{"id":1121,"date":"2020-07-22T03:29:37","date_gmt":"2020-07-22T02:29:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1121"},"modified":"2020-07-25T16:47:04","modified_gmt":"2020-07-25T15:47:04","slug":"after-the-lord-mayors-show-comes-the-rag-parade","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1121","title":{"rendered":"After the Lord Mayor\u2019s Show comes the Rag Parade"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal rocked up at Villa Park for their penultimate league game of this strange season, on a warm July evening knowing that qualification for a European place, albeit only the Europa League, was still a possibility even if not entirely in our own hands. Qualification by winning the FA Cup for a record 14th<\/sup> time remains a possibility but last year\u2019s lesson in Baku suggests that we should do our best not to rely solely on a cup final result. Thus, a victory tonight was an important objective for the Arsenal. It was also important to a Villa team scrapping for Premier League survival, three points off safety. Villa could be expected to fight tooth and nail for every ball. Who would want it more?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mikel\u2019s selection demonstrated how much he\nwanted to win this game to give us the best possible chance of reaching a\nqualifying league position. His starting 11 had 6 changes. It showed offensive\nintent but was understandably coloured by the need for rotation after the major\nexertions of the team that won the FA Cup Semi-Final only three days ago. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The recently brilliant Martinez kept his\nplace in goal. We retained a back three with David Luiz flanked on the right by\nHolding who replaced the hamstrung Mustafi and on the left by Kolasinac\n(shiver) who replaced Tierney. The excellent wingbacks from the weekend were\nrested with Cedric replacing Bellerin and Saka replacing the revelatory\nMaitland-Niles. The much-improved Ceballos retained his midfield place but Xhaka\nwas replaced by Torreira. A front three of Nketiah, Lacazette and Aubameyang were\nselected for goals, the latter with the added incentive of the Golden Boot.\nCould we maintain the standards achieved in our last two games?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our front three lined up with Lacazette\nplaying deep centrally and Nketiah and Aubameyang playing in what would once\nhave been called the inside right and inside left channels respectively. Early\nknockings provided an open game with plenty of space in midfield. Villa sat\ndeep aiming to catch us on the break. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Arsenal had more possession but made\nprecious little use of it in the first 15 minutes though a lovely passing move from\nour box to theirs deserved more than Saka\u2019s intercepted low cross. Ceballos was\nlooking silky in deep midfield and Saka and Cedric were making good forward\nruns. An inviting high cross from Saka forced Reina into a desperate punch\nabove two Arsenal forwards. By 20 minutes we were pressing Villa with a series\nof corners and 71% possession in the preceding 10 minutes. Villa\u2019s responses\nrelied on Grealish driving through midfield when our attacks broke down but our\nmidfield dealt with most sorties close to halfway generally with two men\nclosing down Grealish. When they didn\u2019t our defence held firm. At the first\n\u2018water break\u2019 Villa replaced Elmahamady who had tweaked a hamstring after 7\nminutes sprinting to beat Saka to a lovely through ball.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 26 minutes, Trezeguet scored against the run of play with a well taken shot from inside our box. A cheap corner was given away on our right following confusion between Ceballos and Luiz. The ball was headed on by Mings to the far side of the box finding Trezeguet unmarked and he struck a hard, low shot past inside Martinez\u2019s left-hand post. The keeper had no chance. Questions can be asked of Aubameyang who let Mings get a clear run to the front post for the flick on and of Cedric whose attempted block was feeble compared to the blocks we saw on Saturday. Who was supposed to mark Trezeguet?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villa 1, Arsenal 0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our first response was a moon-shot from\nCeballos after a free kick for a foul on Lacazette. After 33 minutes Lacazette\ncouldn\u2019t keep his feet in the box following a challenge from Grealish after\nAubameyang found him from the left. Never a penalty. After 35 minutes Torreira saw\nyellow for clattering some Villan only 5 minutes after clattering Grealish.\nCareful Lukas!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we came to the last 10 minutes Arsenal\nwere dominating the ball, moving nicely through midfield and up both wings but a\ngood final ball was proving elusive. There was no sign of panic but no great\nurgency either. With 5 minutes to go Villa broke again and forced a couple of\ncorners on our left. Both were cleared but a Grealish chip back in allowed\nTrezeguet a clear header towards Martinez that was fortunately weak. A\ndetermined run into the box by Nketiah from the right yielded a corner that we\nwasted. Then another Villa break ended in a Grealish 25 yard shot from our\nright that cleared Martinez\u2019s bar but could easily have landed in the top\ncorner. As the game slipped into added time the pattern had settled into\ntoothless Arsenal possession and swift Villa breaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half Time: 1-0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal had had 60% possession but no shots\non target in the first half. If Villa could hold on to their lead they would be\nsitting out of the bottom three above Watford. However, they had won only once\nsince the restart and have dropped 21 points from a winning position this\nseason by losing 31 late goals. Would Villa stay true to type and could Arsenal\nfind a creative spark? Mikel replaced Torreira with Xhaka for the second half\nin an attempt to get more of a grip of this match and keep 11 men on the pitch.