{"id":1918,"date":"2020-12-07T16:31:05","date_gmt":"2020-12-07T16:31:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1918"},"modified":"2020-12-09T20:05:36","modified_gmt":"2020-12-09T20:05:36","slug":"if-you-are-going-through-hell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=1918","title":{"rendered":"If You Are Going Through Hell\u2026"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Photo by Paul Childs – Getty Images<\/em><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before kickoff a look at the table showed the painful truth\nthat the old enemy could go top of the league with a win, while we were more\nmodestly aiming to go into the top half. There could not be a better game to\nend a dismal run of performances and results that have had the fanbase looking\nsquarely at the manager to lead us out of this funk. Would it be one of the\ngood days?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When the team was announced we were boosted by the news that\nThomas Partey was passed fit to play. I am not a doctor and I have to trust our\nmedical staff but given how this decision turned out it is one that many will\nquestion in the cold light of day. And today the light is ice-cold indeed. Absolutely\nsub-zero.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We kicked off and Laca immediately kicked the ball out of\nplay. I laughed at that. It was a comical mistake that did not cost us anything\nmuch. And I vaguely thought that at least our passing could not get worse. Right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our second potentially comic moment took only a minute\nlonger to arrive, the hopeless Xhaka rugby tackling Kane outside our box. If\nanother player had done it I might have found it amusing but having seen the\nSwiss do the same thing countless times before when he could not get near the\nball I was not impressed. I managed a mirthless grin as he escaped without a\nclearly deserved booking. Gary Neville on Sky commented that he seems to commit\nabout 800 fouls per match, which may be an exaggeration. I then laughed at Eric\nDier as he Luized the freekick high and wide.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game settled quickly enough. We had more possession, as\nyou would expect against a team setup by the translator. There were a few fouls\nin midfield, we had a couple of crosses but nothing much was happening. Until\nit did\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 13th<\/sup> minute we spread the ball wide to\nBellerin who put in a poor cross aimed at Auba. Spurs headed it clear and\nflicked it on to Kane in the centre circle. Gabriel was not tight enough to\nchallenge him or foul him. Partey opted against a cynical takedown. Perhaps he\nis not yet used to playing in a team that lets the opposition take a mere two\ntouches from their own penalty box to put you into last-ditch tackle territory?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The unmolested Kane spread it wide to Son. Son ran at\nHolding, who backed off, and from thirty yards he smacked a wonderful shot that\nflew past Leno.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tottenham 1 \u2013 Arsenal \u2013 0<\/strong> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is hard to blame the keeper when the shot was so good. And\nI understand why Holding did not commit. He had no cover (Bellerin trying to\nmake up ground, Willian looking suspiciously like Theo – running in the right\nspace but never looking interested in actually making a tackle) and if he dived\nin then Son\u2019s quick feet might well have gone past him and given the South\nKorean a one-on-one from inside the area. Better to let him shoot from 30 yards\nas he won\u2019t score often from there. But yesterday was the day he did. Sometimes\nthem\u2019s the breaks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Could we respond?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well, sort of. We continued to control the ball but, as so\noften, without creating clear chances. Partey showed his quality in the\nmidfield. Xhaka also showed his quality. Ahem. Unfortunately, that is not of\nthe same level as Partey. I am finding it hard to watch him foul his way slowly\naround the pitch, passing backwards and killing our attacks with a skill I wish\nour deep lying midfielder possessed at stopping the opposition\u2019s <\/em>attacks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bellerin got forwards but did nothing apart from give away\nanother foul throw. I would call it a schoolboy error but schoolboys know how\nto take a throw in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Auba got no service and was not really involved. Saka and\nWillian had the ball in good positions but created little. Willian did improve\nhis recent set piece delivery but we do not have the personnel to attack these crosses.\nNot that we worked that out all game. If at first you don\u2019t succeed etc.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

