{"id":10559,"date":"2024-12-28T10:42:48","date_gmt":"2024-12-28T10:42:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10559"},"modified":"2024-12-31T15:26:36","modified_gmt":"2024-12-31T15:26:36","slug":"a-foggy-night-in-london-town-as-arsenal-go-second-in-the-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=10559","title":{"rendered":"A Foggy Night in London Town as Arsenal Go Second in the Table"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The first league visit of Ipswich to the Emirates was not one they or most of the sixty thousand spectators will remember with any fondness. Even as an eye witness I am starting to find the game fading in my memory but the important facts are that Arsenal beat Ipswich and moved into second place in the table tonight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My report will not follow the usual format which describes the ebb and flow of play in some detail because there was very little ebb and flow to the game particularly in the first half. Arsenal controlled possession to an almost unprecedented degree in the first forty five, having close to 85% of the ball and over the ninety minutes, having 68% of the possession. Raya didn\u2019t make a save in the ninety minutes and the three shots that Ipswich generated were all blocked by the Arsenal defence. The nearest they came to threatening the Arsenal goal was in the very first minute as the strains of North London Forever were ringing out, Delap almost got control of the ball in the six yard box but Arsenal scrambled it clear.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal had picked Lewis-Skelly at left-back in the staring eleven and he played the whole game. Kai Havertz and Jes\u00f9s interchanged in a sort of striker\/false nine combo and Martinelli replaced Saka on the right with Trossard on the left. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The early exchanges took place in the foggiest conditions I had seen for a while. I had anticipated a special night from the appearance of two legends – the estimable C100 who uses the same entrance as me and the appearance before the game of the much-loved Santi Cazorla. I missed most of Santi\u2019s interview but the deep well of affection for him was very obvious from the crowd reaction. He is one of the most talented natural footballers I have ever seen at the Stadium of Stone and is still plying his trade, at the age of forty, with Real Oviedo in the Spanish Second Division. How sad and unfair that in such a long career we were deprived of his services for so long. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Santi would have been very useful in helping to provide a creative spark for Arsenal tonight. Despite overwhelming possession the absence of Bukayo Saka who will surely miss the majority of this season was keenly felt. Arsenal began slowly and their first effort was a run and shot from distance from the excellent Timber. The Ipswich goalkeeper, who played well tonight, saved it and then watched a Rice drive whistle over. \u00d8degaard prompted and probed but when our goal came it was very simple. A long \u00d8degaard cross reached Trossard on the left  who dinked a ball into the middle for Kai Havertz to nip in and turn the ball home. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 1 Ipswich 0 – Havertz, 23 minutes <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The rest of the half saw us continue our overwhelming territorial superiority but to no great effect. Jes\u00f9s had a goal rightly disallowed for offside  but despite a coordinated team performance and a press and particularly a counter-press to which Ipswich had no answer, a rather flat first half ended with us only one goal to the good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half-time: Arsenal 1 Ipswich 0 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We hoped for better in the second half  and there was greater intensity about Arsenal\u2019s attacking with Ipswich being penned in for large parts of the second period. Muric, the Kosovo national keeper, made several fine low saves most particularly from a Rice volley direct from an \u00d8degaard corner. Our Norwegian captain is desperate to score but miscued or failed to beat Muric several times. Gabriel headed a superb Rice corner wide from close range and Havertz missed a close range chance, not being able to direct a flick-on beyond Muric.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was frustrating, not just because it kept Ipswich in a match they had no right to be in, but also because it illustrated how thin our attacking resources are. All of our fit front-line forwards were on the pitch and we desperately need reinforcement in the attacking area. It is inconceivable that we can successfully get through the season with the attacking resources we currently have. If Saka is lost to us this season we need more penetration on the wings and we ideally need someone who can be a predator in the opposition box. Jes\u00f9s was admirable in his work rate. Havertz played excellently in both the roles he had but we lack the  attacking resources of Liverpool who have Salah, Nunes, Jota, Gakpo and Diaz to throw at the opposition and their midfielders are likely to score more goals than ours too.  So far this season our midfielders have notched five goals between them and one was a penalty.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are also much more potent away from home where we have scored five or more goals seven times by my reckoning. I fully expect us to beat the three promoted sides much more easily than we beat them at home but low blocks and organised defences will be a common site in N5 for the rest of the season and we have to find a way around them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It should also be said that we have the best defence in the league, have recorded four successive clean sheets at home, have got the only unbeaten home record in the league and have a number of admirable performers. Gabriel and Saliba regularly get flowers but Timber is also a terrific player and a huge asset. Tonight Rice was measured and prescient, putting out potential fires before they could begin and young Lewis-Skelly,  two rushed clearances aside, played extremely well and does not look remotely out of place at this level. But with no Saka or Sterling we have only Nwaneri to bring into our forward line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A flat game ended \u2026flatly, but the points were safely secured and tellingly Arteta made only two substitutions, both fairly late on, for Jes\u00f9s and Rice. Was he sensibly shepherding resources  sending a message to the boardroom or was he trying to give our more delicate defensive players more respite?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full-time: Arsenal 1 Ipswich 0 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whatever the case, we were deserved winners and should not beat ourselves up too much from this point on if we secure the necessary points. This can still be a wonderful season but it is unlikely to be so if we cannot increase our attacking threat. With no Technical Director that is quite a challenge for our management team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The first league visit of Ipswich to the Emirates was not one they or most of the sixty thousand spectators will remember with any fondness. Even as an eye witness I am starting to find the game fading in my memory but the important facts are that Arsenal beat Ipswich and moved into second place […]<\/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\/10559"}],"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=10559"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10559\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":10562,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10559\/revisions\/10562"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10559"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10559"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10559"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}