well as cash in on some of the Hale End youngsters who are not really that young anymore.

So who should stay and who should go?

Bernd Leno is a decent number one keeper, but Runar Alex Runarsson has proved to be a bit shaky in the Europa League. Runarsson will do a job as a 3rd choice keeper, but we need to try and find a quality, home grown back up to Leno in the Premier League.

In defence, time has run out for Hector Bellerin, whilst the contracts of Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis and David Luiz will mean the back of them. Sead Kolasinac needs to be sold and one of Rob Holding or Calum Chambers should be sold.

That would leave Arsenal with Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Cedric Soares at right back, and Gabriel, Pablo Mari, William Saliba and one of Rob Holding or Calum Chambers ate centre back.

We would then have to add another right sided central defender next to Gabriel whilst Saliba continues to grow.

At left back we would need to buy cover for Kieran Tierney.

Moving into midfield, Thomas Partey is the foundation we need to build it round, whilst Mohamed Elneny is a decent, hard working squad player.

We need more players like Elneny – he might not be the best but he is humble, quiet and just gets on with things.

Time is up for Granit Xhaka whilst bringing back Dani Ceballos for a 2nd season on loan now looks like a bad decision. Miguel Azeez is a talent, but we should not expect too much from him.

That means we need to go out into the market and buy another 2 midfielders to provide cover and competition for Partey.

We also have Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi out on loan. One (or even both?) of these could return. Would midfield options of Partey, Guendouzi, Torreira, Elneny and Azeez be that bad?

But then Guendouzi is one of those who is a poisonous personality and Torreira has never really settled. Cashing in on both and buying replacements feels the best option.

Time is probably running out for Joe Willock.

He turns 22 at the end of the season and has been found wanting in the Premier League. Alongside a couple of other young Englishman, it might be time to cash on him and start developing the next in line (IE Azeez).

Nicholas Pepe gets the rest of the season to show what he can do, whether he can come back from his show of petulance against Leeds United. He has performed well in the Europa League and could be a breath of fresh air on his return.

Bukayo Saka is also going no where, whilst Emile Smith Rowe should be given the chance sooner rather than later.

Realistically, Willian is going nowhere so we have to include him.

Reiss Nelson is injured once again. Whilst he has shown glimpses, he has struggled to get in ahead of Pepe or Willian, and Saka is now levels ahead of him. Like Willock, it is perhaps time to cash in, and use that money to fund someone who is a level ahead.

We need to add creativity in the middle of the park. Someone to replace Mesut Ozil.

Up front, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang should be kept.He will return to form. His captaincy is a discussion for another blog.

Aubameyang should be backed up by Gabriel Martinelli and Folarin Balogun. That would see Arsenal cash in on Alexandre Lacazette and Eddie Nketiah. The later in the same boat as Willock and Nelson.

Take the money for Nketiah, invest it elsewhere and promote Balogun as 3rd choice striker. If we can get him to agree to stay.

That will be at least 14 players leave:

6 Contracts Expiring:

Matt Macey

Sokratis

Shkodran Mustafi

David Luiz

Dani Ceballos

Mesut Ozil

5 Senior Pros:

Hector Bellerin

Rob Holding or Calum Chambers

Sead Kolasinac

Granit Xhaka

Alexandre Lacazette

3 “Youngsters”

Joe Willock

Reiss Nelson

Eddie Nketiah

It would then see 7 players come in (GK, CB, LB CM, CM, RW, AM). Although some of these places could be taken by those out on loan (Mavropanos, Guendouzi, Torreira).

It would leave us with a squad of:

https://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/1338481939217604608

Keenos

Match Report: Arsenal 0 – 1 Burnley

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Arsenal (0) 0 Burnley (0) 1

Premier League

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Sunday, 13th December 2020. Kick-off time: 7.15pm

(4-2-3-1) Bernd Leno; Hector Bellerin, Rob Holding, Gabriel Magalhães, Kieran Tierney; Mohamed Elneny, Granit Xhaka; Willian Borges da Silva, Alexandre Lacazette, Bukayo Saka; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Substitutes: Dani Ceballos, Alex Rúnarsson, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Shkodran Mustafi, Joe Willock, Eddie Nketiah, Emile Smith-Rowe.

