Tag Archives: Arsenal

Arsenal fans not much cheer at the World Cup

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From a clubs point of view, a World Cup year usually plays havoc with the pre-season.

Adding an extra 10 weeks to the calendar after the Premier League season has finished, it means players selected for their country are nowhere to be seen for the majority of pre-season.

To put it into perspective, last season Arsenal began pre-season training in the 4th of July. If the club keep to the same schedule (ie first weekend of July), players will start to return on the 3rd of July. The World Cup is not until the 15th July.

The break between the end of the Premier League season and pre-season starting is 6 weeks. The clubs fitness staff (regardless of who the manager is) usually recommend this as the minimum break before players return.

The group stages finish on the 28th  June. That means for a 6 week break, we will not see any player return until around August 14th. That is 3 days after the first game of the season. If any player makes the final, you are probably looking at September before they return.

Under usual circumstances, this would frustrate an Arsenal fan. With Champions League qualifiers and having to play the first couple of games using those players who did not go to the World Cup. Next season, however, Arsenal have no excuses.

To start with, we are now in the Europa League. It does not start until the 20th September. And we will probably play a reserve XI in the group stages once more regardless.

But what will swing things into Arsenal’s favour even more is the simple lack of Arsenal players going to Russia.

At the 2014 World Cup, Arsenal had 10 players out in Brazil. This year that number could be as low as 6.

We have all seen the news about Jack Wilshere and Shkodran Mustafi. Neither have made their sides squad.

A mixture of injuries, countries failing to qualify and unselection could result in the majority of Arsenal players being at London Colney on the first day back at training:

Failed to qualify:

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
Henrikh Mkhitaryan
Aaron Ramsey
Sead Kolašinac
Konstantinos Mavropanos
Joel Campbell

Unselected:

Jack Wilshere
Alexandre Lacazette
Shkodran Mustafi
Calum Chambers
Rob Holding
Ainsley Maitland-Niles
Carl Jenkinson
Emiliano Martínez
Lucas Pérez

Retired / Injured:

Petr Cech
Laurent Koscielny
Santi Cazorla

Unlikely to go:

Hector Bellerin
Nacho Monreal

Assured of selection:

Granit Xhaka
Mesut Özil
David Ospina
Mohamed Elneny
Alex Iwobi
Danny Welbeck

The bad news for the players unselected or who failed to qualify is good news for Arsenal.

Of those assured of selection, only Granit Xhaka and Mesut Ozil are first team regulars. The only position we are exposed is the middle of the park with both Elneny and Xhaka going to Russia.

Without any new signings (or outgoings) our first game of the season could see us line up:

Cech

Bellerin Mustafi Chambers Monreal

Wilshere Maitland-Niles Ramsey

Mkhitaryan

Aubameyang Lacazette

No excuses to not have a fast start.

Keenos

The transfer window is open

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The transfer window is open!

Despite the season not even yet being over – with the FA Cup and Champions League Final’s still to play, teams throughout England can now buy and sell players.

This is due to Premier League clubs voting to close the own window at 5pm on Thursday August 9, two days before the first match of the 2018/19 season.

Fifa rules dictate the window must be open for 12 weeks which has meant the date clubs can start to sign players has also been brought forward.

In a move designed to end disruption and allow clubs to focus on their football, Premier League clubs have agreed to close the summer transfer window before the start of the 2018-19 season.

The change came after a number of Premier League managers and club officials complained about the negative impact of transfer uncertainty and speculation on their players. Diego Costa, Philippe Coutinho and Virgil van Dijk were just four of a list of players who did not play for their clubs as they pursued exits.

14 Premier League clubs voted for the window to shut before the season starts, starting this season.

EFL clubs have followed the Premier League’s example by bringing their transfer deadline forward but with foreign leagues’ deadlines expected to be on August 31, we are in line for two transfer deadlines next summer.

This means there will be two transfer Deadline Days in August, with the Premier League and EFL windows shutting before the other major leagues around Europe.

The transfer windows in Spain, France, Germany and Italy are all expected to open in early June.

As usual, the deadlines are expected to fall on August 31, with Ligue 1, Bundesliga, Serie A and La Liga showing no signs of following the Premier League’s lead.

Premier League clubs will no longer be able to make signings when the season gets underway, but the change does not apply to other leagues, meaning Premier League players will still be able to move abroad.

That means transfer sagas such as Barcelona’s pursuit of Coutinho last summer could still drag on into the season, creating the same kind of unwanted distractions for Premier League bosses.

However, Premier League clubs will be in a position to charge a premium from foreign clubs after the early deadline has passed, but they will be unable to reinvest their earnings until the January window.

Premier League executive chairman Richard Scudamore told Sky Sports News…

“There was a big concern that the Premier League has been playing two or three match rounds with a degree of uncertainty between themselves.

The Premier League’s chief executive Richard Scudamore outlines the changes to the summer transfer window after 14 clubs voted for deadline day to be before the season started

“It wasn’t unanimous but nobody was pathologically angry about the situation. But there were some concerns by some clubs that, although they wouldn’t be able to buy any more players, their players could still be picked off by those who haven’t closed their windows. It just meant they couldn’t support it.

“We did have managers’ meetings before the season started. The managers are very strong on it. Almost all of them were in favour of shutting it earlier. The clubs just think it’s wrong that, going into the first game of the season, they could be playing against a player that, a few weeks later, could be playing for a different club.”

