{"id":6823,"date":"2022-10-21T10:01:14","date_gmt":"2022-10-21T09:01:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6823"},"modified":"2022-10-22T10:25:23","modified_gmt":"2022-10-22T09:25:23","slug":"a-familiar-refrain-is-back-in-fashion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6823","title":{"rendered":"A familiar refrain is back in fashion!"},"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.com\/detail\/1244108415\" 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\/1244108415?et=7trwdsUpTw9orS2jISGTsQ&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=63ciPhTonZo4fSdtI6X7rtbOz9xOyEUylvDON0d8K54=&amp;caption=true&amp;ver=1\" scrolling=\"no\" frameborder=\"0\" width=\"594\" height=\"396\" style=\"display:inline-block;position:absolute;top:0;left:0;width:100%;height:100%;margin:0;\"><\/iframe><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>It is a while since I saw a match in the flesh and then wrote the report for the blog so it was nice to resume normal service tonight in the Europa League. Nobody likes Thursday night football (unless you\u2019re West Ham) but this was a game that began at 6 pm and was preceded by a chance to meet scruzgooner and his lovely wife who was in the process of becoming a fully-fledged Arsenal fan.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>scruz arrived after a frantic chase across London but was relaxed by a Guinness and a calm stroll from the Tollie to the ground. We were in the same section of the North Bank Upper which was about 80 % full but filled by a lot of non-regulars if my section of the ground was anything to go by.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PSV are coached by a man much hated by Gooners everywhere, Ruud Van Nistelrooy, or \u2018Old Horseface\u2018, as we know him more properly. His team are currently the second best in the Netherlands, just behind Ajax and they despatched FC Zurich 5-0 to stay on our coat tails in our Europa League Group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have, of course, got \u2018Super Mik Arteta\u2018 who knows exactly what we need and his choice was to field&nbsp;&nbsp;a strong team with Jesus and Nketiah starting for the first time together with&nbsp;&nbsp;Saka on the&nbsp;&nbsp;wing. Lokonga and Vieira began in midfield with the increasingly popular Granit Xhaka who played a little deeper, especially in the first half, than he has been of late. Tomayisu and Tierney were our full backs and Gabriel joined Capitola Rob whose luxuriant thatch grows ever more er\u2026luxuriant. Turner was in goal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While the atmosphere was positive and supportive the decibel level was relatively muted compared with recent matches and the team\u2019s subdued opening reflected the different atmosphere. Who would have thought that the absence of Countrymen Junior and Senior would have had such a notable effect?!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal controlled almost all the first half. PSV had one attack when Simons bore down on goal but the nosebleed he suffered from finding himself so high up the pitch prompted him to sky the ball. Arsenal pressed PSV very hard but Vieira has yet to develop the physicality necessary to bully the opposition so PSV were able to survive as they often found an out ball through his channel. Pressing has to be consistently applied. It\u2019s not optional if you are a pressing team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Jes\u00fas played through the centre with Eddie out wide and Nketiah\u2019s wing play left a little to be desired. Jes\u00fas fired one shot just wide of the left-hand post and it became increasingly obvious that Saka had the Dutch team\u2019s left-back on toast. Arsenal\u2019s approach play was neat and occasionally innovative but they failed to test the Dutch team\u2019s keeper much. PSV failed to trouble Matt Turner at all. For me the difference in quality and ambition between the two sides was stark. We tried to find a comparator to PSV in the current Premier League and identified Bournemouth as about the same level.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Despite Arsenal looking much the stronger side they failed to show many signs of being likely to score in the first half. The last pass went astray or some brave and often fortuitous blocks from the PSV defence kept Arsenal at bay. The interval arrived with the match goalless. The only reassuring feature was that Granit found a way to get himself booked for a relatively innocuous tackle on the left flank after about 30 minutes. I\u2019ve never joined the conspiracy theorists about Xhaka and the witch hunt against him but there was fuel for such theories in that incident.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I\u2019m not sure what Ruud said to PSV at half-time whereas I know as a consequence of watching \u2018All or Nothing\u2019 that Mikel was explaining Maslow\u2019s Hierarchy of Needs to his boys. As the second half began Arsenal seemed to increase the tempo, used Saka more, passed more quickly with a better tempo and tried to be more direct. In the meantime, the much-vaunted Cody Gakpo (a tall lad) had spent the first half in Tomayisu\u2019s pocket and probably stayed in there at half-time to hear the Maslow lecture. He was no more noticeable in the second half except that Ben White replaced Tomi after 70 minutes and allowed him no more space than Tomi had. PSV\u2019s only breaks of note involved the fast and dreadlocked Noni Madueke, their only English player and an ex- Spud who deserved to be booed a lot more because of his associations. He produced two moments of menace but Turner, who looks increasingly assured, was equal to them both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal produced some more concerted attacking play. Benitez saved from Jesus and Saka and some more brave and often fortuitous blocks started to frustrate us. The answer seemed increasingly to feed either Jes\u00fas or Saka who turned his left-back inside out at will. While the crowd began to get restless and at least three people started to suggest \u2018it looks like one of those days\u2019, <s>Saka<\/s> Tomiyasu cut a ball back in 70 minutes and Xhaka hit a crisp right foot half volley past the PSV goalkeeper to give us the lead.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Arsenal 1 (Xhaka, 70), PSV 0&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The goal was scant reward for our overwhelming superiority. A raft of substitutions had taken place from the 65th minute onwards with Partey, \u00d8degaard , Martinelli and latterly White and Nelson coming on to replace Sambi Lokonga, Vieira, Jes\u00fas , Tomayisu and Saka. Saka got a well-deserved standing ovation and Tierney and \u00d8degaard got yellow cards for roughing up the PSV full back on a break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We had few alarms from then on. PSV were plucky but also lucky and at the end of the game we could reflect that as Tony Adam\u2019s prepares to lift the Glitterball, it is fitting that the strains of \u20181-0 to the Arsenal\u2018 have been heard for the third successive match.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Result: Arsenal 1 PSV 0&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We now lead the group, five points ahead of PSV who we should surely master next week if we choose to play a reasonably experienced side although it won\u2019t really be necessary to do that because we have&nbsp;&nbsp;qualified for the knockout stages and almost certain to win the group.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We have a very definite team style with a strong press, high intensity and when we choose to, very quick passing. Having watched the awful Spud performance last night it is clear that we are playing football on a completely different tactical level from them. Most players did well but Sambi and Vieira need to make a more consistent contribution. Nketiah is not suited to playing wide and Tierney is not as assured as the Tierney of two years ago although he had a decent game tonight.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Our standout players were Saka, Jes\u00fas and the revelation of the season, Granit Xhaka, attacking midfielder supreme. He was excellent tonight. Congratulations to Arteta who juggled his resources well and is maintaining good momentum. On to St.Mary\u2019s now for a big test on Sunday . It is one we should pass on tonight\u2019s evidence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images It is a while since I saw a match in the flesh and then wrote the report for the blog so it was nice to resume normal service tonight in the Europa League. Nobody likes Thursday night football (unless you\u2019re West Ham) but this was a game that began at 6 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"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\/6823"}],"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\/11"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6823"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6823\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6839,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6823\/revisions\/6839"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6823"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6823"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6823"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}