Goonerholics Forever

To Villa Park for a lunchtime kick off and with a point to prove. The siege mentality must have been seriously strong at the training ground, as the perceived injustice after the Wolves game continued to rankle. Personally I just loved having all my non Arsenal mates messaging me to gloat over our red card count, although Spurs fans were notable by their absence. Perhaps their WiFi was on the blink. The question today was whether we could channel the resentment in the right way. 

Team selection seemed to point to the fact that Arteta is becoming more and more sure of his first XI. He picked the team that played so well for 46 minutes at Molineux, changing only Gabriel for Luiz and Ryan (happily fit) for Leno, both changes enforced due to one match suspensions.

Ryan, Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Cedric, Xhaka, Partey, ESR, Pépé, Lacazette Saka

Subs: Runarsson, Ceballos, Ødegaard, Willian, Auba, Chambers, Mari, Elneny, Martinelli

For Villa, Bertrand Traore started, meaning the counter attack threat was very much there, with Grealish to the fore. The euphonically named Marvellous Nkamba also started for the Villains, to the great glee of a certain 8ft tall green dinosaur. 

We were in trouble from the start. Gabriel read a ball into the box well and knocked it to Cedric. He completely under hit the return pass and only played it to Traore. He ran into the box and squared it for Watkins to slide it past Ryan, via a deflection. 

Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal (Watkins 1 min)

On seven minutes, Laca went down after Konsa headed the back of his head. Were these to be the first concussion subs? Evidently not, as both players returned to the field. In the first 15 we were failing to find the crisp passes that were such a feature early on Tuesday night. Gabriel was still looking half a yard off the pace. One factor may have been that we had a lot less time on the ball – Villa were pressing hard. One move showed that well when we broke with Laca on the ball and three vs two. He had Saka on the right and Pepe on the left to move it too, but Mings stepped in quickly and broke it up. Chance missed. 

The game settled down with both teams looking dangerous but with no real saves required by either keeper. That changed on 28 minutes when Emi Martinez sprang to his left to claw out, one handed, a magnificent free kick from Granit Xhaka. A minute later, Barclay laid on Traore who tried to lob Ryan, but an excellent save by our new goalie denied him.

Saka was hauled down as he broke into the Villa half with only green grass and Martinez ahead of him. A yellow card was the result, although Arteta was demanding more. One cannot help considering what might have been the outcome if the shirt colours had been reversed. Moments later Saka was again brutally fouled by Marvellous Mkamba. Another yellow card and, I fear, an indication of what Saka will face in most games from now on. 

A first half where we went behind early, looked nervous for ten minutes, but then grew into the game. One of our most physical games for a long time with Villa shown some leniency by the officials. We had a goal in us, but so did Villa. All to play for in the second half,

HT Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal

No changes at half time, but Auba and Gabigol waiting on the bench. Could we start moving the ball quicker and with more effect?

The first five minutes of the second half were all Villa. A good training ground move from a corner found Barclay in space on the penalty spot but he scuffed his shot. A good passing move led to another fine save from Ryan. Partey was booked for a supposed foul on Mkamba, presumably on the strength of the scream, as the replay showed no foul. Ryan again saved well from McGinn.

Pépé was having a frustrating afternoon with crosses blocked and hitting poor passes. He did hit a shot with his right foot, but with no curl on it and the ball harmlessly passed the post. Flashes of genius from ESR and then Saka saw shots raining in on Martinez’s goal, but he saved well. On 58 minutes Auba came on for Laca. Come on big man!

Martin Ødegaard came on for Cedric, thereby moving Saka to left back. Trézéguet came on for Traore. A goalmouth scramble after a good cross by Pépé saw the ball cleared by Villa but with Mings clattering his goalie. Pépé again fired in a shot and a deflection almost beat Martinez. The Xhaka, Saka, Pépé axis on the left was looking sharp.

