Tag Archives: She Wore

Forget the rest; it’s all about The Arsenal

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It is time to focus on The Arsenal.

This season it feels like a lot of fans energy has been consumed being concerned by what other clubs are doing,.

Whether it was Tottenham’s mid-season title challenge or Liverpool’s ongoing one. It felt like many fans became more interested in results of our rivals than our own results.

We saw it again during the last week.

Instead of looking forward to Thursday night and Arsenal’s game against Valencia, fans firstly became consumed by Liverpool’s result against Barcelona and then Tottenham’s against Ajax.

On social media, you would not have thought Arsenal were playing for the majority of the day as many fans spent their time talking about Tottenham and Liverpool. It was almost like they had forgotten that Arsenal were playing.

Yet here we sit in the final of the Europa League following the 4-2 victory over Valencia.

It will be Arsenal’s 1st European final in 13 years, and just the 7th in history.

Before the game in 2 and a half weeks we have the last day of the Premier League season; facing Burnley.

I would expect Unai Emery to put out a strong team tomorrow.

With the Europa League final being a distance away, it is not worthwhile resting players – bar someone like Laurent Koscielny.

Wholesale changes would mean that some players would go nearly 3 weeks without playing a game.

It will be interesting to see how Emery manages the training schedule over the next 19 days.

Players will need to stay match sharp, which will be hard to do if all they are doing is training. I imagine there will be a few competitive behind closed door training sessions taking place. Arsenal may well enlist the help of a Scandinavian side. Fly them across to give us someone to play.

Fans now need to spend less energy worrying about what other English sides might achieve in Europe and more energy backing Unai Emery’s Red and White Army.

Keenos

Match Report: Valencia 2 – 4 Arsenal

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València (1) 2 Arsenal (1) 4
UEFA Europa League, Semi Final Second Leg
Mestalla Stadium, Av. de Suècia, s/n, 46010 València, Spain
Thursday, 9th May 2019. Kick-off time: 8.00pm

(4-2-3-1) Čech, Sokratis, Koscielny, Monreal, Maitland-Niles; Torreira, Xhaka; Kolašinac, Özil, Aubameyang; Lacazette.
Substitutes: Elneny; Mkhitaryan, Iwobi, Leno, Mustafi, Guendouzi, Nketiah.
Scorers: Aubameyang (3), Lacazette
Yellow Cards: Özil, Lacazette
Referee: Danny Makkelie (Netherlands)
Attendance: 49,500

There are certain Arsenal matches this season that truly defy description (almost); this game may just fall into that category when the curtain descends on everything in a few weeks time. Make no mistake about it, Arsenal were professional, clinical, utterly single-minded in their approach to ultimate victory and it has to be said truly magical. Despite going behind to a well-taken Kevin Gameiro goal after just eleven minutes, we were neither fazed nor bothered by this unfortunate situation; we just simply dusted ourselves down and started all over again.

The electric partnership between Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Alexandre Lacazette simply terrorised the València defence, and when the former equalised the scores seven minutes later, it was to be the start of something truly special here at the Mestalla Stadium. Previous to this, the home side sere in the ascendancy, buoyed by their early goal; their inability to capitalise on this showed their limitations and defensive frailties. Mesut Özil suddenly became the player that we all know he can be; time and time again he popped up to liberally stoke the ball here and there at will to ensure that Arsenal kept up the momentum. By the end of the first half, it was becoming apparent that the eternal triangle of Özil-Aubameyang-Lacazette was completely running the show for Arsenal.

Just five minutes after the restart, the fantastic Alexandre Lacazette left his indelible mark on the game at last. Receiving a pass in the penalty area, he was magnificent in his strength, unbeatable in the turn, and when he finally struck the ball firmly with his trusty right foot, it was only going to end up in one place – the back of the València net. All this seemed to be forgotten when Kevin Gameiro scored his second goal of the night a few minutes later, but hey, who cares? Off we went again. And again Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came to the rescue with yet another goal, only this time his second goal completely destroyed the spirit of the home side, so much so, that their supporters started to leave the stadium with twenty minutes still remaining on the clock. By now, we appeared not to be bothered by the opposition as we controlled play completely. Two minutes from the end of the match, València were unceremoniously snuffed out by the man of the match, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang; receiving the ball, he advanced with speed towards the València goal, and as goalkeeper Neto stepped forward to attempt to narrow the angle, the Arsenal man blasted the ball into the roof of the net to finish the night’s proceedings perfectly to propel us into the final of The Europa League, where Chelsea lie in wait for us.

Truthfully, this match was far more than Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s hat-trick or Mesut Özil’s vision; it was a brilliant mix of teamwork, effort, work ethic and an incredible desire to win at all costs. Most impressive was tbe attitude of not worrying about the system of play from the home side; our thoughts were quite simply along the lines of “we’re here to win, play however you like, but tonight we are truly unbeatable.” And for ninety wonderful minutes, we really, really were. Arsenal are now just one match away from returning to the Champions League, and if we hold our nerve, concentrate on our game plan, we can do just that. Oh, and also pick up a trophy along the way too, of course. Next instalment in this tale is in Baku on Wednesday, 29th May against our old adversaries Chelsea; don’t be late. 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.

Wet day in Vauxhall trumps sunny Spain

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I have made better decisions in life.

It is 17°C in Alicante this morning. Today’s highs will be 26°C. Arsenal fans are gathering in the Spanish city for a couple of days of sunshine boozing before getting a 2 hour train north to Valencia on Thursday for the game.

I turned down the chance to go to the game. Most of my mates flew out Monday lunchtime. They have been sunning themselves for 2 days already.

The reason why I turned it down? I had tickets for today’s ODI against Pakistan at the Oval.

So instead of waking up this morning in lovely Spanish sunshine, I am looking at of my window at grey clouds, could air and rain until 4pm. Cold and wet. It must be the start of the cricket season in England.

Earlier this year I spent a couple of weeks in Antigua watching England get thrashed by the West Indies. I did not care about the result, it was a cracking bit of time away.

The Vauxhall Oval is going to be very different to the Sir Viv Richards Stadium that I sat in earlier this year. Instead of looking for a bit of shade to sit in, I will probably be looking for somewhere to stay dry.

Arsenal have not been great this season. That is an understatement. And as Liverpool showed last night, the tie is not over.

Valencia did not look great at Arsenal. There only threat was from set pieces. But at 3-1 and with Valencia having the away goal; the 1st goal is key.

Wining the Europa League would turn Unai Emery’s 1st season from a tough one to a trophy laden, successful one.

What it will also do is parachute Arsenal back in the Champions League.

For obvious reasons, the Arsenal transfer budget is not yet finalised. There is plenty of money available with the increase in commercial deals and players leaving on a free. These two factors free up £60million a year to be spent on transfer fees, wages, bonuses, agent fees, etc.

Win the Europa League and qualify for the Champions League could add an extra £40million to that pot for next season.

Tomorrow is a huge night.

I just wish I was out there instead of getting the waterproofs out of the loft for a day at the cricket.

ps: Whilst I am talking about the sunshine, have you bought the banana beach towel yet?

Keenos