Goonerholics Forever

There was much joy today in the Stadium of Stone, The New Home of Football, as Arsenal’s men comprehensively thrashed Fulham’s men like they were young tyros. The 3-0 final scoreline was actually a gloss to Fulham, it could have been much worse for them, and even more joyous for us Arsenal fans…but it does not diminish the feeling we all are sharing three hours on from the end of the match.

Ringing in 5 changes from the team that drew the sting from the Champions League semi-final in Madrid, Mikel Arteta sprung a bit of a surprise by playing Lewis-Skelly for Zubimendi; Calafiori started at left back for Hincapié. Saka got his first start since the Carabao Cup final in place of Madueke, Trossard was in for Martinelli, and Eze in for the injured Ødegaard. Raya, Gabriel, Saliba, White, Rice, and Gyökeres rounded out the team. How much of the starting 11 was rotation for rest compared to injury will be seen on Tuesday when we return home for the second leg of the semi-final.

We started the game pretty much as we meant to continue, on the front foot, and within 10 minutes we were ahead. Saka took the ball on the right of the box and dipped his shoulder, sitting Jiminez down thus getting to the endline, where he hit a sumptious, perfectly-weighted cross for the onrushing, and oft-slighted, Gyökeres to tap home. That made 20 goals in all competitions this season for Arsenal (50 games!!), a return which, if you’d offered it when we signed the big Swede, would have gotten your hand bitten off in anticipation.

Arsenal 1-0 Fulham (9′)

Arsenal stayed active through the midfield, where MLS, Eze, and Rice interwove passes and movement that led Fulham in dizzying circles. Their midfield of ESR (love you, Emile!), Reed, and Lukic had no answers at all when Calafiori and White were added to the attack. White and Saka played together well for the first time in any number of games they’ve started without Ødegaard, overlapping and making quick passes with each other that opened up Arsenal’s game on the right. Trossard and Calafiori did the same on the left, with Calafiori coming inside more than overlapping.

The ball stayed in our control for some 40 of the 45 minutes of the first half, wherein we got a number of half-chances and sighters. Raya’s first touch of the ball came on a foray into Fulham’s defensive midfield, kicking a ball away that, left unattended, could have led to a break for the Cottagers. In the 27th minute Calafiori scored a lovely headed goal after a beautiful Rice throughball to Saka, whose cutback led to Eze’s blocked shot. The ball cycled to Trossard, who clipped a perfect cross to Calafiiori’s handsome head, but, alas, he started about half a yard offside.

MLS and Rice kept moving up and down the pitch in opposite unison, covering each others’ backs and enabling each other to play on the front foot with security. Rice also covered White’s right back position, allowing White to bomb forward and stay there with little fear of being caught out…which was probably a good thing, for there were some moments towards the 30th minute where Fulham was a touch ascendant, and he played some leggy, tired defense.

After the five-minute period of Fulham being able to keep the ball (I think we were taking a bit of a breather, honestly) we stepped it back up and began to attack again. On 40′ Eze played a long, sharp ball to Gyökeres, who took it in stride at the right top corner of the box, holding it up for Saka to make an inside run. Gyökeres returned the favor from his goal with a spot-on pass, Saka took a touch or two and laced it into the bottom right corner of the goal past the flailing Agent Leno.

Arsenal 2-0 Fulham (40′)

If there was a moment to encapsulate what Arsenal could do (and could have done, all season if injuries hadn’t been such a blight) it came just before halftime when Trossard sent a cross-field ball that Saka chested-down at the touchline about 1/3 inside our attacking half. He brought it upfield, and cut it back to Calafiori, who passed it to Saliba, whose looped ball just evaded Gabriel at the back post. That’s 3/4 of our defense involved in would have been a goal replayed 20 years hence.

Three minutes of stoppage time greeted us to end the half, and we made the most of it. From deep in our defensive end Saka centered a square ball to Gabriel, who nearly had it nicked by a Fulham player. Instead he poked the ball out to Trossard near the center circle; Trossard ran half the length of the pitch to feather a cross to the middle of the box that Gyökeres headed in just under the bar behind Leno’s flapping arms. Well done to Gyökeres on his brace; allied with his excellent hold-up play and mostly-to-level ball control, his game spoke to what we expected when we signed him. He nearly didn’t get that opportunity: when that attack started I noted we’d just hit 48 minutes, and I half-expected the referee’s whistle during the attack…but he let us play to the finish and it was a fine finish.

