Kevin Whitcher's Arsenal Blog

974 Stadium – Seven matches and then it’s gone    Swiss container tactics not enough v Brazil    Monday 28th November 2022    So on Monday we saw the final day of four matches kicking off at different times. On occasion (at weekends specifically) at past finals there have been four games a day, before the final round of group games with their simultaneous kick offs anyway, but most of the time the tournament has sufficient time to breath that there are three matches a day. Obviously the condensed nature of these finals has changed things so that the whole shebang can be completed in 29 days. Russia 2018 spanned 32. Being here, it’s been possible to catch some of the matches on a big screen or my iPad using VPN to get the UK broadcast, but I shall get to the culture of having TVs in restaurants and cafes later. Traveling to and from games makes it impossible to catch everything, and in that sense, it’s just like any other finals in any other country.   ...

  Khalifa Stadium – Futuristic look     What day is it?    Sunday 27th November 2022    I am losing track of what day it is. I had a messaging exchange with a friend and assumed he was working from home – I had no concept it was Sunday. During a World Cup, if you are actually at the tournament, there seems little distinction between days – there are just matches. And of course, Friday is the holy day here anyway – so if there are any shut places – Friday is their Sunday. Qatar actually played kicked off their second match on Friday here during the time when shops are closed for prayers.   And I am actually writing this on a Tuesday afternoon. Having the Mrs with me is not conducive to getting work done, and poor internet connection in the place we are staying (called The Clusters), is not helping, not least because my Macbook refuses to connect to my iPhone which has data. First world problems. And this blog isn’t even work – but it needs to ...

  Exterior of the Lusail Stadium – with tournament mascot      Messi and Argentina belatedly arrive at the party    Saturday 26th November 2022    So let’s start with some aspects of the tournament that say so much. I was told some great information about the opening ceremony game and specifically the Qatari fans behind the goal in their uniform t-shirts. These seats were filled, row by row, just before kick off and after the opening ceremony had concluded – the obvious reason being that the ‘fans’ doing all the cheering were paid to work on the ceremony and then support the team. It makes sense. There is no football culture here amongst the ordinary people – certainly for the teams in their own league. I doubt they are even that fussed about football elsewhere in truth. One guy in a WhatsApp chat for those attending the tournament messaged -   “Talking to a Saudi fan yesterday at the (Poland v Saudi Arabia) match, he said 5 , 000 of them wer...

  Interior of the Al Bayt Stadium – Tent Theme      England Revert To Type    Saturday 26th November 2022   One stadium down, seven to go, after attending yesterday evening’s 10pm (local time) group match between England and USA. The 0-0 draw (assuming head to head matches determine progress) means that if England avoid defeat in their final group game against Wales they will progress. Lose and they would be relying on a draw in the simultaneous match between USA and Iran – which is the one I will be attending that day.   It was an opportunity to ensure qualification that was passed up, and Iran’s victory over Wales was evidence of how competitive a group this one is. Let’s put things in perspective here. Argentina and Germany suffered shock defeats in their opening matches, and the latter face the serious risk of elimination after two games. Given that USA created the better chances, England – despite playing poorly – fashioned a point out o...

Home sweet home… until December 3rd checkout     First missive from Qatar   Friday 25th November 2022 So, early in 2022, before the draw for the finals, I decided to attend the World Cup in Qatar and applied for eight games in the eight different stadiums over eight days. Got absolutely nothing in the initial ballot, but then there was a first come first served phase in which I managed to secure eight group games in eight days, still before the draw was made.   As it turned out, I am starting this evening with England v USA at the Al Bayt Stadium. I was umming and aahing about coming – more because of the likely cost of the trip rather than ethical considerations. And trust me, I am doing it on the cheap as much as is possible. Match tickets are the unavoidable major expense. Ultimately, the Middle East is the Middle East – when it comes to it Qatar really isn't that different from Dubai or Abu Dhabi. There are places where Westerners can indulge in th...

Wolves 0 Arsenal 2   Premier League   Saturday 12th November 2022 7.45pm     Well, well, well. Arsenal will – thanks to the break for the World Cup – go into Christmas with a five point lead in the Premier League. Manchester City’s earlier defeat at home to Brentford certainly felt like a very early festive gift, a result surely no-one saw coming. The Bees were 16-1 to win the match and even that felt a bit on the mean side. However, football is nothing if not unpredictable. Which of course was the case with the Gunners’ visit to a team that started the match bottom of the table. Given that, if Arsenal are to do something this season, they need to win these kind of matches, and aside from dropping two points against Southampton, they have done exactly that.   It was no surprise to see the same eleven that beat Chelsea take the field, although Granit Xhaka only lasted a quarter of an hour with what looked like some kind of illness, which later transpired to be a ...

  Arsenal 1 Brighton 3   League Cup 3rd Round   Wednesday 9th November 2022 7.45pm     So after a long run of home victories across two other competitions, Arsenal suffered defeat in the League Cup game. Mikel Arteta would have probably liked to progress in this tournament to give his second choice players more match time – and only William Saliba started from the victory over Chelsea last weekend. He might have faced a dilemma if they had reached the semi-finals, but I suspect we’d have seen similar lineups in the next two rounds if Arsenal had beaten Brighton.   The visiting side took a similar approach, with only two players retained from their match against Wolves on Saturday. So it more or less turned out as a case of ‘our reserves are better than yours’. Ultimately, Arsenal failed to regain their lead in a storming start to the second half, and after weathering that, Brighton took control of the match.   Things looked promising with the move that...

Chelsea 0 Arsenal 1   Premier League   Sunday 6th October 2022 12 noon     This certainly felt like a statement win, in the context of a so far remarkable season. Arsenal had won on their previous two trips to Stamford Bridge, but those victories ultimately didn’t count for much. The hope, and for many the belief, is that today’s three points will count for so much more.   One highly encouraging aspect of the performance was how – against a regular Champions League side on their own turf – Arsenal suffocated their opposition, compressing the play and forcing Chelsea down alleys where they struggled to maintain possession. Granted, Graham Potter’s side had a number of defensive players out injured, but that fact has to be countered with the reality that they have been able to purchase a squad that runs far deeper than Arsenal have been able to afford.   Tomiyasu’s injury as a sub against FC Zurich meant one change was inevitable, although the return to fitne...

  Arsenal 1 FC Zurich 0    Europa League Group A - Matchday Six    Thursday 3rd November 2022 8pm     I didn’t have much of an idea that Zurich’s travelling fans had any kind of a reputation before yesterday evening, although walking past the away end shortly before 6pm, although there may not have been many supporters, the police were out in serious numbers. A bit of me wondered what might transpire, and I did hear a loud contingent of them (presumably on the Holloway Road) as I made my way across Highbury Fields to meet friends pre-match in Upper Street.   What I witnessed inside the stadium later was highly impressive. Not only were they extremely vocal in their backing of the team, their pyrotechnic display, even if against UEFA rules, brought back memories of watching highlights of European ties staged in Italy in the 1980s and 90s, when a vast cloud of smoke engulfed the stadium, making it tricky for TV cameras to sometimes actually show wha...