{"id":1708,"date":"2020-11-01T21:52:22","date_gmt":"2020-11-01T21:52:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1708"},"modified":"2020-12-05T15:47:33","modified_gmt":"2020-12-05T15:47:33","slug":"heart-pumping-new-bloods-stir-gunners-to-great-old-trafford-win","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1708","title":{"rendered":"Heart Pumping New Bloods Stir Gunners to Great Old Trafford Win"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"937\" height=\"399\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/foo.png\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1717\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/foo.png 937w, https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/foo-300x128.png 300w, https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/foo-768x327.png 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 937px) 100vw, 937px\" \/><figcaption>(c) Gunnerballz (allegedly)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>\n<strong>Prelude<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite regularly\nringing managerial changes since the departure of the man they refer\nto as \u2018SAF\u2019 (better known in N5 circles as Old Purple Nose, the\nFamous Red Grouse) and investing nearly uncountable millions in their\nsquad, Manchester United have since failed to reach the heights that\ntheir legions of fans in Surrey and beyond believe to be their birth\nright. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Old Trafford has\nlong since ceased to be a fortress, as evidenced by the team\u2019s\ninability to win at home in their first three games, in one of which\nthey also suffered a 6-1 reverse at the hands of \u2026. who was it\nagain?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Given that downward vector, the Arsenal might have expected to do better than achieve a solitary FA Cup win and four low scoring draws over the course of the last decade. Not since we beat United home and away in 2006 have the Arsenal triumphed at \u2018theirs\u2019 in the League, courtesy of a missed Gilberto penalty, a slice of Fabregas delight and a clinical finish by Adebayor. Consequently, only the brave would forecast a win for the away team, hence the Holic pound being wagered on 1-2 to the good guys \ud83d\ude0a<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On top of that\ndoubtful back catalogue the Gunners went into tonight\u2019s game with a\nbrace of monkeys on their back, one on each shoulder, each with\nbananas in hand. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Would the\n\tArsenal be the first team to be beaten at the Old T by the home team\n\tthis season? Cue gasps of horror from \u2018neutral\u2019 pundits rubbing\n\ttheir hands in delight.\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<ul><li>Would the\n\tArsenal F2BaT6T (fail to beat a top six team\u2026\u2026.yawn) since,\n\twell, Noah launched his ark from John Brown\u2019s Yard on the Clyde?\n\tCue an \u2018aghast\u2019 global chorus of cynical chortling.\n<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>In their last\nouting, ManU scored 5 against RB Leipzig with schools\u2019 lunch hero\nRashford serving up a hot sausage-and-mash fueled hat-trick in the\nspace of the final 15 minutes. Would that prove to be the perfect\naperitif for the home team to savour their visitors on toast? (Or\nwould Marcus reserve that pleasure for the next visit of his new mate\nBoris to Manchester?)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mikel Arteta elected\nto stick largely with the players and formation who\u2019ve come\nclose\/failed miserably, (depending on whether you prefer to drink\nyour whisky or piss in it), in the past two League games against Man\nCity and Leicester. In both of those, failure to convert guilt-edged\nchances cost the Gunners dearly. To win tonight that failure would\nneed to be corrected, preferably with knobs on and whistles blowing. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pepe, Lacazette and\nAubamayang were <em><strong>not<\/strong><\/em> entrusted to deliver on the promise\ntheir names conjured when Nico\u2019s signing was announced and the more\nseasoned Willian started on the right wing in preference to the man\nfrom the Ivory Coast.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Xhaka\u2019s skill\nrange is a small subset of that of Arsenal\u2019s new midfield\npowerhouse Thomas Partey and so it was pleasing to see Granit take\nthe hard rock road to the subs bench and be replaced by the much more\nnimble and creative Mo Elneny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With only three of\neight centre backs fit, it was no great surprise to see Rob Holding\npreferred over Mustafi to replace the recently rejuvenated but\ninjured Luiz. Gabriel was afforded the opportunity to extend his\nimpressive entr\u00e9e to the Premier League. Kieran Tierney played as\nthe third CB with license to thrill by getting forward if the\nopportunity presented itself.  The twin talents Bellerin and Saka\nstarted as attacking wing-backs with the excellent Leno in goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal:\nLeno, Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney, Saka, Partey, Elneny,\nWillian, Aubameyang, Lacazette<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Man\nUtd: De Gea, Wan-Bissaka, Lindelof, Maguire, Shaw, McTominay, Fred,\nPogba, Fernandes, Greenwood, Rashford<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Off<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In an eerily silent\nstadium Aubameyang got the game underway after a solemn moment in the\nmemory of Nobby Stiles and a collective bend of the knee. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal started\nconfidently and aggressively with both Willian and Saka threatening\nwide. The latter won two corners after 5 minutes but neither produced\na real threat. Shortly after, a confident forward move by Partey to\nAubameyang to Saka produced Arsenal\u2019s first threat on goal but\nSaka\u2019s shot was blocked. The early omens were good.