Yet another NLD victory. But this one was different. With a severely weakened team, we fought and eked out a deserved victory.
After the Kavanaugh induced injustice from our last match and the stupidity of pointless international matches we were reduced to a very restricted midfield. Nonetheless, after surviving the first 15 minute onslaught, we defended as resolutely as ever, kept a clean sheet (again) and walked out with the all important 3 points.
I still don’t expect us to win the league this year given that we continue to face the uncensored machine that we face next week. Matches and victories like this remind us how far Arteta has grown this team. In fact, it reminded me a little of the early Arteta performances when we only had the ability to defend and counter-attack. Of course, we have evolved a long way since then. But performances like this where we grit it out and find a way to win whilst being clearly undermanned, just go to underpin the mental strength of this team.
Of course, the defense was again colossal. White seemed off his best today but that was more than compensated for by the tigerish Timber. How we missed this last year. Timber was defensively excellent and yet still spring into attack on a number of occasion. That was our best left back performance since the days of Monreal. Alongside him Gabriel was like a rock. Throwing himself on the line to block everything and then springing up to head that all important goal. Alongside him Saliba was cool and calm as ever with Raya providing that additional protection. With this defense, we surely have a platform to continue to challenge. I’d have to give the man of the match though to Gabriel due to that winning goal, otherwise it would have been Timber.
Midfield was where we were at risk today. Jorginho brought poise and control. It was his first game this season and you could see him visibly tire towards the end. Alongside him Partey provided cover fo the defense but still got caught on the ball too often and was too sloppy with his passing. But between them, they managed to restrict Sp*rs. Partey though does not inspire great confidence. His slowness on the ball seems destined to put us in jeopardy. You just know he is one step away from giving the ball to them in a dangerous position. In the first half his first step, on their breakaways, was invariably the wrong one. Moving to block the square pass and not the forward one. But this opposition were just not good enough to exploit that.
From having one of the youngest starting teams in the league last year, our midfield today had a collective age greater than the years since Sp*rs last won the league. Fortunately we’ll have Rice back for the next league game. Away at City won’t be the same story for sure.
Both wingers today worked overtime on their defensive duties. Martinelli in particular. It’s a shame though that he’s lost his strikers instinct. I thought the turning point might have been that missed opportunity in the first half. Clearly he should have squared the ball to Saka instead of that weak shot. He had more time to take a few more steps if he was going to shot. We’ve seen this from him this year. That’s why Trossard has gotten more time. In game like this, you just have to takes these chances.
Speaking of Trossard, I did not expect him to play this withdrawn role. It’s dangerous, because, like Partey he will lose the ball outside our box just as we’re starting our counterattacks. His effectiveness was reduced today but given the teams set-up that was not too surprising. Ahead of him Have-that worked as hard as ever and had one chance with one header that was well saved. Overall though he clearly missed Odegaard. As did Saka.
Saka, who, for some reason was forced to play each minute (more or less) of those stupid international games, was too isolated today without Odegaard to feed him the ball. And he had to defend a lot. Of course, he got yet another assist from his corner.
As I had mentioned all the way through the transfer window my biggest concern was the lack of cover for Odegaard. We now have been fully exposed to his absence. It’s hard to figure out how to replicate his contribution but clearly weakens the best part of our team – Saka. Arteta won’t give anything away to help our opposition to prepare but it seems clear we won’t see him to the other side of the next useless international break. This is analogous to what happened to City with KDB last year – and hopefully we’ll end up with the same outcome.
I always thought Lloris was a liability for them and therefore was sad to see him replaced. But thankfully their new guy can’t handle corners. Sure he can stop a shot and is not as bad as Lloris with the ball at his feet, but we’ve seen a number of occasions where he’s been Fabiansky-like in flapping for the ball. I don’t think we’d scored from a corner yet this year so one was due even without Rice there to launch them into the box. For Gabriels goal though – from inside the six yard box – he was walled off by Saliba and White. So, it was a brilliant defensive effort on both ends of the pitch.
I would happily have taken a draw before the game started, With this depleted midfield I thought they would overrun us and leave the slow-horses of Jorginho and Partey in their wake. They just weren’t smart enough to do that. I thought Sp*rs were overall pretty lethargic. Solanki looked ok – better than Richarlson. Though that’s like saying life is better than death. Son was threatening in that first 15 minutes but then lost his way. And overall, they just could not muster much in the way of attempts on goal. Thankfully, it looks like they are in for a frustrating season. We can only hope.
Our bench was pretty bare today. Full of teenagers. Except for the two City alumni that both came on at the same time. Neither of which had too much time to impact the game. It’s just strange seeing Sterling in our (adjusted) colours. This was a good signing due to Chelski paying at least half of his wages to play for us. And with Nelson leaving, we needed more depth. After losing the wonderful ESR we needed something. And that came with the addition by subtraction of Vieira. Without Merino we are on a skeleton crew. Until after the next stupid international break. Let’s see if Norway have the chutzpah to call after Odegaard for those matches.
So, now we have our 2nd of three away matches. This time in Italy. Again, all I need is a draw from this one – and no injuries. We’ll have minimal time to recover before we journey up north for the challenge of City. When you look at the depth of their bench and compare it to ours you can see where still a transfer window away from being able to withstand these types of waves of injuries. But this performance today was so determined and resolute. With a classic scoreline of 1 nil to the Arsenal. How can you not love that?
So we get to enjoy this for a few days – and keep those Everton-like upstarts in their place for another few months. And let’s hope that we pick up no more injuries though it would be good if some of them could find away to avoid responding to international call-ups.
And lastly, as much as I don’t understand why we did not find a suitable back-up for Odegaard, I was relived that we tied Arteta down for another three years. I would have liked to have seen a longer contract but I’ll take this. I’m pretty convinced his committed to this team and club. And we should be more than happy committing to him. We might not win the league this year but we are certainly an improved team. And it stems from him. He turned this club around in a way that Wenger changed our trajectory. Of course, he can’t be in the same category as that because he’s not won enough trophies – though you wonder what Wenger would have done if he had to face City and Pep. Nonetheless, we are very fortunate to have him. And just remember back to how he was first viewed when he was appointed. We are indeed lucky.
-LB7