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!
AMN is involved in most of our build ups, really like the way he plays.
hahaha getting a tad feisty now
Ceballos has been doing his part in defence so well.
Mustafi, had he scored, could have redeemed himself for the earlier mistakes…
Xhaka playing well.
Ceballos for £20 Million to be paid over four years will be a fantastic deal.
He’s growing into English football and prevents any need to play Ozil
They need to get that done very quickly.
We’ve been playing with front 2 imo. Laca and Auba.
The city bench is so deep… freaking deep
Same again next half, lads! We’ve played some lovely stuff.
Getting numbers on the counter.. attack I like that… David Silva in loads of space running at our defense.. Don’t like that. But overall… Good half. Could easily be up 2-0. Some of those passes out of the back though.. crazy.
First time in ages that there’s no need for subs at half time.
Should/could be 3 up.
Very good first half. The goal was nicely worked. Pep will drop a few more millions in that defense but bottom line is he is a lousy defensive coach.
They didn’t even have a shot on target.
Huge chasm between the 2 teams .
Liverpool and City.
The table does not lie 20 plus points ahead.
Klopp 10/10
Pep 7/10.
Ps.
Arsenals best performance ( so far) since our Wenger left.
Arteta copying OGS Manchester United tactics- when playing City
Buy Arsenal second half goals.
Fantastic 1st half, more of the same for the 2nd.
I’m in Dreamland!
We are beatin’ the Citizens😳😳
I’d be gutted if we blow this for real
We’re looking good.
Only hope we don’t retreat into our shells in the second half
Arteta always has a plan. If it works is another thing.
But opponents cant predict what he will do.
Get him an AM and a winger that has an x factor and let’s reevaluate next season
Man City taught a footballing lesson… tee hee.
Proving that the result over Liverpool was not a fluke…
If this first half is indicative of Arteta ball then he won’t have problems convincing Kroenke to spend.
City have been more lucky than us
Really impressed with the ‘cohesion’ and ‘fighting spirit’ of the team under Arteta. Occasional instances of good play too. Even if we lose the game today, Arteta has shown enough. The guy has got it.
Best 45 minutes of Arteta’s reign considering the opposition.
They are going to come out harder in the second half but without Aguero there is always a chance, don’t rate Gabriel.
If we score again I don’t see them coming back.
I am pretty impressed by how we have played. I arrived a bit late to the pub and saw us deep on our half being battered by Man Shitty..
But… we really grew into tje game. Commited s9me mistakes but did OK overall.
I have a feeling that Pep will be targeting Bellend in the 2nd half.
As for us, a 2nd goal would give us s breather.
Let’s keep focused!!!
Arteta is really tactically bossing Pep. Let the CB have the ball, but man marking the midfield relaying danger men: deBruyne, Mahrez, Gundogan and Silva mean that ManCity can’t get going. They are never given a free run at the defense.
The two players slightly disappointing are Bellerin and Pepe. Now that his pace is gone, Bellerin is now just a mediocre right back. Pepe is doing Pepe. Moments of brilliance lost in complete anonymous play.
Another 45 like that and it’ll be a massive momentum boost for the team.
Better performance so far than against Liverpool.
The gameplan is roughly the same as against Liverpool but as someone noted on here before the match Man City are not as good as Liverpool on the overall press so Arsenal are getting out more than they did against Liverpool.
The good thing is the Arsenal players look totally bought into this tactic of sitting deep and countering and they know where to counter which is on City’s flanks where they can be defensively vulnerable. Also defending deep helps players like Xhaka. Xhaka has had a good half.
We will be so so good once Pepe learns to attack the space in behind.
Arsenal will tire in the 2nd half.
They have mistakes in them when they play out from the back.
Have to watch out for the Ederson long ball.
We created 4 chances in this half so far which is very very good.
Despite all our good work, remember no other team is as adept at pushing the self destruct button as us.
Let’s hope we don’t implode in the second half!
De Bruyne played too deep. Sterling hasn’t involved in the game yet. Jesus and Mahrez were marked closely.
I guess MC will bring to Foden and B. Silva in the 2nd half.
Honestly Martinez hasn’t made a real save thus far.
Their best chances came off our usual stupidity.
But there is a still a whole other half to play …
That said Arteta needs to quickly realize that AMN and Holding are the real deal and Pepe is not good enough.
I hope Arteta continues to be brave in the 2nd half!
Damn.
World class Lacazette on display today.
Pepe- Electric
Auba bright , could have had a Hat-trick.
Tierney , Luiz . Solid.
Xhaka and Ceballos – Reliable.
Martinez – looks just as good as Ederson with his feet today.
Amn – His talent and quality is clear to see but so are his lapses in concentration.
Bellerin- Not good enough to play for us .
What a shift that was.
Another 45 to go, but we are more than competing today.
Some outrageous performances. Lacazette, Tierney, AMN… fingers crossed for more of the same.
Our goal reminded me a little bit of the Monreal equaliser in the 2017 semi final, great ball in from the wide right.