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>An excellent move\nfeaturing Partey, Elneny and Willian had Bellerin fizzing a ball\nacross the six-yard box which Auba just failed to convert. So close!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It was all Arsenal\nwith hard pressing everywhere, crisp and confident passing all over\nthe field, and some excellent ball winning in midfield by Lacazette\nand Partey. When Fernandez fired a pass into the box, Greenwood was\nmarshalled confidently by Gabriel, before being ruled off-side. Our\nnew Brazilian looked solid as a rock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>By 20 minutes, even\nGary Neville had stopped talking about the home team\u2019s midfield\ndiamond (thank fook) but was still stirring hope amongst the Surrey\nfaithful by repeating constantly \u201cRashford is looking sharp\u201d.\nReally?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p> The Arsenal were\nplaying some lovely football. Saka and Tierney combined well for a\nfierce cross to the middle which Willian was unable to convert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After 25 minutes, United finally made it into our back third. Their first effort, a cross-field ball by Greenwood to Rashford was comfortably saved by Leno for a corner which came to nothing. The diamond\u2019s cutting edge was seriously in question \ud83d\ude0a Had they bought yet another fake?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wan-Bissaka had to\nfoul Saka who\u2019d dispossessed and then sprinted past him. Willian\u2019s\nblistering free kick was blocked on the line by Pogba, the Gunners\nwere coming close.  \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>United reverted to form &#8211; their specialty, a long punt forward resulted in another offside decision against Fernandez. Shortly after Gabriel was booked for a clever hold-up on Rashford. Immediately after, Laca, playing right out of his socks won yet another tackle in midfield. He was fouled but still pushed the ball to Willian who glided a lovely ball just over Lindelhof\u2019s head, but once again, Auba couldn\u2019t quite convert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A beautiful build up\non the right resulted in a Bellerin cross to Auba who cut back to\nLaca but Lindelhof just managed to get a toe to the ball resulting in\na Laca air shot. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>That was\nsuper-close! \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Seconds later,\nanother beautifully crafted move saw Willian smack the bar just\nbefore a great build up on the right saw Willian hit the ball just\ntoo deep for Saka to convert.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then. An even better chance. (Could such a thing be possible?) On the right wing, Bellerin to Willian to Bellerin, a beautiful cross to Saka for a free header. Sadly, and to his chagrin, the young wonder headed rather tamely over the bar.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In a compelling\nfirst-half for Gunners\u2019 fans, the Arsenal were by far the more\ncomposed team. They came closest to scoring BUT as in the games\nagainst Liverpool, City and Leicester failed to convert some really\nexcellent chances. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Absent all three of the Marx brothers in defense and without Xhaka in midfield the Gunners\u2019 propensity to focus on forty five degree backward passes was as infrequent as a visit by Manure into Arsenal\u2019s final third.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Would failure to\nconvert come back and hurt us in the second half?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Manchester United\n0 \u2013 Arsenal 0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Second Half<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Perhaps \u2018Olli at\nthe wheel\u2019 had borrowed the Famous Red Grouse\u2019s hair dryer for\nthe interval. McTominey thumped into Auba before winning a corner off\nHolding which came to nothing. Quickly after, Greenwood made his way\ninto the box and won another corner, which the Arsenal defended well.\nIt was apparent immediately that United\u2019s mindset had been retuned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mike Dean did his\nbit on 50 mins and blocked an excellent pass as Arsenal pressed\nforward. His efforts came to nothing though as, only seconds later\nbrilliant work by Laca set up Auba for a golden chance. The\nGoonerverse held its collective breath, as Pierre opened his body,\nwaved the wand that is his right foot and waited for the ball to hit\nthe net. <em>Unbelievably<\/em> the ball sailed wide of the post for\nArsenal 25<sup>th<\/sup> gilt-edge chance miss in four big games.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The game opened up, United glimmered and the Gunners\u2019 pressing momentarily lost a bit of its edge. A na\u00efve Bellerin push on Pogba gave Utd a great chance from a free kick. Maguire rose for a free header from an in-swinging ball but his head or his hair, perhaps full of Greece, caused, him to steer the ball wide when he should have scored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Elneny, who was\noutstanding today, then controlled the ball beautifully before moving\nit to Partey. Thomas fired a powerful rocket which was saved by De\nGea only because it went straight at him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Although Arsenal had started the game with a nominal back three by mid-way through this second half Holding and Gabriel were holding the Manure attack so confidently that our defense was based on a back two giving Bellerin and Tierney a great deal of free rein to flood forward to reinforce midfield and sprint wide to provide danger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A great cross by\nTierney from one foray forward with Saka caused De Gea to punch the\nball high. Elneny collected the ball confidently and steadied\nhimself. Sadly he shot over missing another great chance. Elneny\ncould have made a REAL name for himself there.