Tag Archives: She Wore

Arsenal sleep walk into League Cup semi final

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And just like that, Arsenal are into the semi final of the Copacabana Cup.

Without even trying, putting in zero effort, Arsenal are still on course for a visit to Wembley in early 2018 and a chance of a first bit of silverware for the season.

Having already beaten Doncaster Rovers 1-0 without breaking a sweat, Arsenal fans got a little bit of excitement with the late Eddie Nketiah equaliser and subsequent extra time winner. The 1-0 win over West Ham was back to boring boring Arsenal in the League Cup.

1-0, muted celebrations at the end, fans barely bothered to turn up, even less staying till the end, and even less celebrating making a semi final of a domestic competition.

The fact that Arsenal have made the semi final without putting any effort in is testament to our current status as the premier cup kings of English football.

Whilst the likes of Liverpool and Tottenham failed in the competition, ensuring a continuation of their trophy droughts, Arsenal made the semi final in 1st gear.

Contrast the muted celebrations of Arsenal to that of Manchester City.

The Premier League runaway leaders celebrated making the semi final like it was a World Cup quarter final that they had just one.

Yes, they had the excitement of penalties, which always raises the adrenaline, but seeing their fans and celebrate like mad, and Pep Guardiola fist pump and sing along to his own song, well it was a little cringe. Although in hindsight, making any semi final is something to celebrate for a small club like Manchester City.

The League Cup is the only trophy they have won in the last 3 years and Guardiola is still searching for his first piece of silverware in England, despite spending half a billion quid.

The players City used to beat Leicester cost them over £250m. When you take into account this was their B team, it shows how much they have invested. It was only a little less than what Arsenal’s entire squad cost.

With City through, and Chelsea and Manchester United with fairly routine ties, it could make for 2 gigantic match ups in the semi finals.

It will be interesting to see who sticks and who twists in terms of squads.

League Cup semi finals, and progression into the 4th round of the FA Cup, will make it 8 games in January. A heavy work load. I have already expressed my opinion that Arsenal should prioritise the cups over the league, putting our resources into competitions we can win rather than a competition that is impossible to win this season,

Do that and we might have a final to look forward to. A trophy to lift at Wembley. A 4th trophy in 4 years.

Not bad for a team in crisis.

Keenos

 

What should Arsenal prioritise this season?

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P 18 W 17 D 1

At the time of writing, that was Manchester City’s results in the league so far this season. It is awesome form that is seeing them average 2.88 points per game. Keep it up and they will end up with a record breaking 109 points.

They have blown the rest of the Premier League away this season. A mixture of having a top coach in Pep Guardiola, and having a squad that cost £632m has seen them have the strongest set up in the Premier League since those early Jose Mourinho days at Chelsea.

If the first XI is not working, Guardiola has a bench which contains £100s of millions worth of talent, including the likes of Bernardo Silva who cost £43m.

When Sergio Aguero, has easily been the best striker in Premier League over the last 5 / 6 years is no longer guaranteed a start, it shows the strength of their squad.

It is not just the money they have spent, the football that Guardiola is coaching his players to produce puts them a cut above.

This brings me on to the main part of my thoughts.

Whilst it is frustrating that it is Manchester City and not Arsenal running away with it, the fact is,. For 2017/18 at least, Man city are going to win the league, Arsenal or not.

So what else then do Arsenal have to play for?

  • Top 4 finish
  • Finishing above Spurs
  • League Cup
  • Europa League
  • FA Cup

There are 5 motivations for the players. What is important now is that as we are not going to win the league, we re-organise our priorities this season.

Firstly, finishing above Spurs and a top 4 finish can be put into one box.

Personally I think that Manchester United and Chelsea will both be good (and consistent) enough to finish top 4. That leaves one more place for Burnley, Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal to battle over. Finish top 4 and we finish above Spurs.

Also, bar bragging rights, finishing above Spurs does not really mean much in the long course of history.

