{"id":6459,"date":"2022-08-06T23:14:52","date_gmt":"2022-08-06T22:14:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6459"},"modified":"2022-08-12T17:18:36","modified_gmt":"2022-08-12T16:18:36","slug":"a-bricklayers-art","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6459","title":{"rendered":"A Bricklayer’s Art"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Following a sparkling pre-season that saw Arsenal perform and get results convincingly with the quality of the play and conditioning of the players visibly getting better from each sweltering Florida evening to another, and with the squad bolstered by some key additions that raised the overall technical quality and winning know-how noticeably, there was a rare optimism and excitement before Arsenal\u2019s season-opener against a Crystal Palace team that under the tutelage of the Arsenal invincible Patrick Vieira over the last twelve months or so has evolved into a dynamic, aggressive and resilient team. Somewhat like the man himself was as a player, but not quite as good, thankfully!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Crystal Palace manager\u2019s opponent in the dug-out, another ex-captain of Arsenal, may have not been quite the player Vieira was but Arteta has been able to bring his own tactical nous and an unflappable conviction from his playing days into his young and rapidly evolving managerial career.  In tandem with his technical director Edu \u2013 if you think there is an Arsenal theme being developed here, just wait until the report is finished \u2013 Mikel has more or less revamped the squad he had inherited two and half years back, ruthlessly shedding layers of calcified, ancient barks to help Arsenal regenerate its green branches and leaves with a youthful vigor.      <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palace has been quite the tricky opponent in recent years. Last season we lost away there at Selhurst Park in 0-3 in that lamentable stretch of performances in the Spring that cost us the top four spot. At home too, we were trailing until Lacazette snatched away a last-minute equalizer. The Frenchman \u2013 for all his limitations he has been a model professional and often in collaboration with his friend Aubameyang had produced some of the more memorable moments in red-and-white in our recent tumultuous years — since then has returned to his Lyonnaise roots and Arteta has replaced him with the excitingly talented Brazilian, Gabriel Jesus who, along with his ex-teammate in Manchester City, the Ukrainian captain Oleksandr Zinchenko,  brought in that rare mix of youthful vitality, hunger to improve and moreover, significant winning experience.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Both Tomiyasu and Tierney still being sidelined \u2013 though KT now fit enough to be on the bench \u2013 the starting line-up was as expected, and unchanged from the one that had trounced Chelsea (albeit an undercooked one) in pre-season: <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramsdale <\/p>\n\n\n\n

White \u2013 Saliba \u2013 Gabriel \u2013 Zinchenko <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Partey \u2013 Xhaka <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka \u2013 \u00d8degaard \u2013 Martinelli <\/p>\n\n\n\n

