{"id":2040,"date":"2020-12-24T09:59:30","date_gmt":"2020-12-24T09:59:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2040"},"modified":"2020-12-24T09:59:30","modified_gmt":"2020-12-24T09:59:30","slug":"b-b-king-has-a-song-for-the-way-you-feel","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2040","title":{"rendered":"B.B. King Has a Song for The Way You Feel"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Boxing Day brings a traditional festive local derby against the team from the bus stop in Fulham. However, the mood in the Goonerverse is anything but festive and was further soured by inept defending in Tuesday\u2019s League Cup QF. We come into this fixture in 15th<\/sup> place, 4 points above the drop, with a shocking home record and the worst start since the Club\u2019s low point in 1974-75:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

P14 W4 D2 L8 F12 A18 Pts14<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our last 5 games have seen 4 defeats and one draw, a nail-biting 10 man rear-guard against Southampton, hailed in some quarters as heralding an upturn in our fortunes. Losing away at Goodison in our last PL outing was no disgrace but our travails this season are amply illustrated by abject home defeats to Burnley and Aston Villa.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mikel Arteta\u2019s vision for The Arsenal that he is said to have sold to Partey, Gabriel, Willian, Martinelli, Saka and Aubameyang is clearly proving difficult to deliver and this transition period (if that\u2019s what this is) is very difficult to watch. Defensively we don\u2019t look as secure as we ought to be, 18 goals conceded placing us \u2018mid-table defensively\u2019 at 10th<\/sup>equal. However, that\u2019s an excellent position compared to our other stats which put us firmly in the bottom three! I shan\u2019t burden you with the details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Clearly, the major deficit in this side is in midfield with the honourable exception of Saka. Perm any two from Xhaka, Ceballos and Elneny and you will be treated to frequent pedestrian circular movements with only sporadic progressive passing. Partey\u2019s contributions have unfortunately been limited and as a result he has attained the status of a much-awaited saviour but it\u2019ll take more than his return to correct the creative deficit in this midfield. I am reminded of Gorgeous George\u2019s remedy for his inept midfield of McGoldrick, Selley, Hillier, Carter or Jensen. He completely cut them out of the possession game by instructing Seaman and the defenders to hoof the ball over their heads down the channels for Wrighty, Campbell and Merson to chase. That style of football would be intolerable to watch for those attracted to The Arsenal by Wengerball but it was significantly more effective than our current efforts are proving.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s difficult to cast the blame for our lack of attacking potency entirely at the feet of the forwards given the lack of decent service but last season\u2019s reliance on Aubameyang\u2019s outstanding chance conversion rate has proved this season\u2019s Achilles heel as his eye for goal has dulled. In fourteen games this season we have scored a paltry twelve goals which is the fourth worst record in the Premiership. Only Burnley, Sheffield United and West Brom have scored fewer goals and we conspired to gift Burnley one of their eight! It\u2019s not as if our forwards have been missing loads of chances either. We simply haven\u2019t created enough clear chances whilst failing to take the few we have created. This has been a problem all season long apart from our opener against Fulham and it has, in truth, also blighted our three other PL wins. Unfortunately, it appears that Mikel Arteta hasn\u2019t yet found the answer to our creative apraxia. Can he rediscover last season\u2019s knack of turning over top four opponents for this Boxing Day fixture? There\u2019s no doubt that our likeable young manager is now under more pressure than any of us wanted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s not too difficult to predict Mikel Arteta\u2019s selection for this match given his hitherto persistent selection of certain players despite their previous performances. I have no doubt he will see this match as Willian\u2019s redemptive opportunity to show his previous employers that they made an error letting him go (cough!). The faithful have long since deemed many of these players to have earned an extended spell in the \u2018reserves\u2019 (or the outer galaxy) to allow our talented youngsters an extended opportunity to show whether they can cure our chronic malaise. After recent results, I think there is considerable merit in that view.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the basis of his previous selections and his selections on Tuesday probably being slightly jaded, I expect Arteta to start:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leno<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Tierney<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ceballos, Xhaka, Saka<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Willian, Lacazette, Aubameyang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Personally, I would retain AMN at RWB after his largely good outing at Goodison and give Willock another 90 minutes in midfield to show his \u2018smarts\u2019 instead of Xhaka, for as long as he can last alongside Ceballos. There\u2019s no question that a front three of Nelson, Balogun and Martinelli might be more exciting to watch and could even be more effective than our misfiring regulars. Sadly, Martinelli\u2019s injury on Tuesday will probably rule him out of this match but hopefully not much longer. ESR would be a promising alternative on the wing and a fresh breath of creativity. Fielding a lot of raw talent is definitely a risk but let\u2019s face it, our senior players have repeatedly failed to deliver. Desperate times call for desperate measures and we now need to throw caution (which does seem to have been this team\u2019s overriding philosophy) to the wind. Same old, same old ain\u2019t cutting it, Mikel!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is a good match in which to give young players an opportunity to show whether they can do better than their elders. If the youngsters were to fail to win this game, they\u2019ll be doing no worse than we might reasonably currently expect of the senior players who have been failing all season. Moreover, while we are obviously desperate for points, our Boxing Day visitors aren\u2019t going to be direct rivals this season as we currently move in very different circles. In reality, Brighton, Burnley, Fulham, Leeds, Newcastle, West Brom and perhaps even Sheffield United are our direct rivals at this juncture. Very, very sad, but I would argue, entirely realistic. A few 6 pointers lie in wait for us just after New Year. They will be the more important games to win whatever the outcome on Boxing Day.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whoever Mikel Arteta chooses to start, I hope he finds his fighters!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What of the visitors? They appear to have had a good transfer window, bringing in Mendy and Thiago Silva to address last season\u2019s goal keeping and defensive problems (fancy that – a focused purchasing strategy!), and adding a pair of good young German attackers whilst despatching yet another declining pensioner to their north London retirement home. Having looked like being Liverpool\u2019s strongest challengers a few weeks ago, they have had a couple of recent wobbles, losing 2 and drawing 1 of their last 5. However, they seemed to get their show back on the road against the Hammers on Monday though a better opponent might have punished several dodgy defensive moments. They sit fifth in the table with 25 points, 2 points off second place, having won 7, drawn 4 and lost 3, scoring 29 and conceding 12 in the process. They\u2019re looking upwards again rather than downwards. Perhaps we can spring a shock result?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hopefully our visitors will have another wobble on Boxing Day and that Handsome French Bloke won\u2019t come back to haunt us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Holic Pound<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I always prefer to back The Arsenal to win but I never waste hard-earned cash on three-legged horses. Unless we can somehow lose our safety-first mentality and acquire creativity and clinical execution, I can\u2019t see us scoring many, if any, goals with the midfield we are likely to field so I\u2019m going to back us to scrap out a 0-0 draw at 9\/1. I sincerely hope we do better than that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Christmas Day – Goonerholic Remembered<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 25 December 2019, David Faber, \u2018the Guvna\u2019, who established the \u2018Goonerholic\u2019 blog upon which this site is modelled, sadly died. This Christmas Day, a special post will be published on \u2018Goonerholics Forever\u2019 in tribute to that lovely, lovely man who is sorely missed by the global community of friends and followers that he created through his warmth, wisdom and wit.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Boxing Day brings a traditional festive local derby against the team from the bus stop in Fulham. However, the mood in the Goonerverse is anything but festive and was further soured by inept defending in Tuesday\u2019s League Cup QF. We come into this fixture in 15th place, 4 points above the drop, with a shocking home […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2040"}],"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\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2040"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2040\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2066,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2040\/revisions\/2066"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2040"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2040"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2040"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}