Unfortunately, the fact that we received such a small allocation of tickets, combined with the renewed zeal of the match-going fanbase ensuring sell-outs for away games occur at very high levels of credit points, means that your correspondent doesn’t write from Eindhoven as planned. At this moment in time, away tickets seem to be the footballing equivalent of Fabergé eggs. On the other hand, perhaps the post-match antics of the PSV fans last week makes not going a good thing, with reports far and wide of their trouble making both inside and outside the ground. Apparently PSV have to pay Arsenal £40k for damage caused inside the ground and their fans have been banned from their next game – away at Bodø. Hardly a chastening punishment from UEFA. Plus ça change.
The team announced contained a few surprises; Ramsdale in for the injured Turner who hasn’t made the bench; Saliba at centre back with Tierney, Tomi, Xhaka, Ødegaard and Martinelli starting as well. White, Gabriel, Partey, Saka and Jesús on the bench. Another chance for Lokonga and Vieira to impress and Eddie to show that he continues to step up at the highest level. Ahead of the match, I read this as an aggressive statement that he wants to win or at least not lose, is prepared potentially to suffer as a result on Sunday, and then rest the entire first team in a dead rubber next week against Zurich ahead of Chelsea away. This is a manager who takes measured risks. I like it.
PSV started far more aggressively than last week and without creating too much threat their attacking intent was far more obvious.
It was interesting to see Viera playing in the Saka role – very much hugging the touchline to spread the defence as wide as possible and keep full backs pinned back. Tomi was noticeably taking careful consideration before getting outside Vieira in the same way that he usually does as he was clearly thinking about Gakpo.
After 8 mins we saw the first save of the day when Simons took a shot from the edge of the box and Ramsdale comfortably saved low down to his right to push it away for a corner. The chance came from a piece of sloppy play from Ødegaard – a very lazy pass in the midfield. This was an indicator of what was to come.
On 18 mins, hearts were in mouths when a superb finish from Gakpo sent the home fans into a state of noisy delirium. However, the linesmen did his job excellently and raised his flag. TV evidence showed that Gakpo made his run far too early and broke a particularly good line being held by the Arsenal defence.
A decent spell of possession and a couple of near opportunities for the Arsenal on and around the the stroke of the quarter game mark showed PSV that we were still in it, but nothing came of these. On 38 mins really good approach play saw Martinelli take a ball on his chest and with PSV players advancing volley his shot rather too early and send the ball into the gods.
Just before half time the wasp-like – in the sense of an annoyance that just won’t go away – Simons muddled through a sea of defenders and stabbed the ball into the net. Once again this came about as a result of Arsenal’s poor play and was compounded by poor defending as the forward’s control was hardly Messi-like. Again, the guy who knocked the ball to Simons was offside so again a good call from Officials and VAR. Are you watching, Riley and Dean? More likely they’re seeing not watching. The visual equivalent of hearing as opposed to listening.
At the end of the first half, my thoughts were that our touch was way off. Perhaps, while it was 0-0 we were simply trying to contain and conserve energy. Eddie was simply not in it. Vieira looked lively. The difference between Partey and Lokonga looked huge although it did seem as though he wasn’t being deployed in exactly the same role as Partey is. Not a criticism, just an observation. And finally, can I have a pint of whatever Capitola Rob is putting on his hair as his thatch seems to increasingly resemble the thicker, darker areas of the Mato Grosso. I’m not bitter!
The start of the second half saw De Jong replace El Ghazi – two players who played in the PL to no particular note, I thought at the time. What do I know? In his appearances for Newcastle a few years back, De Jong appeared to be providing some kind of a performance art-based tribute to the sculpture of Rodin or Michelangelo, so little did he move. He seems to have developed somewhat in the intervening years, as we were about to find out.
We made a bright start to the second half with a good shot from Nketiah going just outside the post, followed by Tierney making a good run down the left, bringing it inside and, channelling the Ghost of Winterburns Past, attempting a right-footed shot towards the far right of the goal
Gakpo started where he left off, by showing that he really isn’t very bright and clearly doesn’t understand the offside rule. It appears, to me at least, we may have dodged a bullet in not attracting him in the summer..
On 54 we saw good interplay between Simons and Gakpo – onside this time – leading to a shot which whistled past Ramsdale’s right post. Arteta was clearly getting nervous, and TV showed a stripped off Partey ready to come on. Too late! Before he got the chance, PSV scored through de Jong. Holding in particular, despite his spectacular barnet, was guilty of poor defending getting the wrong side of the attacker in the build-up.
Immediately Partey and Saka came on – Sambi and a rather invisible Ødegaard went off. Partey played deep, pushing Xhaka forward and Saka took his usual wide right berth freeing up Vieira to play the number 10.
