An early arrival and I find a good atmosphere in the ground but perhaps a little more subdued than Saturday.
We started fluently but we had a scare on 3 mins as Villa break and Buendia shanked well over the bar.
After a couple of fairly niggly “let ‘em know you’re there, get in their faces, they don’t like it up ‘em Mr Mainwaring” fouls from Villa, in the 5th minute Lokonga jumped with McGinn and managed to catch him in the face, in the hope of performing some much needed M*A*S*H* style field cosmetic surgery, presumably. He’s all heart that boy. Laughably the referee gave a drop ball to Arsenal.
In the 7th minute Saka was seemingly hauled over in the box by Tyrone Mings – not so much a name as a statement of fact. There is an obvious mismatch in size as well as talent, but I guess I’d be unhappy if a pen was given at our end for that.
From another final 3rd foul, this time by Kamara on Lokonga, Ødegaard took a smart freekick to Jesús running into the box, who took the ball on and hammered it towards the near post only for Martinez to make a good save and push it out to the corner. By now we were playing very well, with Sambi in particular in the midfield very alert and alive. From the resulting corner, after some pinball in the box, a chipped delivery back into the box from Saliba, of all people, found one of our collection of Gabriels, Magalhaes this time, in space and he takes it down on his chest and shoots narrowly wide of the goal.
In the 14th minute, Ramsey went over the ball on Martinelli and the referee correctly gave a yellow. Arsenal were flying by now and from a Villa throw in their half, we won the ball back, with Ødegaard playing a clipped pass in behind Mings for Jesús to run onto, in the process shoulder barging the much bigger man out of the way. His cross/shot was pushed out by Martinez for Ødegaard to follow up and eventually Villa scrambled a corner. It is noticeable just how much of our play up to this point came down the right via the White/Ødegaard/Saka axis.
From there, we seemed to find our left-hand side and suddenly Tierney/Xhaka/Martinelli really began to come into the game. On the dot of a quarter of the way through the game, Ødegaard switched the ball left in centre-mid to Xhaka, swiftly moving it on to Martinelli who pinged in a cross from the edge of the box to find Saka steaming in, unmarked at the back post, but unfortunately unable to deal with a difficult ball with the keeper taken out of the game by the velocity of the delivery.
Finally, in the 30th minute, after some patient build-up play from the back, the inevitable happened. Ødegaard collected the ball on the right touchline, on halfway, and passed infield to Lokonga, who smartly passed cross-field to Tierney. With the mass of players having been attracted to the right-hand side, Tierney was in acres on halfway and quickly passed to the equally unpressured Martinelli, entering the final third. He drove forward, attracting two Villa players towards him and slotted a pass through for our new advanced central midfielder, Granit Xhaka, on the left-hand edge of the box to ping in a cross, which, deflected, Martinez was unable to hold and parried out to the 6 -yard line for Our Saviour to hammer home. It was what we deserved.
At this juncture, a note on the former Arsenal stopper. I have seen some comments of a querulous nature, wondering why he was given such a bad reception. For the benefit of those not in the stadium, you didn’t see the fact that he was outrageously wasting time from pretty much the first minute. TV has a habit of cutting away with camera shots of men in tracksuits shouting or directing advice/admonitions to players when the ball goes out for a goal kick. Those in the ground get to see a whole load of faffing and time wasting in these slots and it is hugely frustrating. Video is aided by judicious use of directional microphones so that the frustration on the crowd doesn’t alert the tv viewers to what is going on on the pitch. I hope that clears it up.
Xhaka by this point was seemingly everywhere, popping up to pick up the ball direct from Ramsdale and starting moves one minute, in the advanced central midfield role, looking to move the ball forward, ever forward, the next. He is looking nothing like the stolid, immobile player of, well, not too long ago. You have to be delighted both for him and of course for us as a team, unexpected as that emotion is with regard to the gentleman in question. I am finding my particular slice of humble pie surprisingly tasty.
