{"id":10519,"date":"2024-12-19T01:50:13","date_gmt":"2024-12-19T01:50:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10519"},"modified":"2024-12-21T05:54:39","modified_gmt":"2024-12-21T05:54:39","slug":"mik-arteta-called-him-said-its-your-time-to-shine","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10519","title":{"rendered":"Mik Arteta Called Him, Said It\u2019s Your Time To Shine\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:594px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2190606167\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div><div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:66.66667% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/2190606167?et=iOmPcqVGQrl0jOHe4DK_Xw&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=ncJtdK1Ynhe1uccZmRfUEFFY378Nf0v-KX3Co9NmMzs=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>My first visit to The Emirates this season threw up a somewhat strange game between Arsenal and Crystal Palace, although the result went the right way as we ran out 3-2 winners thanks to a second half hat-trick from Gabriel Jesus.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We lined up with Partey at right back and Timber next to him in on the right side of central defence. Kiwior partnered him and Kieran Tierney started at left back for the first time since God was in short trousers. It didn\u2019t look terrible on paper, but it did not fill me with confidence either. My concern proved unfortunately well-founded when Palace punted a ball upfield and Kiwior failed to win his header, allowing Mateta to run through and hold him off, finishing into the bottom corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Much like against Fulham, we let the opposition score with their first and only sight of goal before we dominated the rest of the half without creating much in the way of proper opportunities. We looked a bit laboured and couldn\u2019t get out of our own way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Partey and Timber were on each other\u2019s toes. The ball progression out to Sterling was too slow and I can see why he doesn\u2019t bother making the runs in behind that he has built a career on when there is no-one interested in playing the pass to get him in. He was okay today, not awful but not adding much, although he had a great free kick well saved by Henderson, who also made a save in the second half when \u2018Raz\u2019 should probably have scored from a Tierney cross before hitting the bar with the rebound. The problem with him on the right wing is that we try to give him the ball in the same areas as we give it to Saka, without any attempt to play to his strengths. Frustrating all round.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Merino and Nwaneri were not on the same wavelength, so there was often no-one in central midfield as they both pulled wide or dropped deep. The former struggled to get in the game, the latter really hasn\u2019t worked out how to be effective in our team and if the point of buying an established 28-year-old professional was to minimise the bedding in period then it has not come to fruition so far. Trossard was busy but wayward. KT3 was obviously a bit rusty, and he isn\u2019t a stylistically good fit for this team anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus looked bereft and, in the flesh, I was seriously worried about him. He looked like he spent the day clinging to a shipwreck in the Atlantic before being airlifted to the ground at the last minute and shoved into his jersey. He was a shivering shadow of the bloke whose energy and hustle added so much when we signed him; all of the first half he looked like he needed wrapping up in one of those shiny blankets that paramedics give to people suffering from shock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In short, it all looked a bit of a mess. However, it is worth noting that if Palace had not scored their only chance then the narrative would have been different. Sure, we weren\u2019t clinical &#8211; Trossard firing over, final balls misplaced, and a series of corners and free kicks wasted \u2013 but we were in complete control and Palace could not lay a glove on us. When I write that an Arteta team looks a bit of a mess, I mean a helluva different thing to when I say that about an Emery team or a Ten Hag team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Being inside the stadium, it was clear there was not much in the first half to get the fans going and it was a slightly tentative atmosphere that only ignited in bursts, as the crowd tried to raise the team, or were stung into a response by the numerous and excellent Palace fans who sat beneath me (club level in the Clock End) and did their team proud all evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Fortunately, the second half saw big improvements and the home faithful had much more to sing about. \u00d8degaard came on for the unlucky Nwaneri, while Partey came off for Saliba, with Timber shuffling out wide. This proved immediately successful as we came out of the blocks at pace, and we were level with ten minutes when our captain slipped the ball through for Jesus who took a great first touch that took him past the defender and dinked a deft finish to score a genuinely excellent goal. Everyone around me was chuffed for him \u2013 you could feel how much the crowd wanted him to do well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just before the hour mark Eddie Nketiah came on to generous applause and cries of \u2018Eddie, Eddie!\u2019 as Glassner decided he\u2019d seen enough of Mateta against the imperious Saliba. Kiwior (who had settled well after his early error) also looked more assured next to the France International.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus, now full of confidence, was put through by Trossard and the Brazilian turned smartly before his shot was deflected behind by Henderson. I saw Tierney pull up and reach for his hamstring a few seconds before he went down. I don\u2019t know if he was injured or if it was just brought on by fatigue, but he was replaced by Lewis-Skelly and Saka came on for Sterling at the same time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jesus did not have long to wait for his next chance, put through on 72 minutes by a ruthless Saka before finding an emphatic finish into the bottom corner. He was marginally offside, but no-one in the ground had any inkling of that and there was no VAR to rule the goal out, so we could celebrate with abandon as soon as we saw the lino keep his flag down. Gotta say, that\u2019s something I\u2019ve missed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Five minutes later, the game-changing \u00d8degaard put Jesus through to complete his hat-trick, running onto the ball from his own half and again finding the side-netting with the sort of finish we don\u2019t always get from him but that he is eminently capable of.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was time for Eddie to get one back for Palace, scoring just below me with a brilliant header that Saliba probably should have defended better. Frankly, I was not nervous at all, despite the raucous Palace fans below me who seemed to think this goal got them back in the tie. I gave Eddie a clap and watched calmly as we brought on Gabriel for Kiwior and saw the game out. Happily, this brought home a cheeky wager of mine on a 3-2 victory at 25\/1. Pity it was only 10p!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, we go through to a semi-final, a poor first half was nullified by Arteta when he got everything right in the second half, and Gabriel Jesus got a huge shot in the arm that we can only hope sets his season off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Job done, and our attention now turns to the weekend when we try to take three points off the same opposition.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Until next time, holics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images My first visit to The Emirates this season threw up a somewhat strange game between Arsenal and Crystal Palace, although the result went the right way as we ran out 3-2 winners thanks to a second half hat-trick from Gabriel Jesus. We lined up with Partey at right back and Timber [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"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\/10519"}],"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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10519"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10531,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10519\/revisions\/10531"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}