Goonerholics Forever

Let’s cast our minds back to December 15^th, 2019. Arsenal had just suffered a 3-0 defeat to Manchester City. Just three weeks prior to that humbling, the hapless Unai Emery had been relieved of his duties. Freddie Ljungberg had taken interim charge as we looked for a permanent manager for only the second time this century. In the opposition dugout there was also a former Gunner in Mikel Arteta. Following his retirement with us in 2016, the Spaniard made the move to East Manchester to assist City’s gleamingly bald new manager, Josep Guardiola. He had hand-picked our Mikel as his main right-hand man. And it worked out fantastically for both men. In those 3 years Citeh won two Premier League titles with the help of being allowed to cook their books. But on the pitch, there were two geniuses at work. Many jokes were made about Arteta being Pep’s designated ‘cone man’. That couldn’t have been further from the truth. And so, following that defeat Arsenal’s board members tailgated Arteta’s motor back up the M1 and then the M62 and they negotiated a deal long into the night. Just five days after that loss Arsenal proudly announced Mikel Arteta as their new head coach on a three and a half year contract. Much to the annoyance of the financial dopers. And the rest is history. 

Now despite suffering a similar defeat in terms of the scoreline, the context and circumstances are chalk and cheese compared to that crushing defeat. Both sides are now locked together on 51 points. Arsenal have a game in hand but City currently lead on goal difference as they should with the money they’ve spent. And we competed well. We went behind after 25 minutes following Tomiyasu’s weak headed back pass which left Ramsdale in no man’s land and Kevin De Bruyne, our chief tormentor on so many occasions over the last few years, was only too happy to lob the ball over Ramsdale into an empty net. But we deservedly found our way back into the game before the break. We enjoyed the novelty of being awarded a penalty (only our second of the season) and Saka stepped up to take it. Ederson pointed to his right, no doubt an attempt to distract the youngster, and Saka put it there. Ederson dived to his left. But he could’ve dived right, diagonally, upwards or downwards and he still wouldn’t have got near it. A pressure penalty in a game of high stakes. 

In the second half City upped the ante somewhat. We had plenty of the ball but struggled to create an awful lot. But the crowd remained behind the team every step of the way. We had a scare just before the hour where Haaland looked to have won a penalty but following a VAR check it was ruled out for offside. ‘Draw the lines’ was the cry from the Arsenal fans. Looks like they remembered to do their one and only job this time. I hope Lee Mason was watching. He probably forgot the game was on and watched Love Island instead. It’s a good job that man isn’t a pilot. But on 72 minutes, City regained their lead. We gave the ball away in the middle of the park, the ball broke to Gundogan on the edge of the box, who fed Grealish who was in acres of space on the left and his shot took a nick off Tomiyasu which took the ball past Ramsdale into the net. Not the greatest defending from us. Arteta brought on Trossard for the tiring Martinelli and the Belgian probably should’ve had a penalty when he was tripped in the box but there was nothing doing. And before we knew it, City had a third, this time Haaland. It was a tidy finish into the corner with his weaker right foot after another De Bruyne assist. Nketiah had a great chance to pull a goal back, but he directed his header wide of the mark. And that was that.

The crowd remained in good voice at full time. Until the third goal the Emirates was one of the loudest atmospheres I’ve seen there. But I think most in the stadium were aware that despite being knocked off our perch, the title race is far from over. The good news is we have a favourable run of games coming up from now until Liverpool away over the Easter weekend, against mostly bottom half sides. We go to Aston Villa on Saturday lunchtime; a quick turnaround is exactly what you want after a defeat. No time to fester in disappointment. Then another away trip in the Midlands, to And Leicester, followed by extremely winnable home games against Everton and Bournemouth. Then a pair of London Derbies against Fulham and Palace to take us up to the international break at the end of next month. Five of those six sides are in the bottom half. We normally thrive against those sides so it’s a prime opportunity to pick up a healthy number of points. We really need to make that game in hand count you feel. 

What I would say about this game is despite the result I still don’t feel there’s anything between the sides at all. And that is precisely what the table suggests too. The reality is, we picked up an unusual amount of points in the first half of the season. Deservedly so of course, but ordinarily we would’ve drawn or even lost 2 or 3 more games than we did and we’d be sitting here now ‘floundering’ eight or nine points behind top spot. But we find ourselves joint top after 22 games with a game in hand. Cynics would argue if the season ended now, we would finish second, but the season wouldn’t finish with one side playing less games than the other. There are still 48 points for us to try and accumulate, 45 for City. There is a marathon stretched out in front of us and we’re half way through, neck and neck with our main rival; the rest are stranded, packed together like a tin of sardines miles behind. Our rival has run more races than us and has more medals to his name. Well, recently anyway. And there are rumours he’s being investigated for taking performance enhancing steroids. But the other runner comes from a family with a long history of running races. They haven’t always won them, but they’ve always been up there, more or less. They garner much more respect from their fellow racers too. Most with a moral compass would rather see them win than their cheating, doping rival. Apart from Gary Neville. But he’s standing near the finish line by himself because no one likes him. 

