Goonerholics Forever

Prelude

Despite regularly ringing managerial changes since the departure of the man they refer to as ‘SAF’ (better known in N5 circles as Old Purple Nose, the Famous Red Grouse) and investing nearly uncountable millions in their squad, Manchester United have since failed to reach the heights that their legions of fans in Surrey and beyond believe to be their birth right.

Old Trafford has long since ceased to be a fortress, as evidenced by the team’s inability to win at home in their first three games, in one of which they also suffered a 6-1 reverse at the hands of …. who was it again?

Given that downward vector, the Arsenal might have expected to do better than achieve a solitary FA Cup win and four low scoring draws over the course of the last decade. Not since we beat United home and away in 2006 have the Arsenal triumphed at ‘theirs’ in the League, courtesy of a missed Gilberto penalty, a slice of Fabregas delight and a clinical finish by Adebayor. Consequently, only the brave would forecast a win for the away team, hence the Holic pound being wagered on 1-2 to the good guys 😊

On top of that doubtful back catalogue the Gunners went into tonight’s game with a brace of monkeys on their back, one on each shoulder, each with bananas in hand.

• Would the Arsenal be the first team to be beaten at the Old T by the home team this season? Cue gasps of horror from ‘neutral’ pundits rubbing their hands in delight.

• Would the Arsenal F2BaT6T (fail to beat a top six team…….yawn) since, well, Noah launched his ark from John Brown’s Yard on the Clyde? Cue an ‘aghast’ global chorus of cynical chortling.

In their last outing, ManU scored 5 against RB Leipzig with schools’ lunch hero Rashford serving up a hot sausage-and-mash fueled hat-trick in the space of the final 15 minutes. Would that prove to be the perfect aperitif for the home team to savour their visitors on toast? (Or would Marcus reserve that pleasure for the next visit of his new mate Boris to Manchester?)

The Arsenal

Mikel Arteta elected to stick largely with the players and formation who’ve come close/failed miserably, (depending on whether you prefer to drink your whisky or piss in it), in the past two League games against Man City and Leicester. In both of those, failure to convert guilt-edged chances cost the Gunners dearly. To win tonight that failure would need to be corrected, preferably with knobs on and whistles blowing.

Pepe, Lacazette and Aubamayang were not entrusted to deliver on the promise their names conjured when Nico’s signing was announced and the more seasoned Willian started on the right wing in preference to the man from the Ivory Coast.

Xhaka’s skill range is a small subset of that of Arsenal’s new midfield powerhouse Thomas Partey and so it was pleasing to see Granit take the hard rock road to the subs bench and be replaced by the much more nimble and creative Mo Elneny.

With only three of eight centre backs fit, it was no great surprise to see Rob Holding preferred over Mustafi to replace the recently rejuvenated but injured Luiz. Gabriel was afforded the opportunity to extend his impressive entrée to the Premier League. Kieran Tierney played as the third CB with license to thrill by getting forward if the opportunity presented itself. The twin talents Bellerin and Saka started as attacking wing-backs with the excellent Leno in goal.

Arsenal: Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney, Saka, Partey, Elneny, Willian, Aubameyang, Lacazette

Man Utd: De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, McTominay, Fred, Pogba, Fernandes, Greenwood, Rashford

The Off

In an eerily silent stadium Aubameyang got the game underway after a solemn moment in the memory of Nobby Stiles and a collective bend of the knee.

Arsenal started confidently and aggressively with both Willian and Saka threatening wide. The latter won two corners after 5 minutes but neither produced a real threat. Shortly after, a confident forward move by Partey to Aubameyang to Saka produced Arsenal’s first threat on goal but Saka’s shot was blocked. The early omens were good.

An excellent move featuring Partey, Elneny and Willian had Bellerin fizzing a ball across the six-yard box which Auba just failed to convert. So close!

It was all Arsenal with hard pressing everywhere, crisp and confident passing all over the field, and some excellent ball winning in midfield by Lacazette and Partey. When Fernandez fired a pass into the box, Greenwood was marshalled confidently by Gabriel, before being ruled off-side. Our new Brazilian looked solid as a rock.

