{"id":10232,"date":"2024-10-23T09:35:05","date_gmt":"2024-10-23T08:35:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10232"},"modified":"2024-10-26T20:01:04","modified_gmt":"2024-10-26T19:01:04","slug":"a-matter-of-perspectives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10232","title":{"rendered":"A Matter of Perspectives"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Matchday three in this new format Champions League \u2013 and I must confess that it is a format I am starting to enjoy, the whiff of danger and unpredictability palpable in the air, as each game takes on a unique importance of its own, is particularly satisfying \u2013 has thrown up some memorably exciting matches full of feisty encounters, goal-fests, scintillating come-from-behind wins, high-octane football. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And then there was our beloved Arsenal, serving out a singularly laboured and joyless performance at home, in front of a surprisingly subdued home crowd, and by the end of the match was almost grateful to be able to get away with the three points that everyone associated with the club \u2013 maybe even some players themselves too? \u2013 had taken for all but granted before the ball was kicked.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

While the entire spectrum of emotions \u2013 ranging from relief to apathy to disappointment to angst \u2013 can all be understood and empathised with, for this report I would prefer not to dwell on any of those, and neither would I try to draw any conclusion about the team, the tactics, the outcome of the upcoming weekend\u2019s pivotal league match or the long season ahead. It was one of those performances that every top level team have in them even in their most successful seasons, and coming after the international fixtures and then last weekend\u2019s tiring and tiresome loss away at Bournemouth, just returning to winning ways without conceding any goals is acceptable enough not to require any further dissection. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

And, truth be told, other than the blatantly obvious ones, the match presented \u2013 at least to me \u2013 no particular pattern from which to glean any insight about any individual or the collective. The obvious ones being that in absence of \u00d8degaard, our midfield lacks creative inspiration and sometimes even the ability to dictate the pace of the game, and if you add to that the unavailability of Saka, our overall creativity drops significantly. We still remain a robust, hard to beat, defensively superb, physically and tactically effective team, and find just that enough bit of quality in our passing and movements and in our set-pieces to eke out victories consistently, but with both Martin and Bukayo out of the starting eleven, we are not a potent attacking force. This I always knew to be the case, and the lukewarm 1-0 victory against the Ukrainian champions didn\u2019t present any evidence to the contrary. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I would rather take this opportunity to express what I thought was an admirable effort by the visiting team. As bt8 elaborated in his excellent preview, Shakhtar Donetsk \u2013 nicknamed Hirnyky, \u201c\u0433\u0456\u0440\u043d\u0438\u043a\u0438\u201d, or \u201cminers\u201d as\u00a0 Shakhtar \u201c\u0448\u0430\u0445\u0442\u0430\u0440\u201d in Ukrainian literally means \u201cminer\u201d, the name a nod to the origin of the club among the coal miners of the Donbas region \u2013 was already living an itinerant existence after the invasion of 2014, and their lives, footballing or otherwise, have been made all the more difficult after 2022, almost impossibly so, along with lives of the rest of the Ukrainians, ordinary or extraordinary. As Mikel Merino said so eloquently in his pre-match interview, it is impossible to imagine for us the daily experience of living through this particular hell of uncertainty and suffering.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just to play this away match at London, they had to start on Friday from their base in Kyiv, with a break over the weekend in Lviv, before crossing the border to Poland and arriving on Rzeszow to fly from there. But in the pre-match interview their manager Marino Pu\u0161i\u0107 clarified unequivocally that they would rather compete than complain, and even though they started tentatively in the first half and were facing genuine problem to pass through Arsenal\u2019s aggressive front-footed pressing, as the match progressed they started to play with conviction and guile, and sensing an Arsenal not at their very best, became more adventurous towards the end than most would have expected. If they had managed to score an equaliser at the end, I don\u2019t think it would have been undeserved. If not for Raya\u2019s excellent one-handed save, we might have dropped those two points. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shakhtar in the modern era has had a bit of a Balkan connection. Arguably their best player in recent history is Darijo Srna, the Croatian right back. The Croatian national goalkeeper Pletikosa played for them for a few years. As did our very own Eduardo, of course. That connection seemed to have been reflected in their current managerial team. Pu\u0161i\u0107, a Dutch-Bosnian, was born in Mostar. And his right hand man, Mario Stani\u0107, was a Croatian international. Once Shakhtar started to feel confident, especially in the second half, their style of play with crisp and quick passing, rapid movement, sudden switches in attack and creative wing play reminded me a bit of the Croatian international teams. Shakhtar, obviously, didn\u2019t have enough quality in the final third for their good build-up play in the second half to count. And then they came up against two imperious central defenders in Saliba and Gabriel who, without having to exert themselves too much, were still just too good for them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal\u2019s player of the match \u2013 and I would say the<\/em> player of the match \u2013 was Gabriel Martinelli. After an inconsistent start to the season, he is (thankfully) coming back to his sharpness in and around the penalty box, and Shakhtar\u2019s right back Konoplya found him nearly impossible to contain in the first half. In the second half, the central defenders Bondar and especially the captain Matviyenko did well to help out Konoplya in handling Martinelli. