TOTL. Again. No luck with this one though. Thoroughly deserved. This was men against boys. And the boys won. Sure, by one goal only. But if the judges were giving marks for presentation, artistry, skill, teamwork, cohesion and style it would have been a whitewash, a clean sweep, a knockout. And we’re not the finished product by a long way. And they definitely looked like they were, Finished that is. But not a product.
Where to start? Partey would be a good place. Smooth, dominant, uncomplicated and with no wayward shots into row Z. This is why he’s so important for us. He liberates Odegaard and Xhaka. He protects the defense and links the rest of the team. Unlike against Forest this lot tried to get close to him but he won every tackle, broke up every attack and was the springboard for every attack (well, ok, maybe not every attack).
Next would be the artist formally known as Arteta. How does he decide to play Zinny rather than Tierney? I mean, this poor man has been fighting on the Russian front for a month or so. Sure, they say it was an injury but we know the truth. How else can you explain that vicious haircut. It seemed, after being on the bench but not playing on Thursday that he would get some minutes at the end of this game to reintroduce himself. But instead Arteta went all-in and started him. And right from the of you could see the difference he made The good old inverted fullback added yet another dimension to this team. Of course I love the two Ts – Tomi and Tierney – but our Ukrainian elevates the team. As long as his fit and not fighting on the northern front, he will start.
This team improves each week. It is gelling and developing. We are not perfect (yet) by any stretch. But we demonstrated the gulf between these two teams. They were a collection of players with no obvious strategy or cohesion; they were individuals trying to figure out how to play together. A mess, if you will. They had, maybe, two opportunities (if that) one when Havitz launched the ball into the heavens when OhBameyang was heading to the six yard area. And I can’t think of a save that Ramsdale had to make. I think he had a tougher game against Forest. Chelsea were pretty useless to be honest. I don’t get how they play. There is no way that Sterling fits into this team. And Ohbameyang was pretty sad. He played like he did in our last few games, anonymous and uninvolved. It never made sense for them to acquire him but it clearly made sense for us to ditch him. His time has past. We had Jesus buzzing around destabilizing them and working tirelessly for the team. He might not have scored but he initiated the attack leading to the corner that provide the three points. Chasing down old man Silva to disposes him. What an unbelievable upgrade to this team he’s proven to be. And in this game the contrast could not have been more stark.
Of course, it would have been nice if he could have scored with his header from Martinelli in the first half after the play of the game. From Partey winning the ball as Chelsea vainly tried to attack on the left to the interplay on the edge of our box with Xhaka and Odegaard before progressing out left. The move was quintessential Arteta football. One touch, instinctive, fluent, rapid progression and breathtaking. At some point Jesus will score. I hope.
Going into this game I could not imagine the performance and the result could exceed the pleasure of last year. But this is a superior team against a weakened Chelsea. It’s wonderful to watch the self-destruction of a club fueled by Russian dollars and now being funded by Yankee dollars. All being wasted now by a baseball owner after buying anyone that no-one else wanted – and for double the price. It became quite obvious though that there was only one actual team with a vision of how to play the beautiful game. And one team who knew how to assault and bludgeon Saka. We had the laughable situation where Saka gets booked before the hairy monster even after he’d fouled him numerous times, In fact the card came after he’d been fouled again but the ref chose to ignore. Anyway, he deserved to be kicked if not have his hair trimmed just a little bit. Let’s hope that during the WC Saka will get more protection from the refs – it will certainly help that no English ref will be involved in his games. Gosh, I wonder why there’s only one English ref that’s been appointed? Maybe, somewhere in the bowls of the FA or the referees organization, they are asking that question. They should be embarrassed with the drop in the standards of referring in England.
Anyway, though we took our time to find our solitary goal the defense remained as solid as the Bank of England. Actually, let me revise that. Post Ms. Truss, let’s modify that to being as solid as a third world country with a tinpot leader lying about the benefits of leaving some collective organization, I don’t know let’s say, for shits and giggles, the European Union. Nonetheless, Saliba was imperious again. And Gabriel – with no hair brained mistakes – resolute in his defense. It’s ridiculous to think Saliba is just 21. Silva is literally old enough to be his father. I suspect though, as good as Silva is – he was the only decent player for them – Saliba will rise to greater heights, He is just so dam calm and smooth. And fast. As I’ve said before, the closest I’ve seen to Rio Ferdinand but better. Compare him to the lorry that is Dier or the chin that is Macguire and you can see why this defense of ours is so solid .
Odergaard was still relatively quiet but when he has Xhaka and Zinny there he is still effective if slightly subdued. But I have no complaints. His quick passing and vision helps knit this team together. With Zinny behind him, Xhaka was liberated to help support Martinelli and play even further forward. The balance of this team is so close to being perfect. It’s just needs a little more time, experience and exposure to a little (but not too much) disappointment. More even than the end of last season.
One of our weaknesses is our lack of depth, We are so dependent on Partey that is was important again to see Elneny obtain more minutes. Likewise Holding, who is no more of a center half than Dickhead Dier, also appear with his forever improving hair. We need ESR to rediscover his groin and also for Nelson to get minutes to help protect Saka And Martnelli can’t play every game. And finally, we need Eddie to score some goals.
We were so superior, such was the domination that there was no need for VAR to intervene. That’s’ two games in a row now. Though some might argue that Forest was more of a challenge. I’m joking (I think).
So here we are, one game from the infernal WC, more than one third of the way through the season and still sitting TOTL. How is this possible? What odds would you have got on that happening? Are we this years Leicester City? Without, that is, the diver Vardy or the smoothly attired self-loving Rogers. Given that it’s the Nordic Wildman from the North chasing us we surely deserve some award already? Maybe some red ribbons. Because it’s inconceivable we’ll lift the trophy. But then again there is so much joy in watching this team play and appreciating the quality of football. It harks back to the golden years of Wenger. This is the legacy of Arteta. His belief in his own vision and commitment to playing football in the manner we’ve all become accustomed to. None of this dreary cap from that lot down the road. Or from anyone other than Pep. Sure, I’d like to win something (remember he already won us the F A Cup) but I still think we require more time to ferment and mature. Now is not quite our time. But, after this game – having beaten Liverpool, Chelsea and that lot down the road (though it seems that everyone beats them now) – and only losing to United because the ref was an unadulterated wanker, we can consider ourselves worthy. Worthy of being genuine contenders for the Champions League qualification and outside contenders for the title. Not that we’ll win it. We still have to play Pep twice. And, as I always say, we’re only one game away from an infuriating defeat and/or a losing streak and the related fan meltdown. But this team has something special about it. It enjoys its football and it fundamentally understands how to play the game. It’s just that we’re not quite ready yet. We need a little more time and a few more players. Imagine one more summer transfer window where we bring in just two more players of the class of White, Jesus, Zinny or Ramsdale. Which reminds me, how good was White again? How can it be that Southgate ignores him. With players being injured by the week, surely he must make the squad? The chinless one still can’t make the losing United team and Dier continues to make the mistakes that one would expect when you have a tortoise playing center half.
This game exceeded expectations but we still have one more against a possibly rejuvenated Wolves with their new, bright and shinny manager. We are assured of being ahead of everyone aside from Peps boys. But one more victory and we can go into the sand dunes TOTL for all of November. Now that would be nice. TOTL.
-LB7