{"id":1746,"date":"2020-11-06T12:01:51","date_gmt":"2020-11-06T12:01:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1746"},"modified":"2020-11-07T21:20:41","modified_gmt":"2020-11-07T21:20:41","slug":"norwegians-sent-back-to-the-fjords-eventually","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1746","title":{"rendered":"Norwegians Sent Back To The Fjords Eventually"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"Joe
(c) Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Mikel Arteta made 9 changes from the team that triumphed at Old Trafford on Sunday. Only Bernd Leno and Willian survived as the Boss rotated his squad for a home Europa League game. The full team was:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leno,\nMaitland-Niles, Mustafi, Luiz, Kolasinic, Willian, Xhaka, Ceballos,\nPepe, Willock, Nketiah<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subs:\nRunarsson, Macey, Bellerin, Tierney, Gabriel, Saka, Lacazette,\nAubamayang, Holding, Partey, Cedric, Elneny<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keen\neyed Gooners immediately noted the lack of Reiss Nelson (to the\nchagrin of BtM) and Emile Smith-Rowe, who both proved to be injured\nand also the highly rated Balogun who made his debut last week\nagainst Dundalk in the same competition. No explanation was given for\nhis absence. The team looked like a 3-4-3 with Xhaka at centre back\nand with wing backs, although as always we expected a fluid shift of\nformation through the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal\nstarted brightly in the first 10. The shape became apparent, with\nPepe on the right, Willian on the left, Ceballos sitting in front of\nthe back three and Willock buzzing around as a Ramseyesque 8\/10 with\nlicence to make runs into the box. During those first 10, Joe had\nfizzed across a wicked ball which Eddie just failed to connect with.\nA few minutes later Pepe put Eddie in with a good ball, but it was\njust cleared for a corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The\ngame settled down. Molde looked accomplished in midfield and\norganised at the back. Arsenal were moving the ball a little slowly.\nThen on 21 minutes, for the second week running, a Leno clearance put\nus in trouble. This time it wasn\u2019t \u201cpissing about at the back\u201d\n(\u00a9Bathgooner) but rather a long clearance downfield. Eddie was the\ntarget but he was comfortably outjumped by Molde\u2019s giant centre\nhalf and the ball came back at us, seemingly much to our surprise.\nThe Norwegians moved the ball quickly and found Ellingsen in acres of\nspace on the right just outside our area. He hit it well and beat\nLeno on his right hand post. Leno looked slightly out of position and\nmaybe could have done better.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

21\nmins Arsenal 0-1 Molde (Ellingsen)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We\nfought back well and attacked hard. Willian and Pepe swapped wings.\nWillian was getting in some crosses, unfortunately all too long. On\n33 minutes Willock, comfortably our best player, ran into the box,\nbeat his man and just failed with a cutback to Eddie. We were\npressing much higher and the spaces were appearing. On 42 minutes, a\nlovely move saw Pepe jink twice before passing the ball to Eddie who\nput the ball in the net. Willock was side by side with him and the\nLinesman\u2019s flag went up for offside. I can understand why the flag\nwent up. Willock was offside, Eddie wasn\u2019t, but the two players\nwere very close and it wasn\u2019t apparent who had actually scored.\nSlow motion replays showed that Willock wasn\u2019t interfering with\nplay and Eddie was onside but VAR is not being used in the EL Group\nstages. A shame because I think VAR would have given the goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As\nwe went into added time at the half, we broke rapidly from a Molde\ncorner. Xhaka slipped in Eddie on the right. He crossed to Willock,\nin the box again, and his pressure forced Haugen to put through his\nown net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

46\nmins Arsenal 1-1 Molde (Haugen OG)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

