Match Report: Portsmouth 0 – 2 Arsenal

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Portsmouth (0) 0 Arsenal (1) 2
FA Cup Fifth Round
Fratton Park, Frogmore Road, Milton, Portsmouth, Hampshire. PO4 8RA
Monday, 2nd March 2020. Kick-off time: 7.45pm

 

(4-4-2) Emiliano Martínez; Sokratis Papastathopoulos, David Luiz, Pablo Marí, Bukayo Saka; Mattéo Guendouzi, Lucas Torreira, Reiss Nelson, Joe Willock; Gabriel Martinelli, Eddie Nketiah.
Substitutes: Bernd Leno, Dani Ceballos, Alexandre Lacazette, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Rob Holding, Nicolas Pépé, Granit Xhaka.
Scorers: Sokratis Papastathopoulos (45+3 mins), Eddie Nketiah (51 mins)
Yellow Cards: Mattéo Guendouzi
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 73%
Referee: Mike Dean
Attendance: 18,839

In a team with nine changes from the Olympiakos match last Thursday, and of those players, six are under twenty years of age (or under). Our line-up tonight shows Mikel Arteta’s intent to put youth at the helm in an important match here at Fratton Park this evening. The facts are stark and plain: win, and we are in the draw for the quarter-finals of the oldest cup competition in the world; lose and we face an uphill struggle in order to finish in the European places of the Premiership for next season. It is as simple and cut and dried as that.

Right from the start, the home side put us under pressure, which certainly tested our defensive capabilities somewhat. Lucas Torreira was carried off the pitch after, what initially appeared to be, a simple bread-and-butter tackle executed by defender James Bolton and was replaced by Dani Ceballos in the fifteenth minute; we then attempted to impose a possession-style match on our opponents which didn’t work, as all it did was serve to prove that our football became dull and fairly pedestrian. The worrying thing was that despite our attempts to break out of our half and launch assaults on the Portsmouth goal, they still managed to regroup and apply pressure on our goal, stretching the Arsenal defenders wider and wider across the pitch. Amazingly, and thankfully, we took the lead three minutes into injury time, when a superb Reiss Nelson cross from the right found Sokratis Papastathopoulos, who wasted no time in firmly placing the ball in the back of the net with a strong right-footed shot which ultimately meant that we went into the half-time break in the affirmative.

We started the second half with renewed confidence; it’s amazing what a goal just before the break can do! Anyway, six minutes after half time, another Reiss Nelson cross from the right saw Eddie Nketiah bundle a right-footed shot into the roof of the net to put us two goals ahead on the night. With the luxury of a two-goal lead, we were able to apply basic game management to the proceedings with a possession style that saw us control the game now. With twenty minutes of the match remaining, Reiss Nelson’s cross was met by the head of Gabriel Martinelli, which went high and wide, that was a missed opportunity for us to grab a third goal on the night. Just minutes later, young Bukayo Saka twisted and turned the Portsmouth defence inside out, and was unlucky not to score with his ascending shot that Alex Bass athletically tipped over the bar for an Arsenal corner. As the game was making its way to a natural conclusion, we found ourselves in the enviable position of being comfortable in an away cup game. Joe Willock was substituted for Granit Xhaka after eighty-six minutes, and the introduction of fresh legs in midfield only served further our desire to see the match out with a victory, which, despite one or two forays on our goal by the home side that dissolved into nothing, is exactly how the match finished here on the South Coast.

Despite a sluggish early start with a few close calls, we did enough to win the match and become the first club this season to reach the quarter-finals of the FA Cup tonight. Reiss Nelson was an absolute revelation on the right, providing excellent, accurate crosses for the strikers to run onto; indeed it was his cross that enabled Sokratis Papastathopoulos to open the scoring in the dying moments of the first half. Pablo Marí was impressive on his first team debut, as was Eddie Nketiah and, although he was on the pitch for the most briefest of times, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who replaced the aforementioned Reiss Nelson with a few minutes left on the clock. David Luiz showed mature leadership skills to inpire the Young Guns, as did Sokratis Papastathopoulos too. All in all, it was a clinical, professional victory, one that we desperately needed after the debacle of last Thursday’s defeat at The Emirates. 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 Ham United at The Emirates on Saturday, 7th March at 3.00pm (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.

