{"id":1175,"date":"2020-08-02T15:59:24","date_gmt":"2020-08-02T14:59:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1175"},"modified":"2020-08-05T17:31:57","modified_gmt":"2020-08-05T16:31:57","slug":"one-nil-down-two-one-up-this-ones-for-the-goonerholic","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1175","title":{"rendered":"One-nil down, two-one up \u2013 this one\u2019s for the Goonerholic"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
Photo courtesy of BergkamptheMan and Bathgooner<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

It\nseemed so strange not to be there. We have had five Wembley Cup Finals since\n2011. I\u2019ve been lucky enough to have been at all of them. The ritual was\nengrained. Early travel to Wembley, couple of beers, dinner on the way home. So\nmany pictures were on social media before the game, including several of the\ngentleman (and I use the word advisedly) above, Dave Faber, the Goonerholic.\nDave loved a final. Several drinkers in this bar enjoyed his company there,\nmany many more read his reports.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So\nthe TV and the sofa it was. I chose the BBC, mainly for the sheer pro Arsenal\nexuberance of Wrighty, who nicely squashed the odious Cashley. I\u2019m told BT\nSport had RvP. He would have turned my beer so I gave that a swerve. Aunty Beeb\nit was, despite Danny Murphy on co-comms, never a fan of ours.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was a matter of considerable pride that our 20 man squad included seven Academy graduates \u2013 and that doesn\u2019t include Martinez or Bellerin who both joined at 16 from abroad. Is it that we are down to the bare bones, or are we blessed with a golden Hale End generation? Whichever, it must have made Per Mertesacker and Freddie Lundberg glow with pride. The team was a 3-4-3 with KT, Luiz and Rob at the back, Hector and AMN at wingback, Xhaka and Dani in midfield and the big three of Auba, Laca and Pepe up front. No Kola thank God and a reward for AMN for his excellent game against City. I hope he remembered to take Mahrez out of his shorts before the game started. A lovely and typically Arsenal touch was a massive banner thanking Ken Friar for 70 years service. He started in 1950. Even TTG and goonersince54 haven\u2019t been around that long!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Off we went. In a sign of things to come AMN completely outpaced Azpilicueta on the left and knocked in a perfect cross which Auba headed just wide. But Chelsea were about to have their best period of the game. With the blues pressing fiercely, Xhaka gave away the ball in midfield and Mount closed in and forced a good save from Martinez. On five minutes, disaster struck. Mount again drove into the box, slipped it to Giroud, who cleverly backheeled it (sounds familiar) to Pulisic,  Auba\u2019s former Dortmund teammate, who, with great feet, made space and slipped it past Emi. The American was looking very very good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 0-1 Chelsea (Pulisic 5)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

