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Not much ado about something

Mar 13th, 2025 by

Arsenal were held to a draw at a subdued Home of Football tonight. It was one of the strangest experiences I’ve ever had at Arsenal.

The game doesn’t warrant detailed coverage as it was played without huge intensity. Zinchenko scored on six minutes curling a left footed shot into the corner after a touch from Sterling. After Kiwior almost gave a goal away with a naive blind pass PSV equalised when that popular Croatian, Ivan Perisic, finished smartly as they moved through a porous midfield. A fine run and cross from Sterling on 37 minutes (possibly his most positive contribution in an Arsenal shirt) enabled Declan Rice to restore our lead with a header that went under Benitez (personally I think Rafa has to retire, he’s past his sell-by date). 

Gunnersaurus failed to appear for the penalty shootout at half-time, presumably prevented by UEFA red tape although there was an unsubstantiated rumour that he was in talks with PSV to replace Rafa Benitez in goal when he takes the Tottenham job (you heard it here first).

After 70 minutes Jorginho lost the ball and Driouech finished superbly over Raya. The rest of the game was relatively uneventful and petered out into a 2-2 draw. But we were dealt a crushing blow in injury time when a yellow card for Sterling ruled him out of our next game in the competition, which I have learned as I am writing will be against Real Madrid. Sterling had a decent game tonight and it was good to see. He has had a really unimpressive year but it is important that his form improves.

The PSV support was incredibly good. There must have been a lot of soul- searching in Eindhoven last Wednesday when they looked at the reality of trailing by six goals after their home leg but they showed a lot more enthusiasm than a lot of Arsenal fans tonight and I’m told that there is quite a lot to do in London after dark. I’ve never been one for pleasure myself.

I suppose it depends upon your point of view as to whether you were at Ashburton Grove tonight, perhaps protesting the excessive sums being charged for a game without any jeopardy or maybe finding it difficult to sum up much enthusiasm for one of the least consequential games Arsenal have ever played. What did I just write? Least consequential? All those years of Thursday night football when we would have killed for a six goal first leg lead away from home in the last 16 of the most glamorous club competition in the world.

I did go, partly because I was writing this report and partly because I wanted to fill at least one of those potentially empty seats that the team had created by selfishly thrashing one of the best sides in Holland last week.

Mikel Arteta understandably rang the changes, picking three left backs in the starting eleven although our starting left back was a midfielder and one of our experienced left backs played in midfield and scored. Another left back came on later and played left back when the original left back moved into midfield to replace the left back who had scored and gone off. Kieran Tierney, who always plays as a left back, played as a left winger throughout. I hope that’s clear.

There will be a certain bafflement that young players on the bench like Butler-Odejeye and Kabia didn’t earn minutes tonight. If not tonight then when might they have a chance to stake a claim? Their prospects might be better if they had a propensity to play left-back, and I hear one of Berta’s first priorities is to sign a left back (that’s serious by the way).

Frankly what matters tonight is that we are in the last 8 of the Champions League playing against Real Madrid. I’ve already heard Arsenal fans saying we will get battered. Shame on you. We won’t, and it’s time to show some faith in a team that is one of the very strongest in Europe. We were nowhere near as good a team when we played that Galactico-laden Madrid side in 2006. Eboue and Flamini were the full backs, Senderos one of the centre backs . If only we had a Thierry Henry upfront. But these are exciting times. I wish a lot of Arsenal fans were enjoying it a bit more.

Tonight was surreal but it’s on to play Real. See what I did there?

Posted in Champions League, Match Report | 32 Drinks »

Arsenal To Dismantle Dutch Defence Again?

Mar 11th, 2025 by


Preview writing for me has often meant starting several days before the match to ensure that an ever changing workload does not prevent its completion. On this occasion, in hospital after my knee replacement earlier in the day (last Wednesday), I found myself buoyed by the fact that the operation had finally been done, and a brilliant Champions League performance the evening before.

Let’s start that preview, I thought, further kept awake on the orthopaedic ward overnight by a cacophony of sound – incorporating all manner of human and animal noises – from some manifestation of the Philbarnmonic Limpphony Orchestra. Seriously, it’s not hard to understand why so many hoped for, long relationships hit the rocks when the beautiful, athletic, honed visions of young Tarzans and Janes morph into the snoring, snorting, farting, human versions of the animals they once chased through trees and undergrowth, and are joined by a selection of the more mundane farm creatures with which we are more familiar. The noises of middle aged slumber are truly horrific. I can only hope that the after effects of ketamine erase them entirely from my mind – but was I even given any? Oh well, it seems to be working!

