Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

Man City v Arsenal postponed: Could coronavirus end the season?

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So we wake up this morning with the news that Arsenal fixture tonight against Manchester City has been postponed following Olympiakos’s owner Evangelos Marinakis testing positive for coronavirus.

One it comes to Covid-19, I am very much in the camp of the response being a little bit OTT, however it is a deadly disease and health advice should be followed.

It is the correct decision for Arsenal to isolate all players who came in to contact with Marinakis following the defeat to the Greek side nearly 2 weeks ago. This ensures all players can get tested and reduces the risk of the virus spreading.

The likelihood is all tests will come back as negative and the players will return to training on Friday ahead of the match against Brighton.

But what if one of the tests comes back positive? What implications could this have?

Whilst the Premier League has “banned shaking hands”, football is a contact sport and players are in “close contact” throughout a match. Everytime they mark someone at a corner, or go into a challenge, they would risk getting Covid-19 if the player they are challenging or marking is infected.

So were an Arsenal player to text positive, the result would be the whole London Colney side of the club would have to be put on isolation for 14 days after the last close contact. As players were training yesterday, the 14 days would include the games against Brighton and Sheffield United.

West Ham and Portsmouth would also need to self-isolate, following their fixtures against Arsenal in the last 14 days. For West Ham this would see their games against Wolves and Tottenham postponed.

And from there it snowballs.

We have already seen games in Italy suspended, whilst Spain and France have opted to play games behind closed doors. Ukraine and Poland have also taken the step to play games behind closed doors.

This is all to protect fans rather than players. What the Premier League is facing is a threat to players.

If players being to test positive, playing games behind closed doors will cease being an option. Instead we will see the FA follow Italy’s lead and suspend all games for at least 2 weeks.

This will create a huge fixture pile up, one which will not be easily resolved due to the European tournament this summer. There would be a high chance that the season would be unable to be completed.

In 1939 football was suspended due to World War 2. Blackpool sat top of the league. Just 3 games had been played. We are nearly 30 games in.

Were football to be suspended and the season cancelled, would anyone be named champions? Would they gift the title to Liverpool due to being so far ahead? What about promotion and relegation? European places? There would be a lot that would need to be worked out.

Hopefully it does not come to this, that every Arsenal player is back in training on Friday and our game against Brighton on Saturday goes ahead.

To have a 3pm Saturday away game is novelty this season.

Keenos

Progressive midfielder Arsenal’s number 1 target this summer

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Dani Ceballos might not be the answer, but he has shown how important it is that Arsenal sign a progressive passer in midfield in the summer.

Arsenal have struggled this season transitioning the ball from defence into attack. It results in too many sideways passes in both defence and midfield. A lot of possession but not much progression up the pitch.

We have lacked a central midfielder whose 1st thought is to move the ball forward, and the net result of this is less chances created.

Against Newcastle, we saw how playing a forward thinking central midfielder can transform us.

Dani Ceballos come in for Lucas Torreira.

It slightly weakened us defensively in the middle of the park, but we ended up winning 4-0 – our biggest Premier League win of the season.

During that victory, no player played more forward passes than Ceballos – 69. He went off after 82 minutes.

Ceballos also played more forward passes against Newcastle than any player in other game under Arteta – and more than any Arsenal player this year.

With Ceballos leading the way, it meant we were getting the ball forward to our forwards more. And in more advanced positions; something that we have missed for much of the season.

With Granit Xhaka, Lucas Torreira and Matteo Guendouzi, we are fairly well set for defensivly minded midfielders in the squad. This summer, instead of looking a defensive midfielders, we should look at someone who plays a little more progressive.

We need a midfielder who can do better at linking the defence to the rather someone who can break up play.

Someone who can take the ball off the defence, then follow his own passes through the midfield and into attack.

Take the ball off the defence, pass it forward. Receive it again at the half way line, pass it forward. Receive it once more on the edge of the box. Transitioning from defence to attack in  5 or 6 passes.

Think Cesc Fabregas, Santi Cazorla, Jack Wilshere or even Mikel Arteta himself.

