{"id":3799,"date":"2021-08-14T19:12:44","date_gmt":"2021-08-14T18:12:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=3799"},"modified":"2021-08-21T18:48:57","modified_gmt":"2021-08-21T17:48:57","slug":"even-the-stinging-bees-fail-to-wake-arsenal-up-from-its-stupor","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=3799","title":{"rendered":"Even the Stinging Bees fail to wake Arsenal up from its stupor"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<a id=\"PGWm2ypBTYxKOWrmFjr8qA\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1334021711\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'PGWm2ypBTYxKOWrmFjr8qA',sig:'9UL_RCFYEcnVHKbJBp5HsYKyfxEXRczYd2kK1e9T0NY=',w:'594px',h:'380px',items:'1334021711',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>North Bank Ned had earlier welcomed the 2021-22 season with a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=3791\">masterful preview<\/a> recalling the history of Arsenal-Brentford encounters, most of which had taken place in the inter-war years, and the Bees had enjoyed a rather inexplicable superiority of results in this rare London derby over their much illustrious rivals.&nbsp; Their last match in the top division of English league was though an 1-0 loss against the Gunners, merely 74 years ago.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Promoted back to the uppermost echelons, a well-organized, brave and progressive Brentford squad was expected to provide a competent enough challenge to Arsenal in the league season-opener to require the Gunners to play with clarity of purpose and confidence in their abilities to earn a much-needed victory, especially given the schedule in the opening weeks.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I had not watched much of Brentford in the last year\u2019s Championship but did see the play-off final. For all their evident strengths and positive style of football, before the match I thought the Arsenal team has enough quality, experience and nous to be able to surely win against the league newcomers. More wise heads in this blog were less certain about the outcome given the inconsistency and lack of cutting edge of the current Arsenal vintage. And they were proven right. The most worrying aspect in all of that is, after the match I felt that I really don\u2019t have any rights to expect anything different anymore from this Arsenal team. And when I say the \u201cteam\u201d, I don\u2019t just mean the players, I mean the entire collective of the playing squad, the manager, his coaching staff, the strategic direction at the executive level \u2026 the overall contour of the Arsenal Football Club. I can no longer enthuse myself to expect anything different or better than what we witnessed away at a newly promoted side.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Back to the match.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Before the start we came to know that the senior striker duo of Lacazette and captain Aubameyang are both unavailable through illness. The next-in-line \u2013 at least until he is sold or loaned out \u2013 Eddie Nketiah was already nursing an injury sustained in the pre-season. The highly promising Folarin Balogun earned his first league start.&nbsp; On his left was Gabriel Martinelli, returning recently from Tokyo with an Olympic gold medal, and on his right was Nicolas P\u00e9p\u00e9, who had finished last season a series of strong performances. Two of the three new signings of the season too earned their first Arsenal starts &#8212; much discussed Ben White partnering Mari in the center of the defense and Sambi Lokonga working in tandem with Xhaka in the engine room.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Leno<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Chambers White Mari Tierney<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Lokonga Xhaka<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">P\u00e9p\u00e9 ESR Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"has-text-align-center\">Balogun&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>As the game unfolded it was alarming to observe that Arsenal has carried forward many of the weaknesses of last season: the needless passing around in the back and losing cool under high press, lack of concerted pressing by the forward line, and most tellingly lack of penetration through the middle through Emile Smith Rowe did his best to break through lines, carry the ball forward and arrive at the opposition penalty box.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The overall speed and intent of passing in the midfield was indeed much better compared to last season, and young Sambi Lokonga playing a key role in that. Energetic, intelligent, positive with a good mix of physical and technical strength, he stood out in the early stages and along with Emile was key in keeping possession of the ball and venturing forward in the opposition final third. The horseshoe Arteta-ball was still very much in view, but the switching of play and movement of the ball was much quicker and purposeful. Ben White too contributed to that with his forward passes, pinging balls to Tierney and P\u00e9p\u00e9 on few occasions. There were glimpses of cohesiveness worked on in the practice ground.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, those were not nearly enough. The strange lopsidedness of the attack continued from last season, with Tierney as a primary attacking outlet with Gabi offering him space by drifting inside. On the right side Chambers had one of his more forgettable games, rarely offering any overlapping run on the outside of P\u00e9p\u00e9 who too was for the most part reenacted his \u201cI will frustrate myself and everyone else\u201d role \u2013 always surrounded by 2-3 defenders time and again he chose to take them on to be able to cut inside. Brentford was well prepared for this danger and they handed him well.