Morning all.
It’s been another week of football which has seen the officials hitting the headline. For both Arsenal and Man City, European fixtures passed without too much fuss as both clubs won their games comfortably. I think Sevilla registered just the one shot on target throughout the game which says a lot about the way Arsenal played. For Man Utd, Newcastle and Liverpool, it was a clean sweep of defeats. Utd surrendered a 2-0 lead to lose 4-3 after Rashford was ‘controversially’ sent off, Newcastle were beaten by Borussia Dortmund and then last night, Liverpool were beaten by Toulouse. Villa and Brighton however won their respective matches. The longer all three remain in the Europa League, the better it is for the Premier League. At least I think it is.
Today we face Burnley. Two ex Man City men going head to head, one who played under Pep Guardiola, the other learning his coaching skills. Vincent Kompany and his team/squad have found life in the Premier League hard so far with just 4 points earned from the opening 11 matches. One win away against Luton Town, the other point came from a draw against Nottingham Forest.
Mikel Arteta on Burnley:
Looking back on the games they have played and the results they’ve got, in some of them they merited much more than what they got. I don’t think it reflects actually what they deserved in games. But that is the difficulty of this league. Sometimes when you deserve more you don’t get it because the quality of the oppositions is so high. But the way they have transformed their way of playing, the club, and how they continue to play with the belief that they do, for me it’s remarkable.
I think the same could be said of a number of clubs this season who’ve perhaps played a lot better than their results suggest. If there was one game I think about it’s our match against Crystal Palace. Boy did Mikel Arteta’s team have to work hard to win that one after Takehiro Tomiyasu was shown two yellow cards, the second being an absolute joke! Ayew really conned the ref then. Fulham, another game we huffed and puffed a bit. 1-0 down to 2-1 up and then to concede an equaliser against ten men was pretty grim. That’s not a moan by the way, just a reminder that despite where a club might sit on the league table, it doesn’t mean they’re going to be a pushover. Having checked the stats for Burnley’s last game, a 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace, Burnley had 68% possession, 14 shots on goal and yet lost.
Team News from Mikel Arteta:
We have a few. A few are still in contention. We need to give them 24 more hours to give them a chance to be involved in the game, but we won’t know anything until tomorrow. Timber is for sure not. Thomas Partey is for sure out and probably Emile is out. There might be a few more.
The doubts are Martin Odegaard, Eddie Nketiah and Bukayo Saka, two of whom have been selected for their respective countries for the upcoming internationals but if they don’t play today, I’d imagine both will remain in London for the next couple of weeks. No mention of Gabriel Jesus though so perhaps he’ll make an earlier than expected return.
Arsenal’s Adrian Clarke, writing in the matchday programme:
Kompany has tinkered with Burnley’s shape in recent weeks as he continues his search for a winning formula. The return of Cullen should see them revert to a 4-3-3, but with no set formation they could line up in a 4-2-3-1 or 4-4-2. Full-backs Charlie Taylor and Vitinho invert into central midfield during the build-up phase to help them progress through the thirds. The Clarets are prepared to take risks to fashion overloads that allow them to break the lines with their passing, but too often they have lost the ball inside their own half and been punished.
They have also been guilty of dropping off too deep when put under pressure, and have conceded eight goals from outside the box – more than any other Premier League side. On the ball they are patient, but being direct is not off the menu. They make 54.7 ‘long passes’ per game, and just four Premier League sides average more. Most of their forays forward head towards the flanks where they rely on individual magic from their clutch of talented wingers, including Luca Koleosho
One would expect to see a top notch performance from Arsenal today, especially in front of The Emirates faithful. Thinking outside the box, Oleksandr Zinchenko is very good in midfield so how about starting him alongside Declan Rice if our captain is ruled out? He might not be the tallest but neither was Santi Cazorla and he did alright didn’t he? There’s a plan D right there. Mikel Arteta called Miguel Azeez into first team training yesterday, now there’s a name I’ve not heard for a while. He’s still only 21 years old so plenty of football ahead for him and who knows, if players keep dropping like flies, his chance in the first team might not be that far away.
Catch up in the comments.
Good morning Rico,
It’s hard to make any predictions about any game right now what with the continuing shambles in Stockley Park.
There seems to be a fairly general consensus that something needs to be done, but like all multi-national organisations, whatever changes are decided will take months to instigate. I don’t expect to see any significant improvements in the current season.
In fact, Rico, I should think Reading FC will have a new owner before IFAB sort out Var. Word is the owner is flying in to open talks with prospective buyers. Fingers crossed! 😉
Morning Cicero, there’s more chance of me buying a football club before VAR is sorted out and I’m broke. 😆
Reading definitely need a change in direction.
