Just over a week ago I returned from 10-days in Egypt and bought something back with my that has seen over a stone in weight loss in that time. Some will say that is not a bad thing for me! The stomach bug hit me for 6 and completely drained my energy.
Today is the first morning I have woken up and not had a bowel movement that resembles the Niagra Falls. Sorry to all those tucking into a Friday morning bacon roll!
Sadly the illness led me to miss the Sheffield United victory (and could not even get out of bed to watch it on TV) and I have also sold my Brentford ticket. Hopefully this is now the recovery and not a false dawn!
This blog was never supposed to be a daily one. I only ever really wrote when I fancied it. But in the last year and a half, it had become something I was doing each and every day. The last 3 couple of days with no blog broke a daily writing streak of more than 500 days!
That Sheffield United victory seems a lifetime ago right now.
I remember writing to some mockery back end of last year that Mikel Arteta was ‘negative splitting’ his season. That we were holding back in the first half of the season deliberately to ensure that we had more energy for the final kick.
This is something you see distance runners and swimmers do. They will try and complete the second half of the race quicker than the first half, taking advantage of others who might have put too much energy into the first half of the race.
It is something Manchester City under Pep Guardiola have always done so well. Done just enough to get through games in the first half of the season before being unbeatable in the second.
Last season was the perfect example of how a team that has a better 2nd half of the season will usually finish ahead of a team who start fast and has a good first half.
Now some will argue that “we have left too much to do” and started out drive to the finish line too late. I really do not think being 2 points off top after 27 games is leaving ourselves with too much to do.
Yes, these fans will point to Fulham (both games), West Ham and other fixtures, but football is not perfect. If you say “Arsenal should have won those games” then you also have to concede that Liverpool and Manchester City “should” have won games they did not. The issue with fans at times is that they expect their own team to be perfect all the time, but do not hold the same bar of expectation to others.
On to Brentford tomorrow. A late kick off and a game I was really looking forward too. Instead I will be watching it from the comfort of my sofa, hopefully having kept down the last 48 hours food!
(4-3-3) David Raya; Ben White, William Saliba, Gabriel Magalhães, Jakob Kiwior; Martin Ødegaard (c), (Jorge Luiz Frello Filho) Jorginho, Declan Rice; Bukayo Saka, Kai Havertz, Gabriel Martinelli.
Substitutes: Aaron Ramsdale, Thomas Partey, Gabriel Jesus, Emile Smith-Rowe, Eddie Nketiah, Cédric Soares, Leandro Trossard, Fábio Vieira, Reiss Nelson
Scorers: Martin Ødegaard (5 mins), Jayden Bogle (o.g. 13 mins), Gabriel Martinelli (15 mins), Kai Havertz (25 mins), Declan Rice (39 mins), Ben White (58 mins)
Arsenal Possession Percentage: 81%
Referee: Sam Barrott
Assistant Referees: Simon Bennett, Dan Robathan
Fourth Official: Anthony Taylor
VAR Team at Stockley Park: VAR John Brooks; AVAR Marc Perry
Attendance: c.32,000
For this important match here in Sheffield tonight, Thomas Partey could make his first appearance since October after coming through a training session unscathed. However, Oleksandr Zinchenko and Takehiro Tomiyasu will also be assessed and Gabriel Jesus could still feature in this match this evening at some point in the procedures as well.
We got things up and running here tonight and within a minute or so of the start, Bukayo Saka hit the crossbar from close range, and Gabriel Martinelli’s follow-up was kicked off the line by Jack Robinson, and on the fifth minute we opened the scoring when Jorginho passed the ball to Declan Rice, who got to the left byline and slotted it across for our captain to simply stroke the ball into the net fron about six yards. A great start! Martin Ødegaard almost scored a second goal a minute or so later, when a left-footed shot went high and wide of the mark. Our second goal of the night was scored when Bukayo Saka ran with the ball to the byeline, he crossed the ball low, and Jayden Bogle got his feet mixed up, and the ball went into the net courtesy of his legs. Three minutes later, we grabbed a third goal in a quarter of an hour when we advanced towards the Blades’ goal down the left channel, and a beautiful shot by Gabriel Martinelli reflected off Declan Rice, past Ivo Grbic and into the back of the net. VAR were consulted just in case of an offside infringement, but there was no such issue, and the goal stood. We certainly did not rest on our laurels as both Declan Rice and Kai Havertz came close to scoring our fourth goal with two great shots on their goal which was saved by the goalie, and on the twenty-fifth minute, Kai Havertz finally grabbed our fourth goal when he collected a ball from Gabriel Martinelli and simply slotted the ball into the bottom right-hand corner of the net past an outstretched Ivo Grbic. Jayden Bogle received the first yellow card of the evening when his clumsy tackle up-ended our captain, but the resulting free-kick went nowhere, unfortunately. It was becoming obvious that Sheffield United are looking at damage limitation now, but they were finding it difficult holding us back. Martin Ødegaard was left completely unmarked on the edge of the penalty area from a corner, but his shot was blocked by a Blades defender. Six minutes before the break, Declan Rice scored our sixth goal of the evening when Bukayo Saka ran the ball to the byeline (again) and slotted it back for our midfielder to whack the ball past Ivo Grbic very confidently. And still we kept coming forward on the hunt for yet more goals, but despite five minutes injury time, we did not add to our five goal tally by the time referee Sam Barrott blew his whistle for the first half to end.
