Arsenal defiantly move forward

For most of yesterday’s match I lay on the couch, covered in a blanket, drowsy and sweating. My body’s immune system had been spiked into action by the 2nd dose of Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine and it was doing its thing: raising my temperature, building antibodies, and making me sleepy.

The symptoms came on pretty quickly. I’d gotten my shot at noon on Wednesday and felt fine all the way up to my morning dog walk/bird walk. As soon as I got out of the house my legs started to ache a bit, my back hurt, and I wondered if I would even be able to do my daily 2 mile walk. But I pressed on and finished the walk. I was even able to get a bunch of remote work done in the morning. But just about 11 am, it hit, just when Arsenal released the starting lineups.

Xhaka was starting at left back with Pablo Mari LCB and Holding and Chambers were on the right of the back 4, Ceballos and Partey were in midfield, Lacazette was starting up front, and King Mikel had a good group of counter-attacking forwards with Emile Smith Rowe, Bukayo Saka, and Nicolas Pepe. Maybe you disagree with the shape I just wrote (4231), that’s fine! But that’s what it looked like to me, using the eyes test (also the heat maps after, and fbref seems to think so), though I was literally up to my eyes in antibodies.

Before kickoff, the Prague players stood and clasped hands, but the Arsenal players – plus the referee it should be said – all took a knee. In what is now an iconic photo, Alexandre Lacazette is wearing the Arsenal captain’s armband, kneeling alone, in front of what looks like a wall of Prague players. It shouldn’t go unmentioned that Slavia Prague’s Ondrej Kudela receive a 10-match ban for racially abusing Glen Kamara just a few hours before kickoff. Whether they wanted it to look this way or not, it certainly seemed like they were uniting with their teammate, while Arsenal were making a powerful statement against exactly the kind of abuse Kudela has been convicted of.

From the start, the game plan wasn’t that obvious, to me. I was sipping a lot of water by then but it looked like a weird set up from Arsenal, like we were playing a rope-a-dope. As if we were content with having less of the possession, which struck me as odd from Arsenal.

For the first 10 minutes, Arsenal pressed high, but Slavia had worked out that Arsenal were going to do that and ran some pretty nice little plays to either free up a man on the other side of the press or work the ball and spin someone in.

But Arsenal held Prague off throughout this and by the 13th minute we saw exactly what Arteta’s plan was for the game: Arsenal conceded possession (even before the first goal, possession was 68-32 in favor of the home side), and looked to get the ball to their trident of quick attackers.

Arsenal went close in the 13th minute, Smith Rowe carrying the ball forward and dumping it off to Saka. Saka had a wicked shot hit the post and Smith Rowe was there for the follow-up to put the goal away easily. But Smith Rowe was ruled out for offside. Some folks will complain about “it’s just a toe” and “it can’t be that accurate because we don’t know when the ball was struck”, both of which are somewhat true and positions we have taken here before but also both irrelevant because he was ruled offside. The sooner you learn to give up your ego in this and just accept the calls, the more fun you’ll have watching football – I promise you!

One non-call that bothered me was when Holding had a shot “blocked” by a guy tackling his leg. It should have been a penalty but it happened after Arsenal already had a two-goal lead and sometimes when a team has a two-goal lead and they have already been awarded a penalty, the refs are hesitant to award another penalty, unless the action leading up to the penalty is dramatic. It’s funny that we often say we want “consistency” and the refs are very consistent about not awarding these pens, but you know what? I’d have rather had the penalty than the consistency!

Anyway, back to the 13th minute, sorry for the diversion. If you spent the next 5 minutes steaming over that offside you’d have missed the sheer joy that was the opening goal! It was mostly Smith Rowe doing Smith Rowe things – dribbling in and around the top of the box, staying composed, and then playing in a nutmeg through ball. Nicola Pepe had some work to do to finish, the defender was on his back and Pepe could have taken the easy way out and fallen over, but he didn’t and just sort of waltzed in and scored.

Two minutes later, it was once again Smith Rowe and Saka hooking up. This time Smith Rowe collected a long ball from Chamboi and blitzed past his marker. Getting to the by-line, he played another nutmeg assist pass, but this time Saka was felled by the defender and without any hesitation, the ref pointed to the spot.

Lacazette stepped up and put the goal away.

