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A Nice Kickabout for the Lads

Sep 18th, 2022 by

Let’s be honest, despite bullish prognostications on the site, almost all Arsenal fans were wary about the outcome of this match. Just over a year ago, we were beaten by a very physical Brentford side in the first game of the season in a bearpit of a stadium, staging Brentford’s return to the highest echelon of English football after seventy four years. No matter that we had a Covid outbreak in the club nor that we had a young league debutant as our only fit striker, the strong suspicion was that we had been bullied by a more determined side. Sky loved that game, it played to their favourite narrative of an Arsenal team who in the immortal words of Corporal Jones, “don’t like it up ‘em!”

After the match Ivan Toney who had given Arsenal’s new centre back Ben White a very tough evening tweeted, “Nice kickabout for the boys!” 

Those of you who have watched ‘All or Nothing’ will have seen how Mikel Arteta was angered by the arrogance of that quote and used it to motivate the team in the return fixture in February. What would Toney be tweeting after this game? There was a degree of pressure building as the table begins to take shape following a comfortable win for Manchester City at Wolves and a 6-2 victory for the Spuds that looked immensely flattering to this observer’s eyes, although my attention on the game was only fleeting. On top of that Arsenal had injuries. Ødegaard and Zinchenko had slight knocks and missed the game, ESR was absent and although Thomas Partey returned, how fit would he be? On the bench Arsenal blooded Lino Sousa a 17 year -old left back and, almost unbelievably, Ethan Nwaneri, who at 15 years and 181 days old was the youngest player to be included in a first team squad in our history. I have stuffing in my fridge older than him! In Ødegaard’s place we gave Fábio Vieira his debut as a ‘number10’.

After an impeccably observed minute’s silence for Her Late Majesty Queen Elizabeth II and a rendering of ‘God Save the King’, we were at it right from kick off. Not only did we monopolise possession but we were incisive and a beautiful crisp move initiated by Xhaka set up Martinelli in the very early minutes but he slipped in shooting and fired wide. The team’s rhythm was excellent and the main key to the game was the superiority of our midfield. Xhaka was superb today and is perfectly suited by the more advanced position he can occupy as a ‘left 8’. He was able to settle into that role because of the excellence of Partey who gave a consummate display in front of the back four. The whole side was pressing manfully and effectively and Sky seemed alarmed that our side was so much bigger than Brentford almost as if this was sharp practice. It certainly didn’t play to the ‘Snowflake Arsenal’ narrative we’ve had shoved down our throat since that opening game last season.

This quite unreasonably large Arsenal side took the lead on 16 minutes when Saka looped in a fine corner and Saliba flicked the ball on at the near post. It found its way across goal and entered the net very clearly off the far post. The confirmation by the referees watch was superfluous. GSD rightly bemoaned last season that we do not see our defenders notching enough goals. We have three from seven games this season!

Brentford 0 – Arsenal 1, Saliba 

Our attacking play almost overwhelmed Brentford at times and Xhaka picked out Jesús with a perfect cross that he diverted past Raya into the top corner. It was both a brilliant cross and a magnificently executed header despite what Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink had to say! 

Brentford 0 – Arsenal 2, Gabriel Jesús 

Jesús was terrific today with his lightning movement and dynamic pressing. He is such an upgrade on Lacazette, it is untrue. At half time we could honestly say that we had been completely untroubled by Brentford even the garrulous Ivan.

Half time: Brentford 0 – Arsenal 2

As the team came out for the second half I thought that the icing on the cake would be for Fábio Vieira to produce an assist or dare we hope a goal? Amazingly, we had only three minutes to wait for that to happen. Saliba looked in deep trouble but shimmied out of danger, Saka fed Vieira about twenty five yards out and giving Raya the eyes, he whipped in a shot that clipped the inside of the right hand post and careered across goal and in. A very satisfactory way to crown your league debut ! 

Brentford 0 – Arsenal 3, Fábio Vieira

The scoring was over but not the exciting, incisive football from the Gunners. Jesús fed by Xhaka was well blocked by Raya who went full length to tip away a Saka curler. Brentford threatened on a couple of occasions and thought they had a penalty only for it to be ruled offside. But we dealt with their set pieces effectively. They clearly need a bigger team! 

We managed to play ‘keep ball’ very comfortably for the rest of the game. 

History was made as the game moved into injury time when Ethan Nwaneri became the youngest player in Premier League history. With Charlie Patino opening his account for Blackpool yesterday Arsenal’s future is very bright. 