Arsenal 3-0 Fulham (48′, Halftime)

We played the first half so much on top of Fulham they didn’t have a shot, and might not have had more than one touch in our box. We out-passed them a bazillion to one and out-thought them in all phases of the game. Our defense was imperious (besides the aforementioned errors), our midfield was a mix of action, grit, and silk, pressing hard and winning so many second balls, and our forward line played better together than our forward line has in ages. For Arsenal, everyone was covering for everyone both offensively and defensively, and it was glorious to watch.

The second half, naturally, was a bit of a come-down. Arteta took off Saka at the half (certainly with an eye to Tuesday), and while Madueke made some nice things happen he has neither the personality nor the control of today’s captain. Fulham had more time on the ball, but did little with it. One sequence brought them two corners that led to nought but a goal kick. Gyökeres nearly got his hattrick on 56′, but couldn’t lift the ball over the sprawling Leno.

The rest of the substitutes began with about 25 minutes to play, with Fulham replacing the largely-ineffective Wilson, Reed, and Chukweze, and Arsenal bringing on Zubimendi and Jesus for Rice and Gyökeres. But what was left of the game was essentially 25 minutes of petering-out. Recycling from a 70′ freekick Arsenal’s wall blocked, Fulham finally had a shot on goal, easily saved by Raya (he of the now 17 clean sheets, almost surely to become this season’s sole Golden Gloves winner). Smith-Rowe went down with a thigh or groin injury a few minutes after that, and was clapped off by an appreciative Arsenal crowd (we still love you, Emile!). Dowman came on for Eze on 77′; Eze’s game was silky, his touches and awareness deep in the mix of our fine first half, essential to the tune but perhaps underappreciated by the masses (think John Paul Jones).

Two more moments of note: on 80′ Madueke beat his man up the right, and his cross was put out for a corner. He took the corner, and Calafiori got his head to it, nodding it down…it was certain to go in except for Leno’s big bonce in the way, knocking it up onto the crossbar and out. The other was young Dowman picking up the ball in the center circle, turning away from his defender, and running straight up the center of the pitch. His shot from the edge of the box lacked conviction and went wide right, but his feet, his balance, and his strength as he held off defenders was glorious to see. 16 years old…are you kidding me?

Arsenal 3-0 Fulham (Full-time)

So Arsenal are now 6 points ahead of C115y, 3 ahead in goal differential. In my mind, we are effectively even, but with the pressure squarely on the blue cheatys. They have two days to think about it before they tangle with the Toffees on Monday at the Merseyside. We get to rest a bit, tend to our wounded, and get ready to face Atleti on Tuesday. Here’s hoping that the joy we shared today will be with us, perhaps in a stronger, more solid way, when Wednesday dawns.

Up the Arse!

After last night’s festival of football (if not of defending), all eyes turned tonight towards Madrid and the Wanda Metropolitano. The Arsenal squad contained Eze, taken off on Saturday, and the returning Calafiori, both welcome returns given the expected attritional nature of the game.

Arsenal started:

Raya

White Saliba Gabriel Hincapie

Odegaard Zubimendi Rice

Madueke Gyokeres Martinelli

It was a bit disappointing not to see Saka start but the manager has far more information to hand than we do so I imagine it was a well-considered decision. The same stood for Eze, also on the bench, and Calafiori too. We need these players to be available for the rest of the season.

As the players came out, the ground was engulfed in a tsunami of noise and an Argentina ‘78 style ticker tape welcome flooded down, adding to the spectacle. The Madrid fans were going to be well up for this and our players would need cool heads.

Atletico started fast but after 5 minutes, and some excellent work on the right, Madueke, who took out two defenders with a masterful jink towards the touchline, saw his cross just evade Martinelli at the back post, giving the onrushing Hincapié the tightest of angles to hit his shot narrowly past the post.  This was just the repost we needed to show Atletico that we were not here to make up the numbers, as well as give the crowd something to think about. 

