{"id":8501,"date":"2023-10-09T07:52:25","date_gmt":"2023-10-09T06:52:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8501"},"modified":"2023-10-14T09:09:37","modified_gmt":"2023-10-14T08:09:37","slug":"weve-got-an-awful-lot-of-gabis-from-brazil","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=8501","title":{"rendered":"We\u2019ve Got An Awful Lot Of Gabis From Brazil"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<a id=\"SlAiO3jxScBf1fMPAAEW2g\" class=\"gie-single\" href=\"http:\/\/www.gettyimages.com\/detail\/1713172573\" target=\"_blank\" style=\"color:#a7a7a7;text-decoration:none;font-weight:normal !important;border:none;display:inline-block;\" rel=\"noopener\">Embed from Getty Images<\/a><script>window.gie=window.gie||function(c){(gie.q=gie.q||[]).push(c)};gie(function(){gie.widgets.load({id:'SlAiO3jxScBf1fMPAAEW2g',sig:'jp6gfz572AGF20MGb6mfSmARapY-7R8ul-A2MqJbWIk=',w:'594px',h:'396px',items:'1713172573',caption: true ,tld:'com',is360: false })});<\/script><script src=\"\/\/embed-cdn.gettyimages.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\" async=\"\"><\/script>\n\n\n\n<p>Please tell me someone recognises The Coffee Song in the title \u2026?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Since Bukayo Saka limped out of the game against RC Lens on Tuesday evening, speculation had reached fever pitch (see what I did there) as to whether he could possibly be fit to start against Man City. It had seemed impossible but the issue was thrown into confusion by Mikel Arteta\u2019s press conference claim that he would be \u201cin contention\u201d for a starting berth. I would like to declare at this point that I am in contention to share a hot date with Barbie film star, Margot Robbie, but my chances of final selection are about the same as Bukayo\u2019s were today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In the event City were deprived of the services of Rodri, de Bruyne and Stones, while despite all the encouraging speculation the Arsenal lined up without Saka, Martinelli and Thomas Partey, but with David Raya continuing in goal, he having been a part of the Brentford team that did the double over City last season. The stakes could hardly have been higher or the omens worse. Last season City only beat one team from the top eight away from home &#8211; Arsenal, and the Gunners had not beaten City in the league since Monday 21st December, 2015. However, whoever won today\u2019s game would sit top of the league going into the upcoming International break.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Both teams started at a tempo and trying to press high up the pitch. It was heart in the mouth time after just 3 1\/2 minutes when, with Raya floundering, Declan Rice headed a shot off the line. Arsenal countered after a terrific recovery challenge by Saliba to wrestle the ball from Cyborg, when Trossard found Jesus &#8211; in a non religious kind of way &#8211; and a short series of attacks on the City area ended with an offside against birthday boy, Ben White. Michael Oliver then got very confused and handed a card, though possibly not of the greetings variety, to Jorginho for a clumsy tackle which ended a City break on 10 minutes. It\u2019s the sort of tactic City employ with impunity ten times a game but we know from experience how much Oliver likes to book an Arsenal man.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>At that point things were looking shaky. David Raya had lost the calm composure of previous games and was lucky when a poor attempted clearance bounced narrowly wide off the challenging Alvarez\u2019s leg. He was playing our defenders into trouble with some dubious short passes and hit a lot of uncharacteristically long balls which were not finding team mates. Bernardo Silva was booked for a bad challenge on Rice as he tried to deal with one of those dubious passes. Nketiah then shot wide from a clever pass by Zinchenko and Gary Neville was pleased to helpfully inform us that the striker had not found the far corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Kovacic was handed a yellow card for a nasty tackle through the back of Martin Odegaard. VAR checked for Serious Foul Play but ducked out of what probably should have been a red card. Gary Neville helpfully informed us that it was \u201corange\u201d. See, the thing is, Gary, they don\u2019t do those.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Raya then passed a horrible ball to Rice who was cut down by Kovacic. That should have been a second yellow and an early bath for Kovacic but Michael Oliver immediately and inexplicably waved all claims away and allowed him to continue unpunished. Even Gary Neville helpfully informed us that Kovacic should have gone. The first half ended after a double effort by Zinchenko from distance was blocked. Jesus had the beating of Gvardiol but could not find the final ball while, at the back, Saliba and Gabriel had assumed complete control of City\u2019s forwards.