The real season started yesterday. The interlul disruptions are over and we can look fwd to uninterrupted club football for four months or so. Bliss. This now is the business end of the season. Time to push, get in...
The real season started yesterday. The interlul disruptions are over and we can look fwd to uninterrupted club football for four months or so. Bliss.
This now is the business end of the season. Time to push, get in the groove, create momentum and make opportunities count. With Pool and Citeh holding each other to a draw, Arsenal had a golden opportunity to go top. But Brentford away is a tough nut to crack, and playing an away game after an interlul is seldom easy, especially with three Brazilians returning late from a painful loss against arch-rivals Argentina.
So there was a great opportunity, a huge away challenge (Brentford were unbeaten in more than a dozen London derbies) and little time to prepare as a full unit for Mikel:how did Arsenal do?
Eight Observations:
Aaron started with living through his, no doubt, recently regularly returning nightmare. We all felt for him. Ramsdale is all about presence, energy and talent. At the base of this needs to be confidence, and this cannot be magicked. He clearly went through hell in the first half but his team mates helped him out. No shouts, no finger pointing, but hugs and love. Togetherness, kindness and positivety are the answer to everything. Humans can move mountains when they are in that space. VCC. Result: the Ram had a great second half. Reading the game is what great footballers do differently from mere good ones. Zinchenko’s goal line clearance and especially Rice’s were the result of that precious attribute. Declan had another quietly demanding game. He gets everywhere and makes it looks simple; he rules like a Kutuzov rather than a bombastic, self-adoring Napoleon, and that makes him such a fine human being. He has got his fellow players’ back as a result of this. Bukayo does not like to be imprisoned. Space and movement is what he loves but opponents study him, try to shackle and disrupt him. But the Buk doesn’t stop there: he keeps trying without wasting energy unnecessarily. He knows he will get a moment or two to make the difference. Nine assists are already in his backpack and last night he produced one of his finest ones to date. He made space for himself and looked up, and his silky left foot delivered one of those passes every forward dreams off. Late in the game with tired legs and heads, Saka delivered and that’s what makes him so fecking special. A very cool, intelligent head on a young, very strong body. Kai the Killer. Yes, last night Havertz finally found his inner beast and delivered a goal in open play. He met Saka’s peach of a cross with the venom of a striker in top form, nutmeging the impressive Flekken in the process. Oh how sweet and precious that goal was for him and for us all! Arteta tried to give Martinelli and Jesus some extra support by pushing the Tross into the hole behind the attackers. The Ode had therefore more freedom to aid the attack wherever he felt he could add the most value. They did not crack the Brentford walls as well as hoped for beforehand, but they managed to find a few chinks in the armor nevertheless, and Leandro was very, very unlucky to see his goal chalked off for having a few toes apparently off-site. A work in progress, but playing with these four attackers more often is a very exciting prospect. Gabriel Jesus still does not look at ease to me. He looks grumpy and irritated, and his touch and passing are off. Rather than creating chaos and despair in the opposition’s box, he seems to be creating it for himself and his team mates at the moment. Now that the international games are over for a while and he is fully fit again, we should start seeing a calmer and more effective, yet ferocious and effective central forward again. Next to the joy of watching our superb duo of central defenders strutting their stuff, I also enjoyed our full backs yesterday. Tomiyasu is a cult warrior and Zinchenko had a decent game defensively, whilst contributing well in midfield and attack. There is a lot of feeling in his left foot and we need to make more use of it. The eight observation I will leave up to you; I have nothing left to say.
By TotalArsenal.