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And then finally,\nthe knife was inserted and a fatal wound inflicted in a very wounded\nanimal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The effervescent\nWillian pushed the ball into the right side of the box for Bellerin.\nPogba tripped Hector. Even \u2018neutral\u2019 Gary Neville said \u201cdefinite\npenalty\u201d and our captain Pierre Emerick made no mistake from the\nspot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Manchester United\n0 \u2013 Arsenal 1 <\/strong>\n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mike Dean was\ndevastated to have to make the penalty award but really had no\nchoice, poor man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"244\" height=\"236\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/11\/Man_United_Away_2020-Mike_Dean.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1710\"\/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Could Arsenal\nmaintain their cool, their shape, their form and their calm and steer\nthe game to a historic win?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Greenwood\npressurized Gabriel in our left corner and, for once got the better\nof our Brazilian who was forced to give away a foul in a dangerous\nposition, which Arsenal defended well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the final phase, Arteta replaced Laca, who\u2019d been fantastic, by Nketiah for the last 15 minutes. Van de Beek and Cavani were introduced by United as Solskjaer decided to go for broke. School dinner man Rashford claimed a corner for a ball that had ricocheted off McTominey, but Mike Dean wasn\u2019t hoodwinked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Rob Holding went\ndown causing concern but recovered quickly avoiding the prospect of\nMustafi catastrophe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A high lob into the box by Pogba was grabbed confidently by Leno who\u2019d had really little to do. Then moments later Gabriel brilliantly disposed Matic before Leno saved from Elneny with his head off the post! Brilliant! Who needs Martinez when you have a talented German like that in your goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nerves for this\nviewer were set on edge by the sight of Mustafi emerging for Auba on\n86 minutes. Another brick in the defensive wall, or a brick clanger?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Four minutes of\nOllie time. In 92 minutes Elneny, who\u2019d run himself into the\nground, demonstrated the Arteta effect to the very full by getting\nforward and pressing hard to prevent Shaw getting forward. Excellent!\nMoments after, Matic had United\u2019s last chance when he shot weakly\nfrom the edge of box. Leno saved easily.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>In Conclusion<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arteta set the team\nup brilliantly for this contest. The Arsenal players applied\nthemselves perfectly. Partey was a solid rock in midfield and was my\nman of the match just ahead of Saka, Tierney, Elneny, Gabriel and\nHolding. There wasn\u2019t one weak link in the chain tonight. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Xhaka has been an\never present for Arteta and I suspect Mikel must have thought hard\nbefore leaving him on the bench. However, in his absence the team\u2019s\nforward movement was massively better and Elneny in particular shone\nlike a beacon. Freed of the obsession to pass the ball back,\nsideways, or across to our Swiss \u2018quarterback\u2019, he looked like a\ncompletely new signing. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Today was a very big day in the development of Arteta\u2019s Arsenal. The project is still very much a work in progress but all of the key indicators are, at least in this viewer\u2019s eyes, shining a bright shade of green. Many will be desperately sad and despondent because, just as they were after the Leicester game, the Arsenal are still a whole four points off table leadership, which can be interpreted apparently as an indicator of a eighth to twelfth place finish. Bah humbug, Arteta doesn\u2019t have it!  \ud83d\ude0a <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s a very happy\nnight for this old timer so, go on, ask me. When did the Arsenal\nF2BaT6T?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>About thirty minutes ago, sunshine!  \ud83d\ude0a  \ud83d\ude0a  \ud83d\ude0a <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Keep winning\nArsenal. Play better.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Prelude Despite regularly ringing managerial changes since the departure of the man they refer to as \u2018SAF\u2019 (better known in N5 circles as Old Purple Nose, the Famous Red Grouse) and investing nearly uncountable millions in their squad, Manchester United have since failed to reach the heights that their legions of fans in Surrey and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"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\/1708"}],"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\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1708"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1736,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1708\/revisions\/1736"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1708"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1708"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1708"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}