There was a moment in Arsenal’s FA Cup win over Man City which epitomizes the match: Pep Guardiola was sitting on his bench, his assistant coach (who took over from Mikel Arteta when he joined Arsenal) was gesticulating, pointing, and clearly very animatedly telling Pep something and Pep was sitting back – his head still, his eyes wide, as if he was listening but didn’t like what he was hearing. Arteta’s game plan had been so perfectly executed up to that point that the entire City brain trust was flustered and at a loss as to what they should do.
For the casual observer the plan was simple: defend deep but there was so much more to it than that. Despite raising my blood pressure to dangerous levels, Arsenal managed to also play the ball out of pressure, don’t just lump it up to Lacazette. They worked the ball around, dragged Pep’s very well oiled press around the pitch, and then chipped over the press to Arsenal’s very skilled widemen to collect and start the counter attack.
Arsenal played balls that were very direct in a sense: laddering passes back and forth in a lateral fashion to pull the Pep press toward the ball like a wave crashing on a beach and then picking out one-timers up and over that press for waiting runners. This was how Arsenal scored the second goal: Tierney stepped into Ainsley Maitland-Niles’ left-back position (more on this in a sec) and after collecting a back pass, played that one-time pass over the top to Aubameyang who slotted home nicely for the winning goal.
But Arsenal also played cross field chips as well, rolling the ball around the back line and then getting guys like David Luiz to pick a pass to Bellerin or Mustafi over to Maitland-Niles who would then also start the attack.
Things weren’t always perfect, however, for Arsenal. They often struggled going forward. Maitland-Niles was immense in defense, playing in that left back position which doesn’t suit him at all, but losing possession and making bad passes in the final phase of attack. But Kieran Tierney was so good and Arteta’s men were well drilled enough that when Tierney got the chance to go forward, Maitland-Niles would cover his space in behind.
Tierney, in fact, was huge, immense, ginormous, gargantuan, playing in a sort of “roving” LCB position. Allowed to bring the ball forward, he was crucial but also in shutting down Pep’s attack on that wing, in tandem with Maitland-Niles who essentially nullified Kebbin de Bruyne.
Guardiola’s plan seemed to be to target that area, both directly and with deep switches. They did have some great chances from that play, which they are going to get because City is the most expensively-assembled collection of talent football has ever seen. And Arsenal held on with the grace of a little luck. But that’s football!
So, now Arsenal head to Wembley for an empty stadium final against Chelsea. And because of the way things work out for Europa League qualification, win or lose they might sneak into European competition next season. Win and they are in. Lose and they could get in, as long as they finish 7th.
All around, Saturday was fantastic in the 7am household. We beat City and did so executing an amazing gameplan (my love for Arteta grown with each match, like a vine!) but also after I took Avie out to the countryside to see the comet (Neowise).
My first plan was to go to the local Army base (I’m a disabled veteran so I can access those spaces freely) and find a field to look at the stars but it was really dark and the second I turned down the gravel road I felt Avie tense up.
“Hey, you ok?” I asked her, “Yeah,” she said and her voice went up a register “just wondering if this is the right spot.”
“I dunno,” I said. Then I took a second to mull it over. “Let’s just go for a bit and see if we can find that clearing we found when we went birding with Craig.”
“Ok, but I don’t think this is the road. It looks wrong.”
Doing the dad thing I pushed the car into the forest. “Let’s just see.”
It was dark. I was even a bit nervous. I’ve seen some pretty sketchy folks out here in the day time, three-toothed guys wearing pistols. It’s also a hotspot for people wanting to dump stuff they don’t want to pay to throw away. But I didn’t listen to her nerves or mine and we drove around in the dark forest for about 10 minutes.
My brain took that long to come up with an alternative plan. I know of this place right before you get to Alder lake which boasts of a “scenic view” of Mt. Rainier. It’s a church parking lot but it’s out of the light pollution of the city.
We stopped at a crossroad. We could keep driving around the dusty backroads or take a different path. I told her the new plan, she seemed relieved.
Twenty minutes later we pulled into the parking lot. The car’s headlamps shone on some folks there with a tripod and telescope. “Looks like we found the right spot!” I said, excitedly.
We got out of the car but the Subaru’s (of course I have a Subaru) headlamps stayed on for way too long after I shut the car off. I felt bad about that.
We walked out to the field and there were five people out there looking at the comet. I asked where it was and the guy with the telescope pointed. “I see it!” Avie said. “Where???” I said and scanned the sky. Avie pointed as well and there where she pointed, I saw a little streak. Without the help of binoculars I could just barely make out a line in the sky. I raised my bins and.. wow. A little pale greenish dot with a beautiful little tail. I handed them to Avie.
“It’s shaky. I can see it but can’t hold them still,” she said.
