Arsenal must replicate Thursday form on a Sunday

1 Reply

Throughout what has been a disjointed and inconsistent first quarter of the season for Arsenal, Thursday night wins have become routine, with the Gunners beating Dundalk 4-2.

The only team to win all six of their group-stage matches in European competition in 

2020-21, the Gunners breezed through to the last 32 of the Europa League but have not won a Premier League game since 1 November. 

Now, with no more continental football until February, Arsenal must translate their accomplished performances in Europe into the Premier League. 

Playing in the Europa League has given Mikel Arteta and his players some much-needed confidence after going more than a month without a win in domestic football, which was evident in the way Arsenal went about their business in Dublin. 

The chance for academy graduates to impress Arteta has continued, with the likes of Folarin Balogun, Eddie Nketiah, Joe Willock, Reiss Nelson, Emile Smith-Rowe and Miguel Azeez all impressing under the Thursday night lights. Hale End products continuing to shine in the first team also has the added benefit of putting pressure on some of the club’s more established players, who have been underwhelming in the league.

At the Aviva Stadium, Arsenal moved the ball with purpose and precision, intent on breaking down the Dundalk defence. This is in stark contrast to their past two league matches, where they looked lost for ideas against the discipline and determination of Tottenham and Wolves respectively. 

They will come up against another resolute side on Sunday, when they face Burnley at Emirates Stadium. If Arteta needs any inspiration for his game plan, then he should continue the policy of picking a mixture of young talent, blended with experienced heads. The Spaniard must send a message out to the squad that no player is infallible, and a smart way to do that would be by including youngsters who have shone in Europe. 

Indeed, after netting against Dundalk, Nketiah is now Arsenal’s top scorer this season, with five goals. In addition, Willock is the first Arsenal player to reach both three goals and three assists in a European campaign since 2016/17, when both Alexis Sanchez and Mesut Ozil did so in the Champions League, according to Opta.

Arteta has also been bold with his choice of formations in Europe, often favouring an unorthodox 3-5-2. Therefore, it is no coincidence that Arsenal have looked far more dangerous in the Europa League, with 20 goals from their six matches. 

With goals hard to come by against admittedly tougher opposition, Arteta should not be afraid of tinkering how Arsenal set up in the Premier League, where they need to inject urgency and fluidity into their play. The Spaniard has preferred a more rigid structure in domestic fixtures, but the extra emphasis on his players’ shape has left them devoid of any attacking instincts. 

Arsenal currently sit 15th in the Premier League table and have a favourable run of fixtures heading into Christmas. As well as the visit of Burnley, the Gunners host Southampton before a trip to out-of-form Everton. These matches seem like the ideal time for Arteta to try something new that gets his team amongst the goals again. Even if wins have to be ground out in the dying minutes, rather than achieved with glitz and glamour, anything will do for Arsenal. 

Just as Arteta got the best of his players by guiding them to an FA Cup trophy, he must lift the squad again, as the focus now shifts to an improvement in Premier League performances after getting the job done in Europe.

Zac Campbell

Match Report: Dundalk 2 – 4 Arsenal

Leave a reply

Dundalk (1) 2 Arsenal (2) 4

UEFA Europa League, Group B, Matchday 6 of 6

Oriel Park, Carrickmacross Road, Cambrickville, Dundalk, County Louth, Ireland

Thursday, 10th December 2020. Kick-off time: 5.55pm

(3-4-3) Alex Rúnarsson; Calum Chambers, Shkodran Mustafi, Pablo Marí; Cédric Soares, Joe Willock, Mohamed Elneny, Ainsley Maitland-Niles; Nicolas Pépé, Eddie Nketiah, Emile Smith-Rowe.

Substitutes: Bukayo Saka, Dani Ceballos, Rob Holding, Matt Macey, Folarin Balogun, Ben Cottrell, Karl Hein, Miguel Azeez.

Scorers: Eddie Nketiah (11 mins), Mohamed Elneny (18 mins), Joe Willock (67 mins), Folarin Balogun (80 mins)

Yellow Cards: Cédric Soares, Joe Willock

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 52%

Referee: Goran Pataki (Croatia)

Assistant Referees: Goran Pataki (Croatia), Bojan Zobenica (Croatia)

Fourth Official: Igor Pajac (Croatia)

Referee Observer: Georgi Yordanov (Bulgaria)

Attendance: A minimal amount of attendees (circa 3,000) due to coronavirus restructions

Firstly, congratulations to Dundalk, who won the FAI Cup with a 4-2 victory over league champions Shamrock Rovers on this very ground four days ago. However, as far as tonight’s match is concerned, we are champions of the group, and our opponents cannot qualify, so there should be some scope here for squad experimentation, if Mikel Arteta should so desire. Either way, the match should be interesting, if nothing else, as we are looking to win six consecutive major European matches (excluding qualifiers) for the first time since November 2005. Let’s go!

