{"id":12416,"date":"2025-12-11T13:41:07","date_gmt":"2025-12-11T13:41:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12416"},"modified":"2025-12-12T17:29:04","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T17:29:04","slug":"job-done-with-a-few-frights-along-the-way","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12416","title":{"rendered":"Job Done, With a Few Frights Along the Way"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<a id=\"vHh4nOFKTTRny4aF9sJCGw\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2251236160\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'vHh4nOFKTTRny4aF9sJCGw',sig:'iY6ULV1XxvI_xY1MOBYnHxRqleF3YFnJpmc12iZ3liE=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'2251236160',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src=\"\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" async=\"\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>It was with some trepidation that I switched on the telly box last night to watch The Arsenal visit the fair city of Bruges to take on the local team.&nbsp; This despite the Belgians having dispensed with their manager at the weekend, despite sitting in 3<sup>rd<\/sup> in the Belgian first division. My reasons were really around the on-going injury crisis \u2013 and I don\u2019t use the word lightly \u2013 we are currently suffering, with Timber, Rice and Trossard not even travelling to Belgium, along with Saliba, Mosquera and Gabriel, with Havertz no closer to a reappearance and now 15 year old Max Dowman being added to the lengthy list of the Sick, Lame and Lazy, as my old P.E. Teacher used to describe them. To plug the gaps, we denuded the younger teams of some of their players with Nichols (19), Copley (19) and Salmon (16) filling out the bench. The starting side was as strong as it could have been, with a back four of White, Norgaard, Hincapie and MLS.&nbsp; The manager chose to play Odegaard back into form rather than starting Nwaneri and Gyokeres started for the same reason. Thankfully, Saka was rested giving Madueke a chance to make his case along with the ever willing, never hiding Martinelli on the wings. Eze was dropped to the bench, presumably as a punishment for falling asleep on guard duty at the weekend, and the bench welcomed back Gabby Jesus after 11 months out.&nbsp; Bruges for their part started with a former Man City youngster Carlos Forbs and Belgian international Vanaken in midfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The game started in a surprisingly open fashion, with both teams looking to get forward and attack. Arsenal looked a little easy to play through with Vanaken evading the attentions of Zubimendi and Odegaard and providing opportunities for Forbs, who can best be described as being like the proverbial off a shovel giving MLS &#8211; noticeably not terribly well backed up by Martinelli for once &#8211; a torrid time. On 20 minutes a cross from the right-hand touchline from Norgaard came out for MLS to skew a shot fortunately into the path of Hincapie who poked the ball first time from 8 yards out onto the post. On 25 for me came the key moment on the match. Madueke received the ball in midfield back to goal from Zubimendi. The defender closed him, but Madueke showed considerable strength and guile to shift the ball inside and hold him off, quickly moving into a sprint and pulling away from a second midfielder. Closing on the penalty box, Madueke took another touch inside and let fly a left footed, out-swinging shot which was still rising as it, satisfyingly, hit the underside of the cross bar and went in, with the keeper making a good effort and still getting nowhere near. The silence from those who started and signed that ridiculous petition was audible. This is a player who can really develop further under the tutelage of Arteta and his team and I for one am thoroughly looking forward to watching it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As if spurred into action by Madueke, Martinelli \u2013 who up to this point had been somewhat ponderous- kicked into action. His corner, won by attacking his man with a tricky run \u2013 was well hit towards the back post for Hincapie, again, to head across goal, only to see the ball hot a defender on the line. &nbsp; There followed the period of 10-15 minutes up towards half time when the home team began to play again, seemingly having recovered their composure. At this point it felt rather like we were hanging on for half time and they had a couple of efforts, notably from Stankovic which tested Raya, the latter effort requiring a very good save after he had way too easily broken a high line offside trap, set free once again by Vanaken. Madueke finished the half strongly by cutting inside again and letting fly, this time only for the keeper to make a good flying parry-save.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal seemed to start the second half with renewed vigour and belief. After only a couple of minutes, Zubimendi was given the ball on the left side of the final third and decided to run into the space offered by Bruges. His defender didn\u2019t really get too close and Zubimendi hit a fantastic, floated ball towards the back post for Madueke to head in from underneath the crossbar. It really was an almost dreamlike passage of play, as the cross seemed to stay in the air for an age while all around blue and black stripe-clad opponents sleepwalked, leaving Madueke alone to head in. At this point the game was all but done. 8 minutes later it truly was over. Martinelli received a pass from MLS in the edge of the final third on the left-hand touchline. Martinelli controlled and turned, brushing off his defender as he pushed the ball inside. He then dipped his shoulder beating a further defender as he continued to move at pace inside and from the left-hand side of the area hit an unstoppable curling effort into the top right. In the summer, there was, as for Madueke, some ridiculous criticism levelled at Martinelli, with some Arsenal fans \u2013 apparently \u2013 saying that he should be sold.&nbsp; The man has just become the first Arsenal player to score in 5 consecutive Champions Leage games.&nbsp; He gives everything and never hides, unlike some wingers we have had in the past.&nbsp; I hope this puts to bed such nonsense. The keeper really hadn\u2019t done too much wrong but had been beaten by 2 powerful, perfectly placed shots and a sublime cross for the second.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Shortly after, the ineffective Gyokeres was replaced by Jesus, to what sounded like a cacophonous welcome by the travelling support. Calafiori replaced Hincapie, whom we will need on Saturday. In his 30 minutes, Jesus looked bright and sharp and had a few moments of sublime skill. He offers us something which neither Havertz and certainly Gyokeres don\u2019t with his guile and trickery and even managed a shot off the bar. Nwaneri came on and had a couple of efforts as well as the game now ran away from the home side. There was still time for Bruges to mount a couple of spirited attacks and on another day, a cross from Furo which was parried by Raya might have fallen sweetly for Forbs. But in keeping with the rest of the evening, it didn\u2019t and Arsenal were rewarded with the 3 points and a clean sheet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In truth, the scoreline doesn\u2019t necessarily tell the whole story, as at times the opposition played through us with ease. I put this down to the 8 players missing though. We now only require 3 more points from games away at Inter and home to Kairat Almaty to finish in the top 2 of the group stages. Now for a few days rest, followed by Wolves and then a whole week without a game. We need the break.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images It was with some trepidation that I switched on the telly box last night to watch The Arsenal visit the fair city of Bruges to take on the local team.&nbsp; This despite the Belgians having dispensed with their manager at the weekend, despite sitting in 3rd in the Belgian first division. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"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\/12416"}],"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\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12416"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12434,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12416\/revisions\/12434"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}