Tag Archives: Arsenal

The Football Diaries’ European Stat Attack

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With a week of entertaining, surprising and extraordinary games for the English teams in Europe behind us, it’s time to get out your trainspotter’s pad, don that kagoul and get your nerd on – it’s the Football Diaries’ much-anticipated, widely-admired and utterly essential European Stat Attack.

AC Milan 0-0 TOTTENHAM

Sandro won all eight of the tackles that he attempted vs Milan on Wednesday. Only four players have won more in a CL game this term.

The stat above is representative of the excellent progress being made by Brazil’s former Under-20 captain Sandro at Tottenham. Having only arrived in England in September, the strong midfielder has shown real class and defensive astuteness in the games against Milan. His form is such that Tom Huddlestone will have a real battle on his hands to reclaim his place when he returns from his long lay-off.

Tottenham Hotspur have never lost at home in the Champions League/European Cup (including qualifiers), winning seven times and drawing twice.

‘Arry’s Spurs have an excellent record at home in the Champions League and it’s no surprise when you consider Tottenham’s all-time results in Europe’s top club competition.  Indeed, in all European competition Spurs have played 70 games at White Hart Lane, won 54 and only lost 3. Still, if Barcelona come calling in the quarter-finals, I doubt they’ll be too worried about that.

Barcelona 3-1 ARSENAL

Since Opta started analysing all Champions League games in 2003, Arsenal are the only team ever to record zero shots in a match.

Deary me, what a night for Arsenal fans. Despite the Gooners drawing 1-1 at one stage, and going through on aggregate at that point, Wenger’s men failed to have any shots on target. It summed up their night that it took a Barcelona own-goal by Sergio Busquets to allow Arsenal back into the game on 53 minutes, but some mesmerising play, a dodgy decision and two goals later – Arsenal were out 4-3.

Arsenal made 119 passes on Tuesday; compared to a total of 724 by Barcelona.

The pre-eminence of Barcelona on the European football scene is succinctly demonstrated in this stat. Against a team vying for the Premier League title with a reputation for classy, flowing football that can tear teams apart, Barcelona were completely and utterly dominant. For all of Wenger’s excuses about a dodgy sending off, Arsenal deserved nothing from a game in which the top 10 passers all played in blue and red. Who can stop the Catalonian juggernaut?

SC Braga 1-0 LIVERPOOL

Excl. qualifiers, Braga have won all 5 of the European games they’ve scored in this term, keeping a clean sheet each time.

While many in England took for granted a positive result for Liverpool in their match against unfancied Braga of Portugal, the stats backed the Portuguese side, who finished 2nd in last season’s Primeira Liga. It probably benefited Braga that they are largely an unknown quantity and their supposedly shock win against Dalglish’s Reds sets up an interesting return leg inLiverpool.

Liverpool have conceded just 5 goals in 13 European matches this term (including qualifiers).

It’s not all doom an gloom for Kopites though, their own record in Europe this season, while not sensational, had been built on a very solid defense. Conceding only just over 1 goal every 3 games, King Kenny’s side will fancy their chances of over-turning their first leg deficit at Anfield, with a new strike-force ready to punish any Portuguese errors.

Dynamo Kiev 2-0 MANCHESTER CITY

Man City have now only won 1 of their last 9 European away games (excluding qualifiers).

Although the conditions in Kiev, it was -6ºC, won’t have suited City, particularly their newly-shorn snood squad, they will have hoped for better than a 2-0 loss to the Ukrainian giants. However, when you look at the stats, it shouldn’t be that much of a surprise that Mancini’s men failed to get a result; City’s results in Europe away from home will need to improve if they want to win the Europa League this year.

Man City have only lost 2 games at home all season, 3-0 to Arsenal and 2-1 to Everton.

Fortunately for City fans, the flip side of their poor away form is their excellent home form. Having suffered only two defeats at the City of Manchester Stadium this term, both of which were in the earlier part of the season, City will go into their tricky second leg against Kiev with confidence that they can come back from their first leg loss to register the resounding victory they need to take them to the Europa League quarter-finals.

Phew, that’s quite enough nerd-alerting for now, but for more barefaced stattage, rumours, thoughts and theories, follow me onTwitter: @footballdiaries

5 Things I Learned About Football This Week

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Another week has passed in the unpredictable world of Association Football, so what has gone on this week, and what has the world’s favourite sport taught us?  Let’s look back now and pass a sage eye over the comings-and-goings and the to-ings-and-fro-ings in the soon-to-be regular feature, 5 Things I Learned About Football This Week.

