{"id":7556,"date":"2023-03-10T09:24:13","date_gmt":"2023-03-10T09:24:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7556"},"modified":"2023-03-11T13:29:55","modified_gmt":"2023-03-11T13:29:55","slug":"hobsons-choice-and-a-curates-egg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=7556","title":{"rendered":"Hobson\u2019s Choice and a Curate\u2019s Egg"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Charles Laughton channelling his inner Arteta while pondering team selection ahead of the Sporting game. Courtesy of Getty Images.<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Given the paucity of options brought about by having 3 first choice forwards unavailable along with the Pyramid\u2019s Pirlo, Tierney and Odegaard off games with a note from matron and ESR still being nursed back following injury, the pre-match discussions around what team to put out were rendered pretty much null and void.  Perhaps Arteta considered playing Tomi and Holding from the start but that\u2019s really the extent of the changes which could have been made against a team representing a club like Sporting, while still keeping an eye on the need to rotate ahead of a far more important Premier League game less than 3 days later.  So, in came Turner in goal, Kiwior for Big Gabby with a midfield of Jorginho, Xhaka and Vieira with Nelson and Saka wide and Martinelli leading the line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Rather oddly, the ground seemed to be half empty, not just at the start but right through. Which made the awarding of slightly less than 3,000 tickets to Arsenal fans even more curious. If anyone has any insight on that, I\u2019d be grateful to learn the reasoning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The game started with the disappointing news that Hector Bellerin, once of this parish, was missing with a knee injury.  Perhaps he\u2019ll be fit for the second leg.  We started promisingly with good control and possession while not really creating too much.  The opposition seemed content to get players behind the ball and try to catch us on the break, a ploy which has been our downfall in European competitions in the past. And in Marcus Edwards – lest we forget, a Spurs product – they had a player well able to hurt us. In the 21st<\/sup> minute, Saka and the lively Vieira combined down the right to win us a corner. From the corner taken by Vieira a curiously free Saliba netted with a delicious glancing header from inside the 6 yard box.  The tv then showed a clear foul by Zinchenko on one of their players who was being held in the manner of a WWE wrestler, I thought.  The ball was never going to arrive behind Saliba into the vicinity of the Lisbon player, however it was still a foul. I would have been unhappy if it hadn\u2019t been disallowed if it had happened at the other end. The referee, fortunately, did not concur. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sporting 0 Arsenal 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going behind seemed to kick Sporting up a gear or two and they began to take more possession and create rather more threat. In the 33rd<\/sup> minute, Inacio shot from 30 yards out and Turner made a good save, parrying the low shot out for a corner. From the corner, taken, inevitably, by the aforementioned Edwards, Sporting scored an identical goal to ours, again, with nobody seeming to take ownership of Inacio who was able to nod in from inside the 6-yard box.  Further inspection by the commentary team showed that new boy Kiwior looked to be shaping to jump but then suddenly ducked, as if he had heard a shout, presumably from the keeper.  It was all the more odd considering that the keeper looked as if he had started to come for the cross and then backed away. Questions will be asked this morning at London Colney, if they weren\u2019t on the flight home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sporting 1 Arsenal 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sporting now had their tails up and in the 39th<\/sup> minute, Edwards, again, hit a scorching shot from outside the box which required a very good save again from Turner, as the ball bounced just in front of him low down to his left, and he managed to turn it out for a corner. Just before half time, a deep corner from the left found White at the back post, whose header was gathered up awkwardly right on the line by the keeper.  Martinelli was booked for impeding the keeper in the ensuing scramble which seemed harsh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Half-Time: Sporting 1  Arsenal 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal started the livelier again in the second half and in the 48th<\/sup> minute Zinchenko, in the inside left position, played a smart through ball into the box for an unmarked Martinelli to attempt a dink over the onrushing keeper, who saved well. Actually, the smarter thing to do would have been to square it to Vieira, unmarked on the penalty spot to roll in.  Then on 55, an equally smart dinked pass, Edwards again, into the box led to a shot requiring a reaction save from Turner. Unfortunately the keeper could only parry it out to the oncoming Paulinho to tap in from 5 yards,.  Disappointing, as for the first 10 minutes of the half Arsenal had been well in control. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sporting 2  Arsenal 1<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 59th<\/sup> minute the effervescent Martinelli was fed the ball just inside our half and set off on a run, evoking memories of that night at the bus stop in Fulham from a few seasons back. He beat 3 players and then raced through on goal, knocked it past the keeper and then, the hard work seemingly done, he took a poor touch when he might simply have knocked it in with his favoured right and a defender did very well indeed to get back to put it out for a corner.  Frustrating and exciting in equal measure.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was now rather more open as Arsenal sought to press forward and a minute or so after Martinelli\u2019s miss, Sporting really ought to have taken the lead as we were caught square at the back and Paulinho ran through but managed only to put the ball high, wide, and not terribly handsome. Phew! Straight after this, it was our turn. Saka won the ball in midfield, fairly, despite the complaints from the opposition, and squared to Xhaka who arrowed home a 35 yard rasper into the bottom right corner on 62.  Ok, actually his attempted slide rule pass into Martinelli came off the luckless Sporting defender and caught the keeper off balance as it squirmed into the net.  Imagine if you will, a considerable proportion of a certain F. Lampard\u2019s goals for the denizens of the bus stop.  That\u2019s how much of a deflection it took.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sporting 2  Arsenal 2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal began to exert more control as the game wore on as subs were brought on \u2013 Partey, ESR, Tomi all adding notably. By the end, the Sporting press, which really was very good at times, had faded considerably and perhaps the fact that they don\u2019t play in such a competitive league as the Premiership, with all its physical requirements, was showing more than a little. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think Sporting were happy to go away with the draw.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Full Time<\/strong>: Sporting 2  Arsenal 2<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the final analysis, we take the opposition back to the Emirates without 2 of their first choice defenders, even if one of them wasn\u2019t good enough for the Premiership. For our part, it was a good performance from Vieira who at times was asked to be the back-to-goal centre forward and showed considerable improvement in terms of physical presence. It was minutes for Kiwior, bringing him into the team and improving his understanding of what is required not least in terms of communication with the goalkeeper. Perhaps on the part of Turner, for whom simply being at Arsenal represents a significant step up in terms of the required level, it was a lesson from which he will learn.  If the performance and result were offered to me ahead of the game, it\u2019s a Hobson\u2019s choice I would happily have accepted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Given the paucity of options brought about by having 3 first choice forwards unavailable along with the Pyramid\u2019s Pirlo, Tierney and Odegaard off games with a note from matron and ESR still being nursed back following injury, the pre-match discussions around what team to put out were rendered pretty much null and void.  Perhaps Arteta considered […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"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\/7556"}],"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\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7556"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7556\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7576,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7556\/revisions\/7576"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7556"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7556"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7556"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}