Tag Archives: She Wore A Yellow Ribbon

Gabriel, Nasty November, Ethan Ampadu, FA Cup Draw, Wenger Statistics, Christmas Ideas

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Gabriel

Whilst Alexis Sanchez will get all the praise after his performance against West Ham, followed by Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, one man could also walk off the pitch with his head held high. Gabriel Armando de Abreu, known as Gabriel Paulista or simply Gabriel.

With Hector Bellerin out for a few more weeks yet, Mathieu Debuchy joining him in the physio’s room, and Carl Jenkinson’s demise, Arsene Wenger took the decision to play Gabriel at right back against West Ham.

The more natural solution would have been move Shkodran Mustafi to right back – who has played their previously for club and country – and put Gabriel in the middle of the park. But Wenger decided it was better to keep the middle strong, and put Gabriel on the right. Rather than have two weakened positions, it meant just one.

It also meant that inside Gabriel there was the class and reliability of Mustafi.

Gabriel did a brilliant job against West Ham. Only once I can think he was beaten, and as the game went on he showed some attacking intent.

Obviously he is not a long term option there, and the quicker Bellerin returns the better, but good job Gabriel, bloody good job.

Nasty November

As you open your 5th door on your advent calendar, November is already a distant memory away as we look forward to Christmas. And with November over, it meant Arsenal could finally returning to playing title challenging football.

Arsenal’s poor November form has been highlighted by all and sundry. So how did the team actually fair in the horrible month?

In the Premier League, we were actually unbeaten. Winning 1, drawing 2. But it saw us drop from top of the league to 4th.

November also saw Arsenal knocked out of the League Cup by Southampton, and almost certainly resign themselves to 2nd in their Champions League group after a draw at home to Sunderland.

Our full record in the month reads: P 6, W 2, D 3, L 1. And as we go into December, our ‘poor’ form evaporates…

https://twitter.com/KeenosAFC/status/805407208087425025

Ethan Ampadu

Arsenal have reportedly ‘won’ the race to sign Exeter’s Welsh youth international midfield Ethan Ampadu, reportedly beating the likes of Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United to his signing.

If the 16 year old’s name rings a bell, it is because he is the son of Arsenal under-18s Head coach Kwame Ampadu.

So the reality is it is a bit of non-story.

Before joining Arsenal, Kwame Ampadu was the U18’s coach at Exeter City. It was at this time the younger Ampadu joined the academy that his father was working at. When Kwame came across to Arsenal in 2012, Ethan, then 12, remained in Exeter, at school, and training with the local club.

Role on 4 years, Ethan is 16, finished his secondary schooling, and has not joined his father at a bigger, better club.

Ampadu became the club’s youngest-ever player when he made his debut aged 15 years and 331 days old in August, breaking an 88 year old record set by a chap called Cliff Bastin. He was recently named Wales’ Young Player of the Year.

A defensive midfielder, it will be interesting to see how quickly he establishes himself in his fathers under-18 side

FA Cup Draw

The draw for the FA Cup 3rd round is tonight, around 7.10pm. It will be live on both BBC Two and BT Sport. Arsenal, as always, are number 1.

Danger of Statistics

For a long time, I have been a slave to statistics, and will continually to rely on them alongside my own eyes when judging players. They are so important as statistics in themselves can not be biased.

However, the way an individual interprets statistics can be biased.

We have seen an example recently with many people rolling out the following statistic:

Arsene Wenger has lead Arsenal to 2 trophies out of a possible 45

It is a damning statistic which does highlight a massive underachievement. Just a 4.4% win ratio. But then it is also a biased statistic as it deliberately creates a time period that to make Wenger look bad – after the 2005 FA Cup victory to today.

Let’s flip it another way:

Arsene Wenger has lead Arsenal to 2 trophies out of a possible 11

The period picked was from the FA Cup victory of 2014 to today. This creates a win ratio of 18.2%. Vastly improved!

And that is how we manipulate the statistics to show that Wenger has either been very poor over the last 11 years (he has) or very good over the last 3 years (he has).

Of course, the longer the time period, the more accurate the statistics:

Arsene Wenger has lead Arsenal to 9 trophies out of a possible 82

That is his record during his entire time at Arsenal. 11% of all trophies. 9 from 82 does not seem much. But then look at this:

Arsenal have won 29 trophies out of 263

That is the statistic since the end of First World War.