With five minutes to go Auba pulled out to the left and put\nin a low clipped ball that Willian made a good run towards. The Chelsea Willian\nsmacks that left-footed into the goal. Our version seemed to withdraw his foot\nat the last second and the ball bobbled behind him on yet another day to forget\nfor the Brazilian. His Arsenal career so far has been a bit Eternal Sunshine Of\nThe Spotless Mind \u2013 most of us would pay good money to have it erased.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we passed the 45 minute mark and went into injury time we\nbroke forwards after a clearance from Holding. Lacazette played a beautiful\npass through for Hector who tried to find Auba. A frustrated figure throughout\nthe game, the Gabonese is really in the doldrums. Quite what he was trying to\ndo as he ran backwards away from the ball is anybody\u2019s guess. It was weird at\nthe time and a day later the replay is no better. If he had gone towards the\npass he would probably have nicked it before the defender and had either a\npenalty or a shot on goal from 12 yards and the game might have gone another\nway. Instead Aurier brought it out and passed it to Lo Celso who was standing\ncentrally between their penalty box and the centre circle. From that position\nhe had only three Arsenal players, Holding, Gabriel and the keeper, between him\nand the goal. In contrast the two defenders are marking three Spurs players\napart from the one with the ball. What kind of defensive shape is that?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Xhaka was ten yards in front of Lo Celso. It was a crazy\nstarting position for a bloke with no recovery pace even if his midfield\npartner had been covering. But he was not. Thomas Partey had felt his thigh\ninjury recur and hobbled to the touchline. Despite Arteta\u2019s desperate attempt\nto push him back into the space he had vacated he was going nowhere fast, just\nlike Xhaka. The timing of that injury was very unlucky and very costly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We all knew what was coming. Lo Celso passed to Son, who\nplayed in the overlapping Kane. Despite a moment of confusion when the Spurs\nstriker was surprised to find something large and wet in his mouth he realised\nin time it was just his tongue, and twatted the ball in off the bar. Not much\nLeno could do.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tottenham 2 \u2013 Arsenal \u2013 0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ceballos came on for Partey before the half ended. As the\nsecond half started we had a brighter spell, with Ceballos himself looking\nlively. However, we were not creating clear chances and the match settled into\na pattern we have seen before against Mourinho sides. We dominated the ball. They\nsat back and did nothing  (they are such\na dull side) We put in a huge amount of crosses. But we have forwards who do\nnot score headers very often and the spuds defence were fairly comfortable.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Auba had possibly our best chance of the match as, for once,\nhe connected with a whipped ball in from Tierney but his header was poor,\nfailing even to hit the target. Boy does he need a goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lacazette almost ran on to a Bellerin cutback following some\ntidy team play but he did not attack the space with enough conviction and so\nfound himself half a yard short. Had Rambo been playing at 10 he would have\nscored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laca had a couple more half chances and he did well to force\ngood saves from Lloris. Playing as a 10 the Frenchman had a decent game. Some\ngood touches, linkups and efforts on goal mixed with some poor moments when he\nfailed to keep possession or find a pass. Despite being involved in some\ndangerous situations it was unsurprising that he struggled to find space\nagainst a side that packed the middle of the park and tried to smother him out\nof the game. However, his workrate was excellent. He fought hard all match and\nwhen Spurs had their first attack of the second half, in injury time, it was\nLacazette who sprinted the length of the pitch to crop up as our last defender\nand win a tackle on the edge of our box. Top effort.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Spurs offered nothing all half. Their work was done. We\nsubbed on Nketiah for Bellerin but it made no difference. We did not get a\nbreak despite doing a lot of positive things. They defended deep, untroubled by\nall the crosses in the world, and the match played out predictably to end\nwithout further goals.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So, what do we make of that? Perhaps there is a lot to say\nabout the club, even yesterday\u2019s match? I won\u2019t try to say it all when I know\nyou lot will continue to fill The Drinks with the good sense they have come to\nbe known for. I\u2019ll touch on a few things though.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dust has settled enough that I am over the initial\nsickness that losing to that shower always induces. I have stayed away from\nsocial media which, I imagine, has some pretty unhappy people being quite vocal\nabout how they feel. Which they are of course free to do but, as the man said,\nnot for me, Clive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As a team we have a lot of problems. At the end of last season we all knew we lacked creativity. It was our biggest problem. So we signed Willian and pursued Aouar, ultimately unsuccessfully. Willian has so far been very poor, failing to add the one quality he was primarily bought for. Worse still is that Pepe, despite his lack of consistency, is an unpredictable player who scores goals, yet his place has been taken by a predictable player who does not score goals. We are actually worse as a result.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our press has gone out the window. Even the positional\ndiscipline that was so excellent away at Manure has disappeared faster than\nRoadrunner, leaving Mikel Arteta treading air like Wile E Coyote. Our best\nmidfield player by some distance has been allowed to talk himself into the team\nwhen not physically ready and it will surely see him out for a while at a time\nwhen we need him the most. Was that well handled?