It might have finished 1-0 but another day it could have been 3 or 4.
30 shots was the most in the Premier League under Mikel Arteta as we created chance after chance.
Nicolas Pepe was stopped from opening the scoring due to a fantastic block by Brandon Williams prior to setting up Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s goal.
Aubameyang would shot straight at Tim Krul. He should have done better. Likewise Emile Smith Rowe, having shifted the ball to his stronger foot, should have finished his shot. Bukayo Saka hit the rebound wide.
It was a Norwich City side that had conceded 10 goals prior to Saturday and there will be tougher tests to come. But the green shoots of recovery were clear and obvious to everyone.
Arsenal looked energised, pressing from the front.
Aubameyang down the middle looked a new man. Closing dow the keeper and keeping the defenders honest.
Martin Odegaard in behind him showed why he was always Arsenal’s first choice as a 10.
Not only does he bring he bring quality on the ball but also a high work rate.
There is no point the striker pressing if those behind you do not.
With Odegaard and Bukayo Saka backing up Aubameyang the Norwich team were constantly under pressure in their own half. Time and again we won the ball off their midfield.
Arteta was also able to put out what was is his strongest defence.
Again it is only Norwich but the back 4 looked solid and composed.
Taking into account their age profiles, the defence will grow together as a unit the more they play together. Hopefully Arteta refrains from the chopping and changing of last year in the back 4.
Burnley next weekend will be a tougher test for the defence. Expect some high balls into the box to test Ben White and Gabriel.
Overall, it might have only been 1-nil to The Arsenal but there were a lot of positives to take out of the game.
Saturday, 11th September 2021. Kick-off time: 3.00pm
(4-2-3-1) Aaron Ramsdale; Takehiro Tomiyasu, Ben White, Gabriel Magalhães, Kieran Tierney; Ainsley Maitland-Niles, Albert Sambi Lokonga; Nicolas Pépé, Martin Ødegaard, Bukayo Saka; Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
Substitutes: Bernd Leno, Thomas Partey, Alexandre Lacazette, Emile Smith-Rowe, Cédric Soares, Nuno Tavares, Calum Chambers, Pablo Marí, Gabriel Martinelli.
Scorers: Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (66 mins)
Yellow Cards: Ben White, Thomas Partey
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 52%
Referee: Michael Oliver
Assistant Referees: Stuart Burt and Simon Bennett
Fourth Official: Gavin Ward
VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR Mike Dean; AVAR Eddie Smart
Attendance: circa 60,000
Today is the day that we need to restart our season, and urgently too. We should forget the appalling results of August, the amount of money that has been spent on new players, and the wild and sometimes ridiculous opinions of all sections of the media. Thanks to the hiatus of the international week (which may just have been our saviour), we should start again with today’s match against Norwich City. Nothing else matters; the past is gone, the future has not happened yet, so all we have is today. So let’s just live in real time, on a match-by-match basis, and worry about our opponents as they arise. Best foot forward now, chaps, no messing around. Or else.
Arsenal v Norwich today
We will giveaway a set of the winning teams beer mats to one of our followers.
We started the match very much on the front foot, pressing the visitors into their own half. Gabriel and new boy Takehiro Tomiyasu were both unlucky not to score within the first ten minutes, as was Kieran Tierney and in both cases, Ben White (another new signing) was instrumental in assisting the two full backs in their goal attempts. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s shot from outside the Norwich City penalty area went narrowly past the post and just after a quarter an hour (and another narrowly missed header by Albert Sambi Lokonga), the visitors broke out and we had a close call when Max Aarons crossed the ball into our penalty area and thankfully the header by Kenny McLean went wide, which was a blessing. The match started to calm down and although the visitors were having their chances, and appeared to look more confident, our defenders managed to hold them at bay. Both Teemu Pukki and Kieran Dowell had their chances, but thankfully, our defence was able to block their shots before Aaron Ramsdale could spring into action. With just three minutes left of the first half, Max Aarons fouled Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, and the subsequent free-kick, which was taken by Nicolas Pépé, went narrowly wide. On the cusp of the break, Kieran Tierney crossed the ball into the Norwich City penalty area, and Takehiro Tomiyasu’s superb volley went just over the bar, which was extremely unlucky.