By 20 minutes, even Gary Neville had stopped talking about the home team’s midfield diamond (thank fook) but was still stirring hope amongst the Surrey faithful by repeating constantly “Rashford is looking sharp”. Really?

The Arsenal were playing some lovely football. Saka and Tierney combined well for a fierce cross to the middle which Willian was unable to convert.

After 25 minutes, United finally made it into our back third. Their first effort, a cross-field ball by Greenwood to Rashford was comfortably saved by Leno for a corner which came to nothing. The diamond’s cutting edge was seriously in question 😊 Had they bought yet another fake?

Wan-Bissaka had to foul Saka who’d dispossessed and then sprinted past him. Willian’s blistering free kick was blocked on the line by Pogba, the Gunners were coming close.

United reverted to form – their specialty, a long punt forward resulted in another offside decision against Fernandez. Shortly after Gabriel was booked for a clever hold-up on Rashford. Immediately after, Laca, playing right out of his socks won yet another tackle in midfield. He was fouled but still pushed the ball to Willian who glided a lovely ball just over Lindelhof’s head, but once again, Auba couldn’t quite convert.

A beautiful build up on the right resulted in a Bellerin cross to Auba who cut back to Laca but Lindelhof just managed to get a toe to the ball resulting in a Laca air shot.

That was super-close!

Seconds later, another beautifully crafted move saw Willian smack the bar just before a great build up on the right saw Willian hit the ball just too deep for Saka to convert.

And then. An even better chance. (Could such a thing be possible?) On the right wing, Bellerin to Willian to Bellerin, a beautiful cross to Saka for a free header. Sadly, and to his chagrin, the young wonder headed rather tamely over the bar.

In a compelling first-half for Gunners’ fans, the Arsenal were by far the more composed team. They came closest to scoring BUT as in the games against Liverpool, City and Leicester failed to convert some really excellent chances.

Absent all three of the Marx brothers in defense and without Xhaka in midfield the Gunners’ propensity to focus on forty five degree backward passes was as infrequent as a visit by Manure into Arsenal’s final third.

Would failure to convert come back and hurt us in the second half?

Manchester United 0 – Arsenal 0

Second Half

Perhaps ‘Olli at the wheel’ had borrowed the Famous Red Grouse’s hair dryer for the interval. McTominey thumped into Auba before winning a corner off Holding which came to nothing. Quickly after, Greenwood made his way into the box and won another corner, which the Arsenal defended well. It was apparent immediately that United’s mindset had been retuned.

Mike Dean did his bit on 50 mins and blocked an excellent pass as Arsenal pressed forward. His efforts came to nothing though as, only seconds later brilliant work by Laca set up Auba for a golden chance. The Goonerverse held its collective breath, as Pierre opened his body, waved the wand that is his right foot and waited for the ball to hit the net. Unbelievably the ball sailed wide of the post for Arsenal 25^th gilt-edge chance miss in four big games.

The game opened up, United glimmered and the Gunners’ pressing momentarily lost a bit of its edge. A naïve Bellerin push on Pogba gave Utd a great chance from a free kick. Maguire rose for a free header from an in-swinging ball but his head or his hair, perhaps full of Greece, caused, him to steer the ball wide when he should have scored.

Elneny, who was outstanding today, then controlled the ball beautifully before moving it to Partey. Thomas fired a powerful rocket which was saved by De Gea only because it went straight at him.

Although Arsenal had started the game with a nominal back three by mid-way through this second half Holding and Gabriel were holding the Manure attack so confidently that our defense was based on a back two giving Bellerin and Tierney a great deal of free rein to flood forward to reinforce midfield and sprint wide to provide danger.

A great cross by Tierney from one foray forward with Saka caused De Gea to punch the ball high. Elneny collected the ball confidently and steadied himself. Sadly he shot over missing another great chance. Elneny could have made a REAL name for himself there.

And then finally, the knife was inserted and a fatal wound inflicted in a very wounded animal.

The effervescent Willian pushed the ball into the right side of the box for Bellerin. Pogba tripped Hector. Even ‘neutral’ Gary Neville said “definite penalty” and our captain Pierre Emerick made no mistake from the spot.

Manchester United 0 – Arsenal 1

Mike Dean was devastated to have to make the penalty award but really had no choice, poor man.

