February 9th – Huddersfield 1 Arsenal 2

Sloppy Arsenal outwit witless Huddersfield. I used to think Cardiff were crap but this lot take the biscuit. Them not us.

It made for a dull game to watch. The entire game was underwhelming. But rather than find a way to throw the points away as we did at Southampton and Brighton today they were so bad they could only score once. And then we had to do it for them.

It’s hard to get too excited by games like today or performances like this. We did enough to win but it was a strange performance. In the second half we could barely string any passes together and yet we had chances to score the third.

We made strange substitutions today. We finished the game with Elneny and Mustafa on the pitch and we still won. I was particularly impressed with Elneny’s clearance for them when we used his body strength to push Cigarette off the ball to head the ball out for their goal kick. When he came on he seemed to play high up the field and not worry about defending. That made no sense as did taking off Torreira. But not much made sense today. Apart from the three points.

Our first half performance was pretty balanced and highly effective. Ob1 was able to contribute and set up the first goal. But why, after a performance like last week, he’s actually selected is beyond me. There is either no accountability or there’s a deficit of available players – or both. And then to see MIckeyTarrien is always worrying. But he also helped us in the first half. Both tended to fall over at vital times but both helped create our goals. And we should have had more in both halfs. Whereas they had no clue until they reverted to playing like Burnley.

How impressive was Mustafa today? One of his most consistent performances. Right from his first pass he was able to deliver it directly to the sidelines through a 90% success rate of finding the space just on the other side of the touchline. His distribution today was consistent and thoroughly embarrassing. He really does look clueless but safer in a back three than back four. Some of his passing was truly laughable and pathetic. We’re just fortunate that it was against a rag tag Huddersfield.

Unfortunately Maitland-Niles seems to have been studying Mustafas’ ways. A number of crucial infield passes completely exposed our defense – one in each half. As polished and calm as he looks on the ball he’s decision making is too Ob1-like for me. And the simple mistakes are a little worrying. The square pass just outside the corner of the penalty box in the second half was particularly suicidal.

Today Guendouzi and Torreira reverted back to prior games. Neither seemed that comfortable and neither was as influential as last week. Often they were overrun in midfield. Neither was able to create much – that all came from the wings via Maitland-Niles, Ob1 and Mickey.

In truth Huddersfield, if they had even one of our strikers, would have been able to score a couple of goals. But then we had numerous chances in the second half that Ob1 managed to fluff. Against a decent team we’d have paid for those mistakes.

This review is as disjointed as our game today. There was very little to admire but it never seemed like we’d lose and, once we sneaked the first goal, quite likely we’d win. But there was little to inspire us. We rarely were able to put passes together. And that was compounded by the sloppy play of Mustafi, Maitland-Niles and Kolinsac. Too often we’d give the ball away cheaply and get out muscled.

This was a blah game. But still one we had to win. Leno was pretty suspect today. That one time in the first half when he came charing out to intercept their free-kick was unnerving. His distribution was not great either – kicking out of bounds a couple of times.

Cigarette worked hard; competed well and picked up a goal. On a number of occasions good runs and positions were wasted because Ob1 was unable to make the right pass. Maitland-Niles is a mini-clone of Bellerin. Very effective when he’s attacking, with a great touch and nice footwork but careless in defense and poor with his defensive passing.

Unfortunately Mustafa is a bigger clone of a dead, one-legged elephant. Which, in many ways, is insulting to any elephant I’ve met. And I’ve meet a few in my time. They surely have a superior football IQ to Mustafi and get paid a hell of a lot less. Today was borderline funny to see to which supporter in the stand would the ball go to. Right from his first misplaced touch. Luckily there was Kosclieny alongside him, still working his way back to full fitness just before his retirement to the French Mediterranean. One perfect clearance stopped a certain goal. But overall he’s so much calmer and experience than our German retard. But then so is a dead, one-legged elephant.

Now we’re off to the NoHopaCup. A couple of games against a team no-one has ever heard of (no, not Arsenal). Maybe Ozil will get some playing time. I would hope so but doubt it will happen. I’m also hoping that Torreira was removed as a precaution. And dare I say it, we need Xhaka back so we can play three in midfield. And then we need to find Aubameyang. But as long as we don’t misplace Cigarette I’ll remain an optimist.

-LB7

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