A nice relaxing day on the coast. Bournemouth really are pleasant, decent and well behaved hosts. We can only hope they remain in the EPL.
I’m not sure Raya actually had a save to make today. But, clearly, he is now the number 1 goalie. There is no rotation here at Arsenal. Though I remain a fervent Ramsdale fan, I could see the value in Raya’s calmness on the ball. We continued to play back through him today. He was patient on the ball and, aside from a few passes that were misplaced, did not place us in danger. Of course, having said that, I’d still prefer to see Ramsdale there.
The clean-sheet though is based on the spine of Saliba, Gabriel and Rice. Though they weren’t stretched too much, in those few instances Saliba and Gabriel were perfectly positioned to intercept or block. And in front of them Rice provides a solid, consistent shield.
On either side we had White and Zinny pushing forward. Zinny was more involved this week and help move us forward. Odegaard had so much time on the ball and Saka – apart from being kicked – had the beating of his man. He was of course the catalyst for our first goal. Jesus combining with the cross-bar to have Saka nod the ball in.
Eddie remains a conundrum. He really should have scored today and we seem to lose something from Jesus when he’s pushed out to the wing. However, Eddie won us our first penalty. I like the way that we randomize who will take our penalties. If only we would do that will our goalkeepers. I’m sure their goalkeeper would prefer to know who’s taking the penalty. It certainly makes us less predictable.
The most important goal was that third one. Allowing Have-that to take-that yet again demonstrated the leadership of Odegaard. The away fans reaction was brilliant. As was his team-mates. You can see the ground-swell of support for him. It will take him a while longer though to settle in. I could have seen Arteta starting Vieira today. But, if you watch closely, you can see how much work Have-that does off the ball. How much he slides into the middle to support Rice. And how well he tracks back.
Somehow, he managed to pick up a yellow card from Salisbury the referee. Overall, he was not the worst ref – I mean, we did get awarded two penalties (that’s three in two games now so don’t expect any more this season) – though they were pretty clear-cut. But I don’t know how Have-that got a yellow but then refuse to give a yellow to any of the Bournemouth players who committed identical fouls.
This was such a nice leisurely game for us. They barely pushed us. It was noticeable though that we played a much more patient game. Often choosing to play backwards and sideways. And using Raya as the pivot point. Odegaard found it hard sometime to receive the ball. Only when he dropped deep alongside Rice would he receive the ball.
Most of our play was developed down either wing. Occasionally though Rice would burst forward and open up opportunities. This is what Partey does so well. It’s this vertical play that changes the pattens of play. Rice, as he continues to settle in, will grow into that part of his game.
It was good to see ESR get more minutes even if he should have scored (at least once). And that Nelson is now one of the first substitutes. Of course, against Bournemouth, I could one of the first substitutes. My only worry is relates to Saka. At three nil up he really should have been withdrawn. I was relieved to see Rice removed but we should also be protecting Saka. He barely gets a break and in games like this we have a responsibility to protect him. Especially with the depth on the bench that he had today. An even nicer touch would have been for Ramsdale replace Raya. But that’s wishful thinking I suppose.
Even though we’re back in the top four I still don’t feel that we’ve really rediscovered the form of last year. That’s not a criticism merely an observation. We don’t need to be in top form now. As we were last year. We just have to stay close enough such that when we do find our form we can then capitalize on it. Our style of play is slowly evolving. We seem to be slightly more possession based and more determined to play from the back – patiently. And that’s fine. Teams are adapting to us so it’s important to evolve.
There are more elements of todays game I could comment on but it really felt like a pre-season game. Aside from the first 10 minutes Bournemouth really had no game whatsoever. They were much more threatening under Howe. Given the quality of some of the teams this year it might be the first time that four or five deserve to get relegated. Sheffield, Luton, Burnley, Everton and Bournemouth are all pretty crap. There seems to be much less middle ground in the league. That is, teams either raise their quality – Villa, Brighton, West Ham – or start to sink. But there are few less natural mid-table teams. Maybe that’s what comes of new owners and more money in the league.
We still have to navigate past Lens on Wednesday but the focus will surely shift to the Sunday City game. Without Rodri the complexion changes. And without KDB. Let’s hope they play Phillips. And also that they win mid-week. It’s unusual for them to lose two games on the spin. A few more injuries would also help us. But this will be an important test for us.
It’s remarkable that they could lose to Wolves. It’s not as surprising that United could fail again. Which leads us to the Liverpool game and the standard of referring in this league. As much as the quality of the teams in the EPL continues to develop so the standard of refereeing regresses. Somehow the availability of technology still leads to eye-popping poor decisions. Today Liverpool were robbed. It was literally day-light robbery.
Aside from being the better team they somehow had a clearly good goal ruled offside. This is unforgivable. This is exactly what VAR is there for. The naked eye could see if was onside but common sense does not seem to apply here. Note also, in this era of improved transparency, the PGMOL refuse to provide the lines they use to make their decision. Do they think they are the Supreme Court that is not answerable to anyone (well, to be fair, they explain their decisions). What right do they have to not show these lines. And explain their own incompetence. I’m not blaming the linesman. But the morons in their nice little offices in Stockley Park, who have the benefit of reviewing at their leisure rather than in real-time with the added pressure of the fans. How can they continue to make these mistakes?
This was then compounded by the sending off of Jones. This was the worst use of VAR. When you slow it down it looks terrible but at the time, you could tell Jones was going for the ball and his tackle rolled off the top of the ball before hitting the shin. This was never a red card. And changed the game. And the ref originally had this right.
Then we have the offside. And finally, Jota, emulated Tommy. The first yellow was beyond a joke. He barely touched the Sp*rs player who tripped over himself. It was not a foul let alone a yellow card. And then that second tackle was a foul. But somehow he got sent off within 90 seconds of the first yellow.
Which brings us back to the standard of referring in this league. They are, week in week out, too many clear mistakes. And mis-use of this technology. This will only be resolved when they remove the human element and use automated off-side technology and also explain how the decision was made. Until then we’re left with a billion dollar sport being ruined by underqualified, under-paid, amateur referees. Which leads back to the FA, EUFA and FIFA; organizations all run by people who are overpaid and under qualified to run the game. Corruptions runs through all of them. And we are the ones that have to suffer. From forcefully kissing women in public and having no decency to resign to putting the WC in Qatar. These organizations stink. Change will only come from clubs – but they are also at the mercy of state run public funds. Which means it’s going to require an uprising by the fans. But don’t hold your breath.
In the meantime, let’s hope we wrap Saka in cotton wool along with Rice. It’s important not to lose on Wednesday but we have to rotate. I’d take a draw as long as we are ready, rested and prepared for City on Sunday. This is our opportunity to step up. I don’t believe this will be our year but this is a game where we have to show that we’ve progressed and that we can compete with them.
-LB7