And then to kill the game, Chamboi (who is the new roumdboi) skipped past a tackle and again played in Saka. This time Saka didn’t miss: he did something smart that you don’t often see young players do and had a sneaky look up to see where the keeper was and then slotted home near post. Incisive, intelligent play from Bukayo Saka.

Maybe I’m reading too much into this but the fact that three young black men scored three goals against a team which had a player banned for racial abuse – a team which then defied convention and stood instead of taking the customary knee which shows solidarity against racism – was pretty poetic. And when Lacazette scored the 4th goal, this time with an assist by Pepe, he went over to the Ivorian and the two men clasped hands and raised them in a sort of salute.

I will admit that I struggled to watch the 2nd half because of my “illness”, also because we were 3-0 up (4-1 on aggregate) and they would need to beat us by a goal to go through. I just kinda chilled on the couch and let my body do its thing.

Overall my symptoms from the vaccine were a lot like the first few days of getting the flu: chills, aches, sweats, and a bit of a fever. If you’ve ever had the flu, you know what I mean – it’s not like getting a cold at all. I’m convinced most people say “I’ve got the flu!” when they’ve actually just gotten a cold. But unlike the flu, I never got the follow-up symptoms. No coughing or congestion. I’m probably mangling this a bit but in my mind it felt like all I got was the immune response to the flu. So, I’m hoping that the vaccine worked. I guess I will need a booster in 12 months but I’m ok with that because if these symptoms were just the start of the coronavirus, I don’t ever want to get the real thing.

As for Arsenal, we advance to the next round to face Villareal. I’m not sure if you have heard this already but Villareal are coached by Unai Emery, who used to coach Arsenal, just before he was fired and before the current coach was brought in. You may also have seen some stats comparisons of the two coaches and their records at Arsenal. If not, you should prepare yourself because you will be inundated with this story over the next two weeks. The British press love a simplistic statistical comparison.

The matches come thick and fast for Arsenal from here on in: Sunday, Friday, Thursday, Sunday, Thursday, Sunday, Wednesday, Saturday, and then a full week off before the last match of the Premier League season on Sunday the 23rd of May followed by the Europa League final on the 26th (if we get past Villareal). It’s going to be a hectic month. And with Aubameyang out with Malaria, Alexandre Lacazette couldn’t possibly have picked a better time to explode into a purple patch of form. Let’s hope it continues, as does the fine form of Saka, Smith Rowe, and that we get Odegaard back soon. We are going to need them.

Qq

39 comments

  1. About to get my second shot in a few days. Fingers crossed my older age will mean lesser reaction. Hope you feel better fast Tim!

  2. I thought I was the only one who noticed the salute between Pepe and Laca. Absolutely a statement by them. I missed the opening with the players kneeling, powerful stuff. Now let’s hope we can carry this motivation against Unai.

  3. I’m pretty positive the vaccine will have worked. I myself missed the best part part – the 1st half -yesterday, as I was taking my first does of the Pfizer/Biontech mRNA vaccine. Now my upper left arm feels like it has a 10-lb dumb-bell attached to it.

    This was another good read. Solid summary and through your writing I was right there with you on that couch (not in a creepy way, I promise), vicariously feeling those flu-like symptoms.

    I am thrilled by this win because it really spoke out loud about Arsenal’s potential future. Saka and Smith Rowe are so intelligent in possession despite their youth. Our old playmaker on the sidelines must have felt justifiably proud.

    Arteta and Mertesacker didn’t stay at Arsenal and win F.A. Cups and retire at Arsenal and go into management because of their blinding pace. It was because of their character and intelligence. Maximizing their skill sets to cope for their shortcomings and being smart in and out of possession. Morever, they are good people. Wenger’s people.

    I think the same thing is happening with some of these Hale End Boys. It’s impossible to know how much the BFG has had to do with the great development we’re seeing but the correlation with his appointment and the emergence of these young guns is obvious. The BFG may deserve a statue at the Emirates himself one day. I can’t say enough about him.

    The academy is not just turning out kids with huge talent and potential (Saka’s already realized) but they are turning out solid young men (and women). Decent, humble, hardworking personalities. Good people. Mertesacker’s people. The long shadow of Arsene Wenger still casts a positive presence.

    1. I am going to upsetbsome peolle but the emergence of these young players has far more to do with Gazidis than Wenger, Mikel, Unai or Per.