Nwaneri came on for Vieira along with Marquinhos for Saka and Nketia for Martinelli on 90+2 after Sambi had replaced the excellent Partey on 78 minutes. 

Full Time: Brentford 0 – Arsenal 3

I look forward to Mr.Toney’s tweet describing this game. Something like “We were absolutely mullered by a much better team” would describe it well. Who was our MOTM? I’d just give it to Xhaka, despite a completely unnecessary booking in the second half which may provoke investigations into peculiar betting patterns in the Balkans. But Saliba was superb. He really is an extraordinary talent. In a couple of tight situations, including in the build-up to our third goal, he looked so elegant and assured. Partey played very well and showed us what we had missed at Old Trafford. Jesús was an absolute livewire and Saka and Martinelli worked their socks off to good effect.

Some Gooners might suggest this was an easy win. It was because of the work ethic and quality that this team has but we also have a notable ability to shithouse where necessary. Ramsdale gets a calf time out each game, Gabriel had one too (side of knee) and we just looked so much more effective than we did here last year.

My final comment was that Arteta looked very smart and respectful in his suit. He must have been delighted with the performance and the knowledge that he doesn’t have to follow Ivan Toney on Twitter any more!

Posted in Match Report | 80 Drinks »

A Buzz has Grown

Sep 17th, 2022 by

Arsenal visit Brentford’s Community Stadium for the first Premier League clash of the new season with the Bees this Sunday lunchtime. This fixture was moved up in time from later in the afternoon due to the death of Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth. It will be the first time either team has played since her death eight days ago: on 3 September Brentford was at home to destroy Leeds 5-2, while on 8 September the Queen’s memory was honored with a minute’s silence before the second half of Arsenal’s 2-1 defeat of FC Zürich in St. Gallen.

The Gunners remain remain top of the league, with 15 points from 18 on offer, with the Bees having garnered 9 points from the same number of games. Arsenal and Brentford are a pair of teams that really have very little history against one another, and most of it is from 1947 and before. We have won two of our last three games against them, since 2018, but the loss was the horror-show we played at Brentford to open their first top-flight season since…1947. Between COVID and bedding in new players, and Brentford’s emotional high from being back at the top table, we lost 0-2 to begin the run of three-straight losses to start our 21-22 season.

However, since then we’ve gotten better and better (with a bit of rollercoastering along the way), finishing last season 5th to Brentford’s 13th, including beating them at the Emirates 2-1 in February. Well done to them for staying up; and while they sit eight places below us they’ve got the same goal differential, having scored 1 and let in just 2 more than we have. They are not going to be pushovers.

Brentford

Led by the impressive Toney, who sits third on the goalscoring table behind the erstwhile Haaland and the ubiquitous Mitrovic, Brentford usually employ a 4-3-3 (though they thrashed Manchester United lined up in a 5-3-2). Ex-Arsenal schoolboy Dasilva is a regular in the squad, playing on the left, either up front or in midfield; he offers another goal threat. Their defense, in front of Raya in goal, is anchored by central defender Mee (great grandson of our own Bertie), with rumored Arsenal target Aaron Hickey at right back. They are a tough team to beat, and a team that has shown the ability to come back from being down: all of their draws this season are the result of the Bees scoring late goals to bring the scores level at the final whistle.

Brentford will be without midfielder Norgaard, sidelined since he end of August with Achilles tendonitis; of their other two absentees, Pinnock (knee) isn’t in contention, but Tenes (thigh) is the subject of a late fitness test. Neither of the latter two have played yet this year, but Norgaard will be a loss in the center of their midfield.

Arsenal

As the season has gone on, the buzz has grown. Our players have raised their games, and even in our loss to United we played well except against the long ball over our high line…damn it! We are scoring more freely, defending (generally) well, and very often playing some of the best football we’ve played in a decade. The crowd is into it, home and away, supporting players when they falter and geeing them on when they’re on top of the game. If we could convert the better part of our chances, rather than the lesser, we would be beating teams by scorelines that reflect our dominance rather than winning by a goal and peering somewhat nervously through our hands towards the ends of games. Of course, that’s a longstanding issue at Arsenal, and it’s hoped as The Process, led by the Premier League’s Manager of the Month, continues to unfold that will prove to be another box ticked.

