I read someone in the comments say I didn’t write match previews these days. It is true, as I’ve been gunning to do the match report right after the whistle, but today, I’m gonna do one for you DivineSherlock.
I’m very much buzzing for an FA Cup final. At this point, we’d probably have pitched up at The Greenman, 4 beers deep after a meet up at that ‘Spoons a Liverpool Street. I’d be meeting cousins, my dad, the extended Le Grove family. My brother would be leading the charge on pints, lapping me by at least 3. My dad would be holding court about Alex Song and Arsene Wenger.
‘No Dad, it’s ok, Wenger’s gone now’
We’d all laugh at the guy slumped in the corner that had wet himself, then we’d applaud as he got up in time for the walk to the stadium. The good times, the good times.
Ahh, I miss it. I miss hanging out with the Arsenal family. I’m gutted for all the kids that miss out on a day like today. Semi-Finals are iconic days out. They are special. You always remember them.
This year is different, no fans are allowed in the ground, so we’ll be watching the players battle it out to an empty stadium. That doesn’t mean it lacks importance. For Arsenal, a win defines our summer transfer window. Currently, it’s a roll of a dice as to whether we make it into the European positions. We can finish anywhere from 10th to 6th. The FA Cup guarantees us a place in the Thursday night trophy (sad that we’re pining for that level of comp these days).
Arteta was realistic in his presser. He knows Manchester City better than anyone. They’ve scored the most goals in the Premier League this season, on their day, for me, there’s still no better side technically. Peak Guardiola football is mesmeric. They also have a team of game-changers. The shapes, the off the ball movement, and the decisiveness in important moments makes our task daunting.
The gameplan versus Liverpool was not to get absolutely battered for 90 minutes, but that’s what happened. I don’t think we’ll be able to ride our luck like that for a second game in a week. Arsenal have to show up, they have to play a better game of football, we have to try and control their strengths, but also play to our own.
I don’t know how we change it up in this game, but we know there is a path forward, because the first half against Leicester showed that there is a football team that can express themselves like Arsenal somewhere hiding in the squad.
That’s what we’ll try to do as much as possible! Like any other team they have some weaknesses, as you mentioned, and as well it’s about stopping their strengths.
They have a lot. It’s part of any gameplan. It’s not about City, it’s about any other opponent we are facing. Tomorrow we will do exactly the same.
One of their weaknesses this season has been away days. They’ve been pitiful for their standards on the road. They are also susceptible at the back if you get at them with pace in the front line. I’d imagine we’re going to try and load up with pace, Auba, Saka, and maybe Pepe. Then it’s about bringing the most stable backline offering we have (👀). It’s really hard to decide what that looks like these days. Rob Holding grew immensely with the Liverpool game, he feels like a better option than Kola. I thought Cedric Soares looked off his game, does he get the nod over Bellerin, or dare I say it, AMN? This is what he said on the 22 year old.
He’s a player who can play in many different positions, we have discussed the things in my opinion that he can improve or adapt to his game because he has incredible quality. He has every quality that you need to be a football player to play the highest level and he just needs to do it in a little bit more of a consistent way, but he is someone who can adapt to any position as well.
AMN could be a very good player, he showed it against Wolves. Focus is his weakness though, that said, it’s hard to say that focus isn’t an issue with at least half the starting 11 we roll with game to game.
That also leads us to Mustafi, does he start? Probably. We have to hope that we get the best version of him, because the German Superman, flying into challenges, is not going to help against City.
In midfield, it’s pretty clear what we’ll do. Arteta was effusive about Ceballos.
Well that’s a conversation that we are having with the club, to see what we can do in the future with him. But I’m really, really happy with the progress and how much he’s improving and giving to the club.
I always give the example that he’s a loan player but when you see his celebrations for every goal, the way he trains every day, how much he cares, he’s fighting, he’s top. I’m really happy with him.
Dani has been excellent for us. He moves the ball forward and his defensive contributions get better with each game. Xhaka will no doubt sit next to him despite a little dip in form of late, likely due to fatigue. Then the question is whether Torreira starts. I suspect he will.