Then on 73 minutes Partey went down and limped off, holding what looked like his hamstring. He is proving to be rather fragile, unfortunately. On came Willian. After giving the ball away on halfway, the ball fell to Grealish who jinked onto his right foot and fired in a fierce shot which once again was well saved by Mat Ryan. The on-loan Brighton goalkeeper was having a fine game. His goal was threatened again when Ødegaard gave it away and Watkins shot just wide. On 83 minutes a great chance for Ødegaard was made by Saka who found the bye-line and cut back the ball to the unmarked Real Madrid man. He hit it cleanly and very hard, but too high. Making his only error of the game Rob Holding lost the ball under pressure from Watkins who made 50 yards before forcing yet another fine save from Ryan. 

Meanwhile if it’s possible to stink the place out in 17 minutes, Willian was doing so. Easily brushed off the ball, never beating a man, slowing down moves. Why hadn’t we put Martinelli on?

The minutes ticked away. We just weren’t doing enough. Five minutes of added time went up, but the resolute Villa defence, with Mings and Cash to the fore, stood firm. 

FT Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal

It’s difficult to know what to make of that game. One big plus was Mat Ryan, who looked the part. After a strong run, the events of the 47^th minute in Wolverhampton seem to have rattled us and set us back. You can see the promise but the execution was poor today. We now have a week off. Let’s use it.

I’ve altered my approach to tonight’s report from the usual blow by blow account because of the freak nature of this match and attempted to look at a few of the issues this match raised. For those who weren’t able to watch the match the bare bones were that an Arsenal side identical to the one that started at Southampton in the League went down to their first League defeat in eight matches. That is a fact but does nothing to convey the detail of an extraordinary series of events.

Arsenal began the game well, Saka rattling the junction of post and bar right at the start and then forcing a fine save from Rui Patricio before he sent a dipping drive past the keeper to open the scoring only to see it disallowed because of a very tight offside decision against Lacazette. Wolves who had not won in eight matches were visibly lacking in confidence and although Kilman thumped a header just over and Leno made a fine save from Neves which Holding then pounced to clear, we were comfortably the better side. Wolves have high quality out wide where Neto troubled Bellerin all night and the pace and strength of Traore would trouble anyone although Cedric acquitted himself well on the left-hand side. He was aided by Pepe who continued his good recent form, adding to his skill and trickery on the ball with a heartening desire to win the ball back. After 32 minutes a slightly fortuitous drag back cum nutmeg was followed by a sublime one to take out two Wolves defenders and he curled a fierce shot with his right foot past Rui Patricio. My phone lit up with Gooners everywhere suggesting that our £72 million man was looking well worth every penny.

Wolves 0 Arsenal 1 – Pepe 

The lead was no more than Arsenal deserved. Partey despite occasional passing lapses was convincing in dominating midfield and playing quick passes through to Saka on the right. The vibrancy of ESR enabled us to stretch the Wolves defence and Xhaka was continuing to buttress the defence and play much more vertically than was his wont.

Craig Pawson, the referee decided to signal two minutes of injury time at the end of the half. I always get twitchy when we are holding a good match position but as the clock ticked towards two minutes a central pass through our defence saw Willian Jose get ahead of Luiz. Luiz seemed to try very hard to avoid any contact but Jose’s trailing leg caught Luiz, he miskicked and then went down and was given a penalty which was savagely compounded by a red card. Again, my phone lit up with all sorts of theories on why this was or wasn’t a penalty or a red and trying to look at the totality of the situation the double jeopardy brought  huge punishment for Arsenal. Luiz should have arguably let him go or gone for the ball and clattered him to get a yellow but we suffered a massive double blow. The contact was accidental but could it have been avoided completely? Neves hit a fine penalty and the whistle blew for the interval. 

Wolves 1 Arsenal 1 – Neves (pen) 

Our response was to withdraw Lacazette to bring on Gabriel and I anticipated an increasingly nervy rearguard action as we tried to hold onto a point. However four minutes into the half the wily Joao Moutinho hit a fierce drive past Leno and in off the post.

