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Match Report

It’s two wins in a row now for Unai Emery’s Arsenal, and that simple fact is clearly a positive, but yesterday’s game was another illustration of how much work he has to do with this team and these players.

I won’t say Petr Cech’s early uneasiness with the ball at his feet set the tone, but when you’re pressed inside the first 60 seconds and you just about get away with it, it adds a sense of nervousness to proceedings. There was further evidence of that in the 8th minute when the keeper played the ball straight to Harry Arter who had a clear sight of goal but thankfully the Irish international blazed over.

On another day that would have seen us a goal down and despite the new boss saying he wants his keeper to keep playing it out from the back, if it causes those kind of issues on a regular basis he might need to rethink. He either changes the way he instructs his team, or he finds a keeper who can play that way. It really does make me wonder why £22.5m Bernd Leno – who almost everyone accepts is better with the ball at his feet – remains glued to the bench.

We got away with it though and went ahead through a thumping Shkodran Mustafi header from a Granit Xhaka corner in the 12th minute. The German was pretty dangerous in their box throughout the day, and defensively they looked all over the place at times. There was a desperation that we might have exploited more regularly. Monreal came close to doubling the lead, but at the other end they had their moments too with a double chance in one move, and an overhead kick that flew just over the bar.

Lacazette hit the post, we didn’t quite make enough of a couple of breaks, and then just before the break they were level. I could see the pass that Xhaka was trying to make, lifting it to Bellerin on the far side of the pitch and if it had come off it would have set the full back free down the right, but unfortunately he didn’t find his range. From there Cardiff still had work to do, they got a cross in from the left, we didn’t deal with it well enough in our box, and when the ball fell to Camarasa he lashed it home to equalise. On the balance of chances created, you couldn’t say they didn’t deserve it.

Half-time came and went without changes, and almost immediately more poor distribution from Cech put us on the back foot. You want to come out, start strongly and with assurance, but all of a sudden you’re scrambling again. It’s a worry. Mustafi almost scored before Ozil, who had a very quiet first half, stepped up his involvement. He started to find his passing range, and it was his ball into Lacazette that the Frenchman flicked to Aubameyang to pick up and curl home a beautiful shot to make it 2-1. Apparently it’s his first goal from outside the box in over 2 years, his last 76 have been from inside the area.

At this point, I was looking for us to take hold of the game, and really put it to Cardiff. Instead we sat off and allowed them back into it. It felt a bit like Wenger’s Arsenal to me, we saw that too often in the latter stages of his reign, and I wonder if that kind of reaction is hard-wired into the players – another thing Emery will have to iron out. The momentum we handed the home side saw them draw level from a free kick which was never a free kick, but had we controlled possession better – as we did for most of the rest of the game – I don’t think they’d have got that goal.

Torreira came on for Guendouzi and the Uruguayan had more impact than I had imagined. Given we had to try and win the game, I was expecting to see Mkhitaryan or Welbeck to add something to the attack, but as the game entered the last ten minutes the former Sampdoria man found Lacazette in the box, he received the ball on the half-turn and smashed a shot into the top of the net to win the game for us. It was a goal he thoroughly deserved on his first start of the season, and on the basis of this display, he deserves to keep his place in the side.

As ever, there were a couple of nervous moments between the goal and the final whistle, but we hung on to take three points as we head into the Interlull. That, of course, is a positive and there a few of those to take from the performance. Lacazette, as mentioned previously; Torreira’s impact should mean he’s pushing really hard for a place in the starting XI; our attacking prowess in general; Auba getting off the mark; and the quiet cynicism we showed in some of our tackling was a pleasure to see.

Hector Bellerin and Granit Xhaka picked up yellow cards for fouls on halfway which helped snuff out danger early, while Matteo Guendouzi pulled some fella down off the ball as Cardiff were building an attack and was booked when played stopped. I don’t know how many times I’ve said it, but making these kind of fouls is a necessary part of football these days, and while we can’t say for certain, it does look as if they’re part of an overall instruction rather than desperate individual interventions.

Once again though, the worry is how easy we are to create chances against. Arsenal had 15 attempts on goal with 72% possession, Cardiff had 14 attempts on goal with 28% possession. I think a better side with better players would have taken more of those chances, and right now we’re a team that is heavily reliant on our attackers to make up for our inability to keep a clean sheet.

It doesn’t help when your keeper gives everyone the heebie-jeebies in the first minute, nor when he presents gilt-edged chances to the opposition, but I think the problems go far deeper than that. I don’t think you could point to any one Arsenal player and say he was especially poor, or that he was the cause of all our defensive insecurity, it’s clearly an issue of organisation for the entire team. Again, it’s just four games into Emery’s management, but that we’re not really seeing signs of defensive improvement – particularly having just played the two worst teams in the league – is a bit concerning. .

The Spaniard has plenty of work to do during the Interlull and when we get the players back, because we can’t always rely on our strikers to bail us out as they did yesterday. He’s got to think carefully about the way he wants to play and make some decisions about which players are best suited for it. Whether that will see changes for our game against Newcastle in a couple of weeks time remains to be seen, but you’d hope as he gets to know his squad better, he’ll find a better balance.

—

James and I will be here later today with an Arsecast Extra but we’re not recording until after lunch so the podcast won’t be live until later this afternoon. Still, if you have any questions or topics for discussion, please send them to @gunnerblog and @arseblog on Twitter with the hashtag #arsecastextra.

Also, we have been having some issues with Arseblog News so the post-match coverage hasn’t fully gone out yet. We’re working on that this morning and fingers crossed we’ll get ratings, stats, match reaction and more out during the day. Sorry for the inconvenience and thanks for your patience.

Right, that’s that, have a good one and I’ll catch you later with the podcast.

Welcome to another Arsecast Extra, the Arsenal podcast, with myself and James from @gunnerblog.

On this week’s show we look back at the 3-2 win over Cardiff, the fine performance from Alexandre Lacazette, some good fouling from the Gunners, the ability to respond to setbacks in game, and the fact three points before the Interlull is always welcome. We also discuss two players who are very much in the spotlight now – Petr Cech and Granit Xhaka. How many more games can the keeper be allowed make fundamental mistakes in, and do the positive aspects of Xhaka’s game outweigh his lapses which often prove costly? Plus listener questions about playing out from the back, substitutions, the relationship between Aubameyang and Lacazette, and there’s also an amazing scientific discovery at the end.

Remember, you can send us questions via which we’ll try and get to each week. Send them to either @arseblog or @Gunnerblog (or both) using the hashtag #arsecastextra. Best to send them Monday morning so they get noticed more easily.

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This Arsecast Extra was recorded with ipDTL

Unai Emery reportedly got the Arsenal job after displaying his incredible in-depth knowledge of the squad in his interview. But he had only seen them play under Arsene Wenger and hadn’t worked with the players himself. Managing them himself is a different challenge altogether. The opening weeks of the season have been pretty good evidence that Emery is still weighing up his players and how best to use them, and that was clear in yesterday’s 3-2 win over Cardiff.

On Sunday at Cardiff, that meant a first Premier League start for Alexandre Lacazette – who had been impressive off the bench up until this point – and the reintroduction of Mesut Ozil. There was still no place in the side for summer signing Lucas Torreira but he would come off the bench during the second half.

Arsenal’s play in the opening 45 minutes in south Wales was often slow and laboured. The hosts were encouraged to press an obviously nervous Petr Cech and Sokratis at the back as Arsenal insisted on building play with short passes. Unfortunately, they did so too slowly to cut through the newly-promoted side.

When Arsenal did push upfield, Granit Xhaka tended to move to the left of the central defenders, with Mateo Guendouzi playing between them. The shape helped Arsenal avoid dangerous pressing situations but the players – possibly wary of losing possession – didn’t use their numerical advantage to play past Cardiff.

That meant many situations in possession with big gaps between the players at the back and the nominal ‘forwards’ – Ozil, Aaron Ramsey, Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. Unlike last week’s game against West Ham, the frontline was too static and too slow to drop deep for the ball. Without stretching the Cardiff defence or midfield with movement off the ball, Arsenal asked far too few questions of their opponents despite dominating possession.

I don’t think this was by mistake – Arsenal wanted to keep players forward to stretch Cardiff and vacating the central areas could help give Xhaka and Guendouzi more time on the ball – but by having as many as four players advanced, it allowed Cardiff to sit tighter and keep the spaces between the midfield and defence small.

Usually Arsenal looked to move the ball wide, often down the left as Xhaka took up a position to the left of the defence in Arsenal’s first phase of possession and tried to move the ball down the line, but there was little danger with the ball on the flanks. This was particularly obvious on the right, where Hector Bellerin was so dangerous against West Ham just last week. The absence of Henrikh Mkhitaryan meant Bellerin was often isolated on the touchline, with nobody making runs to take opposition players away or offering themselves for a quick combination into space.

Some small adjustments could have improved the play out from the back – Ramsey and Ozil often looked to move into the same spaces – but Arsenal were generally static. Ozil in particular didn’t do enough to move wide of the central midfielders to receive the ball behind them in the right half-space.

The underlining feature of an underwhelming first half on the ball was the failure to move it forward quickly. That changed drastically after the break, when Ozil found himself space much deeper and started to ask questions of Cardiff. Dropping off the Cardiff backline and into space, the playmaker started demanding possession before quickly moving it into Ramsey or Lacazette.

Özil changed the pace of the game in the minutes leading to the second goal today. Dropped deeper and demanded the ball to link midfield and attack. Twice receives the ball and moves Arsenal forward in this one move. pic.twitter.com/JVfWlh6nBa

— Arsenal Tactics (@ArsenalVids1) September 2, 2018

In the clip below, Ozil does take up the position to the side of Cardiff’s central midfielders, turning into space once and moving into it before receiving possession on the second occasion. From there, linking up with the frontline is simple for a player with his qualities. Arsenal were suddenly playing up against the Cardiff back four more often with Ozil dropping into space and linking play from further back.

Özil has already completed as many final third passes in the second half as he did in the entire first half. (@StatsZone) pic.twitter.com/8C5FEyPypl

— Lewis (@LGAmbrose) September 2, 2018

When Arsenal play like this, the attributes of Ramsey, Aubameyang and Lacazette are all highlighted. Ramsey and Aubameyang are allowed to move off the ball freely and explore space, while Lacazette drops off of the defence to either link-up with Ozil and find his team-mates or drag defenders out of position. Ozil found the Frenchman for a flick on in the clip above and a similar touch led to Aubameyang’s goal.

Aubameyang with a gorgeous strike to restore the lead for Arsenal. 2-1 pic.twitter.com/mEIbUaRgpT

— Terje (@TerjeGIFs) September 2, 2018

Notice Ramsey’s run when Aubameyang scores, driving into the space that opens on the right after one defender follows Lacazette and another moves across to cover. The Welshman wasn’t directly involved in any of the goals on Sunday but this one showed how he could be and how Ozil dropping deeper and supplying the players ahead of him gets more out of everyone.

