{"id":11141,"date":"2025-04-20T17:37:51","date_gmt":"2025-04-20T16:37:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11141"},"modified":"2025-04-22T09:11:27","modified_gmt":"2025-04-22T08:11:27","slug":"agricultural-tools-given-a-lesson-in-precision","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11141","title":{"rendered":"Agricultural Tools Given a Lesson in Precision"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A trip to Suffolk usually involves medieval villages, the seaside and good fish and chips but Ipswich, once a prosperous medieval trading centre, doesn\u2019t quite have the romance of a trip to Madrid. However the club that currently sits in second place in the league and in the semifinal of the Champions League still has to fulfil its obligations and take on the club in 18th place that seems destined to fall back through the trapdoor to the Championship after a single season amongst the elite. Their glory days under` Ramsey and Robson must seem light years away<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pre-match discussion on Sky was all about the prospect of the Mugsmashers winning the league today if we lost to Ipswich when they were clearly destined to thrash Lesta in Lesta later. There was feverish speculation that, after our triumph in midweek, we would see a drop off in intensity from the Arsenal, making the nauseating prospect of a Carragher-Cates walz around the Sky studio a delectable prospect for those concerned. This, despite MA8\u2019s clear intent to take all three points by selecting a strong starting XI despite the hopes of most Gooners that our key men would be rested.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Frankly, the Arsenal starting line-up was surprisingly strong:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Reya; White, Saliba, Kiwior, Zinchenko; \u00d8degaard, Rice, Merino; Saka, Trossard and Martinelli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first half took the expected course with Arsenal dominating both possession and territory with 77% possession, 11 shots, 2 on target, 377 v 111 passes, 3 v 0 corners, 10 v 5 tackles won.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For most of the first half, Arsenal were camped permanently on the edge of the Ipswich box and, as the stats show, the home side struggled to regain let alone retain possession. At 14 minutes Ipswich did make a rare venture into Arsenal\u2019s half which turned out to be a tad foolish. Kiwior intercepted a pass on the edge of our box and swiftly passed the ball on to Merino in left midfield. The burly Basque played a square pass inside to Zinchenko who quickly transferred the ball across the field to \u00d8degaard. The Captain cantered towards the Ipswich box like an old fashioned inside right, played the ball right to Saka and continued his run into the box. Saka immediately played the ball back towards \u00d8degaard who merely grazed it with his studs (thus gaining the assist!) as it rolled on to Trossard near the penalty spot. As the ball reached the Belgian so did a large agricultural worker whose arm round his shoulder no doubt had some relationship to Trossard falling to the ground but in the act of falling he got his shot away, through another field-hand\u2019s legs and into the far corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 28 minutes Martinelli scored a goal that was the epitome of teamwork and precision. It was indeed a thing of beauty. This one too began deep with Saliba lofting a high ball to Trossard who was waiting wide right on the half way line. Trossard took it down deftly and as a large blue thug approached, chipped the ball over his head to Saka who was some ten yards ahead on the touchline. Trossard was promptly hauled to the ground for his impertinence. Saka darted past another field-hand and played a low ball to Merino who had run to the edge of the six-yard box, level with the front post. As two large blue defenders converged on him, Merino simply back heeled the ball to Martinelli arriving at the far side of the six-yard box and our hot Brazilian swept the ball into the net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 32 minutes, Ipswich\u2019s fate was sealed. Several of their players had begun to display their frustration at having to share the pitch with demi-gods and as we played the ball forward first \u00d8degaard was felled near the centre circle but got his pass away to Saka to his right only for a thug called Davis to rake his studs down his Achilles tendon from behind. Our Starman was clearly in agony, the referee had no doubts and promptly flashed his red card. It was a relief to see Saka get to his feet and be able to play on. He was booed persistently thereafter for having the temerity to be brutally attacked by a local thug – football fans can be extraordinarily moronic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first half was notable for one other thing. Saka missed a hat trick of chances. One his signature left footed curler as he drove inside at the edge of the box which swept just the wrong side of the post and two \u2018must scores\u2019 from close range that he conspired to miss, with a charmingly rueful smile on each occasion. Hopefully Lady Luck is saving the goals for the Champions League.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second half commenced in much the same fashion as the first had ended with near total Arsenal possession. Our forwards, notably \u00d8degaard, worked hard to craft openings but understandably there was a little less intensity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 56 minutes, a long ball from Morsy (a gobby tyke whom I\u2019ve never noticed before) found the big centre forward Hirst running behind Saliba and the big Scot made space nicely for a shot which span past Raya\u2019s far post. That was pretty much it from Ipswich. It was a relief to see Saka replaced by Nwaneri in the 57th minute and Mikel Merino who had been in the wars a bit with some belligerent local oiks was replaced by MLS at the same time. It was less of a relief when the camera showed the physio strapping ice to Saka\u2019s ankle as he sat on the bench. