Arsenal (1) 1 Eintracht Frankfurt (0) 2
UEFA Europa League, Group F, Matchday 5 of 6
Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU
Thursday, 28th November 2019. Kick-off time: 8.00pm

(4-2-3-1) Emiliano Martínez; Shkodran Mustafi, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, David Luiz, Calum Chambers; Joe Willock, Granit Xhaka; Kieran Tierney, Gabriel Martinelli, Bukayo Saka; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Substitutes: Bernd Leno, Alexandre Lacazette, Mesut Özil, Lucas Torreira, Nicolas Pépé, Reiss Nelson, Mattéo Guendouzi.
Scorers: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (45+1 mins)
Yellow Cards: Shkodran Mustafi, Mattéo Guendouzi, Granit Xhaka, Gabriel Martinelli
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 50%
Referee: Ruddy Buquet (France)
Attendance circa 25,000

Welcome to the opening match of the Thursday Club, featuring Arsenal F.C. With the exclusion of 19th December, we have matches on Thursdays for four weeks out of five, starting tonight, which is extremely unfair to both supporters and players alike, particularly at this time of the year. Is nothing sacred? Meanwhile, questions abound on this, Matchday 5 of Group F, Europa League. Which Arsenal will turn up tonight? Will the manager play a system that the players actually understand? Or will this match against Eintracht Frankfurt merely be a re-run of the disastrous past few games that we have all had the misfortune to witness? All will surely be revealed.

The match started off, as so many of our matches have done recently, with us making a decent fist of things; good movement both on and off the ball, and some fairly decent strikes on the Frankfurt goal. Both Granit Xhaka and David Luiz suffered nasty knocks in the first half, and in the case of the latter, went off just after the half hour and was replaced by Mattéo Guendouzi. Still we came forward, and of all the chances that we created, Gabriel Martinelli was surely the most unfortunate. He had a header cleared off the line, and a superb shot blocked by an opposition defender. On the stroke of half-time, Gabriel Martinelli provided a low pass for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to score a superb goal which ensured that we went into the break in the ascendancy.

But for us, this was where the match formally ended. The second half started as a car crash, and continued in the same ham-fisted, amateurish manner which we have come to expect from this leaderless, lost team of footballers. It took just ten minutes into the half for us to face the inevitable. Daichi Kamada curled a shot from the edge of the Arsenal penalty area past the outstretched arm of Emiliano Martínez into the net; nine minutes later, he did it again, this time, from a corner that was half-heartedly cleared which conveniently came his way. He composed himself, and simply stroked the ball into our net, for his second and final goal of the evening. From there on, we were clueless and ultimately finished.

In a desperate act of panic, Unai Emery took off Shkodran Mustafi and Gabriel Martinelli, and brought on Lucas Torreira along with Mesut Özil, but still it made no difference whatsoever; why he didn’t bring on Nicolas Pépé at this time is a mystery to us all.. As the match wore on, we looked less and less interested in the game, and we were extremely fortunate not to fall victim to “smash and grab” tactics in which Frankfurt caught us cold several times and looked like they were going to seal the game with yet another goal. It was surely good fortune on our part and bad football practice on the visitors’ system that we didn’t go further behind.

The famous old clock ran down, and as it did, the more useless and tepid we looked. At the final whistle, the boos and catcalls rang around the ground as has become practice here at The Emirates of late. We now have to avoid defeat against Standard Liege in Belgium on 12th December to qualify for the last 32 of the competition, which with this team, is not certain.
Let us talk honestly now. It’s time for the Board of Directors to discover their spine and replace this coaching administration of Unai Emery and his assistants as soon as possible, otherwise this grand old club, of which we have been so rightly proud of so many times in the past, will simply slide away into oblivion, like so many have done before. The footballers also need to take their fair share of responsibility here, as they too have shown scant regard for the club, each other, nor the supporters either in their disgraceful attitude and lacklustre play. Unai Emery may well set the tactics, but they set the attitude, and they need to look at themselves also. Who will be our gallant Lochinvar? Who will save us from ourselves?

