{"id":2961,"date":"2021-04-30T05:06:20","date_gmt":"2021-04-30T04:06:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2961"},"modified":"2021-05-01T19:04:08","modified_gmt":"2021-05-01T18:04:08","slug":"do-we-have-the-right-stuff","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=2961","title":{"rendered":"Do we have the right stuff?"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Dear Goonerholics Forever Readers,<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

We have been working hard this past six weeks on a campaign in support of Bob Wilson’s Willow Foundation. All our coming efforts celebrating Arsenal’s Double year of 1970-71 you’ll see during the month of May are the results. We’ve added a donation tile at right, in hopes you’ll find something in your hearts (and wallets!) to share with the good folks at Willow. Let them know how much you enjoy(ed) our efforts. And watch for the auction, starting Monday 3 May.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thank you!<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Team from Goonerholicsforever.com<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In the first of a two-legged Derby of Basque Managers, Arsenal\u2019s Mikel Arteta Amatriain aimed to prove his greater worth than Unai Emery Etxegoien, his predecessor at the club who later took over at Villarreal in July 2020.  On his side Emery\u2019s undoubted incentive was to show the Gunners they shouldn\u2019t have let him go after his spell in North London ended in frustration.  With the two sides in nearly the same predicament, needing to win the Europa League to qualify for European football next season, and both managers having demonstrated cautious tactical approaches in their respective tenures at Arsenal, the first leg was always likely to be a tense affair.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I got home with 30 minutes to spare, and checked my Spanish language TV channels to be sure I would be able to report on the game, and sure enough Unai Emery was giving his pre-match presser in Spanish, <\/em><\/strong>which he is certainly able to speak much more effectively than the English he used to use for the purpose of torturing Arsenal fans who couldn\u2019t understand what he was trying to do or say.  Surprisingly, Alexandre Lacazette was not on the Arsenal bench, and Eddie Nketiah was left on the bench in favor of Martin \u00d8degaard who was notionally our lone striker but he seldom filled that position, and our attacking formation was difficult to discern, not to say ineffective.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal XI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Leno<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chambers — Holding — Pablo Mar\u00ed — Xhaka  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partey — Ceballos<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka — Smith Rowe — P\u00e9p\u00e9<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u00d8degaard<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villarreal XI<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rulli<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Foyth — Albiol — Torres — Pedraza <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Chukwueze — Capoue — Parejo — Trigueros <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moreno — Alc\u00e1cer<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villarreal came out in their bright yellow home kit, which contrasted nicely with the lush green turf but left Arsenal a bit less noticeable in their dark blue away kit.  Both sides started conservatively but in the fifth minute as Villarreal attacked on the right, seemingly innnocuously, Granit Xhaka kept backtracking and gave the right winger (Chukwueze?) all the time in the world to center for Trigueros to score a piledriver from relatively short range.  Why did Xhaka retreat so, and where was Trigueros\u2019 marker, we all asked collectively.  It looked like Thomas Partey was closer to the goal scorer than any other Arsenal player but I wouldn\u2019t put the blame on him alone.  Surely somebody had to put a foot in to prevent them from scoring such a simple and completely undefended goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villarreal 1-0 Arsenal (Trigueros, 5 minutes)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 12th minute as Arsenal tried to regain their equanimity by stringing together a few passes, Partey broke up the team\u2019s budding rhythm by sending a simple short pass straight out of touch.  Arsenal were without a target or hold up man up front, and their attacks weren\u2019t looking dangerous as Villarreal presented a well-disciplined and organized defensive front.  Finally, in the 25th minute Arsenal managed an effort on goal but Bukayo Saka sent a curler high and wide from the corner of the Villarreal box.  Three minutes later Partey sent a shot into row ZZ from a central area when he should have at least kept it low and on target.  Straight away, Villarreal went downfield, won a corner on the left, sent in a good one, flicked it on where Albiol, the man Partey was supposed to be marking, scored at the far post.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villarreal 2-0 Arsenal (Albiol, 29 minutes)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 33rd minute Moreno almost made it three with a left footed effort just wide of the near post from a dangerous central position.  One minute later the referee awarded P\u00e9p\u00e9 a penalty although it looked like he had handled seconds beforehand, and the foul looked like it took place just outside the area in any case.  After viewing the replay the referee changed his initial decision citing the handball violation, and the score remained 2-0.  The penalty would have been extremely harsh on Villarreal in any case.  Saka won a free kick on the right but Arsenal squandered the opportunity by committing a foul on the free kick.  A couple of minutes later Saka won another free kick and \u00d8degaard sent in an in-swinger that Holding headed wide.  Leno came out to force a Villarreal attacker wide when he looked like possibly scoring another one for the home side.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villarreal broke again, and Ceballos conceded a yellow card and central free kick which Leno saved comfortably.  