Wolves 2 Arsenal 1 – Moutinho 

The game had been turned on its head in a five minute period and unsurprisingly Wolves monopolised possession, looking dangerous out wide where Neto particularly impressed but with little end product . The game moved on with Aubameyang replacing the admirable Pepe but having dominated possession in the first half we struggled to get the ball and move upfield.

Then in the 72nd minute we saw a cool, calm German goalkeeper go full Mad Jens as Leno chasing a long ball in the inside right channel unaccountably decided to handle it outside the area. It was a clear, completely needless red and it not only took us down to nine men with eighteen minutes left but brought on Runarsson (for Partey ) a young keeper in whom it might be said Gooners have little confidence . To his great credit he made a fine save from Neto within seconds and then a decent block with his legs and his game in bizarre defensive circumstances was blemish free.

Towards the end Aubameyang and Saka worked themselves into shooting positions but were blocked. The reality was we had thrown away a game that until thirty seconds from half-time I expected us to win about 3-0.

Final Score: Wolves 2 Arsenal 1 

What conclusions do you draw from a game like that? It was Luiz’s sixth concession of a penalty in a season and a half and his third red card. He was unfortunate to concede perhaps and the law is an ass but he keeps doing things that clearly exasperate his colleagues, manager and supporters. Gabriel did extremely well in difficult circumstances and he and Mari are more deserving of one of the centre back berths than Luiz. Another contract extension? Not if it were my decision!

As for Leno he had a massive brain fart which was highly uncharacteristic but hugely costly and which, I believe, may deprive us of his services for two matches. We must hope Mat Ryan’s hip has healed by the weekend.

On a more positive note the first half display was admirable in many respects. Saka was superb and grows with every match, Partey is not yet fully attuned but will be a mighty player and ESR has a superb work ethic and skill set. But if you commit hara kiri in this fashion you cannot beat sides even those to which we are clearly superior.  It’s definitely a case of talking out the stupid decisions and moving on. But Europe and especially the top four look a long way away tonight.

This afternoon saw a clash between two in-form sides as Manchester Utd pitched up at The Emirates to take on a resurgent Arsenal. As The Doc pointed out in his excellent preview this was an opportunity for us to do the double over Manure for the first time since 2006-2007. Personally, I enjoyed the reminder of the away game that year, which I remember well as I won a bet on Adebayor to score first and that meant extra drinking money to celebrate with. Before kickoff today I’d have taken another 1-0 victory in a heartbeat.

The team was announced and we were missing Tierney and Auba, as expected, but Saka was also missing with a hip problem. It was a piece of bad news that we were without arguably our three best players. On the plus side Partey made his third start in a row. Pepe kept his place but started on the right to accommodate Martinelli on the left. Laca, ESR, Xhaka, Holding, Luiz, Bellerin and Leno all played in their usual positions with Cedric playing left back to complete our eleven.

The game started slowly. The first excitement saw Cedric get a yellow for what Michael Oliver saw as an arm in Fernandes’ face, and there was a minor flair up between the two Portuguese as the players showed that they did have some skin in the game. Fernandes then avoided yellow for a nasty rake on Xhaka’s leg which VAR deemed worthy of a red card check, even though Oliver had failed to award as obvious a yellow card as you will see go unpunished. Unless you watch a lot of Manure matches, of course.

Both sides had short spells on top in a stodgy half. Leno made a good save from a Fred curler. Laca shot hard at De Gea from outside the box after Gabigol had nicked the ball and played him in. The in-form Frenchman should have played it back to the energetic Brazillian who was in an ocean of space as he attacked their box.

Pepe took our first corner, which was notable for being actually quite good. Xhaka got his head to it but it was comfortable for De Gea. Manure had a bunch of corners but didn’t do much with them. Fernandes shot across Leno but couldn’t bend it back into the far corner. The chance came about after Pogba won a header from a Leno goalkick and played the ball through early. It was the only time we left a gap that was easy for them to exploit and thankfully we were not punished.

