Benjamin the Great, Glorious Gabriel, Excellent Emile and Auba’s Anguish

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Benjamin the Great

A lot was made about the signing of Benjamin White when he joined Arsenal.

The clubs criticis would have you believe that we had spent £50million on a fancy-dan defender who, whilst great on the ball, could not head and was suspectable defensively.

After a tough start to his Arsenal career in that performance against Brentford, White has been nothing short of brilliant.

Against both Burnley and Watford, he showed his rumoured weakness under the high ball was no more than a myth.

Each game he is growing in stature at the back as part of a defence which has now kept 5 clean sheets (only Chelsea, Liverpool and Manchester City have kept more).

He is also the best ball playing defender in the league.

His ability on the ball, both running out with it and his passing, is adding another dimension to our attacks.

Like with David Luiz in his prime, when White gets up a head of steam he quickly beats the press and dissects through the middle of an opponents midfield.

With these runs, he quickly transitions defence into attack and creates space for others.

He was unlucky to miss out on a place in Gareth Southgate’s England team as Conor Coady was picked ahead of him.

Southgate will not be able to ignore him for much longer.

Glorious Gabriel

The other half of what is quickly becoming one of the best central defensive partnerships in the league is Gabriel.

Gabriel is the leader at the back. The commander of the back 4.

The Brazilian barks the orders, sets the line and the others pick their position off him.

He is a huge reason why White is looking so comfortable in defence. And why Nuno Taveras is looking like a player 100 appearances for Arsenal under his belt, not just 10.

Gabriel is cool and clam. But he is also a powerhouse. A force to be reckoned with.

At one point on Sunday the Watford players were surrounding the referee complaining about something. In stepped Gabriel, arms out wide, positioning himself between the ref and the Watford players.

A one man army, Gabriel had taken control of the situation without the need for other players to get involved (and potentially talk themselves into trouble).

I do not know what level Gabriel’s English is as he does very few (if any?) post-game interviews. But if over the next 18 months he becomes fleunt in the Queen’s, he will inherite the armband from Aubameyang.

Gabriel is everything people think Virgil van Dijk is. And more.

Excellent Emile

Last season Arsenal suffered from a lack of goals – and no more so than from midfield.

Nicolas Pepe was our highest scoring midfielder with 10 in the league, Saka scored 5.

Emile Smith Rowe, Martin Odergaard, Granit Xhaka, Dani Ceballos, Thomas Partey, Mo Elneny, Joe Willock and Willian scored 6 league goals between them. A frankly embarassing return.

We needed someone to step up to get close to hitting Aaron Ramsey numbers. Makign those late runs into the box. Getting double figures in goals.

When we sold Willock, the clubs critics said we had sold our only goal scoring midfielder (the Halen End graduate scored 8 in 14 whilst on loan to Newcastle). Some felt he deserved a chance back at Arsenal. That he would have played this role.

Willock is yet to score for Newcastle this season; highlighting that last season was perhaps a hot run of form and his real ability was the 1 league goal in 40 games for Arsenal.

So somone needed to step up from midfield – and that man has been Emile Smith Rowe.

He is playing left side of midfield but very much has a license to drop inside. This has led him to picking up some very good positions in and around the box.

Arsenal’as fluidity in the front line is what is opening up space for Smith Rowe.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang drops outwide dragging a centre back with him. Lacazette then fills the space ahead of him left by Aubameyang. This pulls back the opposing defensive midfielder marking him.

That then leaves a big load of space between defensce and midfield that Smith Rowe is utilising. It is a clever tactic.

4 goals in 11 Premier League games makes Smith Rowe our top scorer this season alongside Aubameyang.

Like White, Gareth Southgate can only ignore this form so long.

And 10 munutes after this blog was completed, it was announced that Smith Rowe was called up into the England squad.

