{"id":1146,"date":"2020-07-27T22:53:29","date_gmt":"2020-07-27T21:53:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1146"},"modified":"2020-07-31T23:05:41","modified_gmt":"2020-07-31T22:05:41","slug":"and-its-all-over-now-baby-blue","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1146","title":{"rendered":"And It’s All Over Now, Baby Blue"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Celebrate,
courtesy of Son of Faustus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Have we ever looked forward to the final day of the Premier League season with such an absence of interest? Our worst league standing in more than two decades already guaranteed, even the second tier of European club competition \u2013 once unthinkable for this proud club \u2013 no longer available via the league position, and only thing to really hope from this game was that none of our key players get an injury that will keep them out of the FA Cup final next weekend. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were few schools of thought about the potential\nstarting line-up before the game: play essentially a second or even third\neleven with all of the potential starters for the Cup final either on the bench\nor fully rested, or play the strongest eleven on that day to ensure that not\nonly we prepare for the cup final with a confidence boosting victory but also\nrespect the relegation battle in which our once mirthful opposition was now\ndesperately involved, or play a kind of hybrid team that while respecting the\nrelegation battle still avoided any possibility of the key players being kicked\n\u2013 or elbowed, kneed, slapped, headbutted\u2026choose your least favorite form of\nassault \u2013 around and given the history of the opposition, that fear was more\nthan justified. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But our brave new manager doesn\u2019t deal in fears. He had\nasserted leading to the weekend that he would choose the team likeliest to win\nthe match and he was true to his words. Emi Martinez was given a chance to\ncontinue to practice his impressive goalkeeping skills behind the most\ninconsistent defense in all of premier league, a defense that is capable of\nproducing dogged rearguard and incredulously porous displays with equal\nmeasures of unpredictability. The bets on the not-so-sublime, if not entirely\nridiculous, defensive display was noticeably increased by starting in a 4-3-3\nformation away from the three in central defense which had lately been Arteta\u2019s\nchoice to establish a modicum of shape and structure. Ainsley Maitland-Niles on\nthe right and Kieran Tierney on the left with David Luiz and Rob Holding in the\nmiddle. The midfield included the now familiar combination of Xhaka and\nCeballos, with Joe Willock getting a rare start to add some drive and\n(hopefully) creativity in our worst midfield in the last two decades. The front\nthree included three of our most accomplished forwards with the captain\nAubameyang chasing the golden boot starting on his now customary left, Pepe on\nthe right, and Lacazette \u2013 who had in the last few weeks seem to have shaken\noff that prolonged funk and started scoring some good goals \u2013 down the middle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The opposition needed to better the result of whatever Aston\nVilla could get against West Ham to stay up. The only player in the Watford\nteam that I cared for either way was Danny Welbeck, who despite his Manchester\nUnited roots was loved by many of us Arsenal supporters in his five years stint\nwith us, primarily for the intelligence, work ethics and professionalism\nwhenever he put on the jersey. He was not the most accomplished finisher, but\nhe was a very useful player for us, with key contributions in both of our last\ntwo successful FA cup runs. A series of injuries had unfortunately held him\nback in his career, but the fact that the two best Premier League managers \u2013 of\ndiametrically opposite personalities — have both held him in high esteem and\ntrusted him in key matches speaks volume of his qualities. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The match started with us seeing most of the ball. In the\nfirst minute Auba ran on to a long pass from Luiz and his cross from the left into\nthe middle was meant for Laca, who was bundled over by the crudest of\nchallenges and as the ball drifted towards the edge of the box Ceballos gave it\na mighty thump but his shot was flew over. The assault on Laca looked as clear\na penalty decision as there could be. Not at all unsurprisingly, the referee \u2013\nwaste of electrons and photons really to write anything more about him —\nignored it entirely and waved the game on. However, the VAR team did their job,\nreviewed for any potential obvious error, and the error being of such blatantly\nobvious kind, had to give us a penalty. The captain stepped up, sent Ben Foster\nother way and coolly slotted in for our first goal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 1 (Aubameyang 5\u2019) \u2013 Watford 0 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The somewhat muted celebrations \u2013 which perfectly matched\nthe occasion, to be honest \u2013 were noticeable primarily for the players wearing\nour new home shirt for the next season. The design looked good and given the\nstrange times we are living in the fact that we are wearing next season\u2019s\njersey already didn\u2019t register high enough in the bizarre-o-meter to write any\nmore lines about it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, Auba was now on 21 goals and still very much in the\nhunt for the golden boot, and the team seemed to be very well aware of it. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watford responded well to going down, with fullbacks joining\nin with the wingers and especially on their right side Sarr \u2013 who had given us\ntrouble previously playing for Rennes in 18-19 Europa league \u2013 was lively,\nfast, tricky and Tierney had to be at his best to manage him. Two central\ndefenders mean there were gaps opening up between Luiz and Holding who were\ndisplaying, individually and collectively, some of their least wanted\nqualities. Danny was moving in and around the box sprightly, combining well\nwith his fellow attackers, but there were not enough poise and guile in their\nplay in the final third to make us pay for the gaps that had started to open\nup. It was also noticeable that the collective defensive discipline of our last\ntwo wins had deserted the team. Evidently the players, to avoid losing out on a\nplace in the cup final held back \u2013 even if unconsciously \u2013 from wanting to\nattack all 50-50 balls or attempt the body-in-line blocks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ceballos was playing well almost as an auxiliary defensive\nmidfielder next to Xhaka, dropping deeper, intercepting passes, turning swiftly\nand driving out of our half. Tierney and AMN both were doing their duties well\nenough and not many dangerous crosses were allowed from the flanks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pepe, with starting position just in front of AMN, couple of\ntimes dribbled the ball forward with pace and right through the middle instead\nof driving down the flanks. He didn\u2019t have enough physicality to hold up the\nball long enough or drive beyond central defense. Joe made a similar run\nthrough the middle but delayed his final pass too much. Watford was seeing more\nof the possession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 24th<\/sup> minute we broke out in one such\ncounter-attack, Joe gave it to Pepe who delivered an excellent cross to Auba on\nthe other side of the penalty box. Auba controlled well and provide a cut-back\nto onrushing Tierney who almost passed the ball into the far corner of the goal\nwith Foster\u2019s view being blocked by his own defenders. It might have taken a\nlittle deflection as well. Tierney\u2019s first goal for the club. In the last few\nmatches he had attempted a few shots at goal and if he were to add the\noccasional goals to his already impressive all-round display then \u2026 well, let\nus not get ahead of ourselves. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 2 (Aubameyang 5\u2019, Tierney 24\u2019) \u2013 Watford 0 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

 A few minutes later the Watford captain clattered AMN to the ground. Fortunately, our right back escaped unharmed. Around 30th<\/sup> minute Holding provided a lovely long pass in the box aiming for Laca, who controlled it with an equally sumptuous first touch but then miskicked the ball. It could have been a memorable goal if Laca was able to put the finishing touch. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then we scored a goal from a long throw! I never remember us\nscoring a goal from a throw into the penalty box. Even though the tactics may\nhave not been the most inspiring, the execution indeed was sublime. Tierney\nthrew the ball in a looping trajectory aimed at our captain, who with his back\ntowards the goal and being tightly marked, used the bottom of his right boot to\nbounce the ball off the ground up to a perfect height for him to execute a\nsumptuous overhead kick that flew in the top right corner of a dumbfounded Ben\nFoster\u2019s goal. If Aubameyang ever to write an autobiography \u2013 or someone to\nwrite it for him, which seems to be the fashion these days \u2013 the title \u201cGoal\nfrom Nowhere\u201d can be hardly bettered. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 3 (Aubameyang 5\u2019, Tierney 24\u2019, Aubameyang 33\u2019) \u2013\nWatford 0 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Watford, to their credit, didn\u2019t lose their focus and kept\nattacking us. There were the occasional kicking out at our players \u2013 which I am\ncertain that Arsenal players nowadays come fully prepared to expect as our\noppositions more often than not are held to a much more lenient standard \u2013 but\ndespite a heart-in-the-mouth moment for our scintillating Scot, no lasting\ndamage was done. Phew!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then David Luiz did a very David Luiz thing, gifting Watford\na penalty by a mistimed tackle on Welbeck. Their corpulent captain stepped up,\nand thumped it mightily past Emi Martinez who despite guessing it right just\nwasn\u2019t fast enough to get his hands behind the shot. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 3 (Aubameyang 5\u2019, Tierney 24\u2019, Aubameyang 33\u2019) \u2013\nWatford 1 (Deeney 43\u2019) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was David Luiz\u2019s fifth penalty giveaway this season in PL, some kind of a record I gather. It has now become a clich\u00e9 to even mention how clich\u00e9d it is to describe Luiz\u2019s game as this pendulum swing between wonderful to devious. Hopefully he got the bad vibes out of his system before the final. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Second half started without any substitutions. Then Xhaka played a perfect parody of himself, absolutely needlessly getting himself a yellow card for mouthing off the referee. It is understandable that the sight of a beard on that face can cause one to lose all sense of proportion, but greater reserves of character are required of Arsenal players. Lacazette ran over to Granit and one could easily guess, based on his gesticulations, what he was telling his teammate: don\u2019t be a f***ing fool! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At that time many of us would have anticipated that Xhaka\nwere to be taken off as he was one rash challenge away from missing the final,\nbut Mikel kept his faith in him and credit to Granit that he controlled his\nimpulses very well and kept his cool for the rest of the match. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

