Month: February 2022

This is why we love football. This is why we love Arsenal. And this is the sound of joy typing away at the keyboard. Two great days. Both filled with tension and perfect outcomes. If we celebrated too much at Molineux, then we did not celebrate enough tonight. What a victory. Talking about having a fighting spirit! Let’s have another 9 days off please. And then go again.

I did not see that coming. As the game wore on the best I could hope for was a point. I’m not a greedy man (OK, maybe, technically, that’s not true – put food in front of me – especially bacon and I’ll show you a greedy fat basterd). I would have been fine with that. We huffed and puffed but seem to be missing that little sprinkling of either luck or skill. Cigarette was having another one of his games whereby outside the box he worked hard but inside the box he is incapable of finding the target. Saka worked hard as well but missed too many opportunities. Balls over the top that he could not control, touches that were too heavy or taking too long before shooting. Neither really tested the goalie until the end.

BTW, how was that a yellow card for Saka? And how easily did Atkinson let the game out of his control today? I like the fact that he did not want to wave yellow cards around (except for Saka). But that late substitution situation was a farce. They did not even put the board up but he tries to walk off Raul, gives him a yellow card and then he’s not even substituted. But it allowed Wolves to waste even more time. They thoroughly deserved this loss. They had chances they wasted but more than that, their attitude was to hunker down and preserve their lead once Gabriel set up their goal. They wasted a mammoth amount of time whenever they could. Sure, maybe it’s good game management but it effected their attitude. It caused them to try and hold their lead rather than build on it. So, justice was more than served with the result.

So back to the game. Right after that careless Gabriel mistake we started to assert ourselves and try and break Wolves down. It was mighty hard and we would tended to over engineer any chance we had. Aside from Saka and Cigarette, this was also not the best game for Martinelli. We missed someone like ESR today. The build up play was just a little too slow in the first half but that was also due to Wolves closing us down so quickly.

I like the way White was the one responsible for distribution from the back. And Partey – more on him later – was one of his main outlets.  With Xhaka on one side and Odegaard on the other we should have had more attacking intent. But, aside from a few passes at the end, Xhaka was fairly quite. Steady but not dominant. And as he played further up the pitch than normal, that exposed Tierney as well. And watching Xhaka try and recover once he’s beaten is like watching a tortoise in a sprint race. Odergaard however continued to push and try and create. He has a clear football IQ and, just maybe, could turn out to be the child that Bergkamp never had. A long-way to go and a ridiculously high bar I know.

The base of the team today and the stand out performer was Partey. Minus that is his moon shots on goal. Maybe he was trying to launch missiles into Moscow. His shooting defies explanation. Thankfully the rest of his game was outstanding. He was the outstanding presence in midfield today. He would broke up play, win tackles and turn upfield, then he cut through their lines and created. And he provided important defensive cover. Reassuringly, he remained on the pitch for the full 96 minutes. These gaps between games seem to be helping him. He is finally finding his groove. Today he was majestical in his control and passing. Moving the ball quickly and defining our approach.

I had felt that Arteta had waited so long to make any changes. And the first one I’d have taken off would have been Cigarette. But, clearly, every change he made worked perfectly. It’s fair to say Pepe changed the game today. From scoring the first to setting up the winner. After watching Cigarette continue to fluff his lines in front of goal it was a joy to see the masterful, calm and fluid way that Pepe took this goal. That gentle first touch followed by that sweeping shot. And that after watching us miss so many chances to get anything on goal. And credit to Eddie as well for the run and cut back. Though I’m not Eddie’s biggest fan, he like Pepe made a difference today. It also allowed Saka to switch to the left. He tried an ESR like attempt with his right foot which their goalie did well to parry. I figured that was the end of the game but Pepe brought ball back and then interchanged with someone though he was so good it could have been himself before unleashing Cigarette. It took a few seconds to register that the ball had gone in. The visual did not make sense. It’s only on replay that you realize their goalie steered it in. How else could Cigarette have got anything on target? Anyway, cue mayhem. This is the kind of come from behind victory that other teams engineer – not Arsenal. Actually, usually it would have been against Arsenal. This was truly stealing victory from the jaws of defeat.  