The abrasive McTominay came off with a belly issue with ten minutes of the half to play. He had looked in some serious discomfort. Martial came on and Manure looked to have more threat. Cedric made an important interception from a cross and then there was a hearts-in-mouth moment as Rashford got the ball at the back post but Leno came out to smother his chance to shoot. They won a freekick on the edge of the box from his layoff. David Luiz provided us with a comedy moment when he deflected Fernandes’ effort over the bar and celebrated with an enthusiastic fist pump. (Phrasing!) The frizzy-haired defender looked like he was well up for this one.

The teams went in even at half-time. Neither had done enough to take the lead but there were signs that the second half might have goals in it. Certainly there would be chances…

Half time (The Arsenal 0 – Man U 0)

Willian replaced Gabigol at half-time, presumably just a precaution as the young Brazillian gradually returns from injuries. The older Brazillian was straight into the action. He had a great chance at the back post but his shot lacked conviction and was blocked. It is the sort of chance which he would bury if he wasn’t in such a slump. A minute later he played a ball across to Pepe who hit a fantastic first time shot that was going straight past De Gea and into the bottom corner before it hit the grateful ankle of Harry Maguire. Unlucky.

As so often recently, we had started the second half of a match very well. The stats on 53 minutes showed we had 83% possession. Willian went down injured and Gooners everywhere held their breath… but fortunately he was okay to continue. What? Did you think I was going to make a cheap joke there? That fruit was hanging too low (and you had all already made it for yourselves!)

We continued to be the better side. Partey was unusually off the pace, his passing in particular was astray but Xhaka was having a good game, as were the centre-backs. ESR looked his usual elegant yet robust self.

United served notice that they were still an attacking threat when Cavani shot just wide from a Luke Shaw cross. He could so easily have scored. The excellent Lacazette responded soon after by doing well to win a freekick and then coming close to opening the scoring only to see his effort from the dead ball ricochet back off the underside of the bar. ESR then forced a decent save from De Gea.

Both teams had half chances and the pattern continued. We were slightly on top but both teams were in it. Pepe had a good chance with ten minutes to go but his shot went through Slabhead’s legs and a foot to the wrong side of the post. However, the Ivorian had been excellent all game. He worked his socks off, defended well, won headers and his attacking output was better. He took shots, lost the ball less than he has sometimes done and showed some real intent to make things happen. He has had a couple of good games, now he needs to build on them and keep improving. We are behind you Pepe!

A tiring ESR came off for Odegaard to make his debut with ten minutes to play. He had a couple of nice touches and looked fine but wasn’t on long enough for us to get a good look at him. We wasted a freekick in the last five minutes. Because that is a thing we do. Cedric this time was given the responsibility of hoofing the ball out for a goal kick, sailing it in an elegant arc over the heads of Holding and Luiz, who might have been forgiven for wondering why they bothered going up for it when we were obviously going to smash it out of the park. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me four thousand, six hundred and twenty seven times…

We were hoping for one big chance before the end of the game. Unfortunately it fell for Cavani, whose volleyed shot went narrowly wide. It would not have been a deserved winner but it was close enough to remind us that we could have left without even a point for our efforts.

There was time for Laca and Maguire to collide. Our striker was down with a head injury for a while and eventually hobbled off to be replaced by Eddie for an appearance that was more a statistic than an opportunity to play football.

Full time (The Arsenal 0 – Man U 0)

Nil-nil at full time then. David Luiz got the MOTM from Gary Neville, and he did have a good game. (Luiz, not Neville) All the players worked hard and we kept our shape and made some good chances. We looked a much better outfit than we did a few months ago. I hear that Edu is planning to open up a club laundry service now the club has remembered how much it loves clean sheets.

Our form has been excellent since Christmas and it is unrealistic to expect us to go from a run of draws and losses to winning every week, so I am happy enough with a point from this game. We could have gotten more but four points from six against United is a good return. Now we must turn our attention to Wolves and to ensuring that we take the maximum three points we can still take off them this season. 

Have a good one ‘holics.