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Nice interplay on the right saw the ball reach Nwaneri in the Ipswich box but his shot was blocked by a field-hand. \u00d8degaard crafted space for a low curler from the edge of the box but his shot lacked the power to beat Palmer.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The umpteenth corner in only a few minutes was taken short for Rice ultimately to find Trossard on the corner of the 6 yard box. Our number 19 fired a low hard shot through another pair of blue legs past Palmer and into the goal on 68 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sterling replaced Martinelli and Tierney replaced Rice on 72 minutes to give Arsenal a third left back on the field. At this point, MLS, who had been playing his usual inverted left back role with Zinchenko in front of him, moved centrally and our youngster played the \u2018Partey role\u2019 with considerable authority and style making several progressive passes through the low block statues. On 79 minutes he produced a nice piece of play, making his way into the box with a give and go but sadly his shot was blocked by a large local peasant.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 84 minutes Butler-Oyedeji replaced Trossard to make his PL debut.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With 5 minutes of normal time left we got a free kick outside the Ipswich box. The camera panned to Rice, sitting on the bench, who looked interested and made a remark to Merino that produced a chuckle. Zinchenko fired the free kick straight into wall. Shortly afterwards the ball was recycled to \u00d8degaard at the edge of the box and he struck Palmer\u2019s near post with a fine shot. Seconds later Butler-Oyedeji forced the keeper into a fine save with a shot from the edge of the box that was heading below his crossbar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coup de grace <\/em>(or in Suffolk should it be \u2018the crop of grass\u2019?) came in the 88th minute when Zinchenko found Nwaneri in the box with a short vertical pass through the defence. The youngster moved to his left and struck a fine shot at goal that ended in the net via a couple of deflections.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Over 90 minutes Arsenal had 75% possession and 24 attempts on goal, 7 of which were on target. Not bad for a stroll in the Spring sunshine in Suffolk.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were clearly there for the three points and took a businesslike approach to the match. The only downside is the assault on Saka and the resultant injury. Hopefully he can shrug it off before PSG come calling. He clearly felt able to play on and made several useful contributions after the injury but I was surprised that he was asked to play ten minutes in the second half and I certainly wouldn\u2019t start him against Palace.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raya was untroubled throughout and Saliba and Kiwior were imperious. It was nice to see White  back in harness and he occasionally linked well on right sided attacks but had, on the whole, a pretty quiet game. Zinchenko played his inverted left back role well, recycled the ball well and made several good passes without his usual obligatory error. The midfield of Rice, Merino and \u00d8degaard dominated the match like a Rolls Royce dominates a Massey-Ferguson unless you\u2019re talking ploughed fields with which, fortunately, none of the PL grounds can any longer be compared. I actually thought \u00d8degaard had his best game in a long time. Basically he ran the show, kept probing and manipulating and must again have covered a hell of a lot of ground. Rumours of his demise are premature. However I would have liked to see Rice, who was his usual dominating force with and without the ball, substituted earlier but I guess Arteta wanted to see the game won before he left the fray. Merino looks very good alongside our other midfielders and his assist for Martinelli\u2019s goal was exquisite. Our wingmen were superb, it\u2019s just a pity Saka didn\u2019t get at least one goal. Trossard deserves flowers too after some recent criticism. He took his goals well and clearly has further contributions to make this season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All in all, a good day out. Fingers crossed for Saka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Happy Easter to Holics everywhere!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A trip to Suffolk usually involves medieval villages, the seaside and good fish and chips but Ipswich, once a prosperous medieval trading centre, doesn\u2019t quite have the romance of a trip to Madrid. However the club that currently sits in second place in the league and in the semifinal of the Champions League still has […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"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\/11141"}],"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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11141"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11141\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11158,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11141\/revisions\/11158"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11141"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11141"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11141"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}