And it was all down to Pepe. Even though he nearly cost us a goal when they countered down their left and he could not follow his man before the ball was pulled back from them to shot just wide off Gabriel’s’ leg. He more than made up for it by jump starting us. As soon as he came on we looked livelier. That’s a nice, expensive and talented substitute to call off the bench. And today he made a difference.

At the end we had to switch Tierney for Tavares. Tavares did manage to pass sideways when you could see he was tempted to storm forward or play a risky forward pass (a la Liverpool). But he resisted the temptation. But he still stormed upfield, over-dribbled and then lost the ball to allow them to counter. He makes me nervous that boy.

What a wonderful result. What a wonderful game. Ok, it was not so wonderful. But, by the end of I was out of my seat screaming and dancing. Brilliant. That’s how you climb the table. That’s how you build a team for the future. And though our balance is still off, we are learning as a team. And we are progressing. And we are in fifth now with a clear shot at 4^th. We still have Liverpool and Chelsea to suffer through. Not to mention United, West Ham and that other lot. So, plenty of important games for us to deal with. And arguably a harder fixture list than anyone else. But, at least, we don’t have to play again mighty, mighty Burnley.

As I said, two great days. Both the manner of their loss and the spectacle of their manager having an emotional breakdown. It’s got to be hard waking up in the morning knowing that you’re the manager of that lot.  Only they could beat the best team in the land and then find a way to lose against one of the worst. How very, very Spursy. And how delightful. As much as I don’t want to see Burnley accumulate points and preserve their status that’s more than out-weighed by the delight in the pain, suffering and despair in seeing Sp*rs lose yet again. They are beyond arrogant and conceited. If only this would make them realize their station in life. To see Conte nearly burst into tears and concede he has no clue what to do was priceless. This was a successful Chelski manager – like one of their previous ones – that was supposed to stabilize their ship. We’ll, in a way he has, they now are predictable and stable. Except that translates to consistently losing their games. Perfect.

So, two great days. Two great results. It’s a shame February is a short month. But it makes up for that long January. Anyway, give Arteta credit for this one. Along with Partey and Pepe. Enjoy this victory. They don’t come like this that often. Wallow in it. And laugh out loud. If you can’t enjoy this then you’re either dead, a vampire or a Wolves fan.

-LB7

That’s how it goes when you don’t have COVID. And it’s not the first game of the season away against a newly promoted team. Compare this team to that that we put out. Night and day. And it showed today even if the scoreline flattered them.  Even with Jon Moss as the referee, there was little angst. Of course, there were no penalties for us but then we only received one yellow. And no red cards either. So, that’s what it’s like to finish the game with eleven players. And with three well deserved and well earned three points.

We should have scored in the first half and, in terms of timing, fortunate that we scored early in the second half. ESR was involved in the first half but was not penetrating enough. In contrast to Martinelli, he plays deeper and but works back better. It’s when he – and Saka – start to drift along our frontline when our creativity improves. Though it also felt that Tierney was more involved in the creative side today. He actually passed the ball forwards on a number of occasions. But that first goal was the game changer. Whereas we’d seen Odegaard – who was generally bright, lively and excellent today (against mediocre opposition it has to be said – and there, I’ve said it) spurn the chance to shoot and we’d seen Cigarette manage to stray offside for our disallowed goal – ESR was direct and confident and resulted in a great goal – even if their goalkeeper could have done better.