On an extremely heavy pitch that was cutting up quite badly early on, we controlled proceedings with almost no problems at all in the opening stages of the match. Despite the players slipping and sliding everywhere, our passing remained accurate, and Emile Smith-Rowe, Nicolas Pépé along with Eddie Nketiah, gave the Dundalk defence plenty of problems quite early on. As soon as the eleventh minute, Eddie Nketiah charged down an attempted clearance by Andrew Boyle and found the net (despite the best efforts of defender Daniel Cleary to kick it clear), which makes him the highest Arsenal scorer this season so far. After a bit more midfield movement, Mohamed Elneny hit an absolute screamer into the roof of the net to make it two-nil to Arsenal after just eighteen minutes play. To give the home side their dues, they didn’t give up, and continued to press us well, which led to Dundalk getting one back after twenty-two minutes, when Jordan Flores hit a ball into the top corner of our net, leaving Alex Rúnarsson grasping for air. The goals made the match more competitive, with both sides launching attacks in which a few players were desperately unlucky not to score, and with ten minutes to go before the break, Cédric Soares almost got a third when his twenty yard shot was pushed around the post by goalkeeper Rogers. The home side didn’t give up though; on the stroke of half-time, a cross by Patrick McEleney found Darragh Leahy in the six-yard box, but fortunately Calum Chambers was there to block the shot, which let us off the hook in the final seconds before the break.

We started the second half strongly, and were unfortunate not to score on one or two instances, although Dundalk did hit us cold on the break seven minutes after the restart, but fortunately we managed to get enough bodies back to quell the danger. As the match was drifting into nothing but huff and puff, Mikel Arteta introduced Dani Ceballos and Folarin Balogun for Mohamed Elneny and Eddie Nketiah just after the hour and as soon as they were on the pitch, an excellent Cédric Soares free-kick was palmed away by goalkeeper Gary Rogers. A little while later, some sterling work by super teenager Folarin Balogun who held the ball up well inside the Dundalk penalty area before laying the ball off neatly for Joe Willock to finish the job expertly; his first goal of the night, our third. Fairly plain sailing for us now, and after Emile Smith-Rowe being substituted for Ben Cottrell, with just ten minutes of the match remaining, a beautiful fourth goal came from young Folarin Balogun when he slotted the ball past Gary Rogers after collecting an inch-perfect pass in the penalty area from Nicolas Pépé. In an order to consolidate, Ben Azeez replaced Joe Willock, and then out of nowhere, Sean Hoare scored Dundalk’s second of the night with a strong header. In injury time, Calum Chambers put the ball into the Dundalk net, but it was disallowed for offside; it made no difference, as the referee called proceedings to a close a couple of minutes later.

So that was the end of the Group B matches in the Europa League for this year; eighteen points from six matches, a full house. Although this dead rubber of a match lacked importance, it was by no means a foregone conclusion. Good as we were, Dundalk had their moments too, and it got a bit scary at the back at times, but in the end everyone came through. Back to big boys’ football on Sunday night with the arrival of Burnley to the Emirates, and all the worries and doubts will start up again, no doubt. There surely cannot be any one of us who wouldn’t love to be able to transfer those Europa League points to our current Premier League tally. But life ain’t like that.

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: Burnley at the Emirates on Sunday, 13th December at 7.15pm (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.

Pires criticism of “lack of former players” in coaching positions at Arsenal is LAZY

1 Reply

Morning all.

Bits and pieces of Arsenal news floating around this morning.

The headline grabbing news is that Robert Pires has apparently bemoaned over Arsenal not relying “on former players” and has said he volunteered for a job at Arsenal.

“Arsenal not employing ex-player” rears its head every few months.

From Thierry Henry to Patrick Vieria, Tony Adams to Dennis Bergkamp. It is an easy article to write and often ignores the truth.

Almost every senior position at Arsenal is currently taken by an ex-player.

On top of those currently employed, Arsenal have a rich history of ex-players coaching.

There are also lesser known players currently employed by the club. The likes of Adam Birchall and Greg Lincoln.

Maybe instead of complaining about not getting an opportunity at Arsenal, Pires should look within.

Instead of using Arsenal’s facilities as a free gym for the last 5 years, maybe he should have got himself down Hale End, took his coaching badges and started off coaching the youth teams. That is how Freddie Ljungberg did it.

When Mikel Arteta was still an Arsenal player, he was down Hale End running coaching sessions. Gaining experience.

In the recent past, we have had Henry turn down a post at Arsenal. He wanted to be U23 Manager on a part-time basis so that it did not interfere with his lucrative £2million a year Sky contract.

Tony Adams last managerial job was in La Liga, managing Granada back in 2017. He lost 7 out of 7 games, they were relegated and he was sacked.

Whilst Patrick Vieira was recently sacked by Nice.

I would love Henry, Vieira, Bergkamp and Adams to be involved at Arsenal. But they have to show:

1) That they want to commit to Arsenal

2) That they have the ability to coach at the highest level

They should not be given a job just because they are a former player regardless of their credentials or ability.

The other news is William Saliba played again for the U23s last night.

Reports are he had a good game before seeing red as Arsenal lost to Wimbledon.

The Frenchman is still just 19-years-old and has been written off by some fans.

He has had both physical and mental problems since returning from Saint-Étienne and we are right to be taking our time over his development.

Also playing in that game was Gabriel Martinelli.

Like Saliba, he is also just 19. We need to ensure we do not rush him back.

Martinelli is important for our future, and I can easily see a situation where he is our first choice striker next season. But to grow into the position the backroom staff need to ensure he is not rushed back into first team action and picks up another injury.

As it is early December, expect the ITKs to begin waking from their hibernation.

Keenos