- Arsenal v the Yellow Card Kings in the League Cup: the team and the ref
- 8 men injured, but still top of the league. Can Arsenal cope with this?
By Tony Attwood
If there is a definition of a jolly evening, I suppose last night was it. The Arsenal win, of course, but it was also a night that made one wonder if, in a few years, we will even bother with transferring players in? In fact, we seem not only to have got a wonderful squad, but also revealed the financial plan of the owners – to build a club that pays for itself through gate and broadcast receipts and then makes its profit by occasionally selling on players that have come up through the academy but can’t find a place in the team. Not because they are no good, but because there simply are no more spaces left.
Arsenal’s official 25-man squad of over-21-year-olds is made up of just 21 players. But then of course, we have a whole range of players aged under 21 who play with the team. There is not even a “homegrown” pressure point now since eight of the 21 are classified in that way, meaning that should Arsenal wish to buy anyone in January, they can, without thinking of age or football nationality. (Figures from the Premier League squiad pages).
This is quite a thought – we are four points clear at the top of the league, have just won eight games in a row in all competitions, and have space in the squad if we wanted to bring in anyone else.
And all that is before we start thinking about if there are any more of these wonder-youngsters who are about to force their way into the squad?
We might compare our situation with Liverpool, who have a 24-man squad named of whom seven are homegrown – meaning if they do buy more players, other considerations come into play.
Of course, nationality doesn’t affect the results, but the squad seem to be going rather well (although the defeat of the under 21s to Exeter was a disappointment), and last night continued the rather jolly run of the first team. Inevitably, it will come to an end of course at some point, but given the depth of the squad, it ought to be possible to switch a few players around to recover from such kicks and fouls, which Arsenal normally get against them. And at least there is no pressure from the media predicting a second unbeaten season.
As for Downman, Arteta said after the game, “For him, everything is natural, it’s the way he plays. I think that’s the secret, that he doesn’t make a big fuss of it, he just does what he does best, which is to play football.”
And here’s another little fact that may not be covered in all the headlines. The last eight games across the three competitions have all been victories. In that run, Arsenal have scored 16 goals and conceded one, with that one being in the league game away to Newcastle. So if we ignore that, we can trace six games in the three competitions, scoring 12 and conceding none. Which I think is rather good. Especially when having to play two games a week.
Speaking of the young players coming into the squad, Arteta said, “We’re struggling with some positions already, and it’s October, so we’re going to need them. It was a great test for them, and I learn a lot from it.” I am not sure I saw the struggle, but he’s the manager.
Of course the media need a negative at a time like this, so quite a few commentators have been saying just how long ago it was that Arsenal last won the league. So I thought I would have a quick peek at the league table after the same number of games as now, but in the Unbeaten Season.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Arsenal Unbeaten Season | 9 | 7 | 2 | 0 | 18 | 7 | 11 | 23 |
| 1 | Arsenal today | 9 | 7 | 1 | 1 | 16 | 3 | 13 | 22 |
Obviously, we have lost one more game because, as the name suggests, in the Unbeaten, we didn’t lose any. But the goals scored total is very similar, and this season Arsenal have conceded under half the number of goals from the Unbeaten times!! So in that regard yes, better than the Unbeaten campaign. And the club is just one point behind what was achieved thus far in 2003/4. Not a bad position to be in.
Of course, these are just little games to occupy the morning after, but comparisons with great teams of the past are not necessarily a bad thing.
So here’s another. In the unbeaten season, Arsenal gained 90 points, which was 2.37 points a game. So far this season we have 2.44 points a game. Yes, even with a defeat, we are doing better in the league than in the Unbeaten Season – although of course we are still not quite a quarter of the way through the campaign.
Did any coach at Pool! survive 6 defeats out of 7 games ?
And having just 15 or 16 senior players available after hundreds of millions in new arrivals with visibly no academy players up to the task is stunning… what at they smoking at Anfield ?!?!
I thought Dowman was excellent last night even though he received some rough treatment from the Brighton thugs. I was impressed with the way he didn’t make a fuss when he was fouled and even gave a bit back to his aggressors on a couple of occasions.
He should have got a penalty when brought down in the box in my admittedly biased opinion but the ref predictably let it go. The co commentator said no penalty because the defenders foot was planted adding that Dowman initiated the contact and went down too easily. That’s the same excuse that was made when Gyokeres penalty claim was denied a couple of weeks ago. This ‘foot planted’ reason for denying a penalty is a new one on me, probably another fabricated reason specifically made up to screw Arsenal.