Europa League Final – Arsenal Pub Guide

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Europa League Final – Arsenal Pub Guide

Islington Sports Bar & Grill
274 Holloway Rd, London N7 6NE
Free entry
Tables fully reserved
Standing room only
1st come, 1st served

The Twelve Pins
263 Seven Sisters Rd, Finsbury Park, London N4 2DE
Tickets on the day from 4pm
£10
Over 19 only – no children
Food served until 4pm
1st come, 1st served

The Gunners
204 Blackstock Rd, Highbury, London N5 1EN
Over 18s only
£10 entry
1st drink free
1st come, 1st served
Noon – 2am

The Eaglet
124 Seven Sisters Rd, London N7 6AE
REOPEN AFTER RECENT CLOSURE
Free entry
1st come, 1st served

The Victoria Tavern
203 Holloway Rd, London N7 8DL
Tables fully reserved
Standing room only
1st come, 1st served
Free entry

Bank of Friendship
226 Blackstock Rd, Highbury, London N5 1EA
£5 on the door
1st come, 1st served
No admission after 7:30pm

The Auld Triangle
2 St Thomas’s Rd, Finsbury Park, London N4 2QW
£5 entry
1st come, 1st served

The Horatia
98-102 Holloway Rd, Highbury East, London N7 8JE
Tables fully reserved
Limited standing room
1st come, 1st served
Free entry

Famous Cock Tavern
259 Upper St, Highbury, London N1 1RU
Standing room only
1st come, 1st served
Table’s fully booked

The Woodbine
215 Blackstock Rd, Highbury East, London N5 2LL
Free entry
1st come, 1st serves

Fox on the Green
1 Islington Green, The Angel, London N1 2XH
Free entry – no tickets
1st come, 1st served
Get there early
Can reserve a table via their website

The Park Tavern
164 Tollington Park, Finsbury Park, London N4 3AD
Free entry
1st come, 1st served

The Long Acre
1 Upper St Martin’s Ln, Covent Garden, London WC2H 9NY
Free entry
Booking in advance is advised
Shuts at 3am

The Northumberland Arms
141 King’s Cross Rd, Kings Cross, London WC1X 9BJ
Free entry
Happy hour 5-8: £3.20 a pint

House Of Hammerton
99 Holloway Rd, London N7 8LT
Will be screening it
Email to reserve: taproom@hammertonbrewery.co.uk

The Crown
116 Cloudesley Rd, Islington, London N1 0EB
1st come, 1st served
Free entry
Small buffet
1am closing – no entry after midnight

Brewhouse & Kitchen
Torrens St, The Angel, London EC1V 1NQ
Free entry
Pre-book tables to guarantee a spot
1st come, 1st served on the night

Hammerton Brewery
Unit 8 & 9, Roman Way Industrial Estate, 149 Roman Way, London N7 8XH
Will be screening it
Email to reserve: taproom@hammertonbrewery.co.uk

Hope & Anchor
207 Upper St, Islington, London N1 1RL
Free entry
1st come, 1st served

Cannons The Factory
223A Blackstock Rd, Highbury, London N5 2LL
Pay on the doors
Free entry

SOLD OUT

Tollington Arms – SOLD OUT
115 Hornsey Rd, London N7 6DN
£10 and include 1 free drink
Ticket only
Tickets can be purchased behind the bar from Wednesday 15th May
Over 18s only

The Rocket hosted by Red Action – SOLD OUT
166-220 Holloway Rd, London N7 8DB
Tickets £8
1st drink free
Doors open at 5pm
Over 18s only

The Highbury Barn Tavern – SOLD OUT
26 Highbury Park, Highbury East, London N5 2AB
£5 tickets
Available in advance
BBQ

Club Aquarium hosted by The Away Boyz – SOLD OUT
256-260 Old St, Old Street, London EC1V 9DD
Tickets £10 + P&P
Available in advance via PayPal or Bank Transfer
Doors open at 5pm
The Away Boyz on stage 7pm & 11pm
Message The Away Boyz on Twitter for further details

O2 Academy Islington hosted by Red Action – THIS EVENT IS NOT LONGER ON
16 Parkfield St, The Angel, London N1 0PS
Free entry
Ticketed event
A £5 ticket must be purchased and a drink voucher will be exchanged on arrival

SheWore

3412 or 4231: Why formation will determine Arsenal’s transfer targets

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The biggest criticism of Unai Emery this season is his chopping and changing of formation.