Auba’s Anguish

Whilst everything about Arsenal is wonderful right now, Aubameyang will not be in a rush to re-watch the Watford game; his performance costing Arsenal 3 goals.

the officials were completely correct to rule out Bukayo Saka’s goal for offside. But the situation would not have risen if it was not for Auba.

Alexandre Lacazette had done all the hard work, finding a pocket of space and chipping the keeper.

Ben Foster’s touch landed at the feet of Aubameyang with the goal at his mercy.

An inform Aubameyang would have hit it first time. Out of form he takes a touch and then slots it home. What ended up happening is he completely misscontrolled it the ball. It then bobbled to Saka who stuck it away but was clearly offside.

Arsenal then won a penalty after Danny Rose clotheslined Lacazette. Upstepped Aubameyang who failed to convert from the spot.

I have never been a fan of Auba on penalties. It feels like he is not very good at them.

He never seems to put his foot through the ball, rarely finds the corners or side netting. Every penalty he takes is saveable if the keeper guesses the right way.

And it feels like that is Auba’s tactic when it comes to penalties – hoping the keeper dives the wrong way.

When someone like Harry Kane takes them, you feel even if the keeper guesses right the ball is beyong him.

Aubameyang missed against Aston Villa a couple of weeks ago and has now failed to score from 4 of his 13 penalties. That is a poor record.

The Villa, Tottenham and Watford misses were also very similar – all to the keepers right.

Auba’s anguish peaked when he got the last touch on a goal bound shot from Martin Odegaard – sticking the ball in the night from an offside position.

At this point he was desperate to get his name on the scoresheet following the poor touch and the penalty miss.

Odegaard’s shot was bending inside the far post. there was no need for Aubameyang to touch it. But he stuck out a big toe and the goal was ruled out for offside.

Aubameyang has 7 goals from 11 games this season. The Watford performance was just one of those games where nothing went for him.

Keenos

Arsenal right to not give ball back after fake Watford injury

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Arsenal were completely right not to give the ball back to Watford on Sunday.

“Oh but you’re an Arsenal fan so yo uare always going to say that”. And you are right. But then it is also not just me saying it.

Ashley Williams on MOTD2 gave a brilliant analysis of the situation.

The Watford player lost the ball in the middle of the park, went down and stayed down. It is a tactic players often use in the hope that the referee will stop play, and therefore stop the attack.

The ref, rightly, did not stop the play and Arsenal played on. We had no duty to kick the ball out as the Watford player was clearly not injured.

Watford won the ball back and Danny Rose, under pressure near his own corner flag, rolled the ball out of play.

This was not an action to allow his team mate to get treatment. It was an action to try and relieve pressure.

Rose’s hope would have been that by putting the ball back, the ball would be returned to the Watford keeper and pressure would be relieved.

But as Rose put the ball out of play, the “injured” Watford player was already up on his knees and getting up.

Rose realised he made a mistake and started shouting at his team mate to “stay down” so that the physio would come on and give him treatment. Had he done so Arsenal would have given the ball back to Watford.

But instead the “injured” Watford player stood up and started jogging.

At this point it was clear and obvious to everyone that Rose had not put the ball out to allow his team mate to receive tratement but to try and halt an Arsenal attack.

Arsenal new what was happening, did not give the ball back, and a few phases later scored the only goal of the match.

The question for Danny Rose is simple.

If he had the ball near Arsenal’s corner flag and a team mate was down near the halfway line, would he put the ball out of play or continue with the attack?

I think we all know that he would ignore his stricken team mate and would do his best to put the ball into the box.

Players only seem desperate to put the ball out of an injured team mate when they are defending, not attacking.

What Arsenal probably should have done is put the ball straight back out of play, near the corner flag, for a Watford throw in then boxed them in. That would have been the fairest scenario.

But as soon as that Watford player is up and clearly not in need of treatment, then it is “game on” as Ashley Williams stated.

Mikel Arteta was spot on that in years gone past Arsenal were a little naive.