Eight days after trouncing PSV Eindhoven – who are hereinafter to be referred to as PSV Sevendhoven – we take them on again in the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16, this time at the Emirates. By virtue of our league phase final position, we will play the second legs of this and all future rounds at home, an advantage which in this case should prove entirely unnecessary in view of the six goal lead we already have.

Hopefully, Wednesday evening’s encounter will be more a re-run of the 4-0 hammering we gave them at the Emirates in the 2023/24 Champions League tie, than the 1-1 draw I still remember from 2007 in the same competition. That was one of, if not the most frustrating football nights of my life. We were undone on that occasion by two Brazilians – Alex, who went on to play for Chelsea, and Heurelho Gomes, the 6’3” giant goalkeeper who went on to play for Tottenham and Watford.

Following a 0-1 reverse in Holland, Alex put through his own goal on 58 minutes at the Emirates to level the tie. Gomes then transformed into a human wall and made a series of incredible blocks to stop us going ahead. In truth, it was one of those nights when the ball just was not going to go in however many hours we played for. In retrospect it was all the more frustrating when this unbelievable shot stopper joined Tottenham and turned into a bit of a clown. Still, he’s not the only one that’s ever happened to. The final nail in the coffin of that Champions League campaign was then applied by Alex himself when he scored for his own team on 83 minutes. Over and out. You might have realised I still bear the scars and unease is my instant reaction to any tie against PSV.

A six goal lead really should see us comfortably through this time round. The question is – will Mikel Arteta take the opportunity to rest some first teamers and blood one or two of the academy players who have been appearing recently on our bench. My guess is no, he will not – certainly not from the start anyway. There are some more established reserves who could well get a start though. There seems to be little choice but to start a tired looking Ødegaard again, and while I would prefer to see Kabia given a chance on the right wing, I fear Arteta will opt for the more experienced but absolutely useless Sterling. Ethan Nwaneri looked tired at the weekend too so here’s an eleven to provoke a bit of discussion:

Raya;

White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori;

Ødegaard, Jorginho, Lewis-Skelly;

Kabia, Merino, Martinelli;

Subs: Neto, Timber, Kiwior, Zinchenko, Tierney, Rice, Partey, Nwaneri, Trossard.

That should leave plenty of options from the bench if things are not going to plan.

PSV ended their three match losing run in the Eredivisie at the weekend with a 2-1 win over Heerenveen. Their goals were scored by Saibari – who hit the bar against us in Holland – and Guus Til. Manager Peter Bosz has no new injury concerns as he attempts to end PSV’s 15 game run in the Champions League without keeping a clean sheet. That was last achieved against Atletico Madrid in 2016. We may not get another seven this time but some of our not-so-sharp-shooters will relish another go at this defence.


It shouldn’t be forgotten that PSV have a long and solid history in European competition. Currently in their 51st consecutive season in Europe, they have previously won both the UEFA Cup in 1977/78 and the European Cup in 1987/88 when they beat Benfica in the final under the leadership of Guus Hiddink. Bobby Robson continued their success into the 1990s while their last “golden era” came under Philip Cocu when they won three out of four domestic championships between 2015 and 2018.

They’ve had some famous names playing for them too over time. In the 70s the names that jumped out most to me were the Van de Kerkhof brothers and Jan Poortvliet. More memorable are some names from the late 80s when their squad boasted, among others, Hans van Breukelen, Ronald Koeman and Ruud Gullit.

Whatever the problems and shortcomings of this season have been, we are on the verge of a Champions League Quarter Final with a possibility of Bukayo Saka returning after the International break. Personally, I would be surprised to see him and, in any event, expectations of him must be very carefully managed. For the meanwhile, we must continue with Mikel Merino who has worked hard to try to adapt and provide a focal point up front. His successes have come moving onto crosses and cutbacks, or timing runs to use his height on crosses and set pieces. There is no point in threading balls through the eye of a needle to him with his back to goal. He is not that player. We may have to go a little bit old school to get the best out of him while he does his best in difficult circumstances. Above all we have to move the ball more quickly to open up space and not creep forwards slowly compressing space into a self created low block.