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Individual players are struggling. Auba can\u2019t buy a goal,\nalthough he is getting none of the service he thrives on, so that is not\nentirely down to him. Rob Holding suffers from a lack of pace. And he always\nwill. Bellerin\u2019s defensive contributions are worrying. Saka is too young to be\nresponsible for getting us out of jail and this season he has struggled to build\non his impressive numbers last season. Laca has missed a lot of good chances-\nhe must start finishing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, Granit Xhaka makes me weep. Tears and tears of\nconfusion and sadness. Like a naughty child that has woken up on Christmas\nmorning thinking that they were going to get a nice present from Santa but\ninstead has to watch a highlights reel of every backwards pass Xhaka has ever\nmade for the club and has realised it is so long it will go on until Boxing Day\nand they are going to miss all the turkey and the Christmas specials. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

All that said, I have plenty of faith that Mikel Arteta will\ncome good. And patience for him to do so. Not everyone shares this opinion, and\nit does not make it any easier to watch our current struggles whatever you\nthink of the future. I think the issues at our club go far deeper than the\nmanager and I want to stick with someone who I see huge potential in rather\nthan throw the towel in because we have hit a bad patch. In any case, I can see\nno chance that the club will get rid of him anytime soon, so giving him my full\nsupport continues to be the only viable option. I expect that, at some happier\npoint further down the line, he will look back at this tough spell as being a\nformative one during which he learned a lot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I do, however, have little sympathy when he keeps starting Xhaka,\nwho is just not good enough. And I wonder what has gone on in the last two\nmonths? Even eight weeks ago we looked like a team with a game plan. Now we\nlook clueless and it is on the boss to sort it out and show that we are on the\nright path. The lack of clarity about what we are trying to do in the last\ncouple of months has been concerning and I hope for all of us that we see some\nimprovements sooner rather than later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fortunately for us, Arteta is a man with a steely\ndetermination and it appears the players are fully behind him. They are putting\nin a shift, and I did get a little frustrated with a couple of people who said\nyesterday that they were not putting in any effort. That was not what I saw and\nstrikes me as lazy \u2018analysis\u2019. It is not just a question of running a bit more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have a handful of top players that have quality and\nworkrate. We can build around them. There is also a lot of potential in some of\nour young players who will surely get more game time as the season unfolds.\nThere are grounds for positivity as well as realistic concerns at where we are\nright now and I think it is sensible to acknowledge both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And look, football is a funny old game. Maybe next week we\nscrape a win through an offside goal that a faulty VAR fails to rule out\n(causing Sean Dyche to do his impression of an aged bollock crossed with a\nfurious beetroot), we all have a good laugh, something shifts in our fortunes\nand we start to build some momentum? Maybe Pepe returns with the bit between\nhis teeth and displaces Willian? Maybe Auba scores a hat trick and goes on a\nrun of goals? Maybe Partey is not so badly injured and has a great Christmas\nspell? Maybe we move early and decisively in the transfer market and add\nplayers we need to the squad whilst trimming some we don\u2019t? (Edu- that one is\non you!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who knows?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Football is mad. 2020 is bonkers. Anything could happen.\nAfter a dispiriting day like yesterday we are all hurting and no one thinks we\nare where we want the club to be. Maybe it will get worse before it gets\nbetter. But there are no quick fixes for this one. If we are in Hell then we\nare going to have to keep going. Let\u2019s keep going together.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Victoria Concordia Crescit<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Before kickoff a look at the table showed the painful truth that the old enemy could go top of the league with a win, while we were more modestly aiming to go into the top half. There could not be a better game to end a dismal run of performances and results that have had […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"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\/1918"}],"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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1918"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1924,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1918\/revisions\/1924"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1918"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1918"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1918"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}