HT\nArsenal 1-1 Molde<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In\nthe first half we were losing the ball more than the first team do\nand our final ball was not precise enough. We gave away a sloppy goal\n(albeit finished well) but after that we picked up our game, pressed\nhigher and got a deserved equaliser.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal\nmade no changes at halftime but Molde changed their tactics and\nstarted pressing high and hard. A lovely ball from Xhaka (whose\npassing range was very much on show) put Kola in but he took a touch\nand got robbed. Another classy ball from Willian put Willock in but\nLuiz clumsily got in the way and it came to naught. On the side-line,\nAuba, Saka and Partey were warming up in the chilly North London air.\nWillock was put through wide on the right. His cross caused the\ngoalkeeper to flap and the ball fell to Kola, four feet out with the\ngoal at his mercy for a tap in. But he swung with his right foot and\nspooned the ball well over. Holy cow. Millions of Gooners all over\nthe world were thinking \u201cI could have scored that\u201d \u2013 and they\nwere right. An utterly shocking miss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But\nwe were dominating and making chances. David Luiz eased his man off\nthe ball and, slightly harshly, was booked. Ceballos found Pepe on\nthe edge of the area in space. Yet again he paused to try and switch\nto his left foot, allowing the defender to get a foot in. Am I\nbecoming a cracked record on this?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\n62 minutes Willock played a one two with Xhaka who was now\nconsistently playing further forward. Joe got to the by-line and\nstood it up for the three Gooners waiting for the ball, but the\nwonderfully named Sherrif Sinyan got there first for Molde\u2019s second\nown goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

62\nmins Arsenal 2-1 Molde (Sinyan OG).<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Straight after the goal, we made two subs, Cedric and Saka coming on for AMN and Willian. On 65 minutes Kola crossed to Pepe who volleyed straight at the keeper. But we were knocking on the door and playing really well. On 69 minutes, a lovely goal. A run through midfield by Willock (I love it when he does that) found Eddie who slipped in Saka. He cut the ball back to Pepe, in the centre of goal just inside the area. He rifled it in with his wand of a left foot. Great goal. Pace, precision and clinical finishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

69\nmins Arsenal 3-1 Molde (Pepe)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On\n74 minutes Luiz again played a fantastic ball over the top into the\npath of Willock. His first touch was brilliant, but the keeper saved\nwell. Willock\u2019s appetite for goal was becoming more and more\napparent. Saka hauled his man down and was correctly booked. On 79\nminutes Elneny and Tierney came on for Xhaka and Ceballos. Saka was\nlooking incredibly lively and twice was in on goal, but both times he\nhad just strayed offside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally\non 87 minutes, Willock administered the coup\nde grace<\/em> with the\ngoal he so deserved. Elneny won the ball after a clearance, passed to\nPepe who slid in Willock. He held off the defender with strength and\nfinished clinically. Another quality goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

87\nmins Arsenal 4-1 Molde (Willock)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

FT\nArsenal 4 -1 Molde.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willock\nwas the clear MOTM and is pushing hard for a PL place. He looks more\nand more like Aaron Ramsey and has clearly kicked on from last year,\nadding strength on the ball to his other skills. Good problems for\nArteta. Saka was different class when he came on. Luiz\u2019s range of\npassing can be different level if given the time. The defence looked\nsolid after a slightly sloppy goal was conceded. Eddie worked hard\nand had a valid goal chalked off for offside. He will face more\ncompetition when Gabby returns after Christmas. Pepe and Willian were\nin and out. Kola was terrible and missed a sitter. \n<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Three\ngames, 9 points and a group totally under control. On to Villa at the\nweekend.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Mikel Arteta made 9 changes from the team that triumphed at Old Trafford on Sunday. Only Bernd Leno and Willian survived as the Boss rotated his squad for a home Europa League game. The full team was: Leno, Maitland-Niles, Mustafi, Luiz, Kolasinic, Willian, Xhaka, Ceballos, Pepe, Willock, Nketiah Subs: Runarsson, Macey, Bellerin, Tierney, Gabriel, Saka, […]<\/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\/1746"}],"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=1746"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1746\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1751,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1746\/revisions\/1751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}