Indeed, this seemed to slow Atletico down and it was noticeable how they were reluctant to press us as we built from the back, not at all the blood and thunder approach we had been led to believe Simeone’s latest team would bring. In turn, the crowd began to lower the noise a little and the 3,000 travelling Arsenal fans – who had borne ludicrous flight prices (they put me off going) as well as the remnants of police tear gas aimed at the home fans earlier in the afternoon – began to be heard. On 14 minutes, the dangerous Alvarez received the ball with his back to goal in the penalty area “D”, Gabriel moved to close him really well, preventing him from taking the shot early. But Alvarez manipulated the ball beautifully onto his right, and, despite Gabriel making an amazing recovery from his first move, hit a stinging right foot shot towards the bottom left of Raya’s goal. Raya made a very good save and the danger passed.

Immediately, we made the kind of response we would want, when Gyökeres picked up the ball in our half and steamed away from his defender up towards the goal.  He then laid the ball back for the oncoming Ødegaard who might have been better taking a first time shot. As it was he took a couple of touches and the danger was snuffed out. It was the kind of run from Gyökeres which we all want to see more of. He looked strong, fast and showed good technique. More of this, please Gyökeres, and Arsenal. 

Arsenal continued to exert pressure then, on 17 minutes, Madueke again got the better of his defender, and his cross from the right was met by Hincapié but a foul on the Spanish defender was awarded. This was really good stuff, and Hincapié was playing magnificently, defending strongly, marauding down the left and appearing in midfield to add numbers as well. Good stuff!

The crowd were now noticeably quieter, with Arsenal exhibiting calmness and control.

On 30 minutes, Arsenal won the ball back on the right-hand side pf the opponent’s half from an Atletico throw. Ødegaard played a well-timed and weighted pass into the path of Madueke who steamed past the hapless defender and shot just wide of the right post from 30 yards. The Madrid plan, such as it was, was in tatters at this point as they didn’t seem to know when or indeed whether to press Arsenal.

Then, 3 minutes before half time, after an extended period of Arsenal control and possession, we finally breached their goal. Zubimendi controlled a high ball very well and passed to Ødegaard, who returned the favour, for Zubimendi to pass delightfully into Gyökeres, who allowed the ball to roll in front of him, ensuring the defender was now behind him. Said defender decided simply to career into the Swede’s back, leaving the referee with no option but to call a penalty, despite the ludicrous protestations of the defence. After the inevitable, and frankly performative, VAR check, Gyökeres stepped up and blasted the ball past Oblak, who went the right way but was beaten by the power of Gyökeres’ strike. 

Atletico 0 Arsenal 1

Arsenal played out the rest of the half in the same calm, controlled manner and the end of the period was called. 

Half time: Atletico 0 Arsenal 1

TV flicked to an external shot of the ground, which showed a gathering lightning storm approaching the Wanda Metropolitano. Ominous! Simeone must have read his team the riot act as they came out a different side. Le Normand replaced Simeone Minor, Simeone Major sacrificing his son in the manner of the Mafia don he so often looks like while prowling the edge of the pitch.

Immediately the difference was clear. On 49 minutes, Alvarez took a free kick from the edge of the box which he curled round the wall and fortunately past the angle of post and crossbar. Atletico had now noticeably upped the speed and pressing and were all the better for it.

On 52 minutes, Lookman had a break but hit the ball straight at Raya, the ball bounced out and Griezman looked odds on the score, but Gabriel threw his body at the ball and managed to deflect it wide for a corner. The pressure was beginning to build and Atletico had a number of consecutive corners, the last of which resulted in Lorente mishitting a shot into the ground and was clearly going yards wide but it bounced off White’s shin and onto his hand. For the second night in a row, we were about to see a quite ridiculous decision! A penalty was given – but not in real time, only after VAR review – and despatched by Alvarez. Sheer common-sense dictates that neither of the pens given for handball this week ought to have been given. I also question whether this would have been given had it been for the away team.

Atletico 1 Arsenal 1

Atletico were now on top and Arteta responded, to my mind excellently, by taking a slightly below par Ødegaard off for Eze on 57 minutes. 

The pressure was not stemmed however until on 68 minutes he made a triple substitution, putting on Trossard, Saka and Jesùs for Martinelli, Madueke and Gyökeres. No opprobrium to the players taken off, all of whom had done their jobs but we needed new energy and taking off the entire front line would be likely to give the home team something completely different to think about. The pendulum began to swing back a little in Arsenal’s favour, Jesùs dropped deeper to add another body as well as holding the ball up once or twice. Eze did his thing, holding on to the ball well, retaining possession while pressured before playing the out ball. Saka seemed a little hesitant but still managed to give his full back a few torrid moments.