EFL Chief Executive Shaun Harvey said: “After discussing the options throughout the course of the last few months, I’m pleased that the matter has been determined by Clubs ahead of the start of next season.

“This new approach will give Clubs and managers the stability they crave earlier in the season whilst also providing the flexibility to add to their squads after the traditional deadline until the end of month if required.”

Keenos

Arsenal’s New Signings: Hit, miss or Jury’s Out?

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Sead Kolasinac

Named in the Bundesliga Team of the Season last season, the left back looked at bargain when he arrived on a free transfer, Kolasinac scored on his debut against Chelsea in the 2017 FA Community Shield. He made his Premier League debut on the opening day, providing an assist in a 4–3 win over Leicester City.

With Arsenal playing 3 at the back, he made the left wing back position his own, with Nacho Monreal flourishing on the left hand side of back 3. In the early months, he gave the team the aggression it had missed for some time, living up to his “tank” nickname.

He was named Arsenal Player of the Month in both August and October, with Nacho Monreal winning the prize in September.

Towards the end of 2017, both a formation change and injury saw him fall out of the side, firstly with Aisnley-Maitland Niles playing on the left, then Nacho Monreal returning to left back when we returned to a back 4.

Questions were raised over his defensive awareness as the reasoning behind him finding himself on the bench, but it was as much to do with Nacho Monreal’s great form – the 32 year old Spaniard showing that there is life in the old dog yet.

Kolasinac returned to the first team in the later part of the season, as Wenger begun to rest players in the league for the Europa League.

Going forward he has shown his class with 5 goals and 4 assists. To bring this into perspective, this is as many goals as Alex Oxlade Chamberlain has scored for Liverpool.

Just 24, he has shown enough this season to be Monreal’s long term replacement at left back. He is certainly not as bad defensively as some critics perhaps say.

https://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/995951948737269761

Alexandre Lacazette

Scoring after 94 seconds on his debut against Leicester City, the Frenchman’s season certainly began with a bang. He went on to score in both Arsenal’s next two home games, becoming the first Arsenal player to score in his first three home league appearances for the club since Brian Marwood in September 1988.

By the time December hit, it was 8 goals from his first 16 games. A fabulous start. And then it went down hill.

1 goal in his next 13 games had fans starting to question the record signing. What followed was 8 weeks on the sidelines following Arsenal’s 1-0 defeat to Tottenham.

He returned in April against Stoke City, scoring the third goal of the game following Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s decision to allow his fellow striker to take a penalty.

With that his confidence returned and he scored 8 goals in 9 games.

The clubs top scorer this season, it does feel one of 3 thirds. Brilliant in the first 3rd. Poor in the second 3rd. Brilliant in the final third. But if 17 goals is considered a poor return in his first season, it only bodes well for the future.

https://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/995952064919474179

Konstantinos Mavropanos

The 20 year old Greek defender was signed in January with a view to spend the second half of the season on loan in Germany. A decision to put him on the bench in the League Cup game against Chelsea meant this was not longer possible.

This left Mavropanos playing in the U23s for the majority of the season.

He made his Premier League debut in a 2–1 defeat against Manchester United at Old Trafford. Despite the defeat, his performance was praised by fans and pundits.

Mavropanos made his home debut in the club’s next home match – the 5-0 victory over Burnley.

His red card against Leicester City shows how quickly football can change.

It is important not to go OTT with Mavropanos; and we must remember that he has only played a handful of senior games in England, but physically, he looks brilliant.

https://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/995952192925380608

Henrikh Mkhitaryan

Part of the deal that took Alexis Sanchez to Manchester United, he made his first start for Arsenal in a 5–1 home win over Everton, claiming three assists. That match was probably the highlight of his Arsenal career thus far.

A knee injury in April caused him to miss almost the entire month. That break seemed to have broken his rhythm and affected him settling at the club, leaving him with just 7 Premier League starts.

3 goals and 5 assists in his first 14 games is a decent return, but Jose Mourinho’s question marks over his fragility hang over his head.

If he stays fit, he will be a good foil for Mesut Ozil.

https://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/995952323183763456

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

Whilst Mkhitaryan was the man who replaced Sanchez on the pitch, Aubameyang has replaced the Chilean as the figure head of the team.

He has continued his performances that he put in for Borussia Dortmund, scoring on his debut against Everton.

Aubameyang’s appearances were restricted due to be cup tied in the Europa League. You do have to wonder if he was not cup tied – due to UEFA’s odd rules – we probably would have gone on to beat Atletico Madrid in the semi-final. Him and Lacazette would have been too much to handle for 10 man Madrid.

It is not just the 8 goals in 12 games that has been impressive, but the way he lifted the entire club.

Alexis Sanchez was moody and selfish. Aubameyang plays with a smile on his face, and reminds me of Thierry Henry in that he is as delighted to see a team mate score as scoring himself.

Giving the ball to Lacazette against Stoke City showed he was a team player. Understanding a fellow striker struggling, his act led to Lacazette re-finding his form. You can not imagine Sanchez doing similar.

With new World Cup Aubameyang (and Mkhitaryan) will get a proper rest and full pre-season. He could be devastating next year.

https://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/995952448333283329

Keenos