“Come take a look here,” said the guy with the telescope and I prodded Avie to go over. “OH WOW,” she said.
We spent an hour in that field. I kept looking at the comet and thinking about how our ancestors would see these phenomenon and worry about what it meant. Imagine being a farmer 1,000 years ago and looking up at the night sky and seeing something completely out of the ordinary. There were the stars that they all knew but then suddenly something weird would show up. Of course they would think it meant something magical, it is kind of magical. Almost like being alive is just magical.
Avie started looking around and said “Dad, I just saw something go across the sky. I think it was a plane.”
“I didn’t see a plane. Did it go super fast?”
“Yes.”
“That’s a shooting star,” I replied nonchalantly.
“What’s a shooting star?” She asked.
I laughed, “It’s a meteor! A bit of rock that hit the Earth’s atmosphere! Is that the first time you’ve ever seen one???” I couldn’t believe she’s never seen a shooting star before. I’m a failure at being a dad!
“Yes,” she said.
“Well keep an eye out, there will be more!”
“What’s that star, dad? That bright one.” She pointed low on the southern horizon.
“Huh, I think that’s probably a planet.” I raised the bins to look… it was Jupiter and I could see the gods damned moons of Jupiter spread out around the planet: little bright specks of dust around a bright object. If I was a better writer I could explain how that felt, I can’t. I’d never seen that before. Just some 10x binoculars and I saw the fucking planet Jupiter and its moons.
“Holy shit, bug, look at that with the binoculars. You can see the moons! They look like little bright bits around the planet!” I handed her the binoculars.
“I can’t hold them still,” she said “can you come closer so I can lean on you?”
She leaned on me and said “wow.”
I will never have another moment like that in my life. Her leaning on me, seeing Jupiter’s moons. A comet, her first shooting star, the planet Jupiter and its moons: what the fuck are we even doing as a species if we aren’t leaning on each other to experience the wonders of the universe?
Thoroughly enjoyed the comments of your “little wonder!”
Youth and curiosity usually go hand in hand, and as a Dad, you did your part the way it should be done.
Not many people take the time out of our busy lives to notice the little things, and least I feel that way, but some do- thank goodness. Those little things (moments, animals, insects, weather, geography, geology, marine life to name a few)are amazing if one actually looks for them, and often I feel humbled by the grace of it all.
Enjoy your writing, do not agree with all of it, but at least you make me ponder, question, and contemplate many things other than futbol.
Glad that you have an accessible location without too much light pollution. Binoculars are difficult to hold steadily, even for adults. If Avie is interested in astronomy, may I recommend a beginner telescope: https://www.telescope.com/catalog/product.jsp?productId=9024
Hey you! Can you feel me?
Thoroughly enjoyed both halves of this post, Tim!
Finding places away from light pollution is very hard in LA. Usually requires a drive. There’s a spot on Topanga Canyon where the lights are dimmer, although cars go by regularly and ruin the view momentarily. My daughter and I tried it last week and some nice folks who were also comet watching lent us their binocs. The view was ok, but they showed us how to find it. Turns out you can seen it almost as well from the deck in our backyard. Her birding binocs did the trick and we saw it both saturday and sunday. I’m tempted to get a telescope to have an even better view, but by the time I get my hands on one, I think the best viewing might be done. BTW saw a beautiful Hooded Oriole in our backyard yesterday.
That rounded out a fantastic weekend, which included sitting aghast watching Arteta & Co. take City apart. Best team performance I have seen in years. Everyone chipped in and played hard. I thought Lacazette has been quietly playing very well for a while now. He’s being asked to do a lot in both defending and build-up. Yeah, he missed some opportunities after the restart, but his other contributions have been massive, and maybe just as important as goal-scoring for how I believe Arteta wants to play. Won’t be surprised if he’s sold this summer, but I don’t think he’s gotten his due from the fans since Arteta took over.
PS – In the ‘Giving myself a pat on the back’ category (what else would you expect from an LA guy?) – I did say I wasn’t ruling out a win vs. Pool or City last week. Never imagined both wins in my wildest dreams.
Arsenal playing proper defense. Really well. Against Man City no less. I never thought I’d see that again. Mustafi and Luiz ? Almost as wondrous as a father and daughter enjoying each others company, comets, meteors, planets and the night sky of the Pacific Northwest. 2019 has been horrible but still has its moments.
A nice story.
The football was a pleasant surprise. Just goes to show what clever tactics and unwavering commitment can achieve. It’s not often you see Man City nullified.
I thought Martinez was immense again. He seems to have a stronger personality than Leno, on the pitch. He exudes confidence somehow.
AMN had possibly his best game for us, particularly as he was “out of position”, not that anyone knows what position he is anyway. Unusual to find him on the left, until you realise Mahrez likes to cut inside from the wing right on to AMN’s stronger right side.
