The Carabao Cup in August? Surely some mistake!
Kolasinac back from the Balkans or thereabouts, Elneny and Xhaka in midfield. As Steve T commented poignantly pre-match ‘Xhaka and Elneny — how is that actually a thing?‘ We played a West Brom side who made eleven changes from their last game, with five debutants.
We began with a back five morphing into a four, sort of — it was a flexible arrangement — and Castro went through Ødegaard in the first minute. It was a frantic Cup tie from the off. Chambers missed a great chance to put in Saka and then compounded the error with an awful backpass to Ramsdale which had hospital pass written all over it. Ramsdale then almost had a clearance charged down. Welcome to Arsenal, Aaron! He then made a fine low save in the eleventh minute. Arsenal then nearly conceded from the resulting corner but on seventeen minutes Aubameyang forced the ball in from close range after the debutant Baggies goalie had spilled Saka’s low shot.
West Brom 0 Arsenal 1 – Aubameyang 17
We were getting joy with balls out wide to Pépé, and then almost doubled our lead when Ødegaard hit the post from a narrow angle after Tavares had a shot deflected. After a decent spell of possession, in which Elneny was conspicuous, Holding was booked for a rash challenge on Zohore on a West Brom break.
It was noticeable how Countryman was leading the Arsenal fans in song. A sizeable contingent had made their way into the Midlands fuelled by curry and lager. I’m certain their mood was ultra-positive as away fans are usually the most loyal and positive part of the fanbase. They watched as Aubameyang caught the West Brom line napping and saw their keeper just foil him, albeit flattening his defender in the process.
Kolasinac joined Holding in the book with an ill-timed challenge in a dangerous position. The free-kick came to naught but Arsenal had not yet made their clear superiority and extra experience count. Arsenal were enjoying over 70% possession and Tavares was catching the eye with dangerous forward runs but it was Saka who always looked most likely to create danger.
Closing on halftime Elneny found Pépé with a delightful ball. The Ivorian was calm but hit the post from a great position; Aubameyang slotted home the rebound showing the speed and anticipation that is his hallmark but which seemed to be absent for much of last season.
West Brom 0 Arsenal 2 – Aubameyang 43
A couple of minutes later Saka sent Aubameyang through beautifully and though his shot was blocked his overhead kick from the rebound fell to Pépé who slid the ball home, his sixth goal in six games. Interesting that all three goals so far were tap-ins, a situation that we have not seen for some time.
West Brom 0 Arsenal 3 – Pépé 45
Our football on the break was smooth and incisive and the danger was compounded by the naivety of the Baggies defence, whose high line was suicidal. The half ended with Arsenal on top and hopefully taking confidence from a satisfactory first forty-five minutes. The intelligence of Aubameyang’s movement, Saka’s ability to find holes in the West Brom defence and Ødegaard’s and Ramsdale’s encouraging starts were pleasing. Tavares looks excellent but needs to get longer studs as he was continually slipping over.
Half-time West Brom 0 Arsenal 3
Despite the margin the rather dense Kevin Campbell was far from pleased, but I regard him as one of the increasing ranks of less than impressive ex- pros whose opinions attract more interest than they deserve to.
Arsenal began the second half with a raft of pass and move football and decorated it with a delightful early goal by Saka with Ødegaard and Aubameyang showing quality and craft to set him free in the area to curl the ball home
West Brom 0 Arsenal 4 – Saka 48
Ramsdale had largely been a spectator after his early save but he blocked a fierce header from Zohore and then parried a low shot at the near post. From the resulting corner he took a cross in fine style but landed heavily, resuming thankfully after treatment. Another good break saw Saka in acres of space but his cross was blocked. Ødegaard’s confidence and class were increasing as the half wore on but he was replaced on the hour by Ainsley Maitland-Niles returning to the club where he played on loan last season.
On 63 minutes Aubameyang completed his third hat-trick in Arsenal colours with a superb trademark curling shot after being neatly found by Pépé.
West Brom 0 Arsenal 5 – Aubameyang 62
Lacazette came on for Xhaka after the goal and immediately found Pépé with a great pass through the defence. His impudent chip hit the crossbar. One was tempted to claim it was men against boys but the Arsenal side had a very low average age itself. Lacazette announced himself with a crisp near post finish from a fine Pépé cutback to make it six.
