Kickoff – Fans in the stands! Hey they are oohing and ahhing and cheering and singing. It’s real. This isn’t piped in, fake crowd noise. And it’s amazing. I miss it. In real life I would be going to games here in the States but with COVID raging I can’t. What a relief it must be for folks in Europe. You’ve suffered all summer through lockdowns, isolation, and struggled with less and now you’ve got a small reward.
First 20 minutes – I am kneading dough. The lineup is weird. Let me get it up here for everyone to see. I’m going to use the graphic that Arsenal put up on twitter as a reference for the formation.
At first I thought it was a 343 with Kola as a CB because Arsenal listed the players in this order: Leno, David Luiz, Gabriel, Kolasinac, Cedric, Elneny, Thomas, Saka, Pepe, Lacazette, Nketiah.
But in practice, both with and without the ball, this was a 433: Leno, Cedric, David Luiz, Gabriel, Kola, Elneny, Partey, Saka, Pepe, Lacazette, Nketiah.
Either way it stinks. Nothing going forward. Nketiah is lost on the left. Lacazette is completely useless, Pepe is a turnover machine, and even Saka isn’t able to rescue us. Meanwhile Cedric is getting forward but not doing anything and both Saka and Elneny have to cover for the fullbacks who aren’t very mobile. Whoo boy, this is going to be a long game.
Second 20 minutes – Taxi for Vienna… as predicted, Rapid’s Greek striker is a nuisance, pressing and harassing Arsenal’s back line. He’s also getting into it directly with Arsenal new guy Thomas. Thomas makes a lovely tackle on Taxi to deny the guy a clear run at goal but picks up a yellow for what I think is a fairly soft elbow when Taxi tries to nip the ball off him.
Lacazette also gets a yellow card. In fact, Arsenal get three yellow cards in this period. The last is for Nketiah for shooting after the whistle. I know that brings back a lot of bad memories for the van Persie yellow/red at Camp Nou but this was pretty well deserved in my opinion. Nketiah was clearly frustrated and took the shot well after the whistle went in a mostly empty stadium. In fact, it just highlights how corrupt that call was against van Persie.
One note: Arsenal are playing with 3-4 attacking players in a straight line along the RW defense. One thing I notice about the really great attacking sides is that they try to make more of a W or V: putting a few attacking players along the line but having at least one or even two players dropping between the two lines of the midfield and defense. This can be extremely difficult against teams who play two very close lines but Rapis are not doing that, leaving us space to operate there. But, to do so requires a player with huge confidence, vision, and close control and without someone there, linking play, the only available pass to a forward is a long ball or cross and both are low percentage.
The other option (usually when the lines are compact) is overlapping and runs behind but those are more dangerous because if you send your fullbacks into the 18 yard box you need an incredibly accurate throughball (sliding between 4 players, essentially) to hit him or you risk a situation with a slower CM trying to stop a counter by a speedy wide forward.
Third 20 minutes – Arsenal playing with the handbrake on. Zero shots. ZERO SHOTS. Even Partey, who has looked incredible up to now has slowed down a bit. We are definitely holding on here as Rapid Vienna attack Arsenal relentlessly and press us high up the pitch. Pepe and Saka get off a couple of good dribbles around the edge of the box but the final ball is trash. Did notice at least that Pepe used his right foot twice, once even for a cross.
Rapid score when Leno tries to make a lazy pass to midfield under pressure. The ball falls to Taxi who puts away the goal.
And suddenly Arsenal realize they are playing football! Thomas is bossing the game again now. He looks so, so good. I’m trying not to get too excited but oh my. His touch is about 300 seconds faster than anyone else I’ve seen in midfield since 2016 and (this is a bit subtle and may be difficult to notice)but he has an awareness of what’s going on around him and speed of thought that puts him a few seconds ahead of everyone else. You can literally see his teammates trying to catch up to what he’s doing.
And Thomas’ close control allows him to collect under pressure and hold on to the ball without needing to just pass it directly back to a teammate. This gives him options: he can roll his opponent and break pressure to get forward or make a pass.
He also seemed to like making those direct passes up the pitch and into the forward, Lacazette, who is supposed to hold up play or be the link man but whatever powers he used to have in that department seem to have almost completely faded and he looked like a very poor version of Giroud.