It’s extremely important we come out of the gates this time. Starting smartly generally leads us to better performances. Wolves and Leicester showed us that. We are a team that has fragile confidence. If the game plan looks good, we have a great chance. If it’s off, the players tend not to recover (Spurs). When we let Liverpool take control, we never took it back. I appreciate it’s Liverpool, but we’re not a team that should allow another side such a large chunk of possession. City with have more answers to a deep block than Liverpool.
We have to nip at City, we have to ask questions of their defence, and we have to play a more positive game.
Arteta was asked about Mesut Ozil again, his response was a terse, ‘he is in training.’ It’s clear there is very little chance of him returning this season. Fans remember the wrong Ozil when they don’t see him. This is a guy that was the best #10 in the world, he is not that now.
Here are his numbers.
Last 3 seasons:
68 Appearances
10 goals
13 assists
Last two seasons:
42 appearances
6 goals
4 assists
£350k p/w
3 Villa players have matched/more assists this season than Ozil has in had in 2 years (Grealish, Hourihane, El Ghazi). Andy Carrol has the same assist numbers this season as Ozil has had in 2 seasons.
He is the best chance creator in the team, still, but his 2.3 chances per game is more than half what it was back in the day, and those numbers don’t outweigh the negatives of having a player that regularly doesn’t show up in important games. Are we beating Liverpool with Mesut in the week? No chance.
Arteta also cleared up the SPEND SOME FUCKING MONEY comments he made in the week.
No, that was misinterpreted. It wasn’t my intention. We work so closely with everyone at the club, with the owners to put the plan that we need to take the club forward. Everybody has the same ambition, we are in all of this together. But if you ask me if I know right now what do I have and how can I do it, I’m sorry but I don’t know because there are a lot of questions that we can not resolve right now with the situation we have.
One is financially and the other one is because we do not know if we are in Europe, and because we have players that we don’t know what’s going to happen. That’s the reality. It’s not about sending a message, we all have the same objective which is to try to bring the club back as quickly as possible, fighting with the top teams in the country and in Europe and that’s it, and I want to do that as quickly as possible.
I don’t think you can knock a coach for pushing the club to give him funds to compete, though some obviously will. Hopefully, we’ll make Europe, that’s the first place to find some money, and if we don’t, Arteta will just have to deal with the consequences. His point about money is that it allows you to get there faster, which is an obvious statement, but one that is more important this summer because a little injection of credit could give us a lot of bang for our buck. As I said in the week, it’s new to hear an Arsenal manager fight for the football, and I welcome it. Stan K, for all his problems, is not an owner afraid to spend money, remember, Unai Emery had a higher net spend than Klopp and he was only with us for 18 months. Question is, can he afford to give the club an injection of cash when ALL sports are fucked from COVID and he’s a sports business guy? Doubtful.
Still, Madrid aren’t going on for Mbappe this summer, so if the Spanish big dogs are fucked, then he can hardly take offence at Arsenal not having a lot of cash to burn.
ALSO, I know people are uncomfortable that the manager keeps pumping players in press. I am too. Mostly because we’re unsure whether he means it. I am almost 100% sure he’s being a salesman here. He is pumping value, he is playing the reluctant seller, and you’ll see where his taste levels are at this summer when he has to move on big names.
Finally, before I go, I would ask you to all take a read of this from The Athletic. It’s a very well sourced piece about how we do business at Arsenal. I know plenty don’t believe things when they come from me, but hey, look where the mainstream media is going with something I’ve been banging the drum on for a while. If you are bored, take a read of this story about how we landed where we did. A nice compliment.
Enjoy the game, see you in the comments!
1
2
3
Boom!
We stuff them 3 years ago, yes we had Sanchez, Giroud, Ramsey etc but……..
Euro5a too
Danny, you son of a gun … you spoiled my perfect run.
Le Grove on point, tip of the sphere with the Athletic bringing up the gear in the rear.
Everyone having a nice look into Rauls deals.
