by Bulldog Drummond
The latest name in the frame for Arsenal tonight is Josh Dasilva. He’s what is known on the Arsenal.com profile as a “Dominating mid elder” (all the young midfielders on Arsenal.com have been listed as “mid elders” for reason that have never quite become clear). “Josh proved his worth at both under-23 and under-18 level with impressive performances in a range of positions,” they say.
But he must have wondered what on earth the point of even answering the journalists’ questions was, when that interview was reported as resulting in a situation in which “Arsenal arrived in Belgrade still caught up in the emotional maelstrom that followed a poor defeat at Vicarage Road”. If one is going to write about an “emotional maelstrom” why bother to interview the man who denies there is any such thing at all and who has just said, “we try to analyse our own game and get on with it.”
Anyway, using a number of young players in Стадион Рајко Митић or the Red Star Stadium, or indeed as it is also known Маракана or The Marakana, is not a bad test of how they will stand up to the sort of pressure they’ll get back in England playing in front of Premier League referees.
The Marakana did at one time have a capacity of 90,000 but it is now generally restricted to around 45,000 although apparently it can still produce a noisy place to play, and a perfect situation for journalists to rave about a “patchwork quilt” of an Arsenal defence including the aforementioned Dasilva, along with Rob Holding and maybe Mathieu Debuchy and maybe Mo Elneny. Of Debuchy Mr Wenger said, “He has not played for a long time because every time he is close to coming back he is injured again. Hopefully he gets through. He certainly starts.”
As for the atmosphere Mr Wenger said, “We have the habit to deal with that at every stadium in England and we had a long experience in the Champions League. I don’t think there will be a negative impact. We expect a game with a huge commitment from everybody.” Such a comment could also have been made about the journalists who trot around after Arsenal, stirring up imaginary disasters at each and every turn.
Red Star knocked Arsenal out of the Uefa Cup in 1978. Cvijetin Blagojevic, who was part of that team and now scouts for Red Star, said about that victory, “At that time we played ‘tiki-taka’ football, the kind Barcelona plays now. We called it ‘crazy tiki-taka’. What Barcelona play today is just a copy‑and‑paste from that. People from the Barcelona youth academy came to Belgrade to see how we worked. We were ahead of our time, but now we are still at the level of 40 years ago. It is sad, but I hope better days will come.”
So, onto the team
It appears Debuchy will be joined in defence by Rob Holding and quite possibly by the aforementioned Josh Dasilva. This helps us see if Debuchy really is back and fit, allows Koscielny to rest, and indeed gives time off for Per Mertesacker and Nacho Monreal. Per Mertesacker has spoken before about no longer being able to play twice in one week and since he featured on Saturday that would keep him outside of the squad.
David Ospina picked up a minor injury in training and so Petr Cech will start in goal.
Joe Willock, Reiss Nelson and Ainsley Maitland-Niles who have already been regularly mentioned in dispatches this season are all very likely to start.
Olivier Giroud, Jack Wilshere, Francis Coquelin and Theo Walcott will also play, in order to keep them happy and alert, ready to take a place in the League line up when needed.
Cech;
Debuchy, Holding, Dasilva;
Nelson, Willock,
Coquelin, Maitland-Niles;
Walcott, Giroud, Wilshere.
The idea then is that Wilshere can tuck in behind Walcott and Giroud, or drop back into a deeper position if the evolution of the game so demands.
And you never know, with a bit of luck, a fight might break out in the press box, leading to the arrest of all the UK journalists and detention for several years in Sremska Mitrovica, or maybe even on Goli otok – the barren uninhabited island, leaving us the chance to write some proper stuff about footie without them getting in the way all the time.
And the beach…
Macey, Elneny, Bellerin, Kolasinac, McGuane, Iwobi, Nketiah
Akpom has been mentioned in passing, so he might be on the beach instead of Iwobi. At the time of writing I have contradictory details of who actually travelled, so this might be subject to variation.