That yellow card would figure prominently later on.  Partey sent another one straight out of play when trying to switch play in the 45th minute before the half came to an end.  Arsenal weren\u2019t looking very good but as a sage remarked at halftime, if the Gunners could score next it would be a completely different game.  Nevertheless, Arsenal looked poor and uninspired.  I had to nod my head in agreement with what CER said at halftime: \u201cIt would be interesting to know what Arteta sent them out to do.  Because I see no signs of any plan frankly.\u201c<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villarreal 2-0 Arsenal (halftime)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The second half resumed with Unai Emery making a cautious substitution, taking off one of his strikers, Alc\u00e1cer, and replacing him with defensive midfielder Francis Coquelin, ex- of this parish.  In the 48th minute P\u00e9p\u00e9\u2019s near post chance was blocked and sent out for a corner that came to nought.  Arsenal sent in a couple of crosses to P\u00e9p\u00e9 in relatively promising positions but he wasn\u2019t able to find support at the right moment.  But things turned from bad to worse for the Gunners on 57 minutes when Dani Ceballos was sent off for a questionable second yellow after he tried unsuccessfully to recover an errant pass in attack.    Leno saved a fierce shot that was headed for the bottom corner within a minute of the sending off but Arsenal won a corner and Holding shot wide with three Villarreal players in front of him.  Arteta responded by sending on Martinelli in place of the anonymous \u00d8degaard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After 66 minutes Leno tipped another fierce close-range shot over the bar when it looked destined to be the Spaniards\u2019 third.  Two minutes later Leno made another low save but this one was a bit easier despite the Villarreal player being well positioned.  The question in my mind at this point (70 minutes) was, could Arsenal stay in the tie?  But shortly thereafter, as Lady Luck would have it (replays showed minimal contact in my opinion) Saka won a penalty driving into the area on the right, and P\u00e9p\u00e9 drove home the spot kick to the center of the goal, and against all odds Arsenal indeed were right back in the thick of things, but Could they stay there or turn it around still more advantageously?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Villarreal 2-1 Arsenal (<\/strong>P\u00e9p\u00e9<\/strong>, 73 minutes)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 77 minutes ex-Spud Capoue ran into Saka in an extremely clumsy challenge, accruing his second yellow and forcing the referee to send him off thus rebalancing the sides at 10 players each.  Capoue, the man who initiated the contact, had to be stretchered off but Saka was fine to continue.  Villarreal tried to attack down the right, perhaps sensing a weakness in Granit Xhaka\u2019s tiring legs but on more than one occasion in the last ten minutes our makeshift left-back came up with important defensive stops against tricky winger Chukwueze.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 85 minutes Aubameyang replaced Saka, and promptly earned a yellow card for a defensive challenge shortly before five minutes of injury time were announced.  With a minute left Thomas had his best moment of the game, splitting the Villarreal defence with a diagonal ball that sent Aubameyang in alone on the keeper but his shot was saved in a situation where the old Auba almost definitely would have scored.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Near the end of injury time Willian replaced P\u00e9p\u00e9, and Elneny replaced Smith Rowe, but the referee soon blew his final whistle and Arsenal were left to gasp for breath realizing that they had been very lucky not to lose the leg by a wider margin.  Our prospects would look better if Arsenal had spent the season making the Emirates a fortress but they have done nothing of the sort.  On the other hand I do not think Villarreal will be feeling overly confident having squandered the chance to give Arsenal a real hiding when the opportunity was there for them to take, so poor were the Gunners on the night.  And therein lies the grain of optimism that Arsenal can chew on going into the second leg.  At least the Gunners improved a bit in and held Villarreal scoreless in the second half.  A second leg like the one we played against Slavia Prague wouldn\u2019t go amiss, but are we capable, and can Mikel Arteta put one over on his Basque compatriot at just the right time?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Coming soon to a blog near you (this one!)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Celebrate the 50th anniversary of the Arsenal’s first Double at Goonerholics Forever. Watch the conversations, read the recollections, bid for signed memorabilia and donate to the Willow Foundation to support their work with young adults with life-threatening disease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bob McNab, Mr Reliable, was quick in the tackle, read the game superbly and was tactically shrewd. He constantly barked out orders to organise that superb defence and still found time to support the attack. 54 appearances in 1970-71.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Dear Goonerholics Forever Readers, We have been working hard this past six weeks on a campaign in support of Bob Wilson’s Willow Foundation. All our coming efforts celebrating Arsenal’s Double year of 1970-71 you’ll see during the month of May are the results. We’ve added a donation tile at right, in hopes you’ll find something […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"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\/2961"}],"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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2961"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2961\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3004,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2961\/revisions\/3004"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2961"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2961"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2961"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}