Since the Great War, Arsenal have won 11.1% of all trophies (League, FA Cup, League Cup & Europe) that they have entered.

So what can we actually conclude from these statistics:

  1. Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal have been below par over the last decade
  2. Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal have been above par over the past 3 years
  3. Arsene Wenger is bang on the average for trophies won throughout his career

Statistics can be interpreted however you wish, to either prove an argument or disprove it, to credit someone or discredit someone.

Arsenal Christmas Ideas

A few weeks ago we gave you some cracking Christmas present ideas for Arsenal fans. We have since had these come in…

PS: The deadline for buying a Clockend Clock and having it delivered before Christmas has now gone. If you order one now, you will not get it until January.

Great result, awful stadium

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When Aaron Ramsey came at 1-0 and 25 minutes to go, my mate turned around to me and said “here we go, half an hour of hanging onto the lead.” My response was that it was frustrating when we are 1-0 up and our substitutes take the pace out of the team, resulting in us being unable to hit teams on the counter.

“FFS Ramsey” I shouted i the 93rd minute, as he missed his 3rd chance of the match. But by then, the game was over, we were 5-1 up, and it was said entirely in jest.

Arsenal played brilliantly. There first half play did not give them the goals they deserved, last ditch tackles in the first 10 minutes stopping us scoring a tap in.

When Arsene Wenger signed Alexis Sanchez, a few said he would be a striker. Wenger saw him as sharing attributes with Luis Suarez. His hard work, his technical ability, his pace and his ability to finish any chance. He could be Suarez without the attitude. Many scoffed, and it has taken into his 3rd season at Arsenal to be played up top.

And Arsenal’s opener reminded me a lot of Luis Suarez. Sanchez chased down a poor pass, got to the ball 1st, and was clean through with Mesut Ozil on his shoulder. Other players would not have chased down that ball, Sanchez did. GOAL.

His hat trick was brilliant. 3 different goals, including a sublime (albeit offside) 3rd where he left the keeper on the floor without even touching the ball. He is World Class.

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5-1 away from home took us into second place and closed the gap in goal difference. But as good as we were, West Ham were equally as bad.

Slaven Bilic looks a broken man. Just 6 months ago many Arsenal fans had him at the top of their list as a replacement for Wenger – I did find it odd that this was based on good punditry whilst working for the BBC, whilst the same fans moan about Wenger working for French television.

West Ham are 1 point above the relegation zone. 12 points from 14 games. And a big reason for that is the stadium.

The London Stadium (Olympic Stadium? Whatever it is now called) is awful.

However bad we all thought it might be, it was worse. A lot worse. It is simply not a football stadium.

Massive gaps throughout the stadium, a huge distance between upper and lower tier, a massive distance from the pitch, and West Ham fans unable to fill it.

I actually feel sorry for West Ham fans. At least when Arsenal moved, it was 2 roads over from the current stadium, and an arena purpose built for football. West Ham’s new ground is shit.

It is a 20 minute walk from the nearest station before a game, this turns into a 45 minute walk after a game, going backwards and forwards through the Olympic Park, through Westfields, to get to the station. And the area is grim at night.

No local pubs, no burger vans outside, no one selling flags, scarves, nothing associated with normal football grounds.

It actually makes me wonder whether next year I will be back (if they stay up). The stadium is that bad.

At the time they won the Olympic Stadium, West Ham fans thought they had won the lottery. But like with many lottery winners, there comes a darkness. And that darkness is a stadium which is not theres, not made for football, and where the stewards celebrate Arsenal goals.

And the ultimate darkness could be that they get relegated.

It was a great result, but it is an awful stadium.

Happy Sunday

Keenos

10 Potential Santi Cazorla Replacements

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Arsenal's Santi Cazorla goes down injured against Norwich City.

After yesterdays news that Santi Cazorla’s Arsenal career was almost certainly over, I wrote a few words about a Granit Xhaka / Aaron Ramsey axis being an ideal central midfield moving forward. out of that article, a load of names were thrown at me as potential Santi Cazorla replacements. Here are the top 10…

Isco

A long term favourite, the Real Madrid midfielder has found himself on the edges of the Real Madrid squad this season. There is no questioning his talent, but it is whether he is sorted for the deeper playmaking role that Cazorla made his own.