Arsenal financials announced and good weekend of results despite not playing

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Arsenal have released their latest financial results for the 2018/19 tax year. As always the best analysis can be found from Swiss Ramble on Twitter.

The results are what was expected. A loss.

A lack of Champions League football and poor player sales were the two main driving forces behind the loss.

Arsenal made £34million in broadcasting money from its run to the Europa League Final. Manchester United made £82million on their way to the Champions League Quarter Final. It is safe to say that not being in the Champions League is costing the club around £50million a year – and it could get worse if we fail to make the Europa League this season.

For years our commercial deals have been average. In 2019 we signed new deals with Emirates and Adidas that will generate around £40-50million a year in extra income. It is much needed and would turn the loss of the previous year into a profit. The problem is that extra commercial income just makes up for the lack of Champions League football.

Our dealings in the transfer market has been poor for years, and this is shown by the £107m swing in “profit on player sales”.

In recent years we have paid a premium for average players (Lucas Perez) who have then been sold on for big losses. We have also been unable to command big transfer fees for out going players due to the high wages they are on.

To be a successful club with a self-sustaining model, you need all 4 major revenue generators to be performing.

Maximise commercial income
Broadcasting revenue driven from Champions League participation
Selling well
Gate receipts

In the last few seasons, we have underperformed in all but the gate receipts.

As Liverpool have shown, when you get all 4 working together, alongside good coaching, you can build a championship winning team without the need for owner investment.

It was a good weekend for Arsenal despite not kicking a ball.

Draws for Chelsea and Manchester United and a defeat for Tottenham meant Arsenal did not lose much ground on the top 4 despite not playing.

Our game in hand is away to Manchester City, so this weekend was a big one for those teams with the opportunity to put some more space between them and Arsenal.

As it stands we sit just 8 points off Chelsea in 4th and 5 points off Manchester United and Wolves in 5th or 6th. Depending on what happens with Manchester City’s CAF appeal, 5th could be the magic number for the Champions League and 7th for the Europa League. We are 3 points off 7th.

It was also good to see Liverpool lose. Going unbeaten is not for everyone.

Tonight it is the fifth round of the FA Cup away to Portsmouth. Will be interesting to see what side Mikel Arteta puts out following “fatigue” comments following the Olympiakos game.

Had we beaten the Greeks, I imagine Arteta would have played a rotated XI tonight. But with the FA Cup now being the only chance of a trophy, it has to be full strength XI.

Our next league game is on Saturday so players will have nearly a week to rest up following todays tie.

Take the FA Cup seriously and we could still have a successful season despite the problems we have faced.

Up The Arsenal

Keenos

Match Report: Arsenal 1 – 2 Olympiakos

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Arsenal (0) 1 Olympiakos FC (0) 2 (after extra time)
UEFA Europa League, Round of 32, Second Leg
Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU
Thursday, 27th February 2020. Kick-off time: 8.00pm

(4-2-3-1) Bernd Leno; Hector Bellerin, Shkodran Mustafi, David Luiz, Bukayo Saka; Dani Ceballos, Granit Xhaka, Nicolas Pépé; Mesut Özil; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Alexandre Lacazette.
Substitutes: Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Lucas Torreira, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Emiliano Martínez, Joe Willock, Mattéo Guendouzi, Gabriel Martinelli.
Scorers: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (113 mins)
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 50%
Referee: Davide Massa (Italy)
Attendance: circa 40,000

Exactly one week after our victory in Piraeus, courtesy of a solitary Alexandre Lacazette goal, we meet Olympiakos FC in the return leg here in North London. Although left-back Sead Kolašinac is not available tonight due to a very nasty injury against Everton last Sunday, the highly impressive Bukayo Saka takes his place in the starting eleven. We must not take anything for granted with regards to our win in the first leg, so tonight we must be completely single-minded and focussed in our desire to advance in this competition.

