Our previous visit to Molineux – in April of last year, towards the end of the premier league season 2018/19 – had come a few days after a wretched 2-3 home loss to Crystal Palace. By then our premier league results had finally started to catch up with our chaotic, incoherent performances that even the dual excellence of Aubameyang and Lacazette – an excellence that was based purely on their individual qualities and mutual understanding – could no longer make to look any better than they really were. The very worst fears of the Arsenal supporters going into that away match against a compact and efficient counter-attacking team were proven right as Wolves chalked up a 3-0 lead by the half time and despite a late goal from Sokratis we never looked like getting anything from that match. An unraveling that had at the beginning felt only temporary was by then starting to gather momentum to derail our season.
In hindsight – no, I will not mention our year in Gregorian Calendar – it now feels that maybe the team would have been better served if our current head coach had replaced his fellow Basque at the beginning of this season and had more time to work with this team. It is neither that the football had been suddenly spectacular, nor that the various well-known gaps in quality in what is still an unbalanced squad have magically disappeared, but there is a certain unity of purpose, structure, plan and as a result a very visible coherence to our game that makes one feel optimistic. Arteta’s clarity of communication in his press interviews where the precision of his observations and rigor of his explanations never fail to impress indicates a mind that is uncluttered, equally at ease with the tactical details as well as strategic visions, and not shy of challenges and difficulties along the way. I don’t think it is an accident that the team has started (just only started but still…) to take on some of those qualities in their performances, in their “behavior on the pitch” as Mikel likes to say.
Even though in the last week or so we have started to put together somewhat consistent performances ending in victories away and home, this away match at Wolves felt to be a much bigger challenge. Not only they are above us in the league table, but at their home ground they rarely even concede goals let alone lose matches. We started with the same 3-4-3 formation as in our last couple of matches. The three men defense was same as in the mid-week, Luiz flanked by Mustafi and Kolasinac, some of us probably had expected Rob to take Kola’s place for this match. Xhaka and Ceballos continued in their midfield partnership, Tierney too continuing in the left wing-back role. On the right side there was first starting appearance for Cedric Soares, our sole Portuguese against what under certain lights can look like Portugal national team albeit without their biggest name. Soares had impressed in his debut from the bench and according to Mikel also in trainings, so this seemed to be a natural rotation, and also maybe a challenge to Hector who do need to push on next season.
Whereas the captain on the left and the tireless Nketiah down the middle – him and Laca seemed to have settled on this alternate match rhythm at least for the near future – were expected, Saka got an opportunity to play as the right sided attacker which is not a position he generally plays in. Arteta had earlier acknowledged that for a player of Saka’s talent the ceiling is indeed very high and he will continue to give him opportunities in different “floating” roles.
Martinez, who has been very impressive both with his command of the penalty box as well as distribution with his feet, started between the posts while poor Leno continues his recovery from a challenge the type of which must be eradicated from football.
There was one minute of cheer for UK’s National Health Service, established 72 years ago immediately after the end of the WWII.
I think the ground staff and the squad members – scattered as they are – were still clapping when we almost conceded a goal. There was a long ball kicked towards our goal, Traore ran on to it to find himself one-on-one with Martinez who promptly came off his line to save from Traore’s feet and save us from a calamitous start.
For the entirety of the match this remained the only “attempt on goal” from Wolves. It is not that Jimenez, Traore, Moutinho or Jota didn’t try or that they didn’t create the overloads down the flank or didn’t deliver quality crosses in the box. All of those happened, but the team defended intelligently and without the momentary lapses of concentration that have become synonymous with some of them. Mustafi was impressive in both air and on the ground, Luiz looked assured (to be fair to him, as the distributor and organizer at the middle of a 3-man defense he looks much more comfortable), and even though Kola’s sometimes wayward passing was frustrating and he gave away a couple of unnecessary free-kicks he handled his defensive duties well and was very disciplined in pushing up and dropping down as needed.
Before the first drinks break the game was played in a slower tempo where neither team were committing too many players forward. Saka was having a relatively quiet game and looked positionally unsure. Auba was noticeably dropping deep to help out Tierney and Kola, especially against Traore who given enough space and time can become unplayable. Xhaka and Dani were playing conservatively but with a lot of focus on keeping the shape and remaining positionally aware. While Dani’s effervescent performance in the first half against Norwich was definitely much more adventurous and effective as an attacking outlet, today’s solidity was commendable in its defensive focus. The team showed no signs of impatience as they seemed to be fully aware of Wolves’ counter-attacking threat, and hence were happy to wait for the right moments.