Elneny adjusted best to Thomas and actually looked like a completely new signing.
Final 30 minutes – handbrake completely off now and this is basically anyone’s contest. Auba comes off the bench and Arsenal immediately look like a better team. Not a surprise when he’s our best player.
Saka now has someone to link up with and is looking sharp. Thomas is still bossing everything both in terms of keeping the team ticking over and winning the ball back.
Pepe wins a free kick and puts in a perfect ball for the equalizer. Now Arsenal are going for the win but…
Leno makes a 2nd gaffe in this match and Taxi once again pounces. If Taxi had slightly better technique or maybe just a little more composure RW would have had the lead.
And then Arsenal get the go-ahead goal. Elneny makes that perfect splitting pass to the overlapping Bellerin who slides the ball on to the toe of Aubameyang. Arsenal up 2-1 but it’s been a ride.
And to end the game, Lacazette hasa moment which he will probably never live down. Played into 50 yards of space, with Auba running on his left and the defenders leaving him a huge gap to play the ball, he instead turns onto his right foot to get that trademark shot off and turns the ball over. In his defense, it’s actually very weirdly normal for (right-footed) players to find it difficult to even see the pass on their left, much less make it. I see that pass passed up all the time and it’s frustrating. But with this Arsenal team, fans find it difficult to extend grace, even if he’s got 3 goals in his first 6 appearances this season.
The Partey Line
- 5 – tackles won (of 5 attempted, was dribbled 0 times)
- 1 – interception
- 4 – aerial duels won
- 0 – possession lost
- 12 – pressures (led Arsenal, Kelvin Arase led all players with 29 pressures and also had 11 successful pressures
- 92 – passes, led all players
- 409 – yards progressive passing (4th among all players – Gabriel led everyone with 604)
- 9 – final third passes (2nd behind Gabriel)
- 8 – progressive passes (led all players)
- 3 – passes into the penalty area (led all players)
- 294 – progressive yards carried (2nd among all players behind Gabriel)
If people were worried about Partey’s progressive passing, this was a hell of an answer. Consistency is the real key but this is a great start.
thomas looked mighty fine. the same can be said of gabriel…what a signing.
Gabriel and Partey seem the kind of signing Arteta wants to make, which bodes well for the future. Here I’m making the assumption, that signings like Cedric (commercially) weren’t upto Arteta as the head coach then but of Sanllehi’s.
If Partey remains as progressive as he was here while maintaining his defensive discipline, we’ll have quite the player on his hands.
Also, I know it was Rapid Vienna, but Elneny has put in a few good performances now. Do you think he deserves to play a bigger role in our midfield in the Premier League?
Really good players improve the players around them, and based on the albeit tiny sample of one game, it looked to me that whatever Partey was doing allowed Elneny to play better and do more than he usually does. That said, Rapid Vienna, etc., etc.
that’s unfair, bun. elneny has never been a poor player…he simply had others in the team who were more dynamic than him. likewise, since he’s come back from loan, he’s played well every time he was given a game…that includes the games that happened before thomas got to arsenal.
Haha! Never said Elneny was a poor player. Dude, seriously, I think Elneny is to you what Leighton Baines was to Tim! Lol. Don’t mean to offend.
no offense taken.
you didn’t say the words but your implication was that thomas being on the pitch meant elneny looked better than he actually is. i simply don’t agree with that. we’re all excited about the shiny new toy but, like you said, its a small sample size against a smallish team.
as for my affinity for elneny, the fact that he went on loan to recapture his best form in order to prove himself at arsenal, not simply to play, is admirable to me. what international does that?
Yes Bun! This is exactly the case. I am really excited to see Dani paired with Thomas. He will look like a world beater. Even Xhaka will have just that one more half second on the ball to make his perfect pass. Partey’s range and quickness will allow his teammates to get a yard more space. It’s those tiny margins that make huge differences.
But CEDRIC.. How did we pay 30mm for that? I am now very worried that Mari will turn out to be a huge waste as well, given the man behind both purchases.
this. imagine a midfield 3 of thomas-ceballos-ozil behind lacazette, auba, and pepe. such a shame we may never see that.
maybe willian can match mesut on the creativity front. we can wish upon a star, right?
