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Match Report: Sheffield United 1 – 0 Arsenal

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Sheffield United (1) 1 Arsenal (0) 0
Premier League
Bramall Lane, Sheffield S2 4SU
Monday, 21st October 2019. Kick-off time: 8.00pm

(4-2-3-1) Bernd Leno; Calum Chambers, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, David Luiz, Sead Kolašinac; Mattéo Guendouzi, Granit Xhaka; Nicolas Pépé, Joe Willock, Bukayo Saka; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Substitutes:Kieran Tierney, Dani Ceballos, Alexandre Lacazette, Lucas Torreira, Rob Holding, Emiliano Martínez, Gabriel Martinelli.
Yellow Cards: Bukayo Saka, Freddie Ljungberg, Sead Kolašinac, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, Calum Chambers
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 68%
Referee: Mike Dean
Attendance: 30,775

Let’s be fair about it, the first thirty-five minutes or so of this frenetic, thunderous encounter on a cold Monday night in Yorkshire wasn’t exactly our most finest performance of the season so far. We simply allowed the home side to assume control in the most important areas of the pitch, and in doing so found ourselves playing catch-up to a quick, physical Sheffield United.

There is no substitute for paying attention, and at times our defence certainly lacked this basic football attribute. How on earth did Lys Mousset find himself completely unmarked in our six-yard box? And more importantly, the goal he scored against us was fairly basic stuff, and one that we should have dealt with far better than we did. Arsenal appeared to play a smash-and-grab game at times, and it was one of these movements that saw Nicolas Pépé desperately unlucky not to score, when all it took was a simple touch, and we would have redressed the balance; but it was not to be, sadly. We picked up two ridiculous bookings from Mike Dean, the first for young Bukayo Saka, of whom it is to be said that the referee felt he attempted to dupe him into giving a penalty, and the second, more unbelievably, Freddie Ljungberg for showing extreme dissent in the technical area, his first since 2006, apparently. On the stroke of half-time, Granit Xhaka was unfortunate not to score when a strong and accurate 20-yard shot was pushed away by Dean Henderson in the Sheffield United goal. Soon after, the referee blew the whistle, and a half best forgotten by us was abruptly terminated by the man in black, mercifully.

After the break, Dani Ceballos replaced an ineffective Joe Willock, and at last it looked as if Unai Emery wanted to start mixing things up a bit in the midfield area; but hang on, our bad habits from the first half started to look like they were going to haunt us again in the second, when we were caught ball-watching again as the home side tried to press home their one-goal advantage even more. Time and time again, The Blades were testing our defence, and two or three times in the first quarter of an hour after the restart things looked more than just a little bit iffy at the back. Bernd Leno made a dog’s breakfast out of a simple shot from John Fleck, and a minute or two later, Alexandre Lacazette replaced Granit Xhaka for our second substitution of the evening, thus spreading our attacking options wide at last. Nicolas Pépé almost scored with a blistering free-kick after Alexandre Lacazette was brought down just outside the box and it looked like we were finally waking up with eighteen minutes of the match left at Bramall Lane.

Nicolas Pépé made way for Gabriel Martinelli after 77 minutes, and suddenly it was looking like our options for scoring were increased by the introduction of fresh legs; despite superior possession statistics, we still could not convert this into goals scored. Shortly afterwards, Sokratis Papastathopoulos became our fifth yellow card of the evening, and to be fair, we kept on attempting to equalise the scores strongly and firmly right up until the final whistle, but it was not to be, and our unbeaten run came to a shuddering halt on an unforgiving night in Yorkshire.

Utter despair. Despite some great football by us, we were found wanting again in the most vital areas of the pitch at the wrong times. Arsenal lacked the killer punch, the man who could turn the key in the lock of the door to open up the Sheffield United defence, and above all this, very little game management, and at this level of football in this day and age, that alone proves to be a fatal flaw in a team that has so much fire and skill, class and movement. How do we square this circle? Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Vitoria SC at The Emirates on Thursday 24th October at 8.00pm (Europa League). Be there, if you can. 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.