He has switch from 4231 to 3412 on a regular basis.

This chopping and changing led to a lack of consistency and cohesion. It is very different defending in a back 3 against defending in a back 4, for example.

When Arsene Wenger was at the club, the formation was pretty much always the same.

His early teams were 442, his later 4231.

You look at every successful side in history and they usually play with the same formation throughout history.

Sir Alex Ferguson employed 442 for most of the time, later switching to 433. Jose Mourinho always 4231. This season Jurgen Klopp and Pep Guardiola have rarely strayed from their favourers 4231 formations.

Consistency in formation leads players have greater comfort and positivity in what they are doing. They do not need to think about where a player is before passing the bal. They know the player will be there when they pass it.

Next season, Emery needs to decide what formation he is going to play, and this then defines who we will sign in the summer.

Formation and team play is more important than personnel. You could acquire the best XI in the world, but if you fail to play to their strengths you will fail as a team. You need suitable players for the system you will play.

The best example of this is France at last years World Cup.

Alexandre Lacazette is clearly a superior striker to Olivier Giroud, yet it is the ex-Arsenal man who became a world champion over the current Arsenal man.

This was due to France trying to get the best out of Antoine Griezmann – and Giroud was best placed to do that. A strike force of Griezmann and Lacazette might have had better individuals but not be a better partnership.

The formation that Emery wants to play next season will govern what players we sign. The best example for this is at left back.

Sead Kolasinac is a very good attacking wing back, but not a great defensive full back. He suits playing 3412, but will struggle in a back 4.

If Emery decides to stick with 3 at the back, Kolasinac is first choice. Nacho Monreal (who it seems is going to sign a new deal) is then adequate back up.

Kolasinac will not suit a back 4, however. And the feeling is Monreal can no longer be relied upon to play a full season at left back. A back 4 would result in Arsenal needing to sign a new left back. A back 3 would mean Arsenal do not need to make a purchase.

It is a similar situation on the right hand side of defence.

Ainsley-Maitland Niles will be adequate cover for Hector Bellerin as a wing back, but not so much as a right back.

A back 4 would mean that, ideally, we would have to buy a back up for Bellerin, whilst a back 3 would mean we could stick with the young Englishman.

Regardless of formation, Arsenal need a new first choice central defender.

In a back 4, Sokratis needs a solid partner. A new central defender alongside Sokratis, Rob Holding, Laurent Koscielny and Kostadinos Mavropanos would be sufficient. However a back 3 could result in the club deciding to keep hold of Calum Chambers.

Signings in the top end of the pitch will also be defined by formation.

The theory go’s that Arsenal need to sign width this summer. But this is only correct if we play 4231, not 3421.

In 3412, you rely on your strikers to “split” and create the width. Pierre-Emerick aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette are both good at this. You then need a Number 10 who will get into the box between the pair to create the extra man when one is out wide. This is not one of Mesut Ozil’s strengths.

Aaron Ramsey would have been ideal to play Number 10 in 3412, but he is leaving.

If Emery does go 3412, we need to find a goal scoring midfielder like Aaron Ramsey. A Frank Lampard type player. This could result in Ozil leaving.

Instead of spending money on width, it would also see us invest in another top class striker.

As it stands we have Aubameyang, Lacazette and young Eddie Nketiah.

Playing Aubameyang and Lacazette up top would leave us with Nketiah as the striker option on the bench, and an injury to any of the 3 would leave us with no striker on the bench.

An option here could be we buy a winger who can play upfront, or a striker who can play on the wing. Someone like Anthony Martial.

If Emery went for 4231, Ozil would be more than suitable and Arsenal would not need to invest in a 4th striker – instead going for at least one winger; maybe 2.

