Hey kids! We have Burnley this weekend and I wonder is there really anything left to say about this encounter? Let’s look at what we have written about for the last several years and see if anything new crops up:
- Burnley and Dyche desperately want to take points off top clubs. Dyche said “They are a top side, but we’ve shown before we can take points off the top sides,” and added “but, when it comes down to it, you have to perform. The top sides are there for a reason, they have good individuals and they are good as a unit, and if you don’t perform you very rarely get anything against anyone in the Premier League.”
- Dyche moans about every call and likes to call Arsenal players divers and playactors. What’s hilarious about Dyche is that he can’t even remember his own moans. In today’s presser he said “I am not going to start harping on about some of the decisions that have gone against us but that has certainly played its part. It didn’t last season but it did before that.” But it was just 8 months ago that Dyche accused Xhaka, Ozil, and Lichtsteiner of diving in a bizzare post-match rant about diving, the children, 30mm grass, the children, gamesmanship (hint: it’s not diving when they do it), the children, they aren’t allowed to tackle, the children, and of course the children.
- If Dyche focussed on his own football instead of just moaning about the referee, there is plenty to commend them for. With a tiny budget, with a self-imposed first-team limit of one player whose complexion is darker than Phil Brown, and with a manager whose football philosophy is stuck in the 18th century, they have managed to stay up in the Premier League.
- Burnley play two up top both home and away against Arsenal. Two up top is a strategy that more teams started adopting after Leicester won the League. It’s either a sign that defenders have gotten weaker so more teams want to exploit them or that there’s a glut of attacking players in football now because no one wants to defend.
- Burnley play two banks of four at the back. Yep, counter attacking football. The will also play aggressive (meaning physically foul) for the full 90 minutes.
- Last season Burnley targeted Guendouzi with some pretty nasty tackles. They will “close down space”, “get in the face”, get up the nose” of any Arsenal player who ball dawdles. I expect a lot of fouls on Arsenal’s midfielders. I expect a lot of frustration with Guendouzi/Xhaka in this match.
- Quick ball movement is key for Arsenal. I mean, is there a match where quick ball movement isn’t the key? How about “play as a unit”? Is there any match where we can play as a bunch of individuals and still win? Ok, maybe Newcastle.
- Oh hey, I thought of something different: Chambers. Chambers will probably start at CB for Arsenal and we all know that Burnley will try to throw a ton of long balls and big crosses into the box. Maybe Chambo can help deal with that.
- Oh hey, guess who is referee? Mike Dean! I think his burning hatred of Arsenal was mostly a burning hatred for Arsene Wenger. That relationship came to a (public) boil when Wenger called Dean “dishonest” after a penalty call against West Brom in January 2018. That said, Arsenal haven’t lost a match with Mike Dean as referee since 2015 and we have two home wins against Tottenham with Dean as ref in that time, plus he’s started awarding us penalties again. Dean loves to award penalties, that’s a fact.
There is one major difference: VAR will be used for the first time at Ashburton Grove. Actually I’m not sure VAR will make much difference. The Premier League decided not to change their interpretation of the handball law which means that refs can and will still decide if there was “intent” rather than if the hand was outside of the shadow of the player’s body. And VAR will be used to review all goal decisions but again it’s at the discretion of the referee to decide if there was a foul in the buildup or whatever. So, we don’t really know how VAR will play out this season with one (pretty major) exception: offside. Offside is now litigated with the precision of a 3D printer. I guess that’s good? I don’t really know. It feels bad. The whole offside law still feels broken but I don’t know how to fix it.
One more bit that’s slightly different is that Ozil and Kolasinac might play after a nightmare month in which they have been attacked by knife wielding criminals and threatened by other criminals. They have been training with the club and Unai Emery said that both players are mentally and physically ready to play. What a nightmare they have both been through. I hope the police figure out who the perps are and lock them up.
Anyway, kickoff is at 0430hrs. LOL. I’ll be recording the game. Not sure if I’ll get up and watch it live or watch it on DVR. I mean, does it matter? The real fun bits are after the game when Dyche moans about the diving, VAR, the children, and the children.
I read yesterday that police arrested the two men responsible for threatening Ozil and Kola.