Slightly disappointed we aren’t 2-0 up but that was a brilliant first half. COYGs
Luiz has a calming influence on our defense. Mustafi not so much.
Pepe will be🔥next season
RvP doing some commentary! Love it!!!
Good first half.
At last Arteta has finally realised Kolasinac cant play the football he wants.
Thats a step in the right direction.
Pepe is playing really good, he’s probably not as bad as most thinks
City and Pep are out and out cowards.
They will throw the towel in, if Arsenal score the second goal.
Arsenal score the 2nd goal.
Expect a rout.
If we can hold off man city for the first 20 minutes of the second half, we are winning,,, bar brain farting mistake from mustaffi
Holding for Mustafi, dude make me so nervous and it’s 60 degrees in the crib
Xhaka, Lacazette and Tierney have been brilliant so far, but it’s been a great team effort and Arteta has his tactics spot on for now.
Seeing Lacazette playing at his very best makes me want to keep him.
Pepe completed 80% of his passes with an assist.. almost 2 So.. not anonymous in my book. Looked pretty good compared to last match definitely improved and seems like he knows his role today. Not mad at him .
May the sauce be with the lads in the second half.
yeah we have more passing options with combination of AMN and Tierney on the left
it’s the right side that is worrying right now
CG
But you said to buy Man City goals before kick off! (I didn’t)
I hope you are right for the 2nd half though!
Un
And you were out here arguing Willock > Ceballos 😜
It was Pepe’s 10th assist of the season. A really solid number.
I agree with the commentary on AMN.
He has done well. I have a little feeling that his parents talked some sense into him to take the chances given to him.
If he keeps working hard, he can become a useful player to have on the bench.
The left side defense with Tierney and AMN are solid. But right side with Bellerin and Mustafi are shaky.
Un
Ceballos on a loan with option to buy.
Raul get it done.
Actually seeing Laca play at his best make it easier to sell him.
I hear Juve are interested
How are we still slating pepe? He has that xfactor. He has a hand in that goal. He is a threat
Ok… boys. Don’t let up. Second verse same as the first.
Come on The Arsenal!!!!!!
Why do people keep talking abt selling Laca ? Do you not understand how pivotal his contribution has been against strong teams ?
Whatever happens I hope Mustafi is sold. My heart can’t take his brain farts…
Ohhh close. David Silva gets that much time.
We are making very poor passes.
TR7
J don’t think we should keep both Auba and Laca
One needs to be sold.
Regaining his form just makes it easier to get good money for him.
Horrible blind pass by Ceballos. Better kick the ball to the stands instead of passing it to an opponent.
AMN being given a single job to manage Mahrez. Boy does not get distracted when given simple tasks. Do far so good.
Close for City.
Give away by Ceballos
Gundogan has been poor so far.
Given the ball away numerous times
Arsenal, to a man defending with intelligence and intent.
I love this.
We’re letting City get back into the game
Pray for Mustafi does not fart through his brain
Ceballos with another defensive steal.
How on earth is Arteta getting away with playing Pepe, Auba and Laca in a game we have to hold unto a lead
We are pushing then back with the threat of counters. Just seems counter intuitive when we are defending so much
nice dummy shame about the cross but yeah with AMN we’re a lot more dangerous
put him at RWB and sub in Saka for LWB?
‘J don’t think we should keep both Auba and Laca’
Why ? Auba although a great goal scorer is not an all round striker. He can’t lead our team as a solo striker. Nketiah still not mature and strong enough to be a good back-up.
Not letting us get out on the break so far.. definitely got chewed on by Pep at the half. Anytime, we can get them backpedaling though we look dangerous.
Good challenge from Ceballos
Full stretch
Good save!!!
Big Save!!!
AMN need to work on his final ball
Martinez is the starting goalie now
Arteta has to find a way to keep Leno happy as number 2
AMN, fair play to him, responding to his coach’s challenge.
Putting in a solid shift… and discovering for himself a place in the team.
Expert man management from Arteta.
Good point Un
We can raise good cash for mid
AMN can’t do shit with his left peg. Ruined every attack in this half so far. Like 4 attacks.
Time for Saka to eeplace AMN,
AMN has dropped concentration
TR7
Why?
“ Money, money, money
Must be funny
In the rich man’s world
Money, money, money
Always sunny
In the rich man’s world
Aha aha
All the things I could do
If I had a little money
It’s a rich man’s world
It’s a rich man’s world”
Tierney is wasted at LCB. He’s so much better at LWB than AMN.
yeah he’s defensively solid now but still too casual on attack
Trying to let them score very scrappy.
Unai na
Yes I agree that Leno has to be on that list of outgoing players
He didn’t come to be number two and Martinez is better than him all round.
Need money ? Sell Bellerin
Dangerous area… ugh.
Really up against it
Shhhweeeew
Holy fk I saw that go in. Emi covered it though.
Un –
Almost every attack he’s been involved in down the left has broken down.
He’s been ok. Decent defensively. Appropriate amount of credit where it’s due. Tierney and Saka both more effective than him down the left.
welp VAR again then
AMN should not be on the left. Wrong side.
it’s penalty