Boom. That’s the way to start a season. Welcome back. And what a contrast to last season. But before we go further, let me welcome back my reader. All one of you. I’m sure you’ve been starved of these insightful, academic, thoughtful and knowledgeable articles. It must have been tough to navigate the off-season without these reviews. But aside from deciding to not review pre-season I’ve been otherwise occupied. The usual stuff, like any of us, curing world hunger, advising world politicians on world peace (they’ve not been listening obviously) and developing various cures for cancer. Oh, and sitting on my couch eating pizza and sushi. You should try that sometime. The pizza and sushi that is.
Anyway, I’m actually excited to be back. This season will be yet another step forward to the promised land. We won’t get there this year. But it’s clear what direction we’ve going in. This off season has been as equally impressive as last year. But more on that later.
Three points well-earned at Palace; thoroughly deserved. I know one game does not make a season – and a long WC interrupted one at that – but contrast this performance with the one here last year. That first 20 to 30 minutes we were dominating. We should have been more than one up. Martinelli scored a poachers goal but also missed an earlier, easier chance care of the energetic, fleet footed and impressive Jesus. I never really got him at Man City. There he seemed peripheral without a clear role; always on the edge of the action but not central. But, for us, he was key. He lead the line, hustled their defense and generated chaos and chances. I will endeavor to refrain from making the obvious religious/god/savior references. But the presence of Jesus completely extinguishes Cigarette and demonstrated what we’ve been lacking for a year or two now.
During that initial period all three new additions shone. Zinchenko showed all the awareness and creativity that we’ve been lacking. He linked up smoothly with Xhaka and also played the ball forward. And he did not give the ball away. Imagine that. Nuno where are you? Let’s hope you were watching. Because, sure as shit, this is truly addition by subtraction. Not having Mr. OhNo on the left hand side – Mr. Utter Chaos – killed us last season. So our headless chicken is now in Marseille. I would guess they will turn him more into a Guendouzi than a Saliba. But god are we so fortunate to be shot of him. Without his crazy runs, lack of defending and general disruption, the defense looked so solid. Granted Zinny is not the best defensive left-back but there was balance there with Xhaka. Zenny, obviously, helped create that first goal.
So we are now Manchester City Reserves. I’ll take that. Could be worse. That would make us the second or third best team in the league. And there will be other similarities. Ben White will morph into John Stones. Being made to play out of position and fight for limited playing time. Because once Tommy comes back White surely will be in the bench. To be fair he won’t come up against someone of Zahas quality every week. But he got roasted so many times I thought he ended up as burned Black by the end. He game today was poor. His distribution was inconsistent, making poor passes and giving away possession too often. Zaha unnerved him today and disrupted his game. Obviously, even with a performance like this he was still a superior option to Cedric. During pre-season, where we started the midget and oh-no as our fullbacks, I was have mid-summer nightmares. So even though White was our worst player today, our weakest link, at least he kept a good defensive line.
Alongside him there was the shockingly mature and impressive Saliba. He was just plain old masterful. I’m trying to think who he compares to. You lot won’t remember David O’Leary in his prime except Saliba has real pace. He covered for White and knitted the entire defense together. Arteta received a lot of undeserved criticism for his handling of Saliba. All unfounded but part of the usual agenda of trying to put pressure on Arteta and Arsenal – both by the media and the juvenile, temperamental, jonny-come-lately Arsenal fans. Today you could see that at 21 Saliba is the real deal. Calm, composed, speedy and reads the game so well. And his distribution was excellent. Adams, Keown and Bould never had Saliba speed. Maybe Ferdinand (Rio not his little brother) would be a better comparison. He makes everyone around him better. Including Gabriel. With the defensive options available we now have a crop of defenders who can defend. Good riddance oh-no and (soon) midget-man. I just can’t figure out who can replace Gabriel if he’s injured. Maybe Tesco Tierney with Zinny at left-back. At least we don’t have to waste Xhaka at left back now.
And how good was Xhaka again today. He looks so much more comfortable in this formation. His positional sense and distribution were fun to watch as he floated around while he still made important defensive interceptions. And between him and the defense was our party man (unfortunate given the things we’re not supposed to comment on). Anyway, Partey was a joy to watch today. I know Saliba shone brightest but watch Partey closely. His one touch, speed of passing was the engine of the team today. Often he was surrounded by 2 payers but still moved the ball quickly without taking unnecessary touches. And he did not get booked.