Expect to see our usual 4-3-3, though with Tierney instead of Zinchenko, and Lokonga instead of Partey. Injuries to the second of each of those pairs will reduce or eliminate them from contention. It’s a tossup between White and Tomiyasu at right back (I’d like to see Tomi start), whereas the front three, the center of defense, and our keeper are nailed-on:

Martinelli — Jesus — Saka

Xhaka — Ødegaard — Lokonga

Tierney — Gabriel — Saliba! — Tomiyasu

Ramsdale

Besides Zinchenko (lower leg) and Partey (thigh) we’re expecting to be without Cedric (knock) and ESR (groin), as well as longer-term absentees Nelson and Mo’neny. It’s possible that Zinchenko, Partey and Cedric will pass late fitness tests, but none should start. That leaves our bench a bit thin, with Nketiah, Marquinhos, Vieira, White, Holding, and Turner ahead of some mix of the injured and three younger players to be named later…likely Partey, Awe, and Walters.

The Holics Pound

If our defense can keep Toney quiet and we keep our wits about us until the end, I think we can win this one with a similar scoreline to our last game with them, 2-1. However, that’s only available on 8s, while 3-0 and 3-1 Arsenal wins are offered at 16s and 14s, respectively. For those of you going to the game, enjoy, sing your lungs out, and give our players the benefit of the best of your energy. Considering the events of this unusual week, and with more happening in London and away at international games in the coming fortnight, it’s the perfect time to help the team recover from the events at Old Trafford and stake our continued claim at the top of the table.

COYG!!

Posted in Match Preview | 45 Drinks »

Endings and Beginnings

Sep 9th, 2022 by

Picture courtesy of Daily Express

Arsenal kicked off their Europa League campaign with a 2-1 win against FC Zurich away in Switzerland on Thursday afternoon. Arteta named a strong side whilst giving full debuts to Marquinhos and Fabio Vieira. The Gunners made a shaky start before composing themselves after about ten minutes. Martinelli saw a glancing header flash wide following an excellent cross from Marquinhos. Then on 16 minutes the deadlock was broken following a fast break. Vieira gained possession just outside the Arsenal box spraying an exquisite pass out to Nketiah. Our number fourteen drove forward before his deflected cross found Marquinhos who was arriving like a steam train into the box and the Brazilian teenager finished emphatically with his right foot. He then set off on an emotional celebration following his first senior goal for Arsenal on his debut.

For the rest of the first half Arsenal had nearly all the ball without creating an awful lot. You could tell the intensity wasn’t as great as it would be for a league game and there was almost a pre-season friendly feel to proceedings. Then, right on the stroke of half time we gifted Zurich a way back into the game after Nketiah conceded a penalty following a tangle of legs. The penalty was converted, and the Gunners went in level at the break.

However, at half time the significance of the game was put into perspective when it was announced by Buckingham Palace that Queen Elizabeth II had passed away at the age of 96. Earlier in the day news had broken that the Queen’s doctors had placed her under medical supervision so for many this was the news they had all been dreading. But the news still came as a huge shock, not just to us in the UK but in the Commonwealth and around the globe. She had reigned for just over seventy years; it was merely a couple of months ago when we were all celebrating her Platinum Jubilee. For the majority, she was the only monarch we had known; there is not one person on the planet who hasn’t lived most of their lives under her reign. But this morning we wake up under the reign of a king for the first time in seven decades and it will take some time for the nation to process this ground-breaking news. May she rest in peace.

In the meantime, there remained a football match to be completed. The players would have been told of the news in the dressing room and before the start of the second half a minute’s silence was held. Arsenal began the second half on the front foot with a lot of possession being had. Tierney saw his low drive saved, Nketiah also had an effort saved. And on 62 minutes, we restored our lead. Martinelli switched the play to Marquinhos on the right who cut inside and sent a delicious floating cross over to Nketiah at the far post who nodded in for his first goal of the season. The first Arsenal goal under the reign of King Charles III was scored by an Englishman.

Arteta made a raft of substitutions with Sunday’s encounter with Everton in mind. Off came Tierney, Vieira and Marquinhos, on came Zinchenko, Odegaard and Saka. Arsenal continued to dominate without extending their lead. Jesus then came on to replace Nketiah and the Brazilian saw his left footed effort well saved by the Zurich ‘keeper. But the game was won on an emotional day. It was a low-key affair where the events of the game paled into insignificance following the death of Her Majesty.

Next up for The Arsenal, we face the visit of a winless Everton at the Emirates at lunchtime on Sunday. That is if the game does go ahead. [All Premier League fixtures were postponed by publication time – Eds.] But in the meantime, Arsenal now sits on the top of Group A as well as the Premier League. Long may that continue.

