{"id":2152,"date":"2021-01-09T21:26:52","date_gmt":"2021-01-09T21:26:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2152"},"modified":"2021-01-13T17:57:41","modified_gmt":"2021-01-13T17:57:41","slug":"esr-reprieve-proves-decisive-as-holders-go-through-in-extra-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2152","title":{"rendered":"ESR Reprieve Proves Decisive As Holders Go Through In Extra Time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Stuart MacFarlane<\/a> \/ Contributor<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Drama is part and parcel of the FA Cup and was very much present in a pretty mundane tie tonight. Emile Smith Rowe was sent off and then reprieved and then perhaps inevitably scored the decisive goal as the holders progressed through to the fourth round on a cold North London night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

If you were looking for pre-match omens the sight of Gabriel Martinelli collapsing to the turf in the warm-up was disturbing with potentially long-term implications for Arsenal. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arteta went with 4-2-3-1 with Leno retained in goal, Tierney retained at left-back and Willian and Pepe returning with Willock taking over the ESR role – or would Willian perhaps play further forwards? Early indications were that he would and he did but to no positive effect whatsoever. Reiss Nelson took over Martinelli\u2019s place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the first minute Nelson cut in from the left but hit a tame shot at Dubravka. Then Pepe tested the keeper from the right. Willock was playing deeper in an unfamiliar role. On five minutes Pepe was brought down outside the area about thirty yards out. Willian hit a poor low shot which scarcely got off the ground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On eight minutes Nelson was scythed down by Lascelles who earned a deserved yellow. Just after, Pepe set up Nelson but he failed to control the ball when in a great position. Twelve minutes in Tierney got in behind the Newcastle defence but was ruled offside. Pepe was conspicuous both chasing back and looking to inject some flair in attack. Just as I wrote that he sloppily miscontrolled in a good position! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Some nice looking attacking play precipitated by great control in mid-air by Pepe came to naught. Newcastle seemed content to sit deep but Arsenal understandably lacked  the swagger of recent games with no Saka, ESR or Martinelli. Aubameyang as has so often been the case this season was starved of action in the first quarter. But he found himself in space after a great ball from Luiz. His shot was saved by Dubravka. The rebound fell to Willian who skied pathetically. No improvement yet from the disappointing Brazilian. Andy Carroll was then booked for elbowing Willock to no- one\u2019s  great surprise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Great play by Tierney on 27 set up Nelson but he failed to control crisply. The Scotsman is a huge asset at both ends of the field. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pepe was played in after a neat combination with Aubameyang but he was a little greedy and Hayden tackled him superbly. From the corner Carroll nearly embarrassed Dubravka with an unnecessary clearing header. Tierney was the only threat on the left as Nelson and Willian failed to make any impact. Tierney floated over another excellent cross which Newcastle knocked out for a corner. Carroll then cleared a dangerous cross from Willian for a corner. Arsenal were applying a decent grip without looking really dangerous. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cedric was yellow carded on the cusp of half-time conceding a potentially dangerous free-kick but Leno grabbed it as the half-time whistle went.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half-time Arsenal 0 Newcastle 0 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first half performance was eerily reminiscent of Arsenal pre-Chelsea. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tierney had been notably better than most even in that period but he skied a chance  way over on the restart. Willock conceded a free-kick which culminated in a Carroll header going wide. Then Mari cleared well under pressure from a left-wing cross. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our first chance on the restart fell to Pepe who from a central position hit a desultory shot wide. How long would Arteta wait to take out the non-performers? Carroll then hit a flying volley which tested Leno. Thus far Newcastle were the better side in this half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Those who see Willock and Nelson as prospects for the future were seeing scant evidence of that so far. Nelson was hooked for Smith-Rowe on 56 just after Carroll missed a sitter which was not offside despite the linesman\u2019s flag. A narrow escape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aubameyang then missed a good chance set up by Elneny with a rather casual flick. A promising move broke down when Willian failed to control a simple pass from Tierney. Could he play any worse? And could he continue to stay on? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At last we produced some quality on 64 when an early Pepe cross saw Dubravka at full stretch to save from Willock.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 65 we decided to bring on Saka and Xhaka for Willian and Willock. Neither substituted player could possibly complain. One sensed Newcastle were increasingly fancying their chances. Could our substitutes breathe life into a flaccid display? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Pepe had a creditable effort go just wide on 71 but could have played in Aubameyang. Tierney did reach Aubameyang on 73 minutes but his header was weak. A minute later he hit a speculative volley just over from twenty five yards. A minute later Tierney set up Saka whose fine strike was just over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As we entered the 80th minute it was a very even contest. Tierney chipped in a great ball to Aubameyang which he deflected onto a Newcastle defender. Hendrick flicked a corner wide after a Carroll drive was blocked. In injury time heroics by Leno with a brilliant double save kept us in the Cup as Carroll and Elliott went close. Then to our horror ESR was red carded for an innocuous challenge on the right flank but thankfully VAR (God bless it) saw it rescinded on review. It didn\u2019t even merit a yellow.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a late Newcastle corner we went into extra-time. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game had been dire and the Arsenal performance had been profoundly disappointing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