West Brom 0 Arsenal 6 – Lacazette 69
Ramsdale then made another fine save at his near post as West Brom hit back. Tavares was catching the eye with his bursts down the left wing — Kieran who? — and had a decent shout for a penalty after being bundled off the ball before firing a right foot shot wide. His ability to use his right foot was notable and suggests we may have another real option as a right back.
Aubameyang was replaced by Martinelli on 75 after a reassuring performance in which he looked close to his sharpest. Lacazette was also influencing the game from a deeper central midfield role. At this point Mrs TTG was not amused when I pointed out that our TV was clearly broken as it was showing Arsenal winning 6-0! No sense of humour, women — ‘ I thought you called me in to discuss something important‘ was her riposte.
West Brom tonight were possibly the biggest football side I’ve ever seen. They looked slightly muscle bound but raw and naive in the extreme and it was hard to work out how impressive this Arsenal performance was. I’m regularly told how big the gap is between Premier League and Championship. When you extend that to the second strings the disparity is even more obvious. The most worrying sight of the night was Bukayo Saka felled by a careless challenge from another West Brom gormless giant. He resumed after treatment. A fine night ended with another piece of good news.
Full time – West Brom 0 Arsenal 6
Tomorrow’s opinions will be split between those who believe this was a breakthrough performance and those who think Arsenal are flat-track bullies putting a fairly useless West Brom U23 side to the sword. In reality the City match will tell us much more about our potential this season, but we need a full and fit side on the pitch before we can really measure what is possible. There were lots of positives — Ramsdale started with a clean sheet and has a notable presence I don’t think Leno has, Tavares is an interesting attacking wing-back, and it was good to see Ødegaard settling into the team so intelligently. Saka looked superb and Lacazette was very impressive in a deeper role. MOTM had to be Auba and he looked to have rekindled the spark that makes him such a fine striker.
Countryman’s on-the-spot reflections will be interesting and an insight into how the travelling fans reacted to the first good night of the season. May there be many more.
Very good write up, TTG. We need to ensure that C100 goes to more away games if this is the outcome. I’ll start a collection.
Watching on Sky it was noticeable just how much the Black Country co-commentator ( Don Goodman?) wanted the Baggies to win and almost more importantly how badly he wanted Arsenal to do. Nasty fouls were just signs of commitment, WBA’s almost total absence of possession was always about to lead to a chance etc. Very wearing.
Good point about Tavares, who looks like an excellent player and a good stand in for KT or wing back if KT plays in a back 3 but I lost count of the number of times he slipped.
Cheers TTG !
So you thought your TV was broken – well I discovered that there is a back on my sofa. It’s quite relaxing when you can relax enough to lean backwards. Ok, it was only WBA’s very young reserves but it was a physical test regardless and we did score some very good and varied goals which can only be good for confidence.
It was also nice to see the smiles back on the faces of some of our senior players. It’s been a while.
A n excellent match report, TTG. That was very much the game I saw and a pleasure to relive it this morning.
Lots of positives. Whilst it is difficult to use this fine performance against bruising tyros as a yardstick for our season, it’s an essential therapeutic step in the right direction for this team and also for our beleaguered coach. As Trev had said, it was a ‘must-win’ match and that job was done with aplomb.
We can now approach Saturday’s challenge with a bit more belief – but hopefully not too much!
Onwards!
My last away game was against Bournemouth in the Cup in January 2020 (one of Saka’s break through games, as I recall). That’s a long time to wait for something which is at the heart of my football going existence, the bit I enjoy the most. So it was with anticipation that my son and I set off down the A14 and up the M6 to Birmingham to see us play West Bromwich Albion in the second round of the Carabao Cup. Using the excellent App JustPark (others are available) we had booked a parking space on someone’s drive just two minutes from the Hawthorns (unnecessary as it happens, there are multiple businesses offering parking for £5 right by the ground). The traffic in Birmingham was heavy and we found ourselves getting later, although we had allowed plenty of time. As we got close it was apparent that a number of roads were closed on match days, including the road that our parking space was on. As we inched up to the road closed sign, I spoke to a Motherly, very Brum, steward and explained that we had a reservation on this street. Number 101? she asked to my amazement. “Through you go son”. My car’s host had prewarned the steward and we were finally in. That’s what I call service!