8th
Repost: Pierre
Think you’re right to an extent, I feel like we’ll be better equipped centrally this time. Liverpool play through the wide areas be it Salah, Mane, TAA, or Robertson. Centrally they’re less impressive.
City is the opposite, very dangerous centrally and through the lines. Can see Xhaka, Ceballos, and Torreira sitting, maybe even with Willock as a false 9 again to pack midfield. Auba/Laca possibly in a wide two.
I read the Athletic Pedro, and to be honest, I thought you were the writer.
I read that Athletic piece earlier on, and a lot of it is what Pedro has been saying for a while now, so fair play. However I also feel that article also suggests that we are far better at closing deals than we have been in the past, and having someone like Sanhelli has meant we have been able to do that. Super agents are also representing a or of the nets young players in the game, so let’s hope we use that contact approach for those types of players as well as the experienced ones. We got Martinelli that… Read more »
we need Torreira today I feel.
We will need to battle it out in mid field and not get run over.
Yea so Dani Xhaka and Torr
I agree
Chris, super agents should be a byproduct of your operation… not essential to the scouting or injected into deals that don’t need them.
This is going back a bit but…..
Semi finals at Wembley are a bit naff unless there’s a very good reason for it. Games back in the day at grounds like Villa Park and Hillsborough seemed like a much more intense affair than matches at sterile Wembley.
Guess it’s all part of eroding the soul of the game on the altar of big business and money.
Pedro, I am not going to disagree with that at all, I think most people resent the influence of agents in the modern game. However like it or not, this is the way we appear to be going, as highlighted regularly by yourself and the Athletic article. This is clearly approved by KSE, who are going nowhere. So my big hope is that we also make use of this approach not simply for players looking for one last payday, but also for the very best young players in the game connected to agents in our circle, whom we might otherwise… Read more »
Andy, going to Villa Park for a semi, or Wembley? No question which is naff, and it’s not Wembley.
Pedro no one says their comment was misinterpreted if they strongly feel they said the right thing at the right moment.
That was simply what some were pointing out here with regard to the spending comment from Arteta,wasn’t the time nor the place, he has access to the clubs finances and can also speak to Josh.
Him saying he was misinterpreted means he has realized that too
Chris, I suspect Tim Lewis is here to make sure we’re getting value from deals.
Pedro, that assumes that Kroenke is suspicious of Raul and the deals. The Athletic seems to posit the theory that Kroenkes have full faith in Raul and the team running Arsenal.
Agree completely Andy.
FA Cup semi finals at Highbury, Elland Road and Villa Park stick in my mind as some of my earliest memories of watching football, big nostalgia.
Getting to Wembley was the big reward for the final.
That’s because you’re so showbiz Pedro, show me the money!!!!
More to the game than that.
No man, I am anti-getting-on-a-train to go to a semi-final in Birmingham.
Fuck that.
Even Wembley is a ball ache if you live south.
The Athletic story highlights the goods and the bads we get with Sanllehi. Its not an attack against nor does that piece defend him. Its written from a neutral’s perspective which many Arsenal fans don’t view Sanllehi with and thats fair . But for me , up until now , he’s done more good than bad and thats why I don’t jump on the Raul is a fraud train. Any good manager would pump up his players. Thats how you sell them for fair or better than fair price. Klopp does it , Pep does it , Arsene did it… Read more »
“Pedro no one says their comment was misinterpreted if they strongly feel they said the right thing at the right moment.“
Such a load of nonsense. The press are professional sensationalists, and fans are dead eager to indulge for the most part.
Today is going to be such a tester be interesting to see if we can match City at all or if it just becomes an exercise in damage control like Liverpool.
How we lining up?
The semi s that were played at villa park in the past were some of the best days out I ever enjoyed at football .
Brilliant days ,fantastic atmospheres every time , Wembley in comparison is shit .
“Xhaka will no doubt sit next to him despite a little dip in form of late”
I can’t say I noticed is the most positive thing I can say about Xhaka.