RIP Your Majesty.

Posted in Match Report | 82 Drinks »

Up the Kybun: Gunning for it in St Gallen

Sep 7th, 2022 by

St Gallen? I hear you say. Surely, we should be playing our opening Europa League Group A match away to FC Zurich in, well, Zurich, and not in a city 50 miles to the east in a different canton? It is rather like Real Madrid turning up to play us in Southend.

Well, dear reader, Stadion Letzigrund, the mussel shell-shaped stadium that FCZ shares with arch-rivals Grasshoppers, does triple duty as an athletics track and a concert venue, too. The Weltklasse Zurich track and field meet that serves as the final of the Diamond League already had the date booked.

Heart of Midlothian also had to play their Europa League playoff away leg against FCZ in St Gallen. In their case, it was because of a sold-out gig by Gola & Trauffer, the popular Bernese-German rockers — do try to keep up, old people. Other local residents to have sung there include Tina Turner, a Swiss national since 2013 and whose estate overlooks the pristine waters of Lake Zurich. The Stones, Guns N’ Roses and Metalica have all made tour stops there over the years. Ipswich Town-sponsor Ed Sheeran will be playing two shows in the week of the group round two matches. Fortunately for FCZ, it is away to Bodø/Glimt then.

St Gallen’s Kybunpark, like Letzigrund, is a compact, solar-powered stadium built for the 2008 Euros. It takes its name from one of FC St Gallen’s sponsors, the eponymous local maker of health shoes and rehab and orthopaedic kit for those gone in the fetlock or at risk of musculoskeletal injury. Kybunpark claims bragging rights as the largest stadium in eastern Switzerland, having, at 19,568 seats, some 3,000 more than Letzigrund, even though the Zurich stadium has the larger overall capacity when safe standing, allowed in domestic Swiss games, is taken into account.

We have not played FCZ before, and it is four decades since we played any side from the city of FIFA, financiers and other miscreants posing as prosperous citizens of one of Europe’s staidest cities. In November 1971, we beat Grasshoppers 2-0 in the second round of the European Cup, when they still played in Zurich’s now demolished Hardturm stadium.

Grasshoppers, founded in 1886 by alums of Manchester Grammar School, are Zurich’s blue bloods, but FCZ is its blue-collar cub. It dates its founding to August 1, 1896, by when we were about to embark on our fourth season in the Football League. I say ‘dates’ purposefully. Members of three local clubs, Turicum (named after the Roman name for the city), Excelsior and Viktoria, started playing together that year and retroactively decided they had created their new club on that particular Monday, which coincidentally came to be celebrated as Switzerland’s National Day. One of those founding members was Joan Gamper, who would later be a founder of Barcelona.

FCZ’s first Swiss championship arrived in 1902. The second took another 22 years. The third would not come until 1963. However, the Sixties and Seventies proved fruitful years for FCZ, with six league titles and five Swiss Cups. With domestic silverware came European football, most notably, two runs to the semi-finals of the old European Cup in 1964 and 1977, when it took Real Madrid and Liverpool, respectively, to stop them. In all, the club has played more than 150 European games, winning one-third of them. It last made the knockout stages of the Europa League in 2018-19, the same season it ended two places off relegation in the Swiss Super League, as it did again in 2019-20 and then one place off relegation in 2020-21.

Having turned that run on its head to win its 13th title last season, pipping Basel, captained by Granit Xhaka’s elder brother, Taulant, FCZ has taken the long way round to this season’s Europa League group stage. Eliminated from the Champions League by Qarabag 5-4 on aggregate after extra time in the second qualifying round, they dropped into the Europa League’s third qualifying round, where they beat Linfield 5-0 on aggregate and then disposed of Hearts 3-1 on aggregate in the playoff round.

The opposition

Title-delivering head coach André Breitenreiter moved to Hoffenheim in the Bundesliga in the close season. The arrival of Franco Foda, previously the Austria national team coach, has brought a dramatic turn of league fortunes for the worse: two points from seven games, with four goals scored and 16 conceded. Last Sunday’s 1-2 home defeat by Lugano only lifted them off the bottom of the table on goal difference as fellow cellar-dwellers FC Winterthur lost by a larger margin. We should not put too much stock in league form: in domestic and European cup ties games this season, FCZ has lost only one in seven.