Remember everyone, keep the faith. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Norwich City at Carrow Road on Sunday, 1st September at 2.00pm (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.

In July we issued a statement from a number of key Arsenal groups, outlining our concerns at the direction of our football club. A supporting petition was signed by over 100,000 individual Arsenal fans who not only felt a disconnect from the club but also had grave concerns about our future.

Since then we have been told to ‘get excited’ and to support the team. As Arsenal supporters we have done both.

There exist many issues raised in our first statement, that remain unaddressed by the Club. Whilst these matters have not gone away, it is the overall alarming and desperate state of things, on and off the pitch, that need urgent action and take precedent amongst our concerns. Until the Club and especially the senior management structure, is running efficiently, effectively and ambitiously, then few other issues can, or will, be satisfactorily resolved.

The early optimism of Summer, around what appeared to be good business and positive signings, has given way to renewed concerns about our overall direction and the leadership of our owner. It feels like the club is rudderless and floating aimlessly, unsure of its destination.

It appears that reported unrest in the dressing room is affecting our performances on the pitch and the Board’s clearly stated target of a top four finish at season end, looks in serious danger with barely a quarter of the season played.

We spoke about never feeling less valued and this has continued with an astounding lack of communication from the club. We understand it is The Arsenal way to deal with issues internally but the current communication vehicle – the drip feed and leaks to certain journalists – is unacceptable and unsatisfactory.

Communications on the whole have been dealt with poorly, and the tactics used only add to the confusion, uncertainty and unrest among the fanbase – which in turn is motivating our opponents, who can clearly see we’re in trouble.

As documented in our initial statement, Stan Kroenke made his ambitions for the club clear: “KSE’s ambitions for the club are to see it competing consistently to win the Premier League and the Champions League”. We still see no evidence of this, and current form would suggest that we are moving ever further from these goals.

We raised previously the need for new and dynamic appointments at board level; people with Arsenal DNA are needed at this time more than ever. Sadly, the Club’s reaction to this recommendation has been an unresponsive dismissal of it. Can we assume you are still satisfied that the right people are in the right positions, as Vinai suggested they were at July’s end of season supporters’ event? Again, the evidence so far this season implies an intrinsic lack of understanding, ambition, appetite and ability to take us forward.

Following our statement in the Summer, Josh Kroenke made an announcement implying that an ambitious KSE had arrived to save the day and secure the Club’s future. The fact is that KSE acquired a controlling share of Arsenal in 2011 and had significant influence prior to that.

The last decade, notwithstanding the FA Cup wins, can legitimately be seen as lost years, both on and off the field, when the team has not only stagnated, but actually regressed. To date, that is the legacy of the ‘Kroenke years’.

While our away support continues to be magnificent, our home crowds are starting to deplete and this situation will be further compounded by what will soon become a toxic atmosphere, if the current turmoil and lack of true leadership at the club continues to translate into poor performances on the pitch.

We want commitment that the Board recognises the issues faced by the club, and how severe these are for the future of The Arsenal. As supporters we want actual communication and measurable assurances from the Board, that actions are in place to address this seemingly inexorable slide.

As many great managers and players have said over the years, everyone involved with The Arsenal must “Remember who you are, what you are and who you represent”.

#WeCareDoYou

Arsenal (1) 2 Southampton (1) 2
Premier League
Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU
Saturday, 23rd November 2019. Kick-off time: 3.00pm

(3-4-1-2) Bernd Leno; Calum Chambers, David Luiz, Sokratis Papastathopoulos; Hector Bellerin, Lucas Torreira, Mattéo Guendouzi, Kieran Tierney; Mesut Özil; Alexandre Lacazette, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Substitutes: Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Nicolas Pépé, Shkodran Mustafi, Reiss Nelson, Emiliano Martínez, Joe Willock, Gabriel Martinelli.
Scorers: Alexandre Lacazette (18 mins, 90+6 mins)
Yellow Cards: Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Lucas Torreira, Nicolas Pépé, Mattéo Guendouzi, Kieran Tierney, Alexandre Lacazette
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 62%
Referee: Stuart Attwell
Attendance: 60,295

Upon leaving the Emirates after the Crystal Palace match a few weeks ago, a friend of mine overheard an excited young boy asking his father if they could go to the next game; in reply, Dad said that he couldn’t afford to take him again for a while, but as soon as he could scrape the money together for them to go back, then he would. Contrast that story with the Arsenal Board of Directors, well-heeled, successful and wealthy members to a man.

