Goonerholics Forever

The Arsenal travelled to Leicester today seeking a happier ending than our last three visits in the PL (we lost them all, in case your memory fails you) and also looking, I would hope, for a measure of revenge for a particularly annoying home defeat this season. Before the game Leicester were in the top four and umpteen points ahead of us, although to be honest that baffles me as I don’t think they are particularly good. Still, it would obviously be a difficult trip just after the Benfica win in midweek and before the game Mikel rang the changes leaving out Belly (sorry) and bringing in Cedric as well as Marì, Elneny, Pepe, Willian and Lacazette. A more cynical man might have concluded that we had decided either a) we were not going to reach the CL via the PL or b) Mikel agrees with me that Leicester aren’t very good and any XI will do. I am not that man and figured Mikel picked a side that would keep the game tight and not overly commit forward as well as taking into consideration the need to rest a couple.  

As it was, I was looking forward to the game, as always, and also hoping that players drafted in would be keen to make the case for a more regular spot. 

The game kicked off and after six minutes of absolute nothingness Willian and Xhaka combined to lose the ball on the left hand side of midfield and it came to Tielemans who ran unchallenged into our area and placed it past Leno into the far corner of our net. I honestly do not know what to say about that goal, I do not know why Marì didn’t go across – perhaps he saw Xhaka chasing back after Tielemans and thought he would catch him, perhaps he was looking for KT. Whatever the reason, we were one down against a Leicester side that like nothing better than to sit back with a lead.

Leicester 1 The Arsenal 0   6’

We nearly gave away another a minute later when Leno passed to Vardy who, on first watch, I thought looked so surprised at the free gift that he didn’t punish us. However, from that moment on the first half was more or less all The Arsenal, apart from a couple of long-range efforts from Barnes and Iheanacho. 

“Penalty!” I screamed in the 12^th minute when Pepe was brought down by Ndidi. “Penalty!” said Tierney and pointed to the spot. Alas that nasty Mr VAR pointed out that the foul was actually just outside the box. After that we probed down both flanks with Pepe giving the young Leicester full-back a tough time. KT was also getting some dangerous balls in from the left but things weren’t really dropping for us in the area. Our best chance was when Willian pulled a shot wide after a nice ball in from Xhaka.

The next incident of note was when Tierney stopped the game after a possible head injury to Evans from a corner, The Arsenal players looked miffed as they had the ball on the edge of the opposition box at the time but I thought the referee was exactly right. 

We had continued to push for an equalizer and it finally came when Thomas was again forced to foul Pépé (he was finally booked) and we scored from our usual well-worked free kick routine. Luiz cleverly delayed his run, Willian spotted it and delivered the ball perfectly for Luiz to flick into the far corner despite an off-puttingly high boot beside his head. A well deserved equaliser and a well-deserved punishment for Leicester for their generally negative approach and frequent fouling of Pépé. 

Leicester 1 The Arsenal 1   39’

However, a more worrying development a few minutes later came when ESR pulled up with an injury (at the time of writing I do not know how serious it is but he didn’t look in any distress and fingers crossed it is not too bad). Ødegaard came on to replace him. 

However, a tonic was to follow in the waning moments of the half when, after an excellent surge by Willian, the ball came to Pépé whose shot was deflected away by Ndidi. “Penalty!!” I didn’t shout, as in all honesty I didn’t see it and neither did Paul Tierney. Fortunately, that nice Mr VAR pointed out that Ndidi had blocked it with his raised arm and penalty it certainly was. Lacazette slotted it home calmly and the good guys took a deserved lead into half-time.

Leicester 1 The Arsenal 2   45’ +2, pen.

The only change at half-time was the hooking of the unfortunate young Thomas for Albrighton. Probably, a wise move on Rogers part given he was on a yellow. Further problems came for Leicester when Barnes went down with what at first looked a fairly routine injury but may be worse as he was finally stretchered off after treatment. 