Under Arsene Wenger, I used to get frustrated about how quick we would put the ball out of play, even in attacking positions, as soon as an opponent was slow getting up.

Countless times I have screamed “play on” at Arsenal players. Because it always ended the same way – the opponent getting some fake treatment and the ball back with our goal keeper.

I am all for players putting the ball out when a player is actually injured and in need of treatment. But we know 95% of the time a player stays down in the hope of getting play stopped.

Hopefully Arsenal have set a standard that the rest of the league will follow.

Stop giving the ball back when an opponent puts it out of play as a defensive tactic.

Enjoy your Monday.

Keenos

MATCH REPORT: Arsenal 1 – 0 Watford

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Arsenal (0) 1 Watford (0) 0

Premier League

Emirates Stadium, Drayton Park, London N5 1BU

Sunday, 7th November 2021. Kick-off time: 2.00pm

(4-4-1-1) Aaron Ramsdale; Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhães, Nuno Tavares; Bukayo Saka, Albert Sambi Lokonga, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Emile Smith-Rowe; Alexandre Lacazette; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.

Substitutes: Bernd Leno, Kieran Tierney, Martin Ødegaard, Rob Holding, Cédric Soares, Nicolas Pépé, Mohamed Elneny, Eddie Nketiah, Gabriel Martinelli.

Scorers: Emile Smith-Rowe (56 mins)

Yellow Cards: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang Albert Sambi Lokonga, Takehiro Tomiyasu, Gabriel Magalhães

Arsenal Possession Percentage: 61%

Referee: Kevin Friend

Assistant Referees: Adrian Holmes, Simon Beck

Fourth Official: Martin Atkinson

VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Jarred Gillett; AVAR James Mainwaring

Attendance: 59,833

Today’s match will mark the one hundredth game under Mikel Arteta’s tutelage, and what could be a better way to celebrate, with no other than a victory here at the Emirates in a Sunday lunchtimeclash? Arsenal are starting with the successful 4-4-1-1 formation again (which saw its debut in the victory against Leicester City last week), and it is good to see Kieran Tierney on the bench today after recovering from his ankle injury, with the only obvious absentees being Thomas Partey and Granit Xhaka, through injury, of course.

After an extremely moving Remembrance Day ceremony involving the managers of both clubs laying wreaths in the centre circle on behalf of the fallen of both world wars which involved the Last Post being played by a solitary trumpeter, we kicked off proceedings on this rather chilly November day in North London. Right from the start of the match, we imposed our will on the visitors by pressing them back deep into their own half. We had a great chance to open the scoring within five mintues of the start when Albert Sambi Lokonga was presented with a golden chance, but instead, he slotted the ball to Alexandre Lacazete, who could not quite get a hold of it, so the visitors managed to clear easily. Bukayo Saka put the ball into the net a couple of minutes later, but unfortuntely it was deemed to be offside, and although it was disappointing, we did not appear to let it break our stride. Our passing was crisp, and our shooting accurate, as our domination became obvious for all to see at this point in the game. Five minutes after Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang received our first yellow card of the day, Albert Sambi Lokonga received our second for a silly altercation with Juraj Kucka, and the subsequent free-kick that was awarded to Watford petered out into nothing. The match levelled out for a while with the visitors looking accepting of the fact that we were the stronger side on the day, and patiently we returned to the business of the hour with comfortable possession and incisive attacking movements. Just before the half hour, Takehiro Tomiyasu received our third yellow card of the afternoon after a clumsy tackle on Ismaila Sarr, and after yet another botched Watford free-kick, we regrouped in order to continue to take the game to the visitors, who appeared to be more intent on stopping us scoring, rather than attempting to open the scoring themselves. Danny Rose made a ridiculous and heavy-handed challenge on Alexandre Lacazette in the penalty area; referee Kevin Friend awarded the penalty, and although Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s shot was perfectly placed, goalkeeper Ben Foster dived the right way and kept the shot out of the net. This incident merely served to fire up the Hornets, and they started to become more of a competitor at the Emirates this afternoon, with a goalscoring attempt by Juraj Kucka going inches wide of Aaron Ramsdale’s right-hand post. Just before the break, Gabriel was unlucky not to score with a powerful header, and despite some inspired and physical play from both sides, the half-time whistle blew with honours even.

