{"id":2099,"date":"2020-12-30T13:25:30","date_gmt":"2020-12-30T13:25:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2099"},"modified":"2021-01-01T20:42:26","modified_gmt":"2021-01-01T20:42:26","slug":"saka-laca-boom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2099","title":{"rendered":"Saka, Laca \u2013 Boom!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"
My lucky Christmas mug \u2013 played two, won two<\/em><\/center><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

I have never been to the Amex stadium, although I had a\nticket for the game that was postponed before lockdown. We had it all planned,\nfish and chips on the seafront before the game and a curry in Lewes on the way\nhome but sadly it was not to be. I did however visit the Goldstone ground a\nnumber of times. My parents had friends in Brighton and, when we visited them,\nif Albion were at home, the men and boys would go to the game. A great cavernous\nbowl as I remember it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Even though I was looking forward to visiting the Amex, I\ndoubt that the team were. In our last five games against BHA we had won none,\ndrawn two and lost three. However, they had not won at home in the league in\neleven games stretching back to their game against \u2026..Arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After our highly cheering win against Chelsea on Boxing Day,\nArteta made just one change from the starting eleven that day, bringing in Auba\nfor Laca. Brighton, with 24 hours less rest than us, made six changes, leaving\nMaupay (booo), Danny Welbeck and Solly March on the bench. Three of the\nBrighton XI were making their first league start of the season in a curious,\nrather left field, line up without a recognised striker.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal XI: Leno, Bellerin, Holding, Mari, Tierney, Xhaka,\nElneny, Saka, ESR, Martinelli, Auba
\nSubs: Runarrson, Mustafi, Cedric, AMN, Ceballos, Pepe, Willock, Eddie, Laca.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So no Balogun or Reiss Nelson on the bench. It does seem\nlike Balogun is angling for an agent driven out of contract free transfer in\nJune and Reiss Nelson has somehow incurred the wrath of Arteta (\u00a9 Ozil and\nGuendouzi). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first ten minutes was all Arsenal. Brighton were playing\na low block, passing the ball prettily in midfield, but with zero penetration.\nWe were seeking to break quickly and were not afraid to use the ball over the\ntop to Martinelli and ESR. Elneny gave the ball away (I must find a shortcut\nfor that phrase) which led to BHA\u2019s first foray into the area, but it all\npetered out. KT3 broke down the left, easily outpacing his opposite number. He\nfizzed the ball in but it was well defended.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brighton got their first corner from a counter and a\nmismatch was immediately apparent as the 6\u20197\u2019\u2019 Dan Burn (cue North Bank cries\nof \u201cit\u2019s Lurch!\u201d) lined up against Hector, possibly a foot shorter. Burn got\nhis head to the ball, but it sailed harmlessly over. 22 minutes in and frankly\nnot a great game. Several times Xhaka looked up at Auba making a great run and\nthen looked across to make a square or backwards pass. Leno decided to\nalleviate the boredom by playing keepy uppy from a back pass with a Brighton\nforward advancing on him, to a collective sharp intake of breath from all\nGooners watching.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 35 minutes Elneny again gave the ball away to the\ncuriously named Mac Allister, who should have slid Gross in. But he went for\nglory and again blazed over, much to the disgust of his teammate. Brighton\nstormed back, the ball somehow evaded three men in blue around the six yard box\nand then Bernd Leno made a great double save. It was all Brighton and we were\nlooking nothing like the team that beat Chelsea. There was no evidence of the\nspace being created wide for the full backs and Auba cut a lonely figure as run\nafter run  was ignored. Xhaka was\ndwelling on the ball and ignoring forward runs in favour of square passes. Oh\nfor Thomas Partey.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the half time whistle was blown, the better chances had\nfallen to Brighton, who grew in confidence as the half went on. We, after a\nbright start, were frankly dire. Work to do. On another forum, a wise man was\ntelling us that the key stat was nil in our goals against column. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

HT Brighton 0-0\nArsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No changes to either team at half time. Immediately Hector\nwas called upon to defend well and force the ball out for a corner. From it,\nthe ball fell in a melee to Dunk, who seemed to miss his kick but claimed a\npenalty (cheating little Herbert). No, said referee Atkinson and VAR agreed. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