Azeez isn’t even doing it for second teams so why he would be considered for first team is ridiculous.
Who know what Mikel thinks? He certainly has a better understanding of where Azeez might be in his career than you or I.
Afternoon all!
Totts are 0-1 up while I wait for the Arsenal game. They scored right from the start. Totts’ goalkeeper is better than both of ours.
Raya, Saliba, Gabriel, Zinchenko, Rice, Jorginho, Havertz, Saka, Trossard, Martinelli.
Plus Tomiyasu
Ben White must be injured.
yes probably.
2-1 for wolwes after the 90 minutes 🙂
Jm, he must be very good. They lost 2-1. 😆
Three unfamiliar names on the bench Ibrahim, Sagoe and Walters. But no Azizz.
yes, two goals after 90 minutes.
Ben white injury or sick ?
Who are those?
Walters to make his second senior appearance today perhaps.
Sagoe a striker/forward, Ibrahim is a midfielder. Both 20 years old I believe.
Afternoon Rico and all.
Good chance to rain in the top 2 teams,
Plenty of chances for both teams, but. Nice goal by Trossard, hopefully he has only bruised his arm
Hi Geoff.
Were the Havertz chances good ones?
We have had a couple of good chances, Saka was close but we really need a striker, Havertz seems to be a bit hesitant to just take the shot.
Great goal by Zinchenko
What a plonker Vieira.
Nice win in the end, between the goal post and friendly fire, kick to the head, we are lucky not to have any serious injuries,
regarding their goal its now accepted that pushing and shirt pulling is part of the game .
I look forward to the highlights then…
3 – 1 is a very good result over any team. I can’t comment on the game as I haven’t seen it, I just wonder if the Vieria red card was to make up for the one Havertz got away with last week.
Both Martinelli and Jorginho, apparently, picked up injuries. So as we conceded a goal and copped a red but moved up to second in the league it was only a moderately good day at the office.
The straight red for Vieria means three games out, so if Arteta sticks with Havertz as a starter let’s hope ESR is fit enough for a place on the bench.
From the little I know of today’s game, Havertz wasted three more scoring chances.
First half everything broke down wgen it got to Havertz and he wasnt much better in the second .Despite getting three none of them came from flowing football . Trossard was brave going in close on the keeper and colliding with the post . He was lucky not to have a broken wrist .
Saliba a header from a corner and Zinchenko a scissors kick that just as easily could have ended in the upper tier .
Still it is what it is 3 points and above the Spuds .
I’ve read mixed views9n Vieira’s red card but the general consensus seems to be that Havertz is a waste of an awful lot of money.
As it happens it’s just one point but still.
I urge you all to look at the build up to Burnley’s goal and tell me that Tomiyasu isn’t fouled . It went to VAR and they got their revenge for last week’s comments . There is no way that they could have ruled it out without an outcry from the media.
However another film to show at the eventual hearing.
More words of enlightenment from SnideStan…
Good post Rico, thanks for the effort, meanwhile others, who contribute nothing, just sneer from the sidelines.
If my option counts, Vieira’s red card was a bit harsh, but I wouldn’t complain too much either.
in real time I thought Trossard hit his heat on the goal post but luckily it was his arm.
As for their goal, according to the commentators it’s ok if it’s one hand in the back but two is a foul.
They even claimed that one of our players should have been reported for diving and trying to con the ref.
I was very happy with Tommy’s performance, and it was the most I have seen Saka header a ball hopefully it something he is bringing into his game.
The good thing about their goal was it got us out of first gear.
Just watched match of the day. It’s quite amusing how fouls are seen differently depending on what match Linekar and co are watching. Thought Bournemouth battered Newcastle and Wolves too against Totts.
Let’s hope Chelsea get something from their game later.
As for Arsenal, a good win, silly challenge by Vieira and their goal could easily have been disallowed for the foul on Tomiyasu. Havertz seems more of a hindrance than help in the box..
How is this Liverpool player not sent off?
It’s Liverpool Jm..
What a come back, two nil down and looking ragged at half time, finishing six two, hitting the woodwork three times plus a couple of very near misses. Six different scorers too.
After a tough start to the season tonight’s win over Leicester pushes us up to second in the Womens Super League.
Didn’t expect that result 8 goals between Chelsea and Man c, Haaland got his normal penalty.
I watched that one Cicero, or at least most of it. A fantastic second half after a sleepy start.
New post up