&nbsp; Only later in the game in the second half he started drifting more inside to attack the box off the ball, and improved his combination play with ESR and later Saka.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Chambers had mostly done well in his defensive duties last season. But he was twice in fault for the first goal Arsenal conceded in the 22<sup>nd<\/sup> minute. His volleyed clearance was poor and found a Brentford attacker just outside the box. And then when Sergi Canos cut inside the box he didn\u2019t force him to go outside of him but stayed stationary and the Brentford winger gleefully accepted the opportunity to shoot through his legs to score past Leno in his near post. Leno too was partially culpable, just as any top-level goalkeeper should feel to be beaten at their near post.&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Brentford 1 (Canos 22) \u2013 Arsenal 0&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The goal should have woken Arsenal up. Strangely \u2013 or maybe no longer strangely as this has often been a familiar pattern lately, most dreadful demonstration of which came against Villareal last season in both legs of the Europa semifinal tie \u2013 Arsenal did not up their tempo or urgency, simply carrying on as before. There is a not-so-fine balance between staying patient and trusting your abilities to score goals and not showing any urgency in your response to going behind. Arsenal have recently erred too much on the side of passivity. This match was no different.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal earned a few corners. P\u00e9p\u00e9\u2019s deliveries were good \u2013 especially compared to the bizarre corner routines of last season \u2013 but the team didn\u2019t show enough aggression or desperation to attack the ball, or use the flick-to-the-far-post variation. The only moment of danger came from a Martinelli header that if anyone had gambled to attack on the far post would have earned us a goal. Raya, the Brentford goalkeeper, was assured in commanding the box as well and their defense was impressively well-organized.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Raya made two very good saves: ESR once broke through the lines in a swift counter-attack and arrived at the box and his shot was palmed away by Raya. Emile lost his balance a bit before taking the shot and his placement was not probably what he wanted, but it was nonetheless a good save. Towards the end of the match Raya pulled out a sensational save from a fierce curled daisy-cutter from P\u00e9p\u00e9 after being set up by a wonderful cut-back by Tierney. That was Arsenal\u2019s moment of the match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Xhaka\u2019s volley from just inside the box flew by, Lokonga tried his luck few times from distance and though Raya was called to save one or two of those he was not really in danger of conceding. Arteta brought in Saka, Reiss Nelson and the other new boy Tavares (astonishingly, or may be not so astonishingly, at the right back to replace Chambers with Hector and Cedric on the bench). I liked his cameo, direct and purposeful. Nelson looked rusty, understandably so after spending much of the last season out of the squad sacrificed to accommodate a big signing from a rival club.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In between Brentford scored a goal reminiscent of another team in red-and-white stripes, now thankfully relegated from the premier league to leave all creative minded players with much less fear about losing their limbs on the playing ground. A towel to dry the ball before throw-in? Check. A long throw-in in the box? Check. Fouling the goalkeeper to stop him from moving? Check. Arsenal defense fell for this most agricultural old trick, Pablo Mari particularly at fault in not judging the problem and not reacting quickly to the situation, and Norgaard happily accepted the gift. It was a foul on Leno, but an international goalkeeper and an experienced center-back of a PL team should really not allow this to unfold.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>&nbsp;<strong>Brentford 2 (Canos 22, Norgaard 73) \u2013 Arsenal 0&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Though there were some positive signs \u2013 Lokonga and ESR particularly, Tierney as ever, White &amp; P\u00e9p\u00e9 in glimpses, Saka in his cameo as expected \u2013 the overall feeling watching the match was one of ennui and pointlessness. Watching your team poorly or losing football matches are ineluctable moments in the spectrum of a football fan\u2019s experience. But driving fans to boredom while losing football matches is something I feel a club aspiring to return to a stature that is commensurate with its great history must learn to avoid.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal football club is running the risk of drifting into complete irrelevance in the top tier of European and English football. But it is not yet too late.&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images North Bank Ned had earlier welcomed the 2021-22 season with a masterful preview recalling the history of Arsenal-Brentford encounters, most of which had taken place in the inter-war years, and the Bees had enjoyed a rather inexplicable superiority of results in this rare London derby over their much illustrious rivals.&nbsp; Their [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"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\/3799"}],"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\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3799"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3799\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3802,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3799\/revisions\/3802"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3799"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3799"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3799"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}