please log in to view this image Venue: Kybun Park Date: Thursday 8th September 2022 KO time: 5:45pm BST
If anyone’s wondering why there’s no images or statistics in the OP, it’s because these are brand new opponents who we have never played against before.
Honestly? Me too. But I see it as an opportunity for our fringe players on whether they can fill in where possible or if they’re capable of pushing for a first team spot. Also, Arsenal have never won a Europa League before and that’s really not great for a club of our stature. I would like to see us win a European trophy in my lifetime.
It should be..... Turner, Tomiyasu, Holding, White, Tierney, Lokonga, Xhaka, Vieira, Smith Rowe, Nelson, Nketiah. Worried Arteta will play far more first teamers though.
Just found out the game isn’t being played in Zurich, due to some athletics tournament that the ground is being used for. We are playing at Kybun Park in St. Gallen’s instead. Yay…
Should give us a little more advantage seeing at it's not at their home ground. But to be honest, this should be a game we should be winning. That said, it will probs be a 2nd team playing tonight with a peppering of 1st teamers.
I’ve seen the squad we’ve taken and he’s taken a stronger squad than I expected. So yeah, it will probably be a mix of first teamers and second string players. Also, I’ve had a look at FC Zurich’s form this season. They have 2 draws and 5 losses from 7 games and sit 2nd-from-bottom in the Swiss league. We should be looking to win this 3-0 minimum.
1-0! Marquinhos! Lovely counter attack, great feet by Vieira to bypass the press and then a lovely weighted pass into Nketiah, who delivered a perfect cross for Marquinhos to finish off clinically. Great team goal.
Unlucky from Vieira to not make it 2-0, but really intelligent diagonal run. Good vision from Lokonga to spot that run, too.
30 mins gone and after the dodgy opening 10 minutes, we've taken control of the match. Good positional play and rotations. Dominating easily. Winning the ball back high up the pitch. But we need to make this dominance count and increase our lead.
As well as we are playing, we are leaving a lot of space open on the flanks which they are starting to hurt us with when they counter. Need to close the distances out wide a lot better and in transition.
Goal. 1-1. Against the run of play, but we have to be honest. We haven't created anywhere near enough considering our ball possession. We've also been a bit sloppy when defending counter attacks. This team are 2nd bottom in the Swiss league. We are making this harder work than it needs to be.
Started the second half much better and had 2 good chances already with Tierney and Nketiah, but they both needed to do better with those chances. Xhaka’s had an excellent game tbf to him.
2-1! Nketiah. Great cross from Marquinhos and nice header from Eddie to put us back in front. Now kill this off like we should have done in the first half.
FT. 2-1. We made much harder work of that than was necessary. Not entirely happy with the performance, as we dominated for large periods and didn't really have as much cutting edge as we should have. Nor did we test the goalkeeper as much as we should have. And toward the end of the game, we made it very nervy with some misplaced passes and turnovers in possession. However, there were some positives. Marquinhos looked excellent. Goal and assist on your first start. Nketiah led the line well despite not having an abundance of chances. Vieira looks very silky and reminds me a bit of Cazorla. Xhaka and Lokonga were solid. Our defence didn't really give too many chances away, although they should have dealt with some situations better. 3 points is the main thing at the end of the day. But we'll need to put in a more assured performance against Everton on the weekend if we want to win, though.
Tomiyasu was excellent today again.. As much as I like White I do think Tomi might be the better option at RB.