CHAMPIONS LEAGUE BATTLE FOR THE AGES
PSG COMES TO TOWN, CAN WE SLAY THEM?
A Champions League semi-final, Arsenal fans.
Imagine that?
Five years ago, we were googling what ‘foofty’ meant while The Sun ran graphics showing that Mustafi was actually the same level as Virgil van Dijk. Tonight, we take on PSG, and we’re not underdogs.
This is what we wanted. To be competitive. To go far in big competitions. To bring some pride to North London.
Almost a year ago to the day, Spurs fans were cheering Manchester City to beat them at home — a moment so loserish, it broke their relationship with their manager. A year later, we’re entertaining Paris, they’re sitting 16th in the Premier League.
Those are the levels, my friends.
The buzz around the club is exceptional right now. The training ground videos look confident, colorful, intense, and calm. The manager delivered a masterful press conference that exuded focus, determination, and outrageous levels of confidence that we can do this. Mikel Merino and Ben White are back in the mixer.
Things feel unstoppable. They might not be. But all I care about is heading into this game on the front foot — not having to defend experience, lack of clinicality, worries about aggression, concerns about power. The expectation of the fanbase is that we win, and I think large parts of the media think we’re going to do exactly that.
But… this is the Champions League. About as predictable as Wayne Rooney is in a Plymouth bar, four Jaeger Bombs deep. Last time I was at a CL semi, we waved special flags, got our hopes up, and were 2-0 down inside 11 minutes. Cristiano scoring the 3rd greatest free-kick in the competition’s history.
We could go a goal down early tomorrow. I’m half-expecting it after a fairly dramaless quarter-final. We might even go two goals down. We have to be prepared to suffer, because the competition doesn’t let you have things easy. Look at some of the things winners have had to overcome, look at how late games are decided, remember it only takes a second to score a goal — and there are a lot of seconds over the course of 180 minutes.
My main demand of the evening is that I want to see a proper game of football. Arsenal vs Madrid showed up from minute one. There was no respect for their shirt, their names, or their ‘aura.’ That’s what we need to see in this game.
We have already beaten PSG this season and it was fairly comfortable. They are not invincible. They just fucked up their invincible run in France with three games to go. They drew to PSV, lost to Bayern and Atleti. They lost a leg to Liverpool and a leg to Villa. Vitinha can cry all he wants about people critiquing their power, but it matters very little — they were overrun by Villa in the last leg, and if it weren’t for an Emi Martinez disasterclass, they’d have been done for.
Paris are strong, but on our best day, we’re stronger. We defend better as a team, we’re more aggressive, we’ll cover more ground, and I think we’re probably more tactically flexible than PSG because we have so many tools.
The big worry we have is that they are VERY good going forward, and they have a lot of BANG BANG players. Given the chance to express themselves, they can do some damage. Dembélé is in the form of his life, Kvarararararararartskhelia might have a tough name to spell, but don’t let that fool you into believing he’s anything short of a world-class operator. They also have Doué, Barcola, Ruiz, and Neves… that’s a lot of stacked talent. PSG rooted out a lot of the bad eggs — this is Lucho’s team now, and they are fighters. But so are Arsenal, and I think we have a better system.
There’s a lot riding on our wide players. Martinelli and Saka are in great form. They’ll be supported by Trossard, who I’d imagine will play as a false 9 and try and cause chaos in the same way he has over the past few games. He can finish, he can create, he can draw midfielders — and if all else fails… Mikel Merino is fit and on fire in front of goal. This is his Matty Flamini at full-back year… but as a KING striker.
Saliba and Kiwior together are unbeaten at centre-back. The Frenchman is playing to his home crowd and his form has been a little shaky — can he bring it back? Kiwior has been a mountain of a defender, but he was roughed up by Mateta the other night. Our two full-backs, Timber and MLS, are going to be pivotal in keeping a very interchangeable front three quiet. They’ll no doubt be relishing the opportunity.
