{"id":1101,"date":"2020-07-18T22:59:38","date_gmt":"2020-07-18T21:59:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1101"},"modified":"2020-07-20T19:54:29","modified_gmt":"2020-07-20T18:54:29","slug":"gunners-jump-over-the-blue-moon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1101","title":{"rendered":"Gunners jump over the Blue Moon"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This evening\nsaw a welcome return to Wembley for The Arsenal after a season that has been\nchallenging to say the least. The FA Cup has provided a quantum of solace in\nrecent years with three hugely enjoyable victories, the last of them after\nbeating today\u2019s opponents in the semis. However, a stern challenge was in store\nagainst a Man City side that had proved too strong in our last seven meetings\nand came into the game on the back of two recent wins against Bournemouth and\nUEFA.  A tall order then but spirits had\nbeen buoyed by a gutsy defeat of Liverpool during the week. Could we beat the\ncurrent top two in the PL within the space of week? It would certainly send a\nmessage.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Before the\ngame there had been speculation on team selection in both defence and attack\nbut as it turned out the biggest surprise was possibly in midfield where Ashley\nMaitland-Niles was chosen to start, despite rumours of his imminent departure. In\nall there were 5 changes from the side that started against Liverpool with\nAuba, Hector, Dani, Mustafi and AMN replacing the unfortunate Nelson, Saka, Rob\nHolding, Torreira and the cup tied Soares. Emi continued in goal with Mus\nrecalled and Tierney retained either side of David Luiz. Hector, Dani, Xhaka\nand AMN were given the task of winning what would be a vital midfield battle if\nwe were not to spend 90 minutes under the cosh and our expensively assembled\nforward line of Pepe, Laca and Auba were entrusted with getting at their\noccasionally suspect back line. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I must admit\nif felt very odd to watch the teams emerge to an empty Wembley stadium and line\nup somewhat pointlessly beside the arch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The stadium\nitself was bedecked, or at least the Arsenal half was with reminders of our 13\nprevious FA Cup Wins \u2013 perhaps done as a gentle reminder that money can\u2019t buy\nyou class.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1st<\/sup> half<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anyway, to\nthe game. Come on you Gunners !! It took only 3 minutes for Mr Toad, disguised\nas Jon Moss, to ignore a foul on Dani and let City get in a dangerous cross\nthat was well cleared by Tierney. A period of early domination followed for\nPep\u2019s men enlivened by a mix-up between Luiz and Mustafi in our area that had\nme swearing loudly at the TV but was fortunately cleared by Dani, I think, for\na corner. Finally about 15 minutes in we started to get forward a little more,\na Lacazette offside goal was followed by a good chance for Auba after Luiz\nplayed him in with a cracking pass. Unfortunately, Auba shot straight at the\nkeeper when he could perhaps have done better. He was about to make up for it.\nDeciding on a change in tactics we played the ball calmly out of defence and worked\nit forward to Laca, who controlled well and played it wide to Bellerin, he\nnudged it forward to Pepe who swung in a great cross for Auba to ghost in at\nthe far post and slide a perfect finish past the hapless, stranded, baffled and\nbewildered keeper. Great goal, well worked and expertly finished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One Nil to The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A drinks\nbreak followed shortly afterwards, I had a beer, and then I noticed the players\nwere having a break too. Whatever Mikel said or whether it was simply the\nconfidence from the goal The Arsenal started to play much better. Mus was lucky\nto escape a booking for standing on Silva\u2019s foot but I think it was the last\nfoot he put wrong and it wasn\u2019t really luck in a way as Moss ignored several\nyellow cards subsequently. I suppose we did ask for more consistency. As the\nhalf wore on Ederson did well to cut out a Pepe cross and tip over a Mustafi\nheader from a good Ceballos corner. We should have punished City a couple of\ntimes but a mixture of a final misplaced pass by Auba after good work by Xhaka\nand bad luck when the ball hit Pepe\u2019s heel when he might have been through\nmeant that we went in at half time a goal to the good though it could have been\nmore. City had had half chances but good defending had restricted them greatly.\nVery encouraging but could we maintain the level of performance in the 2nd<\/sup>\nhalf?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2nd<\/sup> half<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In all\nhonesty the answer to that question is no. We started slowly and Sterling, of\nwhom more later, missed two presentable chances in a couple of minutes. We\nspent the next 20 minutes pinned back apart from rare forays forward by AMN,\nwho was having a good game defensively but is not blessed with the best left\nfoot cross. The one time Mahrez did escape from AMN Emi was down smartly at his\nnear post to save well. Goalmouth scrambles, last ditch blocks, shots just wide\nand mostly stout defending was then the order of the day. It was tight,\nnerve-shredding, nail-biting, edge of the seat, behind the sofa \u2013 you get the\ngeneral idea I\u2019m sure \u2013 stuff. The drinks break came again and Mikel wisely\ntold the team to get another goal to reduce the tension. Excellent work down\nthe left by Kieran and Pepe put Auba in the clear and he finished with his\ncustomary aplomb through Ederson\u2019s legs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two Nil to The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Two nil up,\n20 minutes to go. We have not been a team you would ask to defend a lead if\nyour life depended on it for some years now but cometh the hour today and with\nLuiz to the fore we defended with great bravery ad no little organization and\nskill for the last 20 minutes. Pepe was the first to be subbed off for Willock\nshortly after Auba\u2019s goal. He was not at his best today but he played an\nimportant part in both goals and has won the prestigious photo at the top of\nthis article prize. Willock was shortly followed on by Torreira replacing\nLacazette and clearly the plan was what we have we hold. And hold it we did,\nLaporte shot just wide, then Sterling deliberately fell on Mustafi and may well\nhave injured him \u2013 Mr Toad sailed serenely on \u2013 and Sterling then had the cheek\nto complain about Mustafi being injured. A minor annoyance but it was in no way\naccidental to my mind and should been reviewed. Mus went off having done well\nafter his early Mussiness to be replaced by Holding and Dani went off to be\nreplaced by Kola. There were a long seven minutes of extra time but City had by\nthen run out of ideas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a\ngreat team performance today, Mahrez, Sterling, De Bruyne and Silva were for\nall their possession mostly ineffective and that was not because they suddenly\nbecame bad players, it was due to hard work and discipline in closing the\nchannels they like to play down. However, having said that I must give\nindividual shouts to Xhaka, he was superb today, Tierney likewise and Luiz who\nhad a great 2nd<\/sup> half when the pressure was at its fiercest. Auba was\nclass and Lacazette led the line well. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, well\ndone Mikel, a first Wembley game as manager and you\u2019ve seen off that Pep\nWhatshisname bloke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s good to\nbe a Gooner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Onward to the\nfinal. What did she wear?<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This evening saw a welcome return to Wembley for The Arsenal after a season that has been challenging to say the least. The FA Cup has provided a quantum of solace in recent years with three hugely enjoyable victories, the last of them after beating today\u2019s opponents in the semis. However, a stern challenge was […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10,"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\/1101"}],"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\/10"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1101"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1101\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1110,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1101\/revisions\/1110"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1101"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1101"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1101"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}