As half time approached, Ødegaard was booked for pulling down Watkins, advancing but still in his own half, in rather the same fashion as Saka was by the nominatively deterministic Mings. An interesting treatment of two similar offences, by a referee who I thought had a reasonable game as a whole, even if he did allow rather more leeway to Villa in their infringements, seemingly indulging yet another sub-standard English manager to encourage an approach to the game not out of place in a bygone era of smogs, rationing and boots the same weight as a bag of sugar.
On the stroke of half time, we nearly had the second when, after a period of moving the ball around, Gabriel played the ball out to the left wing position for Tierney who chipped a ball into the penalty area for our new advanced central midfielder to head back to Martinelli, who in turn let rip a thunderous right foot half-volley, destined for the top right hand corner had it not been for a cat-like spring from Martinez. Great football all round.
Half time – Arsenal 1 – Villa 0.
Villa clearly received a rocket at half time and started the second half rather more brightly, but to negligible effect. Slowly we began to exert our dominance though with Xhaka and Ødegaard, in particular, passing and moving beautifully and Jesús using his body and God-given strength to pronounced effect against much bigger men.
In the 56th minute we saw an example of just why Martinez, despite being an exceptionally good shot stopper, is just so easy to dislike. Having caught the ball well from an Arsenal corner he ran forward as if to start a quick attack. Jesús shadowed him, as forwards do, which resulted in the keeper putting a loose headlock on the forward then, realising this was a marginal infraction of the rules under most referees, falling to the ground as if he were the offended against, rather than offending, party. Laughably, he won the free kick after appearing to say to the referee that he had received an elbow. I mean, don’t these people know there are cameras present? Oh yes, VAR. How foolish of me. The North Bank immediately rang out with a hearty rendition of “Aaron Ramsdale, he’s better than you.”
On 64 minutes, Ben White made way for Tomiyasu. The referee who had spent the first 15 minutes studiously ignoring Martinez time wasting was by now keen to usher White off quickly. White correctly chose to ignore him.
On the three-quarter mark, McGinn was finally yellow carded for a disguised stud tackle to Ødegaard’s ankle which resulted in Ødegaard being substituted 10 minutes later by Smith-Rowe.
It was beginning to feel like, for all our smart play and clear dominance, we were at risk of being sucker-punched as we just hadn’t tested the keeper enough in the second half. From my seat in the North Bank, Saka was beginning to look tired after a much brighter performance, and quite possibly beginning to show the effects of the, ahem, close attention he had been receiving from the Villa midfield and defence. Smith-Rowe had warmed up and was about to come on. Sure enough, on 72, Villa were awarded a corner, which on TV evidence should have been a goal kick. They subbed off the hugely ineffective Buendia and borderline violent offender McGinn for Coutinho and Luiz and it was the latter direct from the corner who evened up the score. I’m in two minds as to whether Ramsdale was fouled as has been claimed. The Villa player doesn’t have to get out of the keeper’s way and arguably simply held his ground. The simple expedients of either putting a man on the near post or indeed in between keeper and opposition player would have mitigated against the wholly against the run of play equaliser. What I would say is that if that is given then I want to see similar cases treated the same way.
Smith-Rowe was immediately stood down. Arsenal responded in a way in which we all hope to become accustomed. Immediately on the front foot, we attacked down the left with Martinelli, who from the edge of the box hit a pass infield to Tomi. He drew the defender before passing outside to Saka who worked some space and chipped back whence the ball had originally come, to Martinelli to hammer home from the 6-yard line. It took a minute to equalise. Resilience is just one characteristic which Arteta is inculcating in this squad and it is great to see. Cue pandemonium in the North Bank. And absolute screaming delight from the players and subs warming up.
It was now game management and soon after, Holding came on to shore up the defence. I should point out that Nketiah came on for Our Saviour and showed a maturity and presence which I never knew he had. He has clearly learned a whole lot from Jesús. I look forward to watching him play more and more.
Despite the handicap of our absences – Partey and Zinchenko – we showed that we could battle and play very good football. I suppose that the newly formed Celebration Police under Sturmbannführer Sourness will respond with “it’s only Aston Villa” but frankly anything which makes people like him and ‘the walking proof that man is descended from the apes’ that is hairy-knuckled Richard Keys, unhappy can only be a good thing.