      His vision for Arsenal was a strong development that could feed the first team. When he spoke to arsenal.com in 2014, he said:

      “Our youth development is going to be the foundation of this football club going forward. We’re investing millions of pounds into leadership at that level, new coaching as we go through a transition, but also in facilities.

      “Hale End is our facility for nine-year-olds through to 16-year-olds on the North Circular. That place is getting totally transformed at the moment. Anyone who goes there will see what we’re doing there.

      “We’re investing many million pounds into developing London Colney, our main training centre – our athletic development, our analytics, our scouting, all these things are part of making a modern football club.

      “We need to make sure that we’re absolutely ahead of the curve in all of those areas. We have to find our own path and our path is going to built around how well we can develop our young players and bring them through to our first team.

      “That’s always been an underlying principle of the club and that’s going to continue to be the case. The difference is that now, as we come through this era, we’re in a more powerful place to be able to add to that foundation and that’s going to be a very powerful combination.

      “We’ve seen with clubs like Borussia Dortmund or Atletico Madrid that you can compete at the very top of the game and I wouldn’t be doing this job if I didn’t believe we could compete at the very top level. I know Arsène feels exactly the same way.”

      Players like Reiss, Eddie, Smith-Rowe, Saka, Willock and others of their age group really developed before under the Gazidis’ people and benefited from the heavy investment he put into Hale End. And unlike our FA youth cup winners from 2009, these players were brought up with the principles of people like Andries Jonker and the Dutch approach he used at the club, where up until 17 the focus is on technical abilities and after that, the players must be taught how to compete, how to WIN. He is a big part on not just the redesign of the facilities, but of the redesign of the processes within the development structures.

      I also remember people crediting Freddie for the development of these particular young players but their development was done largely by people like Thierry, Jason Brown, Steve Batting and others.

      Plus, most of these players were Per’s teammates in his last season, and by the time he started, only Saka was still playing for the u23 side.

      I know we all have our favourites and those we might not like, but credit where it is due. Gazidis did an amazing job with the development, its structures, processes, personnel and scouting. We will see Per’s work when players like Azeez, Patino and etc come through, and even still, the processes have not changed and they are still following what Gazidis laid the plartform for.

      I won’t lie though, I still don’t get the Gazidis hate.

      1. Please forgive the spelling errors or typos. Especially in crediting Steve Gatting for the amazing job he did with these boys.

        There are so many heads of academies that have visited Arsenal to study what they were doing, even before these players came through. The Buzz was massive and those who saw the depth and how it progressed wanted to know the processes.

        I know a couple of people from Nigeria, Uganda and South Africa who went to take a look at what Arsenal was doing. One academy in South Africa, Kwa-Zulu Natal, called the KZN academy has been developing using Arsenal’s processes and has sent a number of players to Portugal in recent years. Arsenal have actually sent a side to take part in a youth tournament hosted by the same academy a few years ago, which Arsenal did win, and picked up a Nigerian youngster based in the country as well, but a hit after the tournament.

        The loans also became a bit more strategic after the loss of Gnabry in order to aide the development of players well enough. During that time we also recruited Malen, Bennacer, Adelaide and Virginia, whom if we kept, would have made these a very scary side made up of development players.

        1. Interesting points, Devlin. I am still no fan and haven’t thought about Gazidis and especially Steve Gatting in a long time. Gazidis couldn’t have achieved anything at Arsenal without Wenger and visa versa. They both collaborated and were sympatico on a vision of long term development.

  4. Great post Tim.

    I expected us to go thru but 4-0 is better then I would have believed. After last weeks game there was some concern that Arteta had made bad decisions with respect to starting Lacazette and Willian and not having enough pace in the line up. However, overall yesterdays lineup had less pace then the one he started against Prague the week before. Xhaka and Chambers have to be 2 of the slowest fullbacks that any team in Europe has started this year and Lacazette has not gotten any faster. I do think starting willian the week before was a mistake. The point is I think we as fans often over analyze and over think a lot of stuff about tactics and strategy. Using Lacazette was not a bad call in the first Prague game, he just had a bad game and yesterday he played well. There is absolutely nothing a manager can do once the player steps on the pitch. Before the game I think it was Josh suggested that starting 2 fullbacks with the pace of a snail was a mistake but look how well it worked out. However if somehow Xhaka had made a mistake early in the game then Arteta would have been blamed. The point of all of this is managers tactics are only as good or a bad as the players ability to execute the game plan. I am certainly not suggesting that managers do not matter but the idea that a manager has control of everything that happens and he is responsible for everything is just not realistic.