Needless to say, the game wasn’t over there as Arsenal found themselves level again after Danny Ward’s header. The instant response from Unai Emery was to bring on Lucas Torreira, who slotted into midfield alongside Granit Xhaka.

On the ball, the most striking things about the Uruguayan are how quickly he moves the ball and how often he looks to play it forward. As long as there’s an option ahead of him between opposition players, he darts sharp passes between opposition players and into feet. It’s a marked difference from Granit Xhaka – who is a great passer of the ball despite the occasional lapse in common sense – and something Arsenal lack in midfield. Guendouzi is also tidy in possession but neither he nor Xhaka appear to have the same urgency as Torreira, who is snappy in all areas of the game.

Just his second pass of the game (37 seconds into the video below) superbly found Xhaka behind the Cardiff midfield and before long another put Lacazette behind the backline for his spectacular winner.

Lucas Torreira (22) against Cardiff City.

Has to be a starter now. pic.twitter.com/YUcp8lCfII

— – (@EmeryTactic) September 2, 2018

This isn’t to say Torreira rushes in possession, either, but he moves it on much faster than his midfield competition when it does land at his feet. His accuracy isn’t bad either – he completed each and every one of his passes at Cardiff.

FT Lucas Torreira v Cardiff (subbed on 70’)

– 26/26 passes completed
– 1 assist
– 3 tackles
– 1 interceptionhttps://t.co/srHNzUU41q pic.twitter.com/b1JHQr9zD2

— Stats Zone (@StatsZone) September 2, 2018

The obvious issues at the back aside, this was a promising second half. Unai Emery has been applauded for making quick substitutions in recent weeks but the crucial change after the break was to Ozil’s role, getting more out of someone rather than just hooking them for a below par. That’s more valuable and more sustainable than replacing players halfway through a game. It was also encouraging to see Arsenal attack in a different way. We know the Mkhitaryan-Bellerin axis is an option to us after the games against Chelsea and West Ham but having just one way to score is never going to end well.

There has been a lot of talk about Ozil in the last two weeks. Is he happy, will he adapt to Emery’s way, will Emery be able to get much out of him? Ultimately, Mesut Ozil is a brilliant footballer and he will deliver more often than not as long as you get him into the right areas and Arsenal did that in the second half. Alexandre Lacazette showed he deserves a run in the side and that a partnership with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (and Aaron Ramsey) can be fruitful for all parties.

Lucas Torreira will, at best, only manage to plaster over some pretty serious cracks at the back when he is starting games but it’s important to know he can influence the side’s attacking fortunes too and he must be near his first Arsenal start now.

There’s still clearly a lot of work ahead of us and we can’t rush to conclusions – Emery needs to figure out his players, they need to figure out him, and fixing a defence takes time. Even moreso when the individuals that make it up are error prone.

However, scoring three goals a game is no mean feat and we’ve done it two weeks in a row. Scoring was a huge problem away from home last season and if we can look this dangerous with some regularity we’ll have an improved record on the road if nothing else.

It’s easy to fixate on Petr Cech’s discomfort with the ball, our ability to concede two against any opponent, and all the other problems we’ve grown accustomed to but a second away Premier League win of 2018 had plenty of promise too. Lacazette taking his shot leading the line, Torreira’s game-changing cameo and Ozil’s second half performance sealed the three points and are a great place to start building from.

Four games in and what do we know? It’s hard to make any real assessment of where we are and what we’re doing, but as life has thrust upon us a cursed Interlull so we now spend two weeks without an Arsenal game, let’s try and make some observations.

Emery is learning

Not just his English, which is improving week on week, but about his players and his squad. Granit Xhaka causes ire and frustration, gets hooked at half-time, but the Spaniard keeps him in his side because of his passing range. Can his flaws be offset by the right partner? Is the Swiss international a footballing Goldilocks who needs everything around him to be just right in order to thrive? Will Torreira be his perfect porridge?

Emery will be seeing the dynamics of the squad, the players with influence and seniority, the ones who are willing to learn, the ones who are set in their ways, the ones who want to learn but perhaps can’t, and the ones who need to learn but won’t.

He keeps saying that this is a ‘process’ and he’s right. He’s been given the green light to take a club which had trodden a well worn and comfortable path on a hike through the woods. At times the forest will be thick and dense, like our defending, and at others the treeline will thin out and there’ll be space for us to show off a bit. Occasionally, someone’s gonna walk face first into a branch, until we find the new path.

Let’s also remember that these woods are new woods for him. Football is football, but every league has its own character and its own challenges. He’s got people around him who can advise, but over the weeks and months ahead he’ll come to understand the Premier League better and how to operate in it.

The players are learning

The new signings aside, most of this squad had years under Arsene Wenger. He knew them, but man did they know him. Inside out and back to front. They knew what he wanted – even if they weren’t always willing to give it to him in later years – but they also knew they had a certain leeway, a zone of comfort if you will. Some of them were indulged more than others, given licence on and off the pitch which was sometimes exactly what they needed to get the best out of them, but sometimes it wasn’t to anyone’s benefit at all.

They’re learning that Emery is demanding. They’re learning that your wages aren’t a force-field from criticism and that your reputation means nothing because on the training ground everyone is expected to work hard and do hard work because there’s hard work to do, starting with this morning’s training session in which we’ll be working hard.

It’s back to basics stuff in many ways. Alexandre Lacazette says, “We did make mistakes because we are learning, like children. So it is OK, it is good. We will be better week after week.”

He’s giving them their chances to learn but he doesn’t appear to be a man of infinite patience. He knows what he wants and he understands that the change is a challenge for them too, but at some point he will have to make decisions about certain players and their suitability for his style of play. If they can’t learn, someone else will get a go.

The goalkeeping conundrum

Petr Cech was backed by Emery after his mistakes against Cardiff, but after being pretty solid with the ball at his feet against Chelsea and West Ham, he took a significant step backwards in our last game. The odd miskick here and there could be seen as a byproduct of him learning how to play this way after so many years of not, but the worry is that he presented such a glorious chance to Harry Arter who, thankfully, missed it.

I think the head coach will stick with him, but another display like that ought to elicit change. If a player in any other position made errors with that frequency, they’d find their place in the team under real threat. Yet we have a strange situation where a £22.5m goalkeeper whose skills on the ball are widely accepted to suit Emery’s style perfectly, remains sitting on the bench.

Bernd Leno is no kid either. He’s 26 with 300+ Bundesliga games and international caps for Germany. If the boss is willing to play 19 year old straight out of Ligue 2, it shows he’s not wedded to experience, so it’s a bit of a worry that a player for whom we made a significant outlay this summer is considered second-best despite Cech’s apparent unsuitability for a fundamental part of Emery’s football style.

Maybe Leno get his chance and prove exactly what we need, I hope that’s the case, but until then a cloud in the shape of a question mark hangs over this one.

Change is not always easy

Demanding change, getting change, and then discovering change isn’t quite what you thought it was going to be is going to be a bit of a journey for some. Even though I’m sure most people understood that the departure of Arsene Wenger wasn’t going to suddenly transform us from a somewhat mediocre side – in comparison to the Frenchman’s best outfits – to one that challenged for the Premier League, it’s been interesting to note the reaction to our somewhat wobbly start under Emery.

It’s worth remembering that it’s not just managerial change. Look at our squad at the beginning of the 2016-17 season, look at how many of those players are gone. There has been a massive turnover of playing staff for a club usually far less brutal in terms of player churn.

Wenger has gone, Emery is in, there have been backroom changes, coaching staff changes, and the very structures of the club and how it operates have undergone a huge change also – and that’s also a process that needs to be fine tuned, particularly when it comes to recruitment. At board level things are radically different from where we were just a few weeks ago. There is a lot going on and it’s all happening in a fairly small amount of time. It’s a lot for any organisation to deal with.

When it came to our on-pitch performances the buck stopped with Wenger but the issues went a long way beyond him. Ultimately he was responsible, and he probably should have been more open to doing things differently in recent years, but Arsenal as an institution allowed a kind of stasis to take hold, and making it better won’t happen overnight and it won’t always be smooth sailing.

We all share the same hopes for success and achievement, but it’s hard not to be anxious at times about where we’re going or how we we’re going to get there. Strap in, buckle up, put the radio on, because this journey has just begun.

—

Arsecast Extra

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The new puppy has a bark cycle. She is like a wind-up toy. Once she starts she has to run through the cycle without interruption. At times this can be a bit endearing. At other times, like at 2.47am when she is demonstrating this ‘talent’ outside the bedroom door, not so much.

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Then she will give smaller little huff-wuffs and that will be that unless she starts the cycle again in which case it’s …

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… all over again. Because she is a puppy, I’m aware that despite being perfectly well house trained, she might get caught short and this barking is her way of saying ‘Please open the door before I let loose my bowels/bladder all over the floor because I don’t want to do that and you certainly don’t want me to do that’.

So, I get up, I go to the back door thinking she needs to go for a wee or whatever, but then I realise why she’s barking. Standing directly in front of us, glass the only separation, is a fox. A big lanky massive tailed fox. I’m not sure if this mister is fantastic, but he was definitely a fox. And it occurs to me the puppy doesn’t need to do anything toilet related, she is now in the ‘HYPER AWARE OF EVERYTHING OUTSIDE’ phase of her life.

She looks at him. He looks at her. She makes a kind of weird quivering sound. And so, I do what anyone would do – I open the door. The fox, smart guy that he is, takes off running like Hector Bellerin in his prime, zooming towards the end of the garden and the back patio bit where he leaps over the wall and to safety. Lana, who is not yet quite as nimble, gives chase, making a noise that is somewhere between a dog barking and the noise you’d imagine a hippo would make giving birth to a piano.

The fox is free, she does not catch her prey, but returns to the back door as proud as punch having seen off this threat to her territory. Her tail wags as she looks for confirmation that she is a good girl and of course I tell her she’s a good girl. I go back to bed, hoping that will be that and she will be quiet. She is for a time, until she takes a look out the window and sees a cloud scudding gently across the sky:

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And so it goes.

Interesting stuff yesterday from Laurent Koscielny’s agent who more or less confirmed that had the Frenchman not suffered that terrible Achilles injury at the end of last season, he’d have looked to leave the club in the summer. Speaking to France Football, he said:

Laurent was perhaps playing the final matches of his Arsenal career. He had started thinking about a possible departure from Arsenal at the same time as Arsene Wenger. It was the right moment, the final moment to leave with the arrival of the new manager.

We were open to different options, China as much as France. He could not see himself playing for another English team other than Arsenal. Since the approach from Marseille least season, the notion of returning to Ligue 1 entered his thinking. It was a genuine possibility.

I guess you can understand why he might have thought it was the right time. At 32, and with the man who signed him for the club and who was such a large part of his Arsenal experience on the way out, the timing for one last move somewhere else in his career was probably right.