1. If you’re going to make predictions, get ready to take the flack when  they don’t come true

I was wrong. I admit it. On Wednesday, before Arsenal’s victory over Barcelona, I got up on my high horse and loudly proclaimed that the Gunners would not beat Barca – in fact I gave 5 reasons in explanation of my supposedly water-tight theory. Oh dear. Arsenal won 2-1; cue laughter, vitriol, abuse, mickey-taking and all the other fully-deserved comments you might expect.

I have to admit, it was fair enough – you raise your head above the parapet, you’re going to get shot and I accept the flood of comments. I’d just like to share a few of my favourites with you though:

“Hahahaha arsenal beat Barcelona so you are wrong hahahahahahahaha”

“Ha! Ha! Ha! Give me five reason WHY “ARSENAL” won. To tell you what? I have never been prouder to be a fan of “THE GUNNERS”.

“would u like to put some tomato ketchup on on your boots…make it more enjoyable to eat?….”

I like the succinct nature of the first comment; short, to the point and accurate.  All I kept thinking about when looking at the second comment was the use of speech marks… if that is their “REAL NAME”.

And as for the final effort, I don’t understand it, but that sure as hell doesn’t mean it’s not bizarrely brilliant.  They’re all classics, I’m sure you’ll agree, so thank you all. Anyway, to summarise, Arsenal did it, they beat Barca. Well done.  (But they’ll get turned over at the Camp Nou!)

2. A 59-year-old Scotsman with glasses is harder than a 33-year-old Italian athlete

Everybody in football had something to say following the ugly incidents in the San Siro on Tuesday between AC Milan’s Gennaro Gattuso and Spurs’ Assistant Coach Joe Jordan; but amid the disgust and head-shaking at Gattuso’s outbursts, there was another running theme… Joe Jordanwould have Gattuso in an actual fight. Now, as terrifying as the sight of the toothless Glaswegian, nick-named ‘Jaws’, was in 1978, and even if he’d maintained that aggression, Jordan would surely struggle against a 33-year-old Italian bulldog with a blood-lust?

But, on the other hand, maybe Graeme Souness (Prediction: Jordan win within 5 mins) and Henry Winter (Prediction: Jordan win within 90 seconds) are right; perhaps Jordan could take that little upstart Gattuso? After all, if he gets in early, it might just take one swift blow to the muzzle to end the contest…

But enough of all this talk of disgraceful violence, let’s just hope they can sort their problems, Glasgow Kiss and make up… oops.

3. The FA Cup hasn’t lost its unique charm

Every year we find football writers anxiously wringing their hands as the FA Cup’s latter rounds approach once more. Oh, how can the competition continue when the big teams don’t care, they put out a third-string side, they care more about the Champions League and the Premier League, oh, what is happening to the world’s greatest cup competition? Blah blah blah.

Firstly, the FA Cup competition is not the exclusive preserve of the Big Four/Five/Six, there are plenty of games to play before that final in May – and every one offers the opportunity for a spectacular result, be it an unexpected mauling, an extraordinary come-back, or the most heralded of all, a giant-killing.

Secondly, only in the FA Cup do we see match-ups like the one witnessed yesterday at Old Trafford – Alex Ferguson’s mighty United took on Essex’s finest, Crawley Town of the Blue Square Premier. Despite being 93 places below their illustrious opponents, Crawley were brilliant. They gave a fantastic account of themselves, should have had a draw and earned the club £1million in TV rights – a great day for a small club and something which highlights the positives of the competition.

The FA Cup will never lose its special ability to shock and entertain and instead of worrying for its future, let’s embrace what’s great about it and continue enjoying games like yesterday’s.

4. Never have Aaron Lennon and Peter Crouch as your two post-match interviewees

5 foot 5 and 6 foot 7 – enough said.

5 foot 5 and 6 foot 7 – enough said.

5. UEFA have an interesting view of what constitutes an ‘overpriced’ ticket

While we live in the age of the billionaire-owner and the mega-rich player, we the fans are, unfortunately, somewhat more limited in our means. This hasn’t stopped UEFA from announcing that for general sale tickets at this season’s Champions League final at Wembley , the cheapest price you can expect to pay is a staggering £150, PLUS an inexplicable £26 ‘administration fee’.

Hilariously, UEFA spokesman Giorgio Marchetti explained UEFA’s ‘generosity’ as follows “We don’t think that the Champions League final is overpriced. We do not want to squeeze every single penny out of the market.” He went on to explain that the £26 administration fee was in place because there are “costs involved”– presumably then the tickets are printed in gold leaf and couriered to fans by super-sonic jet-bike?

With this announcement, the price of the cheapest ticket for a Champions League final has almost doubled in just 2 years – when Manchester United lost to Barcelona in Rome 2009, a category three ticket was a relatively paltry £80. With the money already being pumped into football at every turn by the game’s dedicated fans, this level of pricing is a slap in the face and an unacceptable imposition by UEFA.