David Raya made an error of sorts against Palace, but let’s be clear — he’s an unreal keeper, and he’ll need to show it against a team that can produce chances out of nothing. His speed to mop up danger is going to be crucial, but so will his rapid distro.
Midfield ain’t going to be the same without the quick passing and aggressive line-breaking passes of Thomas. But that gives Merino the chance to come into midfield, give us more coverage, and up the duel-winning. Merino, Ødegaard, and Declan Rice is not to be sniffed at. I think, if Arteta were honest, he’d tell you this was his plan at the start of the season.
Arteta is doubling down on the fans. He sees the people in the building as an important black edge over the 90. If you have a ticket, leave work early, get yourself sauced, and sing that Dua Lipa Arsenal chant I’ve heard they’re rolling out tomorrow. Arsenal on a big night like tomorrow will be electric. Arteta clearly knows we have to make the first game count, and the fans will offer some serious headwinds for PSG.
I’m extremely jealous of all the people who are going. I hope it’s an immense core memory moment for all of you. Enjoy it, soak it up, and make it a night to remember. My guys at work have got a very expensive projector we’re going to set up in a studio… then it’s LIVE On The Whistle after. So sub up and come join the chat right after. Should be a BANGER!
Finally… is the Champions League bigger than the Premier League appears to to be a hotter question than ‘could 100 humans beat a gorilla.’ My answer? Of course. We’ve won 3 Premier League titles. Our first Champions League trophy will be MONSTROUS. So right now, with the context of Arsenal’s history, yes, Champions League hardware would be bigger than a league title.
Are we in agreement? Let me know in the comments, but NOT before you snag an offer from LG if you want the primo content.
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Enjoying the comments tonight... usual suspects bedwetting, but some great insights.
Game on. If we were 1-0 up heading to Paris, we'd not be celebrating. Mad that some folk are giving up. Honestly, so boring to live life like that.
A reader/lurker of the blog for 10 years but I feel urged to post for the first time tonight.
I totally understand a lot of the frustrations but some of the reaction is like we're going into the second leg 2,3,4 down with an impossible task on our hands.
PSG came out flying against a starting 11 that they've been able to prepare for since Partey got booked and Jorginho injured.
The early goal shook us but we eventually settled into it and had good moments in the first half and should have gone in level.
I thought both teams looked gassed around 70 mins, us more so, but they had a deeper bench with some runners they could bring on.
The lack of substitutions is very frustrating and I would have liked to have seen Ethan given a bit longer but I wonder if those PSG close calls made them rethink the final 10 mins or so.
I wouldn't be surprised if Mikel and the coaches saw that we were pretty done physically and thought better to take the 1-0 with all to play for in Paris than risk conceding a second late on which I think would have shattered all of our hopes and probably the players as well.
How many times in the past have Arsenal shot themselves in the foot in these scenarios by pushing on for a goal leaving themselves exposed at the back, only to concede a goal that essentially kills off the tie?
Being conservative is painful to watch sometimes but I'd rather see us keep ourselves in with a fighting chance and not be like the old naïve Arsenal of a few years ago.
We weren't great but still created good chances and there were signs that their midfield can be overrun, especially with Rice being able to play his roaming role next week.
Partey will be a huge difference and even though Trossard was slow to release the ball, he actually battled ok vs. their CBs, so I expect Merino to get a lot of joy against them next week, which should allow us to get higher up the pitch.
This is a long way of saying, let's not throw the towel in. We're more than capable of getting it done next week.
Yes it's ultimately down to the coaches and the players on the pitch, but just like Madrid's crazy CL "auru" (which we gave a slapping to by the way), Arsenal have been trying to shed the "loser" mentality. Us fans have so much trauma that we still give up on this team way too easily and collectively than energy can quickly breed into the stadium.
We're in the fucking Champions League semi final with still a strong shout of going through!
And when we're still in with a chance of winning something, we have to back the team. I can't imagine anyone would have turned down this scenario if offered at the start of the season (league disappointment aside).