I also read that the Police are treating the public order offences (the 2 arrested) & the car jacking as separate events. Reports of them caught up in the middle of a gang war. Or just sensationalist headlines by the likes of Sun & Mirror. Hopefully it’s the latter rather the former.
I wonder if Kolasinic will move back home by the end of the month? It’s also been reported that his wife went back to Germany.
I wish Arsenal an 8-0 victory.
This is because against Newcastle I went for 2-0 and it ended 1-0, I hope Willock plays and scores.
Mike Dean, so I will guess one team will get a penalty, one team will get a red card and he’ll be the centre of attention somehow. Probably a lot of VAR. I expect this game to suck from an entertainment aspect.
Ashley Barnes will be at the centre of a VAR call tomorrow for sure.
Unlikely we keep another clean sheet, but we should score three or four.
Have a feeling that Pepe is going to make some wicked nutmegs in this match while Arsenal will get an easy win.
I hope Unai Emery uses this match to experiment his best midfield combination in preparation for Liverpool game. I would also love to see some pressing from Arsenal. I know Burnley will give us a really tough test both physically and the difficult banks of defence they will deploy against us. However, with proper use of our wingers(read Pepe), I strongly believe we can overcome them.
Burnley are a stiffer test than Newcastle, but I’m thinking we should win this one.
On the whole, however, I do think we need to manage our expectations a little these opening weeks of the campaign while a) a bunch of new players integrate (I can’t remember an ‘overhaul’ like this in recent memory), and b) we wait on the return of some important (or hopefully important) players in the next several weeks.
Tim,
I love this description of Burnley’s ‘football’.
Here’s to hoping they don’t give us a lesson tomorrow, helped by the Dean, if needed.
Unleash the front 4, and we should come good.
7.30 for me in DC
Other than the goal conceded (though we were quite unlucky with the deflection), this was encouraging. All our home debutants performed well. Danny Ceballos is by far the most technically gifted player we have on our team – probably since Cazorla. He put in a MOTM performance. Flashes of brilliance from Pepe in his second half cameo. Made a fool out of Ben Mee and made us dangerous on transitions. Laca’s goal was typical – created a goal out of nothing though sheer will and graft. Auba’s goal was just as typical. The goal he scored was more difficult that the one he missed towards the end. He always seems to fluff his lines when he has time to think but shines he just shoots on instinct. Luiz had his moments. A delicious ball over the top for Auba in the first half was his highlight of the game. Willock showed intelligence and awareness once again. He has a great engine and I think he is the most natural heir to Ramsey. If he keeps himself grounded he might just end up being the ‘more disciplined Ramsey’ that many of us wished Ramsey was. A lot of positives – but also a lot of room for improvement specially in defense. We didn’t deal with the Burnley’s aerial bombardment confidently and were about 50/50 at beating their press.
We conceded 18 shots though. We are still conceding tons of chances. It’s really weird.
Reading the plaudits for ceballos moved me to watch highlights of Fabregas’s time at Arsenal, and I realized he was the reason why I started to follow Arsenal matches. Can’t believe the heartbreak that followed (for Arsene), and I suspect Fabregas himself can’t believe he never played for Arsenal again too. Reminds me of my own lost relationships!
Didn’t seem like Burnley had 18 shots. Does a blocked shot still count as a shot? Either way, the defense is going to be a concern all season I think. We are shaky at the back and we still don’t have a legitimate ball winner in midfield. We are just gonna have to get very good at outscoring our opponents.
Back to swashbuckling Arsenal at the opponent’s end of the pitch. Ceballos stunning in his full debut! We’ve already had two of the greatest Spanish midfielders in the English top flight in Cesc and Santi. This exciting Andalusian could be the next one.
Unfortunately not too much change yet at our end of the field. Burnley’s burning us time and again on the counter had me wondering how much joy we’re going to give to Liverpool next week.
Fun to watch today, mostly though and it’s been a while since we’ve opened the season like this. More please!
Saun Dyche launched into the same rant as you had predicted, lol.
he’s so awful. I think this stuff about diving is dog whistle racism.
Hilarious rant by Dyche on players diving in the post match interview. I immediately thought of this article.
Hmm it looks like your site ate my first comment
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