The Preview/Review/Community Shield Roll Up blog post

This post is uncomfortably long - I am very sorry :(

I remember attending the 2015 Community Shield on a blindingly hot August afternoon; a match notable for being Petr Cech's Arsenal debut, for Mikel Arteta starting the game on the Arsenal bench, for The Ox's winning goal, and most memorably for Arsene Wenger going to great lengths to avoid shaking the hand of soon not-to-be Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho. There had been a lovely 9 week break since Arsenal's second FA Cup Final win in two years, and with the Alexis/Ozil tandem in full swing hopes were high for a better Premier League season.

Over this weekend Arsenal played in another Community Shield, on a much colder and damper August afternoon, and after a mere three week break on the back of Project Restart. The result is in many ways irrelevant due to the transient nature of both the Arsenal and Liverpool teams/formations (multiple changes), and Alexis is long gone, with Ozil still somewhere around but ostracised. But, with Arteta now the Arsenal coach and lots of business still to be done before the end of this transfer window, hopes are once again high for a better Premier League showing. And a trophy is, I think you'll find, a trophy (and not just an Audi Cup).

Now, I started writing a review of last season after the FA Cup Final, but so much went on that it just felt like too long a read (and write!), so I've picked out the best/worst of it and written about it below. And it's STILL too long!

And I'm going to go about this blog post a bit upside down. Firstly, a quick review of the Community Shield action, then a precis of last season (for all that there was far too much to talk about and take in), and finally some thoughts on the current transfer window and the season ahead.

So to the genuinely pre-season action against Liverpool; and, of course, a 'trophy'. It is clear that Arteta's methods are bearing real fruit, as an Arsenal side barely back from a break held off a far more prepared Liverpool side courtesy of another Aubameyang team goal/worldie, a thoroughly disciplined performance, and 5 perfect penalties. 

I'm not going to dwell too much on what was essentially a pre-season friendly - albeit at Arsenal's second home, Wembley, and with a presentation ceremony at the end of it - but it's quite clear that such performances and results can only help to enhance confidence levels. And in a necessary dig at Tottenham Hotspur, I'd like to remind their fans that it is 28 seasons since they won a trophy that would make them eligible to even play in this game. Big club...

I'll cover the implications of some of the team selections and performance below when I talk about my hopes and expectations for the transfer window, but I will say this; at this stage, I would not swap Mikel Arteta for any other coach on the planet.

Of course, the tumultuous 19/20 season is all water under the bridge now, but there were so many moments worth documenting that it's worth putting them into some sort of context; so many incidents (and accidents, hints and allegations) that I've (sort of) bullet pointed them below instead of too much of an in-depth analysis 

Readers of a certain vintage may remember the film The Good, The Bad and The Ugly; one of a trio of 'spaghetti westerns' from the 1960s, and starring Clint Eastwood as the eponymous Good. As an 'homage', I've given each of these moments a vote as Good, Bad or Ugly. This is because of the clear correlation with last season; there was some Good, lots of Bad, and a number of incidents that can only be regarded as Ugly. But with FA Cup Final victory, Good triumphed in the end.

Anyway, here goes. And I've tried to make it short but it's been impossible, frankly...

• The season started following a summer notable for the club record signing of Nicolas Pepe from Lille for a (contentious) club record £72m and left-back Kieran Tierney from Celtic, but with the likes of Monreal and Mikhitaryan in the side (amazingly just three of Emery's first selection played in the FA Cup Final), and on the back of the Ozil/Kolasinac car hijacking incident. Not a normal start, but two wins nonetheless; notable mainly for Aubameyang starting as he meant to go on, and for a very promising debut for Real Madrid loanee Dani Ceballos. Good

• The following two matches saw a loss at Anfield notable for encouraging signs from Pepe - and also for David Luiz's first (and somewhat harsh) penalty concession of the season - and a home draw with Spurs that saw Arsenal show some fight to come back from 2-0 down. Bad

• And then... what I regard as the beginning of the end for Unai Emery; a 2-2 draw at Watford notable on the positive side for a sumptuous 'pre-assist' from Mesut Ozil that of Premier League players I'd say only he and Kevin De Bruyne are capable, and on the negative side for a dire defensive display that featured some of the worst playing out from the back I've witnessed - including leading directly to a goal - another penalty concession from Luiz, and this time the loss of a 2-0 lead. After which - and this is where I pin down the issues that dominated the end of Unai Emery's time at the helm - captain Granit Xhaka stated in his post-match interview that Arsenal had been 'scared' of Watford. Let me repeat; 'Scared'. Of Watford! Quite how that mentality had been instilled into the side I cannot imagine. Ugly