G.Jesus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jettisoning the black-and-gold away kit that was on display in pre-season, Arsenal lined up in unfamiliar but admittedly rather aesthetically pleasing pale pink kit (Orchid pink? Cherry blossom pink? Any specialists in Chromatics lurking in here?). <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Whereas Jesus and Zinchenko were making debuts for Arsenal they are both experienced PL campaigners, the complete debutant in that line-up was the young Frenchman William Saliba at the right side of the defense. A player signed from Saint-\u00c9tienne back when he was only 19 and then sent on loan initially back to Les Verts, then to Nice and then, last season, to Marseille, there has been all types of narratives formed around him, from the signing itself to his readiness or even suitability for the PL. Proving his doubters wrong,  Saliba had shown in the pre-season that he has the calmness and self-belief to carry over his brilliant form from Ligue 1 into English football, ably assisted by his towering presence. Arteta starting him in the season-opener and pushing White to right back \u2013 not starting with White at right centre back with Cedric on the right \u2013 was a show of confidence from the manager in his abilities and temperament. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal started electrically. Crisp, purposeful, vertical passing at high tempo complemented by tireless and dynamic off-the-ball movement and pressing. We completely dominated Palace in the first 25-30 minutes with a quality of play and conviction that we haven\u2019t seen in a season opener for a while now. The two Brazilians in the forward line were particularly creating havoc in the Palace defense, and Jesus showed his world class technical abilities with a superb run with the ball through a forest of Palace defenders in the penalty box. His deflected shot just needed a simple finish from Martinelli who missed an empty net with the goalkeeper prostrate on the ground. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal carried on. While White had to be extra careful given that he had the unenviable task of keeping Zaha quiet \u2013 and I think he did a superb job for most of the match with one or two lapses that are inevitable against Palace\u2019s best player and one of the trickiest wingers in the league \u2013 Zinchenko had more attacking freedom and with his positional intelligence and formidable passing range he initiated some excellent switches of play to find Saka in good positions against isolated defenders, while at the same time facilitating Xhaka-Martinelli-Jesus to dovetail seamlessly on the left. The continued goalmouth pressure led to shots from Partey and Zinchenko, the latter saved by the keeper. Once or twice Palace managed to arrive with the ball in the Arsenal final third but found Gabriel and Saliba imperious in regaining possession and using Partey as the base to recirculate the ball for quick attacks. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first goal came via the somewhat prosaic route of a corner kick — albeit one that Mikel\u2019s coaching team work on a lot and the players benefit from at both ends of the pitch. Saka delivered from the right, deep into the left side of Palace penalty box. Zinchenko left his marker Zaha stranded on the edge and headed the ball back into goalmouth for Martinelli to nod it into the goal. Gabi became the first Brazilian player to score the first goal of any PL season. One of the many records that he will set in his career, hopefully at the club level playing always for us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crystal Palace 0 \u2013 Arsenal 1 (Martinelli 20\u2019) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After the goal our intensity dropped, and we stopped enjoying the dominance that marked the first phase of the game. Palace weren\u2019t really creating any great moves, but with bits of indiscipline creeping into our performance, Palace started to find some openings. Ramsdale made a couple of poor mistakes with the ball at his feet and almost conceded what would have been a very strange goal when his attempted pass through the middle rebounded off a Palace player back towards goal. However, as was often the case last season, he also kept us in the game with a superb reflex save from Edouard\u2019s point-blank header. Xhaka earned a soft yellow \u2013 this time for failing to touch an opposition player before tumbling down. I think he was just checking whether \u201clet\u2019s show Xhaka a card\u201d school of thought remains prevalent among the school of English refereeing. Assured by the familiarity of the devil that he knows, he went about the rest of the match with his trademark professionalism, including a brilliant last-ditch block in the left back position to cover for the gap between Gabriel and Zinchenko. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palace found a formula. Or rather they started to execute the formula that Paddy must have formed looking at the aggressive positioning of our defenders in pre-season. Long raking passes over the defenders for their fast forward line, especially Zaha and Eze, to latch on to. It is not a new tactic against Arsenal teams, and often a very fruitful one. But our current central defensive pairing \u2013 ably assisted by the fullbacks \u2013 possesses a serenity on the ball and a discipline off it that makes us much less vulnerable to route one than we have been lately.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Palace started the second half with intensity, forcing Partey and White into a few mistakes. Ramsdale made a great save from Eze who was set up by typically explosive wing-play by Zaha who started to win a bit more of his battles against White. But not really against the Arsenal defense as Saliba showed remarkable composure, positional sense, technical quality in the air and on the ball, and overall exuded just an aura of calm control over the proceedings that didn\u2019t really allow Palace\u2019s newfound intensity or possessional advantage to turn into any real scare for us, even though there were a few (but not that many) forced and unforced mistakes from some of his more experienced partners. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

We also started to lose the cutting edge in the opposition box. \u00d8degaard, earlier having seen one of his superbly taken free kicks fizz just pass the Palace goal, later demonstrated the lack of ruthlessness and goalscoring instinct which I think remains the main weakness in contrast to his array of prodigious talents. Saka and Martinelli, in their very distinct ways, are two players who never give up and never fail to want to take more responsibilities but once the cohesiveness starts to fall apart, they don\u2019t yet<\/em> (and I understand that this could be a controversial observation) have the personality to single-handedly drag the team forward consistently, even though they are both capable of producing inspiring individual moments. Jesus is probably the likeliest of the front three to be able to have that kind of talismanic impact but as the second half wore on, he started to fizzle out, frustrated by not getting some free kick decisions that he has probably become more used to going his way. Welcome to the Arsenal, Gabriel! <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Mikel brought in Tierney and Nketiah for Zinchenko and Jesus with less than 10 minutes remaining. Both brought in a bit of spark with Eddie being proactive and industrious in his typical fashion. He found Saka on the right after crisp passing from Arsenal brought the ball into the opposition final third. Saka beat his marker on the outside and sent in a fizzing cross that was turned into his own net by Palace defender Gu\u00e9hi. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Crystal Palace 0 \u2013 Arsenal 2 (Martinelli 20\u2019, Gu\u00e9hi og 85\u2019) <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The points secured, with the traveling Arsenal fans serenading their old Arsenal favorite, the new Arsenal boys ended the match uneventfully, the clean sheet as pleasing to the team and as much of a key to the positive result as the first twenty minutes of champagne football. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Let us build on those foundations. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Following a sparkling pre-season that saw Arsenal perform and get results convincingly with the quality of the play and conditioning of the players visibly getting better from each sweltering Florida evening to another, and with the squad bolstered by some key additions that raised the overall technical quality and winning know-how noticeably, there was a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"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\/6459"}],"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=6459"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6459\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6461,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6459\/revisions\/6461"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6459"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6459"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6459"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}