{"id":4921,"date":"2022-02-25T00:10:35","date_gmt":"2022-02-25T00:10:35","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=4921"},"modified":"2022-03-05T13:27:15","modified_gmt":"2022-03-05T13:27:15","slug":"something-special","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=4921","title":{"rendered":"Something Special&#8230;"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"getty embed image\" style=\"background-color:#fff;display:inline-block;font-family:Roboto,sans-serif;color:#a7a7a7;font-size:11px;width:100%;max-width:594px;\"><div style=\"padding:0;margin:0;text-align:left;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.co.uk\/detail\/1372615545\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><\/div><div style=\"overflow:hidden;position:relative;height:0;padding:66.66667% 0 0 0;width:100%;\"><iframe src=\"\/\/embed.gettyimages.com\/embed\/1372615545?et=swbFEudZQtR4-qX1ej7S1Q&amp;tld=co.uk&amp;sig=USFhnGl-6ufltpv1L4r6cJd75gbdCoyRi-gGYXWoDgU=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" frameborder=\"0\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>On a night like tonight, it is hard to look at what happened in the Emirates Stadium and dismiss the thought that we might be witnessing the unfolding of something truly spectacular.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Mikel Arteta won\u2019t be having any of that sort of thinking, and nor should he. However, us fans are free to dream. And scream. Oh yes. I watched on the TV, and there was indeed plenty of screaming. Although not as much as in the ground!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Right. Let\u2019s dive right in.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal did exactly that themselves, winning the ball immediately and getting it close to Gabi in the penalty area in the first few seconds. Martin Atkinson rightly waved away a penalty appeal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On six minutes KT3 blocked a cross only to have the Wolves player\u2019s follow through hit him in the goolies. The replay made me wince. Even the Scot went down in a heap under that sort of treatment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, he got up and headed the resulting corner away, only for Wolves to flick the returning cross into the net. Fortunately, it was ruled out for offside, but if the run had been timed better we didn\u2019t look fully awake to the danger.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We failed to heed the warning and were behind three minutes later. Gabriel has rightly taken a lot of plaudits for his performances this season, but he started slowly today, giving the ball away sloppily twice in the opening minutes before his short back pass left a stranded Ramsdale to flail as Hwang Hee Chan rounded him and slotted in coolly from a tight angle.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>This was a real gift. Wolves did not create much and we made our night much harder work than it could have been by giving an excellent defence something to hold on to.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Wolves had a decent five minutes and then we began to take charge and boss the play. Xhaka overplayed a through ball for Saka, but it was one of few mistakes he made in an excellent performance. I would be very happy if he can play another 14 matches like today\u2019s to see out the season, and, with any luck, his Arsenal career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>White played the classy Saka in over the top with a great ball but, after a run looped back to stay onside showed his growing maturity, he reminded us there is still room for improvement as he delayed his right-footed shot until a defender got back to block it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sa missed a cross, and Tierney played it back to Laca whose snapshot was blocked at point-blank range. He was working his socks off, geeing up the crowd, and getting fouled by Wolves players who knew they were immune from punishment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I must spare a few words for Martin Atkinson, the performance artist who has, in a savage lampooning of the lawmakers in western society and the very democracy they claim to protect, spent the last eighteen years pretending to be a Premier League referee. This is truly one of the most ambitious installation pieces any artist has ever undertaken, and the dedication which he has shown in his relentless effort to highlight the nepotism and lack of accountability in one of the United Kingdom\u2019s most world-renowned institutions is, frankly, breath-taking.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I do occasionally wonder whether he has gone native, a spy so long undercover that he has lost himself and become his own legend. But then I see some of his decisions, and I can only smile at a subversive innovator at the height of his powers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On 38 minutes, he positioned himself in the way of Thomas Partey, physically blocking him from making a vital tackle, only to book Bukayo Saka for making the covering foul his own bodycheck on Partey had made necessary. Only the myopic would look at this and see a shit referee who does not know what he is up to. Myself, I saw a genius at work, and I doff my cap to that man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I assume tonight that he had a side project on the go to see how many minutes of time-wasting he could allow in a single game without penalising anyone. Unfortunately for him, a combination of Lage, Jimenez and the fourth official contrived a farce so ludicrous that, even after all these years, he feared his cover might have been blown if he did not administer an 88<sup>th<\/sup> minute card to the man an entire stadium was pleased to see return after his horrible injury, and again pleased to see leave without anything to show for his efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Lage later apologised for the miscommunication over this issue. He looks to be a decent bloke and a top coach in the making and I expect more tough nights against his teams in the future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We continued to create and spurn chances. Laca did brilliantly to set up Gabi but his effort was just over and wide. Odegaard played a sublime scooped ball to Saka only to see the impressive (but time-wastey) Sa make a good save.