    1. “However, overall yesterday’s lineup had less pace then the one he started against Prague the week before.”

      lol, well I disagree with this – he added speed in the most important area of the pitch, the forward ones. I also disagree with the conclusion that managers are only as good as the players.

      Arteta took a look at what he had available and actually designed a game plan which fit those players and which pulled off a victory that even you thought was impossible. The slow fullbacks were part of the plan, the fact forwards were part of the plan, goodness me.

  5. Sounds like your reaction to the Pfizer vax came on faster than mine did to the second Moderna shot. I didn’t really feel it until about 18 hours later. But it really wasn’t too bad. A little achy and tired for 12 hours. Then done. Well worth it. Another week for me and it will have fully kicked in. Then I just wait for what will be likely future booster shots to account for variants.
    Very pleased with yesterday’s result. Hopefully ESR and Saka can stay healthy. I’d be pretty tempted to sit one or both of them for the league matches in between the EL semis.

  6. We’re on the same schedule, I also had my second shot on Wednesday morning and really felt the effects yesterday although if yours were a “10”, mine were probably a three or four. But yes, if you’re planning your second shot, I would definitely recommend taking the following day (or two) off to rest and recover. I feel great this morning!

    The game definitely helped me feel better and one aspect that I liked was that we seemed to handle the high press a lot better than we have in past games. Not only did we manage to create a number of promising counter-attacks, but we seemed more adept at making the quick, short pass-and-move combinations to get us out of trouble. And more importantly we didn’t get pressured into making a bonehead mistake. Good performance all round.

  7. I watched the game after I knew the result. I have to say the first 15 minutes were pretty alarming. We were sloppy. I would have been very anxious watching it live. Then came the barrage of goals. Felt like the exact oppoiste of the first leg, where we were really good, but couldn’t finish. That’s football. We crucify the manager for a too-conservative setup where we play disciplined football and control the match, but don’t take our chances. Then he’s a genius when we have some strong finishing that covers up for a less controlled performance. Maybe that’s the lesson for MA8 – trust the lads to do their thing. It might be messy, but if we give them more attacking freedom, we can score goals. He’s just drawn to that much more disciplined Pep style of football. I get it – it’s more predictable and less risky. But I’m not sure we have the talent to play in that more measured style.

    Happy for the young guys and for Laca, whom I think has not gotten his due for most of this season, and probably his Arsenal career. With speed around him, he can be a great contributor in many aspects of the team’s play. Instrumental in build up, good in small spaces in the box, and strong finishing. He doesn’t have Auba’s speed, and doesn’t find space the way Auba does, but the way he works with the rest of the team might just make the overall effect stronger than when Auba is there. We’re very fortunate to have both of them this season, even if we don’t always recognize it.

  8. “You may also have seen some stats comparisons of the two coaches and their records at Arsenal. If not, you should prepare yourself because you will be inundated with this story over the next two weeks. The British press love a simplistic statistical comparison.”

    Only slightly less than– discussing irrelevant historical head-to-head records over decades or since the PL was formed.

    Then, few in the press will mention that the new coach is still mid-task in cleaning up the messes left from the old coach, and also, the older coach.

    On the vaccine front? My much better half and I had received our second (Moderna) dose a week ago yesterday. While she experienced the same ’10-lb dumb-bell’ effect in her upper arm which 1NIL described? I’ve endured a weeklong bout with fatigue, and felt as if my acuity to mentally focus was shrouded in a thick fog. A bit scary to be wondering– for many days– if the fog would lift. The first dose left us both in similar circumstances as this one– but just for a couple of days. Yesterday afternoon, a work-related jolt of adrenaline seemed to align things for me once more. Thinking RA meds I take to inhibit immune system reaction, may have extended the aftereffects of this dose.

    Wanted to take a moment here to express that for many of us older types– most things won’t change. I’ll continue to wear a mask anytime I’m outside my home– and continue the precautionary behaviors proven successful this past year. Knowing that immuno-deficiencies caused by conditions and/or medications will always skew downward the efficacy rates of any vaccine for a sizable segment of the world’s population. Keeping with best practices is the fastest way forward.