Now I know my taste for Indian restaurants is well known on this blog. But I have to report a total failure this time. Yes, we went to one of the curry capitals of England and I failed to make a reservation. As we slowly drove through Handsworth, every third business was a curry house. Unfortunately my pre-match researches had not found one within easy reach of the Hawthorns. I would have had to leave two hours earlier to go to a restaurant, then move on to my parking space. But my dilatory behaviour had its consequences. I regret to report, especially to those used to fine dining in this bar that our supper consisted of a cheese burger and chips from a burger van right by the away fans entrance. For this repast I was charged £8.50 per portion. Rapacious pricing is not confined to London! The burger was the consistency of shoe leather. The chips were OK though. Plenty of fans in red and white were availing themselves of this canny vendor – he must have made a mint. Oh the glamour of following your team away!
The concourse was filled with Gooners downing pints and singing their heads off. Into the ground and we had an excellent view, about two thirds of the way back, behind the goal in the Smethwick end. We had 2750 Arsenal fans (our full quota) filling about 2/3 of this stand behind the goal, with a crinkly tin roof above us. Old School!
The away fans were very loud throughout the game. Unlike the home game on Sunday, where the support was full throated but indiscriminate, this time many players songs featured right from the start. It started with Aaron Ramsdale, who, as he approached his goal in front of us was greeted with a huge roar and his own song. Now that song may be virtually identical to the song sang for another Arsenal player with the initials AR, a first name of Aaron, currently residing in Italy, but recyclings good yes?
Other players songs to feature were Auba, Laca, Martinelli, Rocky (the only nod to the past – I was waiting for So Paddy got up but it never arrived).
New ones were one for Saka
He’s one of our own
He’s one of our own
Bukayo Saka
He’s one of our own
For Tavares
Nuno!
Nuno!
And one linking Saka and ESR to the tune of rocking all over the world by Status Quo
Multiple “and I like it, I like it”
Saka and Emile Smith Rowe!
This was sung lots of times. Not sure it will stay in the repertoire.
In addition, great fun was had mocking the Baggies fans, especially those sharing the Smethwick end with us.
6-0 on your big day out!
And so on and so forth. There is nothing like being in a crowd without a breath of negativity and who loudly supports the team from the first whistle to the last. Of course it helps if you score six goals! TTG has done a splendid job of describing the actual football above so I won’t repeat it. I will only say that this game was far, far more important to us than it was to WBA, as can be seen by the very different team selections.
Off home, more traffic and home by 12.15. Off to Manchester with a very early start on Saturday. Let’s hope for more of the same.
Here’s that “Saka and Emile Smith Rowe” song.
Good stuff, C100.
C100
We’ve so missed your wonderful reports on your away trips . We had a bit of a discussion about true fans on here a few days ago – passive or active, patient or impatient but to me the willingness to travel deep into the night to follow your team is one of the prerequisites for a true fan . It’s also great fun when you win and relive the game . It’s the exact opposite when you don’t as my trips to Europe remind me.
I love the Status quo rehash ( never thought I’d say that about Status Quo! ) .
Let’s hope your drive back on Saturday is a triumphant one
I just love that chant and so hope it catches on! Who’dda thunk it – Status Quo in 2021?!
TTG and C100 report. Always a winning combination.
We saw the same game, TTG. Nothing to disagree with in your player assessments.
Regardless of the opposition, it was good for the team to get a free-flowing win under its belt and some goals in the net, brushing away some of the cobwebs from the two league defeats.
The average height of the Baggies starting XI was 1.87m, 3 cms taller than us.
I’ve only just noticed that my son and I are in that song video. Look to the left, there’s a guy about three rows down in a blue hoody with a yellow lining (don’t judge me). That’s my tall long haired son on my right.
Great stuff TTG and c100. A few 6-nils could turn the attitude in a completely different direction, judgging by the effect of a mere one of them. COYG
Heh bt8 @11! 6-0 (for us) on Saturday would certainly lift the mood exponentially.
Meanwhile, a well written, thought-provoking, philosophical piece from young Mr Stillman:
Excellent review of a very entertaining game TTG!
