TOTL. Still. Well, it was just the F. A. Cup. I’m not too broken-hearted with this result. We don’t need these extra games. Having said that, this was a game we could have won. And maybe should have.
The selection made sense. We needed to protect key players. Unfortunately our squad depth and the injury to Elneny prevented us from resting Partey. This was what I had feared. And with Samabi being clearly insufficient, the one player who is the key to our team had to put in more minutes. Now we have to wait to assess the duration of his sideline stay. Whether this causes us to pull yet another player from Brighton will depend on how much LA Chelsea are willing to pay. And whether we are interested in Rising Rice. It would seem unlikely we’d buy one now and one later. But we need one now. Not that Caicedo would be able to seamlessly slide into that role.
Troussard slotted in smoothly right away; he looks like he was just another piece of the puzzle. Even with a pedestrian Tierney behind him, Troussard terrorized Stones and Lewis. He was both creative and direct. Between him and Toomy, we could have easily taken the lead. He unquestionably adds squad depth and provides an alternative for our front-line. He will thrive for us and is a fine example of bringing in an experienced PL player that does not require adaptation time.
Saka was quiet today but I think that was a direct impact of not being quickly fed the ball and lacking the presence of Odegaard alongside him. Vieira is an example of someone who does need time. He barely impacted the game. There is talent there but it’s going to take time to unlock. All this meant that Eddie also suffered. He was physically outmuscled by Akanji but still nibbled at a few chances.
The backline was interesting as well. While Tommy felt like an interchangeable swap with White, on the other side Tierney, while solid, highlighted his own limitations. Though to be fair I don’t think they are many left-backs that play like Zinny.
Watching the hairy Holding brought back memories of that disastrous Sp*rs performance. Very quickly he was bullied by the Ugly Norsk and was fortunate that the ref penalized the UN. Thereafter Holding and his hair were physically all over the UN. It was amazing that HH only received a yellow card in the 42 minute. By then it seemed inevitable he’d get his second before the half time whistle. Listen, I know we all love HH, but honestly, did he not learn anything from his aggressive manhandling of Son? Rightly, in order to protect him from the inevitable second yellow, he was replaced at half-time.
Unfortunately we also had to swap out Partey for Sambi. Thats like exchanging a Rolls-Royce for a Smart car. It’s like changing John, Paul, George and Ringo for the Jonas Brothers. It’s like changing my dog for any of my children (it’s ok they’ve still not learned to read so they won’t ever see this). Immediately you could see the impact of to the rest of the team. Sambi has not figured out – by watching Partey for 15+ games this season – how to position himself and protect the defense. While he eventually seemed to adapt, it again, amplified our dependency and vulnerability to Partey. We’ve known this for two years now but it was Elneny that could provide some cover. But now he seems to have broken down. Elneny is picking up injuries with the predictability that Sp*rs change their managers. Immediately you could see how Partey elevates the game of everyone around him. Xhaka, now without both Partey and Odegaard, had less influence and in conjunction with the presence of Tierney and Vieira highlighted our limitations.
Then City knicked a goal. You could argue that Saliba should have closed down Aki but then Saka should have tracked him man. Turner had limited visibility to this placed pass into the net. In fact, Turner was the least of our issues; he put in a very creditable performance. His distribution is still in need of some work but he is a good shot stopper and will continue to improve with time. He will suffer the most from the lack of minutes now without a cup run.
The introduction of Zinny and Odegaard provided an uplift. But it was noticeable that our captain had to continually point out to Sambi where he should be positioning himself. The balance of this team shifts without these two. This is why squad depth is so important. But even with these two we were not able to create too many clear chances. By then Saka had been removed along with Troussard. Maybe if we had started with all four we’d have a different outcome. But at least this was just the F. A. Cup.
In hindsight, arguably a better strategy would have been to rest not just ZInny and Odegaard but Partey and Saka as well. I know we have over a week until our next game. But we are so exposed to these key players. Until now we’ve been relatively injury free. Conversely, if we had played our full-team, we could have progressed. It feels like we were stuck in between these two approaches. Of course, I’m only saying this because of the injury to Partey.
We could best describe this game as Man City 1 Arsenal 0 or Sambi 1 Partey 0. That was the difference today. Sure, I know City did not field their entire first team and they lost Stone. But they have ready replacements. This now feels precarious. I fear it will take us back to last years implosion when Partey was injured. But this year we’re in an even worse situation without Elneny.
Maybe we just lose Partey for 2 or 3 games. Maybe Sambi finds his rhythm by playing more games. Maybe Elneny returns quickly. I’m scared to arrive at Goodison Park with their newly anointed, truly ugly manager without some protection in our midfield area. Everton will be looking for that new manager bounce. And last year is all too fresh in my memory. Of course, we’ve evolved since then. But without our lynch-pin, we have decisions to make.
Should we stay or should we go now – to grab Caicedo? Do we really want to let Brighton and also LAChelsea bid up this number to £90m? Would you pay that money? Sure, I know none of us have that money, but is he worth it? Would that protect our league position and fit into our longer-term plans. The good news is that no-one is now blaming the owners. The fact that we’re even contemplating this is quite a change from prior years.
Unfortunately, I’ve not studied Caicedo too much so don’t quite know what we’re getting. But I do like our Arsenal Reserves team. I mean, we sent them Welbeck and we’ve gotten back both White and Troussard from them. If we are going to do this though let’s at least do it quickly. Be decisive. Don’t leave the door open for LAC to steal this one as well. It does give a new meaning to the idea of stealing someone when you’re consistently prepared to pay way over the odds to collect so many players for your team. More than can even be registered. So much for financial fair play.
If I could set this Partey issue to one-side (which I can’t), and review the game from a broader perspective, then we could see that even with a reduced team in the first half we went toe-to-toe with City. We were not overrun. We were more than competitive. And we should have been ahead in the first half. All those bodes well for the two upcoming league games. We have improved sufficiently to genuinely compete with City. No longer do we need to mind the gap. Of course, that all depends on Partey. We were way more exposed in that second half.
We are so close. But now we have to worry about how to solve this puzzle. Do we pay or do we go now…down the table. Last years run-in scarred me. Maybe we move White into Partey’s position. Maybe we use Kiwior. But I don’t see how we survive this with Sambi. I would dearly love to be wrong but I have no faith in Sambi. I’m not even sure he has faith in himself. It feels like groundhog day. We spent years trying to make Xhaka our defensive holding (no, not the one with hair) midfielder. And now we’re doing the same with Sambi; it’s not the position he will ever excel in. Let’s hope we don’t waste 2 years coming to that conclusion. Arteta, thankfully, is smarter than our prior Accountant. And that’s also why we’ve already made a formal bid. It’s just an issue now of whether the extra £30m is a bridge too far for us.
My guess would be we don’t nab him and he ends up with Potter at LAC. He can join Mudyrick sitting on the bench with Cucurella. Anyone that wants to go there should never be a player we want or need.
The window closes this week so all will soon be revealed. And then we can turn back to praying for Partey’s heath. At least it wasn’t his thigh this time. Maybe ESR can come back to save the day. In the meantime, to end on a more positive note – we’re still TOTL.
-LB7