Now, I’m not going to say that I’m glad he got injured, but I am glad he’s still at the club because the centre of our defence remains far from convincing. So much so that a player who will be 33 in a few days time, returning from a traumatic injury at a point in his career when recovery can often be slow and difficult, would make me feel quite a bit better about what we’ve got going on at the back.

Unfortunately, he’s not going to be playing again until November at the earliest according to the medical updates on the official site, so what we have we hold until then. I suppose the interesting thing about the games we have coming up is that the Europa League and the Carabao Cup will give both Rob Holding and Konstantinos Mavropanos a chance to play.

The former has been on the bench for most our fixtures this season, the young Greek has yet to make the squad, and while hopes are high for him, we don’t really have the ability to make anything more than a superficial judgement on him. He’s a good size and adds some height and physicality to proceedings, but we’ve only seen him play three times in end of season runarounds, and he got sent off in one.

I know there’s the whole ‘Well anything would be better than what we’ve got’ refrain you hear quite often, but the unfortunate thing is that maybe it’s not. Maybe what we’re playing right now is the best that we’ve got, despite its flaws, and that’s something we really have to consider.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m all for giving the young guys a chance, and if they can perform, put pressure on the more experienced defenders we have and take their opportunity to fight for, and then take, a place in the team, I’d be absolutely delighted. It’d be brilliant to see a new generation come through, but as much as I’d like that to happen, my gut feeling is that’s something of a long-shot.

Perhaps the Carabao Cup will give us more to work with, it might ease my gut, but I also think the best defender we have is currently in rehab after his Achilles tendon was snapped in two, and that’s something that Unai Emery and the men who do the recruitment/squad building for Arsenal now need to think long and hard about.

—

Right, that’s it from me for a little while. I’m away for ten days or so, to soak up a bit of sun in the land of Santi Cazorla where I will eat a lot of Jamon Ruffles. Tom and Andrew Allen will be holding the fort here on the blog, and of course things will continue as normal over on Arseblog News where we’ll have all the Interlull goings-on for you.

Catch you the far side folks, take it easy.

Good morning from bright and sunny East Lothian. It’s not half got chilly all of a sudden though, has it?

I was woken today by a two year old (mine) turning the Christmas fairy lights that are still up in our bedroom on and off and on and off and on and off and on and off and on and off and on and off, and then cycling through the various patterns the lights are able to produce, the worst of which I can only describe as “rave on a bad trip”. So that was nice. He’s off to nursery now though, so I can concentrate. Concentrate on getting over my headache, and wonder how long it is before I can go back to bed.

I know Arseblogger has his own take on the start to the season and has discussed it at length on the blog, but I’m writing it today, so you get to put up with my thoughts instead – and I have to say I’m a little underwhelmed. It’s not that I’m not positive about what Unai Emery is trying to do, or that I expected a new manager to come in and instantly have success, or that I thought AW leaving was the wrong thing (for the record, I think it was entirely the right thing), I just feel you have to cut your cloth accordingly, and the cloth we’re using does not quite fit the mannequin Emery currently has at his disposal. While defeats to City (in particular) and Chelsea weren’t exactly a surprise, the change to the style of play has left us so defensively exposed I think we have to do something about it.

I suppose I’m somewhere in between the views of Gary Neville and Jamie Carragher, as illustrated on Sky the other week. While I agree completely with Neville that a manager can’t come in and try to impose a style of play and when it doesn’t quite work start adapting the style, since players will start to be confused, and/or start taking liberties – I think that’s absolutely true – Emery could, admittedly only to a certain extent, adapt the personnel.

Petr Cech, for example, has been an amazing servant to English football, with both Chelsea (*spit*) and us, and he’s made some important interventions in the games he’s played so far, but he’s so clearly uncomfortable playing the ball out from the back, we surely have to consider that it’s time for Bernd Leno to have a go. Cech played the ball out directly to the opposition at least a couple of times during the Cardiff and West Ham games, and had those teams got more quality, they could well have made us suffer much more than they already did. I’m almost waiting for the moment he plays it out to some opposition midfielder he hasn’t quite noticed who immediately hoofs it back at him and straight in the next (a bit like that goal against Argentina at the World Cup).

None of which is to say that Petr Cech is suddenly shit. He’s very obviously not. But he’s being asked to do something that’s really unfamiliar to him, and the saying about old dogs and new tricks is not for nothing. Now, I don’t know that Leno would be an improvement, of course, and I certainly don’t want to humiliate Cech by benching him, but at this point he’s visibly struggling and the good of the team is the most important thing.

We don’t really have many options at centre half, so there’s not a lot we can do there. I’ve been encouraged by Sokratis. He looks like a decent player, and he seems to know when to make a cynical tackle. The less said about Mustafi the better, though I don’t think he’s as bad as some people make him out to be.

The one that puzzles me the most is Lucas Torreira. Why’s he not starting yet? Is it post World Cup hangover? Is it that he wasn’t Emery’s choice (at least I don’t think he was Emery’s choice – please correct me in the arses if I’m wrong)? Or is it that Emery is perhaps suffering from something of an abundance of riches in midfield (no sniggering at the back!) and doesn’t yet know how his midfield is best set up (which wouldn’t be entirely unreasonable at this early stage). We have Ramsey (who I’m reasonably certain despite all the noises he’s making about being excited to be working under the new system is going to leave), Xhaka, Guendouzi, Elneny, Maitland Niles, and if you can call them midfielders, Ozil and Mkhitaryan. Oh, and Torreira. That’s eight players competing for a position in midfield, and while it seems Xhaka is a favourite of Emery’s, I don’t think I know from game to game who will line up alongside him. That’s not really a criticism, more an observation, but when you have a player like Torreira who’s used to protecting the defence and making those quick transitions that are so important in football now (and God knows our defence needs protection), his lack of playing time just seems .. odd.

Up front I think he has to start playing Lacazette and Auba together. I know two strikers aren’t really the done thing in football these days, but there’s definitely something between them that when it clicks, can provide some very effective offensive football.

Not-really-speaking-of Xhaka, the midfielder has apologised for his double headed eagle celebration in the World Cup, saying:

I’m sorry for what happened and I would be stupid if I said I’d do it again, It will never happen again. I have only one passport, the Swiss one, and I wear the red-coloured jersey of Switzerland proudly.

It was a bit of a silly thing to do, but personally I can understand in the context of a World Cup, with that goal being so important, he lost his head a little, so fair play for continuing to apologise for it now, despite having been fined by Fifa.

Another of our abundance of midfielders has spoken of his “whirlwind two months” since joining Arsenal. Of his move from Ligue 2 in France to the Premiership, he said:

The games are much more intense. In England there are great players from everywhere, it’s impressive. I’ve adapted fast enough, that the most important thing. It’s up to me to keep my place, this is just the beginning.

And you can’t really argue with that. The change in pace, power, and intensity – the second you switch off you’re under huge pressure – shouldn’t be underestimated, and while some might question why we’re signing players from Ligue 2 in the first place, it seems the young man has a calm head on his shoulders. I have to say I like him – another one that seems to know when to take a booking for the team – and for me he’s shown a lot of promise.

That’s your lot from me today. Andrew Allen will be here tomorrow with more.

You can find updates throughout the day over on Arseblog News. Have a good one!

Since Arsenal signed Petr Cech in June 2015, I have written a solitary article about him in this column– the week before the move was made official. In fact, leafing through my archive in my seven and a half years as a columnist on this site, I have written very few articles about Arsenal’s goalkeepers, the odd Szczesny hagiography aside.

Writing about goalkeepers is notoriously difficult because it is such a specialist position. Goalies largely train separately from their teammates in technical coaching clinics. All of which is to say, I am not confident writing about goalkeepers. The football media more widely has not done enough to educate on the position.

Football coverage has become more detailed and forensic over the years- ex-referees are regularly courted for their view on major decisions. But goalkeeping expertise has not been sought nearly enough. David Preece is doing a very good job of filling this hitherto unexplored niche in the punditocracy. (I also think technical sports science / performance management expertise is lacking in football punditry- players are elite level athletes after all).

That I don’t consider myself qualified to pass judgement on goalkeepers due to a deficit in my knowledge is not to say I feel outstandingly qualified to comment on full-backs or centre forwards- which I do more regularly and with greater confidence. But there is an element of relatability to outfield roles that most of us just don’t have when it comes to ‘keepers.

Some of us will have experienced varying levels of football coaching in outfield positions and the coverage of the sport is littered with the insight of ex-professionals who help to illuminate certain concepts. We are more literate in these areas, even if our knowledge is second hand. When it comes to goalkeepers, we are grasping at thin air, a situation most goalies will be well familiar with…

The demands on goalkeepers have evolved enormously in recent years. The back pass law, passed in 1992, was a revolutionary innovation at the time. It was one of the best law changes ever made by football’s governing bodies, it created a higher paced, freer flowing spectacle, furthering the sport’s popularity.

In his book ‘The Mixer’ Michael Cox analyses the impact of the back pass law in depth. Leeds United were the defending champions when the rule was introduced and they slumped to 17th place in the table immediately after its inception. Leeds were a direct team that relied heavily on John Lukic kicking the ball out of his hands towards Lee Chapman, the backpass law interrupted their rhythm and Lukic’s career never really recovered either.

All modern goalkeepers have been reared and educated under the back pass rule, indeed, many weren’t even born when it was passed. They are all literate, but Pep Guardiola has sped up the evolution of what is required from your top level glove butler. Having the ball at feet is no longer a legislative necessity, it’s moved from desirable to essential criteria.

It is no longer enough to be a ‘sweeper keeper’ or to simply not treat the ball like an unexploded bomb in your presence. Comfort in possession has been substituted for quality in possession. Goalkeepers like Cech, whose top level careers started BP (Before Pep) have seen their jobs change again. The likes of de Gea, Neuer, Alisson, Ederson and even Cech’s current understudy Bernd Leno are renowned for their footwork as much as their glovemanship.

At the top level, goalkeepers are basically the 11th outfield player now. The role of the modern full-back has altered greatly in recent years, largely because it is one of the few pockets of space on the pitch where players have time on the ball. It is similar for goalkeepers. Playing out from the back has its advantages in creating space in more attacking areas.

But also, goalkeepers have time and an unrivalled panorama of the pitch. Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson has already taken this vista to another level with his precision long passing. The difference for goalkeepers, of course, is that they receive the ball in a static pose. Outfield players aren’t blessed with the same amount of time, but they receive on the move and usually have an idea where to move the ball onto within a nanosecond.

For goalkeepers, time can be an enemy as much as a friend. Too much time to think can lead one into discombobulation, as Alisson found when he was burgled of possession in his own area by Leicester’s Demari Gray last weekend. Cech’s languid dither in possession inside the first minute at Cardiff on Sunday was also a symptom of his brain being so occupied with thought that his coordination monetarily deserted him.

The larger the menu, the more likely one is to fall victim to indecision. Technically, it takes some time to acquire the skill of receiving the ball statically whilst frantically scanning the pitch for options. The brain overheats and momentarily breaks communication with the feet, one’s eyes are so busy scanning the pitch that the ball is left to fend for itself.

