{"id":13215,"date":"2026-04-11T19:22:30","date_gmt":"2026-04-11T18:22:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13215"},"modified":"2026-04-14T21:35:54","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T20:35:54","slug":"one-for-the-naysayers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13215","title":{"rendered":"One for the Naysayers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:594px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/2270285228\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div><div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:66.66667% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/2270285228?et=HVFcpsCmRYlEIRQsri33pw&#038;tld=com&#038;sig=IYr4Ojq6SQU8V_D5s23UlHALJjRKyr6Bv4FFKkS2X2U=&#038;caption=true&#038;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Writing for this blog, since we formed it in January 2020, has largely been a joy and a privilege as we attempt to follow the principles and good sense of the late, great Dave Faber in writing honestly and proudly about our great club.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today that task feels very tough after a quite dispiriting 2-1 defeat by Bournemouth. I will follow the usual approach after a bad defeat by not regurgitating all the details of a depressing match but rather, will try to find some sense and reason in what was, in all honesty, a truly shocking display.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The match details were as follows: we started with White and MLS at fullback, Havertz playing in the hole behind Gy\u00f6keres and had Madueke and Martinelli out wide.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bournemouth took the lead, quite deservedly, in the 17th minute through Kroupi after Truffert had broken onto a pass through a square defence and his cross was deflected to Kroupi at the far post. We equalised in the 37th minute from the penalty spot through Gy\u00f6keres following a clear handball by&nbsp; Christie and went in level at the break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Most of those around me were concerned about the leniency and inconsistency of Michael Oliver&#8217;s refereeing especially in ignoring the rough treatment of Madueke by Truffert, the Bournemouth left back. Many Arsenal players were having a shocker with Havertz probably the worst performer but several players tried to rival him in acquiring that accolade.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Bournemouth started the second half much the better team as Arsenal could not impose themselves on the game at all. About fifteen minutes in, Arteta made a triple substitution, bringing&nbsp; on Eze, Trossard and Dowman for Havertz, Martinelli and Madueke but signally failed to get the ball forward, often putting Raya under pressure, with back passes, which he dealt with, sometimes in extraordinary fashion, almost committing horrendous faux pas on several occasions. Alex Scott won the game for Bournemouth in the 75th minute pouncing on an Evanilson flick and steering the ball into the left-hand corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Cue a whole load of anti-Arteta feeling including an idiot behind me who wanted him fired on the spot. Arsenal huffed and puffed, forcing a few late corners, but their attacking performance wasn&#8217;t incisive enough to trouble a well- organised, if cynical, Bournemouth side. We might well look at their right back Jimenez for next season as he was particularly impressive. The game ended in funereal silence as Arsenal supporters endured another Groundhog Day experience.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So a few questions remain:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Firstly, why were we so bad? Arsenal looked both gassed and bereft of confidence. Iraiola produced a very well-organised press from a team who have played around fifteen games less than us this season and who were not involved in a draining Champions League tie in midweek.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some Arsenal players had shocking games. Havertz was awful, Zubimendi looks worn out and his usually excellent distribution was poor. Ben White looks a shadow of his former self and MLS has understandably lost confidence through having played so little.&nbsp;Even Raya did some extraordinary things (and not in a good way), several times almost gifting possession to Bournemouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some of our very best players and the most reliable &#8211; Timber, Hincapi\u00e9, Calafiori, Saka and \u00d8degaard were missing and Bournemouth are a very decent side with a great eye for an emerging player .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I think there are two central reasons other than the pressure of a title race which explain our decline. Our high intensity football is very tiring and progressively causes wear and tear injuries. The recent preponderance of Arsenal players withdrawing from the interlull matches was not a crafty ploy to rest tired Gooner legs but an admissionthat we are running on a mixture of fumes and injured limbs.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Secondly, we did not&nbsp; construct quite as good a squad as we hoped in the summer &#8211; Kepa and N\u00f8rgaard are not of the requisite quality (although, second keeper is a hard position to fill), White appears to be on a steep decline, MLS is struggling and all three of Martinelli, Jes\u00fas and Trossard might be upgraded while Havertz has suffered a year of serious injuries and is much less influential than he was, notwithstanding Tuesday. In retrospect, we might have done well to retain Nwaneri who would have had plenty of football since Christmas.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Premier League is an ultra-marathon as we are finding to our cost. I&nbsp; still believe firmly in Arteta but failure this season will hurt us all enormously. Dare we hope that there are still positive twists in the story, this season, to lift our hearts? At this stage, I&#8217;m struggling to see them!&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images Writing for this blog, since we formed it in January 2020, has largely been a joy and a privilege as we attempt to follow the principles and good sense of the late, great Dave Faber in writing honestly and proudly about our great club.\u00a0 Today that task feels very tough after [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"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\/13215"}],"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\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=13215"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13232,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13215\/revisions\/13232"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}