- Just when you thought the Arsenal situation couldn’t get any worse, something very big.
- Yet more changes proposed by the FA for Women’s Football
- Julian Draxler to Arsenal? Knowing the Truth Behind It
In the U23 match at the Ems on Monday night DaSilva started on the left hand side of the back three, moved to left wing back when Reine-Adelaide had to come off in the 20th minute, then moved into Central Midfield for the second half when Coquelin came off. By all accounts he did little wrong in any of these positions. I think that he probably regards himself as a defensive midfielder first and foremost but like all hungry young players will work his socks off wherever he is asked to play. He does take most of the free kicks and corners for the U23s and has a reliable delivery.
@Bulldog
Goli Otok (literally Barren Island) is now in Croatia. It was used as a concentration camp for political rivals after Tito and Stalin had failed to reach agreement which shade of red communism should use. There was also a concentration camp for women on Sveti Grgur (St Gregory). As you might have guessed, it wasn’t used to improve focus on the said rivals but to punish them for supporting Stalin. Hence the coin “anti-Stalinist Stalinism” when Tito’s early years of reign are described.
After we – all countries that became independent after Yugoslavia went through dissolution – got a democracy and much higher crime rate than it was in the Tito era, you can hear “yer da” saying at least once per day that “if Tito could only rise from the dead and open Goli Otok for the criminals…” Finding balance is everything and Yugoslavia’s successors have failed to find the balance between the police state and the criminal state.
Do remember that today’s game is an early kickoff 19:00 CET, or 18:00 UK time.
It is on BT Sport 2 starting at 17:30. There is also coverage via Arsenal.com again starting at 17:30 (the actual match coverage will by sound only). No doubt there will also be various streams for those following the game elsewhere.
One of Arena Sport channels will be showing the game for the fans in ex-Yugoslavia.
Whilst Crvena Zvezda haven’t played a game in European competitions after New Year since 1992, I don’t think we should expect an easy match today. I’d be happy with a point and I hate Crvena Zvezda more than Tottenham.
Muslim players in Arsenal line-up, especially Kolašinac and Xhaka (if either or both of them are about to play tonight), can expect a lot of abuse from the stands. Crvena Zvezda have been considered as one of three pillars of the Serbian nationalism back in Yugoslavia (the other two are Serbian Orthodox Church and Serbian Academy of Science and Art) and their fans are among the worst. That is really ironic given that their greatest success – European Champions Cup glory – was helped a lot by two Macedonians (Pančev and Najdoski), a Croat (Prosinečki), a Montenegrin Muslim (Šabanadžović) and two Montenegrins (Savićević and Marović).
The early game in Europa league is on. It won’t be long now.
I looked for news about Arsenal at Google, but all I can find is crap.
COYG!
I was surprised by a new article at Arsenal.com. It seems Reiss Nelson is a MMA fan.
UEFA is showing a (tentative?) lineup
Cech
Debuchy Holding Elneny
Nelson Willock
Coquelin Maitland-Niles
Walcott Wilshere
Giroud
Beach: Macey Osei-Tutu Akpom Dasilva McGuane Nketiah Sheaf
Young bench!
COYG!
Other game data from UEFA
Referee: _ _ Benoît Bastien (FRA)
Assistant referees
Hicham Zakrani (FRA)
Frédéric Haquette (FRA)
Additional assistant referees
Benoît Millot (FRA)
Jérôme Miguelgorry (FRA)
Fourth official
Julien Pacelli (FRA)
23°C, clear night, Humidity: 34%, Wind 3 kph
The pitch is excellent
The final listing I have is
Cech
Holding, Elneny, Debuchy
Maitland-Niles, Joe Willock, Coquelin, Reiss Nelson
Wilshere, Giroud, Walcott
Beach
Macey (GK), Marcus McGuane, Sheaf, Akpom, Da Silva, Nketiah, Ösen-Tutu
So you have the right players, just not necessarily, in the right order.
