It was around 81st minute of the match. Aubameyang by then had already scored two goals, both are more results of his preternatural ability to sense opportunities than any great flowing move from the team, and as a consummate center forward now again within the touching distance of potentially another golden boot award at the end of the season he could have been forgiven for wanting to stay on, try to grab a likely hat-trick and leapfrog Jamie Vardy to lead the scoring chart all on his own. But as his number came up, and Pepe prepared himself to enter the fray, he left the pitch with smiles after enthusiastically handing over the armband to Xhaka.
Granit accepted the offer with a huge grin, and a visible sense of pride. This little sequence of seemingly ordinary events took place in less than a minute, and there was nothing even remotely remarkable about it.
Except that it was not unremarkable, at least not as ordinary as it might appear if we were to ignore the context. Xhaka, as we all remember, had what seemed to have been an irrecoverable fallout with the supporter base and was certainly on his way out of the club. And that fallout culminated in the ugliest incident involving any Arsenal captain (and his armband) in recent memory. A player of some very fine qualities if not of the finest athleticism, but also with an inexplicable predilection for serious mistakes that cost us points, in the dying days of Emery’s increasingly frantic tenure he had become the lightning rod for all the criticism that our dysfunctional midfield had earned. But Mikel has, just in a few months’ time, turned around the entire sorry situation to a much more dignified state that better characterizes Arsenal football club. Xhaka still makes that occasional mistake, but whereas his strengths are now amplified by the team his weakness is handled better. The players have now started to behave on the field as if they truly think that the team is greater than the sum of its parts. The actual passages of football and the results do not always showcase that belief, not yet, but the last few months have shown a heartening trend towards seriousness, effort and togetherness by the players that surely must be the basis of the revival. I guess these are some of the non-negotiables that our new manager, and ex-captain, insist on.
The first home match after the resumption of the league underlined that upward curve of attitude, and even showed glimpses of collective and individual quality, if not the consistency to make results like this more frequent yet.
The day started with a great bit of Arsenal news: Bukayo Saka has extended his contract. An eye-catching talent with precocious footballing intelligence, product of the Arsenal academy, and hopefully a key player in Mikel’s team of all-conquering young Turks in many years to come.
As he has been playing non-stop since the restart, Saka was rightly rested. So were a couple of other Arsenal youth team products – Nketiah and Joe Willock. Reiss Nelson got his first start since the restart in a front three, with the skipper on the left and Lacazette down the middle hoping to remember how to put the ball in the back of the net. Our last season’s player of the season is suffering from his driest run in senior football, ever.
The front three were supported by 4 in the midfield and three in the back. Given our infuriatingly enigmatic senior center-halves David Luiz and Mustafi a back three, even against a misfiring Norwich, seemed like a better choice. They were complemented by Kolasinac on the left.
Midfield had a nice balance: the increasingly impressive Tierney on the left wing-back role, Xhaka the fulcrum, FA cup quarter-final hero Dani Ceballos as a more free-floating creative outlet and Hector Bellerin trying to rediscover pace and panache down the right.
As Bernd Leno is still recovering from an injury sustained by the needless challenge off the ball by a no-name talentless hack a few matches back, his very able deputy Martinez started, hoping to keep two consecutive clean sheets in the PL.
There was a moment of silence for Theo Foley who had recently passed away. Based on recollections and tributes – some of that in this bar as well – paid to him, relatively new members of the Arsenal family like myself have recently had the good fortune of learning about not only his footballing contribution as George Graham’s assistant, but the man himself.
The match started with us dominating down the left with Tierney positioning himself cleverly in between the lines and driving forward at every opportunity. Around three minute an excellent bit of combination play between Dani and Laca failed to materialize into any genuine scoring opportunity. A couple of minutes later a poor clearance from Luiz led to a bit of panic for Martinez.
By now Ceballos had started to pull the strings. Eager to both support the defense and initiate the attack he was positioning himself intelligently in our half and after receiving the ball a swift turn – and the occasional pirouette reminiscent of another Spanish player who is now scoring goals and supplying assists for the yellow submarines at the impressively young age of 35 – to drive forward, and then excellent interchanges with Xhaka and the wing-backs creating fluid movements that had Norwich midfield dragged out of shape and looking clueless. From one such move Ceballos made a lovely through pass to Bellerin who made a great run down the right flank to arrive at the penalty box. But Hector failed to produce a cutback or a cross. Only eight minutes on the board and we were playing some of our best football this season.
A minute or so later Auba tested Norwich goalkeeper Tim Krul with his trademark right foot curler after a rapid counter-attack down the left. The shot didn’t have quite the placement or power that generally get him the goals.
