So what did we learn from the opening game?

 

• Manchester United had better players than Arsenal, according to the newspaper
• 115 charges still outstanding as Arsenal prepare for Man United

By Tony Attwood

We learned for one thing that Max Dowman is not yet ready for the first team squad, but nonetheless is being told in no uncertain terms that he is vital to Arsenal’s future, for apparently, he travelled with the matchday squad to the opening game of the season.   

And we learned that Viktor Gyokeres is still coming to terms with what it means to be an Arsenal player in the Premier League.  Plus we also learned that Raya has lost none of his skill, ability and anticipation.

Further we also learned that in the last six Premier League games with ManU, Arsenal have won five and drawn one (although I think that was harder to learn from media reports, as it is the sort of thing they really don’t like to tell us about).

And even more so, Arsenal have a new variation on the corner kick routine, although the media seem to be having difficulty in describing it.   In essence, as I saw it, some of the group of players gathered at the edge of the penalty area run into the area while the ball is not in play, thus distracting the defenders who are trying to watch the ball being kicked and the defenders outside the area at the same time.  Those defenders are aware of the attackers bearing down on them and so lose their focus on the corner, and Arsenal get the advantage.  A good idea.

This is particularly the case with ManU – the team which conceded more goals from corners than any other team last season – a grand total of 23.  Even Tottenham only conceded 19 that way last season, which shows how bad ManU are at that defending stuff.   Overall, they had the 12th-worst defence last season.

Which reminds me of another thing you perhaps won’t have read much about during the summer – that Arsenal had the best defence in the league last season – by a long way.  Arsenal conceded 34, the second best defenders were Liverpool with 41 (20% more than Arsenal) – and they were one of seven teams that conceded 40-49 league goals last campaign. 

The three relegated teams all conceded over two goals a game on average.  Arsenal were on 0.89 goals a league game.   And it looks like the club is starting off with a view that getting that average even lower is the target.  In fact Arsenal were the ONLY club last season to concede fewer than one goal a game on average.   Although I am not sure that I found that mentioned much in the media.  Funny that.  I must have missed it.

In fact, if the referees would stop giving Liverpool penalties every time one of their players falls over in the opposition area (or alternatively treated Arsenal as Liverpool were treated in this regard), Arsenal would have won the league last season.  No club got fewer penalties in their favour last season than Arsenal.  And they were still the third-highest scorers in the league. 

And this is not a recent issue – it has been going on season after season.   And now with the new variation on the corner routine we can expect more desperate fouling of Arsenal players in the box, not least because so many Premier League managers insist on focusing on their own approach, rather than studying what the opposition will get up to.  Long may that continue.

Meanwhile, in other areas of chit chat, on 18 January 2024, Deeney was sacked as manager of Forest Green Rovers after no wins in six matches. Hours before his dismissal, he had been given a four-match ban and fined £1,500 by the Football Association for his conduct in a defeat to  Swindon on 29 December 2023.

The club was 23^rd in League Two at the time, and inevitably was relegated from the Football League.

And yet when he says, “I am not convinced Viktor Gyokeres will score as many goals for Arsenal as people think,” the ludicrous Sun newspaper takes this as something worth repeating in a headline and cites this in their build-up to the match.

Elsewhere, you might like to know that the AI mechanism that pops up on my Google searches (even though I don’t want it to, given its level of inaccuracy) predicted that the match v ManU would be a draw.   So wrong again for AI.

AI is predicting that Arsenal will beat Leeds United in the next game 2-0, so quite a jolly start – if AI can be trusted (which in general, I am sure it can’t), but it would be surprising if Arsenal didn’t get a win for the second game as well.