OT: Christmas Eve news
> The Reds’ trip to north London will now be played on Friday December 22, with a 7.45pm kick-off set.
I was guessing at order, UEFA just had a list of names.
Mr Drummond, not withstanding the many light guns and a few big ones Arsenal have taken to Serbia to use in tonight’s Europa League Cup match against Grvena Zvezda at R Mitic Stadium when the battle is set in arrays to begin the battle, it is worth noting that Grveda Zvezda are already in a state of panic and fear on seeing the quality and the would be super effectiveness of the many light and a few big guns Arsenal have brought along to use against them for the collection of all the 3 points at stake in the match.
To find a way to avert the impending home defeat at the hands of the Gunners which looks certain to happen, Grveda Zvezda have resolved among themselves to talk to Le Prof. And they made a proposal to him that the points in the match be shared so as to prevent their teeming home supporters getting disappointed and turning on them should they lose the battle to Arsenal. More so, if Arsenal take many of them as the spoils from the battle back to the Emirates Stadium. And pledge to Le Prof that they have guarantee to losing the return leg match to Arsenal to have all the 3 points in that match. But Le Prof replied them by saying, he’ll have nothing to do with match fixing. And beside that, Arsenal have not come to Serbia for jokes but to collect all the points at stake in the match. He then went on to tell the Grveda Zvezda’s head coach that he understands his plight, but he should take heart he is of no use to him in his predicament.
Nonetheless, Mr Drummond, with due respect, allow me to make some adjustments to your starts and bench, my 3rd in as many for this match in the following oder.
3-4-3 starts:
Macey
Debuchy Holding ElNeny
Nelson Maitland Wilshere Willock
Walcott Giroud Dasilva.
Bench:
Cech Dragomir McGuane Nketiah Coquelin Akpom.
Note: While I was thinking who my seventh bencher should be, I noticed Andrew Crawshaw came out with the official starts and bench for the match. And I seen I only missed out if Le Prof’s starts by twi Gunner in Le Coq and Dasilva.
Mr Drummond, not withstanding the many light guns and a few big ones Arsenal have taken to Serbia to use in tonight’s Europa League Cup match against Grvena Zvezda at R Mitic Stadium when the battle is set in arrays to begin the battle, it is worth noting that Grveda Zvezda are already in a state of panic and fear on seeing the quality and the would be super effective in the match of the many light and a few big guns Arsenal have brought along to use against them for the collection of all the 3 points at stake in the match.
To find a way to avert the impending home defeat at the hands of the Gunners which looks certain to happen, Grveda Zvezda have resolved among themselves to talk to Le Prof. And they made a proposal to him that the points in the match be shared so as to prevent their teeming home supporters getting disappointed and turning on them should they lose the battle to Arsenal. More so, if Arsenal take many of them as the spoils from the battle back to the Emirates Stadium. And pledge to Le Prof that they have guarantee losing the return leg match to Arsenal to have all the 3 points in that match. But Le Prof replied them by saying, he’ll have nothing to do with match fixing. And beside that, Arsenal have not come to Serbia for jokes but to collect all the points at stake in the match. He then went on to tell the Grveda Zvezda’s head coach that he understands his plight, but he should take heart he is of no use to him in his predicament.
Nonetheless, Mr Drummond, with due respect, allow me to make some adjustments to your starts and bench, my 3rd in as many for this match in the following oder.
3-4-3 starts:
Macey
Debuchy Holding ElNeny
Nelson Maitland Wilshere Willock
Walcott Giroud Dasilva.
Bench:
Cech Dragomir McGuane Nketiah Coquelin Akpom.
Note: While I was thinking who my seventh bencher should be, I noticed Andrew Crawshaw came out with the official starts and bench for the match. And I can see that I’ve missed out on Le Prof’s starts by twi Gunners in Cech, Le Coq and Dasilva.
Sorry my reposting.
I still think Daniel Thacker (Arsenal “reporter” for UEFA) is a dork.
COYG!
Watching an irish TV station via a stream.