Match Preview: Sheffield United vs Arsenal

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After what seems like an eternity, the Gunners return to action following the conclusion of the international break as they travel to Bramall Lane to face Sheffield United in the Premier League.

Alexandre Lacazette faces a late fitness test after recovering from an ankle injury that has kept him out for the last month.

Kieran Tierney looks set to make his first Premier League appearance for Arsenal since his summer move from Celtic.

Meanwhile, fellow full-back Hector Bellerin could also make his first league appearance of the 2019/20 campaign following a long-term injury that has kept him out since January.

For Sheffield United, Ollie McBurnie, David McGoldrick and John Fleck are all doubts after sustaining injuries on international duty.

In what will be a tough test of Arsenal’s mettle, given the team’s dismal away record in the league, Unai Emery’s men know that a win will take them into third place, above Chelsea and Leicester and only one point behind second-placed Manchester City.

It will be intriguing to see how Arsenal set up, given Emery’s preference towards starting club captain Granit Xhaka.

The form of Matteo Guendouzi makes his almost undroppable, meaning there will probably be no room to accommodate Lucas Torreira in a 4-3-3.

The most advanced midfield spot is likely to be filled by Dani Ceballos, though Emery did say over the international break that Mesut Özil has a chance of forcing his way into the starting squad again after improved effort in training.

With the aforementioned Bellerin and Tierney playing as full-backs, Rob Holding is another who has recently recovered from injury.

Holding could partner David Luiz in central defence, though Emery could be tempted to give the nod to Calum Chambers, who has impressed with his performances so far this season.

In attack, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang will hope to register his 50th Arsenal goal, in what would only be his 75th game for the club.

Alongside him, Nicolas Pepe will hope to add to his own goal tally after only scoring once in eight league matches, whilst the exciting young prospect of Bukayo Saka is capable of causing plenty of problems down the left flank with his pace and trickery.

Prediction: Sheffield United 1-2 Arsenal

Zac

Mesut Ozil, I just don’t think you understand….

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Mesut Ozil is arguably the biggest enigma we have had at The Arsenal – He is Brilliant, Magical, Inspiring, Frustrating, Lazy, World Class and opinion dividing all in one – I don’t think I have ever seen a player that has split the opinion of a fan base more than Mesut Ozil.

213 assists in 579 career club appearances, 65 goal involvements in 92 aps for Germany. He has been the top provider in Germany, Spain, England, a World Cup, Euros and the Champions League – that tells you all you need to know about his strengths. On his day he is arguably the best number 10 world football, the most creative footballer in the planet. This has been back up by Jose Mourinho, Arsene Wenger and Joachim Low who made him integral parts of their team.

Many of Mesuts current and ex-team mates and say he is the best player they have played with technically; BUT the question that has always been asked about Mesut “Does he want it enough?” “Does he really care?” “Does he work hard enough?”

I guess as Arsenal fans a lot of people would say no to those 3 questions. Yet Ozil was an integral part of ending Arsenals 9 year trophy drought – he went on to win 3 FA Cups with Arsenal in 4 years.

Ozil joined Arsenal in 2013 following a promise he gave Arsene Wenger prior to joining Real Madrid 3 years earlier.

On the 31st January 2018 Mesut signed a new 3 year contract with Arsenal for £350,000 per week – this was the same time we lost Alexis Sanchez.

Sanchez was unbelievable for Arsenal at the time and was a huge blow to lose him to Manchester United. Mesut could have easily followed suit, but he didn’t he signed a new deal to stay at the club that he felt was his home – he has always paid a huge respect to the Arsenal fans that have always stuck by him.

When Unai Emery joined Arsenal he made Mesut Ozil one of his 5 captains but at the same time challenged Mesut by insisting he had to improve his work rate.

Ozil was reminded that he was no different to any other player in the squad and if he didn’t do what was asked of him he would not play.