It seems like the race is only just getting started……

The day started before dawn when I escorted the dog into the frigid garden to do his business.  Checking my messages I saw that TTG was already headed to the match from his lavish country estate, but was surrounded in his carriage by Hammers en route to their match with the Chavs, in their quest for mid-table mediocrity.  Hoping he would be able to safely navigate the riffraff in his personal carriage, I settled down to coffee and watched part of the early game before giving the dogs a real walk, getting home in time to see that Mikel Arteta had made no changes to the team that faced Everton:

Ramsdale

White  Saliba  Gabriel  Zinchenko

Ødegaard  Partey  Xhaka

Saka  Nketiah  Martinelli

Our guests, the Bees of Brentford, were lined up on their side in a 3-5-2 formation, which quickly reverted to a pack of eight players behind the ball when the Gunners were in their attacking end, like this:

Raya

Ajer  Pinnock  Mee

Roerslev  Janelt  Norgaard  Jensen  Henry

Toney  Mbeumo

Looking to recover from the disappointment of last week’s second league defeat, Arsenal aimed to extend their five point lead at the top over Manchester City, who will host Aston Villa on Sunday. The Bees have been the league’s form club since the World Cup, and stood seventh in the table before the match so the Gunners knew they were in for a battle.  Friday on Sky, Paul Merson called this Arsenal’s biggest game of the season, saying “If you start backing up defeats with draws or another loss, it soon mounts up and before you know it, the table looks completely different. So, you have to bounce back.”  Sandwiched between the Goodison goof-up and Wednesday’s showdown with the defending champions, this game represented a critical moment in Arsenal’s season.  But after Arsenal weren’t able to hold their 1-0 second half lead, it now makes a win against Citeh even more critical than it seemed prior.

The first half started evenly enough but before five minutes had gone, Arsenal came in for a scare when Toney got control on the right and sent in an excellent cross that left-back Henry sent far to the right of goal despite being in an excellent position.  Ramsdale just did enough to put Henry off despite not being able to claim the cross himself but it was a bit unnerving for Arsenal to be giving away a good chance like that so early.

On the attacking end, Ødegaard was stringing together some nice passes and Arsenal were dominating possession but with no telling end product.  Zinchenko, who seemed to have a greater share of the Gunners’ shots than his total of zero Premier League goals would seem to indicate he should be taking, missed a decent rebound chance, putting his right foot effort over the bar.  Contending for a high ball in midfield, Saliba was fouled by Toney who headed to Mbeumo, who then put the ball in the net after the whistle had gone, although the commentator (and apparent Brentford fan) seemed to think Toney had done nothing wrong.  Saka was pushed in the box by Henry but did not go down, instead sending a weak effort straight at the keeper, making me wonder if a penalty would have been given had Saka gone down immediately upon contact. 

Brentford was disrupting Arsenal’s rhythm in midfield, and preventing the Gunners from getting behind their packed defensive lines.  Partey sent a speculative effort high into the crowd and a hint of frustration seemed to be creeping in.  The Bees came down the other end, strung together a couple of passes, and the ball came to Toney in front of an open net but he sent it off the top of the bar.  Another let-off and some worried murmurs from the crowd.  Ben White’s excellent defensive header prevented another right wing cross from getting to the head of a Brentford attacker at the far post, and from the resulting corner Xhaka’s face got in front of Mee’s goal-bound free header. 

Arsenal had some half-chances but at half-time I felt they were lucky not to be behind, and Brentford’s defensive set-up seemed to be working a charm, with a low block that looked similar to the way Everton had set up last week.  Checking my texts I saw that ATG had a similar question to the one I had been asking myself, namely “Why are we trying to thread it through the middle all the time?” — but in fact neither were we having any luck going around them and sending in crosses because the Brentford defenders were handling everything in the air with seeming ease.

Halftime: Arsenal 0 Brentford 0

Neither manager made any changes at half-time.  The first five minutes of the second half saw Raya save decent shots by Saka and Ødegaard after well-worked Arsenal moves.  On 56 minutes Brentford had another excellent chance but Toney shot just to the right of Ramsdale’s post after the Arsenal defense looked passive.