The level of pre-game BS is hallucinating.
And just now, the comment that AFC need to watch the opponents, because they’ve already lost to them….40 years ago.
At th time Arsene was still paying and our team was yet to be borne (or re-incarnated depending on what you believe in).
and I remember AFC coming to Lausanne in the early 70s in the Fairs Cup or something like that and losing.
He forgot to mention that, and I believe Walcott and Giroud have such a stress upon them because of that lost game that they are unable to play like thy should which proves that our team has no steel and no nerves…
I really don’t like Daniel Thacker. It seems that a significant part of what he is doing, is writing to the English fans who don’t support Arsenal. What is the point in that?
Here is UEFA Statistics: Arsenal are visiting.
Goals 0:0
Attempts 6:3
_on target 1:1
_off target 4:1
_blocked 1:1
_woodwork 1:0
Corners 4:2
Offsides 2:1
58% Arsenal in first half
Passing accuracy(%) 76:87
_Passes 195:314
_Completed 149:273
Balls Recovered 16:23
Tackles 0:0
Blocks 1:1
Clearances 0:0
Yellow 1:0
Fouls 6:4
Two minutes of extra time were played.
I’ve no idea what the yellow card was for (to Red Star), UEFA didn’t say.
COYG!
Good first half performance from a scratch team. Need to move the ball quicker in possession and we will get chanves
I hoped this game was already over. Too many players out of position and attack that is not fluid at all.
Giroud looks cut off from the supply line completely. Maybe Akpom could make something off the bench.
Four goals, all by the home team, in the opening game today. Thirteen goals so far in the games playing now, largest lead is 0-3 to Real Sociedad. Four games stuck scoreless so far.
COYG!
Gord,
yellow card was for a foul on Walcott in midfield on a counter, but the ref gave advantage and the play carried on for maybe 2 minutes. He then gave the yellow after checking Walcott who had not gotten up since being fouled
Thanks Chris. It kind of looks like the officials are doing a good job from what I see in commentary and statistics.
COYG!
The comments are just unbearable…
1)(name of an Arsenal player) should have
2)(name of an Arsenal player) could have
3)(name of an Arsenal player) ought to have
4)(name of an Arsenal player) has no ideas
Add to that : no steel, no physicality, no presence
just keeps going on and on, maybe they just have a recording on repeat, some kind of speaker-bot ?
Giroud, will you please hit the target! 🙂
Come on lads, we need a goal (or 3).
COYG!
Have we scored yet?
Ours is the only scoreless game today so far.
COYG!
Well, well. That wouldn’t happen in the EPL.
Come on gunners, take advantage of that extra man!
COYG!
Yes! How to go Giroud!
COYG!
Thanks for the assist Theo.
Red Star yellow for dissent after goal was scored?
COYG!
Gord,
I’d say the copright goes to Wilshere who eliminates 2 (was it 3 players ?) brilliantly in the build-up, follows through to get the ball back and makes the pass to Walcott.
Once jacks has his fitness back, we’lls ee a different Arsenal
What a good win
Statistics: Arsenal are visiting.
Goals _ _ _ _ _ _ 0:0 _ 0:1
Attempts _ _ _ _ _6:3 _ 11:11
_on target _ _ _ _1:1 _ 4:5
_off target _ _ _ 4:1 _ 6:3
_blocked _ _ _ _ _1:1 _ 1:3
_woodwork _ _ _ _ 1:0 _ 1:0
Corners _ _ _ _ _ 4:2 _ 5:6
Offsides _ _ _ _ _2:1 _ 2:2
58% Arsenal in first half, 57% for entire game
Passing accuracy(%) 76:87 _ 76:85
_Passes _ _ _ _ _ 195:314 _ 380:572
_Completed _ _ _ _149:273 _ 290:487
Balls Recoverd _ _16:23 _ 35:40
Tackles _ _ _ _ _ 0:0 _ 0:0
Blocks _ _ _ _ _ _1:1 _ 3:1
Clearances _ _ _ _0:0 _ 0:0
Yellow _ _ _ _ _ _1:0 _ 6:2
2nd Yellow _ _ _ _0:0 _ 1:0
Fouls _ _ _ _ _ _ 6:4 _ 11:13
6 minutes of extra time played?