Progression to the Quarter Finals will also bring the bonus of a major cash injection to the club, something to please our newly appointed Sporting Director, Andrea Berta, previously with Atletico Madrid. Having already earned £73.5m from the third place finish in the league phase, progression to the quarters will gain another estimated £10-£12 m. Wasting no time in getting the rumour mill churning, there are already suggestions from Sky Sports Switzerland that Berta and Arsenal are interested in 22 year old French striker Hugo Ekitike, who has already scored 18 goals and provided 6 assists for Eintracht Frankfurt since joining from PSG in the summer. Frankfurt would apparently demand €80m for the player which would fit rather nicely with our newly won bonuses.

Some other players signed by Berta include Rodri, Antoine Griezmann, goalkeeper Jan Oblak, David Villa, Luis Suarez, Julian Alvarez and Matheus Cunha. We ought to be able to find a few goals under his directorship then. 

Finally, a tie against Dutch opponents reminds me of a Dutch girl I once got to know. She always wore inflatable shoes. I phoned her up to arrange a date but unfortunately she’d popped her clogs.

I haven’t even looked at betting odds for this game but we must be long odds on to win the tie. All our likely goal scorers are quoted at 5/1, 11/2 if you really can’t resist. 

Kick off at the Emirates is at 20.00 UK time. TV coverage on TNT Sports.

Enjoy the game, Holics !

Posted in Match Preview | 33 Drinks »

How The Mighty Have Fallen

Mar 9th, 2025 by

A trip to Old Trafford used to be something special. Those days have passed. The former theatre of dreams can still be a thrilling place, as it was at times in the second half; in the first half, it was a nice spot for a nap.

It would be wrong to suggest that Manchester United are not a huge football club; they are one of the biggest clubs in the world. But it would be equally wrong to suggest that their team reflects this fact. It has quality in the form of Eriksen and the snide Fernandes, a certain know-how from experienced campaigners like Casemiro and Maguire, and young talent Garnacho. Not starting today were Mainoo and Diallo, who are both players worth paying to watch. But that collection is hardly anything to write home about for a club of United’s stature.

They had Obi-Mikel and Heaven on the bench today, both recently poached from us, and the simple truth of the matter is that the pathway to the first team is much clearer at United than with us. Our first team is streets ahead of theirs and it was a frustration that we let them drag us down today. We conspired in a poor first half and then played a loose second that enabled them to get a result.

From our side, we were not particularly good. We lacked incision, and it was another performance where we could all see our recent deficiencies. We still looked decent in the first half when the home side offered little. We controlled the midfield, kept the ball and looked a level above them. They were disorganised and tried to funnel quick breaks to Garnacho as their main (only) source of threat, not that we took advantage of their lack of impetus.

After a first half low on quality and action, we contrived to go in at the break a goal down. Onana, whose distribution was erratic to say the least, clumped a ball upfield. Calafiori won the header before Trossard made a hash of his touch and then made the decision to bring Garnacho down in a dangerous position outside the box, earning a yellow card for his troubles. Fernandes stepped up and lifted his shot over the wall and down into the goal.

Frankly, it was a decent free kick, but we did not make it hard for him. It wasn’t right in the corner, just in the space that Raya left him and which he could not scramble across to. Not a huge error, but it looked so simple. I saw a graphic showing our wall was 11.2 yards away. If it had been at 10 yards, we might have made a block. Fine margins, but probably something to be looked at on video analysis.

At half-time, Heaven came on for Manure as Yoro came off injured. The young lad did well and looked capable at this level. Although he was lucky not to give away a penalty for handball after it was judged to hit his head before cannoning onto both hands. In Europe, that’s a guaranteed penalty. It would have been a nightmare for him on his debut, against his old club, and I didn’t grudge him the rub of the green on that one.

At the other end, Saliba and Gabriel made Zirkzee look like a competition winner until he sprang to life in the second half with a clever flick which nearly crept past Raya. Happily for us, he then went back to sleep. United had come out better after the break and, after a breakaway led to a Dalot chip and a Mazraoui shot, it was only an excellent Raya save kept us from going two down.

MLS came on with the returning Martinelli (thank God for that!) for Calafiori and the quiet Nwaneri. On seventy minutes MLS won a free kick in a similar position to where Fernandes scored from. When it was our turn, Ødegaard hit the wall.

We scored the equaliser a few minutes later. Rice, hovering on the edge of the box, swept in a pull back from Timber. It curled away from Onana and thumped in satisfyingly off the post. We need more of those from him. Now, could we go on and get the winner?

