Tag Archives: She Wore

Arsenal v Manchester United: The Race for Top 4

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Today’s game against Manchester United could make or break Arsenal’s top 4 challenge.

Win and we return to 4th place, keeping on Tottenham’s coat tails for 3rd with 8 games to go.

Lost and we could find ourselves in 6th place, 4 points behind the resurgent Manchester United and, perhaps more importantly, potentially 2 points behind Chelsea who also have a game in hand.

If it was only a two-horse race for 4th, it would not be unreasonable to hope that we could close a 4 point gap on a single team.  But a 4 point gap from Manchester United and a 5 point gap from Chelsea, we would need both sides to lose at least 2 of their last 8 games – with Arsenal winning at least 7 – to stand a chance.

This really is our most important domestic game of the season.

Manchester United currently top the injury league table and could be without up to 10 senior players.

Anthony Martial, Nemanja Matić and Phil Jones missed the mid-week victory over PSG but could be back for this afternoons kick off. They will however be with Alexis Sanchez, Juan Mata, Anders Herrera and Jesse Lingard – who has terrorised Arsenal in recent seasons.

Arsenal really should have beaten Manchester United in the away game, but were caught cold conceding an equaliser within a minute of going 2-1 up.

Ultimately, there is only going to be a handful of points between Arsenal and Manchester United after 38 games. The difference could be the 3 points on offer today.

Arsenal need to be at 100%, go for the win and expect nothing less.

Failure to get 3 points will leave the Europa League as our most realistic way back into the Champions League next season.

Keenos

The Premier League should NOT follow Europe’s lead and re-arrange games prior to European fixtures

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There has been a lot of fuss in the news recently abut leagues cancelling weekend games to give their sides more time to prepare for a European tie.

This is not a new thing. Back in the early 2000s, the Portuguese league cancelled a whole host of games for Porto to help them out. They won the Champions League.

In France the game between Rennes and Nimes was postponed. The same happened in Holland for Ajax and in Germany they have moved weekend games to a Friday to give sides an extra day.

With Ajax beating Real Madrid, an argument could be made that moving their domestic game helped them into the Champions League Quarter Finals.

We have had Mauricio Pochettino complain that English teams need more help and games should be re-arranged at late notice.

Despite the obvious benefits of moving a game, I am against the Premier League following suit. Weekend games prior to European games should not be moved.

I go home and away. I have a season ticket for both.

Already match going fans are screwed over left, right and centre by TV companies.

Games are moved at late notice to satisfy Sky Sports or BT Sports, moved to times when fans have little to no chance getting public transport back. The majority of the time we miss out on cheaper train tickets for away games.

The situation is already awful; the Premier League shifting games at even later notice for European football will only make things worse.

It is not just away fans, but also home fans that are affected.

Imagine a scenario where a fan from Norway or America has booked flights and hotels, only for the game to be moved. And even closer to home, fans from Ireland on Newcastle. These guys would have to get flights, trains and hotels for a game in North London.

Even just moving a game backwards a day – from Saturday to Friday – like what has happened in the Bundesliga can create huge ramifications.

Most fans would travel late on Friday (after work) or early Saturday. Bringing it to a Friday evening kick off would mean changing flights, hotels and taking a day off work.

And it is not just Arsenal fans that I am thinking of. It is opposing fans as well.

Look at the situation in France.

The game between Rennes and Nimes was postponed on 25 February. This was 5 days before the game was set to be played.

It did not just create issues for Rennes fans but also for Nimes fans.

It is 480 miles from Nimes to Rennes. Fans of Nimes would have already booked flights and trains for the game. How is it fair on them that the game is cancelled to help out Rennes?

Imagine if Arsenal were at home to Newcastle last Saturday, and the Premier League decided to postpone the game at FIVE days notice. This would be unfair of Newcastle fans.

And then you have when the games are re-arranged too.

The fixtures list is already crowded. Games would have to be rearranged to mid week.

This would mean time off work, hotels, more expensive trains, and even many fans no longer being able to go.

And is it really fair on all sides?

If they are moving an Arsenal game to give more time to prepare for a European tie, should they not do the same for FA Cup replays and mid-week League Cup games. And what about relegation 6 pointers?

Whilst from a “success” point of view moving games does make sense – the weekend break gives teams more time to prepare – the majority of match going fans would not be happy with a game moving at late notice.

Clubs need to do more to look after the interests of match going fans. They are the life blood of the club. Football without fans is nothing. Football is a not a TV show. If leagues start moving games at late notice for European football, it will show that they do not care for match going fans. It will further increase the gap between fans and clubs.