By then the match had taken on a distinctive\nbasketball-esque feel, balls pinging from one penalty box to another, bypassing\nmuch of the midfield. There were lots of scrambles in our goalmouth, they\nmissed a few chances to test Emi, we tried a few counter attacks that fizzled\nout, they saw a couple of yellow cards (how novel!), from one of our corners\nPepe delivered a tantalizing ball that Holding headed above. But we were being\nput more and more under pressure. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Around 56th<\/sup> minute Arteta changed things around.\nNketiah replaced Lacazette who we hope will be all the hungrier for a goal in\nthe final. Kolasinac came on for Willock who tried a few things but didn\u2019t make\nmuch of a mark. We switched to a more familiar 3-4-3 now with Kola slotting back\non the left sided defender, Tierney and AMN moving up as wingbacks. In between\nEmi made another save from Danny. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

AMN started moving forward more now that we were secured by\none additional player in the defense. From one of his overlapping runs he combined\nwell with Ceballos and Pepe and tested Ben Foster with a stinging drive. If he\nhad looked up and towards his left he would have seen Auba was in a bit of\nspace. But it was a good instinctive attempt the kind of which often leads to a\ngoal.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sarr on the other end was still causing problems. From one\nof his deliveries on the ground in front our goalmouth Danny ran in front of\nour static defenders to turn the ball in our goal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 3 (Aubameyang 5\u2019, Tierney 24\u2019, Aubameyang 33\u2019) \u2013\nWatford 2 (Deeney 43\u2019, Welbeck 66\u2019) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a goal they deserved, and given our lackluster\ndefending Watford sensed an opportunity to score more.  Arteta made a couple of substitutions around\n70th<\/sup> minute: Ceballos was replaced by Torreira, and Reiss came on\nfor Pepe. In his 20+ minutes of stay Nelson showed some excellent skills and\nstrength to drive down to the byline a few times past their defenders and\ndeliver a few promising cut-backs and centers. He has had a few problems with\ninjuries since he moved back this season from his loan spell in Hoffenheim, but\nespecially after Arteta took over he looked threatening every time he played.\nUnlike Saka or Martinelli his campaign hadn\u2019t caught the eye so much, it has\nbecome evident that he has great abilities and a very high ceiling, which I\npersonally am looking forward to seeing him achieve in the next few years with\nus. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other end Danny thought he had scored his second goal\nof the match with a deftly executed backheel flick. Martinez, with a\ncombination of anticipation and athleticism, made quite an extraordinary save. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the match was approaching the final minutes Eddie won the\nball in a midfield duel and ran on to the goal, with his captain accompanying\nhim on his left. Instead of taking the chance himself he selflessly laid it out\nfor Auba to score his hat-trick \u2013 which would also have ensured Auba gets his\ngolden boot award, albeit shared with Vardy — but Foster smartly narrowed the\nangle and saved Auba\u2019s effort. I think Arteta and the Arsenal hierarchy may use\nthis moment to demonstrate to Aubameyang how much he is loved and respected in\nthis team. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were a few more opportunities for them that they\nfailed to make the most of. Nelson continued to impress, and the final whistle\nwas blown. Watford players looked dejected as the news of other results came in,\nbut as Mikel put so succinctly after the match that if they had played like\nthis for the entire season, they would have not been facing relegation on the\nfinal day. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even as this strangest of the premier league season ended\nwith us situated deservedly at the lowly 8th<\/sup> position with 56 points\nwith +8 goal difference (56 goals scored and 48 conceded), and outside the top\nsix for the first time since many of our first team players were even born, I\nmyself cannot look forward eagerly enough to the next season. Whatever be the\noutcome of the transfer window, even whatever be the result of the\nso-very-important Cup Final next weekend (winning that would be quite\nremarkable in the context of this season, but no less likely for that), I am\nlooking forward to us playing matches next season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is partly due to the array of young and exciting talents we now have, adding on gems like Tierney and Martinelli to those coming through the academy and the youth set-up: Saka, Nelson, AMN, Willock, Nketiah, Emile Smith Rowe, but equally if not more due to the positive impact that Arteta has made in a very short time. The football seems meticulously planned, prepared, and the players continuously striving to do better (or they are not playing), taking responsibilities for their actions and owning up to errors. There is a refreshing sense of pragmatism, transparency, humility and self-awareness in Arteta\u2019s messages which also have led to a strong sense of the collective purpose in the team. There is a clear recognition of the noticeable lack of qualities in many of the key areas, and willingness to work hard to compensate for it. But those lacks must be addressed to get Arsenal back to where we have always belonged.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal board and owners, over to you! <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have we ever looked forward to the final day of the Premier League season with such an absence of interest? Our worst league standing in more than two decades already guaranteed, even the second tier of European club competition \u2013 once unthinkable for this proud club \u2013 no longer available via the league position, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"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\/1146"}],"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\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1146"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1150,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1146\/revisions\/1150"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1146"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1146"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1146"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}