We kept on probing. Reiss — even though was not as busy as Auba on the left — was pressing effectively and with Ceballos and Bellerin had started to build a good momentum down the right as well. Around the tenth minute he earned a free-kick from which Laca nearly bundled home for our first goal. And a couple of minutes later Reiss used his pace to drive straight at the goal but Krul kicked it out.
In between two tame headers at the goal – first by Auba and then by Laca – both of which came from attacks orchestrated by Ceballos and involving crisp interplay with first Nelson and then Laca, there was a moment of genuine quality from Norwich when their center-half Godfrey rattled Martinez’s cross-bar as he was fully beaten by the defender’s thunderous shot from 30 yards away.
At the first drinks break we were dominating all the statistics, and a goal or two was surely just a matter of time? It also felt like one of those matches where an enthusiastic crowd at the Emirates (the absence of the support felt amplified by its impressive expanse) would have given the team that extra bit of edge and determination to make the dominance count.
Once the game had resumed it became clear that Norwich had decided to stop Ceballos from playing by bringing him down while he was turning, before he could either skip past or release a pass. That extra physical attention earned Norwich two much deserved yellow cards. It was nice to see that there still are referees in the premier league who think that violent challenges against Arsenal players do not automatically get the benefit of doubt.
Laca was having a busy game, pressing and helping out in defense. His sharpness in the penalty box has deteriorated alarmingly in the last few months. It is surely a temporary blip, but his demeanor betrayed a degree of self-doubt which Mikel will have to find a way of addressing and getting him back to somewhere close to his best in the next few weeks.
Just before the 30th minute mark Arsenal crafted a couple of semi-opportunities. First there was a corner – our first of the match – from which Norwich tried to spring a counter attack that was foiled and through Laca we tried to relaunch our attack. He was fouled a few yards away from the penalty box. David Luiz took the free-kick, trying to catch Krul off-guard by dropping the ball in front of him but the delivery didn’t have enough power or spin and it was an easy gather for the keeper. A little later Bellerin took a free-kick and his delivery in the box was cleared by Norwich. From the resulting corner Reiss drove to the byline on our left flank and with a precise cutback provided Laca a great opportunity to break his barren spell. Laca shot wide.
We had failed to make our first half dominance count and by now it started to feel like one of those games which will turn nervy as it progressed. Then in the 32nd minute Tim Krul seriously underestimated the sprinting pace of Auba as he charged down a back-pass from a Norwich defender, and before Krul could move the ball from his one foot to the other his pocket was picked by our captain and then the ball was slotted coolly in the back of the net. League goal number 50 only in his 79th appearance in the league, the fastest for us in the Premier League era.
Arsenal 1 (Aubameyang 32’) – Norwich 0
I know the general feeling among us supporter base is that he will want to leave at the end of the season for one of the Spanish – or even Italian – giants where he can hope to end his career with a few more medals. But is it too optimistic to imagine that watching Tierney, Saka and Martinelli play this season with such verve and quality Auba might also decide that he will be given a playing support – in addition to the adoration of teammates and love from the Arsenal fan base – by Mikel that will more suit his goalscoring instincts especially as he starts to lose a few yards of pace?
Just five minutes later Granit Xhaka channeled his inner Aaron Ramsey to arrive late in the penalty box to meet Auba’s perfectly weighted pass with an emphatic finish through Krul’s legs. It was the kind of goal that we used to be known for. A pin-point accurate long pass from the back by Luiz, Tierney controlling it nicely and passing on to Auba, who waited for Xhaka to arrive at the penalty box before setting him up.
Arsenal 2 (Aubameyang 32’, Xhaka 37’) – Norwich 0
One more attack led to Arsenal corner from which Reiss delivered an excellent ball. Norwich hadn’t seen much of the ball but once they did, they found Mustafi in one of his mistake-prone moods. It could simply have been fatigue as he has been playing every match since the restart of the season. From one such foul conceded by Mustafi, the Norwich free-kick (taken by McLean?) drew an excellent save from Martinez.
The half ended with a couple of Norwich corners.
We started the second half replacing Mustafi by Holding. I thought it was wise of Mikel to not invite any more pressure on Mustafi, who is one more player whose Arsenal career Arteta has revived with noticeable success and any tiredness induced mistake might see him needing to perform one more round of revival.