Thanks for the updates Ford
Good win, guess now just 3 points from topping the group
38 goals scored in this second set of games, biggest score was 0:6 to Real Sociedad. Two games end in a draw in this second set. Five wins to the away team.
Good work Gunners!
Thank you boys for sticking it to the ‘cojoneless’ jokers who want to put AFC down at every turn. Now lets hear what spineless drivel they will spew.
COYG!!!
Good win for Arsenal. Congratulations to the boys.
And hail Olivier ‘the scorpion King’ Giroud.
COYG
@Bobome 19/10/2017 at 8:10 pm, my thoughts exactly.
Glad to see Jack in such a shape. Quick, efficient, intelligent play. For me, he is by far MOTM.
Good win!
Lots of news about Giroud’s goal, many of which won’t put up a “still” picture of the event. They can only put up a “video”, which I won’t allow on security grounds. Nice to see Martin Keown _NOT_ find something wrong with it. Some “journalist” thought the second yellow to a Red Star player was a straight red. Nice to see he was paying attention to his beer, and not to the game.
In terms of what is needed in our group, BATE and Red Star now have 4 points. If either were to finish out the group stage with 3 wins, they would have 13 points. We need 5 points to finish top of the group, a win and two draws would provide that.
Köln has 3 losses which is unexpected. My guess is that Köln could likely get two wins out of its remaining 3 games, with another loss to Arsenal somewhat more likely than a loss to BATE or Red Star. If that happens, I would expect that the most either BATE or Red Star will get from the next 3 games is 6 points, which would see them finish with 10 points. We would only need 2 points to surpass that.
But, for planning purposes, it would be better to expect 5 or more points from the remaining games “are needed”.
Were six or seven Red Star players who were yellow carded and red carded in this match doing rotational fouling in the match which backfired on them as against the Gunners who concentrated on playing the match and winning it but got two yellow cards only?
Gord
The journalist who said that he thought the second yellow (for the Red Star player Rodic) was a straight red echoed my own thought exactly. It certainly deserved to be, and I’ve only just discovered after reading a report on the match he received two yellows. The elbow to Coqueline’s face cause an immediate bump just below his eye, and I’m surprised he continued.
The goal was a spectacular overhead kick following a good passing movement involving Wilshere, Walcott & (up to then) ineffective Giroud.
Considering he’s not played first team football for nearly a year Debuchy was excellent also and may yet be involved in this competition until the end, and another great MOTM performance by Jack who’s getting back to his best. He took a kick on the ankle early on but it didn’t look to affect him in any way.
I see that the headlines are saying Arsenal beat ten men etc., but I don’t think that the sending off made any difference to Red Star’s defence as they subbed on a defender for a forward, so still had enough in defence. It was the magic of the quick one two passing between Wilshere & Walcott that caused the damage.
Jax
The reporter I was referring to, thought that the referee had issued a straight red, and was bitching as he thought it wasn’t even worth a yellow.
Almost the opposite of what you thought. I think. 🙂
—
The “reporter” that UEFA had doing “Arsenal commentary” often said things not very useful.
But, he did make a comment about how well Debuchy was playing. Which I thought was a very nice thing to hear (or rather, to read). he has had bad luck with injuries, and supposedly was looking to move to another team. Today’s play may help him if that is indeed what he was looking for.
Looking at articles from Arsenal.com post-game, and comparing to stuff the medja produced.
Wenger says the game was a physical game played at high intensity for 90 minutes. I seen more than one medja report saying it was a boring game.
Nice twit from someone who thinks that Giroud’s grandchildren might think he is better than Pele.
