{"id":159,"date":"2020-01-19T11:36:26","date_gmt":"2020-01-19T11:36:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adobrzanski.ddns.net\/goonerholics\/?p=159"},"modified":"2020-01-19T11:36:26","modified_gmt":"2020-01-19T11:36:26","slug":"blades-cut-late-and-deep-with-mike-deans-help","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=159","title":{"rendered":"Blades cut late and deep with Mike Dean\u2019s help"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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A pellucid day dawned in Cambridgeshire, a fabulous day for football. I normally drive to games, but due to the Holics forever dinner later, I was on the train. Clearly the train companies had caught wind of this because the dread words \u201creplacement bus service\u201d appeared all over the schedule and I was forced to go via Cambridge, not my first choice. However soon I was on the train and heading down into North London, thanks to Mrs Countryman who chauffeured me both ways to the station. Thank you dearest!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had arranged to meet BtM at a pub new to me. Having lived in the Highbury\/Finsbury Park\/Crouch end area I thought I knew most of the boozers. However a favourite of BtM and Bathgooner is the Faltering Fullback. I was intrigued just by the name! Just north of Finsbury Park station it is a rambling back street pub, with equal elements of Arsenal and Rugby memorabilia. Superb pint of Guinness, correctly poured. BtM eventually turned up, having consumed vast quantities of Moussaka as part of his fitness plan (he burns it off by 100 laps a day in the pool and 100 of miles a week on his bike). We put the world to rights while enjoying watching Watford harass Spurs. If only Deeney had the cojones to have scored that penalty \u2026.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A 25 minute walk in the crisp winter\u2019s air to the ground. As I stood on the North Bank it felt very isolated around me. Where was everybody? Turns out that everyone arrived 10 minutes before kick off and there was a 15 \u2013 20 minute wait to get into the ground. By ten past the hour the ground was full. And I do mean full. I couldn\u2019t see a single empty seat anywhere. Our new Basque boss is clearly enthusing the locals. Although it didn\u2019t reflect in the atmosphere which matched the team performance in the first 15; very quiet.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheffield United were clearly difficult to break down through the middle. Our first great chance came as Laca, who worked his little French socks off, held the ball up on the half way line, spun and put Pepe away. He ran at the defence and then crossed to Martinelli, clear on the back post, who maybe should have done better. Lovely move. Then, right on the cusp of half time, we were ahead. Again Laca involved. He played a lovely one-two with Saka on the left who supplied a delicious cross to Martinelli  who had a tap in. One nil to the Arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We came storming out of the traps in the second half, with Pepe and Saka tormenting the Blades\u2019s faltering fullbacks (heh). But Sheffield were doing well to stop our cut backs having got to the line. We couldn\u2019t apply the coup de grace<\/em>. Then, with about 20 minutes to go, came the pivotal moment of the game. Pepe again danced down the right wing and into the penalty area. He beat two men and then was clearly and deliberately tripped. Everyone howled for a penalty. Mike Dean (natch) waved it away. VAR will confirm it, we thought. No. A very short check, 10 seconds max and decision confirmed. A decision described by Shearer and Wright on MOTD as badly wrong. That would have been 2-0 up with 20 to go. Sheffield United would not have come back from that. Now in the previous drinks some esteemed colleagues have suggested that\u2019s it\u2019s our fault for not scoring the second. But if that clear penalty had been given, the whole mood and agenda would have changed. Remember it\u2019s only paranoia if they\u2019re not out to get you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Shortly afterwards we got a free kick just outside the box. Pepe time! But no, Laca took it (why?) and launched it high into the North Bank. He was then immediately subbed for Eddie. The crowd rose to give Laca a tumultuous reception. He had put in a shift and a half. He looked touched and pleased by the cheers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Of course you know the rest. In the 83rd<\/sup> minute (same as Chelsea) they scored what was, in all fairness, a really good goal. Bollocks. And that was that. Another home draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the positives, I thought Laca, Saka, Pepe, Luiz, Martinelli and Torriera played really well with lots of heart, although Pepe is looking more and more like a one trick pony. Ozil was anonymous. Mustafi was strange. Really good for 95% of the game, but two awful brain fart moments that could have led to goals. Plus \u00e7a change, plus c\u2019est la meme chose<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It felt very disappointing. We trudged back to the Faltering Fullback with mood low for a pre prandial with fellow Holics. The mood soon lifted as the Guinness went down. Then a short walk to our destination, an Italian restaurant mentioned several times by the departed landlord and a firm favourite of Bathgooner who made the reservation. Toasts were made to the Guvna and to the Senator from Santa Cruz who had generously and kindly provided the wine in absentia.<\/em> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good food, good wine, good company. Holic in recent years wrote that in recent years, he usually enjoyed the social part of the day more than the football. This was one of those days, and his legacy is new friends meeting in his memory and enjoying themselves. The greybeards present had many decades of watching the Arsenal and the stories flowed and the laughter was frequent. A life affirming meal. Hopefully there are many more to come.So to Tuesday night at the Bridge. I felt we really needed to win yesterday. Clearly that\u2019s even more true about Tuesday. It may be that we now accept mid table in the league and play our best side in the Cups, while giving our great youngsters opportunities in the league. Certainly Ceballos, Holding, Willock and Bellerin, all on the bench yesterday, may return. The new injury to Reiss Nelson is a huge blow. We were so close to beating Chelsea a few weeks ago. It would be sweet if we could do it over at the bus-stop in Fulham.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A pellucid day dawned in Cambridgeshire, a fabulous day for football. I normally drive to games, but due to the Holics forever dinner later, I was on the train. Clearly the train companies had caught wind of this because the dread words \u201creplacement bus service\u201d appeared all over the schedule and I was forced to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"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\/159"}],"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=159"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/159\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=159"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=159"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=159"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}