    1. JW1, your last para nailed my attitude and approach as well. It seems to me at this point, that is (Coivd-19) will be endemic – here to stay. It’s evolution and mutations indicate nothing else.I am a lifelong asthmatic who’s played in too many smoky bars and clubs to mention. If I go down, I’ll go down hard, probably ending up on a ventilator and I doubt I’ll beat the odds in getting off of it and recovering. Stay safe and be well my fellow Gooners.

      1. Hey Mr 1Nil

        Hope you and the 1Nil family are well.

        I’m asthmatic as well. From a very young age. Been around smokers most of my formative years as well.

        I caught the South African mutated strain mid December 2020.

        I struggled for a bit. Ivermectin really helped together with breathing exercises. I also took a whole bunch of other stuff.

        Just wanted to let you know

    2. Amen, JW1. Keeping up with best practices is the way to go.

      Sorry to hear you were in a fog for a long time with Moderna #2. Mine is coming next Friday. Sore arm and a little fatigue/fog after the first one for a day or so, but I’m hoping #2 doesn’t knock me down. I had Covid in late November and it was quite mild – you’d think the shot would be too!

      1. Word is, on the Moderna aftereffects– that one is more severe than the other. Not necessarily the second dose being worse. Would consider your milder experience having contracted COVID– is the better indicator than my own. Still, I’d do it all over again. Probably will too– in the next year– by all indicators.

        Keep the faith!

  9. funny, i got my second shot last thursday while watching the first leg against sparta prague in my car. i didn’t feel anything until the following evening. i got the flu symptoms but was fine when i woke up on saturday morning. i’ve heard the second shot typically produces a heavy reaction so i was expecting it. fortunately for me, it was only the onset of flu symptoms and not the flu.

    likewise, i appreciated that the referee took a knee with the players. i missed the pre-game but did see an interview that suggested that it was a missed opportunity for uefa to make a major stand by dismissing sparta prague from the europa league. an action of this magnitude is the only thing that will make clubs take responsibility for helping to erradicate racism more than a token gesture. to either dismiss them or deny them entry into europe following season would be a major move that would wake up every club in europe. we’ll see if they ever have the moral courage to take such a stand.

    another move i’d fancy locally is to see a club with the nerve to sack a player who racially abuses. it will take a measure of this magnitude, not just some banners, to eradicate this from the game.

    1. I don’t like getting into politics, but such ultimates and knowing football, would give agents ideas of using racism to get their players out of clubs for free.

      I am not for firing or banishing people on the basis of racism. I would prefer for more educative measures in rehabilitating the individual. Fine them and donate the fine to benefit the group they marginalised and put them into programmes to not only interact, but to help build something for those affected (kinda like community service). Use their indiscretions to build for the marginalised, that will leave a tangible and useful result from the punishment that will benefit them.

      Soup kitchens, bursaries, renovating schools or public centres, school supplies like text books and stationery, hospitals, homeless shelters, old age homes, surgeries for children, orphanages, mentorships and etc.

      I believe offering a person, not just a way out, but also the opportunity to redeem themselves is very important.

      Punish sternly, but fairly and educate. Sometimes people do not understand the humanity of others because they have no good reference they could use to put themselves in the shoes of those they hate, that’s all I’m saying.

      1. i agree with a 10-game ban. i don’t know how important he is to their team but that’s a lot of football that he’ll miss. there should also be significant sanctions against the club. it’s got to be either a seriously heavy fine or a dismissal from a tournament. if uefa had thrown sparta prague out of the europa league, every team in europe would look up and pay attention. it would have even made news in the states.

        i also understand your wanting to minimize the political nature of the actions taken against a player or club. however, we can’t pretend that racism isn’t a political issue. likewise, the club need to educate their players, not uefa. if agent’s and their lawyers look for loop holes, make that the club’s problem. if the club loses money, make it their problem. if they struggle with recruitment, make it their problem. make it in the best interest of the clubs to truly do something more significant than lip service to fight racism.

        the fight against racism has to happen locally as every club has different needs; uefa can’t possibly take the lead on that. they could give generalized direction but encourage the clubs to provide a more specific training based on their local/cultural needs. uefa doesn’t need to micromanage their actions; only advise clubs that if their players are found wanting, the the federation will strike down upon them with great vengeance and furious anger.

      2. Burping at the table (in most cultures) is an indiscretion.

        Racism is full-on cancer that needs to be cut out root and branch from every aspect of humanity in order to make manifest the brotherhood of man.