We got our first corner on the 25th minute, the ball came to Auba whose improvised attempt was easily gathered by the Rui Patricio. On the 31st minute Luiz got a yellow card after bringing Traore down as he was racing past him. It was a rare moment of loss of defensive shape.
Our first meaningful attempt came from Nketiah around 35th minute whose low stinging drive almost squeezed past Patricio who made a very good save lower down to his left. A minute later Auba tried to set Nketiah up with a header that drifted wide. On the other end Wolves wasted a corner and then their free-kick was blocked by Arsenal’s defensive wall.
As the game seemed to be heading towards a goalless half-time break we put together our first genuinely fluid move. Cedric lofted a pass towards Auba who had drifted inside to play more centrally. Auba passed it on to Tierney who never misses an opportunity to attack the flank, Tierney got ahead of the defender and provided a cut-back in the empty space in the penalty box as Auba had dragged his marker with his run, the delivery ricocheted off one of the Wolves’ defender (it looked like on his hands but that was soon to become irrelevant) and as a few Arsenal players were raising their hands to appeal for the penalty the ball bounced near Saka who scored with a wonderful hooked shot on the bounce that looped perfectly past the diving Patricio. Saka’s first premier league goal was a sumptuous finish of excellent technical quality – a finish that Auba or Pepe would have been proud of. Saka was having a quiet match but that goal was again a reminder to his rapidly growing fan base that our academy has produced a player of remarkable potential.
Wolves 0 – Arsenal 1 (Saka 42’)
First half ended with us leading by that goal.
The second half started with Wolves dominating possession and attacking our flanks with verve. We started to drop back and was finding it difficult to keep possession. Especially down our left flank Traore was starting to give Tierney and Kola trouble. Tierney has been consistently good since the resumption of the season, but he has played continuously, is just coming back from injury and it is his first season in the PL and he was looking tired. It was a very smart move by Arteta to bring in Ainsley Maitland-Niles for Tierney on 56th minute. If there were any doubts in anyone’s mind if AMN would be able to handle the pacy, tricky, powerful and technically strong Traore for the rest of the match he gave a flawless performance quieting any such doubts. The left back or left wing-back is not an entirely unfamiliar position for him, he had played in these roles even for Arsène, and the effort and commitment of his performance today indicated that even though he maintains his preference for midfield or winger roles he may have bought into Arteta’s vision of what is in store for him. I think he is a player with immense potential – a very rare combination of physical and technical qualities – and it will be wonderful to continue to have him grow and excel with the rest of our other youth team talents now graduated to the first team.
After AMN’s introduction Traore got better of the defense just once when he found himself face-to-face with Martinez who came rushing forward making himself big, Traore tried to chip the ball into goal but lofted it over the posts.
A few minutes after the water break Arteta made two substitutions: Willock coming on for Saka and Bellerin for Cedric who had started to drift out of the game a bit. He had a solid if unspectacular game, and had earlier contributed to the solitary goal by which we were leading.
All these three substitutions — AMN, Bellerin and Willock – helped us to gain control of possession better with Willock, in combination with Eddie, helping to press high up and both AMN and Bellerin offering good security down the flanks as well as pushing us up to gain numerical advantage near their penalty box. Around 82nd minute we made our final substitutions: tireless Nketiah replaced by Laca and a very welcome return of Lucas Torreira who slotted in seamlessly for Ceballos.
Laca really needed a goal given his inexplicable barren run. And he got his goal – his first away goal in premier league since February 2019. The goal came thanks a lot to Willock’s driving run into the box and an excellent assist to Laca, who controlled the pass and executed a flawless finish against the inside of the far post. The smile of relief said it all. It was 86 minutes and these very valuable three away points were all but secured.
Wolves 0 – Arsenal 2 (Saka 42’, Laca 86’)
Two minutes later we could have and should have gone 3-0 up. Joe again made excellent run into the box and was fed selflessly by Auba. Willock’s scuffed shot even though had beaten Patricio lacked the needed power and Ruben Neves cleared it from the goal-line. On another day Auba would have scored himself from that same position where he thought of assisting Joe in this match.
We managed to see out the game comfortably, AMN and Auba particularly protecting the ball well. The game ended with a couple of corners for us.
This was not a vintage Arsenal performance, not even the vintage of 5 years back when Arteta was captain and we were still capable of playing breathtaking football. This was an efficient performance, built on the intelligence of self-awareness and concentration to execute a plan, supported by a flawless in-game management by Mikel. That clarity of thought promises so much.