The half had started with Leicester moving to Plan B of pressing hard and trying to play some football. Why wait until you’re losing? 

In fact, that pressing was to prove Leicester’s undoing a couple of minutes later when Pépé broke forward at speed on our right and slipped the ball to Ødegaard in the centre. He passed it across to Willian arriving at the far stick and his simple ball into the middle was tapped home by Pepe. A fine goal and a pleasure to see us do it away from home in a tricky game.

Leicester 1 The Arsenal 3   52’

After the thitd goal Leicester huffed and puffed and we had chances on the break. A few sloppy passes aside (yes Ødegaard, I am looking at you), we tackled and blocked well in the main and then moved the ball forward well when the chance came though the execution was not at the level of the third goal. Elneny was substituted around the 65^th minute to give Thomas a run, I assume, and Auba came on for Laca for the last 10 minutes, nearly scored too after a nice jink into the box from the left. Unfortunately, his trademark shot into the far corner was just the other side of the post.

The game ended with us doing the right things – defending stoutly, wasting time to annoy the Leicester players and denying them even a consolation with good shot-blocking in the closing minutes of the game.

Overall, it was an excellent performance after giving a ridiculous goal away early on. Willian, Pépé, Xhaka and KT all played well as did Lacazette working hard up front. No one played badly, just my opinion of course and I look forward to hearing your own. The only possible blip is the injury to ESR and we await reports with fingers crossed. 

A good day and good game my fellow Gooners, hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did!!

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It was a crazy day of sport all round. 17 wickets fell in a Test match and I missed every one of them because I was in Zoom meetings. So, in a game critical to our season,  we settled down to a tea time kick off in Athens only to see us take control, toss it away, toss it away some more, fight back immediately and then, in a moment of exquisite skill, three minutes from the end, win the tie and go through. Only Arsenal can do this to your cardiovascular system. For those partial to manicures, only Arsenal can lay waste to all the good work done on those fingernails and leave you with raggedy bits and a taste of nail polish in your mouth. For those partial to a drink, only Arsenal can take that bottle of the good stuff you were hoping was going to take a fortnight to drink and leave a scant few inches at the end of the game. Only Arsenal.

In this last 32 fixture in the knock out section of the Europa League we at were at home. In Athens. More weirdness. The tie stood at 1-1 after the previous week we had managed to hand Benfica a draw via a penalty kick after dominating the match and missing 107 presentable chances, most of them by our magnificent Captain having a strange off day. The manager picked what, Thomas Partey aside, was pretty much his strongest team. Young legs were hurting; risks were being taken with fitness but needs must. The season was on the line – we had to deliver. 

Leno, Bellerin, Luiz, Gabriel, Tierney, Ceballos, Xhaka, Ǿdegaard, Smith Rowe, Saka, Aubameyang.

Strategically Benfica went with 3 at the back with wing backs and a high press. Our team looked like a 4-2-3-1.

We scored three great goals and threw away two sloppy ones. Our first goal, after 20 minutes was a joy. Saka received the ball on the half turn just outside the area and played a superb ball, inch perfect between two defenders, into Auba’s path. Just onside, Auba clinically chipped their keeper. A goal Bergkamp and Henry would have been proud to have combined for. Auba’s back, everyone!

Chances followed at both ends but we were playing well, secure in the knowledge that they needed two because of our away goals. Then cock up number one. Dani Ceballos was somehow deep on the edge of his own area, between the centre backs. A Benfica player danced at him but, with cover behind, Dani hung out a lazy leg (do they coach that at Colney?), caught the man and conceded a very cheap free kick. Gonçalvez stepped up, produced a fabulous, unsaveable free kick into the top corner. 1-1 at half time (agg 2-2) and anybody’s game. We had tossed away the advantage at the end of the half, having dominated the game. Wolves all over again!

We began the second half well. Again Auba was laid in, this time by Ǿdegaard, again he finished clinically, but this time the offside call was just against him.