• There then followed a series of relatively easy matches - including in the Europa League - of which the most notable was a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford that will be remembered for one of the easiest VAR overturns ever, with Aubamayang, two yards onside, being flagged off before putting the ball in the net and the inevitable 'blatant error' dealt with correctly. However, performances were getting worse and with Pepe having saved his team from ignominious home defeat to Vitoria Guimares with two late (and glorious) free kicks, things weren't looking too promising, despite the emergence of exciting young talents Gabriel Martinelli and Bukayo Saka in the Europa League and EFL Cup. On the whole, Bad

• And then... the 2-2 draw against Crystal Palace which will be remembered for Xhaka's response to being substituted (and the crowd reaction to it) which led to toxic scenes as he left the field. It was so bad that looked like there was no way back for the Swiss international at the club. More signs of dressing room issues, and of a disconnect between manager/players and fans. Nonetheless, Arsenal were robbed of victory by a terrible last-minute VAR call as the crowd gave them their full backing - despite the less than perfect performance. Ugly

• There then followed the madness of Carabao Cup defeat on penalties to Liverpool, following a wild 5-5 draw during which Arsneal blew 3-1, 4-2 and finally 5-4 leads (conceding in the 94th minute). It is worth noting that Mesut Ozil had a fabulous game... but there again he was playing against Liverpool Reserves! All in all, Bad

• November was dire. No win in 6, performances getting worse and worse, and signs that Emery had lost the plot completely. I was certainly not alone in calling for his head and finally, following a pathetic home defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt, the manager was put out of his misery. One could perhaps feel a bit sorry for him; in a foreign country/culture and unable to speak the language properly, unable to get his ideas over to the players, having made a rod for his own back with his '5 captains' indecision, and ultimately (and perhaps inevitably) out of his depth taking over from the living legend that is Arsene Wenger. But enough was by this stage enough, as Emery had lost the confidence of players (I remember Lacazette appearing annoyed with himself for his 96th minute equaliser at home to Southampton), supporters and finally the Board. Bad 

• Club legend Freddie Ljungberg stepped into the breach, but had an impossible task. With no coaching staff left to help him, and a squad of players at a very low ebb, results barely improved. Victory at West Ham was acheived due to a sudden 10 minute burst of quality in an otherwise dire showing, and Europa League qualification was achieved in a home draw with Standard Liege that left us relying on a late Vitoria winner in Germany to see Arsenal through as group winners. It wasn't getting any better. Bad

• And finally, following weeks of speculation, Mikel Arteta was confirmed as new permanent Head Coach just before Christmas. Perhaps he should have got the job when Emery did, but here we are... And whilst results didn't immediately improve, performances certainly did - and a certain amount of luck played a part; especially in a third round FA Cup win over a rampant Leeds United who did everything but score at The Emirates. This following an unlucky 2-1 home defeat to Chelsea over Christmas that finally had the crowd singing 'We've got our Arsenal back!'. Thus confidence began to be restored. There were too many draws, but draws are better than demoralising defeats. Good

• The most exciting match in this sequence was a 2-2 draw in the return match at Stamford Bridge, which saw 10-man Arsenal (David Luiz sent off trying to compensate for a catastrophic Mustafi error) come back twice. The match was most notable for Gabriel Martinelli's goal, a hybrid of Thierry Henry's famous pitch-length goal against Tottenham and Robin Van Persie's second at Stamford Bridge (thanks to John Terry's highly amusing slip) at Stamford Bridge in 2011. Good

• The good mood - and series of results - was punctured by embarrassing elimination to Olimpiakos in the Europa League, with Arsenal going behind in injury time and then Aubameyang inexplicably missing a sitter after that! However, I did not and will not hold that against him as he was Arsenal's best and most important player all season. Bad

• League form continued to improve, and Arsenal's quest for unlikely Champions League qualification was boosted by a home win over West Ham (a 6th in 8 matches, and 5th clean sheet in 7). Good

• Almost immediately after came Mikel Arteta's positive COVID test, and the football season came to an abrupt stop in almost all of Europe. I'm not going to dwell on the hiatus, as it's been well documented. But it would be 102 days before Arsenal played again. Ugly

• And following the restart, Premier League optimism swiftly disappeared. Thrashed by Manchester City (more Luiz errors), humiliated by Brighton (plus Leno injury at the hands of the snide Maupay); and of course the Guendouzi incident (we can only speculate as to why Ozil has not been seen at all, nor Guendouzi since the Brighton game, but I suspect that their Arsenal careers are done). And that meant that all hope of a Champions League spot had evaporated. Bad