From this point on the game turned. On 50 minutes we had our\nbest move of the game to date. Saka made a lovely right to left diagonal run\nwhich pulled the defenders apart and left him in space on the left. He squared\nthe ball beautifully for Auba who, six yards out, should have scored, but the\nball hit Sanchez\u2019s knee as the goalkeeper stood up bravely and it deflected\nover. Moments later ESR, who was becoming increasingly influential and\ndemanding the ball, squirmed like an eel to beat three tackles before passing\nto Gabi who hit a lovely shot just over the bar. Much, much better Arsenal!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ESR played a lovely one-two with Saka and then was hauled\ndown by Lewis Dunk. Free kick which led to Martinelli getting his head to the\nball but it sailed over. Saka made ground into the box and could have slipped\nit to Auba, but took on the shot which was wide. We were battering them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Smith Rowe was clattered by Jahanbaksch who was shown a yellow\ncard. Gabi was taken off, understandably after three games in a week on his\ncomeback from injury and was replaced by Laca. The change worked immediately.\nThe ball was played to Saka in his own half. Dan Burn was touch tight to him\n(it reminded me of an instruction I once heard a coach make in an U14 game.\n\u201cSon get into his shorts \u2013 and stay there!\u201d). Saka rolled the big man with ease\nand was off, Burn trailing in his wake. He reached the edge of the penalty area\non the right before cutting the ball across to Laca, in yards of space. He took\none touch, before firing in a clinical shot, just inside Sanchez\u2019s near post.\nHe had been on the field for 21 seconds. A truly wonderful, pacy, technical, clinical,\nmemorable goal on all levels. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brighton 0-1 Arsenal (Lacazette 66)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Maupay came on to a chorus of boos (at least in our living\nroom). On 74 minutes, Brighton subbed on Trossard for Jahanbaksch and Ceballos\nwas stripped and ready to come on, probably for ESR. But Saka went down in some\npain after a corner after it seemed his foot had been stepped on. He rose to\nhis feet eventually and walked, or rather limped off under his own steam. He\nreturned and seemed able to run but was subbed off a few minutes later,\nhopefully just to protect him, to be replaced by Dani Ceballos. Saka went to\nthe bench, rather than the dressing room, and seemed in good spirits so fingers\ncrossed no serious damage was done. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

ESR moved forward with Ceballos into midfield. With 86\nminutes gone AMN was ready to come on. Brighton were pressing forward as we\nkept giving the ball away in midfield. Bellerin made a lung busting run after\nnice interplay with ESR in his last contribution. Emile was replaced by Ainsley\nafter a great game. Five minutes of added time were announced.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Laca corner flagged and had his legs whipped from under him.\nFree kick but no yellow card.  With 90\nseconds left, Rob headed away a Brighton corner. We saw out the remaining\nseconds comfortably and we had two wins in a row! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This was a very different win to Boxing Day. A good old\nfashioned 1-0 to The Arsenal with a cracking goal, made by Saka and finished\nclinically by Laca. We are up to 13th<\/sup> in the table. Saka and ESR\nwere outstanding, and Leno was very good, claiming the ball comfortably from\ncrosses and with Martinez like sticky hands. Everybody else put in a solid, if\nnot fault free shift, except for Elneny who gave away the ball far too often\nand Auba who wasted the several chances he had and is still woefully short of\nconfidence. We were much, much better in the second half. Mind you, we needed\nto be.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Next up, WBA and Fat Sam, who after a draw at Anfield, were\nspanked 5-0 at home by Dirty Leeds, including an own goal of a quality to\nrecall Lee Dixon chipping Seaman against Coventry in 1991.\n\nI\u2019m giving my new mug all the credit for our\nturnaround.\n\n\n\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have never been to the Amex stadium, although I had a ticket for the game that was postponed before lockdown. We had it all planned, fish and chips on the seafront before the game and a curry in Lewes on the way home but sadly it was not to be. I did however visit […]<\/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\/2099"}],"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=2099"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2101,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2099\/revisions\/2101"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2099"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2099"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2099"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}