On a serious note the back 3 for today literally comes down to which set of three are you least scared of:
Mustafi – Luiz – Holding
Mustafi – Luiz – Kolas
Holding – Luiz – Kolas
I’d say the first option is the best we have available at the moment as I don’t want to move Tierney away from LWB. Tierney LWB with Saka in front of him gives us strength down the left both attacking and defending.
I realise that the odds are stacked against Arsenal beating Man City tonight.Clearly there is a huge gulf in class between the two teams. However, I would point out that although we were well beaten by Man City in first game after season resumed Arsenal held out until extra time in first half and the first two goals scored by Man City were caused by clangers from Luiz including his sending off. Man City are an exceptional team but they have been vulnerable this season. They lost to Norwich City earlier in season!! The FA Cup is not a normal… Read more »
Pedro The company I used to work for had Club level tickets at Wembley and you used to get these express rail tickets that let you jump the queue, they only took you down to Marylebone but that got you on the underground before the masses swamped it. Don’t ask me why but the rail tickets were complimentary with the Club Level tickets but not tied directly to them. I managed to get the marketing team to get me some extras for one of the semi finals I attended with friends – they were full of “waster of time etc”… Read more »
“No man, I am anti-getting-on-a-train to go to a semi-final in Birmingham.Fuck that.”
What happened to ‘over land and sea (and Leicester)’ then?
Youngsters, bloody lightweights.
Emirates
Wigan beat City in an FA Cup final not so long ago just after they’d been relegated so anything is possible!
After the team got away with defending against liverpool, their confidence about doing it again will be high and with Torr & back its very possible
If we try anything else we will be ripped a new one
andy
I told you he was a snowflake!
* torr and back 3
And nobody gave us a snowballs chance in hell against Man City in 2017 and we came from behind to win.
If we win I would like to play Chelsea again and put right the EL final defeat, and repeat the 2017 final.
The FA cup is all about atmosphere .
Teams that won little else would get to the final and play all out football, often winning ie Wimbledon.
We have often raised our game for the cup but an empty stadium is dire.
The final has to be delayed until full crowds can return
Marc: He’ll be using the term ‘soccer’ next!
Chris
Let’s get there before we start planning the open bus parade eh?
As I pointed out last week Arsenal won a FA Cup Final against Man Utd several
years ago against all odds where they were dominated in the game for 120 minutes and we were on the blackfoot. The game finished 0-0 and we beat them on penalties.
Vieira’s last kick for Arsenal…. legend!
andy
Yeah I’ve heard he’s already complaining the hot dogs in the stadium aren’t vegan and he doesn’t even go to matches anymore.
Dave
There’s talk today that fans might be allowed back for the Charity Shield – if that’s the case surely they can allow fans in for the FA Cup final?
They’ll only be a couple of weeks apart.
Marc
Heheh, of course.
Too much sun and alcohol today has got me a bit carried away perhaps!
The final has to be delayed until full crowds can return
A final in 2021 then? Or 2022?
Chris
Let’s just hope that the alcohol isn’t there to numb the pain later!
Guns of SF
Precisely
Fergie was exceedingly upset after the game!!!
Twitter noise that Guendouzi is being asked for in a straight swap with Coutinho.
That would be a good deal.
Cc
I dont think the Barca board would be as dumb as that.
Wasi
Are you joking?
Buendia sent off at Norwich for an elbow that wouldn’t have harmed a five year old.
Would love to see VAR retrospectively review the OT game in October 2004. United would have been lucky to have half a team left on the pitch.
Radio’s team Atalanta … disappointing today. I expect he will have to apologize to me for making me watch them. 😀
@Pedro – a comparison for thought
Under Wenger — We are not an elite club, our defence is weak as we arr not able to beat top teams and we only target top-4
Post Wenger — We need to get into Europe to attract players. We have no identity.
Today – I would swap for Wenger ball, simple reason we had an identity and played some of the best football in living memory. Today we are struggling to see positives even when we beat Norwich(relegated) or Wolves — in yesteryear’s these wins were just table stakes…
Mid,
Was dull indeed, rebounding from putting 6 past Brescia on Tuesday. They are so punching above weight this season, tied for second with Inter at moment.