• Nonetheless, Arsenal's form did bounce back, as finally Arteta's methods began to click into place; culminating in three outstanding results. Firstly, a fortunate (but disciplined) win over champions Liverpool, and then two superb performances to win the FA Cup. Firstly, an almost faultless display in the semi final against Manchester City, and then Cup Final victory over Chelsea. I'm not going to go into detail here; we all know how it went. Suffice to say that over this period Aubameyang, Martinez and Maitland-Niles were outstanding, and the influence and control of the Xhaka/Ceballos axis served the team well. And most interestingly, there was redemption over this period for the now fully-restored Xhaka, and for both Luiz and Mustafi who were showing considerably more discipline and control over their own actions (well, most of the time). So... Good (all good films should finish with the good guys winning)

And so to pre-season - controversy and changes within the club, transfer speculation and hopes for the season. And there's been quite a bit of Bad and Ugly to report, with hopefully lots of Good to come over the next few weeks.

So firstly the announcement just a few days after the FA Cup Final that 55 members of staff were to lose their jobs. There are two main strands to this: firstly, the vast majority of Arsenal's first team squad took pay cuts early on in lockdown, based on a guarantee that no members of staff would lose their jobs. Disingenuous, to say the least, from club heirarchy; especially bearing in mind that their total salaries would be less than £3m p.a. - a mere drop in the ocean compared to the costs on the football side. Secondly, a number of the job losses saw the dismantling of the majority of the club's scouting system, and quite what that means going forward we are yet to discover; although the influence of football agents Kia Joorabchian and Artur Canales does concern me.

Secondly, and linked to the above, was the sudden departure of Head of Football Raul Sanllehi. This occured just a few days after Stan Kroenke appointed Corporate Solicitor (specialising in takeovers, but I'm not prepared to speculate on that!) Tim Lewis to the Club Board in order to act as his 'eyes' in London - especially with both Stan and Josh stranded in the USA. He was apparently initially tasked with examining the Pepe deal, as the figures didn't add up. And suddenly Raul was gone; coincidence it may be, and I'm not prepared to add two and two together here in print.

What this does mean that the spotlight is very much now on Edu and Arteta as they look to mould a competitive squad. And interestingly, the club having decided to come away from the amount of control that Arsene had previously by appointing a Head Coach in Emery, Arteta appears to be shaping his own role very much in the way that Wenger shaped his own.

Changes to the coaching staff are also very interesting, with coaches in the Arteta mould coming in to reinforce what he is teaching his players. And all of this looks likely to bear fruit; just think about how different playing out from the back looks now compared to how it did under Emery - Arsenal now look much more like Manchester City and Liverpool when they do that, as opposed to a pub side as they did last autumn.

And now, finally, to squad makeup. It looks like Aubameyang is staying, and two or three are coming in. Gabriel Magalhaes to join Saliba in shaping a new look central defence, and perhaps one or two midfielders (notwithstanding that the almost forgotten Elneny made a 'triumphant' retun this week, and we are not sure what's happening with Ceballos at this stage). Willian is a sensible acquisition too. 

As to who will leave, I won't be too sorry to see the likes of Sokratis, Holding, Kolasinac and Torreira (plus Mustafi and Chambers, who are currently injured) go in the light of the way Arteta is looking to work. Not sure about what's going on with Bellerin, but I suspect that he is now coming back to full fitness. As for Lacazette, his sale may be required to fund acquisitions and that's understandable. But two I wouldn't like to see depart are Martinez and Maitland-Niles, both of whom are being linked to moves in order to generate funds but both of whom have been absolutely outstanding recently. With a number of exciting youngsters emerging - Saka and Martinelli leading the way - things are shaping up better than one might have thought they would.

All we can be sure of is that the squad Arteta chooses for the Fulham game in two weeks will bear little resemblance to the squad he'll be working with come mid-October. And as for the season... difficult as it may look to break back into the top 4 spots, I have confidence in seeing major improvements in results over the season.

Alright - I'm finally done now. Come On You Reds!

14 Is The Magic Number

So much to discuss. So much to be excited about. So many ramifications for this result. Because yes, Arsenal have won their 14th FA Cup - extending their lead as the trophy's winning-most team - thanks to another Man Of The Match performance from their world class Number 14, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

This is going to be a long-ish post, because there are so many things to consider; from the game itself but just as importantly as a result of Arsenal's victory.

Firstly, a word for Chelsea. Gallant losers, for whom little went right and whose Manager, Frank Lampard, went up in my estimation with the frankness of his post-match interview. The match exposed both their strengths and their weaknesses, and the tactical battle between him and Arteta - ultimately won by the latter - was fascinating and revealing.

The match hinged on two moments; firstly the injury to Pulisic, who was by far Chelsea's most dangerous player, and then the sending off of Kovacic. On the latter, I have two comments; firstly, Kovacic and Jorginho, as a pair, are masters of the 'tactical foul' (Manchester City and Liverpool's midfields are good at it too, but it does often work best when your side dominates the ball and you can commit a tactical foul to prevent a breakaway), and it was perhaps unfortunate for Kovacic that he was given the ultimate punishment in the FA Cup Final. Live by the sword and all that...