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The only goal of the match came from a typical Martinelli movement. He gathered the ball facing the Shakhtar goal, Calafiori made a fine overlapping run to drag Konoplya away just for a short moment, but that was enough for Gabi to move inside and get his shot away. The finish was sharp and powerful enough to beat goalkeeper Riznyk, but unfortunately for him the ball ricocheted off his back into the goal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 1 (Riznyk OG, 29\u2019) \u2013 Shakhtar Donetsk 0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a well-deserved lead as Arsenal had started sharply, especially in our pressing and willingness to move the ball quickly through vertically, and it felt like there would be an enjoyable attacking display for the entirety of the match. There were some moments of brilliance, especially from Martinelli and Havertz, and Jesus looked tidy enough even though not yet at his pre-injury best. Trossard, despite having some nice moments on the ball, was uncharacteristically wayward in front of the goal especially in the first half, and that tame penalty in the second half which Riznyk saved so easily underlined his day.    <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shakhtar\u2019s starting eleven had two Brazilians \u2013 far cry from the pre-2022 days when a few Brazilian stalwarts started their European club football journey at Shakhtar \u2013 on the left side, more experienced Pedro Henrique as the left back and young Equinaldo as the left winger. Equinaldo gave Ben White a few difficult moments, and I don\u2019t think White is back to his full fitness yet. His yellow card was unnecessary, and even though Mikel later claimed that his decision to take White off at halftime was because of that card (to avoid having to play again with 10 men, just in case), I suspect that White\u2019s fitness may have played a part in it. The resultant move to RB for Partey, now rapidly getting back to his best form and excellent in his familiar midfield role in the first half, reduced our attacking potential noticeably. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shakhtar had chosen to start this match without their regular captain and the anchor in defensive midfield, Stepanenko, who was on the bench, and their first half performance betrayed a lack of nous in holding on to the ball and occupying space in the middle of the field. However, in the second half Bondarenko and Sudakov combined well, and with Partey removed from the midfield duels, Rice and Merino both playing well within themselves, the Ukrainian champions started to see more of the ball, and had a much better control of the midfield.  The match ended with possession stats distributed 56%-44% in Arsenal\u2019s favour, and passing accuracy comparison of 89%-87%. Much of that evening out happened in the second half when Shakhtar started playing their football with greater confidence and freedom, and Arsenal became less dominant in midfield. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was good to see all the Ukrainian flags in the crowd, and the Shakhtar players evidently enjoyed the spirited support of their compatriots. These players gave a good account of themselves, especially on the ball, and can be really proud of this performance. Best wishes to them for the rest of their matches this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The refereeing was refreshingly good. No unnecessary drama, no controversy, no strange attention grabbing decision, nothing for either side to complain about or feel aggrieved by. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three games into the CL, 7 points on the board, with zero goals conceded. We can and will play better. We have a couple of tough away matches coming up in the competition, against Inter and Sporting, where we will need to raise our performances. Let us hope \u00d8degaard will be back to full fitness by then. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Matchday three in this new format Champions League \u2013 and I must confess that it is a format I am starting to enjoy, the whiff of danger and unpredictability palpable in the air, as each game takes on a unique importance of its own, is particularly satisfying \u2013 has thrown up some memorably exciting matches […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10232"}],"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\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10232"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10232\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10246,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10232\/revisions\/10246"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10232"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10232"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10232"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}