I love that we have Partey and Gabriel but is anyone else a bit concerned that Leno’s deficiencies are Emi’s strengths, ie passing out and collecting crosses? I like Leno, probably the best reflex shot stopper in the league but I really, really hope we don’t live to regret letting Emi go.
The problem is that anything Leno does wrong now will make us think wistfully of Martinez, and this will be exacerbated by the fact that none of us will be watching Villa’s games and seeing what Martinez does wrong this season. So it will be unfair, and I just hope we can just learn to live with the decision. Leno is our player. He’s an excellent keeper. Even the best keepers make occasional mistakes. That’s it. I’d hope that if we want to keep bringing up Martinez that we’d at least take into account what he’s doing on a regular basis at Villa. But I also hope we learn to forget about it.
Villa lost 0-3 to Leeds this evening. Sounds like Emi may not have dealt very well with the first goal. Yes, it’s only one game but it might take the pressure off Leno a bit. One can’t help but regret Emi’s departure (I do) and consequently every mistake Leno now makes is under the microscope. Leno had a stinker last night but let’s hope he learns from it.
Just think, if Bernd hadn’t been injured by crazy Maupay the world may never have found out how good Emi was and we’d have had him for the Europa League. Just sayin…..
all keepers have great games and all keepers have stinkers…all of them? with that, i believe that arsenal made the right call keeping leno. he’s fantastic. emi is also an excellent keeper but was too good to be a backup. i’m happy for the progression in his career.
the thing about keepers is you really get your best feel for how good they are in training/warm ups more than games. whenever i take my teams to college showcases, i always tell keepers that they never know what skinny old man playing with his dog might be a recruiter watching their warm-up. it’s the time when scouts see the keepers do the most work; certainly more than in a game. it’s the same for training. the coaches and the manager will know who the best keeper is seeing them working every day.
“the thing about keepers is you really get your best feel for how good they are in training/warm ups more than games”
You talk a lot of sense most times JOSHUAD but this is completely wrong.
Pressure and how they deal with it during games is what separates great ones from also runs.
Emi let in three tonight but I can’t say he was at fault for any of them.
Leeds were simply nuts and I hope we get our $hit together before we play them.
tom, as far as tactical play goes, you’re right. however i’m talking on a technical level, not tactically; ie, the reason that arsenal chose leno over martinez is because he’s more talented or technically gifted. technically, you can tell more about the talent level of a keeper in a 10-minute training session than you can in a 90-minute game…they simply get more reps to show what they’re capable of.
JOSHUAD
That maybe true…..my personal experience has been there’s no substitute for being cold blooded under pressure though.
I never missed a pen in practice in my playing days but taking one in a game situation would always raise my pulse rate which altered my technique, and
I have the utmost respect for guys who’s heart rate remain steady under pressure.
That to me is the biggest attribute for a keeper and I’m not even saying this in relation to the whole Leno/Martinez debate, which is one I don’t really feel that strongly about.
Interestingly, Emi has barely ever played for the Arsenal with the pressure of the home crowd groaning at the travails of our defence. I suspect the Villa fans will be more forgiving.
After his success in the latter phase of last season he was never going to be content to return to the bench, nor should he. He wanted to be first choice and we needed the cash so when a decent bid came in it was a no brainer. Every time the thought that we sold the wrong keeper, take a look at the influence Thomas Partey is having on our team.
Martinez had a very mediocre game last night. And also in the 5-5 versus Pool.
The player ratings I saw on the BBC website last night had Martinez comfortably ranked No1 of the Villa players.
JRGOONER
“Just think, if Bernd hadn’t been injured by crazy Maupay the world may never have found out how good Emi was and we’d have had him for the Europa League. Just sayin ”
One thing it says is that there is no proper evaluation of players available , including at Junior level. Fault is averse to taking a risk and playing promising youngsters in games where we are well ahead or poor competition.
But then nowadays Arsenal are playing wrse than most, so when is the opportunity ?
Maybe the pointless cup competitions
OK Tim, don’t think I didn’t notice the little dig at the Colorado Rapids in your title. You sly dog.