Could Arsenal maintain their cool, their shape, their form and their calm and steer the game to a historic win?

Greenwood pressurized Gabriel in our left corner and, for once got the better of our Brazilian who was forced to give away a foul in a dangerous position, which Arsenal defended well.

In the final phase, Arteta replaced Laca, who’d been fantastic, by Nketiah for the last 15 minutes. Van de Beek and Cavani were introduced by United as Solskjaer decided to go for broke. School dinner man Rashford claimed a corner for a ball that had ricocheted off McTominey, but Mike Dean wasn’t hoodwinked.

Rob Holding went down causing concern but recovered quickly avoiding the prospect of Mustafi catastrophe.

A high lob into the box by Pogba was grabbed confidently by Leno who’d had really little to do. Then moments later Gabriel brilliantly disposed Matic before Leno saved from Elneny with his head off the post! Brilliant! Who needs Martinez when you have a talented German like that in your goal.

Nerves for this viewer were set on edge by the sight of Mustafi emerging for Auba on 86 minutes. Another brick in the defensive wall, or a brick clanger?

Four minutes of Ollie time. In 92 minutes Elneny, who’d run himself into the ground, demonstrated the Arteta effect to the very full by getting forward and pressing hard to prevent Shaw getting forward. Excellent! Moments after, Matic had United’s last chance when he shot weakly from the edge of box. Leno saved easily.

In Conclusion

Arteta set the team up brilliantly for this contest. The Arsenal players applied themselves perfectly. Partey was a solid rock in midfield and was my man of the match just ahead of Saka, Tierney, Elneny, Gabriel and Holding. There wasn’t one weak link in the chain tonight.

Xhaka has been an ever present for Arteta and I suspect Mikel must have thought hard before leaving him on the bench. However, in his absence the team’s forward movement was massively better and Elneny in particular shone like a beacon. Freed of the obsession to pass the ball back, sideways, or across to our Swiss ‘quarterback’, he looked like a completely new signing.

Today was a very big day in the development of Arteta’s Arsenal. The project is still very much a work in progress but all of the key indicators are, at least in this viewer’s eyes, shining a bright shade of green. Many will be desperately sad and despondent because, just as they were after the Leicester game, the Arsenal are still a whole four points off table leadership, which can be interpreted apparently as an indicator of a eighth to twelfth place finish. Bah humbug, Arteta doesn’t have it! 😊

It’s a very happy night for this old timer so, go on, ask me. When did the Arsenal F2BaT6T?

About thirty minutes ago, sunshine! 😊 😊 😊

Keep winning Arsenal. Play better.

I dreaded the prospect of Thursday night football before it eventually arrived at the Grove. The level of the Europa League is substantially below the Champions League and the game with Dundalk illustrated this graphically. But the chance to refresh our line up and to play with less pressure meant that this was a game we could enjoy with a slightly more relaxed perspective.

Arsenal lined up for the match with a back five which included the  captain Xhaka, taking the armband almost exactly a year after his surly departure from the field of play against Crystal Palace. My respect for Arteta is huge but I found the formation overly cautious for opponents like this.

Dundalk lined up with something like a back seven but still forced the first goal chance when Mohammed’s Gaelic cousin, Mceleny forced a decent save from the debutant Runarsson who then proceeded to catch a corner that Leno may well have punched (he later caught a second).

Arsenal were far from fluid in the early stages which begs the question when we did last start dynamically? Nketiah had a decent shout for a penalty when his legs were removed from under him. The referee realising that it wasn’t Old Trafford declined to give the home team a penalty. In fact the referee who I thought was awful failed to give us three penalties – later when Nelson was brought down in the second half and Joe Willock was clearly pulled near the end as he made exciting progress into the box. He also failed to spot a single Dundalk foul in ninety minutes. That is an extraordinary statistic and not one he should be proud of.  If UEFA use him again they must be desperate.

After ten rather tedious minutes Cedric blazed wildly over. I’m afraid Cedric may be a blaze wildly over sort of full back and he wasn’t alone tonight as I put regularly ….. blazed over …..citing, Elneny, Willock and Nketiah as well. But at least we were shooting.