  10. it’s unfortunate that lacazette only gets praised for the good work he does when he’s scoring goals. there’s so much that goes into being a center forward than just goals. when he came in for giroud, the biggest talking point, certainly on this forum, was that he would be faster than giroud. well…i can’t tell that he’s too much faster. i really don’t understand the fascination with speed being a requirement to being a center forward. it’s simply never been.

    up until the late 90s, i didn’t know there was a difference between a striker and a center forward. with that, i was relatively new to the game and most everyone was playing a 4-4-2. i was playing in germany and we had an assistant coach give all of the strikers a week-long functional training session on how to play center forward. this is when i began to understand the difference between the two positions and hence developed a healthy appreciation for players who lead the line well.

    if you consider the best center forwards in the world right now, most aren’t renowned for their speed. lewandowski is the best in the world but is he fast? harry kane is the best in the premier league but is he fast? similar stances for the likes of dzeko, suarez, cavani, benzema, firmino, haaland, etc. with that, if you’re going to play with a front 3, your strikers need to be fast. it’s also down to strategy as managers have to respect what their players can do.

    1. I have always been of the opinion that we should let players show us what type of player they are, what they consistently bring to the table and their temperment, instead of (forgive me but I don’t know if I am using the right word/term) Imposing our proffered type of player for a role on them and judging the player based on the attributes of such.

      I have always wondered why people were so fixated on Giroud’s pace when he showed from the off that he is a forward who thrives in particular circumstances. The same is happening with Lacazette and how what he brings is looked over unless he gives us what we appreciate Auba for, goals. In the process, we do not (forgive me if I am using this wrong) impose Lacazette’s best attributes onto Auba, we are willing to side step those even if it makes us a lesser side.

      The same would happen a lot with Ramsey and Wilshere (this one was both ways actually), Santi and Xhaka, and Mesut and Cesc.

      I think it is very unfair on players like Lacazette to actually have something so significant that he brings to the team at a very good level, just for it all to be overlooked for something that he just isn’t.

      Tim writes well. His posts are sometimes funny, others engaging, some educational and many other things. but if I prefer bare bone stats pieces about Arsenal, can I judge Tim on that? Can I call him a bad writer? That would not be fair would it? He is talented at what he does and when he does write to HIS usual potential, you can then let him know his writing is going down hill (It’s not Tim).

      I say we analyse players for what they bring to the table, find out if we are maximising the attributes they bring to the table and judge them when they drop below the standards of what they actually bring and not what we would like for them to magically conjure from who knows where.

      1. facts. lacazette doesn’t have auba’s speed. that doesn’t make him an inadequate center forward. he’s not vardy or henry. he is what he is and that is arsenal’s best center forward option and the next best option is not even close.

        being upset that laca is not henry is like your girlfriend being upset because you don’t screw her the way her ex-boyfriend did.

  11. Loved the 1st goal. There were 8 Prague players in the box and ESR still managed two nutmegs and found the time to look up and lay the ball off to Pepe. Absolute magic. The whole play had a bit of “Dennis” about it.
    This is bearing in mind, he’s not 100% match fit. He makes all the difference to that side.

  12. Joe Willock has 5 goals and 3 assists this season. Not bad considering he’s had a bit part role for the worst Arsenal team in a generation and played under Bruce. Must be a role for him next season at Arsenal.

    1. Statistically, Willock’s feats are quite impressive, but when you watch him, he isn’t as convincing and I fear will tread the same path as Aaron Ramsey by prioritizing goals and assists over general midfield play.

      I remember Ramsey’s 13/14 season for far more than his goals and assists. He was matching Arturo Vidal in defensive stats, while scoring and providing so much going forward. He did all of that in a midfield two with Mikel and Ozil, where our goalkeeper won the golden gloves for most clean sheets.

      Willock broke through under Wenger as a central midfielder who did the simple things well. Funny enough, Willock seemed to have Wenger’s trust in midfield because of his ability to keep things simple, use his size and composure to protect and distribute, while using his engine to keep a steady tempo all game. He is a press breaking, physical presence in midfield that keeps things simple and makes late runs into the box.

      But goals seem to have gone to his head. He is now stuck in the same conundrum as Ramsey of not knowing his best position. He has output, which looks good for a central midfielder, but leaves his team lacking jn what you need from a central midfielder. Push him a bit forward and you lose what natural forward players bring to the table. He is too attacking to be a central midfielder, but is also not technically proficient enough to thrive playing exclusively in the forward areas.