That one hurt. The cancelled goal, the generally good play without incisiveness, the injury to Luiz, the late sucker punch of a goal, that Rodgers exploited left back Xhaka perfectly, the lack of variety in attack, the missed chances, the cancelled goal. This one hurt.
With the game scoreless and Vardy coming on to spend half an hour of textbook running off the shoulder of the last defender, who among us did not feel, in their bones, that this was the game’s decisive development? I know that I experienced that slight dread. The man’s scoring record against us is superb, 11 in 12. And there’s something about Arsenal that gives him extra energy. We are his Red Bull and his viagra.
Rodgers out-coached Arteta. Absorbb our sting on the low block, have Vardy stretch us if we got to the hour in a stalemate. Tieleman’s ball over a static ball-watching Xhaka was executed to perfection. With Xhaka taken out, Gabriel found himself in no man’s land — do I deal with the crosser or the runner? He motioned to Mustafi to pick up the runner (Vardy) but the German was behind the play, and allowed Vardy a free, unimpeded run up the middle.
Yes, we were unlucky . Fusspot officiating denied us a perfectly good goal, although I have to say that Xhaka invited trouble with his positioning. Still, the goal should have stood.
We played well first half, had a lot of shots, and in the normal course of things might have won the game in the first 45. But we had ONE shot second half and none after the goal. So of course, gooners are all over social media and the Guardian match report comments section talking about He Who Didnt Play 🤫But that is a pointless, kneejerk response. He will not kick a ball again for AFC, so please find something productive to do with your lives, fellow gooners.
All the same, it was instructive to watch the coach gamely spin this, and ruefully shake his head and lament that he was the one irredeemable… while fielding Xkaha and Mustafi, deemed to be redeemable. I thought that a fundamental tenet of good coach is to get the best out of your available resources.
I don’t know that Irredeemable would have made a difference. There’s something a bit off with our offense when Auba isnt scoring worldies. Of all our attackers who played today, I’d keep only Auba annd Saka.
But but but…. perspective. Arteta was an FA cup winning manager half a year into his job, and he beat better footballing sides to accomplish that. So he gets the benefit of the doubt.
With the game scoreless and Vardy coming on to spend half an hour of textbook running off the shoulder of the last defender, who among us did not feel, in their bones, that this was the game’s decisive development? I know that I experienced that slight dread. The man’s scoring record against us is superb, 11 in 12. And there’s something about Arsenal that gives him extra energy. We are his Red Bull.
Rodgers out-coached Arteta. Absorbb our sting on the low block, have Vardy stretch us if we got to the hour in a stalemate. Tieleman’s ball over a static ball-watching Xhaka was executed to perfection. With Xhaka taken out, Gabriel found himself in no man’s land — do I deal with the crosser or the runner? He motioned to Mustafi to pick up the runner (Vardy) but the German was behind the play, and allowed Vardy a free, unimpeded run up the middle.
Yes, we were unlucky . Fusspot officiating denied us a perfectly good goal, although I have to say that Xhaka invited trouble with his positioning. Still, the goal should have stood.
We played well first half, had a lot of shots, and in the normal course of things might have won the game in the first 45. But we had ONE shot second half and none after the goal. So of course, gooners are all over social media and the Guardian match report comments section talking about He Who Didnt Play 🤫But that is a pointless, kneejerk response. He will not kick a ball again for AFC, so please find something productive to do with your lives, fellow gooners.
All the same, it was instructive to watch the coach gamely spin this, and ruefully shake his head and lament that he was the one irredeemable… while fielding Xkaha and Mustafi, deemed to be redeemable. I thought that a fundamental tenet of good coach is to get the best out of your available resources.
I don’t know that Irredeemable would have made a difference. There’s something a bit off with our offense when Auba isnt scoring worldies. Of all our attackers who played today, I’d keep only Auba annd Saka.
But but but…. perspective. Arteta was an FA cup winning manager half a year into his first head coach job, and he beat better footballing sides to accomplish that. So, long term, he gets the benefit of the doubt and deserves our support.
Claude , there’s been goals called back for this type of obstructing this season.
At least two or three.
From a behind-the-goal angle, Xhaka looked fine. But in saying “although I have to say that Xhaka invited trouble with his positioning”, I hedged a bit. Unlucky, not robbed blind.