All of which is to say that an already stressful and lonely position has had another layer of anxiety added to it. This is the first time I have felt comfortable enough to write about Petr Cech for over three years and it’s not because of his more familiar goalkeeping competencies, but because of the more ‘outfield’ requirements of his role.

Cech’s Arsenal tenure has divided opinion, but we all feel as though we are on safer ground judging him as a footballer. Watching him try to play out from the back in the opening weeks of the season has been a bit like watching a loosehead prop retrain as a ballet dancer. Cech spent most of his career kicking the ball long to Didier Drogba and made his name in the pre-Pep era of goalkeeping gentrification.

The most difficult period of his career in West London coincided with Andre Villas Boas’ insistence on playing a high defensive line. It is perhaps unreasonable to suggest that he cannot learn a new style due to his age. Cech taught himself to speak Spanish and Portuguese in his spare time because of the volume of Spanish and Portuguese speaking defenders Chelsea employed.

He also taught himself to play the drums in his late 20s. “It teaches you to use all four limbs in different ways. You need to find a way to co-ordinate things and, once you learn how to programme your brain to do that, it helps you to co-ordinate even for football,” he told the Arsenal Weekly Podcast back in December 2015.

This is an individual with a high capacity and appetite for learning. However, the situation is complicated by the presence of Bernd Leno- an experienced German international renowned for his ability with the ball at his feet. Emery’s ongoing preference for Cech suggests Leno’s other technical competencies must be somewhat lacking.

It’s possible, if premature, to suggest that Arsenal have one technically sound goalkeeper who struggles with the ball at his feet and one goalkeeper for whom that is his most redeeming feature (a la Claudio Bravo). Arsenal are wrestling with the modern goalkeeping conundrum in a nutshell.

Cech is an intelligent, highly capable learner, whether he can become a footballer as well as a goalkeeper- and how long he has to update his software- remains to be seen. With the Europa League and the Carabao Cup on the horizon, Bernd Leno will be given opportunities to impress in the coming weeks. Cech must adapt to his new environment or be threatened with extinction.

Follow me on Twitter @Stillberto– Or like my page on Facebook.

Renowned Arsenal historians Andy Kelly and Mark Andrews and I have written a book about the tumultuous early years of Arsenal Football Club covering the period 1886 – 1893. ‘Royal Arsenal- Champions of the South’ is available to order here.

Welcome to another episode of the Arsecast – the Arsenal podcast.

Liam Brady is one of the greatest players ever to play for Arsenal, and as a young Irish lad, I enjoyed the fact he was such an important player for us – even if I never did see him play in the flesh while with at the club.

We chat about his entire career, moving from Dublin to London at the age of 15, how he was scouted, making his way into the first team and establishing himself in the midfield, his decision to leave for Italy (it might have been elsewhere!), whether or not it was ever an option to come back, his time in management, then heading up the Arsenal academy for so many years, it’s all in there.

PLEASE NOTE

This podcast first appeared on our Patreon page in July. If you like what we do here and feel like you could spend €5 a month to support that as well as get access to loads of extra content, most of it exclusive, you can sign up to become an Arseblog Member here. And if you need any more info, we have a full FAQ about it all here.

You’ll find all the download and subscription links below, and you can always subscribe in your favourite podcasting app by searching for ‘arseblog’ or ‘arsecast’. All our archives are found on site or via our Acast page.

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The last time I wrote on these pages, Atletico Madrid had just dumped Arsenal out of the Europa League and we were all coming to terms with the fact that Arsene Wenger wasn’t going to get the happy ending we’d all wished for him.

Just over four months have passed since then…and, well…not much has happened, has it?

We’ve bid farewell to Arsene, gawped at the prospect of Mikel Arteta taking over, persuaded ourselves it might just work out, gasped when Lego-head got shelved by surprise, said adios to Santi, launched the worst home kit ever (it’s an open goal for you Adidas), googled Unai Emery (he was at Spartak Moscow, wtf?), listened to the Spaniard ‘Rosetta Stone’ his way through his first press conference, digested Ivan’s successful powerplay, axed Jens, recruited new coaching staff, rejigged the medical setup, signed Stephan Lichtsteiner, welcomed back Freddie, tied Granit, Ainsley, Calum, Alex and Reiss to new deals, signed Bernd Leno, watched Wilshere walk away, feasted on the World Cup, brushed up on historical tensions between Albania and Serbia, baked in conditions worthy of Mars, chucked beer in the air, welcomed football home (with tongue-firmly-in-cheek), hailed Olivier ‘champion du monde’ Giroud, spent ages learning how to spell Papastathopoulos, devoured the fixture list, snapped up Lucas Torreira, smashed Boreham Wood, seen Smith-Rowe take Singapore by storm, dropped in on Dublin and Stockholm…

*hang on, let me pause for breath*

…put Matteo Guendouzi in our fantasy football team, chuckled at the first team having to work their bollocks off in training, watched Mesut – scapegoated for Germany’s failings in Russia – become the focal point of a complex debate on national identity and then retire from international football, read rumours of AC Milan pinching our CEO, appointed a host of captains, lamented Silent Stan’s full takeover and the death of plurality of ownership, lost to City and Chelsea, torn our hair out over Petr Cech’s wayward footwork, persuaded ourselves to be patient with the ‘process’, driven Joel to Italy, waved Dave to Naples, bounced back against West Ham, beaten Livia Soprano’s Cardiff, laughed at Mourinho and checked where Poltava is on the map.

We wanted change. I guess we got it. The only thing missing is Gunnersaurus going full Maximus Decimus Meridius in front of the baying Emirates masses yelling, “Are you not entertained? Are you not entertained? Is this not why you are here?”

*Cough* Someone please Photoshop this.

Yep, a hell of a lot has happened. And yet opponents still score by lobbing long balls into our penalty box. And mid-season Interlulls remain boring as fuck. Perhaps, for once, I shouldn’t complain about the latter. It really is the calm after the storm right now.

On that note, aside from an Aaron Ramsey goal for Wales against Ireland and a Mkhitaryan penalty miss for Armenia against Luxembourg, the only story of real interest in the last 24 hours has been Nacho Monreal wading into the Ozil saga to say the German’s detractors fabricated the story that he’d fallen out with Unai Emery.

Our left-back said:

“He is a very famous player and obviously people love talking about him. Recently, it is always bad things. Like last time, he was sick and that’s why he didn’t play.

“People started to invent that he had a problem with the manager. It wasn’t like that. He got a cold, he was sick, that’s it. That’s why he didn’t play.”

At this point, whether it happened or not, isn’t really the issue, the key is that our new head coach and our star player work together to get the best out of Mesut for the benefit of the team.

Nacho thinks similarly:

“The important thing is he plays at his highest level, gives a lot of assists, scores a lot of goals and basically helps the team. That’s what he knows. He doesn’t know how to go up to a player and grab him by the throat.”

As Michael Cox writes in a very interesting piece for ESPN, that’s going to be easier said than done; he’s had an up and down five years so far at the Emirates.

Just before I go, if you’ve not checked out Tim Stillman’s column on Petr Cech, you must. And Blogs has kindly left his excellent interview with Gunners legend Liam Brady for you to get your weekly Arsecast fix. The chat was originally made available to our Patreon members and covers all sorts, including his career at Highbury, his move to Juventus and what he thinks of young English players moving abroad. 

On the subject of Arsenal Legends, there are still tickets to watch a whole host of them, including Bobby Pires, Gilberto, Super Tom Rosicky, take on their Real Madrid counterparts at the Emirates on Saturday. It should be a fun afternoon. Ticket details here.

Right, that’s your lot. Tom is on duty tomorrow and I’ll be back on Sunday when I shall endeavour to pen a post that isn’t just a big long list of things. I think I’m capable of that, but it’s a rather daunting prospect.

Happy Friday.

A very quick Saturday round up for you, and now I’ve had my breakfast, we’ll start with a story that I’m quite sure would’ve put me off eating. Even the title of the story makes me a little queasy. Santi Cazorla, double-footed midfield dynamo, and former Gunner that was instrumental in the team’s absence from the doldrums for possibly years before his achilles could take it no more, has been speaking about the injury that not only ended his Arsenal career, but his football career and maybe even his anything-other-than-pottering around the garden career.

It was during a friendly against Chile five years ago that he first sustained the beginning of the injury that effectively ended his Arsenal career, even if he didn’t come out of the team until half time against Ludogorets in 2016 (the one where we won 6-0). By half time in that game, Santi had got to the point where was in tears as the muscles cooled down and knew he had to stop:

Half-times killed me, because it got cold, I’d be crippled at the start of the second half and the pain got worse and worse. That night, I cried; it had become too much. I had to stop. Then the problems started.

Then the problems started?! He goes on to explain the infection he sustained that got under the skin and ate away at his bone until it was “like plasticine”, and how the doctors told him to concentrate on just walking, never mind playing football. I can only imagine what it must’ve been like for a personality like Santi to have to deal with the situation he found himself in. Perennially cheerful and always seeming most happy with the ball at his either of his equally talented feet, to basically become crippled and told he should concentrate on hobbling round the garden with his kids, never mind playing the game he loves – and was very good at – must’ve been enormously difficult. It’s a mark of the man that Sid Lowe says in his interview that Santi was mostly laughing about it all when recounting the story, but I genuinely can’t imagine how horrible that must’ve been. They were talking about amputation at one point. Santi says he’s not interested in pursuing the original doctors that didn’t spot the infection the first time round, and personally I can’t say I blame him. Generally speaking these are professional people doing their best, but sometimes things simply go wrong. I can completely understand the opposite point of view too – to sue the shit out of them – and it’s particularly galling that he says they didn’t even offer an apology (I only hope not doing so was under legal advice as it could’ve admitted liability).

It’s also a mark of the club, and of another man, Arsene Wenger, who offered to take him up on his one year extension while he was injured. Many will say that was a stupid thing to do – perhaps rightly – but it was the compassionate thing to do to let Santi concentrate on his recovery. Ultimately he never did play for us again, only being part of the squad players that warmed up on the pitch for the UEFA Cup final, so it was arguably money down the drain, but at least he got out for us in Arsenal colours once more. And frankly, I doubt Stan Kronke felt the hit too hard,

It’s worth remembering how important Santi was to us for a number of years, both as an attacking force, and latterly in the centre of midfield. He was, as someone else was once described, the oil in the team’s engine, and when he played well, I always thought the team played well. A natural footballer, genuinely two footed, and (nearly!) always playing with a smile on his face, he was a delight to have as part of the squad, and it’s a shame he never got the opportunity to say a real goodbye to the fans.

Anyway, you can read all the gory details in great depth in Sid Lowe’s excellent piece over on the Guardian.