Early amusement came from Dundalk who forced a throw in to Arsenal from their own goal kick by trying to play out from the back. Emperor’s New Clothes football has spread across the Irish Sea. Utter madness by them in a game where they weren’t going to be able to get out of their area without supreme difficulty. Two yard passes in the six yard box were not a good idea.

After 12 minutes Pepe blazed over (!) trying to emulate Cedric and then hit one of the worst corners I have seen for a long time.

Willock looked lively and like Nelson injected a quicker tempo into our game. He put a tempting ball over on 16 minutes for Nketiah, presumably, but he was nowhere to be found. Frustration would  have been  building in the crowd had there been one and the inability to test the Bank of Ireland bank manager in goal for Dundalk (it’s so gratifying and rare to find a player who looks older than me and  possibly has less talent), was particularly galling.

Kolasinac did test him with a header from a Willock cross on 33 minutes and after 38 minutes Nketiah almost converted after a fierce Pepe shot was blocked. But concern was building.

The deadlock was eventually broken on 41 minutes when the bank manager flailed at a cross and Nketiah darted in to convert the loose ball.

Arsenal 1 Dundalk 0

Two minutes later Willock finished smartly after Pepe’s drive was blocked

Arsenal 2 Dundalk 0

Suddenly as the break neared Arsenal had crept into a comfortable lead without giving a coherent or fluent first-half performance.

Half-time Arsenal 2 Dundalk 0

The game had effectively ceased to be a contest in those last four minutes of the first half. Arsenal began the second by making it three goals in five minutes when we saw a collector’s item- a Pepe goal with his right foot. It was a beautiful piece of control embellished by a fine curling shot. There is a huge player reaction when Pepe scores and he seems a popular character in the dressing room.

Arsenal 3 Dundalk 0

If it had seemed rather negative to start with a back five against a team like Dundalk, after Mustafi was taken off we still persisted with the shape using Elneny in the defence. Xhaka was later replaced by Tierney to retain the shape.

Nelson and Willock continued to impress. Nelson lacked an end product despite some dazzling footwork but Arsenal had a smarter tempo and Maitland-Niles who like Cedric played in a very advanced position as a wing-back forced a full length save from Rogers after 69 minutes. Willock turned superbly on 72 minutes but Nketiah ….yes ..blazed over after his pull-back. Nelson was wide after an enterprising run and the game wound down with Arsenal comfortably in control.

Final score Arsenal 3 Dundalk 0

So Arsenal currently top the group and face Molde next week in a clash which could secure qualification after only three matches. There will inevitably be criticism including some on this board that we perhaps did not record a more comprehensive victory. I thought the second half was encouraging as we increased the tempo and injected pace and effective combination play against a team who played most of the second half camped in their own penalty area.

We had two debutants, Runarsson, who looks good with his feet but was largely unemployed and Folarin Balogun who replaced Nketiah but struggled (understandably) to adjust to the pace of the game. Hopefully this is a sign to him that he may be in Arteta’s first- team plans.

Our standout players were Nelson who not only justified his inclusion but staked a strong claim for a regular starting berth and Willock whose mobility in midfield made such a refreshing change. Paired with Partey we may see an Arsenal side sustaining a high tempo and moving the ball much more effectively between the lines.

Sunday’s game is daunting because with Mike Dean in charge at Old Trafford we are at least one nil down before the game starts. But many of our main players were able to be rested and let us hope this not only lifts morale in the dressing room but impresses on Arteta the need for a quicker, slicker passing game.

After the pedestrian display midweek that was nonetheless efficient enough to get us all the three points away at Vienna in what would most likely be our relatively toughest match in the Europa group league, we reassembled back at our home ground in the league against a team who finished above us last season and who will be fighting for the same top four positions that must be our number one priority this season. So, we can be forgiven to harbor the hope that while the team will retain at minimum the efficiency from the midweek fixture, they will also raise the overall performance – especially in the creative third – to a degree required to assert their authority in the match to ensure all the three points stay in London.

Leicester and Arsenal were starting the match with identical nine points from five games, but the foxes a few positions above us in the league table due to their superior goal difference thanks primarily to an eye–catching counterattacking 5–2 win away against Manchester City.

