Morning all.
Turkish football has hit rock bottom. Last night, Ankaragucu’s club president Faruk Koca punched referee Halil Umut Meler following his side’s 1-1 draw with Rizespor in Turkish Super Lig. Koca is set to be arrested, as are any others involved in the aftermath and domestic football in the country has been suspended indefinitely. Disgraceful behaviour by all involved and I very much doubt Koca will see the inside of a football club ever again. He deserves every kind of punishment he gets.
Referees can frustrate the heck out of every manager, club owner, staff and fans but physical violence solves nothing anywhere and certainly not in sport. Makes Mikel Arteta’s moment of emotional frustration look rather tame though. I know, I shouldn’t joke.
Anyway, Arsenal play again tonight and Mikel Arteta will be back on the sidelines. It’s an early 5-45pm kick off in Holland against PSV Eindhoven. Both clubs are through to the knockout stages so I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see two very different teams to the ones we saw at The Emirates. I really hoped Mikel Arteta would this opportunity to field a team full of squad and youth players with the likes of Saka, Martinelli, Rice, Saliba, Jesus all staying at home, however, only Reuell Walters, Ethan Nwaneri and Lino Sousa have travelled with the first team. Still, there’s still a lot of ‘squad’ players who could do with getting some minutes.
Mikel Arteta:
They are three big prospects. We want to bring a lot of players from a system and they deserve to be here. The circumstances have got them into this position. They’re still really, really young but we want to get them the experience because they have the talent hopefully to be very close to us. We’ll try to give them the opportunity if we can in the right moment. We need to get the machine going because we want more of those (young players) and we have to produce more of those. There’s a lot of work going into the academy and that’s big credit to all of them every single day for the amount of work that they’re putting in. They do a lot, they’ve planted the seeds and now we need to bring them up.
Yep, Emile Smith Rowe is back, fit, and training. Mikel Arteta said:
What he has been through is part of the experience that 95 per cent of footballers have to go through. That’s difficulties, injuries, setbacks and different kind of performances too. He’s back now, and he can use that in a very powerful way, he will be a much better player. I think he’s on the right path, the way he’s done his rehab, I haven’t seen it like he’s done it this time.
It’s easy to forget that Smith Rowe is still only 23 years old. His best footballing days are yet to come and if he’s set for a few injury free years ahead then it’s only great news for Arsenal. I doubt he’ll start tonight but you never know, he might get a few minutes late in the game. Hopefully, Thomas Partey’s return is not far off too because having him available for the second half of the season would be a massive boost.
Anyway, back to tonight and here’s Arsenal’s Adrian Clarke on what we expect from PSV playing at home:
Bosz does not spend a great deal of time focusing on negating his opponents’ strengths. Instead he wants his team to play a brand of fearless, attacking football. PSV will always start in either a 4-3-3 or a 4-2-3-1, with a heavy emphasis on raiding down the flanks at pace because they boast an array of exciting wide men. Highly rated Belgian Johan Bakayoko is a regular starter on the right wing, with Malik Tillman and Yorbe Vertessen options on the other flank if Lozano and Lang are out.
Only two of the 32 group stage clubs have produced more pressed sequences than the Dutch outfit, which shows they like to win the ball back quickly inside the opposition half. They failed to show it in a poor display against us at Emirates Stadium, but Bosz’s side are usually good at disrupting play with their closing down. They prefer his way of defending to keeping a low block.
Joey Veerman is a quality central midfielder who can deliver terrific set pieces, but it is veteran striker Luuk de Jong who will concern us most. He wins a lot of aerial duels and has scored 12 goals so far this season, as well as supplying six assists. With both sides already through to the last 16, I expect this to be a free-flowing contest that features plenty of skilful attacking football. We should see goals.
Just over a year ago, Arsenal were beaten 2-0 against PSV. Xavi Simons I think it was and Cody Gakpo were causing Arsenal a few problems but not tonight as both have moved on. In the game at the Emirates, PSV were totally outplayed by a strong Arsenal side. Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus put us 3-0 up before halftime and then after the break, Martin Odegaard added a fourth. which was no more than we deserved. Actually, we probably deserved to win by a greater margin but 4-0 was a nice start to our first Champions League campaign under Mikel Arteta.
Another clean sheet and a few Arsenal goals would be a nice way to finish the group stage.
Enjoy the game guys, let’s hope the three youngsters get a run out..
Catch up in the comments.
Good afternoon Rico.
Ethan Nwaneri scored five goals in an F A Youth Cup match against Crewe at the weekend, that’s quite something from a sixteen year old midfielder.
Lino Sousa is a highly rated left back, exactly what we need right now.
Reuell Walters is a versatile defender described by Zinchenko as “the academy player who has impressed him most at the club”. Talks are on going over a new contract.
If Arteta thinks that they are ready and he is minded to give them 15 minutes experience , I hope that he does it anyway whatever the situation so that they can prove their worth.
A’noon Rico
A dead rubber for Arsenal. PSV will be keen. Time to introduce some youngsters into the side and give playing time to the bench warmers. Outside the first eleven there aren’t many pushing for a start, except Trossard. We could really do with some returns from injury.
Resting some tired legs before a tough run of games makes sense.
Afternoon Cicero, Potter, Pete.
Christmas shopping done, all one item of it. 😆
I hope the three young players start along with the rest of the squad players, including Cedric.
Saka hasn’t travelled to Holland. No injury, just resting.
Ramsdale, Cedric, Saliba, Gabriel, Kiwior, Elneny, Jorginho, Trossard, Havertz, Nketiah, Nelson
Excellent team, shame Saliba and Gabriel have to feature.
Is Trossard nursing an injury? He has been very slow the last 3 games. No quickness, and no movement. He needs to be subbed.
90th minute mark, by far the most lackluster display that I have seen from Arsenal all year. Very hard to watch. Waste of time.
Considering the number of changes, the performance was always going to be disjointed. The positive is many squad players got game time. The result was imo, irrelevant.
Was what was expected shame it took so long for ESR to come on as I have said before 3 or four minutes are not enough at least 15 would have been better. but 1 -1 is a good result . Next up Brighton
Yep, 15/20 mins, plus the youngsters instead of Odegaard etc. missed opportunity I think.
A much changed team in a game that meant nothing to either side so I didn’t expect fireworks and I was right in my expectations. We came away without any injuries and no Var/ referee complications. Our second “goal” was rightly ruled out for offside. So that’s it, the Champions League can go back in it’s box until February.
Morning guys, new post up.