Portrayed as a fraud. Painted as a failed genius by others, there is more to Unai Emery’s tenure with Arsenal than meets the eye. Charged with the titanic assignment of returning Arsenal to Champions League ascension, Arsène Wenger’s successor highlighted the arrival of a new era. For the first time in over two decades, Arsenal […]
The 3 ways I’d change football Honestly, the game of football is becoming less attractive to me. I know I’m not the only one that feels this way too. It could be recovered though. I have two problems. The sport is now predictable. The rules are sucking out the joy and the punishment isn’t even […]
Start at the End POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES How are we going to approach the game? How do we deny them? Defensive structure. Combinations. Passing patterns. Etc… The above is a list of 5 of the most regularly practiced topics at a professional club. All are important. The first three might just be vital. Here’s […]
A week is a long time in football isn’t it? Last Thursday was according to many the biggest week of Arsenal’s season and make or break for the manager, Mikel Arteta. A week later, after a 3-1 win in Olympiakos and entirely outplaying the old enemy for 80 minutes and winning the North London Derby, […]
In the aftermath of a fabulous win over our North London rivals, the role and performance of Martin Odegaard is rightly receiving high praise, not just from us fans but from his ‘current’ manager, Mikel Arteta. However, I am keen to highlight how the Norwegian’s place in the team is positively influencing others, notably Emile […]
This time last week I was a nervous wreck, fearing the worst and hoping for the best, fearing that inside a week our season would feel like it was over and hoping that we could navigate ourselves to a couple victories, preferably victories that wouldn’t cause the sort of heart palpitations that the Benfica game […]
THE BUILD UP Pacing, Drinking, Clenching, and Harry Kane’s Face in a Potato Urgh. You thought the past week was bad. The day of the game is absolutely unbearable isn’t it? I usually prefer a 4.30pm kick off on a Sunday, but for this particular fixture, I would be happy to kick off at 6am, […]
VAR (Very Average Referees) Academy It is the mid-season review at the VAR Academy, where all the ‘referees’ get together to assess how things are tracking and to check if all the refs are on course to meet their season KPIs. It’s 9.30am and the full thicket of EPL referees (google it, it’s the collective […]
Arsenal build-up shape The two most commonly deployed build-up structures Arteta favours is the 3-2-5 or the 2-3-5. And in yesterday’s derby, the Spaniard opted for the latter. Xhaka and Partey operated in a double pivot, with Cedric staying deep and at times inverting. Lacazette and Odegaard would both offer themselves between the lines, Tierney […]
Pay attention to Arsenal POSITIVES, NEEDS and HOPES When love is present it is hard to be objective. I try to be objective when writing about my team but I have to breathe after the game and wait. I wait at least 4 hours so I can divorce emotion from reality. I hope I’m not […]