Finally, Arsenal made a breakthrough after Ødegaard slipped in Saka on the byline, and his beautifully placed cross found the foot of substitute Leandro Trossard, who had replaced Martinelli a few minutes before.  The ex-Brighton man made no mistake, hit the back of the net, and a cry of relief rang out from the home crowd.  In celebrating his first goal for the Arsenal, Trossard raised his hands to his face and seemed to gesture as if he was looking into the crowd with binoculars, but cool goal celebration or no, he chose an opportune time to open his account with his new club.

Arsenal 1 Brentford 0 (Trossard, 66 minutes)

Arsenal seemed fortunate to be in front, to be honest about it, but I was hoping that they would gain enough confidence from the goal to be able to up their game and see it out for the three points.  Unfortunately, just seven minutes later Brentford controversially scored the equalizer when they were allowed to play a game of head tennis in the Arsenal box until the ball was headed to Toney who did not miss an open net this time.  

The controversy came into it after VAR reviewed the build-up play which showed two possible instances of off-side.  The commentators said that referee Peter Bankes and VAR referee, Lee Mason as it turns out, were focused on the earlier instance, but after the decision of no off-side was announced, we were shown the later instance of off-side which on my viewing showed that the goal had indeed been off-side.  All of which might make the casual observer wonder, Why does VAR exist if the officials charged with implementing it are not able to identify the plays that require VAR review?  Speaking on the BBC, former Liverpool midfielder and Arsenal antagonist Danny Murphy commented: ”I am lost for words at the incompetence of the people doing (VAR) … Arsenal fans will be upset, the equaliser does look offside when it was headed down.”  Never one to overstate the obvious, I might point out that if Danny Murphy is saying that Arsenal were jobbed, you might take it seriously.

Arsenal 1 Brentford 1 (Toney, 73 minutes)

After Brentford scored there were few clear chances left on either side but it was Arsenal applying most of the pressure at the end.  Zinchenko shot past the right hand post, Saka shot over, and Trossard and Saka nearly set up Nketiah right in front of goal but the ball was just out of his reach.   

Officiating questions aside, I have to admit that on the general run of play Arsenal probably didn’t deserve all three points.  I thought Brentford played an excellent game and fully deserved their point.  Where that leaves Arsenal is in a worse position than they were last week, but not in free fall by any means.  

Come on Villa and come on the Arsenal on Wednesday, is what I say.  Three points against our closest rival would do a huge amount to turn around our current mini-malaise, but it also wouldn’t hurt if Super Mik comes up with a wrinkle or two that the other managers haven’t thought about yet.  Keep the faith, ‘holics.

Saturday lunchtime match. Away at an old ground in the northwest. To a struggling team now well and truly in the thick of a relegation battle. Who recently fired their hapless young manager and brought in a grizzly manager who has a well-earned reputation of drilling his teams into a well-organized unit that makes life very unpleasant for the opposition no matter how high-flying they are.

Goodison has lately not been a happy hunting ground for Arsenal anyway. Add that into the mix of all these other factors and before the match started it was obvious to everyone except the naïvest of Arsenal fans that anything less than their very best would see this young Arsenal squad punished.  However, whereas over-optimistic naïveté might be the natural psychic habitat of the fanbase, one of the world’s most promising young managers and his thoroughly professional staff have until now shown no signs of such complacency themselves, and equally reassuringly have made sure the players never prepare themselves with anything but the utmost seriousness whatever may the occasion or opposition be. That consistency of attitude alone for a squad so young, at least in my observation, has been one of the most pleasing aspects of Mikel’s fledgling managerial career.

The starting eleven was unchanged from the last league victory at home against Manchester United. If that match was a spectacle of pulsating free-flowing football – however deep our historical enmity may run, I have no problem acknowledging that in Ten Haag they have finally found a manager who can turn them into a much more watchable team and eventually a threatening opposition at the top of the table – there could have been no illusion about what awaits us at Everton. Their recent run of terrible results masked the fact that there is a solid base of good players, in both technical and physical aspects, in that squad and properly trained and organized they would be a very difficult team to play through.

Ramsdale

White – Saliba – Gabriel – Zinchenko

Partey – Xhaka

Saka – Ødegaard – Martinelli

Nketiah

That anticipated difficulty was painfully evident from the start. Everton set up in a compact and deep 4-5-1 formation, with the gap between the midfield and defense too narrow to present Arsenal any of those half-spaces where Partey, Xhaka, Zinchenko and Ødegaard thrive. Their well-organized defense and midfield did not give the Arsenal players any moment to look up, pressing and hurrying constantly and cutting off all the passing lanes in their final third, but to their credit also look to break in counterattacks whenever possible. Ben White, who has most likely been the best right back in the league in the first half of the season, was less than his flawless best against Rashford in the last outing and Everton targeted his side for their breaks. Onana used his physicality and close control to impressive effect and in combination with McNeil or the ex-Gunner Alex Iwobi posed a noticeable threat down their left. While we dominated the possession and passed around crisply through their well-organized press, we found it extremely difficult to make that count in the opposition’s final third.

