{"id":2334,"date":"2021-02-06T15:39:58","date_gmt":"2021-02-06T15:39:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2334"},"modified":"2021-02-13T20:49:49","modified_gmt":"2021-02-13T20:49:49","slug":"six-points-dropped-in-five-days-in-the-midlands","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2334","title":{"rendered":"Six Points Dropped in Five Days in the Midlands"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<a id=\"0PgmSopvReZCR98FKJlLLA\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1300667573\" 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:'0PgmSopvReZCR98FKJlLLA',sig:'ZAdnBrAQXc5BRVLLrYCe9G_wk6NaoJLw8Oug1Xx5hLY=',w:'594px',h:'390px',items:'1300667573',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>To Villa Park for a lunchtime kick off and with a point to prove. The siege mentality must have been seriously strong at the training ground, as the perceived injustice after the Wolves game continued to rankle. Personally I just loved having all my non Arsenal mates messaging me to gloat over our red card count, although Spurs fans were notable by their absence. Perhaps their WiFi was on the blink. The question today was whether we could channel the resentment in the right way.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Team selection seemed to point to the fact that Arteta is becoming more and more sure of his first XI. He picked the team that played so well for 46 minutes at Molineux, changing only Gabriel for Luiz and Ryan (happily fit) for Leno, both changes enforced due to one match suspensions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Ryan, Bellerin, Holding, Gabriel, Cedric, Xhaka, Partey, ESR, P\u00e9p\u00e9, Lacazette Saka<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Subs: Runarsson, Ceballos,&nbsp;\u00d8degaard, Willian, Auba, Chambers, Mari, Elneny, Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For Villa, Bertrand Traore started, meaning the counter attack threat was very much there, with Grealish to the fore. The euphonically named Marvellous Nkamba also started for the Villains, to the great glee of a certain 8ft tall green dinosaur.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We were in trouble from the start. Gabriel read a ball into the box well and knocked it to Cedric. He completely under hit the return pass and only played it to Traore. He ran into the box and squared it for Watkins to slide it past Ryan, via a deflection.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal (Watkins 1 min)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On seven minutes, Laca went down after Konsa headed the back of his head. Were these to be the first concussion subs? Evidently not, as both players returned to the field. In the first 15 we were failing to find the crisp passes that were such a feature early on Tuesday night. Gabriel was still looking half a yard off the pace. One factor may have been that we had a lot less time on the ball \u2013 Villa were pressing hard. One move showed that well when we broke with Laca on the ball and three vs two. He had Saka on the right and Pepe on the left to move it too, but Mings stepped in quickly and broke it up. Chance missed.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The game settled down with both teams looking dangerous but with no real saves required by either keeper. That changed on 28 minutes when Emi Martinez sprang to his left to claw out, one handed, a magnificent free kick from Granit Xhaka. A minute later, Barclay laid on Traore who tried to lob Ryan, but an excellent save by our new goalie denied him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Saka was hauled down as he broke into the Villa half with only green grass and Martinez ahead of him. A yellow card was the result, although Arteta was demanding more. One cannot help considering what might have been the outcome if the shirt colours had been reversed. Moments later Saka was again brutally fouled by Marvellous Mkamba. Another yellow card and, I fear, an indication of what Saka will face in most games from now on.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A first half where we went behind early, looked nervous for ten minutes, but then grew into the game. One of our most physical games for a long time with Villa shown some leniency by the officials. We had a goal in us, but so did Villa. All to play for in the second half,<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>HT Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>No changes at half time, but Auba and Gabigol waiting on the bench. Could we start moving the ball quicker and with more effect?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The first five minutes of the second half were all Villa. A good training ground move from a corner found Barclay in space on the penalty spot but he scuffed his shot. A good passing move led to another fine save from Ryan. Partey was booked for a supposed foul on Mkamba, presumably on the strength of the scream, as the replay showed no foul. Ryan again saved well from McGinn.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>P\u00e9p\u00e9 was having a frustrating afternoon with crosses blocked and hitting poor passes. He did hit a shot with his right foot, but with no curl on it and the ball harmlessly passed the post. Flashes of genius from ESR and then Saka saw shots raining in on Martinez\u2019s goal, but he saved well. On 58 minutes Auba came on for Laca. Come on big man!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Martin&nbsp;\u00d8degaard came on for Cedric, thereby moving Saka to left back. Tr\u00e9z\u00e9guet came on for Traore. A goalmouth scramble after a good cross by P\u00e9p\u00e9 saw the ball cleared by Villa but with Mings clattering his goalie. P\u00e9p\u00e9 again fired in a shot and a deflection almost beat Martinez. The Xhaka, Saka, P\u00e9p\u00e9 axis on the left was looking sharp.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Then on 73 minutes Partey went down and limped off, holding what looked like his hamstring. He is proving to be rather fragile, unfortunately. On came Willian. After giving the ball away on halfway, the ball fell to Grealish who jinked onto his right foot and fired in a fierce shot which once again was well saved by Mat Ryan. The on-loan Brighton goalkeeper was having a fine game. His goal was threatened again when&nbsp;\u00d8degaard gave it away and Watkins shot just wide. On 83 minutes a great chance for&nbsp;\u00d8degaard was made by Saka who found the bye-line and cut back the ball to the unmarked Real Madrid man. He hit it cleanly and very hard, but too high. Making his only error of the game Rob Holding lost the ball under pressure from Watkins who made 50 yards before forcing yet another fine save from Ryan.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile if it\u2019s possible to stink the place out in 17 minutes, Willian was doing so. Easily brushed off the ball, never beating a man, slowing down moves. Why hadn\u2019t we put Martinelli on?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The minutes ticked away. We just weren\u2019t doing enough. Five minutes of added time went up, but the resolute Villa defence, with Mings and Cash to the fore, stood firm.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>FT Aston Villa 1-0 Arsenal<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It\u2019s difficult to know what to make of that game. One big plus was Mat Ryan, who looked the part. After a strong run, the events of the 47<sup>th<\/sup>&nbsp;minute in Wolverhampton seem to have rattled us and set us back. You can see the promise but the execution was poor today. We now have a week off. Let\u2019s use it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images To Villa Park for a lunchtime kick off and with a point to prove. The siege mentality must have been seriously strong at the training ground, as the perceived injustice after the Wolves game continued to rankle. Personally I just loved having all my non Arsenal mates messaging me to gloat [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"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\/2334"}],"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=2334"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2334\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2336,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2334\/revisions\/2336"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2334"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2334"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2334"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}