And secondly, one aspect of there being no crowds that has perhaps been overlooked is the difference it can make if a player who has been fouled makes a sufficiently loud noise as he hits the ground. Shouts and screams that would not be heard in a full stadium are completely audible in an empty one. Xhaka took advantage of that; again, live by the sword etc.

So to the game, and boy did Chelsea start well, with Lampard initially outwitting Arteta by pushing Pulisic and Mount infield and onto Xhaka and Ceballos, thus totally outnumbering them. The goal - beautifully taken (and don't underestimate the skill of Giroud's flicked assist) - came as a result of just one of numerous occasions when the Arsenal duo were robbed or pressured in the early stages, and Chelsea could have been further ahead by the time the drinks break came.

Arteta used the break well, advising his players to miss out the midfield as often as not and hit long balls intended to turn Chelsea's ponderous central defenders. And soon Arsenal were level as a result of that advice, with Tierney's punt from deep in the Arsenal half catching Azpulicueta on the wrong side of Aubameyang, and forcing the defender to foul him as Auba headed for goal. It started outside the penalty box, but ended inside it and a penalty was rightly awarded. And the defender was lucky to stay on the pitch, in my opinion; given the benefit of the doubt as Rudiger was perhaps close enough to prevent a goal-scoring opportunity. In my opinion not; with a clear run Auba would have got his shot off long before Rudiger got round to cover. And if that had been David Luiz?...

No matter; Auba dispatched the penalty with power, skill and aplomb; and not long after 'Dave' pulled one of his suspect hamstrings and had to leave the pitch in any case.

So 1-1 at half-time, and Arsenal in the ascendancy. But whatever Lampard said at half-time had an immediate impact as Chelsea once more shot out of the blocks. And it was whilst bursting past a static Holding and heading for goal that Pulisic pulled his hamstring, meaning his match was also over and thus eliminating Chelsea's main threat. With that, Chelsea's balloon was fatally punctured.

And not long after (67) came the decisive goal. A lung-bursting 30-yard run from Bellerin and the ball broke to Pepe (who chose the right day to have his best game in an Arsenal shirt) on the right, 25 yards from goal. He fed Aubameyang, whose clever shimmy and dummy left Zouma for dead. And at that point there was little doubt as to what was going to happen, as his deft left-footed flick over the helpless Caballero nestled in the onion bag. Make no mistake, Aubameyang is a world-class player and MUST stay at Arsenal.

The final puncture of the Chelsea balloon came with the departure of Kovacic (already discussed above), and from then on the only moment of concern came when Martinez flew out of goal and caught the ball literally right the edge of the penalty area. It didn't look good, and his body was outside the area, but videos showed that the ball was on the line. Phew!

And from then on there was little danger, as Chelsea failed to register a single shot on target in the second half. I must give sympathy to Pedro here, too, as he looked to have badly dislocated his shoulder in injury time.

A quick word about referee Anthony Taylor here. Arsenal have had some luck with him, both in the 2017 Final when Alexis's goal was allowed to stand and this year with the sending-off of Kovacic. Can he ref us every week?

And so Arsenal ribbons were wrapped onto the FA Cup for the 14th time. But this win means so much more than the bare trophy. It means European football, a bigger transfer kitty, more clout with the Board for Mikel Arteta and most importantly extra leverage with Aubameyang. 

The latter was naturally coy about whether he is going to re-sign, and I have concerns that Arsenal have got themselves into a similar position as they did with Robin Van Persie; and we know how that played out...

As for Mikel Arteta, I'm not afraid to announce that I have a crush on him. I have high, high hopes for Arsenal with him at the helm. But he needs the support of those around him. We can only wait and see.

I'll be back in a couple of days with a Season Review - and of course, the Premier League campaign was well short of expectations and a lot went on - but finally a quick word about Tottenham Hotspur (I can't help myself, I'm afraid). All the gloating, all the gyp, all the nonsense about whether this season will see a 'St Totteringham's Day' or a 'St Gooners Day', but when it comes down to it Tottenham have won a single League Cup this century (4544 days ago). It's 10,669 days since they won an FA Cup, and a whopping 21, 657 days since they won the League. The bare facts speak for themselves.

And as for Harry Kane; world-class centre-forward for sure, but not a single medal to show for 11 years at Tottenham. Emi Martinez has an FA Cup medal from a mere 11 appearances for Arsenal. Say no more.

Back in a day or two. Stay safe, and COME ON YOU MIGHTY GOONERS!!!!!!