Lookman had another chance of a goal but fluffed his lines. A player who flatters to deceive as far as I am concerned. Then on 77 minutes, the dangerous, wily, Alvarez- who appeared to have taken a knock – was taken off for Baena. This seemed to further reduce the threat from the home team and Arsenal took back full control of the game from this point. 

Immediately there followed an even more contentious refereeing decision than the Atletico penalty, when Eze went down under what has been shown to be a boot landing on top of his left foot as he drove through the penalty area. The well-placed referee immediately gave the pen. Then was summoned to VAR and required view after view of the event, before finally deciding it wasn’t a penalty, overturning his former decision under pressure from a hysterical Simeone only yards away on the touch line, overacting like a 6th former trying out for the school play. One expects it from Simeone, a man for whom sportsmanship is something that only happens to other people. But what is the excuse for the referee and VAR?

Full Time: Atletico 1 Arsenal 1

After the game, Arteta was apoplectic at the referee, stating that what happened was against the rules. Frankly, I don’t know what the rules are anymore, beyond that they seemed to be infinitely flexible, at the behest of increasingly incompetent referees and footballing authorities. 

Conclusions:

1. Coming into this game I was thinking about the changes in situation since October of last year when we royally rolled over Atletico.  Then it felt as though we were building a real head of steam in all competitions, even if the level of all our performances hadn’t hit the heights. Today’s first half somewhat dispelled those negative thoughts as, away from home, we gave a masterclass in control and calm. The first 25/30 minutes of the second half were more nervy but we ended on the same note. 
2. It’s like UEFA have seen the utter nause-up PGMOL have made of refereeing in the Premier Leage and have decided to try to out compete them..
3. With a full Emirates and only 3000 away supporters, there is every reason to be optimistic in the 2nd leg. We have to ensure that the referee is pressured as much as possible by the crowd. Clearly it works. 
4. On a night where we had no Havertz, Merino or Timber, where Saka only made a brief cameo and Calafiori remained on the bench, this was an impressive performance, away from home, in an intimidating atmosphere.
5. The stunning aural and visual welcome to the teams last night needs to be replicated next Tuesday. The Emirates needs to bring the noise. Spectators are not welcome. Only participants. 

We can do this!

The Prologue
This was the first of five league matches and potentially three Champions League matches in Mikel Arteta’s “new league” – his approach to drawing a line under a string of hesitant, nervous and ultimately poor results and performances. Poor, that is, excepting last week’s very good and most unlucky showing against the Abu Dhabi Cheats. 
This week’s events have shown the loss at the Emptihad to be even more unjust than us merely being denied a win by hitting the post twice in the second half. Footage has emerged – that VAR typically couldn’t be bothered with – of both Havertz being felled for a stonewall penalty, and Gabriel being held back from reaching the ball by the gargoyle that is Erling Haaland as he was about to score the winner. There has been online content suggesting that PGMOL were writing to apologise and that Arsenal would appeal to the Premier League for a replay if that were to prove to be the title decider. How much of that is true I don’t know but it would seem eminently justified to me. 
Team news
Following the news that Bukayo Saka and Riccardo Calafiori would be back in the squad for this game, the Arsenal line up turned out to be –
Raya; White, Saliba, Gabriel, Hinkapie ; Odegaard, Zubimendi, Rice; Madueke, Havertz, Eze; 
Bench: Kepa, Mosquera, Saka, Jesus, Martinelli, Trossard, Gyokeres, Dowman, Lewis-Skelly.
That looks far more like the squad we hoped to see over much more of the season than has been the case, although Calafiori was not in the squad after all. There has been a lot of frustration and criticism of the way the team has played, particularly in the second half of the season, but fitness has had, I believe, some far reaching effects.Firstly, and obviously, players simply not being available to play.Second, those who have been regularly available have played too many games, a number exacerbated by far too many internationals.Third, those same players have almost certainly had to play within themselves to try to conserve energy and avoid further injuries.
The return of Odegaard last week, together with an improving Havertz, allowed the team to play a different style and nearly achieve a win at probably the most difficult place in the league – along with the Emirates.
For Newcastle, Guimaraes returned to the midfield but Aaron Ramsdale was dropped to the bench in favour of ice Pope. The good news was that Jo The Thug (Jo el Linton in Portuguese) was out suspended.
First half
With North London Forever ringing off the terraces, I wanted to say, but out of the seats it has to be, the Arsenal set about, er, nearly giving a goal away after 25 seconds, and then again after 3 minutes after overplaying at the back.
There followed a series of three corners which revealed our new short corner routine. To groans from the crowd the first two produced only a shot wide from Eze’s left foot. Number three was slid to Havertz who turned and fed Eze who curled in a beautiful right foot shot to the far inside netting from 20 yards.
Arsenal 1 – 0 Newcastle 

