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Match Report: Arsenal 2 – 0 Southampton

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Arsenal (2) 2 Southampton (0) 0

Premier League

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Sunday, 24th February 2019. Kick-off time: 2.05pm

(4-2-3-1) Leno; Lichtsteiner, Mustafi, Sokratis, Kolašinac; Torreira, Xhaka; Mkhitaryan, Ramsey, Iwobi; Lacazette.

Substitutes: Čech, Koscielny, Özil, Aubameyang, Monreal, Suárez, Guendouzi.

Scorers: Lacazette, Mkhitaryan

Referee: Graham Scott

Attendance: 59,877

Truthfully, after just seventeen minutes, this routine Sunday afternoon match against struggling Southampton was all but over, courtesy of two well-taken goals from Alexandre Lacazette and Henrikh Mkhitaryan; but in essence, this victory probably told us more about Arsenal and their self-imposed limitations more than we thought possible at this stage of the season.

Both goals came from some truly lackadaisical play from the visitors. The first goal was made possible after a sloppy effort by Nathan Redmond that saw us do what we know we can do best, which is smash-and-grab football of course. Almost immediately we broke out, and although it looked as if we were going to get a penalty awarded to us after Lucas Torreira was ham-fistedly tackled in the penalty area whilst attempting to meet an Alex Iwobi cross, Henrikh Mkhitaryan fluffed his shot, but thankfully Alexandre Lacazette was on hand to make no mistake in scoring his thirteenth goal of the season. Eleven minutes later, another Southampton error led to our final goal of the day. Some kind of schoolboy football that involved the Saints’ goalkeeper and a defender saw the ball land at the feet of young Alex Iwobi who wasted no time in getting a low cross over to Henrikh Mkhitaryan who drilled it into the back of the net.

Pressure, boys, pressure. This was now the measure of Arsenal for the rest of the half. How on earth we didn’t score any more goals after that degree of domination was nothing short of incredible. Alexandre Lacazette by rights, should have added another three goals to his tally at least, whilst Granit Xhaka somehow failed to hit the target with a superb effort just before half-time. Arsenal had eleven shots on the Southampton goal, two of which found the target; of the others, it would not have been unkind to the men from the south coast to say that by the time Graham Scott blew his whistle bringing proceedings to a halt, we should have been at least 4-0 ahead at the break.

After the natural hiatus, the visitors did change formation and it did look like they were going to get something out of thus match at various points in the second half, but thanks to a winning combination of great marking from the defence and a superb performance by Bernd Leno, we deservedly kept a clean sheet here at The Emirates today. As usual, Mr. Emery utilised all three substitutes in the second half; Laurent Koscielny for Stephan Lichtesteiner after 56 minutes, Mesut Özil in place of Aaron Ramsey on 63 minutes and with a quarter an hour remaining on the clock, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang replaced Alex Iwobi up front. And still, we could have scored. Mesut Özil saw an opportunity for Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang to add his name to the score sheet, but unfortunately his effort was very nearly turned into the net by a Southampton defender. However, we won, kept a clean sheet, put three points on the board, and even better that all that, we are in fourth place in the Premiership table tonight.

Although there was no doubt as to who the dominant side on the day was here at The Emirates, our problem still remains that when Arsenal are leading in matches, we are just not ruthless enough. We need to be able to demolish, not just beat the opposition, and not allow them back into the game at any time during the proceedings. Every man today played their part in the win, and they all played well; it was good to see Mesut Özil in particular back and in form, with some of his passing being truly amazing. Our next opponents here are Bournemouth AFC on Wednesday evening; let’s hope that we find consistency in our play and continue this winning feeling. A top four finish is here in our hands, now. Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as these early days are going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.

Chelsea transfer ban highlights Brexit issue for UK clubs

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Last week Cheslea were banned from signing players in the next two transfer windows for breaching FIFA rules in relation to the transfer of youth players.

Chelsea have also been fined £460,000, while the Football Association (FA) has been fined £390,000.

It comes following a Fifa investigation into Chelsea’s signing of foreign under-18 players, including former striker Bertrand Traore.

The world governing body says it found breaches in 29 cases out of 92 investigated.

“We welcome the fact Fifa has accepted that there was no breach in relation to 63 of these players, but the club is extremely disappointed that Fifa has not accepted the club’s submissions in relation to the remaining 29 players,” said a statement from the Stamford Bridge club.

“Chelsea acted in accordance with the relevant regulations and will shortly be submitting its appeal to Fifa.”

Fifa bans the transfer of under-18s to different countries unless they meet strict criteria. It brought in the rules to help protect children from exploitation and trafficking.

Under-18s can only be transferred abroad if:

  • The player’s parents move to the country in which the new club is located for non-footballing reasons.
  • Both clubs are in the European Union or European Economic Area and the player is aged between 16 and 18. Even then, the buying club must meet more criteria relating to education, training, living conditions and support.
  • They live within 100km of the club.

It is the second of those criteria that will cause concern for British clubs.

As it stands British clubs are able to sign player’s aged under-18 year old from other countries that are in the EU or EEA. That is how Arsenal were able to sign a 15-year-old Cesc Fabregas, amongst others.

Once Britain officially leave the EU on March 29th they will fall outside of this criteria, putting an end to sides being able to sign a footballer under the age of 18 from a club within the EU.