If you’re standing in the middle of the 6 yard box directly in front of the keeper, with the obvious intention of distracting him, then it is pretty safe to say you’re “interfering with play”. Having said that, it is Xhaka we are talking about, who seemed to be “not interfering with play”, no matter where he was standing. Perhaps the ref should have taken that into consideration.
I didn’t feel particularly hard done by that call. Xhaka was in there to be getting in the way of the keeper on a corner.
Arteta was definitely outcoached.
And the offense is a serious concern. We have to play Auba through the middle, and we have to find someone more creative in in midfield. Not sure why Ceballos hung back so much with Partey and Xhaka behind him. If he can’t do the job, and He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is off the table, then we should try one of the youngsters in there. Willock, AMN, Nelson, maybe even Saka. What we’re doing isn’t working at all.
Luiz moved up with with the defenders….. not sure if it would’ve gone in had Xhaka done the same but it probably would, the keeper went near post.
Shame.
What did you think of Xhaka playing cover for the Leicester goal with Thomas up the pitch?
Xhaka was nowhere for the Leicester goal. His positioning could not have been more awful. Likewise Mustafi. These are international footballers! Laughable. Any manager running a Sunday morning pub side would have had a fit.
Well, this is what we get with a rookie coach. Are we on board? I think I am, though I find it a bit rich the almost unanimous screeching from Arsenal fans when Brendan Rodgers was suggested as a possible manager last year and the year before. Maybe you find him odious personally, but he’s a damn good coach.
We’re an insipid side that might make 6th if we’re lucky.
Ha ha, Bun I guess great minds think alike because that’s my position exactly, and I never looked down on Rodgers btw but I thought Arteta was a decent shout.
Sixth is tops and that might be a bit ambitious.
Sorry for comparing my brains to yours, I hope you can look past it.
Tiote’s screamer against City some years back , and Sigurdson on the ground with Degea moving away from the ball he had no chance saving in Everton /United game earlier this year for the most extreme cases. But there were
were a couple this season already, I think Wolves had one just like we did but I’m not sure.
We are definitely our own worst critics aren’t we? Jeez.
Our team dominated play for most of the match, and no I don’t think that was just how BR drew it up because we had all the chances and they had none. Partey showcased his counter killing abilities and they go no change out of Barnes trying to run behind Luiz. Besides the cancelled goal, there was also the Auba and Lacazette headers and the Bellerin chance. We have to score one of those and we couldn’t. The goal we gave up, sure you can roast Xhaka and Mustafi, but Under is a track star and Tielemans plays a perfect pass to him behind one of our slowest players, then Mistafi who just got back from long term injury isn’t sharp enough in dealing with the movement of the golden boot winner. I mean, ok, criticize them but that’s not schoolboy stuff and it’s not like it kept happening over and over. That was their first shot on goal.
We are talking about an attack that has been terrible for years and it has faced some very good teams in recent matches. There are things to improve but I must point out that this was a smash and grab result against the run of play by a very good team that was terrified of coming out to play against us in the first place.
Dr. Gooner, that is an excellent perspective. Last night provided a truly sickening outcome but the fact remains that MA8 has taken this team some of the way back but there’s still a significant distance to travel.
I only heard the commentary but that seemed to be in accord with your summation.
Why are we always having a go at the team we support? I find it depressing!
Xhaka is not only slow… he was ball watching.
Mustafi was on the bench and subsequently on the field because the head coach judged him to be ready to play a high intensity premier league game. And guess what? Vardy’s game is what Donald Rumsfeld would call a “known known.” Doesn’t make it any easier to play him, mind you, but our professional footballers played Jamie Vardy like he was a player unfamiliar to them, and/or the video playback machine at London Colney was broken. This tongue in cheek comment in the Guardian actually made me laugh… “Fair play to Leicester. Bringing on Jamie Vardy to sit on the last defender and sprint past him into open spaces was a smart plan nobody could have predicted”.
So yes, roast them. And the coach. Arteta did not adjust to Rogers’ kind of obvious game plan with the Vardy sub on. He would know, smart man that he is, that football has a way of punishing wastefulness.
This game felt meaningful. To me it was confirmation that Arsenal is an upper mid-table premier league side, and that cake is almost baked.