As someone who knows firsthand that nothing is guaranteed in this god-forsaken league, I’ll take the 3 points where I can get them every day of the week and twice on Sunday but lord have mercy have we got away with it today. It wasn’t pretty, but Arsenal scraped by a tough Palace team to pick up a 1-0 win at Selhurst Park. Flashback to when Arsenal opened up last season at Selhurst Park to open the season, it was champagne football from Arteta’s men and today it was nothing close. It wasn’t the worst and there is a sense of overreaction but I will explain why I am so frustrated with today’s wack performance. With it being two games into the season, I’ll take 3 points every single time but willing to trade performances over results this part of the season for sure, all that being said, here were my thoughts on the match:
Continue reading “We better be working towards peaking in the back half of this season cause today was not it (Arsenal – Palace reaction)”Tag: Havertz
Not at our absolute best but we take it one game at a time (Arsenal-Forest reaction)
With Arsenal getting as close as we did last summer, the record signing Declan Rice stepping into our midfield, and highly touted Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber arriving at the Emirates, there is a lot of hype and pressure around Arsenal and their title credibility and deservedly so. Arsenal should only be thinking about overtaking City this season and any thing less than 2nd would be failure. With all that said, 3 points anyway they come is the mantra til we get everyone settled into the squad and it wasn’t pretty but Arsenal scraped over the line to collect our first win of the season over Forest with a score of 2-1. We weren’t at our scintillating best, we had our moments of brilliance, got bailed out a few times but fought well to collect the 3 points and move onto Palace next week.
THOUGHTS ON THE MATCH:
- Arteta lineup for the season? With the positional versatility that our new signings bring the squad, there has been a lot of speculation of how the team would play this season, Declan Rice at the 6, Havertz at the 8, Partey replaced, Timber at RB and Ben White out, Timber at LB, Havertz at striker, we could go on and on about Arteta’s plan for the squad and I think we got our answer today: Arteta will mix it up quite often throughout the season. A lot will probably depend on our opponent, if we are at home or not, who is in form, tactical preference etc. The smart bet was to assume we would play like we did against City at the Community Shield, Ben White-Saliba-Gabriel-Timber across the back, Thomas with Declan, Odegaard Martinelli Saka and Havertz leading our line. Swap Jesus for Havertz and that is probably our strongest lineup but Arteta had other plans today with Partey slotting in at inverted RB, Nketiah coming into the team with no Gabriel. I can guarantee that Arteta will bring Gabriel back into the squad next week and with Timber coming down with a knee injury, who knows how Arteta will line up against Palace.
- Saka and Martinelli had their moments: Forest started out with a sturdy back 5 and an organized shape that was tough to break through. BUT this is why someone like Martinelli is invaluable to the squad, with Forest in their deep blocks of 5, Martinelli got the ball with momentum and took it on himself to take on two Forest defenders, back heel a ball into Eddie who did well to take on his defender and get the ball past Turner:
Saka who was lively from the start did well to get on his left foot and curl a unstoppable strike top bins, more of that please from both of them this season.
3. Our left hand side might be an issue in possession: Not sure if it was a tactical decision but the bulk of our possession was hammered down our right with Thomas-Odegaard-Saka dictating a lot of our play down the right flank. We will have to wait and see if this trend occurs but it definitely creates a technical imbalance when we aren’t able to sustain possession and build-up from the right. Declan Rice isn’t the same player as Thomas on the ball, Saka> Martinelli and no Ødegaard type player on our right, that could change with Zinchenko slotted into our team but it was definitely noticeable how much we chose to play down our right flank. That being said, Martinelli was dangerous everytime he ran at Aurier so if Arteta wanted to keep the left side direct and our right to be our source for possession for the rest of the squad, so be it. I prefer more balance but will have to wait and see how we play in the next few weeks.
4. Kai Havertz is who he is at this point of his career: It’s hopeless to think he will change at this point, he comes from the Ozil family tree, technically brilliant, will come in and out of his games, massively frustrating, will have his moments but man, not sure if we can use him in big matches and in tough away grounds. When we play like we did today, Havertz just floated into the open space and I am not sure he or we knew where he was supposed to be in buildup. He wasn’t totally convincing today but will have to wait and give him and Arteta time.
5. Injuries already: Gabi Jesus and Zinchenko having injury niggles is not ideal but now with Timber going down, makes you thank God that Arsenal were efficient in their defense signings as we have Tomiyasu and Kiwior who can back up the LB position in the meanwhile. Didn’t make sense how when Timber went down the first time, we still kept him on. Definitely a black mark on the Arsenal training staff and depending on how bad his injury turns out to be.
6. Declan and Thomas Partey: Our best team has these two in there, Declan can run for days and Thomas on the ball is our best deep lying playmaker. When we needed to see the game out, it was nice seeing those two controlling the midfield. Need to get Timber/Zinny healthy so we can let the two of them cook.