Sides spend millions on wages and have 25-man squads. The more successful a side the better (and more) players they have. It is up to those sides to manage their squads.

Ultimately, when you look at the list of Champions League winners over the last decade, none of been helped by fixtures being re-arranged.

Nimes, PEC Zwolle and PSV Eidenhoven have all questioned the fixtures with Rennes and Ajax being moved and have sought legal action.

Moving fixtures for European football will be just another dagger in the heart for match goings fans.

Keenos

Match Report: Rennes 3 – 1 Arsenal

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Rennes (1) 3 Arsenal (1) 1
UEFA Europa League, Round of 16, First Leg
Roazhon Park, 111 Rue de Lorient, 35000 Rennes, France
Thursday, 7th March 2019. Kick-off time: 5.55pm
(4-2-3-1) Čech; Mustafi, Sokratis, Koscielny, Monreal; Torreira, Xhaka; Mkhitaryan, Özil, Iwobi; Aubameyang.
Substitutes: Ramsey, Maitland-Niles, Leno, Suárez, Guendouzi, Kolašinac, Nketiah.
Scorers: Iwobi
Red Card: Sokratis
Yellow Card: Xhaka
Referee: Ivan Kruzliak (Slovakia)
Attendance: 29,778
Our opponents tomight are (to give them their full title) Stade Rennais Football Club, commonly referred to as Stade Rennais, SRFC or simply Rennes; they are currently sitting at ninth position in Ligue 1. This famous old football club has won the Coupe de France twice, but are better known in recent times as having one of the best youth academies in France; indeed, one of their alumni is our own Sylvain Wiltord, who of course played for us from 2000 to 2004, winning two Premier League titles, two FA Cup winners medals, and a 2002 Community Shield plaque as well as scoring 49 goals in 175 matches. Their manager is Julien Stéphan, son of the assistant team manager for the French national team, and has forged a reputation for playing good, open football in a modern, yet classic European style.
What a shambles. And yet, it all started so well for us with a superb Alex Iwobi goal after just three minutes, when he curled a ball from the outside of the Rennes box into the net. In reality, it may well have been a low cross, but either way it was a welcome memory to take away with us before things fell apart. And fall apart they certainly did. To be fair, for twenty minutes or so after the goal, Arsenal were creating chances although they were squandering some good efforts in front of goal with both Lucas Torreira and Shkodran Mustafi being desperately unlucky not to add to Alex Iwobi’s earlier strike.
Arsenal just simply caved in across the midfield and found it more and more difficult to hold back Rennes as they grew in confidence. Petr Čech was simply immense in goal throughout and it has to be said that his sterling performance at Roazhon Park tonight stopped the home side from scoring more goals than they eventually did. Sokratis just appeared to lose all semblance of common sense tonight with some crazy tacking and ridiculous off-the-ball antics which only made matters worse. Just before the break, he got his marching orders from the referee for a truly amateurish ham-fisted tackle outside the Arsenal penalty area. We paid dearly for this dismissal; the ball bounced back off the Arsenal wall to the initial taker of the free kick, Benjamin Bourigeaud, who unceremoniously smashed it past the outstretched Petr Čech and into the net to equalise the scores.
The second half was just truly appalling from our point of view. We looked tired, dejected and very, very sloppy indeed with amateurish mistakes being made across the pitch by players who really should know and do better at this level. It was merely a matter of time before a second Rennes goal happened, and it arrived after 65 minutes when Mehdi Zeffane crossed from the right that deflected into the net off of a helpless Nacho Monreal that gave Petr Čech little chance to stop the shot. Although Mesut Özil had a weak shot saved by the Rennes goalkeeper Tomáš Koubek, fairly easily towards the end of the match, Arsenal were truly not at the races tonight. Just twominutes before the end, Ismaila Sarr brought proceedings to a close with a superb diving header to make the final score 3-1 to Rennes.
We are going to have to a whole lot better than this in the return leg next week; it is clear that Rennes are no FC BATE Borisov, and unlike them, they are organised, well drilled and certainly no pushovers. After the Spurs match last Saturday, it is hard to believe that this is the same team; and with Manchester United lying in wait on Sunday afternoon, we can only pray for some kind of miracle based on these events. Is also not time that we saw more of Dennis Suárez now? Sunday afternoon could be a good time for his full debut, and after this appalling disintegration, he may well be the tonic our troops truly need. Something needs to be addressed; we have no leaders on the pitch, no organisation and our away form is poor. What is to be done? 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.