Not only had we scored two goals in the first half and didn’t concede any, we also had dominated the middle of the pitch. Which has now become as rare an occurrence as a goal from our midfield. Daniel Farke – who I think is too good a manager to not find suitors in the premier league if Norwich were to not survive the drop – tried to address that through his substitutions at the beginning of the second half. He changed three players and changed the formation to overload the midfield and leave two players up. And for the first twenty odd minutes of the second half this ploy worked as Norwich started winning the midfield battles and pushed us back further towards our goal. There was not enough quality in their final ball to cause us too much trouble but there were intricate precise passing around our wingbacks and midfield and our pressing game had started to flag.
Arteta made a tactical substitution to counter that, bringing Willock in place for his good friend Nelson and as a result switching to 3-5-2 with Auba and Laca operating more centrally. This minor tweak – a promising bit of in-game management by our young manager – helped us regain a bit more of the control of the match. We were also not playing out from the back as much but relying on Martinez or Luiz to spray the ball forward. Martinez had shown in last few matches that he is capable of accurate and effective long ball distributions. A bit of deliberation before one such goal-kick earned him a yellow card for time-wasting. He remained unfazed.
Around 65th minute Willock combined well with Auba and Laca on a counter-attack but missed the eventual attempt at goal.
Just a minute later Auba scored his second of the evening. From our throw-in on our right flank near Norwich penalty box one of their defenders tried to switch the play via a cross-field pass which was wayward enough for Auba to interrupt and finish unerringly.
Arsenal 3 (Aubameyang 32’, Xhaka 37’, Aubameyang 66’ ) – Norwich 0
Norwich made a few more substitutions. Mikel brought on Eddie for Laca who left the field deep in thought. I am sure his teammates and the coaching staff will do their best to help him come out of this funk. I think that for us to end the season strongly we will need Laca at his best, even though Eddie is growing impressively from one game to the next.
There was also debut for Cedric Soares, a like-for-like replacement for Hector Bellerin. Hector had a solid game. He will need the next pre-season to regain his pace. He was never the best positional defender but there have been a few signs lately that his tactical acumen is becoming more reliable.
Cedric started his Arsenal career promisingly. His touches were sharp, interchanges with Willock and Ceballos positive, he made good clearances and covered the flank effectively. And soon that promising start turned into a memorable one: a lovely left-footed finish outside the box to the left side of Tim Krul’s goal.
Arsenal 4 (Aubameyang 32’, Xhaka 37’, Aubameyang 66’, Cedric 80’ ) – Norwich 0
With the game now secured, Arteta made the substitution that we described at the beginning. Pepe came on to likely produce one piece of magic. However it was Eddie and Joe who with their tireless pressing and movement carved out an opportunity for Joe whose right foot curler missed the goal by a few inches. Until the very end Willock and Nketiah kept on running at Norwich defense; they were stopped by couple of yellow-card worthy challenges which, miracle of miracles, did actually get the deserved cards. In 91st minute Eddie, in the middle of such a driving run, was pulled back by a Norwich defender. The resulting free-kick was a perfect opportunity for Pepe to notch one more goal. His shot flew away rather uncharacteristically.
Even though this Four-nil was a result much deserved the next few games will definitely tell us more about the progress made by our team under Mikel. Our last PL season ended pathetically where the paucity of ideas, structure and coherence in our game were exposed mercilessly by Wolves and Leicester in our run-in, our next two opponents this season and both are above us now in the league table. Our team is still noticeably unbalanced with some glaring gaps in quality in key positions, and to end the season strongly we will continue to need Arteta to build upon on the team ethos and work ethics to maximize the impact of the scattered bits of excellence we now have. The footballing world doesn’t expect much from the team in the rest of this season, we fans have been through way too much in the last few years to even dare to hope a positive set of results, but it is fair to say whatever be the results of those remaining matches we should expect to see the team demonstrate the qualities of the collective that Arteta is determined to use as the foundation for the long road back to the top.
Cracking report to go with a
heartening performance and
an evocative picture of the
fastest happiest CF in North London
😁
A very thoughtful and comprehensive summation of last night’s events accompanied by some really splendid artwork Dr F. I enjoyed you introductory piece in particular. I noticed the happiness being shared around. It crossed a chasm of mood change from that horrible day involving our Swiss time piece.
You didn’t feel the need to mention the absence of Ozil or Guendouzi and in that regard you were one of the few. There absence was as significant an indicator of the “Arteta way’ as was the happy demeanour of those who made it onto the pitch.
Next five games will tell us much. I feel confident of positive progress toward a better attitude and properly constructed patterns of play.
Bravo Dr. F for your imaginative analysis of our current team dynamic, as well as a boffo match report and illustration from your team member. Quite insightful to start with the Auba / Xhaka moment as it is convincing evidence that Arteta is having a highly positive impact.
Agree with you on Mus Dr F,
his passing had been noticeably
sloppy the last 2 games.