In the 1992/93 season, Arsenal finished 10th. Spurs finished 8th. Arsenal became the first ever club to do the domestic cup double. Spurs won nothing. I imagine if I asked the question (before I told you the answer) as to where Arsenal and Spurs finished in 1993, you would not have a clue. Bit if I asked who won the cups, you would know both.

This brings me on to the next point. If we are not going to win the league, should we be prioritising league games over cup competitions?

We got mocked for the Top 4 Trophy for 10 years. During that period, many Arsenal fans who have consistently called for Arsene Wenger’s head moaned that Wenger was prioritising a top 4 finish above winning cups. He was disrespecting cups.

Last year Spurs finished above us, they showed progression, they competed but ultimately they won nothing.

It seems now Arsenal fans have done a 360. Rather than win a trophy, suddenly that want the team to show progression and compete, to finish top 4.

The same people moaning that top 4 is not a trophy now what us to finish top 4, even if it means no trophy. They want us to prioritise the top 4.

My fear is, Wenger, and the board, will go the same.

They will go back to the old thinking that finishing top 4 is more important than winning a trophy. They will prioritise it, and continue to play a second XI in the cups. Ultimately this could leave us with no trophies and, on current form, outside the top 4.

Personally, I would actually like us to prioritise the trophies over the league.

Last season Manchester United won the League cup and Europa League. They made the decision to prioritise the cups over finishing top 4. Their hand was forced due to being about 10 points behind a top 4 position going into Christmas, but ultimately they won the trophies.

In years down the line, Manchester United will remember the trophies they won in the 2016/17 season, but will anyone remember who finished top 4? Probably not.

At the time of writing, there is just a single point between 4th and 7th, with Arsenal in 7th. But is there actually any difference between finishing 4th and finishing 7th, bar the Champions League football and finances it brings?

Now this would be controversial.

I would not be too unhappy if we played a B team in the league games that occur before a mid-week cup tie.

I would not care if we finished 10th, if it mean winning a cup.

Football is all about winning trophies. The winners are remembered. We entered 4 competitions at the beginning of the season. One we can no longer win, 3 we can. So why prioritise the completion we can no longer win?

Over the years, Sky and UEFA have brainwashed fans to believe that the only trophies that matter is the Premier League and Champions League. Sadly, some fans now believe this calling the FA Cup no longer the competition it once was.

Tell anyone who was at Wembley in May that finishing top 4 was more important, or those Manchester United fans in Sweden that finishing 6th means everything whilst winning a European trophy means nothing.

Now let’s play a game.

Below is a list of the seasons we won a cup. I have excluded the seasons where we also won the league. Name the trophy and Arsenal’s league position in the corresponding season:

How did you get on? I bet you were able to write down the majority of the trophies won quite quickly. But how about the league positions? I imagine the more recent ones were easy, but how many of the earlier ones did you guess?

Do you want the answers? They are at the end of the blog.

The point of the exercise was to highlight that history only remembers one league position. And that is first. But you will also remember the other successes. The other trophies won.

I could probably name every FA Cup winner between 1988 (I was 3) and now. I would struggle to name who finished 2nd in those season, let alone 4th.

It will require a change in mentality, but with us being 19 points behind Manchester City in the league, sacrificing the league position to potentially win 3 cups surely makes sense?

And finally, those answers:

Keenos

Why would Manchester City want Arsenal forward?

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Arsenal forward Alexis Sanchez, 28, has turned down a £400,000-a-week offer from a Chinese club because he is determined to join Manchester City.

That is this mornings Arsenal related news according to BBC Gossips column.

Personally, I love the BBC Gossip column. It is what I read when I have my morning poo. It collates all that mornings BS transfer rumours in one place, meaning that I none of the media outlets who make them up generate any advertising revenue from my click.

When I read the above,  I had to laugh. Not because I think it is ludicrously made up, I imagine there is some truth into it. I laughed because I thought to myself Why would Manchester City want Alexis Sanchez.

