{"id":13236,"date":"2026-04-16T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T06:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13236"},"modified":"2026-04-18T15:39:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-18T14:39:28","slug":"its-happy-hour-again","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=13236","title":{"rendered":"It\u2019s Happy Hour Again!"},"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:416px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1539757778\" 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:100% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1539757778?et=GriyV_N-SpFvQWTG6DWVmw&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=2Hz7u478J5WQ35ly8BxTzEUd3ZAglb1-mTLpxihpaOE=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"416\" height=\"416\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>We approached this game in a state of disarray. 3 games lost out of the last 4, where we had lost fewer games than that in the previous 40. I and many others, had been to Wembley, Southampton and the Emirates and seen 3 performances the only descriptor for which is bloodless. We had had talk from Mikel about bringing lunch and dinner and getting behind the team. Ahead of this game the talk from the manager was of \u201cno fear, pure fire.\u201d  After such Stentorian calls to arms, there could be no hiding place. Mikel has always been one for fierce words. Of late though, it has increasingly seemed that he has been shouting into the void. A performance aligned with the rhetoric was required.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The teams were announced and the injuries continue to be considerable, with Havertz not starting and Saka, Timber, Odegaard and Calafiori not even making the bench. Merino is still out. The bench contained 16-year-olds Dowman and Salmon, 19-year-old MLS and 20-year-old Harrison Dudziak, along with 2 keepers. Out of an 11 man bench. What is Arteta supposed to do?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pre match, the crowd was deafening. A fabulous rendition of NLFE.&nbsp; What little hair I have was on end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal started at great speed. Pressing from Madueke.&nbsp; Arsenal noticeably started very fast with quick forward passing. Players like Eze and Madueke showing, taking responsibility early on. Great to see as it is this that has been missing for the last 6 weeks. For the first 5 minutes, this was the Arsenal we have wanted to see for so long.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After 10 minutes Sporting began to see more of the ball. 12 minutes, a Sporting player with a name alarmingly close to Catamite faked an injury in a sad attempt to get a penally. &nbsp;The nominative determinism adjacent Sporting player was truly pathetic, and was treated as such in one of the, at best, scatty, referee\u2019s more insightful decisions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>17 minutes, Arsenal played around their press really well, only for Saliba to play a terrible pass giving the ball away and allowing a bloke with a tache straight out of a late 70s porn movie to take a shot. Fortunately, this went wider than I imagine the bell bottoms on said porn stars trousers may well have been. Had I seen such a movie. Which I haven\u2019t.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>20 mins, some other bloke should see a yellow card for a cynical foul on Madueke. Free kick. Terrible short free kick routine from Arsenal. Fortunately, Martinelli raced back to rob the Sporting player. Hmm.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>28mins &#8211; best move of the day brilliant pass from Eze sees Zubi pass to Gyokeres who scuffs. Corner results but nothing comes of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Raya on 39 made the kind of awful pass out from his box that we would have absolutely slaughtered Kepa for, but, not for the first time, he got away with it. Then, on 42 they hit the post, a cross to the back post from Araujo who oughtn\u2019t even to have been on the pitch after his first leg performance, went to Catamite who, unmarked, hit the post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Half Time Arsenal 0 Sporting 0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sporting started faster. When we had the ball, Gyokeres was a complete passenger. One long ball saw him rooted to the spot while his marker ran straight past him to chest it down.&nbsp; This is not good enough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On 49 from a short free kick Eze hit a shot which went 5 feet past the post. On 55 Madueke went past 2 on the right, crossed and Martinelli hit over. On 56 the invisible Gyokeres was taken off for Havertz.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Madueke had another shot just past the post on 56. Better. On 60, Madueke was taken out, yet again no foul. The referee was not good. Madueke had to be replaced by Dowman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On 65 the professional cheat Araujo made an absolutely shocking dive trying to get a penalty. This player should not even be on the pitch at this point, after his dozen fouls in the away leg and rightly the referee ignored it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After 71 minutes, Arsenal won what seemed like our first header by a forward. Havertz wins these, Gyokeres cannot. He increasingly seems to be a man confined to the ground as if he were wearing Neil Armstrong\u2019s moon boots.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An alleluia moment on 78 when finally, Araujo finally received a booking after 170 minutes of seemingly licensed fouling. Presumably, the referee was simply embarrassed into it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We then had 2 subs &#8211; Trossard for Martinelli.&nbsp; Jesus for Eze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On 83, a looped corner from Dowman wide of the back post saw Trossard head from 6 yards onto the post. It was noticeable how the vacuous commentary pair of Champion and McCoist reacted rather less animatedly at this one that the Sporting one in the first half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal played the game out, pretty much without event.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Final Score Arsenal 0 Sporting 0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Notes:<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Firstly. my moral cowardice meant I didn\u2019t attend tonight. I went to Wembley, Southampton and then home to Bournemouth. I couldn\u2019t take any more. Pitiful. I apologize.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Secondly, We are now in the semi-finals of the Champions League\/European Cup for the first time in consecutive years. Ever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Thirdly, 2 of the other 3 clubs we have beaten in the qualifying rounds. None of the other clubs plays in a competitive league.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>D. Arteta has clearly known that we have been running on fumes for the last 6 weeks. As a result, the only tool he has had is rhetoric. It has been difficult, but sometimes this is all a leader can call on. This might not be our finest hour. But sometimes, we need to be told that that we need to put the effort in as if it were. I was lacking. The players were not.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whatever happens from here on in, let\u2019s just try to hold that in mind.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images We approached this game in a state of disarray. 3 games lost out of the last 4, where we had lost fewer games than that in the previous 40. I and many others, had been to Wembley, Southampton and the Emirates and seen 3 performances the only descriptor for which is [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[24,6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13236"}],"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=13236"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13236\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13249,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13236\/revisions\/13249"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=13236"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=13236"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=13236"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}