It was strange to see Newcastle with the lion’s share of the ball but when Arsenal did break they broke quickly and looked more threatening than they have of late. Madueke ran up a blind alley while I was yelling at him to shoot, and then two minutes later he did shoot, or rather rolled the ball back harmlessly to Pope.
Havertz was linking play well and Eze was providing the unpredictability that we have lacked. And, of course, whatever they did there was the unfailing Mancy whine of Gary Neville on TV to tell us what they should have done instead.
Raya saved well when Tonali shot through the crowd in front of him following a Newcastle corner. But then Kai Havertz went down somewhat mysteriously with a leg injury and had to be replaced by Gyokeres. Will we ever make it through one single game where we don’t lose another player to injury ? 
As the half drew to a close we still seemed to be looking backwards too often and playing for safety first. That’s understandable to an extent – the trouble was since Eze’s goal Newcastle had had eight shots to our one as we retreated and a one goal lead is very slender and vulnerable to a single mistake.I had hoped to see a quicker, more positive approach after the performance at Man City and talk of lines being drawn but, unfortunately, it wasn’t to be. The fact is that however much we might want them to relax and play, the players seem almost paralysed with nerves as a first title for twenty two years becomes a possibility. They are human, just like us. We can tell them exactly how torturous this process is. 
Half time: Arsenal 1 – 0 Newcastle 

The second half began much like the first had played out. Newcastle had most of the ball, Gary Neville continued to whine and Arsenal naturally lost another player to injury – this time it was Eberechi Eze after just six minutes of the half, although he walked quite comfortably off the pitch. Martinelli replaced him and would hopefully add a bit more physicality to the middle of the pitch where we were being outfought.
On the hour mark the home fans sang up to try to fire up the team and I found myself hoping for a substitution to change things somehow. Havertz’ departure seemed to have left us with no focal point up front and Madueke continued to produce nothing from our corner and free kick routines. It was Newcastle who rang the changes though, replacing Murphy and the speedy Osula with Barnes and Wissa. 
Gyokeres came to life with a strong chase to win the ball back, only for our midfield to surrender it again. At last, after more, often over intricate play on the edge of the area, a sweeping move ended with a blocked shot from Zubimendi. Why are we so reluctant to play a couple of quick, early balls into space and arrack them to cause a bit of chaos ? 
Mikel Arteta agreed with me (!) in his post match interview that Pope should have been sent off for bringing Gyokeres down with a rugby tackle 40 yards from goal after rushing out and missing the ball. Referee’s decision ? Yellow card. Inexplicable to me, correct call according to the still whining Manc. I do wonder what an opposing keeper has to do to one of our players to actually get sent off. 
With around 10 minutes to go, Bukayo Saka and MLS replaced Madueke and Zubimendi. Saka immediately gave our forward play more purpose. Wissa blazed over from a Woltemade pass, thank goodness, but that miss was matched by Gyokeres who completely failed to roll the ball in for Saka who was through on goal on 93 minutes. After eight of the seven – yes, why ? – added minutes the final whistle went and everyone could breathe again. 
Full time: Arsenal 1 – 0 Newcastle 

I tried to enjoy this game and be very positive about our ‘new 5 game season’. All I can tell you is I positively did not enjoy it. The tension is unbearable. We won and now we can all fret about the cost of that victory – more injuries to Havertz and Eze. “Not too serious”, said Arteta afterwards, but I’ve long since stopped believing anything he says about injuries. How has that man still got immaculately groomed, jet black hair ?
For the second match running we should have finished playing against ten men. Just think about some of the red cards we have had given against us. I’m thinking specifically about Saliba’s red card against Bournemouth last season in the context of what Pope did to Gyokeres today. This happens to us far too often to be down to chance. It’s disgraceful.
I don’t know about the players but I must be a major doubt for Atleti on Wednesday. I have no idea how I’m going to recover by then.
By the way – We are top of the league, say …..