As I was driving around on various errands on Friday afternoon, my mind was mainly occupied by thoughts on Arteta’s team selection later in the day. Hopefully, I pondered, he would have learned the lesson about isolating Thomas Partey as he had done on Monday. And he would surely find a place in the starting line-up for Alexandre Lacazette after his fine cameo and crucial goal on Monday.
Thinking about how he might fit all the pieces of the jigsaw into place, I got to wondering if he’d set the team up looking on paper like a 4-3-3, with Auba nominally playing off the left, but actually go 4-2-3-1 with Lacazette playing more of a link role in the hole behind the skipper. Which was exactly what he did, and we got to see this celebration yet again:
So either we are both geniuses, or it was merely bloody obvious? I go for the former, obviously... But perhaps it’s just possible that he has finally hit upon the best way to utilise the resources available to him. His resources; because this is finally his team.
Could this be his ‘lightbulb moment’; the flash of inspiration that finally changes the fortunes of the team and starts to bring them back towards contention? Have Arsenal, in Arteta’s own words, just gone 'bang’?
Projecting forward, I’d suggest that the building blocks of a half-decent side are in place almost all over the pitch (the forward line will need to be addressed over the next couple of seasons, obviously). Recruitment has (finally) been good, and Arteta appears to have now hit on a system that suits the personnel.
And so to the game, and starting with team selection. Tierney’s injury was something of a surprise, I guess, but as it transpired Tavares’ first Premier League start was a resounding success. He’s raw, to be sure, but he’s quick, powerful, and completely fearless.
We’d probably been expecting Saka to miss out in the aftermath of McArthur’s assault on Monday (I’m still angry with Mike Dean - we saw a yellow upgraded to a red in the United/Liverpool game, after all), but as it turned out it was Pepe who made way. The other, and perfectly understandable, change was Lokonga - a genuine central midfielder - for Odegaard, who’d looked like a fish out of water in that role on Monday.
Of course, it wasn’t obvious (Sky were certainly fooled!) until they lined up quite what the formation would be, but I was delighted to see that Arteta had gone with the formation that I’d hoped he would. And it put Villa on the back foot straight away.
So from very early on, I had few concerns about any downside to my hopeful Tweet:
Lacazette, by dropping deep, not only gave Arsenal an extra option in transition - flanked of course by our two superkids - but also put continual pressure on Douglas Luiz, the Villa ‘pivote’. And behind him the presence of Lokonga close to Partey made the latter’s life so much easier.
What I also liked was the willingness to play a quicker, more ‘front foot’ game. It was slick, there was much more of a willingness to move quickly and attack between the lines, and quite simply Villa were unable to cope with the intensity. It’s a great pleasure to not have to witness ‘umbrella football’ for a change.
Of course, Villa’s shape didn’t help them. Why they’ve changed it since last season I cannot fathom. But three centre halves and the wing backs pushed up often means that there are gaps in behind, and Arsenal continually exploited those channels, pulling the centre halves out of position continually.
Moments that illustrated the change of intensity from the very start included ESR carrying the ball inside and forcing the defence to back-pedal (he did it all game, in fact), Saka finding space in the right channel more than once, Tavares’ marauding runs down the left and Ben White’s confident 60 yard burst. Auba had the ball in the net early on, but a very marginal foul called against Laca saw it ruled out. Partey unluckily hit the post following a free kick awarded against Mings, who’d been unable to cope with Saka yet again. And a couple of minutes later the Ghanaian’s shoulder helped an ESR corner into the net. It was the very least that Arsenal deserved.
And all of this stemmed from the added solidity given by the presence of Lokonga alongside Partey. And what I’m trying to illustrate here is that this added central solidity - something that was palpably lacking on Monday - allowed Arsenal to attack from wherever they liked.
Arsenal’s injury time penalty award was perhaps somewhat fortuitous, but of course we’ll take it. And it led to the first bit of interesting by-play regarding ex-Arsenal goalkeeper Emi Martinez. First he tried his patented mine games trick, and Laca put him in his place. And then the Argentinian saved Auba’s spot kick, but was powerless to prevent him from clipping in the rebound. He was gutted!
Martinez had already been on the receiving end of a few boos and cat-calls from the home fans, due to his well-documented continual desire to talk about the manner of his departure from The Emirates, and he was now the pantomime villain. Comparisons with Ramsdale began to be made in the crowd, with ‘Aaron Ramsdale - he’s better than you’ ringing around the arena. Highly amusing, and I guess he asked for it. As I Tweeted at the time:
And now a word on Ramsdale, who had very little to do throughout the entire first half, but what he had to do in the second half he did really well. And his distribution is nothing short of superb; at Ederson levels, in fact. Those Arsenal fans who doubted his signing have all been silenced, and he’s already a cult hero. He’s exactly what we needed.
Villa’s half-time change of formation did cause a shift in the direction of play, and Arsenal’s defence bent, but did not break. Whilst at the same time Arsenal looked just as potent going forward as before. As illustrated by ESR’s goal, which came about as a result of Auba’s exquisite flick around the corner to set him free. As Jamie Carragher said on commentary, our blond bombshell runs just as quickly with the ball as without, and there was little doubt that he would bury the opportunity.
And here’s an extra bit of by-play with Aston Villa, who you may recall made a couple of derisory bids for ESR in the summer. We were apparently after Buendia (who was apparently playing in this game?…), and we can see who got the better end of things. I’m not sure how much money might be needed to prise Emile away now, even if anyone tried. A minimum of £75m, and certainly not the £30m that Villa offered.
Laca came off, exhausted, after 66 minutes - quite rightly to a standing ovation. And Odegaard slipped into the number 10 role that clearly suits him a lot more than central midfield. Lokonga was relieved by forgotten man AMN with 29 minutes left, and he did well too. In fact, nobody in red could be marked under 8/10.
The only downside in the entire game was Partey chickening out of a challenge on the edge of the penalty area that led to Villa’s goal. Ramsdale was absolutely furious - and it didn’t do much good for my Fantasy team either! But there’s nothing else negative to report, and hopefully we can see the momentum continue into next weekend. It’s a good test - Leicester away is not easy.
And now finally a quick word on Manchester United. And here it is: hahahahahahahahaha. Of course, any day that both United and Sp*rs lose is a good one; but that was special. Solksjaer is doing a wonderful job, and certainly gets my vote of confidence.
For United's mauling to have taken place on the 17th anniversary of the Old Trafford Conspiracy that cost The Invincibles their unbeaten run - once again, karma.
I’ll be back next week. I’m the meantime - COYG!
No comments:
Post a Comment