Buying players from Spain, Italy or Romania will then full under the same strict rules as signing a player from Burkina Faso.

It is likely British clubs will attempt to get around this ruling in the same way they get around rejected UK work visa’s – they could use a partner club within the EU to sign the player, park him there for 2 or 3 years before signing him from that club.

Leaving the EU could make it easier to sign senior players from outside the EU however.

Britain currently has very strict work visa rules for those coming from outside the EU. This is due to freedom of movement for EU states meaning that the UK Home Office have to apply stricter rules to control net immigration figures.

Once out of the EU, citizens from around Europe will not have a right to come to the UK to live and work. They will have to apply for a work visa alongside everyone else from around the world.

This will naturally see a reduction in EU players coming to England; which in turn could lead to visa’s being accepted for non-EU footballers who would have fallen below the previous visa rules.

No longer being able to recruit your Paul Pogba’s, Cesc Fabregas’s or Gael Clichy’s will impact on English football. However it will also see young English lads get a chance to remain at the club until they are at least 18, instead of reaching 16 and finding their place in the academy taken by a foreign recruit.

It is one to watch.

Keenos

Match Report: Arsenal 3 – 0 BATE Borisov

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Arsenal (2) 3 FC BATE Borisov (0) 0
UEFA Europa League, Round of 32, Second Leg
Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU
Thursday, 21st February 2019. Kick-off time: 5.55pm

(4-2-3-1) Čech; Lichtsteiner, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal; Guendouzi, Xhaka; Mkhitaryan, Özil, Iwobi; Aubameyang.
Substitutes: Sokratis, Ramsey, Elneny, Torreira, Leno, Suárez, Kolašinac, Nketiah.
Scorers: Volkov (o.g.), Mustafi, Sokratis
Referee: Alberto Undiano Mallenco (Spain)
Attendance: circa 40,000

Despite the ridiculously early kick-off (courtesy of the intransigence of UEFA) there appeared to be more people in the stadium than was previously thought there would be under the circumstances, which is something akin to a miracle. However, intent is a strange driver; within four minutes of the start, we were one-up courtesy of  a messy own goal by Zakhar Volkov via a cross by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. The match settled down and in one heart-stopping moment it looked like BATE Borisov were going to equalise when a shot from Stanislav Dragun beat Petr Čech, only for Stephan Lichtsteiner to clear the ball away from the line. Slowly and surely, not only did Arsenal keep their shape, but also created the better chances with Alex Iwobi, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Henrik Mkhitaryan coming close to scoring at various points throughout the first half. Arsenal’s quickness of pace and thought certainly paid off, when six minutes before half-time, the much maligned Shkodran Mustafi scored our second goal with a superb header provided by a Granit Xhaka corner. Although we were now in the ascendancy, we did look vulnerable at times, particularly in the defensive areas. Despite one or two midfield issues, we kept the pressure up on the visitors, and it certainly paid off, as we went into the break as deserved leaders on the night.

Club captain Laurent Koscielny was having a troubled game generally, so Mr. Emery substituted him for Sokratis just ten minutes into the new half, and you could see the change in the defence almost immediately. Arsenal seemed more immediate at first, somehow aware of their movement and shape, something that Mesut Özil contributed to excellently, it has to be said in his first full match in this calendar year. Minutes later, our new arrival on the pitch, Sokratis, duly scored our third goal on the hour with a well-taken header. Mattéo Guendouzi was substituted for Lucas Torreira after 64 minutes in order to bring fresh legs to a seemingly weary midfield that was starting to look bereft of ideas. When Henrik Mkhitaryan was replaced by Denis Suárez with just twelve minutes left, it seemed as if Arsenal were just simply running down the clock, and to be fair, with the score as it was, who could realistically blame them out there, on this chilly Islington evening. Aside from an unsavoury incident featuring a petulant Granit Xhaka in injury time in which he was fortunate not to have been booked (or worse), that was it, really. Arsenal are now into the draw of the last sixteen of the Europa League with this 3-1 aggregate win that has calmed a lot of North London nerves tonight.

In summary, this win may just have helped us turn a very large psychological corner indeed; a much improved performance from a week ago in this very competition – obviously the work Mr. Emery has undertaken on the training ground has borne successful fruit indeed. A 3-0 win in anyone’s book at this level against any opposition is an emphatic victory, and one that we can certainly take heart in. Mr. Emery’s record in this competition is second-to-none, and bearing this in mind, his experience will be vital in our progression within the Europa League. It was good to see Mesut Özil return, and along with it the playmaker that we need (when he’s on form that is). No tragedies, nor histronics, his match here tonight was a most satisfying one overall; whether he will keep his place against some of the Premiership heavyweights that lie in wait for us over the next few weeks is open to conjecture, but surely he has done enough tonight to remain somewhere in contention within Mr. Emery’s grand and elaborate master plan. Unfortunately we still lack cohesion at the back and in many ways a greater overall vision on the pitch, but the true test of this team will be the results of the matches that are coming up on the horizon in the final weeks of the season. Southampton are our next opponents here at The Emirates on Sunday afternoon, so we will see if tonight’s lessons will be both learned and remembered by the starting XI then. Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as these early days are going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.