In general, because of Partey, our ball movement was infinitely quicker than we’ve seen. With Odegaard making intelligent runs and seeing passing lanes that others can only dream of, we were a creative threat down both side of the pitch. It’s interesting that we play our two best left footed players on the right. The interplay between Odegaard and Saka – and of course, Jesus but he’s not left-footed so that does not fit into this train of thought – tested Palace all game. Saka roasted their full-back and, basically, got that second goal. If he could shot with his right foot as well – and he has more than enough time to improve on that – he would have had another. The combinations of our attacking players now remind me of that time when we had Santi and Rosicky rapidly linking up play. Except this is a group of kids in their early 20s. The future is bright. And the future is ahead of us. Yes, I know, that’s how the futures works. There will be games in this long season when we get torn apart and roasted because we are a young team but in terms of potential there is no-one in the league that can match up. Just remember our youth during those painful matches where we get out bullied and Xhaka is sent off. Notice that it is the engine room of our midfield where we have our only two players who are “old”; both 29 I think. That’s where experience is vital. Again, as with Man City Reserves they are our Fernandinho.
Ramsdale- the grinning Cheshire cat – made two crucial saves today. His distribution was not perfect today and sometimes you fear for his holding onto the ball too long. But he saved us today and gave us a clean sheet. I liked Leno but, aside from the steal price that Fulham paid, Ramsdale is so much better. It’s like comparing Tommy and the midget man.
Palace adapted their shape after the first 25 minutes. But they are so lop-sided. Literally everything came down their left. Always through Zaha. And they were most dangerous when they played long balls from their center-half over the top. White had a lot of trouble, as did Zinny in the latter stages. Which is why it was nice to see Tesco come on. I don’t think though he played more than 30 minutes during all of the pre-season. So we need to wrap him up in cotton wall to protect him.
Palace has always been a very loud, intimidating crowd packed into a small, snug stadium. Yet it was our away fans that we could hear all game. They have something to cheer now. Our signings in the last two years and the cleaning out of the squad have been pretty dramatic. Think back to who started last year at Brentford. Then go back to when the Accountant bored us to death with his team. No Mustafi, Ozil, Kolinsac, Bellerin, Leno, David Luiz, Mikkytarrien, Aubameyang, Lacazette, Torreira, Mari, etc. We just have to get rid of Pepe now. Surely we can offer him along with a bag of crisps and a year long subscription to a football magazine. I mean come on Newcastle, you have all that sports-washed money, why not give us some of it. You’ll love Pepe. He should go to Italy or back to France. He reminds me of Gervinho. Just not as ugly.
A word on Arteta. I’ll be saying the same thing all season long. As I did last season (apart from one occasion). He is the man. Yes, that is more than one word. And I’m not finished. He is clearly crafting a team to play like the Manchester first team. We have our KDB in Odegaard. John Stone, Zinny, Jesus etc. He has a plan and has unquestionably improved this team and club. I’m only two episodes into the Amazon thing but you can see he has a clear vision, understand people and has their respect. That move of having the photographer give the speech before the NLD was class. He will make mistakes, as any first time manager would, but he’s our man. Deserves our support. And needs our patience. We are not the finished article yet. Get Tielemans and cover for Saka. We need a little more steel in the team as well. But Arteta (and to be fair, Edu) has turned this club on its head. It’s brought back passion and heart. And he’s been supported by Silent Stan and his little boy. Lots of money spent. But spent well (if you ignore Pepe). So, a good day for Arteta today. When he gets us to the promised land he will deserve to be spoken of in the same breath as AW. AW never had to do the complete, top to bottom rebuild that MA has. But I’m getting ahead of myself. That’s all for next season.
Two other quick observations. The first – there were no VAR interruptions today. Sure a few reviews for (non) penalties but no delays for offside. What a pleasure. There was a real flow to the game today. It makes a real difference.
And secondly, did you notice that the linesman flagged for offside when it was offside? What a novel concept. A linesman who actually uses his flag to make decisions and raise his flag. How did they come up with that idea? Pretty creative, huh?
All in all a great day, great performance, great result.
Let’s hear it – We are top of the league, we are top of the league. *
-LB7
*OK, not by the time I’ve posted this and you’re reading it.