Foda has flip-flopped on formations. He switched recently from 4-2-3-1 to a back three but appears not to have settled on a trio in front of 6’5″ skipper and local lad Yanick Brecher in goals. Perm three from the sextet of Kosovo internationals Fidan Aliti and Mirlind Kryeziu, Kosovan-born Switzerland U-20 international Lindrit Kamberi, Estonia international Karol Mets, Nikola Katic, the Croatian newly arrived from Glasgow Rangers and the highly rated 20-year-old Becir Omeragic. Geneva-born of Bosnian parents, Omeragic has already played more than 90 senior games for the club despite missing a chunk of last season with an ACL injury from which he is only slowly returning. He has won four Swiss caps, having been hurried into the team to fend off Bosnia claiming him.

Adrian Guerrero, picked up on a free from Valencia B and Nikola Boranijasevic, also a free, from Lausanne, provide the width in midfield either side of summer signings, Guinea international Cheick Conde and Ole Selnaes, a former Norway international who was playing in China. Veteran German DM Marc Hornschuh may be drafted in if Foda opts to play five in midfield as he did against Hearts in the second leg.

Up front, goals have been in short supply. Last season’s top scorer, Assan Ceesay, departed for Lecce. His replacement at centre-forward, Nigerian-born Benin international Aiyegun Tosin, has hit five this season in 12 appearances in all competitions. Two much-travelled summer signings, Croatian striker Ivan Santini and German-born Kosovo international winger Donis Avdijaj, have two apiece, as has centre-back Kryeziu and veteran Swiss international Blerim Dzemaili and fellow midfielder Fabian Rohner coming off the bench. Striker Wilfried Gnonto, the 18-year-old with four Italy caps to his name after being let go on a free by Inter two seasons ago (it is not just us that do such things), will not be adding to his tally for FCZ. Leeds United has just bought the starlet for 4.5 million euros. 

The Arsenal

With the Thursday-Sunday routine now underway, Arteta will draw on our squad depth, although with ESR joining Elneny and Partey off games, his midfield rotation options are limited. Hoping against hope that Arteta resists his instinct to play Saka in every game and holds Ødegaard and Zinchenko back for Sunday’s Everton game, I hazard:

Turner

Tomiyasu Holding Gabriel Tierney

Lokonga Xhaka

Marquinhos Vieira Martinelli

Nketiah

With 12 subs allowed, pretty much everyone else from the first-team squad who is fit will be on the bench, plus a handful of youngsters, such as Zane Monlouis, Catalin Cirjan, Amario Cozier-Duberry, and Matt Smith, who could conceivably start and will likely get some minutes. Arteta should try to get as many of his Sunday starters off as early as possible.

Yet we need to get straight back on the horse after the setback at Old Trafford. Nor will Arteta want to drop points against the weakest team in the group. We need to top the table to go straight into the knockout stage and avoid a playoff round.

FCZ has enough Balkan backbone to make a scrap of it. Regardless, we should have the calibre and depth to roll the Swiss.

The ‘holics pound

The gentlemen of the turf have us as firm favourites and require us to score four without reply before offering score-betting odds above tens. Chancers in the bar might be tempted by 5-0 at 30s, but 3-0 at eights seems more realistic, or, for those harbouring doubts about Matt Turner, 3-1 at elevens.

Enjoy being back in Europe, ‘holics near and far.

Posted in Match Preview | 55 Drinks »

The Enmity is Still There

Sep 6th, 2022 by

This is a rather rushed recollection of yesterday’s game in which Arsenal surrendered their unbeaten record to Manchester United. Recent seasons have seen the intensity of the rivalry between the two clubs diminish but yesterday’s match events and the comments of the pundits after the match ensured that all those long-suppressed feelings of injustice and rivalry surfaced spontaneously.

Let us summarise the match before we talk about the reaction to it. It was a high-quality game at a stadium where Arsenal don’t traditionally do too well, although in the last eight games (home and away) before this against United we had lost only once. That was last year – a very avoidable defeat. We managed to replicate the experience yesterday.

Arsenal made one change from Villa in midweek, bringing back Zinchenko to what begins as a left-back station but morphs into many other things. The game developed in segments. For the first ten or so minutes Arsenal hardly had a kick as United stormed out of the blocks. Eriksen should have scored from a fine Antony cross but fired wide, otherwise for all their pressure United did not create much. Suddenly we broke. Ødegaard dispossessed Eriksen inside the United half , Saka produced an incisive pass which gave Martinelli lots to do but he did it brilliantly holding off Dalot and beating De Gea. Nobody celebrates goals immediately anymore especially at Old Trafford. Referee Tierney (who Twitter are claiming is from Salford) saw the tackle from Ødegaard and deemed it acceptable but Lee Mason stationed out at Greater Manchester decided that being in charge of VAR entitles you to re-referee the game. Having made a diabolical mistake at Newcastle the day before he obviously told Tierney to ‘look again’. Tierney did and looked for some time but ruled the goal out. Quelle Surprise.

