Morning all.
England secured their place in the 2026 World Cup on Tuesday night with a 5-0 thrashing of Latvia. Yes, Latvia! Eberechi Eze scored the final goal of the game, even so, I can’t get excited about an England team/squad which has beaten Latvia, Albania, Serbia and Andorra. However, with qualification secured, hopefully Tuchel will not feel the need to overplay Saka, Lewis-Skelly, Rice or Eze in November. Credit where it’s due though, Tuchel did substitute Rice and Saka after an hour last night and Eze played just 30 minutes.
Brazil have secured their place at the World Cup, but the rest of the European teams which include Arsenal players are yet to qualify. Saying that, the Netherlands, Spain, Germany, France, Italy and Belgium are pretty much through barring a disaster but Sweden, I think they need a miracle. Sweden have been really poor and for the first time in history of Swedish football, they have sacked their manager. Sweden’s 1-0 defeat to Kosovo in Gothenburg on Monday night left Jon Dahl Tomasson out of a job. Isak and Gyokeres in the same team just didn’t work apparently but I’m sure that wasn’t the only reason for Swedens troubles. One point from four matches and sitting bottom of a relatively weak qualification group was more likely.
Anyway, enough of international football as it’s over for a few weeks thank goodness. I’m sure like every other Arsenal fan, I just want to know if any of our players have picked up an injury. I’ve certainly not read that they have.
We’re heading towards a busy schedule as the Christmas and New Year fixtures come thick and fast. Four of our December fixtures have already been rescheduled for television viewing. Our home fixture against Brentford on Wednesday, December 3rd has been changed to a 7.30pm kickoff for Sky Sports. The following weekend we face Aston Villa at Villa Park but instead of kicking off at 3pm, TNT will be showing this fixture at 12.30pm. TNT have our next league fixture too which is now an 8pm kickoff against Wolves at The Emirates and then four days before Santa works his magic, we play Everton at the Hill Dickinson Stadium on Sunday at 2pm. This match will be live on Sky Sports.
Our final fixtures of the year, both of which are at The Emirates against Brighton & Hove Albion and Aston Villa are likely to be televised but as yet, neither have been confirmed.
I read an article in The Athletic this morning, it’s about how football has almost gone a full circle from the days of hoof ball, long throw-ins and the increase of goals from set-pieces. Apparently when Guardiola first arrived at Man City, he said football in England was played more in the air than on the ground, certainly when it came to playing the likes of Stoke City, Bolton etc. As the hoof ball clubs left the league and with change in general, that style of football all but disappeared. Well, now it’s back.
- Long throws are back with a vengeance. In 2019-20 and 2020-21, just six per cent of throw-ins from the attacking third were sent into the penalty area. That figure steadily increased to 13 per cent last season but has risen to more than 27 per cent this season.
- Goals from set-piece situations (corners, free kicks and throw-ins but not penalties) have risen to 0.7 per game, the highest in any season since 2010-11.
- Passes per Premier League game has fallen to 858, the lowest since 2010-11
- The proportion of goal kicks taken long, which had fallen for nine consecutive seasons, has increased to 51.9 per cent.
- The proportion of headed goals has risen to 19.8 per cent, the highest since 2000-01.
Honestly, I’m so glad the basics of the game have returned. The constant passing the ball backwards, sideways, forwards and then backwards again was boring me to tears. I’m not overly keen on the playing out from the back either but I understand why it’s in the game. When it works that is and not when it causes mayhem in defence. I personally believe that a variety of every style of football within a game is what makes football more exciting to watch. I think that’s what we seeing from Arsenal this season.
Catch up in the comments.
Good morning Rico.
Another good un! thanks.
Did you know that the first ever football match to be televised was Arsenal Vs Arsenal Reserves back in 1937? That was way before even my time. 😉
Just a bit more history, the first live broadcast of a football match was on the BBC radio January 1927 Arsenal Vs Sheffield United.
Ah, the post has just popped up? 🤔
Been delving into the Charles Watts daily podcast to fill in the void, he’s very good at producing 25 minutes or so of something out of absolutely nothing and his once-a-week chat with James Benge is pretty good.
Other that that it’s a bit of a stretch to get any other kind of Arsenal content.
Regarding England, Tuchel could have training camps next year but maybe one match instead of two is the way to go?
Good post btw Rico, since you moved I’ve noticed that you’ve become far too relaxed in your content production, not that I’m complaining…
I guess it’s the sea air, next you’ll be telling us that you’ve taken up fishing or long-distance swimming or surf boarding and listening to the Beach Boys, dreaming of California and open top sedans.
By California I mean the one in Norfolk…
If you want to come to California sands you better come quick as the whole of that coast line is disappearing fast to the North sea just check out Hemsby and Happisburgh.
Hopefully our squad is holding up better than the coast line and so far no reports of international injuries adding to the usual suspects.
All of these changes makes season ticket holding even more difficult , long gone are the days when you could actually plan your life a few weeks in advance and if you don’t drive , booking trains to London is a kind of Russian Roulette at least the ones they have re-arranged are away but Brighton and Villa are in the lap of the gods.
Still that’s the price for being successful as most of the country are viewing in the hope that we will fall over and the figures are good .
Afternoon guys, had a trip back to my old stomping ground this morning but back to a sunny new forest now.
I am more relaxed Kev, surprisingly so considering the number of strange men who’ve been in and out our house. lol
A bit more history, Arsenal and Fulham nearly merged clubs a long time ago. I never knew that until reading in on afc.com.