For\na while it didn\u2019t get any better. Chelsea continued a high press and were\ndominating midfield, with Jorghino playing simple passes and good running in\nthe channels. That man Pulisic again forced a save from Emi. Then the game\nbegan to turn. Kovacic climbed in on Xhaka. Foul and a yellow card. A few\nminutes later the same player clattered Dani. Foul but no second yellow. Surely\nhe was in the last chance saloon? Dani took the free kick himself but put it\njust over. The water break on 21 minutes seemed critical if we weren\u2019t going to\nget overrun. These time outs have played into Arteta\u2019s skills and he was into\neverybody, arms waving, instructions in umpteen languages being given. Our\nlittle Basque is not what you call a laid back manager!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 25 minutes KT3 played a lovely ball to Auba on the edge of the box who laid it off for Pepe. With one of those reminders as to why we paid \u00a372m for him he curled a worldie into the top corner. Sadly Auba was deemed, correctly, to be just offside when he received the ball. But the improvement continued. Again Kieran played a long ball, fully 80 yards, into the path of an onside Auba. His electric pace was far too much for Azpilicueta. The pulling began five yards outside the box and, stupidly, continued well into the box. Anthony Taylor gave the penalty that nobody seemed to disagree with, not even Danny Murphy. Lots of discussion as to whether it should have been a red card, like Luiz at the Bridge, because he clearly wasn\u2019t attempting to play the ball, but R\u00fcdiger\u2019s presence just saved him. A yellow it was.  Auba placed the ball, gave one deep breath and drove it nervelessly into the right corner of the net. Get in!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea (Aubameyang 28)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We were now in our best period of the game. A long ball to Giroud saw Luiz put his hand on his back. Now Giroud, as we recall, has a very low pain threshold and he collapsed to the floor screaming. No foul and VAR agreed. Cheating little Frenchman. He never got those when he played for us either. It has to be said, Luiz was doing an excellent job on him. Azpilicueta went off with a hamstring and was replaced by Christensen. Xhaka pulled off a wonderful Bobby Moore like tackle. Has there been a better arising from the dead since Lazarus? Pepe was putting in a lot of lovely left footed crosses from the right wing and really troubling Chelsea at the far post. As half time approached he was upended just outside the box. Laca knocked it well wide. Five minutes of injury time. Just time for a yellow card for Mason Mount for another foul on Dani.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half time Arsenal 1-1 Chelsea<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the BBC half time report a lovely little segment on how clearly you could hear the coaches. It seems that Arsenal had gained another coach, with Wrighty\u2019s screams of \u201cman on\u201d and \u201ctackle him Rob\u201d from the commentary box clearly audible. Wrighty would fit right in on the North Bank.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At\nthe start of the second half, Pulisic, clearly Chelsea\u2019s best player, ran\nthrough our midfield and just put the ball past the post. But he was screaming\nas he hit the shot and another hamstring had popped. He was replaced by Pedro,\nwhose first act was to seriously outpace Rob Holding , although to no great\neffect. The game was really open and we broke leaving Laca with the ball and an\nunmarked Auba screaming for the ball. Unfortunately Laca released the ball just\ntoo late and Auba was closed down. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An\nhour gone. We were giving Chelsea too much space again as the 25 degree heat\nbegan to make for tired legs. The Arsenal faithful online were growing\nincreasingly fretful, including your correspondent. But just as we were\nworrying, Hector picked up the ball in our half and he drove, like Martinelli\nat the Bridge, right through the middle of the Chelsea midfield. He was taken\nout ten yards outside the box, but Taylor played a good advantage as the ball\nfell to Pepe on the right. He slid in Auba, who turned Zouma into a pretzel\nbefore dinking a delightful little chip over Caballero. What a goal! One worthy\nof any Cup Final. And what a player. New contract please \u2013 just pay the man!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 2-1 ((Aubameyang 78)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now\nthe nerves really kicked in. We are not renowned for holding leads, to the\nextent that dog walkers will not allow the team to substitute. Then, a key\nmoment. Kovacic fouled Xhaka. A yellow card came out, but it was for Ceballos,\nwho was mouthing off. Then, in slow motion, as if he had heard all the Arsenal\nfans screaming (maybe it was Wrighty) he pulled out a second yellow, then a\nred, for Kovacic. Danny Murphy, who will seldom admit there has been a foul\nunless a leg is hanging off, was disgusted. Chelsea were down to ten men with\nten minutes to go.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As befits an all London final, it was getting feisty. R\u00fcdiger fouled Xhaka and got a yellow. Arteta got himself booked, in the Wenger tradition. Chelsea made three subs, bringing off Mount (who had looked very dangerous), Giroud (who had done little after that early backheel assist) and R\u00fcdiger for Abraham, Hudson-Odoi and Barkley. Then a moment of horror. Martinez, excellent all game, came for a long Chelsea ball and appeared to have caught it outside his area. Anthony Taylor waved it away (is he trying to make up for sending Kos off against Villa?) and, for some reason, no replays were shown. After the game, a BBC replay appeared to have shown that the ball was just, just, on the line. Wrighty was convinced, Cashley less so. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Eddie came on for Laca. Luiz went down and his race was run. Sokratis came on. Barkley\u2019s sole contribution was to foul Eddie and pick up yet another Chelsea yellow card. Up went the board. Seven (!) minutes of added time. Oh my God. We were defending deep when we should have been passing, passing, passing against ten men. Pepe got away with a clattering foul on the edge of our box. Pedro burst through from the loose ball but Emi again claimed it confidently with Papa shielding him well. Pedro went down and stayed down with what looked like a painfully dislocated shoulder. Chelsea were down to nine men. For some reason Arteta played with our heartstrings and brought on Kola for the excellent Kieran Tierney. After an interminable period of about eleven minutes of added on time the final whistle went. We had won our 14th<\/sup> FA Cup!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full time. Arsenal 2-1 Chelsea<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Courtesy of Countryman100’s TV<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Oh my. Arteta wins the Cup as player and manager, emulating George Graham. We have now won 10% of all the FA Cups ever. Silverware (where\u2019s yours Tottenham?). You in the drinks can decide the stars, but for me every manjack was a ten. What a triumphant end to a very bumpy season of three managers and our worst league position for 25 years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then\na hugely pleasing coda. It appears that by winning the FA Cup, we take a place\nin the Europa League group stages in October (gosh who knew?). The team\nfinishing sixth in the Premier League have to go into the qualifying stages and\nplay three one off games to reach the same stage, starting in mid September. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Oh\nyes, the team finishing sixth? Tottenham Hotspur FC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I\nthereby declare August 1 as St Totteringham\u2019s day by proxy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

One\nman who would have so enjoyed that, as well as the day and the win, is Dave\nFaber to whom this blog is dedicated. On the first FA Cup final since his sad\ndeath on Christmas Day, I hope he was watching from heaven with friends, family\nand maybe a glass or two of Ambrosia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cheers\nDave. This one was for you.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It seemed so strange not to be there. We have had five Wembley Cup Finals since 2011. I\u2019ve been lucky enough to have been at all of them. The ritual was engrained. Early travel to Wembley, couple of beers, dinner on the way home. So many pictures were on social media before the game, including […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"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\/1175"}],"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\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1175"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1180,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1175\/revisions\/1180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1175"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1175"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1175"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}