For the second half, Mikel Arteta made a change as he appeared to be looking to protect Bukayo Saka, so he was replaced by Fábio Vieira. A visibly shell-shocked home side kicked off proceedings here, and almost immediately we were pressing for another goal. Kai Havertz was tripped on the edge of the penalty area by Vinicius Souza and we were awarded a free-kick in a decent position, but Declan Rice tried to bend the free-kick in at the near post but goalie Ivo Grbic had it covered. After more intense pressure, Ben White scored an absolute cracker (our sixth of the evening) from just inside the Blades penalty area after receiving a neat pass from Kai Havertz, who brought the ball down and controlled it cleverly. Hungry for more goals, our players were hunting for more, and after Gabriel Martinelli went down with a knock (and was carried off by two members of our medical team), he was replaced, along with Ben White and Jorginho by Cédric Soares, Gabriel Jesus and Thomas Partey; good to see him back! The substitutes were getting into the match very quickly, and with most of the Blades’ players behind the ball, we were trying hard to find a way through their defence somehow. Leandro Trossard replaced Declan Rice with seventeen minutes of the match remaining, and although the game was slowing down now, the intent of our players to get more goals was there for all to see. William Saliba slotted the ball through for Gabriel Jesus down the right channel, but his cross was blocked by Jack Robinson for an Arsenal corner, and although we did not score on this occasion, Jakob Kiwior came mighty close. After we broke out following a Sheffield United attempt on our goal, some clever interplay between our players saw Gabriel Jesus coming close with a superb right-footed shot that Ivo Grbic tipped away for a corner. Gabriel Jesus was back with a vengeance, using his quick feet to good advantage as he twisted and turned through the haphazard Sheffield United defence. Just like at the end of the first half, there was five minutes of injury time to be played, and our desire to add more goals to this score was endless, but it was not to be.
A superb victory away from home that more than confirms our title-winning credentials. Six different goals, six different goalscorers (including an own goal), our boys are on fire these days. With eighty one per cent possession, twenty-two shots on goal (ten shots on target), we looked confident, dominant, ruthless and hungry for victory. Every man played their part tonight, and the substitutes looked sharp and clever too. We are the “in-form” team in the Premiership now, and this team is certainly going to take some beating. All eyes on the Brentford match on Saturday evening now! Well done, chaps.
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: Brentford at the Emirates on Saturday, 9th March 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
Liverpool and Manchester City did what they do on Saturday and Sunday. We now need to do what we do on a Monday.
I had both of our title rivals down for 3 points this weekend, so it was no surprise that they both won; although you would be lying if you did not think “what if” after Liverpool were 0-0 after 96 minutes and Man U took the lead.
In the end, both teams showed why they are champion-worthy. And we need to do the same tonight.
On paper, we should beat Sheffield United regardless of it being at Bramall Road. But then I was there all those years ago when Phil Jagielka played in goal and we lost 1-nil.
That was an awful day where we turned up with the wrong attitude. The likes of Julio Baptista and Jeremie Aliadiere strolled around like they were playing a charity match.
At one point, at 1-nil down with about 10-minutes to goal. The ball went out of play for a goal kick, Aliadiere was right next to it. Instead of running the ball back to the keeper to get a move on, he just jogged slowly back to the half way line. 5-minutes later Baptista did the same.
When I look at the team that played that day (it was 2006/07), it is a world away from what we have today.
I can see the likes of Declan Rice, Martin Odegaard or Bukayo Saka allowing their team mates to coast. To work hard. And football has changed since then as well.
Strikers, attacking midfielders and wingers are now expected to put a shift in defensively. To press and play at a high tempo. You no longer get to the top of you don’t want to do the work.
Marcus Rashford is the perfect example of this.
6 or 7 years ago he looked like he would become a world beater. These days he just doesn’t put in the work. He is more concerned with being the goal scoring hero, but not willing to put in a shift for the team. Those hard yards.
I imagine he sat their int he Eithad dressing room on Sunday and said “well I scored my goal, what did the rest of you do”, ignoring the fact that his goal was the only positive thing he contributed.
Tonight, we need to be professional. Sheffield United have shown on numerous occasions that even at home they will collapse when under pressure.
I do not expect another 4 or 5 goal win, but I do expect a win.
She Wore A Yellow Ribbon 