I decided to take 24 hours to absorb this one. I figured it might just make for a more coherent, rationale dissection of yesterdays match. I’m not sure it’s made much of an difference.
Truth be told after the 30th minute I found the game pretty pedestrian. We can debate the red card but, fundamentally, I want to be watching game where each team has elven players on the pitch. I’d been looking forward to this game for 2 weeks. I was excited to watch football that I care about. Where I care about the players, and care about the outcome. None of this stupid international crap between teams I don’t really care about and with players I consider the opposition. But no, instead I was made to suffer 60 minutes of an unbalanced match that had a completely different trajectory because of the red card.
Was it a red card? Well Rob Jones did not think so. I didn’t either. It was a yellow. But, unfortunately, I can see why it was upgraded to a red. Not that I agree with it but I can see the argument. For me though, a red card is the ultimate sanction and should be used sparingly. My only grievance with this one is that VAR intervened in a situation where it was not a clear and obvious error. Yes, maybe it was a red card – there are plenty of people who thought it was. But the on-field referee decided it was just a yellow. So sure, you could look at it and think it could be a red card but how did this rise to the level of being a clear and obvious error?
Obviously this was the game changer. Instead of sending off Saliba the referee should have sent off Trossard. What was he thinking? This was one of those games where nothing he did came off. But, as we know, he does have a tendency to be over elaborate in our half of the pitch – often weakly giving up possession. But this pass was beyond foolhardy. Only he knows what he was thinking.
On the other side of the pitch we had Sterling instead of Saka. Look, there is no-one that can replace Saka. Sterling is, I suppose, an adequate replacement. But we saw a few occasions in the first half where he had chances to take on players in their box and put a shot in. Instead he dithered and passed off to others. Saka would have skinned them. By way of symmetry, he was replaced – as was Saka against City – after the sending off.
So lets look at this game as a match of two parts – before and after the red card. Before, we seemed somewhat slow out of the blocks. We were adjusting to Merino being on the right alongside Sterling with White at right back. In other words, a complete change to that part of our team which, most recently, has been the most creative part of the team. It took time for the team to find their balance and to control the game.
On the left Calafiori again shone brightly. He is dominant and impressive but always with the odd misstep. Rice was drifting around and Partey was actually quite impressive. But we were just about finding our gears when Trossard intervened. Saliba is a young super-star and we have to remember his lack of experience (on a relative basis). In hindsight he should realize that not brushing his arm/shoulder and getting a red is way more expensive than not breathing on the player and allowing them to proceed unimpeded. Even if Evanilson had managed to control the ball, there was still White to come back and defend. And even then he’d have to get past Raya and get the ball on target. And, even if he had managed to score, we’d have 60 minutes with a full eleven on the pitch to turn it around. As we have done many times this season.
Post red-card it was an initial onslaught. But unlike the City game where we dug in – to protect a lead – here we continued to play. After half-time and some internal adjustments, we looked more competitive. Bournemouth had no shots on target and missed one clear chance but overall we were not struggling under a constant onslaught. At this stage I could easily seeing this be a 0-0 draw. And something I could have accepted.
Unfortunately the substitutions changed the game. Not that, at the time, I complained about either. I was happy to see the end of Trossard; he still looked a little shell shocked. Martinelli immediately brought energy to the left-hand side. We were able to break more quickly. And then with a little press on their obnoxious goalie, the ball ended up with Merino who then set up Martinelli. Even with the red card, this was arguably the most important play of the game. And, even though Martinelli has rediscovered his scoring boots, he proceeded to fluff his lines. This was a horrible effort from him. It was just plain poor. It’s what you would have expected (and saw) from their forwards. He has to put this one away. If he did, the entire game would have shifted. Instead he wasted the most important chance we had.
That was the moment where everything changed. The inevitable next event was from them to score from a corner. To rub salt in the wound you could point out that Martinelli got caught between which of two players he should mark and he made the wrong choice. But this was also the consequence of having one less player on the pitch.
And then our other substitute, Kiwior, made the next mistake that lead to a penalty. And that’s game over. Two substitutes and two key mistakes. At last though we got to see another 10 minutes of Nwaneri. This boy is a joy to watch. It’s wonderful to see how fearless he is. He replaced Merino. This was a difficult game for Merino given the circumstances. But you could see flashes of what he brings to this team. He can defend and pass the ball out of tight positions. And he has the vision to create – for example, the chance for Martinelli. Merino, once he’s fully adjusted to the pace of the Premier League, will prove to be a great addition to this team.
In amongst the wreckage of this defeat there were some impressive performances. This was one of the best games Partey has played in a long time. His distribution was nearly perfect. He did not dally on the ball in dangerous positions and helped to create chances. Alongside him Rice, who moved slightly backwards after the red card, played much more a box to box rule and drove the team forward. He looks so impressive. And then Gabriel, without his partner, took on more responsibility and marshalled the defense as best he could.
White was clearly off the pace. Twice, in the second half he was cleanly skinned. You don’t often see that. He’s been out for a while, and it showed today. Consequently, we were way more vulnerable down our right. Every time they took him on, I held my breath. Hopefully he uses this game and the next to find match fitness. Because we’ll need him. We sorely missed Timber today. Let’s hope he is back for the Liverpool match because I suspect White will have to move to center-half. You can’t move Calafiori there – not with Salah as their winger. And I don’t think you can play Kiwior.
Of course, we need Saka back as well. But, as we know, it’s a long season and we have to protect him. It should not go unnoticed that this is yet another cost of these aggravating International breaks. Not only do they consistently disrupt the rhythm of the season. They also cause harm to our best players. First we lose Odegaard (remember him) and now Saka. And I’m sure both will regain fitness just in time to be recalled to their respective squads for the next international break. It really is a ludicrous situation. Aside from the jeopardy, I want to watch the EPL each weekend. At some point they just have to move these pointless matches to the post season. But, because of the corruption at FIFA we know this won’t happen.
Talking about international breaks. We now have a Nazi managing the English team. How funny is that. After waiting for 60 years to win the WC, it could be a Kraut enabling England to win a WC after only winning it at the expense of the defunct West Germany. How nicely ironic. My hope had always been that Pep would leave City and take this role in the summer. I don’t have a profound reaction to a non-English manager. But at least take the best one. And the one that helps us (here, of course, I mean Arsenal) the most.
Back to the Champions league now. At least we will have Saliba available for that game. And let’s hope we can save Timber and Saka for the Liverpool game. I know all points are created equally, but this Liverpool match is a statement match. We can’t afford to lose this one – this was true before the Bournemouth game and is still true today. And we’ll need our strongest 11. And let’s hope it remain 11. Three red cards in 8 games is not sustainable. There is no way we will win the league with that type of record. Of course, all of these reds were borderline. Let’s hope the rules are being equally applied to all teams. No conspiracy theory here – yet. Let’s just hope that Van Dyke can get sent off today.
So, it’s not the end of the world – that might happen on Nov 5th (and I don’t mean Guy Fawkes). We lost one game. We knew we would lose a game albeit not this one. But we have plenty of matches ahead of us. We just need to get some of players back and not let them go off to the international breaks. And we need Martinelli to consistently put chances away.
-LB7