Then cock up number 2. Both centre backs went up for an Arsenal corner, which was rather wasted by a high loopy ball from Ǿdegaard which was caught easily by their keeper. He immediately punted it downfield, John Beck style. Back defending was Dani Ceballos. With all the time in the world to return the ball forwards, he decided on a back flick to Leno. It was poorly conceived and disastrously executed. The ball just slid off his head to Rafi Silva who had a simple task to round Leno and walk the ball into the net. Suddenly we were behind 2-1 (3-2) and needing to score two more to avoid defeat. Ceballos was immediately hooked for Partey and, somewhat bafflingly, Willian came on for Emile Smith Rowe.

Now my columns in the past have contained the suggestion that when Willian comes on, he stinks the place out, slows the game down and is generally useless. I’d just like to say that this is the result of post submission editing by the blog’s editors and that Willian is a fine fellow (it’s difficult to talk when your tongue is so firmly lodged in your cheek isn’t it?). Because Willian was – OK. He did a couple of give and go’s on the left and on 68 minutes got to the by line and cut the ball back to Tierney, just inside the box. KT3 beat two men and then absolutely blasted a shot to the far corner with that sweet left foot, surely the most effective left peg since Poldi departed. Rather than wild celebrations he then politely suggested to his team mates in broad Glaswegian that there was a game to win here and could they pull their bloody fingers out? 2-2 on the night and still over 20 minutes to get that vital third goal. 

With 15 minutes to go, Laca came on for Bellerin. Saka dropped into right back, but to be honest he wasn’t doing a lot of backing, but a lot of winging. Benfica at this point dropped back into their low block, six at the back and looked to hold onto what they had. It almost worked. Pass, pass, pass. Tackle, tackle, tackle. Then, with just three minutes to go, and the level in the bottle dropping alarmingly, Saka picked up the ball on the right side of the penalty area. He made one of his trademark runs across the area and then with his left foot produced the most perfect cross in front of the defenders to the back post where Auba had ghosted in. He buried it. There was an agonising moment while VAR offside was checked (it was close) but the goal was given and somehow, somehow, we were in front 4-3 on aggregate. 

There was time to bring on Calum Chambers and Elneny for a gallop, four minutes of extra time and for Benfica to hit the post (albeit from a clearly offside position) but we had plucked defeat from the jaws of victory and then decided that no, we’d quite like to win, please. An agonising match for fans to watch on TV. But the catharsis of that final goal will live long in the memories.

Let’s start with the positives. We’ve been saying this here for two years now, but in Saka we have a true generational gem. He is elite level and has come of age. He makes major contributions in virtually every game he plays and he plays all over the park. We must look after him and not overplay him, but boy am I glad Arteta picked him last night. Auba had a great game. He made fantastic runs, and clinically finished virtually everything presented to him, bar the odd offside flag. Kieran Tierney is a true leader amongst men. He surely is an Arsenal Captain and legend in the making, continuing our great tradition of left backs all the way back to Bob McNab and beyond.

So what didn’t go so well? We were very slow moving the ball forward against an organised Benfica team. That mainly came from the midfield, Xhaka and Ceballos. We need Partey to go on a run of fitness and games and to link defence and attack. This could also come from the centre backs and Gabriel had a poor game I thought, never really looking in control. Dani Ceballos had a game he will wake up screaming in the night about in his dotage. To be fair he was man enough to immediately apologise to everyone on social media afterwards. These inconsistencies are why we are where we are in the table and almost lost last night. Over the two legs we gave a pretty ordinary Benfica team a penalty, a sloppy free kick that led to a goal and a world class snafu that almost lost us the game.

After the game Arteta gave a press conference as usual. You can see the whole transcript on Arsenal.com. But I wanted to pick out this quote about Willian.

With Willian especially, I think he changed the game, he gave us much more composure, much more creativity, he produced a goal for Tierney.

