{"id":6986,"date":"2022-11-12T23:04:40","date_gmt":"2022-11-12T23:04:40","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6986"},"modified":"2022-11-19T18:01:00","modified_gmt":"2022-11-19T18:01:00","slug":"merry-christmas-gooners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=6986","title":{"rendered":"Merry Christmas Gooners!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"550\" height=\"140\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/qatarwhy2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6997\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/qatarwhy2.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/qatarwhy2-300x76.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/qatarwhy2-75x19.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n<p>Arsenal ended the first half of the season (which to be pedantic is not the first half of the season as only 14 games have been played) five points clear of the pack after a 2-0 win at Molineux tonight. It was a measured performance, far from the commanding effort we saw at Stamford Bridge last week but Wolves were obdurate opponents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>I had a very strange day today. It was streaked with a mixture of normality interspersed with some odd moments. Mrs TTG and I made our way up to London, she for a school reunion and I to Ashburton Grove for the match. Nothing unusual there save for the fact that the match was a Rugby League match &#8211; the World Cup semi-final &#8211; which we lost surprisingly since we beat the same team by about fifty something points a few weeks ago. It went to a golden point and Samoa got it. A very surprising result following on from an amazing result at the Emptihad where Brentford took all the points against Citeh, a result very few people expected and one which ensured we would top the table over the World Cup break whatever happened at Molineux, and also at Christmas. If only Leeds could hold onto a lead it might have been even better!&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\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\/1441028201\" 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\/1441028201?et=j_HgmLzORuVLZNVkJTgYRA&amp;tld=com&amp;sig=ZoBhlUghcUKl7r0ZgFvCpk3WtR_nwlfV3cQaxCY4yNk=&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>Our game with Wolves therefore came without quite the pressure it might have had, although watching Arsenal, even this team, makes me nervous. Wolves had their new manager in the building, even if he wasn\u2019t officially in charge and they gave us a difficult first half. We enjoyed the lion\u2019s share of the possession but sadly lost Granit Xhaka early, with what looked like the effects of an illness. After the game Arteta mentioned that several players had the same bug. He needed very early treatment and was eventually replaced by Fabio Vieira. Vieira is a VERY different player from his namesake Patrick; he really needs a good course of protein and gym work to build him up but he has a silky touch with his left foot which was later to stand us in good stead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>We dominated the game without looking continually incisive and on 8 minutes Guedes who looked offside to me tangled with Saliba on the edge of the box. Nothing nasty was given, which, given that GSD\u2019s favourite VAR official Mike Dean was in charge, was surprising. We had two players sent off here two seasons ago and Martinelli was sent off for two offences in 6 seconds last season, so we had a precedent for calamity here.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Guedes fired over later but the main attacking protagonist in the first half was Jes\u00fas who had a goal ruled out for offside, hit the bar and flicked a header wide. Wolves sat behind the ball and denied us space out wide where Saka and Martinelli were well contained. It was a pretty flat first half but we were not hugely troubled. We clearly needed to move the ball faster!<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The second half began in a similar fashion but we broke the deadlock in the 55th minute as our quicker passing paid off. Jes\u00fas found Vieira with a delightful ball and Paddy lite chipped it over S\u00e1 for \u00d8degaard to just beat Saka to the finish. After this the main danger was the huge and fearsome Adama Traor\u00e9. Ramsdale bravely foiled him after a one two with Guedes. Ramsdale took a blow to the throat from which he made a blessedly quick recovery after blocking an effort from Traor\u00e9. Wolves tried a number of substitutions but lacked a focal point in a lightweight attack and Gabriel and Saliba were largely untroubled at the back.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The game was effectively settled in the 75th minute with a not dissimilar goal from our first and the same eventual scorer. Martinelli robbed the Wolves right back and backheeled the ball to Zinchenko who hit a hard cross which was deflected to Martinelli. His shot was blocked and fell to \u00d8degaard who blasted it in. After this, we ran the clock down sensibly and made a lot of substitutions bringing on C\u00e9dric, Nelson and Elneny for Vieira, Saka who was not at his best tonight and Zinchenko who I thought was less effective than I suspect Tierney might have been. He is not match sharp yet and that may be why he made a number of small mistakes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Like last week, I thought Partey was immensely effective throughout the match. Tonight, he was hugely influential in an understated way but he is a massively important cog in this team. \u00d8degaard stepped up tonight and executed a particularly beautiful turn at the end. He is another understated player but he does a fine job. Ben White was similarly excellent as he so often is and Gabriel Jes\u00fas was a one man attack without the goals. Whatever, he is immensely valuable to this team.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, who honestly thought we would be 5 points clear of Citeh at the break for the World Cup? We are 8 points clear of the Spuds with a game in hand, 15 ahead of Liverpool and 16 ahead of Chelsea. These are heady times but we face the unpredictability of this break for this ghastly World Cup. Many players will be injured, mentally and physically exhausted and who knows what the impact on the title race will be? But, how exciting is it that we are even asking that question with a very strong vested interest?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>So, that\u2019s our last league game before Christmas. An ecstatic C100 felt compelled to bare his remarkable torso and was caught on camera in an early Christmas celebration. Merry Christmas, Holics. Let\u2019s hope the lead stays in place.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\"><figure class=\"aligncenter size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" width=\"550\" height=\"140\" src=\"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/qatarwhy2.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6997\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/qatarwhy2.jpg 550w, https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/qatarwhy2-300x76.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/11\/qatarwhy2-75x19.jpg 75w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 550px) 100vw, 550px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenal ended the first half of the season (which to be pedantic is not the first half of the season as only 14 games have been played) five points clear of the pack after a 2-0 win at Molineux tonight. It was a measured performance, far from the commanding effort we saw at Stamford Bridge [&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\/6986"}],"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=6986"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6986\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7005,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6986\/revisions\/7005"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6986"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6986"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6986"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}