7. Still had a glimpses of last season with us having troubles closing out a 2-0 game – need to put out foot down the throats of our opponent’s necks smh
Player Ratings:
Ramsdale – 7/10 – nothing he could have done for the goal, solid
Thomas Partey – 7.5/10 – Technically brilliant, got caught a few times, showed his age, still pivotal to the team
Ben White – 6.5/10 – Nice to see him play more centrally, got caught out a bit on their goal but it was a mess from the whole team tbf
Saliba – 8/10 – Rolls Royce
Timber – 7/10 – Was good up until the injury, need him back
Declan Rice – 8/10 – Grew into the game, was too conservative at the start but was more expansive as the game went on. Total engine though
Kai Havertz – 6/10 – It’s like watching Ozil, floating in and out of games like a butterfly
Ødegaard – 7/10 – didn’t contribute to the goals but you can tell his influence is all over the team. technical brilliance
Saka – 8/10 – First half unplayable, second half playable
Martinelli – 8/10 – Nobody like him in the team
Nketiah – 7/10 – If he keeps scoring, I will shut up
Tomiyasu – 7/10 – Did well when he came on
Trossard – 7/10 – Same as Tomiyasu, hard done not to start
Gabriel – Not on long enough to rate
Haaland/City – 0/10 – Chill the fuck out pleaseeeeee
Arsenal ticket team – 0/10 – get your shit together
Kent’s mental wellbeing -7/10- fine for now, need to keep collecting the 3 points
NOTHING PERSONAL (Arsenal-Chelsea Reaction)
We are in a title challenge. I’ll say it again, we are in a title challenge. I won’t say it with sarcasm, I won’t say it with a “but”, I won’t say we will win the league, but damn it we are fighting for the title with 13 games played. Arsenal defeated Chelsea at the Bridge 1-0 and it was the most dominant 1-0 battering you will ever see this season. We were all over them from the start, just dominating them in their own backyard, Thomas was running the show, Saliba and Gabriel had Auba in their pockets (Auba just had 8 touches in the game), Ben White parenting Mason Mount, just spectacular performances all around from the boys.
THOUGHTS ON THE GAME:
- Zinchenko came back at a perfect time: Zinchenko came back at a perfect time when Tomiyasu took a knock this past Thursday. I would have been fine if Tierney was asked to play instead but seeing Zinchenko back at his best despite the weeks off through injuries was a sight to sore eyes. Arteta came came out with the same XI everywhere else and we didn’t skip a beat. Ø I think and Saka at some parts were below par in spurts but all in all, can’t complain with how Arteta started the match.
- Thomas Partey is our best player: He just is. He was magnificent today, picking the right passes at the right time. Played his part defensively when he needed to. Nothing gets me more excited in sports than he plays his reverse passes. He was just perfect today in all aspects of his game. When Thomas Partey is at his best, I feel fully confident in the team. He gives us a freedom to be aggressive as long as we know he is patrolling things in the midfield. Just a spectacular performance from our best player.
3. Auba cracks me up man: Aubameyang, this clown had the audacity to come out with those Sky Sports adverts and say dumb stuff like it’s “Nothing Personal” and then goes out and puts a performance where our defense held him to 8 touches in 64 minutes.
Honestly, I don’t have ill will towards Auba since he did so much for us when he was here, but you can’t help but laugh at this stuff man. 8 touches all game, did Potter even select the guy today? Just a weird performance from him considering all that was on the line for him.
4. William Saliba, Gabriel, and Ben White are full of heavy pockets: Mason Mount, Auba, Sterling, and Kai Havertz all need to come out of our boy’s pockets now, it’s getting embarrassing. Just dreadful from their attacking players but masterful from our boys at the back. I still am examining if we were that good at the back or if Chelsea were that anemic going forward. They didn’t have a sniff towards Ramsdale. They had the rare counter but they really didn’t generate any real passage of play or cause Ramsdale any trouble. Any type of deep cross they had, the our men sniffed that stuff out easily. Just amazing stuff from the boys and proud of them but they need to let the kids out of their pockets now.
5. Gabriel Jesus will come good: I’m the first to rag on an Arsenal player if he is not performing to acceptable standards but this isn’t one of those cases. He hasn’t scored but I won’t acknowledge that cause he’s perfect and is doing everything else correctly. 🙂 Also since I am in such a good mood, I won’t come for Ø.
6. Arteta-Ball back in full force – There were a few passages of play where the boys were just straight messing with Chelsea, you love to see it.
7. Need to finish the rest of the games off strong before the World Cup: We have Brighton in the EFL Cup, and Wolves next weekend at the Molineux Stadium. It’s never easy going there as we have seen in the past few years but they are fighting relegation which will be an interesting twist from past encounters. I expect Arteta to rotate as much as he can midweek against Brighton and go with our best XI against Wolves. At this point, every game is a must win to keep up with City so let’s hope the boys finish it off strong. It does feel weird to not complain about anything but here we are, straight vibing. You love to see it.
Twitter credits: ArmeriaGunner, iskaholic