      He is a big example of stats leading a player down the wrong path.

      He has his strengths that he should apply in central midfield by using his game at home against Burnley at the start of last season as a template for what he should become. I feel if he does that, he will be one of the best central midfielders out there, but if he keeps chasing glory, he will fall short.

      I really love the player though. Maybe because I was a similar player, and after I completely heal from my Achilles injury, I will be getting back to playing far more regularly.

      1. Considering his age he has a lot to offer a good coach. We really need a more productive midfield. The burden for scoring sits with too few players (hence why our scoring stats are their lowest for decades). I’d include him in the 25-man squad for next season.

        1. I really love the player, but I hope goalscoring does not become how he is judged as a player. As a midfielder, there are primary responsibilities and tasks that should be focused on first, and goalscoring should be secondary.

          Not to say scoring goals is not important, but Ramsey thrived under conditions where Arsenal had struck a good balance on both sides of the ball. So if the focus could be on laying the platform for Arsenal to have effective possession, protected from quick breaks and a solid structure when pushed back to defend, the opportunities to score will avail themselves for the whole team.

          An example would be the goals scored by Viera, Gilberto, Edu and even Flamini. Go and take a look at their goals. The goals were never forced by them being in the box for sustained periods. They did their primary job, which afforded them the opportunities to break forward and score.

          Being a good goalscoring midfielder requires you to be a good midfielder first. Your breaks into the box have to be surprises, not you being perpetually in the box, or surrounding areas.

          If he went back to basics, worked on his defending and improved his passing (not very much needed), he should Thomas Partey’s partner. Or at least I hope, because (having been a similar player myself when younger) I could live my dreams vicariously through him.

  13. After Lacazette’s second goal, he and Pepe raised arms together, inverted V. Pepe’s other was horizontal, quite deliberate. They were making an A for Aubamayang.

  14. You sound a bit feverish. My wife had her second covid jab today so maybe I should expect the same from her tomorrow. The decision that we ‘should get over’ was surly the same as got Luiz sent off and a penalty given for. Both ridiculous decisions. Why should we get over them?

    Otherwise, very good piece, even picking up my old mate Bill for his usual ‘unique’ analysis!

  15. Tim

    I have never tried to suggest that managers don’t matter, however, their ability to manager the game and create a game plan is dependent on the players ability to execute. I am not really sure that Arteta actually planned to allow Prague to have a significant majority of the ball possession and then hit on the break. It may have just worked out that way. The times he tried that strategy in the past was against teams like Man City or may be Liverpool and most of the time it does not work. Its a risky strategy and usually only used when the manager feels he is at a significant talent disadvantage. If we had made a mistake and conceded an early goal while they had all of the ball it would have been a disaster. Most believe we controlled the game the week before but the only reason we did not get a result was poor finishing. I can’t read his mind but why would Arteta complete change his strategy and try something which was clearly high risk when he felt we should have won the first game. I also suspect that prospectively nearly all of us would have been highly critical of Arteta and complained about how conservative he was if we someone had told us that would before the game that we would be allowing Prague to have a huge possession advantage and hope to hit them on the break

    The point is that what happened the week before did not work because the players could not execute in front of goal and we won second game because they did execute. Every strategy looks bad if the players can’t execute and any strategy looks good when they do.

  16. I won’t try to argue about all of the positive things that Laca and Giroud might bring to a team which do not make the stat sheet. The problem with Lacazette is the same problem we had with Giroud. I suspect the reason Wenger sold Giroud and the reason he has never been a regular for Chelsea is because he does not score enough goals. Same problem with Lacazette. This will be Laca’s 3rd full season and the 3rd season in a row that he will probably end in the low teens in goals scored. In Girouds seasons with Arsenal he averaged about 13.5 league goals/season and when your team as a whole often struggles to score as many goals as you need, low teens is just not enough production from your center forward.

  17. I am not trying to downplay the importance of intangible contributions which do not make the stat sheet. However, every team needs to have a critical mass of players who can produce the end product that is the goals and assists that fill up the stat sheets. Its simple math. The center forward in the best position on the pitch to finish chances and bring the end product and starting a team with a CF who is a facilitator rather then a scorer makes it a lot tougher to find the number of goals you need from the rest of the squad.