And so the visitors kicked off the second half and although it was a slow start, the signs were good. Albert Sambi Lokonga had a superb shot on goal from outside the penalty area, which was saved by Ben Foster within a couple of minutes of the restart, and on the touchline, the animation in Mikel Arteta’s movements became obvious to all, as he encouraged his players to keep applying the pressure onto the visitors. Emile Smith-Rowe was unlucky not to score when an inspired effort was cleared by the opposition defence, and as the match became scrappy the visitors’ tactics of stopping us at all costs only served our collective frustration greater. Eleven minutes after the restart, and for the third match in a row, young Emile Smith-Rowe opened the scoring with a blistering low shot that had the beating of goalkeeper Ben Foster all the way, after some sterling work by Ben White. The goal certainly woke the stadium up, with the crowd vocally encouraging the team to go on and score more goals this afternoon. The visitors were also energised, as it was Arsenal’s turn to soak up pressure, as Watford tried to break through our midfield to attempt to score. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang was desperately unlucky not to score after trying to meet a high, curling ball from the right-hand flank viathe trusty boot of Bukayo Saka after sixty-seven minutes, and just seconds later Alexandre Lacazette was substituted for Martin Ødegaard and the game continued onwards. Our substitute was instrumental in getting the ball into the Watford net, (courtesy of Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang), but it was denied for offside, and with fifteen minutes of the match remaining, we started to look very comfortable indeed. After some clever play in and around the Watford penalty area, Emile Smith-Rowe blasted the ball over the bar from close range after seventy-seven minutes, and just after Gabriel received our fourth yellow card of the day for dangerous kicking, Watford came close to scoring when Aaron Ramsdale misjudged the ball on the right-hand side of the penalty area, and fortunately Joshua King placed the ball into the side netting, which was a truly hair-raising moment. Mohamed Elneny replaced Emile Smith-Rowe with five minutes of the match remaining, and with the visitors going down to ten minutes after a rough tackle on Nuno Tavares by Juraj Kucka, we intensified our desire to secore a second goal. In the six minutes injury time, Albert Sambi Lokonga came close to scoring with a blistering shot that was pushed away by Ben Foster, and as Gabriel Martinelli replaced Bukayo Saka with a couple of minutes of the match remaining, the name of the game appeared to be one of containment now, as the game ebbed away to its conclusion, which was a superb home win for us.

Blimey. How about that then? Ten matches unbeaten, and three games on the bounce as winners! And, as this is being written, fifth in the Premiership as well. The team are playing with renewed confidence, and they all look happy plying their trade under Mikel Arteta these days. too. Mentioned in dispatches today are the magnificent performances by Ainsley Maitland-Niles, who completely dominated the midfield; Ben White, who is growing in confidence with every match; Emile Smith-Rowe, who, pound for pound, must surely be the finest young player of his generation in that position and the rejuvenated Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who is becoming an indispensible member of the team. After the international break next weekend, the following three Premiership matches are Liverpool (away), Newcastle United (home) and Manchester United (away). Dare we dream?

Remember everyone, keep the faith, get behind the team and the manager, as this season is going to be crucial for our future success in all competitions. Stick with the winners. Our next match: Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday, 20th November at 5.30pm (Premier League). Be there, if you can. Victoria Concordia Crescit.

Steve

Too Dearly Loved To Be Forgotten: Arsenal v Racing Club de Paris 1930-1962 by Steve Ingless (Rangemore Publications, ISBN 978-1-5272-0135-4) is now available on Amazon.