21CG and I walked off into the sunset to catch our train home with the ground ringing out in acclaim of our new energy and enthusiasm. We will lose games and we won’t win the league, but the future is looking so, so bright and the Emirates is on the way to becoming the noisy, bouncing, positive home we wanted on leaving Highbury.
Rude not to so thanks for the report CER.
Five out of five somewhat as expected and we now move on to bigger challenges with increased confidence – excellent.
UTA.
Cheers CER. Great report. Ref and VAR were inept last night (in our favour once as per the Sambi early incident that you fairly mentioned), but fuck them. For quite a few years, we lost matches due to some bad calls but now we are back doing what we used to do: winning games in spite of atrocious refereeing performances. I like that. We are the Arsenal so fuck all the rest.
Many thanks CER, both for a great report and for finding my glasses in the Canonbury Tavern where I had left them the previous Saturday. I dropped some thoughts on the previous drinks, but I wanted to big up the performance of Sambi Lokonga who I thought was excellent. Interceptions, simple passes, keeping the ball moving quickly, he did everything you could expect of a 6 who isn’t called Thomas Partey. If we do buy another midfielder I hope it doesn’t move Sambi further away from the team because he looked to have improved considerably. His presence as the 6 also allowed Xhaka to continue his new found role as an advanced box to box.
Mon plaisir, Guys.
C100, you will now at least be able to see clearly our demolition of the ‘orrible oiks from N17….
I wanna see it, hear it, smell it and feel it …”
CER
Thanks for a very enjoyable and accurate report . I thought the ground was bouncing and I returned to my seat in the North Bank to greet several old friends .
Firstly I must berate those who have criticised the great Granit Xhaka over the years. I have always believed in him and kept the faith………and I am a worthless liar, He has been superb this season and last night was his best yet. I agree with C100 who I also saw briefly about Sambi, I was very impressed .
I would have given a pen against Mings- he had his hands all over Saka and upended him and I thought Ramsdale was unfairly obstructed . Of all our team Ramsdale worries me the most but Martinez’s mistakes last night ( albeit leavened with two exceptional saves ) showed how difficult the position is to play . Nevertheless we have conceded four goals at home in three games against modest sides and Ramsdale has some culpability in three of them . I think Emi’s unpopularity extends back to regular comments in the media about how much better off he is at a big club like Villa .
Finally , I thought Eddie’s cameo was immense . Jesus is a hard act to follow but Eddie did a brilliant job in holding the ball up late on . But Martinelli was just MOTM for me
Great report, CER. It was very nice to relive that game this morning.
That first half was as well as an Arsenal team have played in well over a decade. We really should have been at least three up at HT. Villa’s thuggish first half was the very embodiment of Stevie G whose veneer of civilisation is wafer thin. He is struggling this season because the coach who underpinned Rangers revival and then joined him at Villa to ensure last season’s bounce, left in the summer to coach QPR. It’s all down to Stevie now.
I thought that it was a pen when Mings threw Saka to the ground and that Ramsdale was held by the Villa to prevent him dealing with Luiz’s corner. This morning Blogs coined another great observation in his blog:
“you can’t trust the officials – even with VAR”.
We have made great progress this season. Perhaps we are even close to that essential feature of really great teams: winning despite the officials and the opposition.
Superb performances from Martinelli, Jesús, Saka, Ødegaard, Xhaka and especially Sambi with a welcome 90 minutes from KT3, a brilliant 10 minutes from Nketiah and a welcome glimpse of the old ESR.
Onwards.
An excellent and valuable report, CER. I have advanced from not seeing the game in real-time to having watched the highlights, but, as you note, you see on TV what TV chooses to show you. You don’t get the atmospherics of the ground or the ebb and flow of the game off the ball. So thank you for filling in the missing pieces.
On their goal, no argument with an opponent holding his ground in front of the keeper, but to put both arms out backwards so the keeper is trapped between them, keep them there and if anything, close them behind Ramsdale’s back as the corner comes in takes an extremely narrow reading of Law 12 not to award a foul. A player may shield the ball by taking a position between an opponent and the ball if the ball is within playing distance and the opponent is not held off with the arms or body.. In my view, once the ball approached the goal, the Villa player was holding off Ramsdale with his arms and body, and the unnatural position of his arms suggests clear intent on the Villa player’s part to impede Ramsdale.