Everytime I have seen him perform, he has either been in the number 10 role, or on the wing. He is lightweight and is not great defensively. I would love him at Arsenal, but as a winger or more attacking player, not as a replacement for Santi Cazorla.

Marco Verratti

The Italian midfielder is another who has been on the Arsenal radar for a long, long time.

Like Cazorla, he is a midget, but has brilliant positional awareness and passes for fun. Verratti and Thiago Motta ran the game between Arsenal and PSG at the Emirates the other week.

He would certainly replace Cazorla’s creative ability in the middle of the park, but would he be up for the physical midfield battle of the Premier League?

Saul Niguez

I am a massive fan of Saul Niguez. The Atletico Madrid player is a terrific player. He is an al action central midfielder, reminding me a lot of Steven Gerrard. He can defend, he can attack. He can pass, he can score.

Would Atletico Madrid let him go? Certainly not easily, but they are traditionally a club who has to sell before they buy. With Diego Simeone set to leave Madrid this summer, there might be an exodus to follow.

Vincent Koziello

A new name to many, the 21 year old Nice midfielder has broken through to become a first team regular over the last 18 months.

Comparisons to Santi Cazorla mainly revolve around the fact that he is just 5’ 6” and plays in the middle of the park. With a 90%+ pass completion ratio, he has also consistently averaged over 3 tackles a game since his major break through last season.

He might be a bit small for the Premier League, but he certainly has tonnes of ability and punches above his weight.

Danny Drinkwater

With Leicester City’s crown now having slipped, from Premier League champions to relegation battle in 6 months, it is only a matter of time until the rats leave the sinking ship.

A lot of talk is about replacing Santi Cazorla’s playmaking ability. But in the Arsenal squad we already have the likes of Granit Xhaka, and potentially a returning Jack Wilshere, who can replace this.

Could a move for an out and out defensive talent (who is an adequate passer) free up someone like Granit Xhaka to become the midfield playmaker? Or is Danny Drinkwater just a French Francis Coquelin?

Marcos Llorente

The Real Madrid youngster is currently on loan at Alaves, where he has put in a string of impressive performances.

Linked fairly heavily with Arsenal recently, a move for Llorente would not happen until the summer. He finds his path to the Real Madrid 1st XI blocked by the impressive Casemiro, so is likely to have to look elsewhere next season for 1st team football.

He is a boyhood Real Madrid fan, so would take a lot of convincing to be prised away. Madrid’s recent policy of inserting buy back clauses into deals when selling their youngsters will mean plenty of negotiating for the Arsenal transfer team.

Cesc Fabregas

Perhaps the one name I saw spoken about mostly on social media last night. Would Arsenal (or Arsene) really move for the former captain?

Having turned down the chance in 2014 due to already having Mesut Ozil in the squad, Cesc would have to transform himself from the lazy number 10 he now is, to the all action central midfielder that he used to be.

When he first broke through at Arsenal, he did it all. Covered ground, tackled, passed, scored, assisted. But a mixture of his own ego, and fitness problems, saw him end up further up the pitch, and rarely putting in a shift.

Add in his ongoing niggling injuries, and the fact that Chelsea would unlikely sell to a title rival, why is he even being mentioned?

Adrien Rabiot

Yet another long term favourite of fans. Rabiot seems to have been around forever – he is still just 21.

Rabiot has more physicality than many of the others on the list so would be a bit more a defensive option. He has a decent left foot on him. But would he not just be another Granit Xhaka?

It is a worry that he has still yet to break through at PSG, but him being their might encourage them to allow Marco Verratti to leave.

A move for Rabiot would more be about filling squad places rather than as a Santi Cazorla replacement.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

A replacement within. Could Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain finally get his break with Cazorla being out?

His best performances for Arsenal have been in the middle of the park. He certainly has the attacking ability of Cazorla, able to find space with a drop of the shoulder, and his drive forward and ability on the ball would give another tactical option in the middle of the park.

Oxlade-Chamberlain can defend, although he lacks the defensive awareness in the middle of the park.

There would also be fitness concerns. Does he have the basic level of fitness to play 90 minutes, covering ground, in the middle of the park.

Hakan Calhanoglu

I know little about the Turkish international, the German league does not interest me that much. But he is a name who has been floated around for 6 months.

An attacking midfielder, does he have the defensive work rate required?

Keenos