Ultimately our summer transfer plans need to be defined by how Emery wants to play next season.

Keenos

Leicester City star “unsuitable” to replace Mesut Ozil at Arsenal

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James Maddison has been singled out by many as a long term Mesut Ozil replacement.

The Leicester City midfielder has had a good first season in the Premier League and is clearly a talent.

I first noticed him when playing for Coventry. I remember the commentary during a game that he had an unusual method in taking penalties and free kicks – striking the ball with the back of the inside of his foot to generate more power.

He then joined Norwich before signing for Leicester City in the summer of 2018 for around £20million.

Just 22-years-old, Maddison has a bright future in both the Premier League and for England. However a replacement for Mesut Ozil he is not.

A lot of people have jumped all over the “chances created” statistic to highlight that he would make an ideal replacement for Ozil as Arsenal’s creator in chief. The problem is “chances created” is flawed.

Back in 2011 Liverpool  had a team that was struggling to create chances and score goals. The season before they scored just 59 goals. They went out into the market and recruited midfielder who, in 2010/11, had created a lot of chances. This led them to sign Jordan Henderson, Charlie Adam and Stewart Downing.

On paper it looked a smart decision. They were adding 3 different style of players who all create a high number of chances. What they ignored, however, was that all 3 of those players were corner takers.

The problem with “chances created” as a raw statistic is it includes chances created from corners and free kicks. This means that a player who takes a corner has more of a chance of creating a chance than a player who does not.

Corner taken, header over the bar, “chance created.”

The problem Liverpool faced was that they have signed 3 corner takers, yet Steven Gerrard took all the corners. This resulted in no more chances created from open play and their goals scored dropped to just 47.

Whilst statistics are important, it is even more important that they are analysed correctly. By looking at chances created, Liverpool spent a lot of money on corner takers and it backfired.

Likewise this summer if you Arsenal were looking at a goal scoring midfielder to replace Aaron Ramsey, the dimpliest way to do it would be to just search “goals scored by midfielders.”

Coming out top is Paul Pogba with 13 Premier League goals from midfield. In second is Luka Milivojevic of Crystal Palace with 12. On paper, both would look like good options as goal scoring midfielders.

Yet 7 of Pogba’s 13 Premier League goals came from the penalty spot. And 10 of Milivojevic’s were penalties.

The less educated with think “Pogba has had a brilliant goal scoring season” yet he has scored the same amount of goals from open play in the league as Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

Milivojevic would clearly not be a goal scoring midfielder if it was not for penalties.

So let’s go back to James Maddison.

He has created 100 chances in the Premier League this season, but he has taken 163 corners – the Premier League leader. Compare this to Mesut Ozil who has taken just 38 corners.

After corners, the second easiest way to “stat pad” the chances created statistic is through crosses.

Like with a corner, you swing in enough crosses over the course of the season, your chances create will go up.

Swing in corner + header off target = chance created.

James Maddison is 5th when it comes to “attempted crosses” in the Premier League with 205.

So he has taken 163 corners and crossed the ball 205 times. Those two put together give him 100 chances created.

Mesut Ozil does not take corners and rarely crosses the ball – just 42 crosses this season.

Combining the statistics; Maddison has swung 368 balls into the box from corners and crosses. Ozil just 80 balls slung into the box.

The types of chances both create are very different.

Maddison’s are very basic. Balls into the box giving a striker a headed chance – and a low chance of scoring. Ozil’s are more complex. Inch perfect passes from open play that lead to a better chance for a striker to score.

The way Arsenal play, the midfielders job is not to put crosses in. That is the job of the full backs. Were Maddison to join Arsenal, he would find that route to chances create dry up as he has to adapt to a different style of play.

Whilst in Maddison Arsenal would be recruiting a good corner taker, it is not taking corners that Arsenal would need to replace in Mesut Ozil. It is chances created from open play.

In summary, Maddison creates a lot of chances from corners or from out wide. What we need when looking for an Ozil replacement is someone who creates chances from the middle of the park.

Keenos