{"id":11194,"date":"2025-05-04T13:16:50","date_gmt":"2025-05-04T12:16:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11194"},"modified":"2025-05-06T17:59:33","modified_gmt":"2025-05-06T16:59:33","slug":"no-cherry-aid-for-flat-gunners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11194","title":{"rendered":"No Cherry Aid For Flat Gunners"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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At around 7.20pm yesterday I had just watched Arsenal fail to take a single point from a home match against Bournemouth and I had to produce a sensible report on it. I was quite angry or frustrated at the time – I wasn\u2019t sure which, even during the game – at some of the things the players were doing yesterday but the longer it went on the clearer it became that the team as a whole is exhausted. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went for a walk with the dog straight after the game – as I didn\u2019t imagine anyone would be in a hurry to \u2018read all about it\u2019 – and I\u2019m glad I did. The more space I take from the performance the less frustrated I feel. What I do feel is huge sympathy for the players who have given everything in impossible circumstances and still have to try to shore up a league season with a game of enormous importance in Paris just four days away (as of yesterday\u2019s game).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While PSG were able to rest no fewer than 10 players yesterday, Arsenal\u2019s lineup was pretty much as everyone expected because, with our continuing injury list, in a league we cannot win at walking pace, there was precious little choice to make. Ben White came in for the injured Jurrien Timber, and Mikel Merino was rested to the bench to protect him for the trip to Paris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sky UK the commentary team of Stadtler and Waldorf – aka Rob Hawthorne and Alan Smith (more on him later) – were quickly into their routine of pulling the Arsenal to pieces as Bournemouth dominated possession in the first 10 minutes with their quick, aggressive style of play. 
Arsenal\u2019s first attack came on 14 minutes when some neat play saw Odegaard and Martinelli release Rice to shoot wide of the far post. That attack also illustrated Arsenal\u2019s tactic – very similar to PSG – of pulling false 9, Trossard back into midfield so that Rice could run past him to become the focus of our attacks. It worked really well and, as Arsenal now dominated, provided further chances for Rice, Martinelli and Trossard who had a decent header saved on the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bournemouth had their own chances when Evanilson headed over and Saliba halted Kluivert with a brilliantly timed tackle. On 33 minutes Saka found Partey who initiated a lovely vertical move through Odegaard to Rice who ran into the area, rounded the keeper and scored on his 100th appearance for the club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HT Arsenal 1 – 0 Bournemouth <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the evidence of this first half showing Arsenal have to find another \u20186\u2019 in order to release Declan Rice to play further forward and, with Jorginho leaving, they have to persuade Thomas Partey to sign a new deal \/ extension following his best season for the club by some distance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The coaching team also have some work to do with David Raya who seems confused as to whether he is a goalkeeper or a playmaker. He almost got caught miles out of his goal again yesterday, just as he was against Crystal Palace. He is clearly being played as a sweeper- keeper but there have to be limits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was good to see Ben White back too who, despite the defensive qualities of Jurrien Timber, has been a big miss in that Saka, \u00d8degaard triangle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second half was a painful mix of missed chances, misplaced passes and players literally falling over under the weight of physical challenges they would normally win without fuss. Bukayo Saka curled a right foot shot wide of the far post from a chance he did well to make for himself. Not well enough for Alan Smith though, who continued his constant stream of negativity. Did I miss a falling out between him and the club, because he was firmly in Stewart Robson territory yesterday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Semenyo entered the fray, surprisingly only as a substitute just after the hour, and it was his long throw that was flicked to Huijsen who outjumped our defence to head the visitors level, once again from their first attack on target.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Arsenal 1 – 1 Bournemouth <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

While waiting for a corner to be taken, following some awkward, hesitant work from Saliba and Partey, Rice was replaced by Merino. When eventually taken, the corner found its way to Evanilson at the far post. The ball bounced down off the striker\u2019s arm – the only explanation, apart from some clearly visible video evidence (!) as to its sudden change of trajectory – onto the goal line where it was met by the despairing lunge of Raya who kneed it into his own net. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

VAR took the prescribed age to study the footage and came to the conclusion that the evidence was inconclusive. In such instances, goals scored FOR Arsenal – for example, Havertz vs Villa – are disallowed. However, when goals are likewise scored AGAINST Arsenal, the rules change and the goal is allowed to stand. Please bin this joy sucking, farcical nonsense asap. Alan Smith, of course, opined that it was \u201cfair enough – the right thing to do\u201d. Ahem ! There are 30 new cameras at the Emirates to assist the current iteration of VAR but they couldn\u2019t come up with one clear view of that goal line incident. Except, of course, the one we all spotted! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 1 – 2 Bournemouth<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There was a late flurry of substitutions on 85 minutes – Zinchenko, Nwaneri and Sterling replacing White, Saka and Martinelli – who saw out the 6 minutes of added time to no avail and the three points we were banking on were lost.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so \u2026..<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There has been the usual criticism of our substitutions. The fact is that our subs would have made little difference. Nwaneri is a great talent who has seemingly played out of his normal position covering for Saka during his time out with injury. The restrictions on his natural game when marked by a touchline have temporarily blunted the impact he made initially. He will come again. Zinchenko, on the other hand, will not. There is a reason why he doesn\u2019t play. My own opinion is that he is slow, a poor defender, often over fussy in his play and slows the team down. He can be a bit of a sulker too. More importantly, Mikel Arteta clearly does not see enough in him to put him on the pitch. Otherwise, when we are desperately short of experienced players, he would.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the game Mikel Arteta said the result had generated a lot of anger, rage and frustration that must now be taken forwards into our game against PSG. I only hope the players, many of whom are running on fumes, can muster the energy to go with it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have suffered from every conceivable angle this season and the players we have are, I believe, mentally and physically spent. They will get no criticism from me.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At around 7.20pm yesterday I had just watched Arsenal fail to take a single point from a home match against Bournemouth and I had to produce a sensible report on it. I was quite angry or frustrated at the time – I wasn\u2019t sure which, even during the game – at some of the things […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"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\/11194"}],"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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11194"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11194\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11215,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11194\/revisions\/11215"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11194"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11194"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11194"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}