Sunday afternoon will live long in the memory of Arsenal fans, as a dreadful Tottenham side - badly prepared and organised, and lacking any semblance of fight or occasion - were blown apart by an Arsenal team who frankly didn’t even have to perform at their best.
The whole tifo/light show set the mood, and the atmosphere was crackling prior to kick-off. Whether it intimidated the opposition I don't know, but it certainly got the crowd's juices flowing. And thank goodness the club had listened to the criticism following the embarrassing tifo on show at the PSG semi-final home leg. These two - at opposite ends of the ground - were far more like it! Props to Dan Evans (danxdraws on Instagram) for some top work.
Back to the game... and to think that a side shorn of its first choice striker, second choice striker, third choice striker(!), captain/most inventive attacking midfielder, and it’s defensive leader could tear to pieces a mid-table side ought to send shivers through every opposition spine. Not just in England, but in Europe too. Because - mark my words - there is plenty more to come from this group.
No, the performance wasn’t perfect - it didn’t have to be, frankly - but there was enough there to see firstly how good they are, and secondly how much they can grow to be even better. The opposition - such as it was - were absolutely blown away; as soon as the opening goal went in, they was it. And whilst there were a few things to criticise - which I will do lower down - it’s frankly a case of being picky - even churlish - to do so.
Eberiche Eze will of course dominate the headlines; his hat-trick only the fourth ever in this match-up (surprisingly). He took all three goals beautifully, had another shot well saved by the beleaguered Vicario, chipped a lovely pass over the Spurs defence to create a terrific early chance for Rice, and generally took up loads of really useful positions in the pockets of space that the opposition somehow managed to leave.
He's playing in the Odegaard role - something slightly alien to him as he was more used to moving in off the left hand side for his previous club, and isn't as 'busy' a player as the Norwegian. We know that there is still plenty more to come from him, and frankly I'd like to see more of him on the ball. He didn't really need to be on the ball that much against this particular oppostiion, but most of what he did was extremely decisive.
What I did enjoy from him, however, was more of a willingness to work hard out of possession that perhaps we have seen previously. That's something of a 'non-negotiable with Arteta, and the sight of him chasing back to help on the (admittedly pretty rare) occasion when Spurs broke into the Arsenal half was great to see. That type of work is, of course, very much part of what Odegaard does.
Elsewhere, the whole side performed well. Timber his usual self, Saliba solid as he took over the leadership role at the back from the injured Gabriel, and Calafiori fit enough to start and again putting in a decent shift. As for Gabriel's replacement; well, you'd frankly not have known that he wasn't present as Hincapie put in a superb shift on his first start for the Gunners.
Ahead of those 4, Zubimendi kept the team ticking over and allowed Rice to roam further forward and do what he does best - the latter's first time pass to set up one of Eze's goals was simple but so effective. On either flank, both Saka and Trossard kept the opposition occupied. Mikel Merino, deputising once more up top, was hard-working, effective (what a glorious assist for the opening goal), and above all elusive.
As for Tottenham... well, they were frankly terrible. Wrong team selection from Frank. Wrong shape. Wrong plan. And the players appeared to lack motivation and desire as much as anything else; like they knew that they were going to be beaten. But this is the thing - they had the best away record in the division before the NLD!
Look; who gives a damn about them in any case. But they were unworthy of being on the same patch of grass as their opposition. Long may they and their fans continue to suffer (as far as the latter were concerned, there was one pitiful chorus of 'Champions of Europe' in the very first minute, but apart from that we didn't hear a peep out of them. They'd starting leaving as early as the 46th minute (Eze's second goal timed at 45'36"), and by the time he notched his hat-trick it was as if there had been an emergency evacuation in their section of the terraces.
Now to some (slight) criticism. Not much; but some:
- it took over half an hour for Arsenal to take the lead. Whilst Arsenal were dominating, and probing away, there was just a tiny sense of trepidation; would the breakthrough come? And whether there was enough pace in the play as they looked for the initial breakthrough, I'm not entirely sure. I am perfectly happy to accept that they were measured and surgical in their approach, and that was probably fine. But I do wonder if - against better (and better organised) opposition - they might need to find different ways of getting things done
- I still worry about how little Arteta uses his bench. A few players could probably have done with a few minutes off the field towards the end, with the game well and truly sewn up. Especially with Bayern Munich due to visit on Wednesday. I just hope that this apparent reluctance to make use of the full quota of substitutes won't come back to bite him/us later in the season
- (and I hate to do this, but...) not for the first time this season, a bit of over-confidence from Zubimendi, who had men either side of him and ran into trouble, caused him to lose the ball when he should have released it - and to give Richarlison his due his finish was superb; quick-witted, and an inch perfect 40 yard lob of the goalkeeper. That was, by the way, Tottenham's only shot on target, and they managed to break their own low xG record by recording a total of 0.06 in the entire game. But for the 10 minutes following the goal there was just a small element of nerves and jeopardy in the air; and that's something that the team need to eliminate
And whilst I'm on the subject of Richarlison... there have been a few opposition players who I have particularly loathed over the years. My current Top Three are probably Sheringham, van Nistelrooy and Diego Costa, but they at least had some quality about them. But this shnippy little Brazilian sh*t is quite a piece of work. If he spent more time trying to play football instead of trying to get under the skin of the opposition, he'd be a far better player. He spends his entire time of the pitch on the wind-up. I absolutely detest the sight of him! You could say, however, that he fits in very well at his current club...
And so Arsenal move on to bigger and better things this week. The visit of a rampant Bayern Munich gives them the opportunity to test themselves against the very best, and to lay down another marker in Europe. Plus it obviously means another reunion with the nemesis that is Harry Kane. Rumours coming out of Germany, by the way, suggest that Bayern are absolutely sh*ttting themselves at the prospect of playing Arsenal... good; they should be!
After that, on Sunday, is a rare opportunity to blow the Premier League title 'battle' to pieces. Whilst Manchester City do face the simple task of Leeds at home, Arsenal go to Stamford Bridge and therefore have the opportunity to stretch their lead at the top from the current 6 to at least 7. Frankly, the Chelsea game is more important than the midweek Champions League match-up in my book. With City having just lost their 4th game of the season, Chelsea looking rather unconvincing despite sitting in second place, and Liverpool in utter disarray, perhaps - just perhaps - Arsenal can start to turn this season into something of a procession.
There's little doubt that the team are well-placed to finally deliver what we all crave. There can be no excuses. COYG!
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