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jimenez had a decent chance before half-time, sending a header wide of Ramsdale to remind us to be vigilant. As the whistle blew, frustration held sway. We had dominated them, had about 17 shots, although only 2 on target, and given away a goal to go into the dressing room behind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At the start of the second half Hwang had a decent chance before we again asserted our dominance. Partey is growing game by game and looking like a top player. Cedric has found a happily good seem of form in Tomi\u2019s absence, even if he is clearly not as good a player as the Japanese tyro. White was solid, defending well and passing the ball about with skill. Gabigol looked sharp, dangerous, skilful and he is nowhere near his ceiling. That kid is going to be some player.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Just before the hour, Semedo went down with what looked like a hamstring injury. He then took three and a half minutes to get subbed off the pitch, which looked to be yet another example of the away team milking every moment of time they could possibly waste. After the game, I was unimpressed by the interviewing journo who tried to lure Lage into condemning us for playing on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the record, we should have played on (it was not a head injury) and, when the ball fell to a Wolves player immediately after Semedo pulled up, he played the ball upfield instead of hoofing it off the pitch. If Wolves play on themselves why on earth should we stop for them? I very much like the steely streak we are developing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>It came in useful as we kept our heads up when previous incarnations would have let them drop. The crowd were magnificent again, but they felt the nerves as we got into the last half an hour, and the players could easily have dropped their level as a tentative note struck in the fanbase for the first time all evening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arteta played a blinder. He kept on Lacazette (who looked knackered and yours truly would have subbed off) and brought on Pepe for Gabi. Then he brought on Eddie for Cedric. Make no mistake: these substitutions won us the game.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Odegaard, a brilliant footballer who is just so elegant, determined and effective, played a glorious chipped ball over the top which Eddie retrieved with a textbook run. He did well to turn it back to somewhere behind Pepe. The Ivorian swivelled, pulled the ball across and behind his body, before firing it in the only available space past Sa. That was sheer class. Pure instinct, skill and composure. If he gets his scoring boots on in this run-in then we will be just fine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tavares came on for KT, who seemed to have an injury. Mind you, he is the anti-Jimenez. The Mexican faffed for ages and did not even go off; KT was off the pitch before his number came up.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>There were only 6 minutes of injury time (personally, I thought 8 would have been stingy, but the visionary Atkinson was satirising the impact of the arbitrary decision-making of non-elected officials in the capitalist economic system, so, hey-ho) but they were all we needed. Saka had a shot saved, Pepe recycled it, the interchange between Odegaard and Laca was excellent, as it had been all game. Pepe then played a peach, slide-rule pass \u2013 his second moment of match-changing quality in 15 minutes \u2013 into Lacazette and our captain\u2019s shot deflected off the defender, the keeper, and into the net.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The stadium erupted. I shouted loudly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I then looked in panic to see if VAR was getting involved \u2013 because that is now part of celebrating a goal \u2013 but when it looked safe I breathed a sigh of relief. And shouted some more.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Tonight we got exactly the same tune we get every time from our French maestro \u2018La Cassette\u2019 (cheers Las!) He worked so, so hard. He led the team. He got the crowd going. He was dead after 70 minutes but he found energy from somewhere in that last twenty minutes plus six. And, of course, even when we thought he had actually scored, it was taken off him. Classic stuff.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Oh well. It takes nothing away from his performance. He has been a player I have been thoroughly proud to watch in our colours and I hope he has a run of goals to match his performances before the season is over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I loved Wolves desperately trying to play the ball forwards as it was them running out of time to get anything from the game. What goes around, comes around. And, as Nelson would say (Muntz, not Admiral) \u2018Ha ha!\u2019.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019ll end by pointing out what we all know: this type of win builds belief and momentum like nothing else. It was a scary ride but that result, and, as the gaffer noted in his post-game interview, the manner of the result, is the sort of thing that builds something special.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Watch this space.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>And, as ever, have a good one \u2018holics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images On a night like tonight, it is hard to look at what happened in the Emirates Stadium and dismiss the thought that we might be witnessing the unfolding of something truly spectacular. Mikel Arteta won\u2019t be having any of that sort of thinking, and nor should he. However, us fans are [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"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\/4921"}],"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\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4921"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4921\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4925,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4921\/revisions\/4925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4921"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4921"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4921"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}