Their power is absolute; make no mistake, Stan Kroenke’s hand-picked group of bureaucrats hold the future of Arsenal Football Club in their very hands. But remember, the Board of Directors are merely only the custodians of the club, and like us, eventually will pass the torch onto the next generation of Arsenal people. The disconnect is, of course, they are able to make decisions that can alter the direction of the club, and we are unable to do so, therefore making us utterly helpless. Soon, they will be forced to make a decision over the future of the manager, and depending on the outcome, could very well determine as to whether there will be an exodus of both players and supporters at the end of the season; bearing in mind that attending Premiership football matches these days is no longer an affordable day out for many supporters, if the decision that they ultimately arrive at should be the incorrect one, then it could very well be that it will be will not just be the aforementioned father and son that won’t be attending matches at the Emirates over the next few years, it may well be everybody.

Here we go again, what price concentration for our defenders? After just eight minutes of the match, a sense of déjà vupermeated the winter air of The Emirates, when a seemingly innocuous free-kick taken quickly by Ryan Bertrand found the foot of Danny Ings, who wasted no time in placing the visitors ahead with a firm shot that went into the back of our net viathe post. For the next few minutes after conceding the opening goal of the day, we were completely all at sea, with no clue whatsoever how to defend, or even an idea of how to break out of our half; that was until the eighteenth minute, when plucky little Mesut Özil, playing in the deep-lying centre-forward (Puskas) role, appeared on the left side of the pitch and passed the ball to Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, whose shot was blocked on the line. Thankfully his striking partner Alexandre Lacazette was on hand to finish the job, to equalise the scores, so early in the game.

Southampton came at us time and time again after our equaliser, as they seemed to realise that our defence is extremely suspect under pressure, which it is, of course. And still we play out from the back, and still we get caught out. Insanity. We received two bookings in the first half from referee Stuart Attwell, one for Lucas Torreira after he performed a reckless challenge on Nathan Redmond, and an unlucky one for Sokratis Papastathopoulos, when his trailing arm caught Danny Ings after half an hour. We had an inability to impose our will on the opposition and ultimately, the match; no surprise when the half-time whistle went, the cat-calls and abuse rang out across the stadium as the players trundled off, leaving this unhappy half of frustration behind them.

Nicolas Pépé replaced Calum Chambers for the second half, and in doing so, Unai Emery changed the team formation in a heartbeat. But even then, it still wasn’t convincing, as the visitors soaked up pressure easily. With the exception of Nicolas Pépé’s shot hitting the bar, and Alex McCarthy stopping Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s shot from close-quarters, the inevitable happened on the seventy-first minute. Southampton took the lead from a James Ward-Prowse penalty, when he scored from the rebound of Bernd Leno’s initial save. From then on, we were totally on the back foot, and were extremely fortunate that we did not concede even more goals. Incredibly, our chance came in the sixth minute of injury time when Alexandre Lacazette equalised from a Gabriel Martinelli cross; embarrassed, he did not seem in the slightest bit interested in celebrating his goal. A minute or so later, the final whistle blew, and the Emirates crowd again showed their displeasure in the way that we have come to expect in recent matches.

This match, from our perspective, was a disgrace. Twelve shots on goal, five on target, whilst Southampton had twenty-one shots on goal, with six on target. And six of our players booked as well; all against a team (no disrespect intended to Southampton) who shipped nine against Leicester City and are languishing second from bottom in the Premiership table. The whole club has now become toxic and needs a root and branch reform, and quickly too. If it is left too long, then I fear the damage could be almost irreversible.

Remember everyone, keep the faith, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Eintracht Frankfurt at The Emirates on Thursday, 28th November at 8.00pm (Europa 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.