Chelsea will make an interesting final. They are arguably the better side, but if Arsenal can lift their game again to that level, then I quite fancy us. As long as it is nothing like last year’s Europa Cup capitulation. Emery should have been sacked on the spot.
Good stuff, Tim. A great read.
Great post Tim
Really awesome story about spending time with your daughter.
Amazing week with 2 really unexpected wins. Incredible defensive performance to keep a clean sheet in the Man City game. Full credit to Arteta for being pragmatic and willing to use the only realistic tactical solution for competing against teams like Liverpool and Man City. Parking the bus and hoping we can hold out and then hitting them on the break. Its been proven to work against us so many times during the Wengerball era. I saw somewhere that the last 2 games have been the lowest percentage of ball possession for Arsenal since the stat has been recorded and in the last 2 games we have been outshot by about 37-7. The thing which makes the strategy viable is we have scored on 4 of those 7 shots. We have seen that over the years the other team parking the bus against us seem to score on their only shot on goal but that is what happens when you successfully sit deep and hit on the break . The opposing teams becomes frustrated because they can’t score and they lose focus on the defensive end. Hopefully we can find a way to keep a clean sheet against Chelsea because their defense has been weak all season and we should be able to score at least 1.
Bravo, great post.
Most satisfying win in a long time, and it reminded me that well executed counter attacking football can be fun. Tierney is officially my new favorite Gunner – hopefully he can keep the injury bug at bay.
As for the time with your daughter: awesome. I’m trying to get my lil guy (he’s 5) out of the city to see it this week.
Winning is always fun no matter how it happens. Especially a game no one expected us to win
Really sad news today.
One of the smartest and most compassionate political commentators in America died suddenly today at the age of 38.
Micheal Brooks did amazing work for the left and had just recently met with and interviewed, amongst others, people like Noam Chomsky, Cornell West and Lula Da Silva.
He was one of the very few american political commentators who had a truly global and incredibly historically based view of current events and he approached his work with real humour and compassion.
He was an incredible man and will be sorely missed.
Well that was forgettable. Did we even register a shot on target?
Ugh. No. Basically Villa just did to us what we had done to City.
Poor. I think all the matches are catching up now.
Everything into the FA Cup final now, which was probably the likelier path anyway.
This match was yet another indication that we really need an Ozil replacement. And Pepe needs to step up.
we are a garbage fire sometimes
I would recommend anyone who’s interested to check out his work on The Majority Report, Jacobin, and The Michael Brooks Show. He also recently wrote a book called Against The Web: A Cosmopolitan Answer to the New Right and he had an incredible laugh that cheered and annoyed people in equal measure.
All that’s missing right now is a tweet from Ozil’s PR machine about how he bleeds Arsenal, is ready, etc.
It seems like we are a much better team when we park the bus and have 30% of the ball possession and play for counterattacks
I thought Ozil and Wenger would be appreciated when they were out of the side or have left, but even though their influence is clearly missing in our attacking game, they will both continue being underrated.
Arsene for how he set his team up and the tactics that went overlooked because they were repetitive and became normal to see from Arsenal.
Ozil for the solutions that he naturally (effortlessly) brought to an attacking side, which aren’t measured in stats and was so normal to see from him that it didn’t even clock to people how important those little actions were.
Finding an Ozil replacement is almost as impossible as finding a Wenger replacement. People will only find out the rarity of these two as time goes.
We will be a completely different team from past sides. New problems that we never bothered worrying about in the recent past or exxegerations of being bad at breaking down sides will become the new normal.
Devlin
Everything you say may have been true when both Wenger and Ozil were younger and at the top of their games. However, Arsene was definitely past his prime and performances like yesterday’s game had become the norm in the last couple of years of his managerial tenure. His choices in terms of player acquisition during the latter part of this decade were terrible and he left us with a very weak squad.
In ozil’s case in the last couple of seasons it’s been clear the magic Ozil once possessed has faded away. We have not been a better attacking team when Ozil has been on the pitch in the last couple seasons. Both Arteta and Emery used Ozil regularly when they first came to the club but both dropped him and the only reasonable explanation is that both managers believed the team was better without Mesut on the pitch. You could argue that Emery was stupid but I don’t think Arteta is stupid and the fact that Arteta has come to the same conclusion as Emery seems to confirm the belief that Ozil is no longer capable of having any positive influence on our ability to win games.
Arsene was a great manager for many years but like Fergie he left his successor with an very weak squad that will take many years to rebuild.
I hope all monies received from Aston Villa last night goes straight into the transfer kitty. Or is it a staggered ‘half now the other when you deal with Watford’ payment plan.?
Excellent post Tim. I really enjoyed reading you and your daughter sharing a moment for life together. Cherish it.