Arsenal sign new throw in coach as improvements continue to flow

 

• Forest v Arsenal: how the referee will affect the game
• Forest against Arsenal: the best of times v the worst of times

By Tony Attwood

Arsenal have lost two matches this season – and both have been away from home – at Liverpool on the last day of August 1-0, and at Aston Villa in December, 2-1.   And that total of two defeats comes across all competitions, both league and the three cups that  Arsenal are of course competiting in.   Mind you, Arsenal only got two away defeats last season and three in 2023/4, so this is becoming something of a trend.  They probably have a “Not being beaten away” coach (more on that in a moment).

But if we were to draw up a league table just taking into account away games, we would find, ahead of today’s away game, a top four of

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal	10	6	2	2	14	9	5	20
2	Tottenham Hotspur	11	5	3	3	18	15	3	18
3	Aston Villa	11	5	3	3	15	16	-1	18
4	Manchester City	10	5	2	3	18	11	7	17

 

And I started that last sentence with “But” because there is a real contrast between the home and those away games… The home table currently reads

 

	Team	P	W	D	L	F	A	GD	Pts
1	Arsenal	11	9	2	0	26	5	21	29
16	Nottingham Forest	10	3	1	6	12	17	-5	10
17	Tottenham Hotspur	10	2	3	5	12	12	0	9

 

For as you can see, although Arsenal are top of both the home and away tables, our near neighbours sit adjacent to the team we play late this afternoon, in the home table.  Thus, Tottenham, like Nottingham F, cannot readily win in front of their own supporters.   And I think it might be worth asking why.

Although it’s none of my business, I am fascinated as to how the tiny tots can have such a dreadful home record and yet be second in the away team table.   I can only assume it is either pure chance (which always seems a cop out to me when used as an explanation, since the job of any writer is surely to entertain and explain) or there is a real problem for the Totts at their shiny new “didn’t cost us a penny” stadium.    And while saying it is chance that leads Tottenham to such a lowly positionthat is at least an explanation (the media tending not even to offer that thought), it doesn’t really do much in terms of explaining why they have only won two home games all season.

I guess the answer has something to do with Tottenham’s favourite occupation of endlessly appointing new managers, but it really does seem extraordinarily change to spend all that money on a new stadium in which they can’t win games.    Mind you, I suspect we really should be thanking their supporters for dragging the team down further and further.  That negative support is quite possibly why they have only won two home games.

Meanwhile, as Tottenham appoints manager after manager, what does Arsenal do?   They ceaselessly fine-tune their performances, rather than having a new broom sweep aside everything that has happened in the last few months.  Indeed, Mikel Arteta has spoken of looking to “improve every single area.”   Thus, we now see the appointment of “renowned throw-in coach” (that’s the Guardian’s comment) Thomas Grønnemark.  The master of the “long, fast and clever throw-in.”    

And I wonder what next.  A kick-off coach?  A goal kick coach?  A coach to improve the singing in the north bank?

But this is not to laugh at the notion of a throw-in coach.  Arsenal have scored more goals from free kicks than any other team in Europe’s top-five leagues: 24 in all.  But Arsenal don’t score after long throw-ins, so that’s the next tiny detail to sort out – and undoubtedly Rice will be part of the development programme.

And to return to the contrasts with Tottenham, it is interesting that if anyone there were to speak about such things they would say something like, “We are trying to win an away game (they have won two this season, only Wolverhampton have won fewer, they have won one).

In the past year, the number of long throw-ins in the Premier League has more than doubled as other clubs carefully watch what Arsenal are doing and then try to copy.   So now we have the expert – which absolutely makes sense.

Meanwhile, back to today’s game, ManC are playing first and if they win, they will still be behind Arsenal in the league, but only by three points.  ManC play the flailing ManU who are 11 points behind their neighbours, so it looks like an easy one for ManC. 

The notion that ManU could do us a favour is stretching things a bit, so the result of the weekend could see ManU slipping down to 10th or so.  But all Arsenal can do is win each game, and not let the thought that they are still in all four competitions get in the way of winning this afternoon.