Wolves next and I’m curious to
see whether Rob will keep his
place.
But we’ve won the last two and
I don’t want to be overly harsh
on poor Mus.
Xhaka took the armband from
Laca in the last game too –
maybe it’s a lucky omen.
Wolves will be tough as apart
from being a fair side they’ve
also had a week off and 2 less
games than us since the restart.
On the bright side MA has been
rotating most of the players
quite smartly
In the drawing is that Tim Krul saying “Noo” in the extreme bottom left corner?
Top drawer, Dr F. I love how your son draws Auba’s hair taller than his head.
The armband exchange caught my eye at the time, too. An arbitrary moment but one that in retrospect we may take as symbolic of the corner turned — or at least the indicator light flicked on as we approach the corner.
Our next three games are against teams battling for a place in Europe, then a game against the Champions, and our last two league games are against sides scrapping to avoid relegation. We are going to learn a lot about the collective mettle of Arteta’s side over those six games.
Thanks Matt/BtM/bt8.
bt8: yes, that is poor Krul indeed. I wish we had scored half a dozen past him. 🙂
BtM: Regarding those in purgatory, I was inspired by the memory of Arsène’s press conferences where he would insist on talking about those who played. But I agree with your insightful assessment of the “tough love” approach. And it will bear fruit because I think Mikel is uncompromisingly consistent about it.
I love Özil the player, and I think he has had an excellent few seasons with us with telling influences. But I don’t think following the hatchet job done to him after the 2018 World Cup by the national media and some of his erstwhile peers he has been quite the same player or person. The cynic — yes, intentional 😉 — would say that with such a hefty paycheck he cannot have any excuses, and purely in terms of football as business I would agree. In any case it is noteworthy that Mikel had played him in his first 10 games. Whatever may the situation be now, he is not the future of the club and I hope his situation is sorted out unambiguously at the end of the season. Then we can remember him for the halcyon days.
Among the absentees I think it is Gabi whose absence will be felt most as the season winds down. On the cup SF and hopefully final Gabi on that wide pitch of Wembley would have given torrid time to any defense in tandem with Saka, Tierney and Auba.
Thanks a lot Ned. I will pass on the compliments to the artist. 😂
Agreed totally about the next few matches.
Spurs getting stuffed by Sheffield United which will see us above spuds in the table. Looks a different SU than the one we played in the FA Cup.
St. Totteringham’s is all to play for now with an equal number of games played, one more point earned and one goal inferior in goal differential compared to Sperz. And they said we wouldn’t be playing for trophies.
while i wanted a draw, i will always accept a spurs loss. wouldn’t it be something if today was st. totteringham’s?
dr. faustus, thanks for the great post. i, too, loved the moment between xhaka and auba, as much as i liked them combining for the second goal. it was a fun win, and i do hope it’s a template for things to come (in terms of our shape, our intensity, our pressing, and our goals, including our awareness of what’s happening and taking advantage of mistakes). not every team will be as woeful as norwich (except spurs, probably), but it’s a standard we can aspire to. and after a number of games we’ll be better and better at it.
kudos to son of faustus, too. i love the pathetic little krull. and ned@6, when auba walked off the pitch i was fascinated by the height of his hair, i can imagine my 8-yo self looking at that and incorporating it into any artwork of the man. 🙂
City is putting on a show and Pool are 3 down at half time. Our FA Cup Semi final looks a little tough watching this City display.
Watching the glum faces of McManaman and Micheal Owen at half time is the only consolation.
Dr. F
Thankyou for a delightful Report and for an excellent illustration by your in-house illustrator ! You captured the feeling of the game very accurately . If only all games were that easy although there was still fifteen minutes after the break when I felt slightly uneasy and had the referee ( who I thought was quite good ) had ruled that Norwich should get a penalty in the second half we might have had some awkward moments . Norwich are utterly naive in their defending and gifted us two goals even before the goal machine that is Cédric entered the fray .
I’m a massive fan of Arteta I think he has worked wonders with this team which needs a midfield that is more robust and more creative and one more dominant centre half assuming Saliba attains the status of legend, which we all expect . Other things would help but we are the classic work in progress and I relish the thought of putting Maureen to the sword at the New Swamp next week. But there are good things to work with including a decent second goalkeeper, an interesting Spanish midfielder who will flourish when Santi comes back to coach him next season ( you heard it here first ), a fine left wing-back and a revitalised Pepe .
Doubts remain in my mind about Bellerin, Kolasinac, Nelson , Lacazette and Mustafi . But let’s be positive. We are the best team in North London again
A very big ‘Yes’ on your Ozil and Gabi comments, Dr F.