We had a host of corners but did little with them. I did appreciate Ødegaard and Rice trying to recreate that Beckham to Scholes classic, but our England midfielder couldn’t get his hip over the ball and a decent contact saw his volleyed effort fly high and wide.

I don’t really understand why sometimes referees blow the whistle to delay corners and sort out pushing in the box and other times they let it play out and officiate accordingly. Taylor stopped play as we took a corner and Hojlund wrestled MLS to the floor. On another day he doesn’t interfere and we get a penalty. Although I won’t hold my breath for that day anytime soon.

With less than ten minutes to go, Merino dropped deep, lost the ball to Casemiro in an awful position and Hojland was in, one on one against the keeper. He went to finish, but Declan Rice produced a world class tackle to wrap his foot around the ball and swipe it from under the Dane’s nose. We could easily have gone behind there and few would have been confident we would equalise again. We had most of the possession and territory, but United were much more threatening when they did step out and either team could have won it.

In the first of four minutes injury time we fashioned a lovely chance, Ødegaard’s shot saved by Onana before Martinelli was thrilled to find he was offside after skying the rebound that he should have planted in the goal. A minute later and Raya produced an outstanding save to prevent a loss, first repelling a Fernandes effort after the ball rolled across our box and then jumping up to get first to the ball as it bounced up and span towards goal, palming it to safety as Hojlund charged in.

The match ended a draw and that seemed a fair result to me. We need to get enough points to stay in second place, which I expect us to do, and focus on seeing how far we can go in the Champions League. Without much more to play for in the league, I’m inclined to take what was a decent point on the day, learn a few lessons, and move on to the next one.

Until next time, ‘holics.

Posted in Match Report | 48 Drinks »

Gunners Hope to Spank Red Mancs, and Stay Out of the Way of PGMOL

Mar 8th, 2025 by

Two big questions loom over Arsenal’s visit to Old Trafford this early March Sunday: 1) “How high can we fly?”; and 2) “How low can they go?” although the “they” in that second question could pertain equally well to bottom half side Manchester United or to bottom feeder refereeing cabal PGMOL, as we have learned so many times already this season. Anthony Taylor (not again??) stands ready to represent the cabal at OT this time. But, the possible untimely intervention of PGMOL notwithstanding, there is also a third question to ponder, namely, “What happens when you spank the Red Mancs?”  Presumably, they would get even redder than they will be at kickoff, but we won’t really know until we have administered the spanking, will we?

Arsenal travel to the red half of Manchester to face Ruben Amorim’s juggernaut 14-placed side, having won 7-1 away at PSV in the Champions League in midweek, drawn 0-0 at Nottingham Forest in their last league game, and not having scored a solitary goal in either of their last two league games. With such different scores in our recent past, who knows what kind of game we are likely to see this time, although a repeat of the Eindhoven goal fest seems distinctly unlikely.

The most recent match between these clubs was January 12th in North London when the 10-man Red Mancs knocked Arsenal out of the FA Cup on penalties after the match ended 1-1 after 120 minutes of play.  In this season’s reverse league fixture at The Emirates on December 4th, the Arsenal defence kept a clean sheet and the Arsenal defenders did all the scoring as Timber and Saliba goals highlighted a 2-0 home win.  The Gunners have beaten United the last four times they faced them in the league, including their most recent Old Toilet trip in May 2024 when they won 0-1.

Looking forward to Sunday’s game, Mikel Arteta prescribed a sage dose of caution, saying in his Eindhoven post-match presser “it gives us a lot of joy, confidence and belief (but) it’s not what we did three days ago, or today, it’s about what we’re going to do tomorrow, or at Old Trafford.” Looking back at the ancient history of this fixture though, as in three years ago or longer, Arsenal have no reason to take anything for granted on this ground no matter their opponent’s current form, and they easily could end up wishing they had saved one or two of the seven goals they scored in midweek for this occasion.

The opposition

The Red Mancs find themselves with the same number of points in the Premier League table as Tottenham who are in 13th on goal difference, and West Ham who are in 15th.  United have changed managers this season (Amorim replaced ten Hag in November) but keep on getting mediocre results.  Overall, their league results include 9 wins and 12 losses, but their form has stayed uniformly poor throughout.  Under ten Hag they won 4 of 12 league games, and under Amorim they have won 5 of 15 leaving both managers with an identical 33% winning percentage, which doesn’t show much improvement or meet their lofty expectations.

