I was reminded early in the morning that yesterday was the send off for Mr Friar, the most loyal of servants of our great football club. So it was with slightly heavy heart that I set out early for the ground to meet up with a few friends in the Supporters Club. After watching Villa deservedly beat Asterisk FC, and having chatted to Dan from Melbourne, who was making his first visit to the Emirates, we wandered towards the ground early in order to be in position for the paying of respects to Mr Friar. Walking over the Ken Friar Bridge, It was lovely to see that it had been bedecked with pictures of the great man, in place of the usual former players, a lovely touch. The statue of the young Mr Friar at the end of the bridge had also been covered with floral tributes, scarves and the like. What a beautiful sight. Pre-match the announcer addressed the crowd and there followed a minute’s appreciation of a life well lived, a life of service to our great club. It was very moving.
We started very fast indeed and it was clear that, after two tough away trips inside a week, Arteta had instructed this, in order to try to break the deadlock early. And lo, it came to pass, that in the 7th minute, a well delivered corner from Ødegaard, flicked on by Gabriel could only be parried by the increasingly erratic Pickford to the feet of Konsa who did the honours at the far post.
There followed a short period where Everton came back into the game, and had a couple of efforts requiring a save from Raya and then an intervention from the irrepressible Ben White. We quickly regained control though, and Madueke in particular turned it on. One smart turn and shot, after a knock down from Gyökeres – who I thought played well and didn’t stop running all day – whistled past the post with the keeper rooted to the spot. Ødegaard too had returned to form. Having shone in Munich he continued in the same vein all game. One run in particular lead him to bamboozle 5 Everton defenders but resulted in his shot being deflected wide. Before half time, a piece of poor defending by White – possibly weather induced as the wind was blowing a gale – led to Barry making a goal attempt. But Raya was out so quickly that the effort was smothered at birth.
After three substitutions seeing Gyökeres, Merino and MLS going off to be replaced by Havertz, Guimarães and Calafiori we made the game safe. Bruno passed on to White, making a bombing run on the outside and he dinked in a cross to the far post for Gabriel to head home from point blank range. It was no more than we deserved, and the game was over. Although we still got the opportunity to see Downman come on. He will terrify defences. In one move on the right he nutmegged two of the Orc-like defenders Moyes is so keen to employ, resulting in a free kick to Everton, presumably for being embarrassed in a public area by a minor. The referee was pretty appalling all day but by this time, even his bizarre decisions were just creating mirth on the North Bank.
The performance was very much in keeping with what Mr Friar would have wanted to see – fast, flowing football, an opposition reduced to offering very little and two good goals. Farewell Mr Friar. You will be missed and remembered in equal measure.
A fitting tribute to Ken Friar with a crisp match report to match a crisp performance attached. Bravo, CER.
And a hat tip to Las for his wonderful story in the previous drinks about his conversion to Goonerdom.
Thanks CER – a fitting tribute to a man who began serving the Arsenal with distinction before I was born.
Cheers CER – wot Trev said ( although I was born before he began his service ). The service he gave to the club in terms of length and quality will never be repeated. We were blessed indeed.
I was concerned before the match that our efforts both at Forest & Munich earlier in the week might leave us struggling for energy but the boss chose the team wisely and they gave an impressive performance bearing in mind the appalling conditions. Full marks to everyone involved.
And as Ned said above, a tip of the hat to LAS in the previous drinks describing his introduction to Goonerdom – it may have been the Worlds End but the start of a wonderful experience.
A very fine summary of yesterday’s game that builds perfectly on bt8’s excellent preview, CER. It was a privilege to walk across the Ken Friar Bridge and enjoy the game in the stadium yesterday. The Arsenal played well and a win was never in doubt against a fairly toothless opponent. Several opportunities to widen the margin of victory presented themselves and Madueke in particular was a little unlucky not to build upon his tally for the season.
Pickford’s antics in the opposing goalmouth increased my gratitude for the presence of David Raya in ours. Our centre backs were superb at the back as well as well as the front, Martin Odegaard’s peak skill energiser bunny performance was outstanding and, for everything else, there was Declan when we needed him. I’m enjoying the three-sub second front tactic that MA8 is introducing to the League.
Evening all.
A change of subject …
was about to watch the recent Charlie George documentary, and You-Tube offered me this very recent film of Robert Pires’ Jubilee at FC Metz (where he started) from Canal+.
It’s really very good, very emotional. Half the invicibles team turned up, plus other Ex-Arsenal stars..Guys that he played with at Metz + his World stars team(of which plenty who played for France with him) + his two sons.
Three teams: Arsenal, Metz and World.
It’s in yer actual French, no subtitles, but worth it for anyone interested that has a spare half an hour going.
Hope the link works!
Just checked if the link worked…it’s got subtitles on the version sent!!
Sh*t!
Subtitles are in French……sorry!!
Cheers CER. Short and on point for what felt like a pretty routine victory overall.
RIP Mr Friar.
JML, I think the ‘subtitles’ are just the youtube CC option, so probably not very accurate even in French.
I watched that the other day, very nice, cheers for sharing it here.
CER
Thanks for a poignant and accurate report. Good old Ken . The embodiment of what makes Arsenal special. I lingered on his Bridge yesterday. He was a good and faithful servant of our club .
JML
Thanks for the video. I will study it with interest and try to remember my very rusty French!
I enjoyed the game yesterday but not the journey home . Everybody worked hard and did well but Odegaard , Rice and Gabriel were quite excellent. It was a pretty stress- free afternoon….until you tried to get home . One bit of bad weather and our transport infrastructure struggles to cope . Hopefully the reservoirs are much fuller
My daughter spent a pre- birthday celebration with her best friend at a wildlife refuge yesterday . It provoked an intriguing question- What do you call the goat that is the greatest of all time?
Ggoat, TTG?
TTG – Billy ? 😳
The new GHF Predictathon leaderboard for Matchweek 8 has been posted. It is getting tight at the top. There was one escape from the relegation zone, and one player managed to improve their score by 100 points. Was that superstar you? You know where to find out.
That’s a succinct and accurate account of a pretty professional performance in shocking weather conditions in which we were rarely threatened. Madueke, Gyökeres and Eze all performed reasonably well but failed to take advantage of our domination of ball and territory whereas Ødegaard caught the eye with ceaseless running and passing while our centre backs were so in control of Everton’s attack (bar two moments, one due to a rare White error) that they had the time to win the game with two fine goals. Just effing shoot became a frequent plea from Block 100 as we camped on the edge of and within the opposition box. As BtM observed the triple substitution made a difference as it has done recently and Guimarães added aggression and verticality to proceedings. As in recent games (not Brighton!) the interplay between Ødegaard, the Brazilian and Rice promises good things for the future.
On to Fleetwood, with a run out for a few lesser-seen Gunners.
The Arsenal Under 18s recorded their fifth successive win at Aston Villa by 3 goals to 1 .
Since they’ve bedded the new signings into the team they’d form has been very impressive . And a well-informed friend tells me that Bartishvili the young Georgian winger who joins next July is reckoned to be very special and an immediate candidate for the first team. And we have the Quintero brothers joining from Ecuador .
We should be VERY well- served for wingers going forward !
Adrian Clarke on the Everton game:
OTTG@16- along with the lad from Shamrock Rovers, Ozhianvuna, in January.
OTG@16- along with the lad from Shamrock Rovers, Ozhianvuna, in January.
Thanks CER, good to hear of the tribute to Ken.
And thanks for the links at 5&17 JML and Ned
@11 Brian Gruff TTG?