You understand the rules Ned . Sadly the ref and lamentably the VAR official ( who was it?) did not . Wait until an Arsenal defender puts hands on an attacker as Mings did and see what happens .
TTG @9, “You can’t trust the officials – even with VAR”.
The scary part about the Douglas Luiz goal being allowed is that the officials have set a precedent as to what is allowed and what isn’t. In fact, the VAR official has validated the initial incorrect decision. This calls for PGMOL to take immediate action to correct their employees’ misinterpretation of the rules. If not this travesty will be repeated all season.
By the way, that was a great and entertaining report CER!
Cheers CER! UP THE ARSE!
United playing tonight and Arsenal on Sunday. It will be interesting to see their team tonight.
Superlative review CER! Atmospheric and absorbing. You and 21CG are a peerless pair in the blogoverse.
Goodbye Hector! You will always have a home in our hearts. Barcelona is lucky to have a classy, authentic act like you in the middle of all their relentless fakery …
A great report thanks CER, nothing to add really to the previous good comments.
The transfer window saw us sorting out some loans for youngsters – best of luck to them all – as well as a fairly complicated bit of business for the world’s coolest penalty-taker. Good luck to AMN as well, I must admit I am curious to see how he will do at Soton.
Finally, it’s goodbye to Hector. Although he wasn’t the same post 2019 after his bad injuries
hé was for a time the fastest right-back I have ever seen for The Arsenal and a great sight to see hurtling down the wing on the counter. I will put him in the box of ‘fondly remembered right backs’ with Pat, Lee and Lauren. That’s excellent company to be in Hector and I believe your innate decency will see you through at Barcelona and hopefully home one day to where your heart seems to be at Betis.
I guess the key point about transfer deadline day is that we didn’t bring in a midfielder. Not surprised that there was no Partey/Elneny cover available at the eleventh hour, and no point in bringing in a makeweight. We sent three out on loan, AMN to Southampton, Azeez to UD Ibiza in the Spanish second tier and Akinola to Chesterfield in the National League, and let Olayinka join Cheltenham Town in League One on a free. Hard to believe AMN made his first team debut in 2014; a career that has drifted so far off track. And what is the back story on Tielemans, who seemed a nailed-on transfer at one point?
Good luck to Hector. As OM says, he will be fondly remembered as a player and a person.
I was wondering about Tielemans too Ned. Maybe the absurd money Leicester got for Fofana meant they had no need to let him or Maddison go. I saw Rogers moaning, a la Scott Parker, that they hadn’t bought anyone he expected.
Or maybe MA knew something about the complaints from some Leicester supporters that Tielemans had just been phoning it in for the last six months. Not the sort of behavior that would be acceptable to Mikel.
Good luck to all the loanees and departing players, and in particular to Hector Bellerin whose development as an Arsenal player was so much fun to watch.
OM@18: I read that Edu decided to wait until Tielemans was available on a free next summer rather than pay the silly money Leicester was asking for him. No idea if that is true. Plus our needs may look different in nine months’ time. Your point about MA’s concern over character is well made, however; no potential incoming can afford to show any frailties in that regard.
Rodgers has got an uphill battle at Leicester. If he decides the climb is too steep, or it is decided for him, I doubt that he will be without suitors, though not from the very top clubs anymore.
Ned, the Villa job may be available before too long. Perhaps after the game after next, ironically against Lesta.
I have never found podcasts an addictive listen but in my opinion this podcast is different and justifies in itself the subscription to the Athletic. Three sensible people talking about the Arsenal. It should not be missed.
https://theathletic.com/3561544/2022/09/02/arsenal-podcast-transfer-window/
Thanks, CER for this great, well-thought and balanced report.
We need to be more clinical in front of the goal that’s for sure. But otherwise, we played well. Well, well enough to win with a much more significant margin.
As I saw Villa had one thing in mind and I wouldn’t call that strategy or tactic just kick everything that was moving in red-and-white. Even my girlfriend didn’t understand why it was not yellow cards for the first three faults of the Villains.