Now Sanchez is a top player. In his 3 years in England, he has been amongst the best in the league. Only Sergio Aguero and Eden Hazard get close to him. He would improve almost any team in the world based on past form. An individual talent capable of winning any game on his own.

But then you have this seasons form, when he has been awful.

And that is one of the two reasons why I would be surprised if he go’s to Manchester City.

The first reason is a simple one. Manchester City do not actually need Alexis Sanchez.

P 18 W 17 D 1 L 0 F 56 A 12

Now I fully understand that in football, if you stand still you go backwards, and you should always be looking to improve your squad, but how much would Sanchez actually improve Manchester City?

Manchester City are averaging over 3 goals a game in the league at this present time. They have an array of attacking talent that is the envy of the world. And it is not just their starting attackers, it is who can come off the bench.

When a striker as class and consistently brilliant as Sergio Aguero is not guaranteed a start, you know they have quality. Competing with Aguero is 20 year old Brazilian Gabriel Jesus. A fantastic young talent.

Then you have Raheem Sterling. The boy has become a man this season and is Manchester City’s top goal scorer with 15 goals in 23 games. And quite a few of them important late winners.

Leroy Sane is another terrific young talent. It shows Manchester City’s financial strength that they could spend £37 million on a youngster for the future, give him a year to settle, and not expect him to perform from day one. Other clubs, like Arsenal, do not have the luxury.

This year Sane has kicked on from last year, and at just 21, I struggle to name too many better young wingers in the Premier League. His composure, pace and skill is going to make him a dangerous player as he continues to develop.

Kevin de Bruyne and David Silva. I do not need to say much about either. They are terrific with the technique and vision of players you used to associate with Arsenal.

Finally we have Bernardo Silva. Manchester City paid £43.5m for the Portuguese winger in the summer. He has started just 4 games in the league.

In the summer, you could see why City wanted Sanchez.

Sterling was stagnating and Sane had not yet kicked on. Sanchez was one of the best in the world. Had they signed Sanchez, the likelihood is that Sterling would have left, maybe even to Arsenal.

Football is easy in hindsight, and I bet Pep Guardiola is glad that he has Sterling over Sanchez this season.

It is not just the quality of Manchester City’s players that sets them apart from Sanchez, but the age too. Jesus is 20, Sane 21, Sterling 23. It is a high quality front line that could play and develop together for the next 8-10 years. Alexis Sanchez is 29 tomorrow. He would be a short term fix to a problem that does not need fixing.

Then we come on to Alexis Sanchez himself. He has been in poor form this year.

Has he become distracted with wanting to leave? Is he carrying an injury? Or are his powers on the wane?

I mentioned to a mate after the Newcastle game that Sanchez is clearly not the same player he was. He does not look at sharp, as explosive. When was the last time he beat a man and ran away from him?

He has lost a yard of pace. And his brain seems to have slowed down as well, which has led to his sloppy play and giving the ball away too much.

A lot of players who have relied upon their explosiveness fall off the cliff quickly. As soon as that acceleration and speed go’s, even just a little, they are no longer the same player. Has Sanchez gone over the cliff this season?

And how much has Chile failing to make the World Cup damaged him psychologically?

He has always been an emotionally driving player. With no World Cup at the end of the season, and at a club who he wanted to leave in the summer, perhaps the motivation to push himself, both in training and on the pitch, has gone. He is just going through the motions. He has nothing to play for.

Maybe he is just an unhappy employee who has been told that he must work his notice period?

Sanchez has never been much of a team player. A terrific individual talent, but selfish. And with the goals and assists drying up this season, his selfishness has been exposed.

Manchester City attack as a team. It is quick, sharp and clinical. Would Sanchez’s selfishness, his dwelling on the ball, slowing the game down, suit their one touch passing? Probably not.

The only thing in Sanchez’s favour is that he is not European cup tied for the Champions League. But with so much talent, would he actually get much game time for City in the Champions League.

I think Sanchez will leave Arsenal in January, but Manchester City is not a logical destination.

Keenos