90 minutes – Arsenal 0 Newcastle 0 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The obvious apparent change was Lacazette. Would we see him? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The reprieved ESR went close early in extra time after a bright run.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Then Xhaka produced a superb volley which Dubravka touched over – a wonderful effort. Elneny tried to reproduce that quality from the corner but hit a lamentable shot. Luiz then stepped in with two bits of defending to thwart Carroll.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aubameyang was blocked in the area but VAR (useless idea) wasn\u2019t interested. Then Saka wasted a good position with a cross which Dubravka took easily. Then he got in on the left but his cross was blocked. A great ball from Mari found Pepe who was squeezed out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first period of extra time saw no breakthrough.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HT – Extra time – Arsenal 0 Newcastle 0 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lacazette replaced Pepe at the break. Would we be spared penalties ? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

At last we had a goal on 106 minutes with a beautiful piece of interplay between Lacazette, Saka and Smith-Rowe, ESR finished off the post from an angle. Isn\u2019t football great at bringing dramatic headlines to humdrum games? <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 1 Newcastle 0 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lacazette\u2019s presence was very important with the goal. He was an energetic addition to our ranks. We scored a beautiful second with a goal clipped in from close range by Aubameyang after superb play from Tierney who was set free by a lovely weighted pass from Xhaka.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 2 Newcastle 0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good defensive play by Cedric saw him injured as he blocked Gayle in the area. He was injured and replaced by Maitland-Niles. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lacazette, who added great vigour and penetration then hit a fierce shot over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After two minutes of injury time the referee brought things to an end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Time – Arsenal 2 Newcastle 0 <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A plucky and in some ways lucky win which underlined the huge difference between Arteta\u2019s best talents and the appalling Willian and underwhelming Willock and Nelson. No team wins the Cup without luck and close calls. The Carroll miss, the superb double save from Leno at the death and the totally justified reprieve for ESR from the referee who sent off Nketiah for a similarly harmless challenge last summer,  were examples of things that went our way tonight. Arteta will have learnt a lot about his strength in depth tonight and frankly we haven\u2019t got enough. We had a terrific performance from the admirable Tierney, all our substitutes played well, and I thought Luiz and Mari had effective games. But we were saved by youth and VAR tonight after more experienced players had failed to grasp the nettle… again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Good luck Marine !<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Drama is part and parcel of the FA Cup and was very much present in a pretty mundane tie tonight. Emile Smith Rowe was sent off and then reprieved and then perhaps inevitably scored the decisive goal as the holders progressed through to the fourth round on a cold North London night. If you were looking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"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\/2152"}],"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\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2152"}],"version-history":[{"count":11,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2152\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2177,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2152\/revisions\/2177"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2152"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2152"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2152"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}