Tag Archives: Arsenal

FA Cup win ‘just the beginning’ under Mikel Arteta

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Nothing beats lifting silverware.

And for the 4th time in 7 years, Arsenal have finished the season with a trophy.

It was our worst season in 25 years the media gleefully told us at the end of the league campaign as we finished 8th – our lowest finish since 1994/95.

And then we go and lift the FA Cup and it was a glorious moment.

I would have been guaranteed a Wembley final ticket. What with my 60 something away credits.

Last week sadness hit as I realised I would not be making the trip to the final. So plans were put in place.

A dozen people turned up. The BBQ was on. The garden bar open. And a life time of memories created.

I will always remember the 2020 FA Cup final. Watching it with some of the greatest people in the world. Lads I have known for decades, been over land and sea with. Oh what a night!

Some might say that the result is “papering over the cracks”. But for me this is not a 2017 situation, where winning the FA Cup hid the slow demise of Arsenal under Arsene Wenger. This is a new start.

Mikel Arteta came in 8 months ago. Some loudmouths didn’t want him. “He just puts out Pep’s cones” they cried. They probably had their anti-Arteta tweets lined up in their drafts.

The victory of Chelsea shows just how far we have come since Arteta took over.

Arteta has shown we are a top 6 side who were coached poorly at the beginning of the season.

Taken into account we had a caretaker manager for 5 games, where we won just 5 points, to finish just 6 points off of 5th highlighted the improvement under the Spaniard.

We have beaten Liverpool, Manchester City, Chelsea and Manchester United under Mikel Arteta.

28 games he has been in charge for. We have won 57.14% of them. That is just a little shy than Wenger’s win ratio – 57.25 (incredible for 20 years at the club).

Yet people will still deny we have made progress under him.

Yes, we have had some disappointing results. Aston Villa and Brighton stick out. But it is easier to improve to beat the smaller teams than it is to beat the better ones.

Taking into account Arteta took over a team low on confidence, fitness and focus following Emery’s disastrous handling of the squad, what he has achieved in 8 months is incredible.

What is obvious on the pitch, during the drink breaks, is the players respect him. They listen to him. They buy into him.

You see it at Man City and Liverpool, the way the players celebrate with the manager. They see themselves as one unit. Arteta is the same.

The way he has dealt with the Mesut Ozil and Matteo Guendouzi situations is also remarkable for a man who is in his first senior job.

Whilst Bernd Leno, Shkodran Mustafi, Gabriel Martinelli and Calum Chambers were all at Wembley, crutches and all, Ozil and Guendouzi were no where to be seen.

Ainsley Maitland-Niles sums up Arsenal under Arteta.

You are either with the manager, putting 100% in training every session, or you are not. And if you are not, you do not play.

A few months ago Maitland-Niles seemed on his way out of Arsenal.

Questions about his attitude, about him demanding to play midfield. He had seemingly played his last game for Arsenal.

He kept his counsel, worked hard at training and was fantastic on Saturday. Likewise he was key against Manchester City in the semi-final.

Maitland-Niles deserves his FA Cup winners medal.

The same for Mustafi and Granit Xhaka. Two more players who have come back from the brink to become key performers under Arteta.

It is important that Arteta is able to keep the core of this squad together. That Pierre-Emerick Aubameayng signs a new deal. That Dani Ceballos is secured for at least another 12 months. Hopefully more.

And then we rebuild.

Get rid of those players who have not bought in to Arteta’s process, and replace them with hunger individuals. Players that want to achieve. Players who have the desire to play and improve. Players who want to join us on the journey.

But for now, we can all relax. Enjoy ourselves. No negativity. This is just the beginning for Arsenal under Mikel Arteta.

WE WON OUR TROPHY BACK

Keenos

Mikel Arteta FA Cup headaches: Mesut Ozil & Matteo Guendouzi

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Formation & Selection

Mikel Arteta clearly prefers 433 / 4231, but in recent weeks he has employed 3 (or 5?) at the back.

In 2017, Arsenal beat Chelsea playing 3 at the back, with masterful performances from Nacho Monreal, Per Mertesacker and Rob Holding.

Will we see 3 at the back again? With Rob Holding, David Luiz and either Kieran Tierney or Saed Kolasinac in defence?

Granit Xhaka and Dani Ceballos will surely continue their fruitful partnership in the middle of the park, but who flanks them?

On the left he has to chose between whichever left back does not play as a left centre back and Bukayo Saka.

The young Englishman has been poor in recent weeks, so might be better being used as an impact substitute if we convert to a back 4. Replacing the Alexandre Lacazette up top allowing Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to play down the middle.

Auba will likely start wide left.

On the right hand side, Nicolas Pepe will likely be selected, but who plays behind him is a head ache.

With Cedric cup tied, it is a choice between Hector Bellerin and Ainsley Maitland-Niles.

Bellerin is the better defender, but the Englishman gives more going forward and is perhaps better suited with playing wing back.

Arteta has also instructed Maitland-Niles to tuck into midfield from the right hand side at times, which he is more than capable of doing so. But Holding is not as good as covering the right hand side when he does this as Mustafi.

