Tag Archives: Arsenal

The FA Cup returns as Arsenal lose an 89 great

Leave a reply

 

Following the resumption of the Premier League, this weekend sees the FA Cup take centre stage.

Tomorrow Arsenal face Sheffield United in the quarter-finals.

It is a competition fans have almost forgotten about with everything that has happened. But it is a trophy that Arsenal are in the running for, and a chance to get into Europe.

The quarter-finals will be interesting, with the top 4 clubs (Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City & Man U) all being drawn away from home.

Trips to Norwich, Newcastle, Sheffield United and Leicester City will not be easy for any of them.

Arsenal travel to Sheffield off the back of a moral boasting win against Southampton – the 1st since football returned.

Sheffield United, meanwhile, are still looking for their first post-Covid19 victory; having drawn against Aston Villa and then been stuffed 3-0 by both Man U and Newcastle.

Having gone into the suspension just 2 points off of Manchester United in 5th with a game in hand, Sheffield United’s poor form has seen them slide down the table to 8th, just 1 point above Arsenal and 5 off 5th place.

The winners get a trip to Wembley as their reward for a semi-final clash.

It was sad to hear about the passing of Theo Foley yesterday.

Theo Joined QPR as a reserve team coach. Whilst in West London, he struck up a friendship with another up and coming coach, a certain George Graham.

Graham took Theo firstly to Millwall, and then to Arsenal in 1986.

Theo became the father figure to what was a young Arsenal squad – overseeing the progression of the likes of Tony Adams, Michael Thomas and David Rocastle. He was the good cop, the approachable man, to Graham’s bad cop, disciplinarian.

Overseeing fitness and the defence, Theo was integral in Anfield 89.

Theo left Arsenal in 1991 to take a managerial role with Northampton.

Two years ago we had a question and answer session with Theo where he shared his views on Highbury, the move to the Emirates, Anfield 89 and George Graham.

Theo Foley was a true football man and will be missed by many.

RIP Theo, give us the ball before you go.

The Return of Arsenal: Act III

1 Reply

Tonight Arsenal go looking for their 1st post-Covid19 win at the 3rd attempt.

Manchester City away was always a tough place to start and Arsenal lost 3-0 in predictable fashion.

The match against Brighton was equally a predictable performance, as Arsenal switched off and lost 2-1 despite dominating.

Brighton have quietly become Arsenal’s bogey team. The defeat on Saturday was the 5th game without a win, and also meant the South-Coast side have done the double this season.

For the Act III: The Return of Arsenal, it is a 3rd away game in a row and a trip back down to the South-Coast.

We should be hopeful of taking all 3 points.

It feels like we have had a poor record against Southampton in recent years, but the last 10 games reads:

P 10 W 5 D 3 L 2.

The team have had a good break since the defeat to Brighton, playing Saturday then Thursday. However with European football looking a struggle you have to wonder if Mikel Arteta might have one eye on Sunday’s FA Cup game against Sheffield United.

Arsenal are facing an injury crisis going into the game, with Berd Leno, Pablo Mari, Gabriel Martinelli and Calum Chamber all rules out for the season.

Sokratis and Granit Xhaka both returned to full training this week, although it remains to be seen if they are ready to go tonight.

Lucas Torreira and Cedric Soares are both a week away from full fitness.

2 defeats on the spin has seen Arsenal drop into the bottom half of the table.

A win tonight would take us back up to 9th, and just 2 points off Tottenham in 7th.

Depending on what happens in the FA Cup and with Manchester City’s impending European ban, 8th might be enough for the Europa League this season, so let’s not be writing it off yet.

A win tonight will change the mood.

Keenos

Doesn’t score, doesn’t create, can’t defend: What does the Arsenal midfield actually do?

4 Replies

What exactly does the Arsenal midfield do?

https://twitter.com/Clockend88/status/1275148703058313220

One thing they do not do is score goals.

Mesut Ozil (1) and Lucas Torreira (1) are the only midfielders who have contributed a league goal this season.

Dani Ceballos, Granit Xhaka, Matteo Guendouzi and Joe Willock have all yet to score a league this season.

The problem with Arsenal’s midfield is what else are they actually doing?

Liverpool are running away with the league this season and their midfield contribute little in terms of goals.

Georginio Wijnaldum and Jordan Henderson have 3 each, as does Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, whilst Fabinho has just one league goal. They are certainly not putting in Frank Lampard of Steven Gerrard type figures.

But there job in the team is not to get forward and score goals.

Jurgen Klopp as a hard working midfield that covers a lot of ground, limiting the opponents chances. They have conceded just 21 goals this season.

A big threat for Liverpool is their full backs.

Trent Alexander-Arnold has 12 in the league this season (2nd most), whilst Andrew Roberston has 7 (9th).

Liverpool use their midfielders to cover the full backs as the bomb forward.

Henderson and Fabinho are often found at right or left back during an attack, whilst Alexander-Arnold is putting in a cross which leads to a goal.

But Arsenal’s midfield does not provide much defensive cover.

Too often this season (and previous seasons) it has been too easy to cut through Arsenal’s midfield, to get at the defence. And when was the last time a midfielder covered his full back when bombing forward? It just does not happen.

So at Arsenal, the midfield does not protect the defence, it also does not score goals.

Barcelona’s peak team that had Sergio Busquets, Xavi and Andrés Iniesta in it did not provide much cover for the defence, and did not score too many goals.

Between them they average a goal every 13 games for Barcelona.

But what they did is create a lot.

There role in the time was to pass the ball in tight spaces until a gap appeared, which lead to goals for Lionel Messi, Samuel Eto’o, David Villa or Neymar. It did not matter that they did not score many when they created so much.

Take Ozil, Xhaka, Torreira, Ceballos, Guendouzi & Willock as a collective.

In 8217 minutes of football, they have scored 2 goals and assisted 7.

That is a goal or assist every 913 minutes.

With 41 goals conceded in 30 games (8th highest), they are clearly also not providing much defensive cover.

So what exactly does Arsenal’s midfield do?

Keenos