—-
I think we might have a bit tougher time this weekend at Everton, than we might have had Everton won at home in their Europa League game. If nothing else, some Everton players might have read Deeney’s infinite wisdom on kicking Arsenal players because they have no toughness.
I did see a news report that the Watford manager was unhappy with what Deeeeneeey said. Apparently he would prefer the captain (Deeeeeeneeeeey) to focus on what Watford did, and not on the opposition.
Sounds to me like a reference to people living in glass houses.
But Deeeeeeeeeneeeeeeeey does bring to the forefront, the problem of the EPL where the idiots from PGMO will not enforce the laws as laid out by the IFAB and FIFA. It is not legal for a football player to kick another football player, except in England. Especially if Arsenal is the team getting kicked.
OT: The FA _is_ institutionally racist!
The story is in many English/British medja pages. What’s here is from Germany (Deutsche Welle).
http://www.dw.com/en/eni-aluko-racism-affair-lands-english-football-association-in-crisis/a-41041794
> … It later emerged that the FA withheld half of the money until Aluko released a statement saying that the FA was not institutionally racist – claims the FA deny.
> Clarke had to issue a hasty apology for describing claims of institutional racism as “fluff” …
One need look no further than officiating in England. By and large, it is an old boys club of Caucasians, often with a heavy bias to the north (Manchester/Liverpool). While many accredited officials may have moved to England in the past, they are not good enough. Some have the Gaul to think that kicking opposition is not allowed!
PGMO reports to EPL. But discipline is still run by The (sweet) FA. The FA is involved in all things EPL. And PGMO recruits (solely) from FA overseen/managed leagues.
WOO HOO , HOO ! A good win for the youngsters. The second half was more open and thankfully we got all three points .
Red Star was pretty good and other than their silly and constant fouling, were matching the Arsenal.
Was glad to see the other youngsters getting a run out too at the end . What was the average age of our team that finished the game? Gord ?
Up the Gunners !
@Gord
If we beat Zvezda at home as well and BATE don’t win in Cologne, we will secure top spot in the group even if I don’t know if there is any benefit from it before the draw for Round of 32 as eight Champions League clubs will join the competition.
“And you never know, with a bit of luck, a fight might break out in the press box, leading to the arrest of all the UK journalists and detention for several years in Sremska Mitrovica, or maybe even on Goli otok – the barren uninhabited island, leaving us the chance to write some proper stuff about footie without them getting in the way all the time.”
This had me in stitches. Pity it didn’t come to pass…
Bobome
“Thank you boys for sticking it to the ‘cojoneless’ jokers who want to put AFC down at every turn. Now lets hear what spineless drivel they will spew.”
Indeed. All sooooooooooooo predictable. Just take a look at Tony’s next article for confirmation.
What a fabulous bunch of young players & what an superbly created & taken goal. It was worth the wait & the continuous fouling whenever in possession. The Arsenal boys were just so tolerant & together.
Well done Arsene Wenger for playing such a well drilled group of players.
Funny, how the commentator made out that Coquelin dived in order to get the player sent off, but then when it showed the lump where he’d been hit, he just completely shut up.
Jammy
It was Stewart Robson.
Above I mentioned I thought, given his usual attitude towards us, he was pretty fair with his comments, but I did notice him say that, which was unnecessary.
As well as that he compounded the insult by failing to apologise once it was obvious Coquelin he had been injured, which was disappointing, but other than that, as I say, I thought he was okay.
I also still agree with him it was a harsh yellow because it wasn’t a ‘thrown’ elbow so to speak, and looked pretty accidental to me.
What is an “accidental” elbow?
If a player has been trained to run with his elbows up (and away form his/her side), to jump using the arms to help and to keep the elbows wide, and so on; there will always be a higher probability of some other player contacting one of those elbows and possibly getting hurt.
The player using their elbows in this way in play, may not have the intention of hurting other players. But the coach that taught them to do that, did have the intention. For that reason, I would not call those kinds of collisions as accidental. They were planned, just not necessarily by the player.