There was more than a touch of rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic about it, as on 62 minutes PSV, through the formerly statuesque but now annoyingly mobile De Jong, scored. 2-0. Again, it was something of a gift as Ramsdale came for and missed a corner. It was rather in keeping with the shoddy performance given by everyone else on the Arsenal side. I suppose this could be seen as some perverse form of collective responsibility and that he didn’t want to stand out from the rest!
It just continued to get worse and on 66 Gakpo had the ball in the net once again and was once again offside.
It was at this point that it dawned on me that I couldn’t remember a single genuinely troubling effort on target by Arsenal.
By now, PSV were completely overrunning us. Arteta made some changes with Gabi coming on, shortly followed by White and Gabby for Tierney and Tomi. It made not a jot of difference. The game closed out and we were well beaten.
The gamble which Arteta took in resting players backfired spectacularly. I don’t blame him for taking it and, in fact, it was a gutsy thing to do. Orwell described sport as war minus the shooting. We appeared to take that rather too literally last night with very few shots being attempted by us at all. To continue the military metaphor, clearly the deployment of our limited resources is at breaking point. The fact is that we are beginning to appear to be running on fumes and the World Cup break can’t come soon enough. Time for some R’nR for those not going and to look to bring in fresh legs, if that’s possible in this most congested of seasons.
Onwards and upwards, Gunners.
Forest on Sunday. Let’s go again!
That is a very fair summary of a disappointing performance, CER. The worrying aspect is that the fumes are appearing earlier and earlier in recent games.
A very disappointing outing nicely summarised, CER. Your analogy is most apt. I’m not sure anyone came out of that game with much credit. At least when one leaves a casino with a minor loss one can write it off as the price of entertainment. The ticket office did you a favour by saving you the outlay on tickets and travel without much entertainment at all.
I should add that roulette is just about the worst choice a punter can make when choosing where to lose their hard-earned in a casino. A coach has to choose which players are most likely to yield the rewards he seeks. It looks like MA8 has alrady run out of faith in taking a punt on Cédric and Nelson producing the goods and after last night Lokonga, Nketiah, Holding and Vieira may find that their odds on a successful Arsenal future have lengthened.
Bravo!
That is, excellent review of a very sluggish performance CER
Nice one, CER – very fair and well summarised.
Very disappointing performance. Nketiah and Lakonga the biggest disappointments for me – both getting their much wanted starts with very little to show for it.
Zinchenko in midfield and ESR back in the attacking options would be very welcome additions – barely seen all season and badly needed in the busiest month in the club’s history.
Very fair report and highly readable report CER , many thanks . I’m pleased you managed to view this from your North London mansion rather than a noisy and undoubtedly inhospitable Eindhoven . You describe the action very well although if I may be a pedant, Veerman scored their first goal. But your point about De Jong is very well made. He must have been reconstructed or rejuvenated in the Phillips laboratories .
I’d envisaged us playing a much weaker team immediately post last week’s game which we strolled . Inretrospect this would have led to a serious tanking . I also feel Gakpo might be a good addition once we have undone the coaching on offside given him by Adebayor! That boy can finish and that’s not a strength of many of our players . I understand contrary to the impression he gave he is quite academic and multilingual .
We move on to Sunday and another crunch game before the crunch game on Thursday which precedes the crunch game on Sunday week!
Repeat post from last drinks
A number of us have been discussing our feelings towards the World Cup in Qatar and repugnance towards the Qatari regimes and it’s human rights abuses. Our broad conclusion is that while some of us might boycott the tournament others may watch the games and follow the progress of Arsenal players .
Nevertheless there is a strongly held feeling that we want to show our general disapproval of FIFA’s decision to hold the tournament in Qatar.
We therefore are intending, unless there is significant push back to put a banner up on the site during the World Cup eg- Why choose Qatar ? 💰 💰 💰- or something slightly more pejorative – and suggest to other Arsenal blogs that they might do the same .
We are interested in your views on this.
TTG@7 – I’m in full support. Do it.
Thanks, CER, for this fair report. This was a somewhat disspirited performance. We looked mentally tired. I hoped for the second-string team as I thought MA8 should give them a fighting chance, especially with the Forrest game in mind. It could have been a platform to build them as a team. I wouldn’t mind the result against PSV as Zurich is at home should be a toast even for the second team.
TTG @7 I fully agree with you! I already decided to boycott this world cup and I won’t watch a single match. It is a shame and it should have been a scandal.
COYG!
Excellent report CER! Not much to add to your observations and conclusions.
Particularly frustrating from Eddie and Sambi who both, as the respective understudies, are expected to push the senior players much harder.
Even after ESR recovers we do need a couple of additions — loans if need be — in the winter transfer window to be able to sustain good run of forms across different competitions.
I am fully on board with the banner TTG.
>>>>>>>