{"id":4371,"date":"2021-12-12T00:26:44","date_gmt":"2021-12-12T00:26:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=4371"},"modified":"2021-12-14T16:58:16","modified_gmt":"2021-12-14T16:58:16","slug":"arsenal-get-the-job-done","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=4371","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal Get the Job Done"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<a id=\"cTruAgE8QxVEUUpKOvhdlQ\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1358440596\" 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:'cTruAgE8QxVEUUpKOvhdlQ',sig:'aDy1yA-7BQNlV01C6LUYNWtQb4b9CFU3aj3-DPl7xLs=',w:'594px',h:'339px',items:'1358440596',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 morning saw me set off for my second live game of the season, hoping it would go rather better than had <a href=\"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=3821\">the first<\/a>. It did.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I fear this match is not destined to live long in the memory. Indeed even now, only eight hours after it kicked off, I have no clear recollection of the game, so what follows is a set of probably disjointed snapshots of the action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The match started slowly for the Arsenal, with Southampton having the ball for long periods without doing anything much with it. An early Arsenal attack ended with Lacazette flat on his back in the Southampton box &#8211; no foul. In another early attack, Saka was pulled back in the penalty area but managed to keep his feet although he had been sufficiently slowed down that the ball ran out for a goal kick; again no foul. In a similar area, Saka was booked following an incident that from across the pitch looked particularly innocuous. It&#8217;s a relief to know that all regulations were scrupulously followed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>After a little more than 20 minutes, Saka again running down the right hand side of the penalty area passed the ball to Lacazette who got his shot away and on target. 1-0 to the Arsenal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Any Southampton rally was short-lived as around five minutes later Tierney took the ball to the goal line on the left of the penalty area but his attempt to cross the ball along the six-yard line failed. Somehow he regained possesion and tried again to find a team-mate in a more central area. Again he failed but again he managed to retain or regain possession. For a third time he tried to cross the ball, successfully this time and \u00d8degaard scored with a smart header.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I recall little more of note happening in the first half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second half was a little more open. A lovely quick-passing movement from one end of the pitch to the other ended when everyone&#8217;s favourite Albanian Swiss fired high, wide and not particularly handsomely from the left side of the panalty D early on. This is not to say that everything Xhaka did was bad, he played plenty of quick balls forwards during the game and did stirling work organising those around him.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Southampton also managed to get their act together sufficiently to draw a couple of saves from Ramsdale &#8211; one diving to his right and one leaping backwards and pushing up a hand to deflect the ball over the bar. There was even a period of sustained Arsenal pressure that must have lasted several minutes &#8211; as many, perhaps, as three.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Gabriel had the ball in the net at the far post following a corner out on the left but the referee disallowed it for offside &#8211; a decision I found surprising given how long the ball seemed to have been bobbling around but one which was supported by VAR.  However, this was to prove only a temporary respite for Southampton as the same player scored with a header following another corner from the left only a few minutes later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And so the match wound down. Capitola Rob came on for the goalscorer a few minutes after the third goal went in and later took the armband when Pepe replaced Lacazette in the dying minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I noticed that all 20 outfield players were compressed in an 18-yard deep rectangle half the width of the pitch for every goal-kick by either side. I&#8217;ve never noticed this tactic before and can&#8217;t work out what it means in terms of either team&#8217;s perceived ability to spread the play when they receive the ball. I was also struck by an apparently very conscious effort by the Arsenal team, particularly early in the first half, to slow things down when a Southampton attach broke down &#8211; the experts in the row behind me remarked after the first goal showed that it showed what happens when you move the ball quickly; I wondered whether the quick movement would be as effective if you don&#8217;t lull the opposition into a sense of security by moving the ball really, really sloooooowly for 20 minutes or so first. I suspect there&#8217;s some truth in both views.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In summary, the Arsenal did what they had to do in this match without looking particularly impressive. Even without looking at the league table, I think it would have been clear to any passing alien (who happened to be a Premier League football fan) that neither of the teams on the pitch are likely to win the title this season. That&#8217;s the sort of thing that happens when a team is in transition, though, isn&#8217;t it?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Finally, I must admit that some wine and cheese was consumed following the match.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images This morning saw me set off for my second live game of the season, hoping it would go rather better than had the first. It did. I fear this match is not destined to live long in the memory. Indeed even now, only eight hours after it kicked off, I have [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"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\/4371"}],"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\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4371"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4371\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4375,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4371\/revisions\/4375"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4371"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4371"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4371"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}