In other news, former Gunner Gilberto has told the official site he’s very excited about playing against Real Madrid in the legends game this afternoon:

To have the opportunity to see ex-teammates is always fun and always a great feeling, because you start to have a nice conversation and go back in time a little and have some fun

I can’t think of too many of my former jobs where I’d go back to “have some fun”. Usually I’ve ended up leaving jobs because I’ve got to the point of being unable to suffer my erstwhile colleagues’ stupid faces each day, but I suppose it’s a bit different if you’re a professional footballer. He also mentions that he’s taking the time to get himself an education now, which is nice to hear:

or me now for example, this course programme is a big challenge. After such a long time I’ve gone back to school for education to challenge myself for things. I’ve never had this experience before, but it’s been good and it’s all about how much we enjoy these things

The intensity of a professional footballer’s career means that they must lose out on a lot of things that us mere mortals take for granted, so I suppose to some extent it swings both ways. They get paid millions of pounds to do something they love, and we rack up tens of thousands of pounds of debt doing courses where our employment opportunities at the end are at best next to nothing.

Oh.

Right, that’s it, this blog is late enough, and the boy isn’t going to take himself on a train ride (today’s “activity”), so I shall leave it there. Andrew Allen will be back with you all next week, so I shall speak to you again on Saturday.

Have a good one!

Morning all. I’m still chuckling at Jens Lehmann’s behaviour in the Arsenal Legends game yesterday.

The German, known for his uber-competitive streak, not only kept a clean sheet against Raul’s Real Madrid but when the game went to a shootout he stole the responsibility for the winning penalty from Tomas Rosicky before planting his effort in the top corner.

It was pantomime villain stuff from the 48-year-old and topped off a fun afternoon for a good cause. What. A. Magic.

Afterwards, David O’Leary who was managing the Gunners side admitted he was ‘ready to kill’ the Invincible. For his part, Rosicky just shrugged his shoulders and said it was Jens being Jens. He’d know…a few weeks ago he had a penalty saved by the keeper in his own testimonial!

Away from the Emirates, the Interlull kicked up a gear for our international players. As I mentioned on Friday morning, Henrikh Mkhitaryan missed a penalty as Armenia beat Lichtenstein and Aaron Ramsey scored for a rampant Wales as they thumped Ireland 4-1. Our midfielder celebrated by slipping the ball under his shirt and later revealed his partner is expecting twins. No wonder he’s chasing a big pay rise.

Last night, Danny Welbeck, on as a late sub, thought he’d grabbed a last-gasp equaliser for England against Spain only for his effort to be ruled out for a foul on David de Gea. The United keeper fell over Welbz after jumping high to claim a loose ball and our man spun on a sixpence to net from a tight angle. It looked like the goal had been given only for the referee to change his mind. Spain clung on for a 2-1 win at Wembley.

Granit Xhaka put in a very tidy display as Switzerland went goal crazy against an out-of-sorts Iceland in St Gallen. I caught an hour of that game and Xhaka, who was wearing the armband in Stephan Lichtsteiner’s absence, played very well. In Tallinn, Sokratis played 90 minutes as Greece beat Estonia by a single goal.

All those matches formed part of the UEFA Nations League; a competition with a format so complicated that I’m yet to meet a single person who can explain its intricacies without double-checking google. 

Further afield, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang found the back of the net as Gabon came from behind to draw 1-1 with Burundi in their African Cup of Nations qualifier in Libreville. Interestingly, Stoke’s Saido Berahino, who was named in an England squad four years ago, opened the scoring for the visitors. I hadn’t realised this until now, but the AFCON will no longer be played in January; the 2019 edition, to be hosted by Cameroon, is scheduled for July. That’s a bonus. 

Mohamed Elneny played the full 90 minutes as Egypt beat Niger 6-0. Our man, who is yet to feature for the Gunners under Unai Emery, rounded off the scoring in stoppage time courtesy of a big deflection. Mo Salah had earlier missed two penalties.

Lucas Torreira was pictured with an ice pack on his left calf after coming off at half time of Uruguay’s 4-1 win over Mexico in Houston, Texas. The summer signing had started in the centre of midfield but didn’t last the course. Let’s hope it’s nothing serious as we’ve a busy schedule coming up in September. 

Of our loanees, Kelechi Nwakali, currently on loan at Porto’s B team was on the bench for Nigeria alongside former Arsenal youngster Semi Ajayi as they won 3-0 in the Seychelles. In hunting for a match report I stumbled across a photo of the home side’s comically chunky keeper, Dave Mussard; a man who looks like he’d be more comfortable playing prop on the rugby field or weightlifting at the Olympics. Brilliantly, it turns out he’s a pastry chef! So to clarify, the guy is a pastry chef, living on an idyllic island in the Indian Ocean who gets to play international football at the weekends…well played sir, you win.

Talking of keepers, Dave Ospina, in exile at Napoli for the season, was between the sticks as Colombia came from behind to beat Venezuela in Miami. In Japan, Takuma Asano had been due to take on Alexis Sanchez but the game was cancelled after an earthquake hit the island of Hokkaido on Thursday. 

Some of the Academy boys have been away too, Jeorge Bird has a comprehensive round-up, including updates on Willock, Nketiah, Nelson and Smith-Rowe. 

There’s not too much else kicking around. If you missed it yesterday, Hector Bellerin’s interview with Matthew Syed in The Times is well worth a read. He touches on some of the abuse he’s been subjected to since becoming a high-profile figure and why he thinks Arsenal will be different under new coach Unai Emery. If you don’t have a subscription, we’ve a few of the best bits on Arseblog News.

Catch you tomorrow.

Exactly a month ago, I wrote in the 2018/19 preview on these pages that I thought Unai Emery’s debut season in England would be a ‘tough transition year’ for Arsenal and that we were ending the transfer window with an unbalanced squad.

Since then we’ve been swatted away by Manchester City, frustratingly lost to Chelsea and relied on our firepower to overcome West Ham and Cardiff.

It’s ridiculously early to be passing judgement on what the coaching staff and players keep referring to as a ‘process’, but after a couple of awkward first dates, we’re getting to know this team a little better. Joint bank accounts may be a long way off, but holding hands is a possibility.

Here’s why I’m feeling optimistic…

Player buy-in

“Being convincing is the most fundamental thing to coaching: the players have to believe in you.”
Unai Emery, May 2018.

So far, the players seem to trust Unai Emery’s vision. While the Spaniard has a reputation for being something of a tactical perfectionist – the type of coach who’ll stop a training session to physically manoeuvre a player taking up an incorrect position – you also get the feeling he’s told his squad that trying to implement his football philosophy will inevitably lead to errors and that mistakes, for the time being, are just about acceptable.

In that respect, he’s buying himself and his players time to get it right. If you’re going to play out from the back, you need players who are confident in their technical ability, confident in their teammates and confident in the coach’s vision. They also need to be able to do it quickly and that comes with practice. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that he’s kept faith with the same back four/five (injuries to left-back aside) despite the teething problems.

Hector Bellerin’s comments in The Times (£) at the weekend were telling:

“I am impressed with Emery. We lost our first two games but we were very close both times. After the match, the players could feel that things were coming together…Emery is very focused on preparing a plan for our next opponents, whoever they may be. It is very detailed and very professional. The next few months are going to be very exciting for all of us. We will reach a higher level.”

A renewed tactical focus isn’t the only thing that has changed at London Colney, word from the training ground is that the players enjoyed being worked to the bone in pre-season and that there’s a renewed competitive spirit being fostered by the performance team led by Darren Burgess.

A win on the road

“Once you’re in a negative spiral like that, it’s very difficult to get out.”
Arsene Wenger, May 2018

It feels vaguely ridiculous that an away win against a middling team like Cardiff should necessitate a bullet-point all of its own, but our form on the road has been so bad in 2018 that securing three points away from the comfort of the Emirates is a big fillip for this team. Remember, we lost seven in a row between January 7 and May 9. Seven!

In some ways, it helps that Neil Warnock trotted out the usual pre-game guff about trying to kick us off the park. He won’t be the last manager to say something along those lines, but at least we’ve seen it off on this occasion.

Yes, the game was scrappy. Yes, we still looked nervous playing out from the back. Yes, we didn’t deal with long balls into the box. But we won. When our midfield clicked – Ozil dropping deeper to get on the ball in the second half – our attackers had the quality to make space and take their chances. It’s vital we keep the momentum going at Newcastle before a run of homes games across three competitions.

Guendouzi and Torreira

“He is hungry – he wants to improve, he wants to learn every day, every match. He is doing it his way, with character and quality.”
Unai Emery on Matteo Guendouzi, August 2018

Let’s be honest, nobody expected the 19-year-old with the Sideshow Bob hair to have played more minutes (306) than anybody else in our midfield after four Premier League games. He’s still raw and prone to the odd lapse in concentration but you can’t fault his willingness to drop deep, to own the ball as often as possible and to move play forward quickly. It’s to his credit that Emery felt him the best option to start the season as our ‘water carrier’ and he’s justified his selection so far. He’s not all about neat passing either. An aggressive presser and decent reader of the game, he’s already racking up decent stats for interceptions and tackles.

Guendouzi’s game time has come at the expense of Lucas Torreira, who, having started pre-season a little late following the World Cup, has only played 119 minutes so far, all off the bench. At 5ft 6” he cuts a diminutive figure in the centre of the park but he’s looked very neat and tidy so far. Like Guendouzi the 22-year-old likes to keep the game ticking over and he’s also capable of spotting a forward pass; his ball into Lacazette for the Frenchman’s winner at Cardiff was beautifully weighted. It went unnoticed at the time, but you’ll also notice the Uruguayan charging into the box after that pass, ready to pick up any scraps from a saved shot. No doubt, he’ll get more game time in September and we’ll get to understand his full range of qualities.

Goals!

“It is nice to play with Aubameyang because I think we complement each other, so it is always good to play with good players.”
Alex Lacazette, August 2018

Since drawing a blank against City, we’ve found the back of the net eight times. That’s not to be sniffed at. If we’re not going to be defensively solid this season, and it’s looking that way, then it’s vitally important that we create chances up front…and take them. We learnt that the hard way at Stamford Bridge when Iwobi, Mkhitaryan and Aubameyang should have put the game beyond the home side. Emery mentioned that the Gabon international was struggling for confidence after that match, but he’s found his stride with a fine Henry-esque curler at Cardiff and added to his season’s tally with a goal for his country against Burundi.

That Auba’s goal in Wales came while playing to the left of Alex Lacazette also gives Emery food for thought. The Spaniard was reticent to play the duo together from the start but after the French striker’s man-of-the-match showing – a performance full of hustle and bustle, as well as attacking prowess – you suspect he’ll stick with the set-up. Having struggled with injury last season and missed out on being part of France’s World Cup winning squad, you get the feeling Lacazette is a man on a mission. He appears to have overcome the self-doubt that racked him earlier in the year and in Auba, he’s found an extrovert with whom he seems to match both on and off the pitch.

Welbeck’s goal against West Ham was a timely reminder that he’s still a dangerous presence off the bench and Mustafi was quick to remind everyone that his recent header wasn’t an anomaly; Arsenal do score a lot of goals from set pieces even without big Olivier Giroud on the books (9 from corners was the EPL’s joint highest last season).  

