{"id":2297,"date":"2021-01-30T21:02:28","date_gmt":"2021-01-30T21:02:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2297"},"modified":"2021-02-01T19:29:26","modified_gmt":"2021-02-01T19:29:26","slug":"three-four-or-six-how-many-points-could-we-take-off-solskjaers-shower","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2297","title":{"rendered":"Three, Four Or Six? How Many Points Could We Take Off Solskjaer\u2019s Shower?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<a id=\"Hjt0OGpSTU5LZP82dHX7Hw\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1299491174\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'Hjt0OGpSTU5LZP82dHX7Hw',sig:'FycKGsFXx-Vp5R1J1yG-EzvMMBZYlt0yRqmvniNp7Ds=',w:'594px',h:'472px',items:'1299491174',caption: true ,tld:'co.uk',is360: false })});<\/script><script src=\"\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" async=\"\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>This afternoon saw a clash between two in-form sides as Manchester Utd pitched up at The Emirates to take on a resurgent Arsenal. As The Doc pointed out in his excellent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2290\">preview<\/a> this was an opportunity for us to do the double over Manure for the first time since 2006-2007. Personally, I enjoyed the reminder of the away game that year, which I remember well as I won a bet on Adebayor to score first and that meant extra drinking money to celebrate with. Before kickoff today I\u2019d have taken another 1-0 victory in a heartbeat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The team was announced and we were missing Tierney and Auba, as expected, but Saka was also missing with a hip problem. It was a piece of bad news that we were without arguably our three best players. On the plus side Partey made his third start in a row. Pepe kept his place but started on the right to accommodate Martinelli on the left. Laca, ESR, Xhaka, Holding, Luiz, Bellerin and Leno all played in their usual positions with Cedric playing left back to complete our eleven.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The game started slowly. The first excitement saw Cedric get a yellow for what Michael Oliver saw as an arm in Fernandes\u2019 face, and there was a minor flair up between the two Portuguese as the players showed that they did have some skin in the game. Fernandes then avoided yellow for a nasty rake on Xhaka\u2019s leg which VAR deemed worthy of a red card check, even though Oliver had failed to award as obvious a yellow card as you will see go unpunished. Unless you watch a lot of Manure matches, of course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both sides had short spells on top in a stodgy half. Leno made a good save from a Fred curler. Laca shot hard at De Gea from outside the box after Gabigol had nicked the ball and played him in. The in-form Frenchman should have played it back to the energetic Brazillian who was in an ocean of space as he attacked their box.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Pepe took our first corner, which was notable for being actually quite good. Xhaka got his head to it but it was comfortable for De Gea. Manure had a bunch of corners but didn\u2019t do much with them. Fernandes shot across Leno but couldn\u2019t bend it back into the far corner. The chance came about after Pogba won a header from a Leno goalkick and played the ball through early. It was the only time we left a gap that was easy for them to exploit and thankfully we were not punished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The abrasive McTominay came off with a belly issue with ten minutes of the half to play. He had looked in some serious discomfort. Martial came on and Manure looked to have more threat. Cedric made an important interception from a cross and then there was a hearts-in-mouth moment as Rashford got the ball at the back post but Leno came out to smother his chance to shoot. They won a freekick on the edge of the box from his layoff. David Luiz provided us with a comedy moment when he deflected Fernandes\u2019 effort over the bar and celebrated with an enthusiastic fist pump. (Phrasing!) The frizzy-haired defender looked like he was well up for this one.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The teams went in even at half-time. Neither had done enough to take the lead but there were signs that the second half might have goals in it. Certainly there would be chances\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Half time (The Arsenal 0 &#8211; Man U 0)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Willian replaced Gabigol at half-time, presumably just a precaution as the young Brazillian gradually returns from injuries. The older Brazillian was straight into the action. He had a great chance at the back post but his shot lacked conviction and was blocked. It is the sort of chance which he would bury if he wasn\u2019t in such a slump. A minute later he played a ball across to Pepe who hit a fantastic first time shot that was going straight past De Gea and into the bottom corner before it hit the grateful ankle of Harry Maguire. Unlucky.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As so often recently, we had started the second half of a match very well. The stats on 53 minutes showed we had 83% possession. Willian went down injured and Gooners everywhere held their breath\u2026 but fortunately he was okay to continue. What? Did you think I was going to make a cheap joke there? That fruit was hanging too low (and you had all already made it for yourselves!)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We continued to be the better side. Partey was unusually off the pace, his passing in particular was astray but Xhaka was having a good game, as were the centre-backs. ESR looked his usual elegant yet robust self.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>United served notice that they were still an attacking threat when Cavani shot just wide from a Luke Shaw cross. He could so easily have scored. The excellent Lacazette responded soon after by doing well to win a freekick and then coming close to opening the scoring only to see his effort from the dead ball ricochet back off the underside of the bar. ESR then forced a decent save from De Gea.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both teams had half chances and the pattern continued. We were slightly on top but both teams were in it. Pepe had a good chance with ten minutes to go but his shot went through Slabhead\u2019s legs and a foot to the wrong side of the post. However, the Ivorian had been excellent all game. He worked his socks off, defended well, won headers and his attacking output was better. He took shots, lost the ball less than he has sometimes done and showed some real intent to make things happen. He has had a couple of good games, now he needs to build on them and keep improving. We are behind you Pepe!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A tiring ESR came off for Odegaard to make his debut with ten minutes to play. He had a couple of nice touches and looked fine but wasn\u2019t on long enough for us to get a good look at him. We wasted a freekick in the last five minutes. Because that is a thing we do. Cedric this time was given the responsibility of hoofing the ball out for a goal kick, sailing it in an elegant arc over the heads of Holding and Luiz, who might have been forgiven for wondering why they bothered going up for it when we were obviously going to smash it out of the park. Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me four thousand, six hundred and twenty seven times\u2026<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We were hoping for one big chance before the end of the game. Unfortunately it fell for Cavani, whose volleyed shot went narrowly wide. It would not have been a deserved winner but it was close enough to remind us that we could have left without even a point for our efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There was time for Laca and Maguire to collide. Our striker was down with a head injury for a while and eventually hobbled off to be replaced by Eddie for an appearance that was more a statistic than an opportunity to play football.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Full time (The Arsenal 0 &#8211; Man U 0)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Nil-nil at full time then. David Luiz got the MOTM from Gary Neville, and he did have a good game. (Luiz, not Neville) All the players worked hard and we kept our shape and made some good chances. We looked a much better outfit than we did a few months ago. I hear that Edu is planning to open up a club laundry service now the club has remembered how much it loves clean sheets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our form has been excellent since Christmas and it is unrealistic to expect us to go from a run of draws and losses to winning every week, so I am happy enough with a point from this game. We could have gotten more but four points from six against United is a good return. Now we must turn our attention to Wolves and to ensuring that we take the maximum three points we can still take off them this season.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Have a good one \u2018holics.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images This afternoon saw a clash between two in-form sides as Manchester Utd pitched up at The Emirates to take on a resurgent Arsenal. As The Doc pointed out in his excellent preview this was an opportunity for us to do the double over Manure for the first time since 2006-2007. Personally, [&hellip;]<\/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\/2297"}],"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=2297"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2297\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2303,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2297\/revisions\/2303"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2297"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2297"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2297"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}