{"id":10263,"date":"2024-10-31T03:17:26","date_gmt":"2024-10-31T03:17:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10263"},"modified":"2024-11-01T12:54:03","modified_gmt":"2024-11-01T12:54:03","slug":"technology-conspires-to-thwart-an-honest-scribbler","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10263","title":{"rendered":"Technology conspires to thwart an honest scribbler"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Arsenal had the most comfortable of nights as they move smoothly into the quarter finals, but sadly I didn\u2019t!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\u2019ve had tough nights in reporting for GHF but tonight takes the biscuit! My first report was primarily a whinge about the fact that I was unable to follow the second because my Sky stream disappeared in the second half. Fortunately the game was won by then and I was confined to snatches of the action on the Sky tracking reports. So my report will be lacking in the detail and volume I would normally provide mainly because having written most of it my battery ran out and I had to compose the report all over again. Well, at least we won!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In reality it was a very good night for Mikel Arteta\u2019s lads. He picked a very strong side in the circumstances with only Setford on his debut, and Nwaneri playing in a sort of no. 10 role, coming in from the younger ranks. Saliba returned at centre back and we even saw the lesser-spotted Zinchrnko playing his inverted left back role. Sterling caught the eye in a very one-sided first half looking tricky and incisive on the right wing. Our share of possession in the first half was well over 70% and we showed how to press quite brilliantly although the quality of the opposition was not high despite their 17-16 penalty kick win over Fulham in the last round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We took the lead in the 24th minute when Jes\u00fas broke his goal drought lashing in a near post drive that gave Woodman no chance afted Kiwior had nodded the ball down to him. We added a second in sumptuous style ten minutes later when Ethan Nwaneri curled a superb shot into the top left- hand corner after a pass from Jes\u00fas. We continued to dominate in the closing minutes of the second half passing Preston to death, creating overloads on both wings and seeing Nwaneri combine intelligently with Sterling, Jes\u00fas and Timber. It was a very comfortable half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half- time – Preston 0 Arsenal 2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I then lost regular contact with the match but was delighted to see Kiwior notch his second assist with a fine left-wing cross which Havertz, who took over from Merino at half-time headed into the left corner like a bullet. Woodman made a superb double save midway through the half and Arsenal (as far as I could see) strolled through the second half although a couple of chances fell to Preston players following crosses from the wings.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ayden Heaven came on to replace Nwaneri for his debut, and to my horror halfway through the second half Saka replaced Martinelli. We closed out the match, Setford has his first clean sheet and we are in the quarter finals where we will face Palace at Ashburton Grove in mid-December. The last time I remember us playing Palace in the League Cup we reached Wembley in 1993 where we took the trophy (the Stephen Morrow final).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Progress past Bolton at home and an outgunned Preston takes us rather easily into the last 8 of a competition that we have only won twice. Arteta must balance the understandable desire to push towards Wembley with the upcoming Christmas rush of fixtures. It is highly tempting to use Nwaneri in this competition, and the boy looks a gem. Two-footed, confident, and elegant, he looks a very special player. Lewis-Skelly has also integrated himself into first-team contention and he is another player of great promise. Hopefully tonight\u2019s goal will boost Jes\u00fas. He took it well and worked very hard as he always does but he isn\u2019t a predatory finisher. Merino is coming to terms with English football (Could he do it on a cold night in Lancashire? Very definitely!).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One thing that was very clear tonight was our superb away support. It was deafening, good-natured, and continuous. We hope our travellers return safely home, albeit it at stupid o\u2019clock and hopefully they can fill in a few more details than I was able to note in this sadly abbreviated report. I was encouraged by the quality of our play and sense as players return from injury we will build momentum. And we are only three games from a Wembley Final!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Arsenal had the most comfortable of nights as they move smoothly into the quarter finals, but sadly I didn\u2019t! I\u2019ve had tough nights in reporting for GHF but tonight takes the biscuit! My first report was primarily a whinge about the fact that I was unable to follow the second because my Sky stream disappeared […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"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\/10263"}],"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\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10263"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10263\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10273,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10263\/revisions\/10273"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}