{"id":8416,"date":"2023-09-27T22:15:59","date_gmt":"2023-09-27T21:15:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8416"},"modified":"2023-09-29T09:00:53","modified_gmt":"2023-09-29T08:00:53","slug":"one-nil-to-the-arsenal-as-squad-players-star","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8416","title":{"rendered":"One nil to the Arsenal as squad players star"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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I have always enjoyed the League Cup. It has taken me to grounds I probably wouldn\u2019t have been to in the normal course of events (e.g. Deepdale). During Ars\u00e8ne Wenger\u2019s time it gave me the opportunity to see rising stars at a young age who achieved great things (e.g. Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, and Bukayo Saka) and those who flamed out, e.g. Quincy Owusu-Abeyie who absolutely dominated an Arsenal win over Everton I saw at Highbury. I even described him at the time as our own Cristiano Ronaldo, all step overs and blazing pace, but sadly it was not to be. The League Cup even took me to two Wembley finals, against the Cities Birmingham and Manchester. Unfortunately we lost both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So the first round involving Arsenal this season took us to the Gtech Community stadium, newish home of Brentford. Premier League opponents. The prematch debate amongst the GHF community, as outlined in the preview of this match by 21CG, involved the team. The advice varied from play squad members who were not part of the first choice eleven ( a choice aided by our long injury list), to play all the kids.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Well at 6.45pm the team news broke.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ramsdale
Tomi
White
Gabriel
Kiwior
Jorghino
Havertz
Smith Rowe
Nelson
Sagoe Jr
Nketiah<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Subs: Hein, Cedric, Sweet, Walters, Zinchenko, Elneny, \u01fedegaard, Cozier-Duberry, Jesus<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For those not familiar with him, Charles Sagoe Jr is a 19 year old who joined us from Fulham in 2015, so a true academy product. He\u2019s a winger (from either side) and a regular in the U21s last season. So a strong squad team, with only Sagoe Jr from the academy in the starting line up, but three more on the bench.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brentford fielded a strong team, considering their injuries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I couldn\u2019t get a ticket and it was not on mainstream tv, so was stream hunting. Countryman junior did the business and we were off. The defence lined up with Kiwior and Benny at full back and Gabriel and Tomi at centre back. No VAR so if we score we can celebrate!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And so we could on 8 minutes as Brentford played a clumsy pass back which Eddie chased onto. I thought he could have driven on and shot but he tried to cut back to Nelson. The ball was intercepted by a Brentford player. But he couldn\u2019t sort his feet out and it fell to Reiss on the penalty spot. He rifled home clinically. The Arsenal faithful roared their approval.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 1-0 Brentford (Nelson, 8 mins)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 20 minutes White had a difficult ball dropping over his shoulder. He got it away but only to a Brentford player who shot hard. Tomi made a great block. Sagoe, who had been tidy up to that point, then had his first eye catching moment as he weaved past three players in midfield. ESR, Reiss Nelson, and Eddie were looking very lively up front.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Brentford were having their moments, with the odd nervy moment in defence. Good clearances were made by Havertz and Gabriel.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A lovely attack involving half a dozen Arsenal players saw ESR slaloming through the penalty area as though it was 2021. He fired in a strong, on-target shot which was well-saved by the keeper\u2019s legs. Again ESR beat men around the area and the ball finished up at Havertz\u2019s feet 5 yards out. But he seemed lacking in confidence and a weak shot was blocked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good move for Brentford saw the ball at the feet of one of their players inside the penalty area with no defenders on him. At that point my stream froze! An anxious minute was spent reconnecting but when I returned it was with a sigh of relief as it became obvious they hadn\u2019t scored.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aaron Ramsdale was put under pressure with the ball at his feet but everybody stayed calm and eventually Gabriel cleared. On 40 minutes Ben White was yellow carded for time wasting at a throw in. The air was blue in the Countryman household!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good first half from Arsenal, but only a slender lead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 1-0 Brentford (Half time)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No changes as they came out for the second half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 54 Eddie was booked, maybe slightly harshly, for a foul. Brentford had come out to play and continued to pile on the pressure.  On 65 Ramsdale made a quite brilliant save, tipping a fierce goal bound shot onto the post. Brentford continued to pour forward and were having the best of it for this period.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

0n 68 minutes, Sagoe Jr. came off for Gabriel Jesus. The debutant had a good game, showing his skills once and keeping the ball moving. One to watch. Havertz made a good run down the left wing and cut the ball back well to Reiss Nelson. He fired just wide with the keeper beaten.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Again Ramsdale had to make a good, perhaps slightly easier save. Tomi blocked yet another shot a couple of minutes later. Brentford got the ball in the net but the flag went up for offside. I think he was, just, but was grateful to be spared a lengthy VAR analysis!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On 81 minutes, ESR, who had had an excellent game was subbed for \u01fedegaard. In a defensive move, Reiss Nelson, who also had a really good game, was replaced by Elneny. Welcome back Mo!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A terrific, game saving block on the line was made by Kiwior. At that point my stream froze! When I returned, to my horror Cedric was on the pitch. Evidently he came on for Eddie. Five minutes of added time. With 90 seconds left, the Brentford goalkeeper Mark Fletten came up for a long throw in. The ball ended safely in Ramsdale\u2019s hands and that was that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Arsenal 1-0 Brentford (Full time)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

A good win. Particularly impressive were ESR, Nelson, Eddie, Tomi and Ramsdale. On we go to the next round. Hopefully away to a lower league team!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have always enjoyed the League Cup. It has taken me to grounds I probably wouldn\u2019t have been to in the normal course of events (e.g. Deepdale). During Ars\u00e8ne Wenger\u2019s time it gave me the opportunity to see rising stars at a young age who achieved great things (e.g. Cesc Fabregas, Robin van Persie, and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"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\/8416"}],"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\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8416"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8416\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8428,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8416\/revisions\/8428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8416"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8416"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8416"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}