Arteta has quite a bit to think about.

Mesut Ozil

Having not played a minute since football restarted, Mikel Arteta has a dilemma.

Does he put Ozil on the bench, giving him a chance to win his 4th FA Cup medal? Or does he continue to cast him aside.

Something has gone wrong with their relationship.

Ozil played a lot under Arteta prior to the suspension of football, and not played a minute since football restarted.

Is it his refusal to take a pay cut? His attitude? His continual sick days with a “back injury”? Has he just fallen out of love with football? Now happy to go through the motions in training, not play and pick up his huge pay cheque.

Clearly something is not right there.

Whatever the decision, Arteta should announce it today to stop it being a big issue tomorrow.

Matteo Guendouzi

Following the defeat to Brighton, Guendouzi found himself out of the team with the club concerned about his attitude.

Like Ozil, he has not even made the bench since that incident, with the club reprotedly open to offers on him.

His immaturity is clearly a concern for the club – to the point where they had to discuss it with his “representatives” rather than the player himself.

We are a weaker squad with Guendouzi in it. If not playing, he can provide us energy coming off the bench.

Maybe missing out on an FA Cup final is the kick he needs? Arteta perhaps needs to offer the olive branch and at least let him take a place on the bench.

My gut is, following rows with Arteta in Dubai, mocking Freddie Ljungberg and Unai Emery, Guendouzi is done at Arsenal and will not be part of the travelling squad.

It will be a sad end to such a talented players Arsenal career.

Keenos

Wilfried Zaha – Can Arsenal risk buying another African forward?

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This summer Wilfried Zaha will likely be available, having been close to leaving Crystal Palace for both Everton and Arsenal last summer.

Arsenal should not longer be in the running for him.

For a start, we have recruited Nicolas Pepe. We also have Bukayo Saka on the left wing. We do not really need to go big for a winger when we have so many issues throughout the middle of the park – a defender, central midfielder and creative central midfielder as much more important.

But Arsenal’s recruitment team also need to ensure that we do not end up with too many African’s in the squad.

Now before you all start labelling me “racist” or whatever, there is plenty of logic behind keeping the amount of African players to a minimum.

The next African Cup of Nations is in 2022.

It was originally scheduled for January – February 2021, but due to the Covid19 outbreak has been delayed for 12 months.

Any player that is selected for their nation can expect to be unavailable for their club for around 6 weeks – 4 weeks for the tournament itself and 2 weeks for preparation.

Clubs will also be acutely aware of players returning from the continental tournament out of shape, over weight, and not ready to be thrown straight back into European football.

If you end up with a squad with too many African players in it, you could find yourself without some key players for nearly 2 months.

Taking a look at Arsenal, we currently have 2 key players who are African:

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (Gabon)
Nicolas Pepe (Ivory Coast)

If Aubameyang is still with us in 2022, and we signed Zaha, there would be a high chance that we would be losing our entire front 3 for 2 months come the tournament.

This would kill any chance Arsenal have of being competitive in 2022.

The club will also be keeping an eye of Bukayo Saka.

The Ealing born England youth international is of Nigerian heritage.

Whilst the youngsters preference is to play for England, and the Super Eagles recently announced that they would not “chase Saka”, a lot can happen in the next 18 months.

If Saka continues his current form, and is ignored by England (highly unlikely), he may well decide to make the switch from England to Nigeria in the same way Zaha switched from England to Ivory Coast.

That would potentially leave Arsenal without Aubameyang, Pepe, Zaha and Saka.

It would be a terrible position for the club to be in and questions would have to be asked as to why the recruitment team have amassed 4 players in similar attacking positions that could leave for 2 months.

Thomas Partey is Ghanaian and would also likely play in the tournament.

Were we to sign him as well, that would potentially be 20% of our squad unavailable in January 2022. By the time you add in the usual injuries from a tough winter period, Arsenal’s squad would be depelted.

The difference between Partey and Zaha, however, is position.

As a winger / forward, Arsenal will already be losing 2, maybe 3, players for the tournament. In the middle of the park we do not have other players likely to play in Cameroon.

If we signed Partey and lost him, we would have the squad depth to cover as we would have 3 or 4 other central midfielders.

As for Zaha, there would not be the cover. Even if Saka remains with the England set-up instead of changing his allegiance.

You need to build a balanced squad, and part of that balanced squad is ensuring that you do not lose too many players over the January period to the African Cup of Nations.

Likewise, teams keep an eye on South American players – as the Copa America tends to be played in odd numbered years; either the year before and World Cup or year after. This results in South American players playing for 3 straight seasons without a summer break (arguably what led to Alexis Sanchez’s loss of explosiveness).

The time to sign Zaha would have been last summer, but we ended up plumping for Nicolas Pepe.

Arsenal’s recruitment team will be focusing on non-African attacking options this summer to offset the potential departures of Aubameyang, Pepe and Saka in 2022.

Everton face a similar dilemma having signed Nigerian Alex Iwobi from Arsenal last summer. Would they really want to lose their left and right wingers for 2 months in 2022?

Keenos