I am somehow sad to see AMN leave. He played himself into my heart during the 2020 FA Cup run and won in MA8’s first season.
But it was not to be for him. I wish him the best.
COYG
Las, It still is “just a loan” but I too am sad to see AMN leave after several stretches of being close to breaking into the team, even as right back (the coaches’ idea of his best position) was not his preferred position. Unrealised potential as a midfielder that’s for sure but he hasn’t gone past the stage of being considered a utility player unfortunately. Best of luck to him and it would be great to see him playing regularly and effectively.
Bath@22: 🙂
C100@26: Pure gold.
Sounds from Arteta’s presser that MØ8 and Ramsdale are doubts for the Mancs game. Zinchenko, Partey and Mo definitely out. Suddenly, our vaunted squad depth is looking a bit threadbare.
Las@24: The saddest thing about AMN is that had he not got on the Guendouzi side of Arteta so early, Arteta could probably have developed him into a starter for us and a regular in the England squad. The base talent was always there. To use AW’s phrase, he seems a little bit short in application and judgement.
cer, thanks for a delightful report. i’ve rewatched the game again and you’ve really caught it well. i do believe ramsdale was fouled: kamara had his arms back around ramsdale, pinning him. if he’d just had his arms out from his sides, or out front, and ramsdale didn’t go around, no foul. but he made it so ramsdale couldn’t move around him in a way that, if it was anywhere else on the pitch, he’d’ve been give the foul. that said, someone needed to be on the near post to head that away.
ecstatic about the game sambi had. he drilled some great cross-field passes to switch play, and brought a tempo to the team from deep. well done.
best of luck, hecate, i’ll miss you, you little bandicoot. i always appreciated your energy and your sense of justice, though your style and mine diverged rather than converged; to each their own, eh? amn, i hope you find that spot in you that guns your engine, and makes you voracious for success in the team…i think you’d have a place here if you found it.
nervous about sunday. we’re going to take a kicking, and the ref isn’t going to do us any favors. we will have to wait on the injured to see who plays, but the idea of throwing turner into the cauldron of old trafford doesn’t do my heart much good.
Another interesting table showing the preponderance of Northern refs in the Premier League and who they support
Although the data is a little old most of those referees are currently plying their trade in the PL or officiating on VAR like Dean
Interesting piece TTG @31. Thanks for posting it.
I find it astonishing that it only occurred to ‘the powers that be’ to explore the emotional affiliations of officials in the 1990’s. These men are in those positions because of their love of the game combined with an associated early recognition of a deficit in their playing skills. Without question, if they support a club, they will have all the emotional affiliations and antipathies of a football fan. The tribal nature of football support with its concomitant network and hierarchies of antipathies is bound to affect the judgement of the most objective individual. Not to have clarified such affiliations until the 1990’s is negligent.
I am sure there are those among the ranks of officials who will be consummate professionals and will rise above any bias based on their tribal roots but I am equally sure there will be some who cannot. The complex spiders’ web of a season’s fixture list rarely throws up a fixture involving two teams that a supporter of a third team cannot express a strong preference for the winner based on past encounters or a clear idea of which result might benefit his own club. Referees who support teams in the same division in which they officiate must have extraordinary moral rectitude. Respect (where earned!).
I was having a very useful and pleasant discussion on prison matters with the Governor of the Prison if which I am Chair on the Isle of Sheppey . As we parted I asked him his plans for the weekend . ‘ I’m taking my lad to Spurs v Fulham.he said.
As we identified our allegiances I could see his face fall . Such a nice chap to have such a stain on his character !
Wouldn’t want to be an ñ inmate in that particular prison TTG. 😅
Ned @20&21
Yes, same as Luiz, he will be half the price in January and free next June.
A sign of how rich the PL I has become that even the mid range clubs can turn
their nose up at 25m quid. The PL apparently spent (1.9bn) more than the
other 4 major leagues combined (1.8bn) in this window.
Rogers may be free earlier than June, but as you say he will find somewhere
to hang his portrait.
And the referee for tomorrow’s game comes from Finsbury Park which is handy.
>>>>>>>