BTW, remember a couple of years back when we were looking to buy him before we picked up a random Icelandic goalie instead? I’m glad we left him where he was. Too many poor passes and not real presence. Whereas in our goal Ramsdale continues to lead that defense and even if one or two passes were dubious there was a number of long passes to ESR that were outstanding. But back to ESR and Saka. How energizing are these two? They demonstrated the lack of fear that seems to be overwhelming Cigarette. I’ve always been a believer in Cigarette. But I fear now he’s decaying rapidly right in front of our eyes. Today was one of the worst performances I’d seen him put in. His touch was awful, his possession was limited and his inability to score is undermining this team. Today his play defined his role – he has become our own false 9. We now play without a real center-forward but just choose to give that number of a person to randomly occupy the space a center-forward could occupy if they were in fact a center-forward. Arteta has not just emulated but transcended his mentor Pep. Arsenal have now taken the concept of a false 9 to a whole new level. None of this placing a creative attacking midfield player into a slightly withdrawn role. Nope, just put Cigarette out there and have him produce nothing and miss any chance that comes his way.

Within 40 minutes I wanted to see Eddie out there. That’s the definition of going out of the frying pan into the fire. Which, given ESRs performance, leads into an interesting conundrum. With Martinelli coming back from suspension, does ESR return to the bench? Todays performance argues for replacing Cigarette with Martinelli. Arteta won’t do that. That would remove one of our three grown-ups from the team. And at least one of the other two will get sent off in the next game and that would leave us with a child care issue for the remaining players. I think there is some FA rule about leaving unattended kids playing, unsupervised, in such a large space. So, I fear our False 9 will continue. When Eddie came on with the armband Xhaka refused to take it, so we have a false 9 and a false captain.

Brentford were boring – though not in a Burnley way – just devoid of creativity or threat. Nonetheless we handled them perfectly. Out midfield was strong. This was one of the easiest and strongest performances from Partey today. He even managed to last the entire 90 odd minutes. His passing was constructive and his tackling was perfect – and no yellow card. Xhaka, alongside him, was barely tested and seemed to coast through linking up well with Tierney and ESR.

The center-backs, like Ramsdale, were barely tested. Gabriel of course had to get one yellow for a last ditch challenge but overall they remain a pillar of defensive stability. Contrast that with the first game of the season! Alongside them Cedric remains passable but only barely. This was not his worst game – a low bar indeed – but he has a nasty habit of drifting backwards to be the deepest in our offside line of defense. We saw this against Wolves and again today. It was him that kept them onside for their token goal. But too often he drops too deep and then keeps their center-forwards onside and undermines the high line of the rest of the defense. Hopefully Tommy will be pushing Cedric back to the bench in our upcoming games. Better opposition will expose that weak link.

It’s a shame we went into containment mode after 70 minutes and allowed them some space to grow into the game. But even then I can’t remember Ramsdale having an actual shot to save. And then it became time for our favourite, most expensive player to make an appearance. Which, conveniently lead to Saka swapping sides and then dispatching our second goal in somewhat similar circumstances to ESR. Though, in this instance with a little more authority. It makes for nice headlines I’m sure – the two kids from our academy scoring both goals. It’s not fair to say the two were the difference today. With Odegaard, Partey and Xhaka we clearly controlled the game. It is fair though to say they were the only two who looked likely to score for us. They are our top goalscorers now. Pretty amazing fact. And as the season progresses, jut a little worrying.

It again highlights the paucity of goals from our main striker. But maybe it’s time to rename that position. Technically he would remain a forward by virtue of being further run the pitch. In cricket, he would be called the non-striker – up the other end of the pitch as the no-facer to the bowler – so that does not work. Maybe we could call him our Misser or our Mister Misser. Our double M. Our own M&M if you will. At some point, but surely next season, we’ll have a player who can feed off all the crosses that are put into the box. Someone who can win a header and/or even shoot on target. But a man can dream, right?