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the opening three minutes of the half,\nVilla pressed forward and forced three corners on our left, all of which were\ncleared. We responded with intricate footwork between Ceballos and Kolasinac in\nthe Villa box which came to naught. Then a beautiful curling cross from Cedric\nwas flicked on to Saka who fired over. Luiz gave Villa another dead ball\nopportunity with a foul on Grealish wide on our left but Lacazette cleared. Then\na ball from Nketiah found Aubameyang in the box but his shot on the turn was\nblocked. We were back to end-to-end football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We seemed to have reverted to a back four\nas Kolasinac was now playing wing back rather than centre back and getting\nforward regularly with Saka moving inside. However, Grealish had become more\nprominent in midfield as the hour approached probably as a result of Torreira\u2019s\nreplacement. Our defence was also looking less authoritative than in the recent\ngames and we conceded a further pair of cheap corners that fortunately came to\nnaught. Before the hour, Pepe replaced Luiz and Tierney replaced Saka. We were definitely\nnow a back four with Holding and Kolasinac at centre back. Lacazette was then\nbooked for a foul on Grealish just inside our half as the Villan broke through\nour midfield. On the hour both teams had had 5 attempts, Villa having 2 on\ntarget but the Arsenal still with none. Aubameyang then sprinted into the box\nfrom the left but he overhit his cross and the attack fizzled out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the second \u2018water break\u2019 approached,\nVilla had reverted to sitting deep with their defence successfully blunting our\nefforts at a final ball or dealing well with our crosses, the quality of which\nhad improved with Tierney\u2019s arrival. As the game restarted, Pepe, breaking out\nof our half, was pulled back by their Luiz who gratefully took the yellow card.\nThe game was now \u2018attack vs defence\u2019. Villa then replaced two players with two\nother players, none known to me. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As 75 minutes approached we had had 75%\npossession in the previous 10 minutes. However, when another move broke down\nGrealish sprinted out swiftly and found Davis who put the ball past Martinez\u2019s\nfar post when a goal looked the most likely outcome. That would have been game\nover. Lady Luck then swiftly switched sides as two minutes later Nketiah\u2019s\nheader from a lovely Pepe corner came back off the far post, struck Reina\u2019s knee\nand bounced towards the goal line but he fell on it just in time. No wonder he\nkissed the ball as he rose to his feet! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Grealish remained the main danger and he\nfound McGinn on the edge of our box whose shot was blocked athletically by\nMartinez. Cedric was then replaced by Willock. I\u2019m not at all sure what\nformation we were now playing but we had a front line of five!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inevitably we were even more vulnerable to\nthe break and Kolasinac took a yellow for the team by pulling McGinn back when the\nVillan span past him on the halfway line. With 10 minutes plus added time to go\nour passes began to go astray and an unmarked McGinn had a shot from the edge\nof the box that fortunately sliced well wide. A neat run and cut back by\nTierney then failed to find a teammate. Grealish again caught the eye with a\npass into our box for Targett but Willock tracked back well to block the full\nback\u2019s shot otherwise he would have been in on goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With 4 minutes to go Targett clattered Pepe\nat the corner of the Villa box gaining a yellow card and conceding a free kick.\nMings headed Pepe\u2019s curling cross over and we wasted the resultant corner. Only\n4 minutes were added as Willock received a yellow for blocking McGinn\u2019s\nbreakaway run. Lansbury came on for McGinn with 2 minutes left.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The match ended as Reina clutched a\nCeballos long ball into the box. This was our first defeat at Villa in 21\nyears. Eighth is the highest we can finish and we won\u2019t get European football\nthrough our league position. It\u2019s our first finish outside the top 6 in 25\nseasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The players all put in a shift tonight but the\nteam seemed a bit flat. Without doubt some players have played a lot of games\nrecently and are probably mentally and\/or physically exhausted but this match\nconfirmed that we don\u2019t have sufficient quality in this squad. Ceballos looked\nour best player but Grealish was by far the most creative and talented player\non the field and we didn\u2019t have a player with that creative spark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mikel was calm and statesmanlike in his\npost-match interview as he observed that the team gave absolutely everything, were\naggressive in the high press and tried to win the game. He\u2019s right. Heads\ndidn\u2019t drop and we kept plugging away. He conceded that \u201cwe lacked a little bit\nof freshness and despite dominating the game we struggled to get the necessary quality\nand creativity in the final third against a low block\u201d. He added that \u201cwe had\nthe right men in the right positions but we lacked the right ball\u201d and he\nobserved that \u201cit\u2019s been a very demanding week emotionally and physically\u201d. He\nsaid that he was happy that we were trying to win right up to the end but added\nthat \u201cwe have to improve\u201d. Mikel said that he \u201cknows where we are in certain\nareas of the pitch and the things we need to improve\u201d, adding that \u201cwe will get\nthat but we need a bit more time\u201d. He observed that Villa were playing under a\nlot of pressure as well and congratulated them for winning the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Sky interviewer then noted that a plane\nhad flown over at the start of the game trailing the message \u201cBack Arteta \u2013\nKroenke out!\u201d Mikel was diplomacy personified, responding that he is getting \u201c100%\nbacking from the Kroenke\u2019s and the Board and the Sporting Directors and\neverybody\u201d adding that we have to wait a little bit of time to be there but\nthat the fans have to believe what he is saying as if it was not so, he would\nnot say that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, we have to win the cup to play in\nEurope next season! That would be a fine achievement by our impressive new\nmanager in his first half season.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What did she wear?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Arsenal rocked up at Villa Park for their penultimate league game of this strange season, on a warm July evening knowing that qualification for a European place, albeit only the Europa League, was still a possibility even if not entirely in our own hands. Qualification by winning the FA Cup for a record 14th […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"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\/1121"}],"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=1121"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1125,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1121\/revisions\/1125"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1121"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1121"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1121"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}