United hosted Fulham last weekend in the FA Cup while Arsenal took a weekend break having been eliminated from the competition by these self-same Red Mancs in January.  United, the 2024 FA Cup holders, fielded a starting XI last week of Onana, Maguire, de Ligt, Yoro, Eriksen, Ugarte, Dalot, Mazraoui, Hojland, Fernandes and Zirkzee, but were knocked out on penalties. On Thursday in the Europa League, United drew 1-1 with Real Sociedad in San Sebastian, leaving them with work to do in the second leg and relatively short prep time to get ready for the Gunners. United’s first choice central defender Lisandro Martinez is likely to miss the rest of their season with a cruciate ligament injury suffered in February’s 2-0 defeat to Crystal Palace.  Maguire missed United’s Thursday Europa League match after injuring himself a few days prior against Fulham, so United’s central defence may require another layer of reinforcement.

It seems that stories of discord surround the Red Mancs, pretty much wherever you look. Owner Jim Ratcliffe has made a series of unpopular decisions including sacking some 250 employees with plans to reduce staffing by another 100-200 souls.  He controversially ended Alex Ferguson’s ambassador role despite the Scot being the club’s most successful manager. His no longer shiny new manager Amorim disciplined winger Garnacho last week by making him pay for a team meal as punishment for petulantly walking straight off down the tunnel when he was substituted against Ipswich in United’s last league game.  Amorim also seems to like telling his players through the media that they are collectively hopeless.  Not that I would argue the point with him, of course, and let’s all hope and pray that their discord has not run out this week.

Arsenal XI

Arsenal’s injury situation remains the same as recent weeks, so we should continue with the same makeshift group of attackers, but our defence and midfield, with the addition of MLS at left back, includes a more established group of names. Ben White has made a couple of cameo appearances at right back recently, and may be on the verge of a return to the first team, but for now Timber should continue in that position, and the overall team should look something like this:

Raya

Timber  Saliba  Gabriel  Lewis-Skelly

Partey

Ødegaard  Rice

Nwaneri  Merino  Trossard

Knowing that we have had trouble scoring in the league recently, and that games like the one in Eindhoven tend not to happen twice in succession, I am predicting that Arsenal will emerge victorious and the traveling Gooners will be singing “1-Nil to the Arsenal” at the final whistle. Please Dennis let it be so.

Wherever you may watch the game, do your utmost to cheer us on to a big win and (most of all) enjoy it! Cheers, all.

Posted in Match Preview | 37 Drinks »

Magnificent Seven as Dutch Get Smoked

Mar 4th, 2025 by

Arsenal destroyed PSV and won the tie in a bonkers match in Holland tonight. The first five minutes were fairly quiet. After that, it was non-stop…

Nwaneri played a dangerous cross to the far post where Gabriel volleyed it back too high across the box in a sign of intent from the visitors. Soon after Ødegaard received a crisp ball from Partey and danced through into the box. As he pulled his foot back to shoot it scraped the leg of a defender running back, enough to make him swipe at fresh air. No penalty given. It was the first bit of luck for PSV, although we would also get some of our own.

It was all go as a couple of minutes later Rice had the ball in the net with a crisp strike across goal into the side netting only to see it ruled out for a close offside earlier in the move. Keeping up the tempo it was PSV’s turn to come close after excellent play from the evergreen Perisic who tempted Raya to come for a low cross only for it to squirt free across the box. Some PSV lad should really have scored but he smashed his shot into the bar and the rebound was hit just wide of the far post. Definitely a let off for us.

We took full advantage and two minutes later we had the lead. MLS did brilliantly to ride a challenge in midfield and send the ball through to Rice, who worked the space to find a left-footed cross high to the back post where Timber was in exactly the right place, rising highest to head us into a lead. Let’s hope he has a few more of them in the locker between now and the end of the season as this was excellent from him.

We only had to wait three more minutes to go two up. Trossard played a ball inside to the marauding MLS and his deflected cross slid across the box for Nwaneri to absolutely leather it high into the net from six yards out.

MLS then got a soft yellow for a shirt pull that his opponent made the most of. De Jong, in particular, was adept at drawing fouls even when replays showed he was clearly backing into his man instead of looking at the ball. Our Hale End graduate needed to be careful but two minutes later he had his heart in his mouth. He went to make a sliding challenge but hesitated for a split second as he obviously realised he was on a yellow and did not want another red. However, the ball was there for the taking and his natural aggression won out – he went for the ball. That momentary hesitation cost him though and he got there late. You could see from his reaction that he feared the worst, all those thoughts running through his head about getting another red… The PSV man made the most of it but he could easily have been off. Fortunately for us, the ref used some common sense (read, ‘unreasonable leniency’ if you’re a fan of the Dutch team who’s stumbled in here) and kept his cards in his pocket. It could have been a turning point. Maybe it was.