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Half Time: Arsenal 0-0 Man City<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Half time refreshments for your correspondent consisted of a can of Draught Guinness 0.0 Alcohol &#8211; brilliant and undistinguishable from the \u2018real\u2019 thing &#8211; and Cashews, Roasted Cashews, \u00a34.20 a bag ! A far cry from the good old days of Percy Dalton\u2019s on the North Bank. Ask your dads, kids !<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If Arteta was serious recently about substituting goalkeepers, one would have thought David Raya unlikely to reappear for the second half. In fact, the only change was Gabriel Martinelli for Leo Trossard and the Brazilian was quickly into his all action style. Raya had had a halftime makeover, recovered his calm and suddenly could complete his long passes again &#8211; clearly now a tactic to bypass City\u2019s massed troops in midfield and press for the second balls. We suddenly looked much more purposeful and forced an attack which culminated in a lofted pass from Zinchenko aimed at Bathgooner in North Bank Upper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Arsenal were now in control and Guardiola reacted on 67 minutes with a triple change &#8211; Stones, Nunes and Doku on; Lewis, Kovacic and Alvarez off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Arteta responded with a triple change of his own on 74 minutes &#8211; Tomiyasu, Havertz and Partey on; Zinchenko, Nketiah and Jorginho off.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Partey was immediately pulling strings in the middle and his partnership with Rice instantly restored calm in front of our back four &#8211; one superb tackle from Rice again protecting our centre backs on 80 minutes. And then on 86 minutes \u2026\u2026 IT happened. Tomiyasu to Havertz who rolled it to Martinelli who hammered a shot which deflected &#8211; hahahahaha ! &#8211; past a stranded Ederson. Cue mayhem &#8211; cue Limbs ! &#8211; and that was just me and Ted on the sofa. Ted is a Golden Retriever and seemed quite surprised !<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The substitutions had worked to perfection. Thomas Partey\u2019s languid, decisive style had further transformed the team after Martinelli\u2019s introduction, although I personally think Rice, Gabriel and Saliba should all have been jointly awarded Man of The Match.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The 4 added minutes were efficiently seen out although Michael Oliver took one final opportunity to book another Arsenal player. Gabriel Jesus this time for not rushing the ball back quickly enough to Ederson, who elbowed our striker in the kidneys for his trouble and joined his fellow Brazilian in the book. Oliver blew for time just short of 95 minutes &#8211; cue more Limbs, although Ted looked slightly resigned this time and covered his ears with his paws as I turned up the TV volume and joined in the finale rendition of North London Forever.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Whatever Mikel Arteta said to the players at half time had been transformative. Two cagey teams started the afternoon by carefully sizing each other up. The Arsenal decided after 74 minutes \u201cit\u2019s up for grabs now !\u201d (see what I did there, again) &#8211; so they went for it, and they took it !<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The post match interview on Sky featured Gabriels Martinelli and Jesus while their similarly named pal, Magalh\u00e4es got his feet up in the changing room. If winning this Premier League eventually requires divine intervention, with 3 Gabriel Angels and a Jesus what can possibly go wrong ?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Embed from Getty Images Please tell me someone recognises The Coffee Song in the title \u2026? Since Bukayo Saka limped out of the game against RC Lens on Tuesday evening, speculation had reached fever pitch (see what I did there) as to whether he could possibly be fit to start against Man City. It had [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":15,"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\/8501"}],"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\/15"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8501"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8501\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8511,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8501\/revisions\/8511"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8501"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8501"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8501"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}