The impact of that seemed to affect both teams . United lost any rhythm they had before and Arsenal grew in confidence and fluidity. Martinelli had a shot blocked by De Gea’s leg and Saka had a reasonable claim for a penalty turned down. Saliba missed when well-placed and Jesús ran Varane and most of the rest of the United defence ragged. A goal seemed inevitable and it duly came. Sadly it was a United goal

Tierney played an intelligent advantage when Gabriel fouled Fernandes, the ball was switched on to Rashford who played it through to debutant Antony, and he finished well although it might be claimed that Ramsdale showed him a lot of the goal.

United 1 Arsenal 0 (Antony, 35′)

Arsenal responded with more fluent attacking play but could not produce an equaliser despite enjoying great success along both wings. We had enjoyed territorial superiority, had bossed possession and looked a cut above United. But at the interval we were one down.

Half-time – United 1 Arsenal 0

We have some idea of how Arteta might have tackled the task of preparing his team for the second half. His message would have gone something like ‘You’re murdering this lot. Make our fooking superiority count!’ High fives all round.

The lads must have listened because for the first fifteen minutes of the second half there was only one team in it. Arsenal’s superiority was almost embarrassing. Saka whipped a cross shot narrowly wide, Jesús continued to bamboozle Varane, and Xhaka and Zinchenko fed a constant stream of through balls to Saka and Martinelli. Ronaldo arrived but as soon as he did we equalised. Ødegaard played a lovely pass to Jesús through the middle. United‘s defence could only block it partially and it span to Saka who swept it home. Even Gary Neville couldn’t dispute the justice of it.

United 1 Arsenal 1 (Saka, 60′)

I could not have been alone in thinking that this was going to be the pivotal moment in the game as Arteta readied three substitutes: Nketiah, Vieira and Smith Rowe. Zinchenko was removed forcing Martinelli to operate as a withdrawn left-back. Then from nothing Fernandes found Rashford onside and he took the chance well racing from halfway to slot into the corner. Mike Macdonald criticised Ramsdale’s starting position but I felt that was harsh.

United 2 Arsenal 1 (Rashford, 66′)

I felt a combination of deep injustice and annoyance at the naivety of our gung ho approach exemplified by our very high line. Our substitutes all came on to push for an equaliser only to suffer the coup de grace.

Eriksen timed his run from midfield perfectly and slotted across goal for Rashford, a man who until recently couldn’t buy a goal to slot home, despite White’s despairing challenge. My inclusion of Rashford in my Fantasy Team did not lessen the pain any.

United 3 Arsenal 1 (Rashford, 75′)

By now it was obvious that this was not our day. We continued to play neat and occasionally penetrative football without troubling De Gea unduly. Gooners watching on Sky braced themselves for the smug self-assurance of Roy Keane and Gary Neville. Arteta fumed on the touchline (why can’t they fooking do what I fooking tell them?) and Ten Hag, now officially the greatest  manager in the world, looked like a man whose plan has worked to perfection.

Losing at Old Trafford always hurts but it hurts more when it is avoidable.

Full time – United 3 Arsenal 1

So what lessons can we learn from our first defeat?

Firstly we played some lovely football and had the first goal stood it would  have been a different game. On a weekend where the effectiveness of the way PGMOL operate VAR was called into question by the Premier League it was a pity that we are one of the teams that suffered but at Old Trafford “twas ever thus”.

Our squad still looks light in places and it must be hoped that we can deal capably with our Europa League group witn several rotations because ESR was injured (yet again) in the warm down and we are without Elneny, Partey (due back on Sunday) and Nelson. Several of our team played very well. Jesús was superb, Saka much improved, Ødegaard looked incisive and Xhaka played well again in his advanced role. Zinchenko is a terrific player but Gabriel and Ramsdale have an occasional mistake in them, Sambi is inevitably inexperienced, and I can’t understand starting White ahead of Tomayisu although he has done little wrong.

But there was enough encouragement in our performance to persuade the most cynical Gooner that we have a real chance of top four this season. A little perspective is often useful. It’s sad that we had to acquire it in such depressing circumstances…

Posted in Review | 26 Drinks »

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