Only another two minutes went by before we were three up. Nwaneri and Timber had found the same wavelength on the right, and it was tenacious play that saw them win the ball and work it into the box. It got a bit scrappy as defenders went to challenge but when some PSV lad touched it weakly whilst falling over Merino was there to apply a calm, precise finish low into the far corner. There was a long VAR check for offside, reminiscent of the Premier League, but it went our way and the goal stood.

We’d barely finished celebrating when Arteta hooked MLS for Calafiori, aiming to keep us at eleven men. The young man had made a decisive contribution and he will learn how to keep his cool when opposition try to work him like this. There followed a full eight minutes without a goal or a nearly moment. In the context of a crazy first half, it felt like a real breather.

The respite ended on 42 minutes when Partey gave away a penalty defending a free kick. The Ghanaian was blocked from getting to his man and reached out an arm to make up his positional shortfall. As all game, the PSV lad went down like a sack of spuds. Savvy play but no real complaints from us. It was a deserved penalty, even if a yellow card added insult to injury. Lang stepped up and hit a strong shot to his left past the stationary Raya who gambled he would put it down the middle.

Rice then hit a cracking shot which was flying in until the keeper tipped it around the post, somehow avoiding the concession of a corner.

There was still time for Malacia to whip a ball to De Jong who headed a very presentable chance over. The whistle went and we could all catch our breath. 3-1 at half-time and no-one had seen this coming.

The second half started the same way, with Arsenal scoring after 90 seconds. Merino funnelled it to Nwaneri, brimming with end product on the night, and he hit it hard and low across the six-yard box where a hand from the keeper played it into Ødegaard’s path for the captain to pass into the net.

We scored again two minutes later, Calafiori sliding in Trossard (after receiving a lovely flick from the Belgian) who dinked it over the keeper from close range. We were four goals up, which wasn’t bad for a team who can’t score.

PSV came back, first with a venomous shot blocked by Gabriel and then after reworking the resultant corner into a headed chance for De Jong which Raya saved at point blank range because he had his hands up in the right place. Nwaneri went on an adventurous run ending with a hard shot that forced a save. From a Rice corner Gabriel had a free header from a few yards out. He should have scored and he looked annoyed not to. At the same time, Timber was being manhandled, pushed physically off the pitch, and I have no idea how that was not deemed at least as bad as the Partey challenge. Both sides were lucky at times tonight.

Timber was then unlucky to get a yellow card which could just as easily have gone to the Dutch side, when he dallied too long taking a free kick, even though at no point did the closest PSV player retreat to the proper 10 yards. 

Trossard was clearly offside when Calafiori’s high pressing deflected the ball to him, so no-one was surprised when his finish was ruled out. It was soon forgotten when Ødegaard ran into central space and blasted a shot that the keeper should have saved. Instead, he let it through him for our sixth of the night and our captain’s second. I think that doubled his total for the season.

We made some subs, White, Zinny, Tierney and Sterling coming on. They also made changes, including Bakayoko, who was a dangerous presence. Zinny nearly scored a blinder, controlling a chipped ball from Tierney and volleying at goal. The keeper touched it wide, demonstrating again his ability to do this without conceding a corner. It’s not as good as saving shots, but it’s no bad skill.

After eighty-two minutes we won a corner after Raya grabbed a PSV corner out of the sky and punted a long ball at Rice who busted a gut this late in the game to collect it in front of a flagging defender, who just got back to nick it behind. Typical of the effort that Rice, and everyone else, put in all game.

A couple of minutes later Ødegaard played an Özillian ball with the outside of his boot from the half space on the right where he operates so dangerously when White and Saka are his partners in crime. Calafiori had made a beautiful run and his right foot finish was slotted past the keeper and into the side netting. Sublime stuff.

Raya came to sweep up a long ball and ended up juggling poorly about thirty yards from his own goal. Just for shits and giggles. We were winning SEVEN – one, and he could do what he liked.

The final whistle went.

It was a crazy game and we were very, very good. Let’s hope it is a result that puts us back on track. I’ll look forward to hearing from you all in the Drinks…

Until next time, ‘holics.

Posted in Match Report | 80 Drinks »

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