In our early-Noughties heyday, what set us apart was goals from midfield. Messrs Pires and Ljungberg were double-figure regulars and that’s where we’ve struggled recently. Can we find a system that affords Ramsey the chance to make those deadly late runs into the box more regularly?  Might Mkhitaryan rediscover the scoring form that he was known for at Shakhtar and Borussia Dortmund? Can Iwobi and Ozil weigh in with a few? Here’s hoping…

___

Optimism doesn’t come easily to me…so, to balance things out, I’ll be back tomorrow with why I still have concerns about this team. 

If anything Interlully happens today, we’ll cover it on Arseblog News. 

Enjoy your Monday.

Welcome to another Arsecast Extra, the Arsenal podcast, with myself and James from @gunnerblog.

On this week’s Interlull show we have some connection issues between Spain and London, but we just about manage to discuss the international games, the Arsenal legends game at the weekend, Hector Bellerin’s interview with The Times and, briefly, Santi Cazorla’s fantastic interview with Sid Lowe in the Guardian. Then we answer questions about Alexandre Lacazette, Reiss Nelson’s move to Germany, the way we judge players these days, and some other stuff too.

Remember, you can send us questions via which we’ll try and get to each week. Send them to either @arseblog or @Gunnerblog (or both) using the hashtag #arsecastextra. Best to send them Monday morning so they get noticed more easily.

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This Arsecast Extra was recorded with ipDTL

In yesterday’s post, I touched on why I feel there’s room for optimism at the Emirates after the first month of the season.

My positivity boiled down to the following; the head coach seems to have the faith of the players, we’ve won away, our new midfielders are showing promise and we’ve bagged a few goals.

I caveated all of the above by admitting it’s very early in the season; we’re only at the hand holding stage and the players and the coaching staff have a lot of work to do if they’re to persuade me to go to third base with them. So to speak.

I, like a lot of you, have been left in a fragile state by the way the Arsenal of the late Wenger years constantly found a way to self-destruct. It wasn’t just the tonkings at the hands of the big sides, it was knowing that a Glenn Murray header for Brighton was as inevitable as an Arjen Robben curler for Bayern. Our mental brittleness seemed to feed on our tactical unpreparedness, repeatedly leading to costly mistakes by individuals.

I think the scars run deep and I’m not naive enough to believe a change of coach can repair them overnight. Rebuilding confidence and strengthening trust inside the camp will take time. As Arsene used to say, “You go up by stairs and come down by the lift.”

Of course, time isn’t something that’s on the side of coaches in modern football. Arsene may have stuck around for 22 years but you have to axe two decades off that to get the Premier League’s average managerial tenure. In other words, Unai Emery has his work cut out. He needs to fix enough of what’s broken as soon as possible to engineer a route back to the Champions League places or the Emirates crowd, who are currently on his side and showing patience, may succumb to grumbling again.

I like Unai. I admire that he has a specific vision for how he wants his team to play. I just fear that it’s the game of a perfectionist and pulling it off with our current personnel is going to be a tall order in the ever more competitive Premier League. Our players, left to roam free for so long, have picked up some bad habits. Others, it could be argued, have never been up to the required standard.

Not only is he trying to teach them how to build play from the back (more on that in a bit), he’s also trying to instil the discipline and tactical know-how needed to pursue a high press game. Oh, and he’s working on their fitness because unless you’re a few goals up, you can’t afford to ease off the gas playing such tactics. It’s disastrous if you do, you get torn to shreds.

The goals conceded at Chelsea were embarrassingly bad, West Ham scythed through us repeatedly on the counter-attack and our unwillingness to close down crosses followed by our inability to deal with high balls into the box is something the coach lamented after the win in Cardiff. I’m not touching the City game, I’ll let Unai off that one. Worryingly though, we’ve already made six errors leading directly to opposition shots this season, more than any other side in the top division.

Defending with a high press is a collective effort, but obviously, the collective suffers when individuals make poor decisions or their fitness wanes. From the strikers through the midfielders, the aim is to regain possession as quickly as possible. In possession, you have to break quickly and move the ball through the lines and use the flanks.

So far it feels like Emery’s experimentation – he’s mix-and-matched Aaron Ramsey, Granit Xhaka, Mesut Ozil, Alex Iwobi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan to fill the midfield in his preferred 4-3-2-1 formation – has played a part in leaving the defence exposed at times. These players, learning on the job, have either not closed down space rigorously enough or, in possession, have been profligate in dangerous areas of the pitch.

Ozil hasn’t done enough to unshackle himself from his reputation as a luxury player, Xhaka’s mobility and tackling technique (or lack thereof) remain questionable and Ramsey’s attacking prowess often comes at the expense of positional discipline. Iwobi and Mkhitaryan may have hustle and bustle but their consistency on the ball is up for debate. I like what I’ve seen of Matteo Guendouzi, who has brought youthful energy to the centre of the park, but he’s 19 and very raw. Lucas Torreira, a player with experience as a defensive midfielder, has so far played only 119 minutes out of a possible 360. We need to see more of him to know if he’s the man to bring better balance.

Not only does Emery need to settle on a first choice midfield who knows what it is doing, the backup players, who’ll be needed in the cup competitions and if we get any injuries, also have to buy into what’s required. Do we have the squad depth? I think it’s strange that Mohamed Elneny hasn’t had any minutes at all yet. Ainsley Maitland-Niles is an interesting prospect, but he’s currently sidelined. 

At the back, there are plenty of question marks. And fewer options. With Calum Chambers on loan, Nacho Monreal needed at left-back, Laurent Koscielny injured and inexperienced duo Rob Holding and Dinos Mavropanos being held back for the lesser cup competitions, Sokratis and Mustafi are what we have to work in the middle. Unfortunately, I’m yet to be convinced that the German and the Greek have the defensive nous and technical quality to work in the long-term. In theory, the fact they both like to win the ball back quickly should fit our high press system, but it doesn’t feel that way. The imbalance feels similar to when we coupled Koscielny with Thomas Vermaelen.

Sokratis has been more composed on the ball than I expected, but Mustafi remains a gung-ho presence capable of a mistake at any moment. His predilection for going to ground has always made me nervous. When he does stay on his feet – see his efforts against Alvaro Morata – he looks equally culpable of engineering a balls-up. Some people might say I’m being harsh or point to the fact he wasn’t coached properly under Wenger, but we did shell out £35 million for him. That’s a lot. 

In the wide positions, it feels as though our full-backs are still coming to terms with the optimal moment to press. In the build-up to Pedro’s opener at Stamford Bridge, Bellerin charged into no man’s land leaving a huge gap for Jorginho to exploit behind Mkhitaryan. In Cardiff, the Spaniard came too narrow after Granit Xhaka gave away the ball and was late in his attempts to cut out the cross that led to Victor Camarasa’s goal. Hector has been a great attacking outlet so far this season, but if we’re not going to give him more protection he may have to curb some of his final third enthusiasm for the sake of balance against better opponents. Either that or we should give the experienced Stephan Lichtsteiner a go.

Of course, more than ever the spotlight is on the defence given Emery’s desire to see us build play from the back. It goes against everything that a traditionalist would ask of a keeper or defender, but when implemented properly it can help teams break down opponents looking to sit in compact lines / park the bus. It’s also very useful combating a high press.

It’s a high-stakes game that requires every player to have full confidence in their technical ability and well-attuned spatial awareness. Spend too long dawdling on the ball because your teammates haven’t made an angle to receive a pass and a tenacious forward or attacker will be snapping at you in no time. You may have spotted Cech growling at Guendouzi in Cardiff for not coming short to collect a pass after the keeper had carelessly given the ball straight to Harry Arter. On that occasion, the duo just about got away with their mix-up. The keeper should have cleared his lines, but the teenager could have made life easier in the first place.

I still think Cech’s a very good shot-stopper and I agree with Tim Stillman that, even at this late stage of his career, he’s intelligent enough to adapt his game, but that doesn’t hide the fact he’s looked unconvincing knocking balls about at the back. In addition to a couple of awkward moments at Cardiff, he nearly put the ball in his own net against City and was shaky in the early stages at the Bridge. He’s also not the quickest, so playing the sweeper role doesn’t come naturally.

It’s worrying that rumours have surfaced that we’re turning a blind-eye to Cech’s struggles because summer signing Leno, who does have a reputation for being good with his feet, hasn’t impressed in training. I guess we’ll find out soon enough what the German is like in goal; he’s likely to be handed a chance in the Europa League. No doubt Sven Mislintat will be watching closely…possibly from behind the sofa. 

Overall, I think it’s right that the squad persists with the learning process, but I can’t shake the nagging feeling that our current personnel are going to concede loads of chances in the coming months. In turn, that could upset any momentum we build, both during games and on an ongoing basis. If the attack doesn’t pick up the slack, we’re going to drop points. That’s a big burden to put on them. 

In his first press conference, Emery said: “I like possession with the ball, I like good pressing against the other team. I prefer to win 5-4 than win 1-0.”

I’ve seen enough to believe he wasn’t lying. Strap in. 

___

On the news front, it’s still relatively quiet. Stephan Lichtsteiner, whose Switzerland face England tonight, insists he’s not retiring from international football. There’s talk of AC Milan giving up their chase for Ivan Gazidis, meh. And guff, that I won’t even link to, claiming Ozil could move to Turkey.

If you missed it yesterday, Blogs – dialling in from Spain – and James put together an Arsecast Extra for your delectation. They talk Hector, Santi and the weekend’s Legends game. As always, it’s well worth a listen.

Finally, it’s to my shame that I neglected to mention Arsenal Women’s winning start to the new WSL season in yesterday’s blog; they spanked Liverpool 5-0 with Dutch striker Vivianne Miedema hitting a hat-trick. Top work.

Right, I need coffee. Catch you tomorrow.

Good morning from Brixton where the moody, grey skies make for a truly autumnal morning.

The vast majority of the Arsenal squad should be back at London Colney by tomorrow as Unai Emery steps up his preparations for the trip to Newcastle on Saturday afternoon.

September’s second round of Interlull fixtures drew to a close last night with five Gunners in action. In Leicester, Stephan Lichtsteiner and Granit Xhaka went head-to-head with Danny Welbeck as Switzerland lost 1-0 to England in a friendly.

I didn’t watch any of the game but I’ve read positive things about Xhaka’s first half performance. The 25-year-old, who returned the captain’s armband to Lichtsteiner having worn it against Iceland, pulled the strings in midfield but was left frustrated by his team’s lack of cutting edge.

He said afterwards:

“You don’t get 20 shots on goal against such an opponent, that’s why you have to take your chances.”

Welbz was apparently busy, but ineffective in his 61 minutes on the pitch.

Elsewhere, Sokratis played 90 minutes as Greece lost 2-1 to Hungary in the UEFA Nations League and further afield, a couple of our loanees were also in action. Dave Ospina kept a clean sheet against a Messi-less Argentina in New Jersey – yes, I’ve checked…he did go down injured –  and Takuma Asano grabbed an assist off the bench as Japan beat Costa Rica.

