{"id":2316,"date":"2021-02-02T21:30:13","date_gmt":"2021-02-02T21:30:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2316"},"modified":"2021-02-05T13:01:01","modified_gmt":"2021-02-05T13:01:01","slug":"nine-man-arsenal-commit-hara-kiri","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2316","title":{"rendered":"Nine Man Arsenal Commit Hara Kiri"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<a id=\"3jiM9vdmTD5Ckp88fE0nRQ\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1300010430\" 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:'3jiM9vdmTD5Ckp88fE0nRQ',sig:'B1Q6x-YjERm8e-56Ietl5ajLhxIbeosmNkZLQDE7EY0=',w:'594px',h:'353px',items:'1300010430',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>I\u2019ve altered my approach to tonight\u2019s report from the usual blow by blow account because of the freak nature of this match and attempted to look at a few of the issues this match raised. For those who weren\u2019t able to watch the match the bare bones were that an Arsenal side identical to the one that started at Southampton in the League went down to their first League defeat in eight matches. That is a fact but does nothing to convey the detail of an extraordinary series of events.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal began the game well, Saka rattling the junction of post and bar right at the start and then forcing a fine save from Rui Patricio before he sent a dipping drive past the keeper to open the scoring only to see it disallowed because of a very tight offside decision against Lacazette. Wolves who had not won in eight matches were visibly lacking in confidence and although Kilman thumped a header just over and Leno made a fine save from Neves which Holding then pounced to clear, we were comfortably the better side. Wolves have high quality out wide where Neto troubled Bellerin all night and the pace and strength of Traore would trouble anyone although Cedric acquitted himself well on the left-hand side. He was aided by Pepe who continued his good recent form, adding to his skill and trickery on the ball with a heartening desire to win the ball back. After 32 minutes a slightly fortuitous drag back cum nutmeg was followed by a sublime one to take out two Wolves defenders and he curled a fierce shot with his&nbsp;right foot&nbsp;past Rui Patricio. My phone lit up with Gooners everywhere suggesting that our \u00a372 million man was looking well worth every penny.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Wolves 0 Arsenal 1 &#8211; Pepe&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The lead was no more than Arsenal deserved. Partey despite occasional passing lapses was convincing in dominating midfield and playing quick passes through to Saka on the right. The vibrancy of ESR enabled us to stretch the Wolves defence and Xhaka was continuing to buttress the defence and play much more vertically than was his wont.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Craig Pawson, the referee decided to signal two minutes of injury time at the end of the half. I always get twitchy when we are holding a good match position but as the clock ticked towards two minutes a central pass through our defence saw Willian Jose get ahead of Luiz. Luiz seemed to try very hard to avoid any contact but Jose\u2019s trailing leg caught Luiz, he miskicked and then went down and was given a penalty which was savagely compounded by a red card. Again, my phone lit up with all sorts of theories on why this was or wasn\u2019t a penalty or a red and trying to look at the totality of the situation the double jeopardy brought&nbsp;&nbsp;huge punishment for Arsenal. Luiz should have arguably let him go or gone for the ball and clattered him to get a yellow but we suffered a massive double blow. The contact was accidental but could it have been avoided completely? Neves hit a fine penalty and the whistle blew for the interval.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Wolves 1 Arsenal 1 &#8211; Neves (pen)&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our response was to withdraw Lacazette to bring on Gabriel and I anticipated an increasingly nervy rearguard action as we tried to hold onto a point. However four minutes into the half the wily Joao Moutinho hit a fierce drive past Leno and in off the post.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Wolves 2 Arsenal 1 &#8211; Moutinho&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The game had been turned on its head in a five minute period and unsurprisingly Wolves monopolised possession, looking dangerous out wide where Neto particularly impressed but with little end product . The game moved on with Aubameyang replacing the admirable Pepe but having dominated possession in the first half we struggled to get the ball and move upfield.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then in the 72nd minute we saw a cool, calm German goalkeeper go full Mad Jens as Leno chasing a long ball in the inside right channel unaccountably decided to handle it outside the area. It was a clear, completely needless red and it not only took us down to nine men with eighteen minutes left but brought on Runarsson (for Partey ) a young keeper in whom it might be said Gooners have little confidence . To his great credit he made a fine save from Neto within seconds and then a decent block with his legs and his game in bizarre defensive circumstances was blemish free.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Towards the end Aubameyang and Saka worked themselves into shooting positions but were blocked. The reality was we had thrown away a game that until thirty seconds from half-time I expected us to win about 3-0.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Final Score: Wolves 2 Arsenal 1&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>What conclusions do you draw from a game like that? It was Luiz\u2019s sixth concession of a penalty in a season and a half and his third red card. He was unfortunate to concede perhaps and the law is an ass but he keeps doing things that clearly exasperate his colleagues, manager and supporters. Gabriel did extremely well in difficult circumstances and he and Mari are more deserving of one of the centre back berths than Luiz. Another contract extension? Not if it were my decision!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As for Leno he had a massive brain fart which was highly uncharacteristic but hugely costly and which, I believe, may deprive us of his services for two matches. We must hope Mat Ryan\u2019s hip has healed by the weekend.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On a more positive note the first half display was admirable in many respects. Saka was superb and grows with every match, Partey is not yet fully attuned but will be a mighty player and ESR has a superb work ethic and skill set. But if you commit&nbsp;<em>hara kiri<\/em>&nbsp;in this fashion you cannot beat sides even those to which we are clearly superior.&nbsp;&nbsp;It\u2019s definitely a case of talking out the stupid decisions and moving on. But Europe and especially the top four look a long way away tonight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images I\u2019ve altered my approach to tonight\u2019s report from the usual blow by blow account because of the freak nature of this match and attempted to look at a few of the issues this match raised. For those who weren\u2019t able to watch the match the bare bones were that an Arsenal [&hellip;]<\/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\/2316"}],"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=2316"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2316\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2326,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2316\/revisions\/2326"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2316"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2316"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2316"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}