  18. Hey Bill, still at it huh?

    You are completely right about how strategies work when players execute them, and it is the job of the players to execute the tactics that the coach has given them. The only thing with that is that it completely dissolves any accountability on the coach. In fact, that view does not ask anything of the coach, other than to tell the players how he would like for them to play, and any blame will befall on the players since every loss can be attributed to not applying the tactics 100%.

    The other view is also wrong where the coach has to completely tailor tactics to the players. This way will eventually lead to complacency and players having no motivation to improve because they do not have to change anything about themselves, the coach will accommodate whatever they bring to the table.

    A balance is required to push both the coach and the players, to not only improve, but try to be adaptable to each other, to evolve and to take accountability for their shortcomings.

    In football, as with many other work teams, the balance is slightly skewed against the leader of the group, in this case the coach. That’s not to be unfair, but it is to show the relevance and importance of leadership roles. They have the biggest impact on the work performed by the players because they provide direction, both short term and long term.

    The judgement of the capabilities of a player is easy, you watch them to ascertain the level of technical ability they show, their temperament, football intelligence, stamina and overall physical prowess. For Arsenal, this will be a basic comparison with other players on other teams across the league and also across the football world.

    But what about a leader? How about the coach? How do you ascertain the ability if a coach Bill? How do you judge the competency of a leader? Losing does not make you a bad leader, and winning does not make you a great one either, especially if quality of your team is such a big factor, why pay the big bucks for such an insignificant role? I mean everyone knows how they would like their team to play right?

    For me Bill? Coaching comes down to the direction that you aim for, the plan (has to make sense and be viable) on how to get there, how effective (your adaptability to the players) you are at using what you have, how much improvement you can get from what you have and lastly (in a low scoring sport with so many variables like red cards, own goals, injuries, better sides, referee errors and etc.) the results. The first three kept Arsene in his job from 06/07 to 13/14. The results were not what we wanted, but we saw that his way could succeed if it had better players, and that is what most struggle with when it comes to Arteta and also when it came to Emery. We never and still aren’t getting the first three. Klopp showed the first three in his first season, Pepe’s Barca showed the first three in his first few games, and basically every successful manager of any club ever.

    If I was a club owner/director of football, my approach would be to take a look at the coach and say, “show me the first three and I will give you your players”.

    But I would seriously love to know how you judge a coach’s capabilities Bill. I would really love to know what constitutes bad coaching for you.

  19. I think today is another example of why we are a mid table team. You certainly can’t blame the managers tactics or the strategy. We mostly dominated the game and had 70% of the ball possession and outshot then 18-3. Unfortunately we don’t have a critical mass of players who can (with any consistency) create the final end product we need to win enough games to challenge for the top 6

  20. Devlin

    I understand what your saying but you and many on this blog seem to place a huge majority of the responsibility for results on the manager and you mostly absolve the players. The reality is somewhere in the middle but I think evidence certainly points to the quality and the form of the players as the most critical factor which determines a teams success.

    I formed my opinions watching the Wenger era. Arsene never won the league title after 03/04. Its not because he suddenly forgot how to manage a league winning team or forget tactics but the other teams he was competing acquired better players. The inconsistency during the Wenger era was very pronounced. It happened almost every year. Best example was the 15/16 season. We were leading the league in December but we fell apart in the second half of the season. Arsene did not suddenly lose his ability to manage or forget tactics or strategy but the players stopped executing the way they had in the first half season and the team imploded and we finished 10 points behind Leicester. I believe Arsene kept the team in the top 4 for all of those years because he had top 4 talent and not a lot of realistic challengers for those 4 spots. I don’t believe he suddenly forgot how to manage a top 4 team in his last 2 seasons but his critical players started to fade and he didn’t replace them adequately and the rest of the league got better. Arsene was not a different manager in those last 2 seasons but his squad wasn’t strong enough to stay in the top 4.

    Again I am not suggesting managers do not matter but I think the heavy preponderance of evidence supports the idea that easily the most important factor which determines a teams success is the quality and form of his players. I think we are in 9th place because that’s where this squad belongs based on the quality of our players. I said at the beginning of this year that we will probably finish somewhere around 7th place and probably go deep in the Europa league. I said the exact same thing in Nov and Dec when we were floundering around 15th place and I still think the same thing now.

    I hope that all makes sense.

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