There are two more Interlulls coming up this year with the next just 26 days away. By that point we’ll have played seven games across three competitions.  

After the trip to St. James’ Park, our Premier League fixtures include visits from moneybags Everton and in-form Watford before we head to Fulham. Brentford visit the Emirates in the Carabao Cup and we’ve matches with Vorskla and Qarabag in the Europa League, at home and away respectively.

It’ll be interesting to see how Emery treats squad rotation during the period, especially as the rigours of regular football start to take their toll. Hopefully, it’ll stand us in good stead that 12 of the first team squad (Cech, Leno, Martinez, Bellerin, Holding, Monreal, Mustafi, Mavropanos, Ozil, Guendouzi, Lacazette and Iwobi) have been training as normal since being granted a couple of days off after the Cardiff game.

Jeorge Bird reports that those numbers were bolstered by seven guys from the Academy. Gedion Zelalem (back from an ACL injury), Emile Smith Rowe, Julio Pleguezuelo, Robbie Burton, Charlie Gilmour, Nathan Tormey and Talaji Bola all took part in first team sessions and may harbour hopes of being part of upcoming cup competition squads. A couple will likely be involved in tonight’s Checkatrade Trophy game with Coventry City. 

By and large, the vibes from the training ground are good going into this busy period. Lucas Torreira, subbed with a tight calf at the weekend by Uruguay, was pictured listening to an Emery team talk. I think we can assume he’s fit for the weekend. And the club also shared a video of Laurent Koscielny, possibly a bit ahead of schedule, kicking a ball for the first time since his Achilles injury.

What’s more, as I inferred on Monday, Emery really seems to have captured the imagination of the players, even though they are being worked physically and mentally every day. Before the Spaniard arrived, there was a lot of talk about him introducing long video analysis sessions, if that is the case, Nacho Monreal doesn’t seem to mind.

The left-back revealed:

“In training, he likes that every single player gives his 100 per cent in any moment.

“Training is one hour and a half, one hour 40, whatever, all the time we must give our best performance. If we have to run, we have to do it, don’t save any energy.

“After that, he loves that we enjoy and have a good atmosphere in the group. While we are training, it is ‘come on guys, do everything’ and after you will have time to relax and enjoy with your team-mates.

“It is good for the team. With Unai Emery, we work more tactically. He is a Spanish coach and in Spain we work a lot on tactics, set-pieces – I think we are improving in this aspect.

“This is our idea for this year – have more possession, don’t lose stupid balls in the middle of the pitch and be more compact than how we were before.”

I love the simplicity of that last bit.

Despite some pretty spurious rumours linking him with Barcelona, Monreal also confirmed that he’s in contact with the club about a new contract. The left-back last put pen-to-paper in January 2016 and will be a free agent next summer.

On the progress of negotiations, he added:

“At the moment we are talking with the club. I’ve always said I am really happy, I feel very happy playing for Arsenal. I came six years ago. I have a good relationship with them.

“We are in contact in any moment so don’t worry about that. I am happy here. That is the most important thing.”

Few could have predicted Nacho’s impact at the club when he signed from Malaga for £10 million five years ago. He’s a beautifully understated, underrated and hard-working member of the squad. And he’s a real threat from set pieces. If he wants to stick around, we should do everything to keep him.

Right, that’s all for today. If any further team news breaks, we’ll cover it on Arseblog News.

It looks increasingly likely that Ivan Gazidis will leave his position at Arsenal to become the new CEO at AC Milan.

Elliott Management, the US hedge fund that owns the Italian club, identified the 53-year-old as their number one target for the position when they completed a takeover in July and the two parties have been negotiating a suitably agreeable financial package ever since. After something of a stand-off, the big Italian publications reported yesterday that a breakthrough has been made.

Gazidis has a 12 month notice period at the Emirates, but it won’t be in Arsenal’s interest to stand in his way. If he wants out, he’ll be allowed to go.

The job on his hands at the San Siro is not insignificant. Milan may have a reputation as one of the continent’s most glamorous and successful clubs, but their financial situation is a mess.

Owned for 31 years by former Italian president Silvio Berlusconi, Milan was sold to a Chinese-led consortium for €740 million in April 2017 but fell into the hands of Elliott Management in July 2018 after Li Yonghong, the frontman of the new regime, defaulted on debts he owed them. In short, Li spent huge money gambling on a quick return to the Champions League and lost. To rub salt into the wounds, his ‘investment’ drew the wrath of UEFA who deemed the spending to infringe their Financial Fair Play regulations.

The Court of Arbitration for Sport recently overturned a ban from this season’s Europa League, but the emphasis is firmly on Elliott, who’ve injected more cash, to steady the ship at the San Siro. It’s Gazidis’ hand they want on the tiller.  

On taking over at Milan, Paul Singer, Elliott’s co-CEO and an Arsenal fan, said: “Financial support, stability, and proper oversight are necessary prerequisites for on-field success and a world-class fan experience.”

I reckon Ivan would happily call a premium-rate number to listen to words like that all night long.

Gazidis, previously the deputy commissioner at the MLS, was an understated hire when he joined Arsenal in 2009. Arsene Wenger, who’d played a big role in the interview process, described him as ‘a competent man’ capable of dealing with the ‘extreme pressure’ of life in football’s spotlight.

His immediate remit as CEO was to take the strain off Arsene and Ken Friar on the transfer and contract front. In the long-term, he was charged with growing the Gunners global brand and strengthening our financial muscle.

Despite the grandiose responsibilities, it was Arsene’s world in which Ivan began to operate. In the aftermath of David Dein’s exit and the move from Highbury to the Emirates, and against the backdrop of Stan Kroenke and Alisher Usmanov’s burgeoning ‘Cold War’, the Frenchman had made himself the lightning rod for Arsenal-related attention. From signings and sales to the results; he was the most powerful figure at the club and he knew it. 

Only in the last year, with a significant restructuring of the club’s football operations and Wenger’s dismissal, has Gazidis stepped out from the Frenchman’s shadows. That wrestle for power should have taken place far sooner. Easier said than done? Perhaps. But it’s on his watch that we’ve deteriorated on the pitch, doing so within four years of him declaring, “We are moving into a new phase where, if we make our decisions well, we can compete with any club in the world.”

On first hearing the Gazidis exit rumours, the unrivalled Swiss Ramble took to Twitter (full thread here) to share his analysis of the 53-year-old’s tenure at the Emirates.

He noted that Arsenal’s revenue has grown by an impressive £198 million since January 2009, outpaced only by Manchester City and Manchester United in absolute terms. However, this was the second smallest percentage growth of any of the big six clubs and £125 million of it came from TV money.

On the commercial front, he added that despite a headline-grabbing deal with Puma and the renewal with Emirates – both deemed ‘slam dunks’ – we’d achieved the second lowest total of that same big six. Worse, our second successive failure to qualify for the Champions League will likely see the financial gap between us and Bayern Munich, a club long admired by Gazidis, return to what it was before we made those gains. We’ve not made the progress we should have. 

Gazidis, like Arsene, firmly believed that Financial Fair Play regulations would play in Arsenal’s favour and that the transfer playing field would level out after years of billionaire cash injections. That trust, for various reasons, was misplaced. Maybe he never really believed it and just wanted to downplay the hindrance of Wenger’s parsimonious tendencies. 

By July 2016, he seemed to hint that Arsenal should take a leaf out of Leicester City’s book. Instead of pitching us as a powerhouse to be feared, he suggested we follow the lead of a club who’d achieved a once-in-a-lifetime success by, amongst other things, scouting lower league players.

He optimistically stated: “I think we are looking at new dynamics. I think Leicester are the vanguard of a changing dynamic within the Premier League. I don’t think general perception has yet woken up to that, but I think it will over the next season and the years ahead.

“I think it’s fantastic news for the Premier League, I think it’s fantastic news for fans of football. And I think it’s good news for fans of Arsenal because I think the keys to success will be how well you do things, and not just about financial firepower.”

Few would argue Leicester’s achievement was anything other than an anomaly. Granted, there was some logic to Gazidis’ thinking, he wanted a renewed focus on cutting-edge enhancements on the medical, fitness, analysis and psychology fronts – improvements we’re now making – but it also sounded like a tacit admission that competing financially with the game’s superpowers was not going to happen. His love for a slick soundbite really bit him on the arse. 

I think Arsene was right when he described Gazidis as competent. He’s a safe pair of hands. A smooth operator at boardroom level. And he’s always been open to keeping a dialogue open with the supporters; something that may well die out with his impending exit and Kroenke’s full takeover. That said, he’s also been bloody expensive and has pocketed the best part of £21 million from us. I don’t believe his departure should be feared, despite the awkwardness of the timing. 

Maybe history will be kinder on Gazidis’ time at Arsenal. We can only hope that the foundations that he’s laid are strong and that the club under Unai Emery, Sven Mislintat, Raul Sanllehi and Huss Fahmy can start competing at football’s top table again soon. We’ll find out soon enough. Now the search for a new man must begin. 

__

Elsewhere, Freddie Ljungberg’s under-21s kicked off their Checkatrade Trophy campaign in style with a 3-0 win over Coventry City. Emile Smith Rowe, Eddie Nketiah and Joe Willock, three players who all featured on our tour of Singapore, got the goals. I’ve not seen any of the action yet, the match wasn’t broadcast, but the result against senior opponents speaks for itself. Well done lads.

I’m expecting Unai Emery to face the press later ahead of Saturday’s trip to St James’ Park so that should give us plenty to talk over tomorrow. In the meantime, we’ll cover all the quotes as they are made available on Arseblog News.

In a summer not lacking discussion points at Arsenal, Danny Welbeck’s contract situation went somewhat unremarked upon. With a change in manager and five new signings to talk about and with Welbeck on England duty at the World Cup, the subject did not surface often. On reflection, it seems a little bizarre that Arsenal did not appear to try to sell Welbeck or to renew his terms.

While the player himself missed a large chunk of pre-season, players are not exactly heavily involved when it comes to contracts and transfers. As far as I am aware, Welbeck’s agent was not part of the England squad, it seems odd to me that nothing could be done until the man himself was in his training kit at London Colney.

A 27 year old England international forward ought to have made good money on the domestic market, with mid-table Premier League clubs now awash with cash. Southampton have pledged £20m to signing Danny Ings after all. Some stories appeared a few weeks ago that the Gunners were looking to move Mohamed Elneny’s wages off the books.

Many publications carried this story, which suggests that the media were briefed to this effect. Casually writing off a potential transfer fee for a 27 year old England forward doesn’t seem like the appropriate course of action for a club enduring sleepless nights over Elneny’s £5m a year salary. Contract and transfer management are two areas where Arsenal seriously need to improve.

Liverpool’s recent transfer largesse has been funded by logical ‘asset management.’ Players such as Suarez and Coutinho had their contracts renewed shortly before jumping ship to Barcelona. Liverpool probably knew both players were not longed for Merseyside, so they made sure they were well compensated when the call came from Catalonia.