Another week then to idle away until our next game. The rhythm of this season is so different given our lack of European football, COVID cancellations and these annoying international breaks – of which we still have one more to suffer through. In a funny way, the lack of mid-week football allows time for other parts of life to creep in. But, as we know, that’s really not a healthy or good thing for anyone. No football does not equate to a real life. But it does mean that the tension, fear and worry is at least not present mid-week. And it allow our players to rest up in anticipation of their next red card or missed goalscoring opportunity. And it allows me time to rest up my weary fingers from all this typing. Maybe I can find a substitute typist. Or seek a postponement because of my other European obligations. Or maybe I’ll be called up to some international team of lost souls. Nope. Much better to stay focused on the next game. Which, it turns out, is next Thursday against Wolves. So, in fact, not an entire week before the next one. But, surely a match in which we’ll have a player sent off. And then we’ll watch to see how much they celebrate any points they might gain against us. I used to quick like that team. But after all their moaning and crying after the game at their place I developed quite a strong dislike for them. Not up there with United and certainly not with another team in London, but a strong disdain nonetheless. This will be a game unlike today. Where we will need someone to help score goals. So, lets wrap up Gabriel and be thankfully we’ll have Martinelli back. Now I’ll just telepathically try and convince Arteta to leave Cigarette on the bench for this one.

-LB7

What a great day. What a great score-line. Added one to the family and added one more win. My number 2 added one and we, care of Gabriel, got one. Not that my number 2 can read (or write, or tie his shoe-laces) so he won’t see this emotional outburst by me. Thankfully his wife has brains. 1^st new baby and a beautiful girl.  And three hard earned points. The perfect results. The perfect day.

Though Michael Oliver did his best to ruin everything. What a ridiculous decision to send of Martinelli. He ignored two clear yellow cards at the start of the game – one for them and one for us – and then proceeded to hand them out like confetti. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen a referee do that. Within the space of 10 seconds penalize the same player for two actions resulting in a red – without any review or weighting given to the two offenses. The first one was not even a yellow let alone the second. Martinelli pushed the player over with a tame little push. It was not a hand to his face and it was not dangerous – so how is that a yellow card? Oliver seemed caught up in the emotion of the game. Normally he’s a reasonably sound referee. And, generally, he was relatively unobtrusive in his decision making. But this was insane.

Fortunately we now have a long history of knowing how to play with only 10 men. People talk about sample sizes. We surely have a statistically significant sample now to assess how few goals we concede when down to 10 men. And who could have imagined that Xhaka would not be the one sent off? It seems that whenever we play at Molineux – whoever the referee – we destined to finish the game without at least one player.

Gabriel was immense today. Scoring that goal was critical but resolute defending was the standout feature of his game today. He and White marshaled the defense perfectly. And that’s with Cedric on the field. Who, it so happens, was not entirely shit today. He gave the ball away too easily and often drops back so deep that he negates the attempts of the other three to hold a clear off-side line. Better teams will exploit that. Luckily Wolves aren’t one of those teams.

Today Jotta was at Anfield nipping a few goals. That signing by Liverpool was very valuable for us today. With him in their forward line we’d have lost. But thankfully they lacked any cutting edge. Not dissimilar to us in fact. Not that they had so many clear cut chances. Ramsdale had to make one or two important interventions and saves but he was not required to be the usual miracle worker. In fact, there were instances when he was caught in two minds as to whether to come out for crosses. So he rode his luck a little today but he’s earned it.

Partey and Xhaka provided coordinated cover in front of the defense. I can’t think of many times when they left the back four exposed. While it might have limited our creativity and attacking threat, the organization and coordination of the time was crucial. And especially once Martinelli went off.

Though Cigarette helped set up the all important goal we saw again how much we need a striker that can score. We’ve seen this now in too many games. That one on one chance he had in the last 10 minutes was the perfect opportunity for him to seal the victory. And it was frightening that he not only failed to score but also missed the target. These types of misses will jeopardize any chance we have of re-entering Europe (except by Eurostar). At this stage of his career, with his experience, he has to put these chances away. It undermines all his hard work and link up play. It makes you wonder what he’s doing all week in practice. Maybe he’s focusing on painting and decorating. Or, writing his first full length documentary. Maybe he should focus instead on target practice. Because today he just about got away with it. If we had drawn or lost this game then this would have been the central theme that would have dominated the discussion given the loss of Aubmayang and lack of a replacement. Not that it’s obvious to me who there was on the market to bring in. That does not matter – this would have been the story.