Almost from the start, the gulf between the two sides were plainly evident. Slowly and surely, we imposed our will on both Olympiakos and the match with little victories by our players appearing all over the pitch. After twenty minutes, a clumsy foul on Alexandre Lacazette by Ousseynou Ba just outside the visitors’ penalty area led to our first serious attempt on goal; although the subsequent free-kick was blasted over the bar by Nicolas Pépé, you had the feeling that there was going to be goals in this match tonight. Although the Olympiakos’ forwards launched attacks on our goal that were many and often, they all came to nothing and were easily neutralised by our defenders; having said that, complacency led to a strike on our goal by Mohamed Camara after thirty-five minutes. Thankfully, David Luiz spotted the danger and the shot hit the side netting, which became a warning to us all. Alexandre Lacazette put the ball into the net after thirty-nine minutes, only to see it chalked off by the all-seeing eye of VAR for offside, and as the clock ran down to half-time, it was a massive disappointment to everyone in the stadium that we were not ahead in this fairly one-sided and dull match.

The second half started, spiritually, where the first one left off, only this time the visitors seemed to be a trifle more organised than they were in the first. And so we paid for our intransigence with the conceding of a messy goal; in the fifty-third minute, an Olympiakos corner from the right foot of Mathieu Valbuena eventually found the protruding head of the unmarked Pape Abou Cissé, who wasted little time in putting the visitors ahead in this tie on the night. As the scores on aggregate were now equal, the visitors felt the wind in their sails and applied pressure on Bernd Leno’s goal. At the other end, Granit Xhaka’s shot went narrowly past the visitors’ post, and frustration became the order of the day, as it became clear that the harder we tried to score, the further away it seemed. Lucas Torreira replaced a lacklustre Dani Ceballos after seventy-two minutes, and despite the introduction of fresh legs, nothing much changed out there. Nicolas Pépé was unlucky not to score with a clever strike fourteen minutes from time, and with Hector Bellerin being substituted for Joe Willock on the eighty-fourth minute, the crowd sensed that this could be the last throw of the dice for us in normal time.

And so it was as well. With the scores equal on aggregate, thirty minutes of extra time beckoned. Arsenal started off the first period of extra time pressing the Olympiakos goal, and as legs got tired, mistakes were bring made by both sides. Shkodran Mustafi pulled up with a muscle issue in his right leg, and was immediately replaced by our third substitute of the night, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, with three minutes left of the first period of extra time. Entering the second period, this has now become a crucial fifteen minutes of football for Arsenal Football Club; win and we go into the next round, and lose, God forbid, and we forego the chance to win yet another trophy this season. With one eye on a penalty shootout, our fourth and final substitution was made by Mikel Arteta when Alexandre Lacazette was replaced by the quick legs of Gabriel Martinelli. A few minutes later, Giorgos Masouras hit the crossbar with a right footed shot from outside the box that left Bernd Leno grasping for air, and with both sides sensing the little time remaining, threw caution to the wind with attempt after attempt failing miserably. Then, seemingly out of nowhere, a truly beautiful cross from Mesut Özil found the head of Gabriel Martinelli, who nodded the ball over to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who scored with a right-footed strike into the bottom left-hand corner of the visitors’ net. And still the drama continued; with a minute left on the clock, a corner given cheaply away by Bernd Leno, found Youssef El-Arabi, who simply ghosted past David Luiz to put Olympiakos two-one ahead on the night. Tragically, with seconds left on the clock, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang put the ball wide of the open goal, which of course simply sealed our fate after over two hours of football. The final whistle blew, and with it, our chances of glory in the Europa League disappeared into the cold North London night.

In comparison with last week’s victory in Piraeus, tonight’s performance was truly, truly turgid. There were whole periods of the match where we lacked cohesion, inspiration and ideas. It is now patently clear to all and sundry that rebuilding this squad of players by Mikel Arteta is absolutely paramount, as we cannot go through yet another season with these footballers as things stand at present. This showed our limitations at the highest level of football, and the consequences of tonight’s result could be a far-reaching one, as it will take a domestic run in the remaining months of Premiership football of almost Herculean performances for us to return to European football next season. What a nightmare scenario for us all. 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: Portsmouth at Fratton Park on Monday, 2nd March at 7.45pm (FA Cup). 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.