Now I wish to make it clear that I am a 100% supporter of Arteta who is moving us in the right direction and developing a really good team. But there are only two possible explanations for that quote. The first is that he wanted to big up a player who has had a very tough season and recently suffered social media attacks from so called “fans”. In which case, it’s a bit cringey, but fair enough. The second is that he believes it. Which is a problem because it is 100% horseshit! Willian did OK, but no more. Far from “producing a goal for Tierney” which makes it sound like a killer ball followed by a tap in, 98% of the credit for the goal goes to KT3 for beating two men and then hitting a low accurate piledriver of a shot into the corner.

At the time of writing the draw for the next round has not been made – no doubt the opponents will be posted in the drinks. So, can we win this thing? Who knows? This is a team who can beat anyone and can lose to anyone. Still – keeps life interesting anyway!

Thank God we won!

This afternoon we lost a strangely subdued game against quite possibly the best side in the world on current form.

I wanted to start with that piece of perspective before digging a bit further into what happened and what we might make of it. Indeed, before the game there were many fans who would have been happy to take a single goal loss, so I hope we don’t get too disheartened by the result.

I actually thought it was possible we might nick something today and so to lose by a single goal, especially given the way we conceded it, is frustrating. But not really a surprise.

Before kick-off the team was hard to guess. As it turned out ESR was dropped to the bench and Pépé started on the left. Elneny came in for Ceballos whilst Tierney, Holding and Marí all started in defence.

The biggest incident of the game came only two minutes in. After a bright start City’s excellent Ruben Diaz switched the ball out wide to Mahrez on our left. Perhaps Tierney could have got closer to block the cross but if you get too close to Mahrez he has a tendency to slip past you. As it was, only Sterling and Bernardo Silva were in the middle, with our two centre-backs and Bellerin covering them. I’d be happy for Mahrez to cross that ball 99 times in 100. Today, however, was the hundredth time.

From that point on we have to look at Rob Holding because the defending is just diabolical. He is in a good position. He has a look to see where Sterling is. And then he just lets the little inside forward drift into space behind him and jump unchallenged to score what turns out to be the winner. Holding is a hard-working player who has been quietly efficient this season, so I don’t want to go to town on him but this is just awful, awful defending. If Sterling had outpaced him after getting in behind him then fine, no-one is going to complain that Rob isn’t the quickest player. But this goal is infuriating because week after week we have seen Holding make a series of fantastic headed clearances. He is good in the air and should beat Sterling without even needing to jump. It is a poor mistake and not the first time recently he has failed to mark his man in the box. He must improve because this should be bread and butter to him. (No Jon Moss, go away. I am not giving you any bread and butter.)

Alright, we’ve all seen it. Enough said. We will have to draw a line under it and Rob will have to make sure he is ready when next called upon. It is, however, worth noting that in the 88 minutes that followed City were poor by their own standards yet their centre-backs were excellent and never switched off. That is how you win things.

The rest of the match was a bit strange really. At first, they looked like they might score a hatful. We looked ragged. A lot of tired performers. However, the team in the ridiculous away shirt didn’t convert their superiority into clear chances, let alone goals, and by the half hour mark we had begun to emerge on top in a low quality game. Leno had barely been troubled. Marí was on his way to a solid game defensively, with a few wayward passes thrown in, but he would have expected a tougher test against this attack.

Saka alternated between looking shattered and well up for it. A couple of times his final ball or shot was not quite there. It was similar for Tierney, who got forward into some great positions without making the most of them. He looked increasingly despairing of his chances of getting back into position, still lacking in match fitness. Saka tracked bravely back for the Scot whose legs were not as willing as his heart.

We did not create much although it was good to see us stop the onslaught and play our way back into contention. I am sure the boss was positive of our chances at half-time. City did not put us to the sword and right until the last whistle a single goal in it meant we had something to play for.