Arteta’s team selection was positive enough, while also acknowledging the opposition’s threat in the counter, even in absence of Vardy in the starting line–up, he was on the bench. Mikel has started to slowly move away from the 3–4–3 formation especially against teams that are happy to concede possession to us. That theme continued with a “modern traditional” 4–3–3 formation: Leno protected by a back four of Bellerin and Tierney as the flying fullbacks, Gabriel – our player of the season so far – accompanied in the center of the defense by his senior compatriot David Luiz. The three man midfield saw us Partey making his home debut, with Xhaka and Ceballos back, and on paper that does look like our most balanced midfield as of now, albeit still limited from a creative perspective. So, the hope was that the fullbacks attacking down the flank and helping the forward three of Saka – Lacazette – Aubameyang will get us the goal(s). Aubameyang started on the right, except for short spells in Saint–Étienne and Dortmund where he played on the right it is not a position that he is known to enjoy. So Laca down the middle and Saka on the left.

Leno had an uncharacteristically unconvincing night away against Rapid Wien, and the game started with him almost conceding one of those goals that looks wonderful if you are an opposition supporter but remains an embarrassing moment for a goalkeeper. His clearance as a sweeper fell onto Maddison’s path, and his instantaneous attempt at goal had Leno scrambling back. Even though Gabriel too was following the trajectory of the ball and had covered a great distance to stand a chance to clear one suspects if the shot was indeed goalbound we would have been 1–0 down at that stage.  A reprieve!

A minute later we earned a corner. Ceballos sent a tantalizing delivery into the box which Lacazette scored from a glancing header. However, the celebrations were cut short by the promptly raised offside flag. The reviews show that it was Xhaka – standing in front of Schmeichel – deemed to be in the offside position. Was he interfering with the game? In my opinion no, but VAR reviewed the decision and left it as it is.

At that moment it seemed like just a matter of time Arsenal will get the opening goal. Even though we were not particularly fluid or imaginative, we were holding on to the ball, passing it around efficiently enough, and using David Luiz’s ability for a long pinpoint pass to work around Leicester’s low blocks to get Tierney, Bellerin, Saka and Laka onto the ball. We earned a barrage of corners from such moves but didn’t make them count. Some of our corner taking has been abysmal this season, and whatever the dead ball specialist working on in the playing ground seems to have regressed the team. Even Nicolas Pépé – when he is playing – has sent some uncharacteristically poor corners this season and it seems like we have been trying too hard to create newer patterns. Hopefully this will eventually work out. A team like ours lacking so much in midfield guile and imagination cannot be so wasteful when it comes to free–kicks and corners.

Xhaka took a very poor free–kick, hitting straight at the wall. Ceballos after the first corner started to regress in his dead ball deliveries at an alarming rate, Gabriel attempted a bicycle kick from another corner, Laca wasted a chance when from Tierney’s cross he headed straight to the goalkeeper. Hector saw a yellow card, as did Fuchs and Tielemans.

Auba and Saka switched sides a few times. This is the kind of game with two lines of four defenders deep in front of their penalty box moving from side to side where Auba on the wings do not make any sense at all. The cleverness of his movement and unpredictability of his positioning is entirely nullified by being away from the goalmouth, and his speed on the counter–attack doesn’t even count because there is no space to run behind the defense. This was an absolute waste of our best – and at this time possibly the only truly world class – player in a vital game.

David Luiz and young Saka were the only ones looked like making something happen. Luiz was given time on the ball and he delivered some exquisite passes on the feet of our fullbacks and forward line. Saka once or twice turned himself well and showed good first touch but the final decisive shot or pass never came about. The match had started to assume the now familiar look of somewhat toothless arsenal attack being easily blunted by a well–drilled team who did their homework and more than happy to have us meaninglessly pass the ball around. There were moments when Auba was making clever darting runs in and around the box but none of the midfielders could thread a ball to him. Simply recycling the ball without drawing any defender out of position or without any ability to move the ball rapidly through the lines by playing in neat triangles around the defense is as futile a footballing exercise as it is boring to watch.

So as the second half resumed it was obvious the only way we could get a goal from this game was by hopefully a piece or two of magic from our captain, and surely the team would have been told to get him more involved in the game? 