Red Cards: Granit Xhaka

Yellow Cards: Hector Bellerin, Mohamed Elneny

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 65%

Referee: Graham Scott

Assistant Referees: Neil Davies, Richard West

Fourth Official: Stuart Attwell

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR David Coote; AVAR Nick Hopton

Attendance: A maximum of 2,000 attendees due to UK government coronavirus restrictions

We all know what is at stake here at the Emirates tonight. Bluntly, if we don’t win, and Brighton and Hove Albion beat Leicester City, then, depending on goal difference, we could be sixteenth in the Premiership table by 10.00pm this evening. We have to start turning this around, clawing back points in order to ascend the table, as we do not need to be dragged into a relegation dogfight just before the Christmas fixtures. We all know the stats decree that we have lost six of our nine Premiership matches, and we have gone 656 minutes without scoring a top-flight goal from open play. Anyway, that’s the dark stuff over and done with. Let’s go!

A fairly steady start to the match, with both sides slowly getting into the swing of things. The majority of the early action took place in the Burnley half, with several good chances going astray by our players. We were extremely fortunate not to go one down after thirteen minutes, when Chris Wood missed an absolute sitter, when he had a free header on our goal, but fortunately it went wide. We had plenty of possession, but nothing to show for it, despite some very good efforts on the Burnley goal by Alexandre Lacazette, Hector Bellerin and Rob Holding, to name just three. The visitors were very quick of mind and feet, catching us on the break a few times, and fortunately their attacks all came to nothing very quickly. Alexandre Lacazette was extremely unfortunate not to score when his point-blank shot was blocked and cleared by the Burnley defence, and as the ever-present North London rain started to make things difficult for both sides, most of the action was centred on the midfield area. However, just before the break, we managed to find one or two ways through the Burnley defence that looked quite hopeful, but it was not to be, sadly, and so we went into half-time with honours even, and the stats informing us that we had one shot on target throughout the whole of the first half.

The second half started with a bit more urgency from both sides, but it was us that almost broke the deadlock, when Kieran Tierney hit a low, right-footed shot on target, which Nick Pope had to dive quickly to his right to save. This inspired a period of Arsenal activity in the Burnley penalty area, with Granit Xhaka, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Mohamed Elneny being extremely unlucky not to open the scoring. Granit Xhaka got his marching orders for violent conduct after being the recipient of a seemingly minor tackle, and having now being down to ten men, Alexandre Lacazette was replaced by Dani Ceballos on the hour as an attempt by Mikel Arteta to re-jig the formation. The dismissal certainly changed the atmosphere of the game, and it was becoming patently obvious that this match could change in a heartbeat. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang had a great chance to score, but he was declared to be offside, and at the other end, after a scuffle and a corner, he put the ball into his own net to give Burnley the lead. Shortly afterwards, Ainsley Maitland-Niles replaced Héctor Bellerín, and the visitors started to play with more confidence than us at this point in the game, applying pressure on Bernd Leno’s goal. Gabriel was unlucky not to score with a superb left-footed shot, and with five minutes left on the clock, Bukayo Saka found himself with space in the Burnley penalty area, but his shot went way over the bar. In the five minutes’ injury time, we applied much pressure on the Burnley goal, but to no avail. 

Dear God, that was truly awful. Losing the way we did, and having a man dismissed, it was terrible.The team has no confidence, no new ideas forthcoming, where are we going? If we don’t get six points from the next two matches (Southampton and Everton), the club could be in deep trouble. We’ll see on Wednesday evening. 

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: Southampton at the Emirates on Wednesday, 16th December at 6.00pm (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.