I think Arteta is talking up his players, because it might be extremely difficult to move players on this summer, and he’s learned from Emery’s mistake, Emery told Mustafi, Kolasinac, Ozil to do one, but the club failed to clear the deck, players heads dropped, and hung the manager out to dry. I don’t see us doing much business this summer, unless we can get some decent swaps, hopefully the club can at least clear out the two problem child’s, at this point it might even be worth tearing up Ozil’s contract, and giving Smith-Rowe and Willock a chance to… Read more »
Sal-
Yep.. the Old Lady has been pretty average lately too. Seems like i have bad luck watching Serie A though.. every time I tune in the game is a sleepy affair.
Middy more worrying is Chelsea loanee Pašalić scored a hat trick in that Atalanta romp….. they’ve go more loaned players out than you exes. Massive feat.
Sal-
I know right.. .. Chelski, Loanee department is like times square on New Years Eve.
Un
You missed off the great football Satan.
Andy “Semi finals at Wembley are a bit naff unless there’s a very good reason for it. Games back in the day at grounds like Villa Park and Hillsborough seemed like a much more intense affair than matches at sterile Wembley.” Have to agree there … 70/71 Hillsborough stands out for me when we nearly blew it, followed by the replay at villa park that was a nightmare to get to in the car for an evening game…won 2-0 . I remember Bob wilson getting injured and Radford going in goal in the 71/72 semi v stoke..may have been villa… Read more »
Un
I genuinely wonder what it’s going to take before the club staff realise just how completely unsuitable he is to the PL.
Give me an honest answer – if Xhaka was available for £1 million and was only asking for (only I know) £50k per week how low down the table (divisions) would you have to go to find a club who’d buy him?
We cannot match City, we must be defensive. They are vulnerable at the Left back, but our threat is on our left wing, this is the game for Pepe, he would not be bullied physically. Is he up for it?
Marc
I hope you know Xhaka caps his national team when they have players like Shaqiri on books. He is not as useless as you make hin out to be
Pierre
It’s purely down to the FA needing the money to pay for the Wembley rebuild.
The only people who will argue with you are either dickheads or people working for the FA / TV companies.
Sanmi
Just say no to drugs OK.
Unless you’re willing to share at least.
A win today would be an abnormality.
City are much better than us, could do with a City sending off, followed by an Arsenal converted penalty in the first minute.
Then KDB, Silva, Silva and Foden going off injured by the 30 minute mark, then Aguero getting sent off just before half time, giving away another penalty that we convert.
Only Arsenal could mess it up from there….
Un
You actually like Xhaka? Why what does he do that’s even OKish?
I’d rather have Ian Selley back – and I don’t mean the Ian Selley of almost 30 years ago I mean Ian Selley now!
Rich
I think aguero is not playing. That in itself is a glimmer of hope. Jesus is not that deadly
CC
I mean they’re dumb but a straight swap between Guendouzi and Coutinho would be a failure of epic sorry legendary proportions on Barca’s part
Un
When you say game changer is that some bit of kit for a Playstation that retails for £19.99 because I’ll happily buy you one if it gets rid of him.
Any team news yet?
Ps. Santi is a free agent next week. If we win tonight, sign him up to play in the final as a big thank you! (Afterwards sign him up as a youth coach or scout!)
Mustafi back into the side…shame really
Arsenal XI: Martinez; Mustafi, Luiz, Tierney; Bellerin, Ceballos, Xhaka, Maitland-Niles; Pepe, Lacazette, Aubameyang
Man City XI: Ederson; Walker, Garcia, Laporte, Mendy; Gundogan, D Silva, De Bruyne; Mahrez, Jesus, Sterling
Arsenal
Emi
Bellerin, Mustafi, Luis, Tierney, Niles
Ceballos xhaka
Pepe Laca Auba
Marc,
Xhaka does his role right, his left downs are occasional lapse in concentration lapse in concentration which he attempts to remedy with bad tackles. Is he the best we can get? No, is he our main problem ? Absolutely not.
