{"id":12718,"date":"2026-01-25T20:30:19","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T20:30:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12718"},"modified":"2026-01-27T19:06:05","modified_gmt":"2026-01-27T19:06:05","slug":"move-on-fast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=12718","title":{"rendered":"Move on Fast"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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There will be a lot of nonsense spoken and written in reaction to an infuriating loss to Man Utd at home today. I am not interested in using a crazy, one-off game to make sweeping judgements about our season. All teams lose matches. We haven\u2019t got a god given right to win. We\u2019ve had a lot of good days this season and were probably due a shocker. Let\u2019s take it with good grace and the knowing smile of a team on our way to winning the league anyway.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There will be some lessons to learn in terms of how we conceded three goals for the first time in a long time, and Arteta will get the video out and talk the lads through them. For us fans though, I reckon we scrunch this one up, throw it in the bin, and don\u2019t lose sight of the fact that we are winning in four competitions right now.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The match itself was a strange one. We started much the brighter, took control of the ball and forced a series of corners which Manure generally defended well, Lammens looking solid at dealing with balls dropped into the six-yard box. Zubi had a deflected header saved, and I was just saying that we needed to make our dominance count when we scored in the 28th<\/sup> minute. Hincapie swung a deep cross in, Dorgu headed it up, Saka took it down beautifully and laid a lovely chip into the captain whose first time shot was creeping wide until it clipped Martinez\u2019s heal and went in under pressure from our occasional centre-forward Jurrien Timber.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We deserved the lead, we were in control, and Manure only looked dangerous when we were sloppy in possession and almost let Mbeumo in a couple of times. All should have been serene but we did not learn our lesson and tighten up our passing. With less than ten minutes until half time Zubi received the ball from a slightly under pressure Saliba and his attempted back pass went straight to Mbeumo, who rounded Raya and scored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The thing is, and this might not be the most subtle piece of analysis, that\u2019s the game right there. Of course, we absolutely could have gone on to win anyway. But, without us gifting them a goal from nothing, our opponents were simply not going to win this one from a goal down. This mistake ultimately cost us three points. Easy to say with hindsight, and I must admit at the time I was annoyed but still expected us to win. I\u2019ve got no notes for Zubi, who has been brilliant all season and knows what he did, but I do have a request. He coughed one up against Spurs that did not end up costing us, and one today that did. No more, please, Martin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We did not start the second half well, and that is a source of regret. It was the red devils who came out looking fired up and after five minutes Patrick Dorgu scored a screamer from outside the box. Nothing much to say, it\u2019s a great finish and the kind of chance you\u2019d be thrilled to limit the opposition to on a regular basis. But every now and again they fly in. Bloody frustrating, but that\u2019s football. Which rather sums our day up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We had time on our side, but we weren\u2019t creating clear chances and United looked like they could hurt us on the break as we had to take some positional chances. Arteta made four subs before the hour mark, looking to change the pattern of the game, but they didn\u2019t make a huge difference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the seventy-first minute Merino hit a shot that a lunging Maguire took all the sting out of with his hand, and it went through to Lammens. It was a blatant penalty, a clear handball from a shot on target. The ball refused to go out of play for a couple of minutes afterwards, but I was sure that when it did, we were gonna see Pawson sent to the screen by VAR. In the end, he was not. I don\u2019t get it. That\u2019s a penalty. Sometimes you need a bit of luck, or, at least, the correct decision. We didn\u2019t get either today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We laboured on. Plenty of desire but heavy legs and loose passing hampering our efforts. We won plenty of corners and finally made one count when Merino bundled a scrappy one home. Game on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The crowd were up for it, we all wanted to see a final ten minutes of pressure from us. How big would a winner have been at that point? Well, we got to find out, but it came at the wrong end. Rice lost the kind of challenge he normally eats up, the ball squirting through him and arriving at Cunha in far too much space. \u201cGET TO HIM!\u201d I bellowed at the tv, but did our players listen? Did they sausages. The former Wolves man struck a lovely finish past Raya from outside the box to put the game beyond us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, two excellent finishes from positions which a team would normally be thrilled to score one goal from. And a gift from us. That\u2019s how we lost. There will be a temptation to analyse the ever-loving out of this one. Madueke\u2019s entrance saw us put Saka on the left wing where he didn\u2019t do much. Was this the time to try that out? \u00d8degaard was quiet. Rice a blend of determination and sloppiness. And plenty of other talking points besides. Perhaps some of that analysis will be quite useful going forward. But, right now, I am not going to rewatch the game to mine the analytic gold when I still have the mild nausea that comes from watching us throw away a result, empowering a poor United side to perform as well as they can and leave our ground with three points we gift wrapped for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As long as our players use this as a lesson about maintaining the \u2018foggin estandards\u2019 then I have no further interest in the ninety-minute nightmare we went through earlier.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We are still the best team. I still expect us to win the league. I don\u2019t want to spend my Sunday rending garments and claiming the sky is falling. It was just a crap day at the office.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Uuurrrrrggghhh. Horrible!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, they happen. Screw it up. Throw it in the bin. Move on!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Until next time, \u2018holics. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There will be a lot of nonsense spoken and written in reaction to an infuriating loss to Man Utd at home today. I am not interested in using a crazy, one-off game to make sweeping judgements about our season. All teams lose matches. We haven\u2019t got a god given right to win. We\u2019ve had a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"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\/12718"}],"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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=12718"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12718\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12723,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12718\/revisions\/12723"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=12718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=12718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=12718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}