Tag Archives: She Wore

Arsenal look to put Europa League tie to bed in 1st leg against Rennes

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There are some very good teams in the Europa League last 16.

Alongside Arsenal, there is also Chelsea, Inter Milan, Napoli, Valencia and Sevilla. It is Europe’s 2nd tier competition and you arguably have the creme dela crème of those sides not in the Champions League.

It would not be too surprising to see all 6 of those teams in the Champions League next season.

That is why Arsenal absolutely caught a break in the next round by drawing Rennes. Currently sitting 10th in Ligue 1, Rennes have a pedestrian 6-4-3 record at home this season.

In the Europa League this season, they could only manage a draw at home to Kiev in the Group State, and drew at home to Real Betis in the Round of 32.

Presently, Arsenal are  1/4 favorite’s to advance, and writers at sites like Sports Betting Dime see the Gunners as having a great chance to earn at least an away draw before finishing the job in London.

That being said, Arsenal need to ensure they take the tie seriously. The defeat away to BATE Borisov would have been a wake up call for the club.

The 1-0 loss in the 1st leg in Belarus was a shock to everyone and should be used as a reminder that no matter the gulf between clubs; any result can happen on any given day.

I do not think the environment in Minsk helped Arsenal, and this should be taken as minor extenuating circumstances.

The sub zero temperatures, the frozen, badly prepared pitch. It was a bit like an old school FA Cup 3rd round game when you would go to some dark corner of England, face a small team on a water logged, muddy, cut up pitch. The opponents would score from a set piece and the better team would labour on.

Against Rennes it should be a different story.

A city in the east of Brittany, north west France, it is little over an hour flying time from London. A case could probably be made that Arsenal do not travel up the day before. Instead meet at London Colney for breakfast on Thursday, a quick coach to Luton and a chartered flight into Rennes. They will be there before lunch; with 5 hours to prepare for the game.

Arsenal will not face the similar cold, frozen, bumpy pitch that they did in Borisov.

A positive result today will take Arsenal to 5 games unbeaten before the big game on Sunday against Manchester United.

Anyone heading out there – I imagine you are already in France – enjoy the game.

Keenos

How will Arsenal solve right-back conundrum?

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Arsenal need to address the right back situation in the summer.

With Hector Bellerin’s injury, Stephan Lichtsteiner demise, Ainsley Maitland-Niles not really stepping up & Carl Jenkinson’s contract set to run out, we could be starting 2019/20 without a recognised right back.

So what are Arsenal’s options?

Sign an established right back

The first option would for Arsenal to spend big and go for an established right back.

The fear could be for Arsenal that is Bellerin is out for the start of the season, signing a raw talent or promoting someone from the youth team could leave the side weak on the right hand side. After an injury like what Bellerin had, the odds are high that he might break down again.

Arsenal should therefore target top-flight proven right back. Someone who could come in and not just provide cover for Bellerin, but also competition to him.

Aaron Wan-Bissaka is the man that springs to mind for this role.

The Crystal Palace right back might be raw, but is not as raw as other candidates we will speak about later. At 21-years-old, he would have a season of top flight Premier League football under his belt and is currently pushing for an England place.

He would cost a lot of money, but if he fulfils his potential he could become even better than Bellerin.

A cheaper option could be long term Arsenal target Ferland Mendy. I imagine there are plenty of other similar talents on the clubs radar.

Sign a raw talent

A cheaper option than signing an established right back is to go for a raw talent.

Over at GunnersTown there is a brilliant scouting report on Houboulang Mendes. He is a 20-year-old Frenchman currently playing in Ligue 2. He has all the natural attributes to be an Arsenal right back, but sound like a very unpolished diamond.

There is also Max Aarons at Norwich. Another who comes with a high reputation but only has a year of Championship football under his belt.

The issue with these sort of players is they might not yet be ready for the Premier League. And if Bellerin is not fit and ready to go at the beginning of next season, they could be exposed and lose confidence before they have even started.

My feeling would be if we signed Aarons or Mendes we would want to put them out on loan for a year. This does not solve our immediate problem.

Promote Jordi Osei-Tutu

If we are going to sign a raw talent, why not promote one of our own?

Jordi Osei-Tutu may well have had a chance in the Arsenal first team this season had he not picked up an early season injury ruling him out for the first quarter of the season.

He would likely have got game time in the Europa League and League Cup had he been fit.

Like with Aarons and Mendes, it would be a huge risk to install Osei-Tutu as Bellerin’s back up. The better options, as with the other 2, would be to send him on loan for a season.

Moving for the likes of Mendes or Aarons; or promoting Osei-Tutu could be a good budget option in the long term, but it would require someone else to be signed in the short term to cover the next 12 months.

Keep Carl Jenkinson

One short term option could be to keep what we have in Carl Jenkinson.

His contract runs out at the end of this season. We could offer him a new 2 year deal on his currently salary – rumoured to be around £45,000 a week. He would then provide short term cover for Bellerin over the next 12 months, whilst his long term cover (Mendes, Aarons or Osei-Tutu) gets top flight experience out on loan.

Buy Lichtsteiner MK II

The deal for Stephan Lichtsteiner did make sense.

Experienced short term cover for Hector Bellerin allowing us another 12 months to develop either Ainsley-Maitland Niles or Jordi Osei-Tutu.

Unfortunately Maitland-Niles has not kicked on and Osei-Tutu picked up an injury. This leaves us in a similar situation last year.

If Unai Emery decides that he wants to go for a raw talent and that Jenkinson is not sufficient short-term cover, scouring the world for a senior right back whose contract has expired could be an option.

Atletico Madrid’s Juanfran seems best to suit this bill.

Experienced and Spanish, he is set to leave Atletico in the summer on a free transfer. Would a one-year deal in the Premier League interest him? Perhaps if we offer him similar money to Lichtsteiner.

It would then be a similar scenario to keeping Jenkinson.

Arsenal get in the experienced man to cover Bellerin whilst they develop a raw talent who spends a year out on loan.

Keenos

Rebounds from penalties will NOT be scrapped for 2019/20

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Bit of fake news floating about this morning concerning the International FA Board (Ifab) rule changes.

Yesterday Sky Sports reported that there will no longer be rebounds for penalties.

“Play will stop for a restart if a penalty is saved or hits the post, meaning there will be no chance to follow up and score from rebounds, meaning players will no longer need to line up on the edge of the area.”

Sky Sports News went as far as having former referee Dermot Gallagher on their shot to discuss in detail the new rule, amongst others.

This report is completely incorrect, with only Spanish newspaper Marca now reporting the “no rebounds” on their website.

Sky have since re-written the article on their website on the changing rules, removing the “no rebound” content:

“The first edition mistakenly referred to a rule in relation to penalties which will not come into effect.”

Having read the press release on the IFAB Annual General Meeting, all the rule changes are mentioned bare the “no rebounds” one, highlight that reports of this change are erroneous.

1. Accidental handball goal won’t stand

2. Substituted players can leave the field anywhere

3. No attacking players in the wall

4. Coaches will receive cards

5. Drop ball if the ball hits the referee

6. Goalkeeper only required to have one foot on the line for penalties

The “no rebounds” rule change was merely a proposed rule change; not an actual one.

Keenos