We are not city and cant afford to just replace all.problems in one window. That’s why we are keeping him. We have bigger problems that once remedied will make us a better team immediately. We need an AM that shows up. Coutinho is not a bad try.
Subs: Macey, Sokratis, Torreira, Holding, Nelson, Willock, Kolasinac, Smith, Saka
Wasi
I don’t think so mate honestly, they know Coutinho doesn’t work there so he’s a massive burden for them that they need to shift.
For them Guendouzi would be a much better player to have until he proves otherwise I think. Same for us, Coutinho is brining more to this team than Guendouzi is.
Not as a silly a deal as first appears. Though I don’t buy it’s legitimacy.
I like the lineup except for Xhaka, we should’ve played a ball winner in LT.
I would have started Auba to use his pace down the middle..
Dunno why Arteta won’t do this …
Brilliant!!! Kolasinac is not in the starting XI. There’s hope for young Arteta yet!
I hope that means he’s on his way out!
The backpass,
Holding in my opinion is not suitable to city game.
City wont be attempting crosses, and Holding occasionally dallies on the ball. I expected this change. My fear was kolasinac. And he isnt playing. I’m ok with the line up. We dont have a good chance either way
Arteta does do some strange selections (assuming Saka’s not injured etc).
That’s fine if you’re nailing it but our results are too inconsistent to make that claim.
Leeds
Arteta or Kolas?
will AMN play in mid for this one?
Where is Soares
Cc
Id be happy with that deal if you ask me , just dont think it will happen.
Pierre, yup, I believe I still have the programme from the Wolves semi-final in ’79. At Villa Park, so Pedro would’ve had to give it a miss…..
Brian Talbot in the third replay a year later. Those were the days!
We should sign Ceballos for €25mill.
Forget Coutinho, Kroenke should pay up £70-£80mill for Maddison if Leicester miss out on CL.
Ceballos, Smith-Rowe
Maddison, Willock
With the option of dropping Saka in there, Arteta could then play with two No8s.
I’m surprised alot are calling for holding In the team against a team that will never cross. You need defenders that anticipate passes and tackles them. Holding doesn’t do that. And he always go on that rampage forward with the ball. Mustafi is a safer bet against city. Not that it will make any difference though
Un
You genuinely want to tell me that out of 7,400,000,000 people on the planet there isn’t a better midfielder out there than Xhaka?
If we can’t find one of them then why were people pissed off about us firing some of the scouts a few weeks ago.
Luiz and Kolasinac not involved?
Our self destructing factor just went down by 66%.
Sid
Soares is cup tied
Lineup is ok… I mean Mustafi and Luiz makes you wanna grind your teeth but what you gonna do? That can’t be our starting cb pairing next season though.. just can’t.
“Where is Soares”
Cup tied
Amn is the Joker from Arteta’s deck if he starts in midfielder and not LWB.
Dont think Pep would be expecting that
I understand that playing at Wembley is the highlight of many players’ career. That’s one reason to play the semis there. And I attended enough semis elsewhere (Sheffield, Birmingham, Old Trafford where we beat the spuds!) to appreciate that many of these places were (at least then) difficult to access, difficult to segregate the fans (got into a nasty incident with some Wolves fans after we beat them 2-0) and were junk stadiums compared to the new Wembley. But playing the semis there has– like many things – taken away the gloss, the special nature of the cup final. Sure,… Read more »
Sid “Where is Soares”
Soares is Cup tied.
Midwest
“That can’t be our starting cb pairing next season though.. just can’t.”
Well if we go 4 at the back we’ll have Mari, an Arteta signing and Saliba available. If it’s 3 I’d expect one of them to be in the team.
Leeds
Luiz is playing. The reason luiz plays is that ability to pass to the forwards when the opportunity presents itself.
I think Mari has the ability too, that’s the reason arteta dropped Luiz for him
AMN the dreamboat playing he’s probably still asleep.
Arteta’ we must win’ another daydreamer.