Countryman, how we missed these ambience-soaked away day reports from the trenches!
I think it is out first 6-0 win since against Ludogorets in 2016 CL…it has been almost five years! (I hope I am not mistaken and if I am hopefully the monks will straighten me out 🙂 )
All the positives of the game have already been commented upon in the report and by other denizens of the establishment. Auba got the hat-trick — with three trademark goals that hopefully will rekindle the spark mostly missing from the last season for one reason or another — and Pépé, Tavares, Laca later in the game all had good performances. But the performance I enjoyed most was Saka’s and the lovely subtle touches and movements of Ødegaard. That backheel assist for Saka’s brilliant finish, and before that the sublime touch to Elneny that opened up the field for Mo to set up Pépé for Auba to finish from a rebound. It was like watching Arsenal play … finally!
I had earlier mentioned this after the league matches, even though nothing much came off these attempts both against Brentford and Chelsea we actually tried to play much more vertical football than we did last season. Sambi contributed a lot to it but overall there was a clear intent for more line-breaking passes and quick transitions even though those mostly didn’t lead to the kind of penetration in the penalty box that are needed to score goals … given that our creative players were finding it much easier to move the balls around and attack the space it is hard to judge how much of this verve we will be able to show in PL immediately but I think that there is a definite intent on playing more progressive football this season. The goal that Laca scored later in the match is something we should be able to attempts against most oppositions: quite often Pépé or Auba or Gabi make these runs that the defense of midfield (Xhaka, Mo …) do not spot at all. All Chambers had to do was look up and able to execute a good enough lofted pass to release Pépé. We have all the tools in the final third to be able to hurt oppositions, if only we just learn to play to their strengths.
Dr F,
Good points, well made.
Dr F@13: BATE Borisov, Europa League, Dec 2017.
I agree with you about showing more verticality to our play. I think it will be key to the side’s progress this season.
Thanks CER and Ned.
Thanks Ned! I do not remember anything of that Borisov match. But after I checked out the highlights and I realized I have seen these goals before, may be only in post-match highlights!! I was traveling and wasn’t paying much attention to the Europa league I guess. Debuchy, Jack, Mo .. all nice finishes. 🙂
Just to be back in CL and play there each season will be such a joy…
C100@10: Internet stardom awaits…
The paparazzi are in the street already Ned.
The blue and yellow hoodie will have to go, then, C100. You need the dark glasses and baseball hat pulled rights down in that ‘I’m someone famous trying to look anonymous while making sure you still know I am famous’ look…
There’s an interesting article in The New Yorker on the automation of baseball umpiring that reminds me of what’s been going on with VAR. So far the automated calling of balls and strikes is just being used in some of the minor leagues but the way the article describes it the relationship between the fans and the umpires will be completely altered from the way I remember it, taking away much of the interest in interpreting the umpires’ judgment calls. What used to be an interesting element of entertainment in the game will be no more in my eyes, similar to what has happened in football. Progress?
BT8,
Personally as far as football goes at the top level, I’d be happy to have the whole thing done by camera. I’m sick of “interpretations” like the one where the
Back lift from an attacker about to shoot accidentally connecting with an Arsenal defender results in a sending off and a penalty. You would have to standardise num de of cameras and camera angles and ensure they were all shown to the crowd. Bottom line is I have absolute lack of trust in premier league officials, on and off the pitch.
A sad state of affairs.
Good stuff TTG. Great road trip account C100
So this was the pre season friendly we should have had two weeks ago? A competitive but easy run out against enthusiastic opposition. Just what we should have been doing a week before the Brentford game.
Lots of positives. Negatives that we have all known about for years. Hopefully this will be a massive confidence boost to everyone.
Bring on the weekend. Let’s see how that now goes.
CER, I think I am most of the way there with you on the use of technology being a good thing but the judgment calls will never be completely eliminated and certainly not the questioning of judgment calls made with the assistance of the new technologies.
Lots of rumours flying around the club about Edu’s vulnerability . He and Arteta are apparently not on good terms . If it was Edu who sanctioned the Xhaka deal I’m very much in favour of the application of mediaeval torture implements prior to his sacking especially as Liverpool are schmoozing around Bissouma. Sacking your TD with a week to go of the window isn’t a clever move however . But that’s KSE for you
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