This was neither the first opponent, nor will it be the last, who will pose us this particular challenge. We have until now in this season have found a way: sometimes through moments of individual inspiration or even genius, sometimes with a calm-headed patience and confidence that as long as we keep doing our basics right as the match progresses the opposition will tire and would make the inevitable mistakes, and sometimes by finding within ourselves an ability to speed up the passing through the lines to an electrifying rapidity while maintaining the necessarily unerring accuracy that carves open the most dogged defense. This was not one of those days. Saka and Martinelli were effectively doubled-up, Partey and Xhaka were moving the ball just a bit slower than the usual high-tempo passing that has been a key characteristic this season. Zinchenko was holding on to the ball a bit longer than usual. And Ødegaard, our otherwise mesmerizing conductor, was finding his baton just a bit awkwardly heavy in his hands.

But credit must go to Everton for they played with both discipline and energy. It is easy to dismiss a lower in the table opposition’s spirited fight, especially when managed by someone like Sean Dyche who we in the Arsenal fanbase have well-founded reasons to disapprove. But I thought it was quite an impressive performance by them, resilient, energetic and purposeful. Despite our vastly superior possession and passing statistics, they had two of the better chances in the first half: Onana broke past Ødegaard and White to set up a fizzing cut-back across our goalmouth that Calvert-Lewin missed by an inch, and then McNeil swung in a perfectly weighted cross that Doucouré – after turning away from Gabriel and finding himself with a lot of space and time – headed wide. In between Nketiah fashioned our only notable chance of the first half, latching on to a pass from Saka in the penalty box he turned and drove past the Everton central defense to make enough space for a shot at goal, and I am sure he would be very disappointed for then skying his attempt and not even forcing Pickford into a save, especially given the rich vein of form he has been in lately. Saka fashioned out a left-footed volley from the edge of the box that had Pickford stranded but was saved on the line.

In the first half Everton also looked threatening from the corners, targeting Arsenal’s back post with deep floated inswingers that troubled our backline all throughout. But we started the second half well and controlled both the tempo and possession. One of our brightest moments of the match came when Eddie showed his rapidly improving technical skills and creativity by getting into the box dancing past a congested block of defenders to set up a wonderful opportunity for his captain, and that is a chance Ødegaard should really have taken. We have been reading stories of how injured Gabriel Jesus, while he is not undergoing his recovery routines, still comes to the practice sessions to guide and help our youngsters and especially Eddie. That bit of dancing boots from Eddie is a patent Jesus move.      

Partey was not at his best, and the suspicion that he may still be suffering from the rib injury he had sustained in the FA Cup loass away at city was confirmed when Mikel took him off for our new signing Jorginho the 59^th minute. Another winter signing Trossard– who had an impressive debut in the home match against Mancherster United – also came on for Martinelli who had found it difficult against being double, or sometime even triple, marked.

And immediately afterwards we conceded, there was another deep inswing corner, Tarkowski brushed off his marker Ødegaard to head past a stranded Ramsdale.

Everton 1 – Arsenal 0 (Tarkowski 60’)

This season we almost always have come back from being a goal down, home or away, and given there was still at least half an hour of the match left there was hope that we will find the necessary inspiration to stage another comeback. Trossard was purposeful in his running with the ball and fashioned for himself a couple of attempts, but one flew over the goal while the other was blocked. Vieira was brought in for an uncharacteristically subdued Ødegaard, and Tomiyasu came in for White who I feel may need a bit of a breather in the league in the coming weeks. Everton brought in a particularly unpleasant little striker with likely the aim of disrupting any attempts by Arsenal to create an attacking rhythm. Unfortunately for us – and hopefully also educationally for this young team – we fell for the traps, lost our own discipline and allowed the match to become the kind of disjointed ill-tempered affair that the opposition hoped for, and instead of creating a well-controlled incessant goalmouth pressure we wasted valuable minutes and impetus. Even the six minutes of added time did us no favors.

A loss like this, however hard to take immediately after the match, especially given how consistently impressive we have been until now, can in the long run be a perfect cautionary example, and hence a valuable lesson, for the squad as well as the coaching staff to keep in mind. We will definitely see more of these types of performances from lower-positioned opposition as the survival dogfight gets only more intense. We too would experience similarly less-than-perfect days from our own players both individually and collectively, when neither the automatisms nor the individual sparks would be quite of the very high level that we in the fanbase are getting accustomed to (and hopefully not taking for granted). How we learn to both prepare for such days, and then how we figure out in the course of a match solutions to such thorny challenges, will determine how we will look back at this season not only in the Summer break but also over the years to come.