Luiz had to be replaced just a few minutes after the restart because of what looked like a hamstring injury. He was replaced by Mustafi who himself was coming from a long injury lay–off. Since Arteta joined Mustafi had learned to stop being so predictably error prone, but back in the minds of all of us long suffering Arsenal supporters there always lurks the possibilities of his generosity towards opposition forwards coming to the fore.

Luiz’s substitution also robbed us of the primary source of creative impetus for the evening.

After writing that line above I realized the ridiculous absurdity of what I just expressed. A thirty three years old central defender pinging long passes as the way to get us goals! I hope we do not have to even think of something like that for the rest of our Arsenal supporting days.

If we thought that game couldn’t have been any more dull, we were proven wrong. We were slow, ponderous, lacking not only in creative inspiration but also in courage, no one willing to take a risk, simply hoping for a goal. A moment of brilliance came about around 68^th minute when Auba – now stationed on the left wing – delivered a lovely cross which Bellerin attacked with power but straight to Schmeichel. If only Aubameyang was at the receiving end of that cross!   

A few minutes before that Saka was replaced by Pépé, who moved about quickly from right to left to back to right, and asked for the ball, but didn’t do much when he had it. In my opinion he should have started this match, with Aubameyang down the middle, and between him and Saka (and Reiss, if he is ever allowed to play) we always stand a much better chance of fashioning out a few moments of creative spark and enough chaos in the opposition defense for Auba to benefit from. Given that we have no genuine creativity in the midfield we must learn to become braver and more unpredictable in our forward play if we are to stand any chance of being in the top four contention. Lacazette as false nine and Aubameyang down the left to create left–sided overload in counterattacks with Willian/Pepe providing technical security on the right has now become a tattered playbook that all managers have become wise to. This is not meant to be a harsh criticism of Mikel, this formula worked flawlessly on our way to the 14^th FA Cup victory, but in modern football we need to be one step ahead of the opposition and this level of predictability will throw a spanner into Mikel’s rebuilding work.

Meanwhile Vardy replaced Praet around 60^th minute. There were yellow cards to Lacazette, Evans and Maddison. Hector on another day could have seen one more yellow and received his marching orders. Around 75^th minute the Turkish international Ünder replaced Barnes. And a few minutes later the dreaded inevitable happened.

This is not to particularly pick on Mustafi who has some qualities and has played well enough under Arteta. But he had made so many of this exact type of mistakes in his Arsenal career that it must now be clear that he cannot really be a long–term solution.

Tielemans sent a precise through ball to Ünder outside of Gabriel. Gabriel did well enough to not let him cut inside and have a shot at Leno. However, his defensive partner completely lost Vardy and failed to track his run. Ünder put in an accurate pass on the path of Vardy who was running free at our goal, and he scored from a simple header past Leno.

Arsenal 0 – Leicester 1 (Vardy 80’)

Under Arteta we have learnt to not concede goals like this, and it has been long enough – a few months in footballing memory can feel like a lifetime – that this particularly nauseating way of losing a match was experienced that we may have almost recovered from the trauma of the seasons past. This was a not–so–gentle reminder that while tactics and discipline can go a long way to compensate for underlying weaknesses, our rebuilding process must continue to bring in upgrades in all necessary positions. A central defender hoping to play for Arsenal cannot forget to track runs of the only player in the opposition who everyone in the world knows will score goals if you give him a chance. This was a gift. As Mikel later said, if we cannot win a match, we must ensure that at least we do not lose it.

The remaining minutes were memorable only for how lethargic and devoid of ideas our team looked even after conceding. Nketiah came on for Tierney but didn’t impact the game in any way. There was not enough determination – or even desperation – to score an equalizer and we ended up losing all the three points at home to one of our direct competitors for the Champions League qualification.

We are free to theorize as much as we want, and we should in forums like this, but I think we should also accept that Mikel is not blind to the problems of predictable attack and lack of creativity that now characterizes the team. He has done a remarkable job in a short time to arrest the free fall, bring in structural and defensive solidity and no little resilience down the spine of the team, and made us a much harder team to beat. Now the second phase of his rebuilding must happen, and this is where not just thoughtfulness and rigor that will need to come in play, but also imagination and courage.

He will need all the support we can give him.