{"id":7408,"date":"2023-02-12T09:31:51","date_gmt":"2023-02-12T09:31:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7408"},"modified":"2023-02-14T09:49:41","modified_gmt":"2023-02-14T09:49:41","slug":"gunners-chase-off-the-swarm-but-a-sting-lingers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7408","title":{"rendered":"Gunners Chase Off the Swarm but a Sting Lingers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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The day started before dawn when I escorted the dog into the frigid garden to do his business.  Checking my messages I saw that TTG was already headed to the match from his lavish country estate, but was surrounded in his carriage by Hammers en route to their match with the Chavs, in their quest for mid-table mediocrity.  Hoping he would be able to safely navigate the riffraff in his personal carriage, I settled down to coffee and watched part of the early game before giving the dogs a real walk, getting home in time to see that Mikel Arteta had made no changes to the team that faced Everton:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramsdale<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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

\u00d8degaard  Partey  Xhaka<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Saka  Nketiah  Martinelli<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our guests, the Bees of Brentford, were lined up on their side in a 3-5-2 formation, which quickly reverted to a pack of eight players behind the ball when the Gunners were in their attacking end, like this:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raya<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ajer  Pinnock  Mee<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Roerslev  Janelt  Norgaard  Jensen  Henry<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Toney  Mbeumo<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Looking to recover from the disappointment of last week\u2019s second league defeat, Arsenal aimed to extend their five point lead at the top over Manchester City, who will host Aston Villa on Sunday. The Bees have been the league\u2019s form club since the World Cup, and stood seventh in the table before the match so the Gunners knew they were in for a battle.  Friday on Sky, Paul Merson called this Arsenal\u2019s biggest game of the season, saying \u201cIf you start backing up defeats with draws or another loss, it soon mounts up and before you know it, the table looks completely different. So, you have to bounce back.\u201d  Sandwiched between the Goodison goof-up and Wednesday\u2019s showdown with the defending champions, this game represented a critical moment in Arsenal\u2019s season.  But after Arsenal weren\u2019t able to hold their 1-0 second half lead, it now makes a win against Citeh even more critical than it seemed prior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The first half started evenly enough but before five minutes had gone, Arsenal came in for a scare when Toney got control on the right and sent in an excellent cross that left-back Henry sent far to the right of goal despite being in an excellent position.  Ramsdale just did enough to put Henry off despite not being able to claim the cross himself but it was a bit unnerving for Arsenal to be giving away a good chance like that so early.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the attacking end, \u00d8degaard was stringing together some nice passes and Arsenal were dominating possession but with no telling end product.  Zinchenko, who seemed to have a greater share of the Gunners\u2019 shots than his total of zero Premier League goals would seem to indicate he should be taking, missed a decent rebound chance, putting his right foot effort over the bar.  Contending for a high ball in midfield, Saliba was fouled by Toney who headed to Mbeumo, who then put the ball in the net after the whistle had gone, although the commentator (and apparent Brentford fan) seemed to think Toney had done nothing wrong.  Saka was pushed in the box by Henry but did not go down, instead sending a weak effort straight at the keeper, making me wonder if a penalty would have been given had Saka gone down immediately upon contact. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brentford was disrupting Arsenal\u2019s rhythm in midfield, and preventing the Gunners from getting behind their packed defensive lines.  Partey sent a speculative effort high into the crowd and a hint of frustration seemed to be creeping in.  The Bees came down the other end, strung together a couple of passes, and the ball came to Toney in front of an open net but he sent it off the top of the bar.  Another let-off and some worried murmurs from the crowd.  Ben White\u2019s excellent defensive header prevented another right wing cross from getting to the head of a Brentford attacker at the far post, and from the resulting corner Xhaka\u2019s face got in front of Mee\u2019s goal-bound free header. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal had some half-chances but at half-time I felt they were lucky not to be behind, and Brentford\u2019s defensive set-up seemed to be working a charm, with a low block that looked similar to the way Everton had set up last week.  Checking my texts I saw that ATG had a similar question to the one I had been asking myself, namely \u201cWhy are we trying to thread it through the middle all the time?\u201d \u2014 but in fact neither were we having any luck going around them and sending in crosses because the Brentford defenders were handling everything in the air with seeming ease.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Halftime: Arsenal 0 Brentford 0<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Neither manager made any changes at half-time.  The first five minutes of the second half saw Raya save decent shots by Saka and \u00d8degaard after well-worked Arsenal moves.  On 56 minutes Brentford had another excellent chance but Toney shot just to the right of Ramsdale\u2019s post after the Arsenal defense looked passive.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Finally, Arsenal made a breakthrough after \u00d8degaard slipped in Saka on the byline, and his beautifully placed cross found the foot of substitute Leandro Trossard, who had replaced Martinelli a few minutes before.  The ex-Brighton man made no mistake, hit the back of the net, and a cry of relief rang out from the home crowd.  In celebrating his first goal for the Arsenal, Trossard raised his hands to his face and seemed to gesture as if he was looking into the crowd with binoculars, but cool goal celebration or no, he chose an opportune time to open his account with his new club.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 1 Brentford 0 (Trossard, 66 minutes)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal seemed fortunate to be in front, to be honest about it, but I was hoping that they would gain enough confidence from the goal to be able to up their game and see it out for the three points.  Unfortunately, just seven minutes later Brentford controversially scored the equalizer when they were allowed to play a game of head tennis in the Arsenal box until the ball was headed to Toney who did not miss an open net this time.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The controversy came into it after VAR reviewed the build-up play which showed two possible instances of off-side.  The commentators said that referee Peter Bankes and VAR referee, Lee Mason as it turns out, were focused on the earlier instance, but after the decision of no off-side was announced, we were shown the later instance of off-side which on my viewing showed that the goal had indeed been off-side.  All of which might make the casual observer wonder, Why does VAR exist if the officials charged with implementing it are not able to identify the plays that require VAR review?  Speaking on the BBC, former Liverpool midfielder and Arsenal antagonist Danny Murphy commented: \u201dI am lost for words at the incompetence of the people doing (VAR) \u2026 Arsenal fans will be upset, the equaliser does look offside when it was headed down.\u201d  Never one to overstate the obvious, I might point out that if Danny Murphy is saying that Arsenal were jobbed, you might take it seriously.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 1 Brentford 1 (Toney, 73 minutes)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After Brentford scored there were few clear chances left on either side but it was Arsenal applying most of the pressure at the end.  Zinchenko shot past the right hand post, Saka shot over, and Trossard and Saka nearly set up Nketiah right in front of goal but the ball was just out of his reach.   <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Officiating questions aside, I have to admit that on the general run of play Arsenal probably didn\u2019t deserve all three points.  I thought Brentford played an excellent game and fully deserved their point.  Where that leaves Arsenal is in a worse position than they were last week, but not in free fall by any means.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come on Villa and come on the Arsenal on Wednesday, is what I say.  Three points against our closest rival would do a huge amount to turn around our current mini-malaise, but it also wouldn\u2019t hurt if Super Mik comes up with a wrinkle or two that the other managers haven\u2019t thought about yet.  Keep the faith, \u2018holics.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The day started before dawn when I escorted the dog into the frigid garden to do his business.  Checking my messages I saw that TTG was already headed to the match from his lavish country estate, but was surrounded in his carriage by Hammers en route to their match with the Chavs, in their quest […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":12,"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\/7408"}],"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\/12"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7408"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7408\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7411,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7408\/revisions\/7411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7408"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7408"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7408"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}