Auba had a poor game. He could not hold the ball up. He never has done and he won’t start now. He was on the edge of things and when he did touch the ball he was off the pace. To be fair we didn’t give him much to feed off in the penalty area. Ødegaard was decent in the first half and he occupied a lot of spaces without receiving the ball. I think in a few games time his team-mates will be more used to his movement and will do a better job of finding him. However, the Norwegian faded in the second half and was hooked on 74 minutes for Laca, at the same time as Pepe came off for ESR. Both were sensible subs although they could have been made earlier and ultimately failed to inject the pace that might have got us something from the game. The direct, relentless presence of Gabi Martinelli might have been a good call too, but we will never know.

We need to have a word about Pépé. He was quiet today. No worse than anyone else and he did at least try to shoot but he did not have a big influence on proceedings. Now, from my armchair it looks like Arteta has got this one all wrong. We know Pépé is a confidence player who needs to play himself into form. The Boss has an almost perverse penchant for taking him out of the team when his confidence is highest and holding him back until he has lost all momentum before starting him in a big game. The flipside of his refusal to use Pépé in the last couple of games despite him looking increasingly effective is that now Bukayo Saka is knackered. The gaffer knows a lot more than me but I am struggling to see the sense in this one. I hope those who are not convinced by Pépé spare a thought for whether the manager is handling him in a way to get the best from him. And as for Saka- that boy needs a rest!

Just to mix it up I thought I’d wait until we were into the meat of the piece before talking about our midfield. It is the same issue with The Axis Of Average that it always is. Xhakneny do not move the ball forwards enough. Or quickly enough. And this is still true despite an upturn in Xhaka’s performances which I would be churlish not to mention. He had a decent enough game. But we are not going to beat City with that pair in midfield and perhaps we were lucky that our opponents were not really at the races today. Nothing more to add. They are what they are and we have all seen enough of them to know it.

Now, on to Jon Moss. He is not my favourite chap. Out of all the chaps and chapesses in the world it is indeed safe to say that he is not top of my list. Watching him puff about like a steam train as the electricity powered high-speed shuttles that are professional footballers whizz past him is never fun at the best of times (even Xhaka out-paced him with relative ease). However, it is the games like today, where he incorporates his own brand of low-level incompetence, without making any glaring errors, that just really do my head in. Speaking of which, he did in fact make one egregious error, waving play on when Rob (who had a solid game after the opening twenty minutes) had his head whacked very hard by Cancelo’s knee. Apparently, the importance of stopping play for head injuries is not something Moss has understood so we waited until City had missed a chance after playing through the space our defender would have been in if he hadn’t been lying dazed on the floor before the ref decided he might need treatment.

I’ve written that jokily but on a serious note he should be reprimanded, or more likely taken aside for a quiet word, after that mistake. That Holding failed the concussion test and was subsequently replaced by David Luiz in a concussion substitution does not look good on Mr. Moss. These injuries must be taken seriously. The referees are instructed to do so. And he failed to follow that instruction, delaying treatment to someone with a concussion. Breaks in the game are a pain, especially as some players are now (rather despicably) grabbing their heads to get play stopped despite not being significantly injured. Yet this is an area where we must be safe not sorry, and the rules must be followed.

In his pessimistic and patronising commentary for Sky Gary Neville did make an apt analogy in comparing City to Floyd Mayweather for the way they got ahead and kept us at arm’s length, safe in their superiority. The new buzz-word is ‘game-state’ and I think City might have raised their levels more if they hadn’t scored so early. But with the game state as it was (we used to just say ‘cos they were winning) they let us play in front of them but were fairly comfortable throughout. Another day it might have backfired but we just didn’t have enough juice in the tank.

Overall, look, I can’t get too exercised about this one. How about you? I’ll look forward to hearing from everyone in The Drinks (comments) at the bottom of the page how you all saw it. See you there!

As ever, have a good one ‘holics.