TOTL still. For another week at least. This was not an attractive game but at least we avoided the stress of last week. Winning ugly is fine. Not that we were that ugly. Well, not until the last 20 minutes.
Eddie was left on the bench and given the upcoming Everton game and the glaring misses of the last few weeks made sense. With Trossard playing more like a false nine we played more like Man City than they do now.
We dominated possession for most of the game. We fluently moved the ball around against a Bolton block. Leicester left Tielemans on the bench with other attacking players and clearly missed Madison. This left all control to us. We tried to pass our way through them – searching for that perfect final pass or that delicate flick.
Unfortunately, very little came off. Saka, who was fouled just once today, was off his game. He seemed hesitant and nothing he tried really came off. Not that Odegaard was able to get the ball to him. But when Saka was put through by a gorgeous Jorginho pass he dithered and was unable to get a shot on goal. And his crossing was wayward today. Whereas on the other side Martinelli was having an awful game. He was unable to beat his man nor put in decent crosses. He played backwards too often. And when he did have a chance to shoot, he’s composure let him down.
Yet we still dominated. With Trossard drifting out wide it was not clear where any goal would come from. For all our possession their crap goalie had not faced a single shot. For all our intricate play, our first real chance came by way of our corner routines. Last week it was Zinny and this week it landed to Trossard to open the scoring.
Until that is that VAR intervened. Using a sub-atomic microscope and x-ray vision, VAR decided that their crap goalie had been impeded by White. Unseen to the naked eye VAR believed that White was holding hands with Ward. This is where VAR oversteps its remit. How this was clear and obvious when it was impossible to see is beyond me? And even then, when you consider the normal contact in the box, it’s inexcusable to cancel this goal out. Later on, in other areas of the pitch we saw way more obstruction and holding without any fouls being given. I just don’t understand what the purpose of VAR is. It’s not supposed to re-referee the game. Yet that’s what seems to be happening. I know I’ve said it’s a work in progress. Take the long view. In 5 years time it will have been perfected. But it just seems that we now have multiple refs for each game. One on the pitch who is accountable for their decisions. You can boo them, shout at them and abuse them. And then you have a referee deep in a bunker somewhere with undue influence and no clear accountability – well, aside from Mason being fired.
Anyway, a perfectly taken goal by Trossard was nullified. Within minutes Leicester had a breakaway. Even to the untrained eye Iheanacho was a mile offside. Even a blind man could see this. But the linesman refused to put his flag up until he’s put the ball in the net. I mean, what the fuck is the point in this? There was absolutely no doubt this man was offside. By a country mile. Why let play continue? Who knows what might have happened. Someone could have got injured. Maybe they’d get a corner or foul and score from that. I just don’t get it. And yet, later on, the linesman used his flag immediately. This has to get sorted out. But, of course, it won’t. Not until we sort out the PGMOL. And that will take years. They don’t even have a website. They operate much like the Kremlin. Just without the firepower.
Which nicely brings us to Zinny. Captain for the day, he continued to push us forward. With Odegaard being anonymous and lacking a threat through the middle Zinny continued to spray the ball around. Alongside him Jorginho continued to make me eat my own words. He shone again today. He moved the ball quickly, closed down the opposition and played some excellent passes. He really has slotted in so seamlessly. You forget he’s only been with us for a month or so and this was only his second start. It’s inconceivable that Sambi could have contributed in the same way. Jorginho’s passing is so simple and clean. He helped build momentum and pressure from his deep lying position.
Unfortunately though he had a tendency to overpress. Twice in the first half (as he did against Villa) he got drawn to a tackle on the edge of their box. In an attempt to keep them under pressure he would try to win tackles so high up the pitch but twice he lost these and exposed our defense to the counter attack. Fortunately, without Madison, they lacked guile and creativity so weren’t able to exploit these mistakes. Then in the second half twice he was exposed behind White when he failed to track his man. Overall though he was more than an able substitute for Partey. And when Partey did come on Partey looked way off the pace. This man looked rusty. There can be no doubt he was not ready to start and is lacking match fitness. My guess would be that against the Bolton block that we’ll see from hapless Everton, Jorginho will start the game again.
Leicester were so poor that Ramsdale did not have a shot to save for the entire game. I can’t remember the last time I’ve seen that. I can remember one shot they had that went wide but nothing else. And a lot of that was due to Gabriel. As they applied more pressure towards the end he remained solid and resolute. Alongside him Saliba looked more assured than the previous weeks. Ably marshalling their muted attack and handling the few counter attacks they had.
Right as the second half started, Xhaka won possession, passed to Gabriel who then released Trossard who feed a speeding Martinelli to slide the ball beyond Ward for our solitary goal. As poor as Martinelli was today this was a fine goal indeed. Perfectly placed, Henry-esque, into the far corner. This priceless goal changed the dynamic of the game. Until then it looked like we’d be faced with a bore draw. Soon afterwards, Rogers started to make numerous changes. Finally they opened up by bringing on more attacking players. We continued to dominate but still failed to put our chances away. Zinny had one nice shot but we remained vulnerable to the type of shock that Forest pulled off last week.
As the game moved to the final twenty minutes we moved more into a game management mode. Except that we started to lose control of the game. Passes were astray, tackles lost and our composure disappeared. The game became very fragmented with many fouls being called. But through all this they barely threatened. I can’t even remember them having a corner. We replaced Zinny with Tomy. Poor Tierney does not even get on as left-back cover. He must be really desperate now. And then Partey joined the fray replacing Odegaard. Odegaard seems to flit between brilliance and anonymity. And today it was the latter. Everything he tried failed to come off.
So what did we learn today? That winning is all that counts at this stage. And winning ugly is fine. Because that last 20 minutes sure was ugly. We also learned that Eddie has to fight for his place again. And that Martinelli, though he’s scoring again, has lost some of his mo-jo. And that Jorginho was an inspired signing. Just as I’ve always said.
This team continues to develop and learn. And it’s certainly easier now with the leadership that comes from Xhaka, Zinny and now Jorginho. Having a few grown-ups is no bad thing. We’re still two transfer windows away from being the ultimate Arsenal team. Today it was vital to find a way to win. Even with VAR against us, we managed to get those all important three points. In prior years we’d have left with a draw. Especially after the dodgy run we’ve finally come out of; I hope. It was not always pleasant to watch at the end but we did not managed to turn Leicester into Forest.
As for Leicester, they are too good to go down but Rogers has to play his best players and play to win. He came out way too defensive today. Only in the last 15 minutes did he try and attack and pressurize us. But they should be safe this year.
So, now it’s onto Wednesday night against Everton. Our make-up game. It’s critical we win this. Well, that’s true now for every game we play. After that painful loss to them we know what to expect. But we must extract retribution. We should start Eddie for this one but we can’t afford him to miss chances. They will defend in the usual mode of a Dyche team. It will be turgid and physical. This has all the hallmarks of an ugly game. They will not come to play football. Gaining three points will be critical for us with the added benefit that it might help them get relegated. They deserve it. It could not happen to a more worthy team. But we now they will (literally) fight for everything on Wednesday. This will be physical – more akin to a war than a football match.
Whatever happens though, we’ll end the week TOTL. Again. Who would have thought?
-LB7