And so the second half started, with both speculation and trepidation permeating the North London air in equal measure. Despite a couple of half-hearted goal attempts from the visitiors, we managed to regroup and apply pressure on the Canaries’ goal, and as in the opening stages of the previous half, our desire to score became more and more evident with Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, Gabriel, Ainsley Maitland-Niles and Kieran Tierney being unlucky not to score. Almost pendulum-like, the match started to go back into the visitors’ favour with Norwich City winning possession quite easily in our half, and in a classic breakout movement, Bukayo Saka’s quick thinking saw his shot blocked by Brandon Williams just before Nicolas Pépé could pick up the rebound. So close. On the hour, Thomas Partey and Emile Smith-Rowe replaced Albert Sambi Lokonga and Takehiro Tomiyasu in order for us to push up to score; Ainsley Maitland-Niles dropped back to the right-back position in order to accommodate the substitutions. At last! A goal! Twenty-four minutes from the end of the match, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s right-footed shot from very close range ended up into the bottom left corner, after some sterling work by Nicolas Pépé. Although the visitors claimed the goal was offisde, the VAR check by Mike Dean at Stockley Park gave the green light for the goal to stand. Nothing like a goal to spark up a match, and within a few minutes, both teams had good chances to score, and the goalkeepers at either end made superb saves. With ten minutes of the match remaining, Cédric Soares replaced Ainsley Maitland-Niles in order to press up to finish the match; within a minute of the substitution, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang came extremely close to scoring a second goal when he slid in to try to finish off a clever Nicolas Pépé cross, and as the match came to the final stages, the visitors started to look fatigued, and recognising this, we pressed their goal harder. Emile Smith-Rowe received a pass from Bukayo Saka, lost his marker and his clever shot went just inches wide. In injury time, Emile Smith-Rowe ran through and slotted an accurate pass to Nicolas Pépé, whose left-footed shot went narrowly wide. Norwich City started to wake up and although it looked a bit touch and go, we held on for our first win of the season.
Okay, it wasn’t brilliant, but it is a much-needed win, when all is said and done. The new boys all played well, Nicolas Pépé, Emile Smith-Rowe and Bukayo Saka all played extremely well also. The match itself will not be remembered as a classic in any way, shape or description, but that is not the issue today. We desperately needed three points to kickstart our season and thankfully, that is exactly what happened. A better test will be next Saturday afternoon at Turf Moor when we meet Sean Dyche’s Burnley. Three points there, and that will give us a massive confidence boost going into the North London derby later in the month.
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: Burnley at Turf Moor on Saturday, 18th September at 3.00pm (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.
If you were not aware, you have until 8am Thursday morning to reserve your season ticket seat.
The club have failed to email fans about the deadline and the deadline was buried half way down the news article about the fixture. It should have been the first line.
Questions need to be asked of clubs, authorities and TV companies as to why a draw which took place 2 weeks ago only had the exact day of fixtures announced yesterday.
Sky et al spent a long time earlier this year making a point about how fans mattered; but clearly now things are returning to normal, they have also returned to normal.
Taking 2 weeks to decide when a fixture takes place is clearly not good enough and not fair on those fans who need to make travel arrangements.
Mohamed Elneny & Sead Kolasinac Exits
Today the Turkish transfer window shuts. It will be the last realistic chance for either Mohamed Elneny or Sead Kolasinac to depart the club before January.
Reports were yesterday that Arsenal had rejected an approach for Elneny from Galatasaray.
Details of the offer have not materialised, but Arsenal should not sell him “on the cheap”.
Yes, he only has 1 year left on his contract, but it is not true that “any transfer fee is better than no transfer fee”.
Elneny is only on £52,000 a week, so we are not in a huge rush to get his salary off the wage bill. Any transfer would have to suit us.
It would be better to keep Elneny as part of the squad for the next 12 months rather than lose him for a couple of million (or even a loan deal).
I would imagine Galatasaray would have to offer us at least £5million for the deal to be financially worthwhile (including the wage saving Arsenal would end up around £7.5million up).
Kolasinac is a bit different as he is set to cost us around £6million this year; and is also less likely to play than Elneny.
The Bosnian is 3rd choice left back so really will not see any game time this season.
I would imagine if a loan offer for him came in today we would accept it.
Charlie Patino
There is a lot of hype around young Charlie Patino this morning.
Sean O’Connor, the scout that discovered Jack Wilshere, has claimed the Patino is “the best player who has ever walked through the doors at Hale End”.
Regular readers of my blog will know how much I try and protect young players from being overhyped.
We have seen it in recent years with Jeff Reinne-Adeilade & Gedion Zelalem. Both hyped up as Jack’s heir apparent. Neither went on to fulfil the potential they showed in pre-season Emirates Cup games.
We also have Miguel Azeez.
12 months ago he was the next golden boy of the Arsenal academy. He has yet to have his opportunity and some fans have already moved on to Patino.
Before Patino gets his chance to show what he can do in the first team, Azeez will get his opportunity.
If you want a view of Patino from someone who has actually seen him, this is a great blog from friend of the site Willow.
Folarin Balogun has shown how big the step up is from youth football to senior.
Patino is just 17. Let’s not stick rush him into our first team plans.
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 