Towards the end the game devolved into attack versus defense. But now – even with Cedric – we have a real defense. What a transformation from two years ago. It’s something we’ve not had in 10 years. A coherent, dependable and organized backline. They are also figuring out how to play the ball out from defense in a more balanced manner. The times – and there were many – when we broke through their lines, opened up their midfield and defense. If only we had a real striker.

Saka was somewhat subdued again today. I would guess that he’s the most fouled player in the EPL. I can’t think of a game he’s played in where the right back has not at least been booked. He linked up well with Odergaard and did his best with Cedric. We need to get him more involved though. Our attack runs through the wings but not central. All good things for us start wide. And today we missed the forward runs from Xhaka and Partey. But it was a winning strategy.

We’ve had to wait six weeks this year to see us score a goal. And if someone would have said it came from a Brazilian, I bet few would have guessed it would be Gabriel. And it’s great to see the old 1-0 to the Arsenal. But this is one of the reasons I’ve enjoyed the last few weeks. No stress or trepidation in watching Arsenal. It’s far too tense to enjoy. It’s far to aggravating to witness these frequently poor referee decisions.

And can someone explain why there weren’t any games for the last few weeks – sure I know we were dispatched from the F. A. Cup. But what about the prior two weeks? Unless I’m completely deaf and dumb (no response needed to that), I did not see any international matches involving England or any other European country (please excuse me for considering England European). So, what was the break for? We forced all EPL teams to try and play through COVID over the Christmas period only to force them to take two weeks off (and fly to Dubai). It makes no sense. But then nothing the FA does makes sense. How is it that the most popular game on the planet earth is overseen by incompetent, corrupt fucking morons. Whether it be the FA, their counterparts at EUFA or the biggest criminals of them all at FIFA. It’s amazing that football is as successful as it is given the retards that have elected themselves to run the game while lining their pockets with multi-million dollar bribes, while simultaneously coming up with self-serving money making ideas for themselves such as a bi-annual World Cup. It’s bad enough they gave it to Qatar and then decided to move it to the middle of our season. God I hate FIFA. I think I might have said this once or twice before.

So, back to Arsenal. Todays points speak to character and determination. Not a great spectacle but a demonstration of team unity and focus. Not something we’ve been renowned for. And that’s not to underplay our overall performance. There were clear periods where we controlled the game and moved the ball with purpose and speed. The link up play with Xhaka on the left and Odergaard on the right provided balance. Which also explains why we use the wings to attack. You could also see the value of planting Partey in the middle of the pitch. He was in control and provided the necessary cover for the defense. He’s passing was sharper even if his shooting is still miserable.

Arteta will be delighted with this result. It was vital we got something from this game after our start to the calendar year. Whether it can be a springboard for us is too early to tell. It certainly sets us up well for the next few games before we have to deal with the run of difficult games against the big teams. But jumping up to fifth whilst pushing Wolves further down is a great start to this phase of the season.

As I’ve said, I don’t feel we have the depth of squad to realistically get 4^th place. Of course, if the other teams around us continue to find ways to lose home games (you know, like 2-3 ha fucking ha) then, maybe, by default we can get 4^th. But more realistically I figure 6^th to even 7^th will get us into Europe. The winners of the League Cup won’t use that slot because both teams will already be in the champions league. And let’s hope that 2 of the top 3 compete in the F. A. Cup final. Not that I’d want to be in that wanky new European competition. And, maybe I’m getting too far ahead of myself, but we have an opportunity over the next few weeks to position ourselves for the unlikely chance to get back to Europe. And now we’re shorn of so many players and left with this minimalist squad that would be yet another impressive achievement for Arteta. It’s just not clear I’ll be able to handle the street and angst along the way.

But maybe I’ll be able to hold young Mila’s hands, look into her eyes and then picture her playing for Arsenal Women in another 20 years from now. The next generation of Arsenal supporters is with us. Best thing #2 has ever done (no cheap jokes here please). What a great day.

-LB7