{"id":10175,"date":"2024-10-06T00:18:22","date_gmt":"2024-10-05T23:18:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10175"},"modified":"2024-10-10T21:29:50","modified_gmt":"2024-10-10T20:29:50","slug":"another-day-at-the-office","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10175","title":{"rendered":"Another day at the office"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<a id=\"6Mov2qb1RxBlSePc7gO7zA\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2176934551\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'6Mov2qb1RxBlSePc7gO7zA',sig:'mEULXopeMcNHfeq_r__63V-Yl4PTK34FHw2DlMWx3jw=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2176934551',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src=\"\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" async=\"\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m just back home in rural Oxfordshire 12 hours after leaving for That London and my first live view of The Arsenal this season. This will be another somewhat impressionistic account of the match as I&#8217;m very far from qualified to provide any kind of in-depth analysis of what happened and events demonstrate that I am unable to remember precise details of what happened and I failed to take any notes at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I&#8217;m also writing this before watching Match of the Day or reading any reports and relying solely on my sadly fallible memory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>First half<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first half resembled a training ground game of attack versus defence. Southampton had the ball in the Arsenal half and around our penalty box for the first couple of minutes without doing anything much. When their possession eventually broke down, the Arsenal took the ball up the other end and seemed to keep it there for the next forty-odd minutes without, to be honest, ever threatening to do much. I caught sight of the first half statistics on the Big Screen at half time; as far as I remember they were Arsenal &#8211; Shots: 10, On Target 3, Southampton &#8211; Shots: 2, On Target 0. I couldn&#8217;t remember any Southampton shots but on the other hand I  didn&#8217;t remember Arsenal having had 10, either. At some point I remember wondering whether it might take a Southampton goal to wake up the home side, but my next thought was certainly &#8220;Settle down PanG, that way lies madness&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I had done quite a bit of reading during the week in preparation for writing this report (honest), and watched at least one video about all the problems that Arsenal are causing to opponents at set pieces. It seems that the Southampton staff had also seen this as the sight of seven defenders forming a cordon around Ramsdale at corners was a familiar feature of the first 45 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Half time &#8211; The Arsenal 0 &#8211; 0 Southampton<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second half started much the same way as the first, with Southampton taking the ball up the field in the first few minutes. Sadly, ten minutes in, my foolish first-half musing came to fruition as Southampton scored. It&#8217;s not the kind of event that I like to dwell upon; as far as I recall, the goal came from a ball through the inside right channel and things developed slowly enough for me to see that something had gone amiss and we might be in trouble here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Arsenal 0 &#8211; 1 Southampton (Archer 55 min)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The atmosphere around block 113 was subdued; disappointment rather than anger and certainly not panic. The team on the pitch seemed to think similarly as they continued to play in much the same way as before; maybe bolstered by the thought that Mikel Arteta knows what he&#8217;s doing and his training and tactics are probably valid. Sure enough, a couple of minutes later the equaliser came, courtesy of \u00a360 million flop, Kai Havertz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Arsenal 1-1 Southampton (Hazertz 57 min)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shortly after the equaliser went in, Arteta made three substitutions, wit Sterling, Jesus and Jorghino going off to be replaced by Trossard, Martinelli and Merino. This seemed to galvanise the Arsenal team who upped their pace and continued to turn the screw. Eight minutes later the ball was played in to Martinelli, cutting in from the left who put the ball past Ramsdale and the Arsenal into the lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>(It&#8217;s quite possible that my memory has let me down and that it was the first goal, that found Havertz cutting in from the left. I can only remember one of the two goals and I&#8217;m pretty sure it was the one that Martinelli scored.)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Arsenal 2-1 Southampton (Martinelli 68 min)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The atmosphere now considerably brighter, the Arsenal continued to press and Southampton continued not to have much answer. After 20 minutes of pressure, with the clock running down, the third goal came.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I haven&#8217;t forgotten what happened in the build up to this goal, I genuinely didn&#8217;t see it at the time. Reconstructing what I did see, an Arsenal attack broke down and the Southampton defence was calmly passing it from their right to their left. I had a look upfield to see what passing options they had on when there was an almighty roar and I looked up to see the ball in the Southampton goal. I have seen a replay, on the big screen in the stadium from which I learned that it was Saka who had scored, but am left none the wiser as to where he had come from, how the ball had found its way to the back of the net, or indeed how the Southampton defence came to have the ball in the first place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Arsenal 3-1 Southampton (Saka 88 min)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With the team now well on top, it came as a pleasant surprise when nine minutes of extra time were signaled, but they were unable to find a fourth goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Full time: The Arsenal 3-1 Southampton.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A few final impressions &#8211; I was looking forward to seeing some of the new signings (or close approach) since last season, and they didn&#8217;t disappoint. A couple of tackles from Calafiori where he took the ball off a Southampton player and ended up on one knee with the opponent behind him and time t oget up and pass to a teammate will live long in the memory. Merino looked the business when he came on on the hour mark. Sadly, I missed out on a view of Timber after last season&#8217;s dramatic failure to make it to the Forest game. Saliba (I think) also made a couple of breathtaking tackles, taking the ball cleanly to put a complete full stop to dangerous Southampton attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was all a little bit flat, to be honest. A first half in which we seemed to do all the right things but got no reward was followed by a second in which we conceded a goal but kept our heads to score three without further concession. It just seemed to be another day at the office &#8211; not a bad one (we won) &#8211; but not a good one (we went one down). On the other hand, after a few weeks where we were scoring regularly from corners we got three from open play this afternoon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I continue to be extraordinarily impressed by the ball-playing abilities of the Arsenal defenders and the hard work put in by the attackers. This is a <em>really<\/em> good team; there&#8217;s a good chance that it will prove to be a great one. I reckon that a trophy can&#8217;t be far away.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Props to Aaron Ramsdale who applauded the Arsenal fans as he made his way from the goal he&#8217;d been defending in the second half to acknowledge to Southampton fans at the other end. Props too to the Arsenal fans who applauded right back. Finally, props to Arteta who came over and gave him a big hug.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<a id=\"Ynd9u6frQ01-MRwC75Utlg\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2176951731\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'Ynd9u6frQ01-MRwC75Utlg',sig:'X_unECRiwiId4catLRHHnswEk5Uqth524y5q58_zNn0=',w:'594px',h:'404px',items:'2176951731',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src=\"\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" async=\"\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Postscript<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I went with SIL as usual, and as has become our habit we stopped for a post-match meal at an Italian eaterie on the Holloway Road (thanks for the recommendation a year or two back, Countryman 100). We fell into conversation with three guys at the next table who had also been to the game (one an American, another from Ireland). As they left, they said something which might have been that they had paid for our meal and drinks. When we came to settle up a bit later, the restaurant staff confirmed that I hadn&#8217;t misheard! Thank you very much fellers &#8211; I heard you say that you&#8217;d be coming to the Liverpool game together later in the season. I hope you have a good time then as well.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images I&#8217;m just back home in rural Oxfordshire 12 hours after leaving for That London and my first live view of The Arsenal this season. This will be another somewhat impressionistic account of the match as I&#8217;m very far from qualified to provide any kind of in-depth analysis of what happened and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10175"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10175"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10191,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10175\/revisions\/10191"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}