TTG, you excluded Xhaka from your ‘doubts in the mind’ list. Have you seen ‘the light’? (And if so, be careful, it may be the proverbial train in the tunnel). And, an interesting Spanish midfielder? Ceballos? Two games do not a midfield maestro make, even if Slim Jim Baxter himself was to come back and coach him 🙂
And, of course, Bottnum HotSpuds “We can’t laugh without you”
https://twitter.com/MrDtAFC/status/1278674774877667328/photo/1
This is a very interesting table – league positions since Arteta took over. There are some on other blogs who are talking about us needing to sack him . This proves they are utterly mad
Having seen the table above I must admit that I believe Arteta has lost three league games . But I think it’s basic point is correct
An excellent report, Dr F and compliments also for superb artwork to Faustus Jr who has clearly entered a monochrome phase in his artistic development.
Not only did I enjoy reading your fine report of the game but I love your Proustian structure. This may not be the oldest, best known or even most widely read blog but today’s post must be the most stylish in literary terms.
I too buy into the Arteta project 100% and am almost more impressed by his man management than his ability to create a focused team from the shambolic and confused wreckage created by his compatriot.
Let’s hope we get the Man
Shitty who’ve lost 8 games
this season and not last night’s
version.
Thanks Spuds for cheering me up
this morning.
Thank you scruz, bath, TTG for the kind words. And thanks again Ned/Matt/BtM/bt8 . The illustrator is happy to have put a smile in your face, but he will happily give all credits to his hero Auba for the inspiration. 🙂
Wolves are now a really painful team to play against. We will have to produce 90 minutes of high quality football and can not afford any lapses. They are tactically predictable though and maybe we will see some inventiveness from Mikel that will catch them off guard.
@18 When I read Dr F’s piece yesterday my reaction was that it was the best of the day, quite unmatched, in the Arsenal/global football blogosphere. Your para 2 captures that sentiment more stylishly than I would have managed. This lad has talent, let’s make sure he doesn’t spend too much time on the bench, make sure he has more than 12 months to run on his contract 🙂
In other news, the Wolves game is the second (of four) real tests since the restart, the first being the visit to Sheffield, not an easy place to win as Spuds entertaining display last night demonstrated. (I’m discounting the $iteh debacle and Brighton should never have been a test at all). I’m quite sure that Mikal will have moved daily training to the phase where we “do stuff specific to the coming game”. This phase of the team’s development is nothing if not interesting.
In worse news I have a very severe hydrangea scale infestation which has turned one of my plants nearly pure white and contaminated the others. While bending and washing the crap off, my back went ‘pop’. Chiropractor visits are expensive!
A full flowing descriptive report of Wednesday evening’s match Dr F enhanced by the visual introduction. It is mighty encouraging to see the hard work that Mikel is putting in on the training ground is getting some rewards. There is much to admire at the improvements both to individual performances and the team collective. The future can be looked at with much more optimism than the despair and doldrums if a few months back.
Wolves up next will be a stern test but one I’m feeling more confident we will give a commendable performance with a happy ending.
Hope you are recovering well from the chiropractor’s bill BtM and likewise your back is also on the mend.
“which has turned one of my plants
nearly white”
Oh dear. The Lone Hydrangea
strikes again?
BtM@21: Gardening is not for sissies.
But hope your back is not too painful. Speedy recovery.
For the record, the Arteta record in the league is P14 W6 D5 L3.
That Macrophylla is in great danger of going West, Kemosabe. Much further down Death Valley and before you can say “Hi, Ho, Silver”, it’ll be away, sinking slowly into a blood red sunset. Won’t see it for the dust it’s turning into. I’m completely Tontoed.
OM@19: Pep would have been determined to send Klopp a message last night that he won’t feel the urgency to send to us. At least that is the straw I am clutching at…
It’s a good straw Ned 🙂
I’m hoping for complacency
after our match a couple of
weeks back
anyway, time to turn our
attention to Wolves. I have
almost forgotten the football-
less time already so ratatatat
are the PL hurling fixtures at
me.
Sorry to hear about your hydrangea and your back BtM. Burn the hydrangea and nurture the back. Hydrangeas can be replaced but backs must be looked after. I can vouch for the benefit that can be gained from a good chiropractor and many years ago a nice physio gave me an excellent stretching and rotating programme that I still use intermittently when I feel I have strained my sacro-iliac joint. You also have to accept that chiropractors work on the provate medical philosophy that the size of the bill is a key part of the therapy. In the private sector, a patient who receives a reasonable bill will always doubt the eficacy of the treatment and the skill of the surgeon or the judgement of the physician. Get well soon.
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>