That is fair enough – you have to adapt and as an Arsenal fan for over 30 years all I have ever wanted to see is a player give 100% for the shirt – especially if you are earning £350k a week!

Mesut managed 5 goals and 2 assists in 24 games in the Premier League in the 2018-19 season is this enough to justify his huge new contract? By far the biggest contract we have given to a player.

Some fans argued that we should have got rid of Mesut and given that kind of contract to Aaron Ramsey and kept him – I could see the logic in that.

Rambo is an Arsenal man with over 10 years under his belt for the club.

When struggling for game time under Unai Emery, when he did play you could see what he offered – 110% work rate and was hugely influential in getting us to the Europa League final which he missed due to injury!

Mesut I feel has always been a player that needs to feel completely free and have 100% confidence in him to really perform.

He clearly doesn’t have that under Unai Emery.

This season be has played only 1 game in the Premier League and has been left out of the last 3 match day squads. You can see that something is not right.

Rumours that he doesn’t fully apply himself training; that he has a tendency to call in sick on a regular basis circulate.

Is Unai making an example of Mesut? He famously had a similar power struggle at PSG with Neymar which clearly was won by Neymar; but is history repeating itself with Mesut? Unai Emery seems very reluctant to give Mesut the chance to redeem himself.

Why would you sign Mesut? To create goal scoring opportunities for his teammates and chip in with goals – that’s his strengths and that’s what he has been better than anyone else at for over a decade.

You certainly don’t sign someone like Mesut to track back and tackle. But is this where football has changed? Defending starts from the front and no matter who you are; you work hard, you press. Liverpool the perfect example of defending from the front.

Body language has never been Ozil’s best friend. Even when he is covering more distance than any other player, putting a shift in, he still looks lethargic.

Ozil has perhaps found himself as the victim of Arsenal’s defensive frailties.

The side is so shaky at the back with not enough cover from midfield, Emery has had to sacrifice the playmaker who can coast defensively to bring in someone harder working like Dani Ceballos.

But Ozil is still the best playmaker at the club and with Pepe, Lacazette and Aubameyang up top; if given the chance I struggle to see how we wouldn’t be more prolific. Perhaps the best form of defence is attack?

He was recently again voted in as one of the 5 captains but more importantly this was voted for by the players – does this tell us something we don’t know?

After a rare recent interview with The Athletic; Mesut has reaffirmed his love for the club:

“I have a contract until the summer of 2021 and I will be staying until then. When I signed the new deal, I thought about it very carefully and said it was one of the most important decisions of my footballing career.

I didn’t want to stay for just one or two more years, I wanted to commit my future to Arsenal and the club wanted me to do the same. You can go through difficult times, like this, but that is no reason to run away and I’m not going to. I’m here until at least 2021.

I said that Arsene Wenger was a big factor in me joining Arsenal — and he was — but ultimately I signed for the club. Even when Arsene announced he was leaving, I wanted to stay because I love playing for Arsenal and that’s why I’ve been here for six years.

I’m proud to be an Arsenal player, a fan and I’m happy here. Whenever people see me in the street I always say, ‘This is my home’. I’m going nowhere.”

Ozil has always done the PR stuff well. It is why he is a huge brand in his own right.

In his interview he said all the right things. It then actions speak louder than words.

Mesut Ozil clearly loves London – he clearly feels at home and when he is on it he is one of the most enjoyable players to watch playing this beautiful game – but where does he go from here? He is 31 now and his contract runs out in the summer of 2021.

It is difficult to see both Mesut Ozil and Unai Emery still being at the club come the summer of 2021 – but will either of them be here? If so who do you think?

One thing is for sure –Mesut Ozil at his best he has been an absolute joy to watch in the famous red and white and for me I won’t forget his best bits!

“We’ve got Ozil, Messsssssut Ozil” “I just don’t think you understand” But is he Unai’s man?

Kind regards,

Paul