In conjunction with this, Liverpool have secured good fees for players they no longer had use for- they took north of £50m from Crystal Palace for Mamadou Sakho and Christian Benteke and Southampton will pay them £20m for Danny Ings next summer. The revenue has been used to buy players they do want. Arsenal have seriously floundered in this respect in recent years, allowing even squad players to dictate to them.

There has been a move to address that this summer. New contracts for the likes of Alex Iwobi, Calum Chambers, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Reiss Nelson should be viewed as a form of asset protection, as opposed to an emphatic show of faith. Likewise, Granit Xhaka’s deal had 2 years to run prior to his latest renewal this summer, it made sense to tie him down now even if his long term future is not totally decided.

That makes Welbeck’s situation all the stranger. With Alexandre Lacazette and Pierre Emerick Aubameyang ahead of him, it is unlikely he will muscle his way into the starting XI, so the prospect of renewal seems faint- especially as the player himself can look forward to a healthier salary if he leaves on a Bosman transfer next summer. There is still some squad surgery to do and limited funds to do it with, Arsenal could have used the money from a Welbeck sale to perform some of it in future windows.

Nevertheless, since Welbeck is here, he can be a useful and interesting squad player for Emery. Danny’s career has been blighted by an identity crisis to this point. He is not ruthless enough to be a centre forward, but he is also not quite cute enough to be a devastating wide forward. He is an intelligent, multi-functional player with good physical gifts, but he sits firmly in the ‘jack of all trades, master of none’ category.

The presence of Lacazette and Aubameyang provides him with significant obstacles as he seeks to cement a place in the first XI, but conversely, their dual presence is helpful for the occasions when he does play. Welbeck is a good foil for a more predatory partner, more sidekick than gunslinger. Playing with either one of Lacazette or Aubameyang suits him far better than being the torch bearer at centre forward.

Emery asks his wide forwards to play in the half spaces and allow the full-backs to provide the width. This explains why we have seen Mkhitaryan and Bellerin combine to good effect so far this season in an attacking sense. It also partially explains why the Gunners have been a little exposed defensively- Emery doesn’t really play with wide forwards in the traditional sense.

They come in-field to form an attacking triangle and I think Welbeck could perform well in such a role. He began last season quite well in a similar role. Welbz is generally good at following tactical instruction and he works hard off the ball too. He is well suited to enact the high press that Emery favours, but playing in the corridor between centre forward and the wing would suit him well I think.

This hybrid role where he would be expected to be neither wide nor central could go some way to abating his identity crisis. He has a good sense for when to join a centre forward and combine and when to drop in and provide security off the ball. His diligence potentially makes him very useful- he is also conscientious about protecting his full-back- an area where Arsenal are still fine tuning.

Arguably, Welbeck is a better fit for this hybrid role than Aubameyang, but the Gabonese’s overall quality makes him an obvious pick ahead of Welbeck. Welbeck has formed good partnerships during his time at Arsenal, combining to excellent effect with the likes of Sanchez, Walcott, Iwobi and Alex Lacazette.

Nice run from Lacazette to take Balbuena away from Welbeck. https://t.co/ftNmN3aUsJ

— Tim Stillman (@Stillberto) August 25, 2018

Welbeck and Lacazette in particular combine well, the Frenchman’s cute front post run created space for Danny’s goal against West Ham last week. We see something similar for this header against Bournemouth last season, with Welbeck returning the favour later in the same half with a fine piece of combination play to tee Lacazette up.

In an article earlier this year, I compared Welbeck (favourably, I might add) to Emile Heskey. He does not necessarily impress with his individual feats, but he does have a knack of extracting the best from a more prominent partner. In a sense, he is like a set of stabilisers for someone like Aubameyang or Lacazette. He combines especially well with athletic colleagues.

In Emery’s system, Welbeck doesn’t need to be a tricky winger or to try and beat a man. He would be stationed a little closer to the centre forward without being asked to lead the line and I think that could suit his qualities quite nicely. Arsenal certainly should have resolved his contractual situation one way or another this summer, but he can be a useful player in the forward line this season.

In the meantime, Emery will get a little closer to finding out whether Eddie Nketiah and / or Reiss Nelson could take his place in the squad next summer. Having written off a presentable transfer fee for Welbeck, it would prove quite convenient if Arsenal did not have to spend money replacing him in the market.

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Renowned Arsenal historians Andy Kelly and Mark Andrews and I have written a book about the tumultuous early years of Arsenal Football Club covering the period 1886 – 1893. ‘Royal Arsenal- Champions of the South’ is available to order here.

Morning all and a very happy Friday to you. 

Unai Emery faced the press yesterday as we gear up for tomorrow’s trip to Newcastle. He’s desperate to pick up where we left off before the Interlull…with another three points. 

While the players and manager were keen to keep the defeats to City and Chelsea in perspective, the victories against West Ham and Cardiff will have done wonders for squad confidence and we now have seven very winnable games in quick succession across three different competitions.

By the middle of October, we’ll have a much better idea of where we stand with Unai Emery and his ‘process’.

Naturally, the Spaniard was quick to stress the team will approach the challenges game-by-game:

“Firstly we need to win and I think it is very important that in the last match we won.

“Our aim away at Newcastle on Saturday is to keep improving things and continue to create our idea, build up our spirit on the pitch, individually and collectively, and it is clear this process is one process.

“Saturday is another step we can do, it will be difficult but I want to continue [to show] our personality on the pitch and impose this personality on the opposition and to find the win.”

We’ve no new injuries to report. Alex Iwobi returns from illness and the medical team confirmed that both Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Sead Kolasinac are slightly ahead of schedule as they work their way back from a fractured fibula and knee problem respectively. We’ll see them in October. Laurent Koscielny is still on course for a November return.

On the late returnees from international duty, he said:

“The training in the afternoon is the last session. We are going to work with four players. They played on Tuesday, it is Xhaka, Lichtsteiner, Welbeck and Sokratis and I want and I hope that they hope that they come back well and prepare for the match in Newcastle.”

Newcastle beat us on home turf as recently as April and they won’t be pushovers but I genuinely feel they are a team that are there for the taking. Like Cardiff, against whom they recorded their only point of the season, Rafa Benitez’s side are not a possession football team. They’ve completed only 65% of their passes, mustered only 12 shots on target in four Premier League games and are currently 18th in the table.

That coupled with our defensive shortcomings makes me think we should throw caution to the wind and go for the jugular. Like last time out, I hope we play Lacazette and Aubameyang up front and give Ozil and Ramsey the keys to the midfield. I think we’ve all been impressed by Guendouzi, but, assuming his calf is fine, I’d like to see Torreira take over alongside Xhaka. That’s more out of curiosity than anything else, I guess his assist in Cardiff has whet my appetite.

Emery was coy on who might get the nod, admitting that its taking time to find the best balance.

“It’s a process to know the combination on the pitch, with different players but I need and I want to start in the level, 11 players with good performances and also, we need in the balance of players, when the team needs to work in the pitch to help the team to find the win, to stay with the performance.”

Fatigue shouldn’t be an excuse for most of the players. By my count, 12 of the first team squad trained as normal during the Interlull, a decent number for Emery to work with. One of those was Mesut Ozil, who in light of his international retirement has a lot more time on his hands. Inevitably, Emery was again asked about his relationship with Ozil and for an update on the player’s current state of mind.

He replied:

“The reason for Mesut is important for me also, this focus every day with us, a relaxing three days off at the weekend. Mesut, like other players, works very well here and also working the ties and also together to improve things. Mesut, I look at him with the focus totally here.

“The first time, maybe, he could feel different [missing Germany matches] but every day with us in the work, I look at him and he looks well and happy, working with our demands every day.”

In a later sit down with journalists from the print press, he outlined his eagerness to squeeze more from the former Real Madrid man.

“I want to find with him the possibility to do the best, to make decisive passes, to do more near and in the box to score

“He is working for the team to help us with his quality. But he is feeling like I am feeling. He can improve, he can do more. We will work, we will help him, give him the possibility on the pitch to be together, to find his qualities for us.”

It’s actually five years to the day since Mesut registered his first assist in Arsenal colours. That was for Olivier Giroud against Sunderland at the Stadium of Light in 2013. Interestingly, trips to the North-East have been few and far for the German since then, as Amy Lawrence points out, he’s actually missed all four games at St James’ Park since he moved to the Emirates.

The rest of Emery’s press conference focused on two main areas; Nacho Monreal’s contract situation and rumours of Ivan Gazidis’ exit. 

Nacho mentioned earlier in the week that he was talking to the club about a new deal. It’s something that Emery supports having been impressed with his compatriot since arriving in the summer.

“I can say that I am very happy with him because he is 32 years old but I think physically, with his performances with us in matches, he is playing with a very good level…I think we need to find a new contract with him to stay with the Arsenal team.”

Few players in my time supporting the club have won over the doubters as fully as Nacho. Ray Parlour, perhaps? He struggled with English (Nacho…not Ray) when he first arrived and with Kieran Gibbs still full of promise, it looked like he’d never be more than a steady squad player. He’s now played for us 215 times and reinvented himself as a serious goal-threat with regular well-timed runs into the box and tidy finishing. I love me some Nacho. 

After a swell of stories on Thursday about Ivan Gazidis joining AC Milan, it was inevitable that Emery would be asked about the man who appointed him less than four months ago. Unsurprisingly, the coach gave short shrift to the line of questioning, not once, but twice.

The second time, he said:

“I answered this question and every conversation with me is speaking about us. About our performance. About our ideas. Our process. Then, for his future we didn’t speak. I think it’s one question for him.”

I suspect that privately, Emery has his concerns about the situation. Unless there’s an internal appointment, not only will he have to earn the trust of whoever replaces Gazidis, he’ll know that Sven Mislintat and Raul Sanllehi are in a similar boat. Ideally, you want that triumvirate as focused on football matters as possible. That said, as I wrote in yesterday’s post, I’m not convinced Gazidis will be a big miss. 

Right, that’s nearly it from me. 

Recommended reading…Tim Stillman scratches his head over Danny Welbeck’s contract situation and ponders how best to make use of the England striker.

And listening…James from Gunnerblog hosts an Arsecast Extra asking ‘Time for Torreira, Please?!’

Tom will be on duty here tomorrow and I’ll do my farewells on Sunday before Blogs’ triumphant return from Spain. Until then, you can catch me on Arseblog News. 

Welcome to another episode of the Arsecast – the Arsenal podcast.

I’m still away on holidays, but the Premier League waits for no man and the people need a podcast to welcome back football after the Internet. So, James from Gunnerblog is here to have a bit of waffle, as well as a chat with Tim Stillman about the upcoming game against Newcastle, the Arsenal Women and more, and there’s a bit of waffle at the end too.

Please note: there’s no theme music for this one because I can’t find the files, so a weird funky little thing breaks up the sections of the show.

Enjoy!

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