Back in the late 00s / early 10s, that kind of central midfielder defined Arsenal. We perhaps had too many of them, and not enough midfielders who would do the donkey work, the break up play.

We had the likes of Matthieu Flamini and Francis Coquelin, but these were never really good enough.

Arsenal now have an abundance of “work horses” but other than Ceballos, we do not have anyone in midfield who can transition the ball from defence into attack.

Transitioning the ball from defence into attack is not just done with passing. It could also be done through a powerful runner, like Patrick Vieira or Yaya Toure.

Against West Ham, Dani Ceballos was not only impressive going forward, but also showed a defensive awareness to his game that we had not seen before.

As he returns to full fitness, maybe he is actually the progressive, forward thinking transitional midfielder we need. Perhaps we should be looking towards making his deal permanent.

With Torreira, Xhaka and Guendouzi in the squad, we have enough grit. This summer we need to add a bit more subtlety, whether that is Ceballos or someone else.

Football is so much about balance, and when Ceballos does not play, the ball does not get forward quick enough.

Hopefully with Arteta and Edu running the show, they recognise that the player we are missing is themselves.

Keenos

Alexis Sanchez warning for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

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£22,000 per minute.

That is what Alexis Sanchez’s loan deal has cost Inter so far this season.

The Chilean winger is on an enormous £400,000 per week at Old Trafford and Inter are set to pay over £4million over the year long move.

Considering the 31-year-old has only played 186 minutes this season, it has cost the Italian club a staggering £22,000 per minute.

United have had to cover the rest of Sanchez’s wages, meaning they will have spent over £5m on a player that hasn’t played for them this season.

Sanchez’s demise highlights the dangers of giving a huge contract to an ageing player whose best days are coming to an end.

In January 2018, Manchester United thought they had signed a man who would turn them into champions once more, in the same way Robin van Persie scored the goals to drive them to the title following a transfer for Arsenal.

His 18 months in the North-West saw him score just 3 league goals.

The loan deal to Inter Milan was supposed to revitalise his career. Following injury and poor form, Guiseppe Marotta, the chief executive of Inter, does not want to pay the £17.5million it would cost to snap him up on a permanent deal.

It is a warning for Arsenal who are in contract discussion with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Reports at the weekend are that Aubameyang is holding out for a £300,000 a week, a figure that Arsenal are reluctant to match – and seeing the Sanchez situation you can understand why.

Tying up £15.6m a year in a single player a a huge investment that can effect the clubs ability to invest in other players.

Aubameyang turns 31-years-old in the summer and Arsenal will be worried that offering him what he wants could lead to another Mesut Ozil situation.

Ozil has clearly gone downhill since his big contract, and it is a noose around the clubs neck. Arsenal would not want the same to happen to Aubameyang.

There is differences, however, between Aubameyang and Sanchez.

Aubameyang is with Arsenal. The coaches will be watching him day in, day out. They will know his current physical attributes. If he is still putting out the same numbers as he was since he 1st joined. They will know if he is beginning to decline.

It was with similar knowledge that led to Arsenal letting Sanchez go to Manchester United. They would have known he was on the decline. That his explosiveness had gone. His top speed had was not as quick. That his acceleration a little slower.

Armed with all the knowledge on a player, built up over time, Arsenal are able to make a judgement on the player. The difference for Manchester United and Inter Milan is they would not have 2 years of data on the player.

Aubameyang is showing no signs of slowing down – showing that age is nothing but a number. Players do not suddenly his 30 and begin to decline.

Some keep going for years after entering their 3rd decade. Others, like Michael Owen and Fernando Torres, are shot in their late 20s.

Offering Aubameyang a new deal has to still be Arsenal’s preferred option. But they have to protect themselves in the deal.

If Aubameyang wants £300,000 a week, and Arsenal think he is worth that much, the club should try and agree a 2 + 1 deal.

Sanchez’s demise is a warning to clubs offering big contracts to senior players who are reaching the end of their peak.

Keenos