Imagine having to pick Arsenal’s best 45 minutes of the season at the end of May! Many games have been decided in just one half of them, just as the boys did on Sunday v Fulham.
This is no coincidence. The management team study opponents and they produce bespoke game plans. Often they work in the first half and now and again they need tweaking during the break, but what is often the case is that one half is much better, and also more decisive, than the other. Arsenal played some awesome halves this season.
I was listening to a Dutch football podcast this week, and the experts made an interesting statement about Arteta. It was something like this: this guy works not 24 but 48 hours per day and teams will be copying Arsenal’s tactics, style of play etc for years to come. They also believed that if Arsenal were to win the league this season it would be a bigger achievement than Leicester’s few seasons ago.
I have written before that we should count ourselves very lucky to be Gooners, AND that we have Arteta and a sensible and supportive BoD and owner.
Just watch, if you can, the first half at Craven Cottage again for the sheer dominance and effectiveness of the plan. Everyone knows that Saka is our most dangerous attacker. Teams prepare well to stop him, but they will need to commit a few chess pieces to do so. He will always remain dangerous, though, and his threat-level alone is a big factor in all our games.
As a result there was a lot of space on the left and the lesser known Arsenal attacker, Trossard, had space, time, vision and trickery to win us the game with a superb triple-assist show.
The boys clearly targeted a couple of areas where they believe Fulham were vulnerable with devastating effect. The Fulham manager tried to deal with our threat from the left but that meant leaving space elsewhere, and he clearly had no answer to Arteta’s tactics.
The second half was a silent truce: you get the points, we safe face. Arteta could rest and introduce new players, we kept a clean sheet and closed the goal difference gap by three goals. With a big game on Thursday this made sense. Fulham away after a Thursday evening game in Lisbon was on paper a big test, but Arteta and the boys made light work of it.
Ooh to, Ooh to be, Ooh to be A Gooner.
By TotalArsenal
Bergkampesque 
What Abu Dhabi money can do …
Just a little reminder about the guy who made that “penalty” decision:
“On 30 May 2020, Vinčić was arrested by mistake as part of a police probe into a prostitution and drugs ring in Bosnia and Herzegovina”
When football makes you feel like you wanna throw up …
I’ve seen enough, I have a good book waiting for me
Interesting comparison with Leicester. I’m not sure about it.
But the point on the first half is absolutely valid. The first half was Arteta-ball 2023, and the second half reminded me of Arteta-ball 2021.
Kudos o breaking records for London derby away clean sheets and first half assist-hattricks in an away game.
Furthermore I ran across a fun fact, that since the PL statistics are being collected there were only 2 players who scored a hattrick of goals and a hattrick of assists in the same season. Both played for Arsenal (well, partly), and both wore the #19 jersey. Who was Trossards predecessor, guys?
Santi C?
It was Santi, a hat trick against Reading and, I think he got four assists in a game against Wigan. And, as I mentioned in the last post, Trossard reminds me a lot of the little Spanish wizard.
Fine post, Total. I was thinking today that I am less interested in winning the Europa than just having the sheer joy of watching our boys play the beautiful game. Roll on Thursday morning, where I think Mikal may well start Jesus up top and give Trossard the start against Palace.
I half agree with your Leicester comparison. City were strong in 2017 but nothing like the monster they are today.
LG, yes, mate, that was a diabolical penalty decision. What’s the “good book” you are finding respite in?
That would be Santi Cazorla, PB.
TA, a fine take on things as they transpired last Sunday. Our lads were purring in the first half, coasted in the second half and got the clean sheet.
There was a particular move leading to the Martinelli goal where it was like football’s version of Muhammad Ali’s rope-a-dope where we goaded them into impatience as we kept passing the ball around them (to chants of “Ooooo-LE ”) and luring their midfielders and forwards into a press. The moment gaps appeared, Saliba sent a long cross field pass to Xhaka who raced into the spaces left by the pressers, leading to the cross by Trossard and header by Martinelli. It was beautiful to watch.
That would be Santi Cazorla, PB.
TA, a fine take on things as they transpired last Sunday. Our lads were purring in the first half, coasted in the second half and got the clean sheet.
There was a particular move leading to the Martinelli goal where it was like football’s version of Muhammad Ali’s rope-a-dope, where we goaded them into impatience, as we kept passing the ball around them in our goal area (to chants of “Ooooo-LE ”) and luring their midfielders and forwards into a press. The moment gaps appeared behind them, Saliba sent a long cross field pass to Xhaka who raced into the spaces left by the pressers, leading to the cross by Trossard and header by Martinelli. It was beautiful to watch.
Looks like my post got lost. Or, maybe a delayed delivery. Well, may have to try again, much later.n
Ah! Now, double for my trouble….
Impressive memory, guys.
In fact there must be something in the north London water, as there were only 8 players who provided 4 assist in a single game, 4 of them did it for Arsenal, and a further 5th on is an ex-Arsenal player.
https://talksport.com/football/927451/premier-league-most-assists-single-game-man-utd-pogba-leeds/
(Watch at least the first video against one of our favorite customer Leicester. If Vieira wouldn’t have missed that sitter at the end, Bergkamp would have made it 5.)
Ah, the beauty of Highbury, so clearly seen in that Reyes video.
Those were the days, my friend…
This first half was a work of art, period.
To think that the only comment the Guardian could provide about this in their “ten points” monday morning was a focus on Palhinha’s unavailability … SIGH.
I’m not too happy (understatement) about the Leicester reference, though … Arsenal Footbal Club NOT competing at the top of the table is the anomaly, for the Foxes it’s the other way round. I’m not sure this kind of resurgence, combining results and top-quality attacking football would have been possible in any other club. Obviously, Edu and Mikel are the kind of men who don’t like the word “dream” too much. They have a vision, elaborate a plan, and never lose their focus ’til this plan has turned their vision into actuality. But at The Arsenal, they’re also standing on the shoulders of giants, which helps a lot – and it’s hard not to think of the Dein-Wenger partnership when you see what they’ve already achieved in so little time, for instance.
I sometimes wonder what part this very humble-looking Dutchman, Albert Stuivenberg, has been playing so far. I had a (pessimistic, sorry lads for spoilin’ the party a bit) conversation with my son lately about Mick and the possibility that one of the very fat cats (Real, Barça, City, …) might succeed in luring our manager away from Colney, at some point. My boy (who knows a bit – and certainly more than myself – about coaching/managing) told me that in that case, AS’s appointment should be a no-brainer …
It’s been some time since I last bothered you with Hale End, but …
Ever since Mick McCarthy had taken over at Blackpool, he had sidelined our Charlie P., which annoyed me no end. Turns out it was for good reasons; from what I’ve gathered the deal was for our boy to have 15 Championship games under his belt this season – but he already had 26 when “Paddy” turned up, So he was given a few-week-rest, during which Blackpool struggled and scored none or very few.
Yesterday our wonderkid was back in the starting lineup, and at the end of the game it was:
Blackpool 6 QPR 1, with two assists from Charlie (2 CKs) …
I’ve started reading John Williams’s “Augustus”, Stu. One of my favorite novels in French is Marguerite Yourcenar’s “Les Mémoires d’Hadrien”. I had been meaning to read Williams’s novel for a long, long, time, to see if the same kind of magic would engulf me. That’s what I’m doing now, and what a delight it is …
I’ve always found there was something of a delightfully claustrophobic experience about reading some masterpieces, something the last two lines of “Hotel California” express best imo (“You can check out any time you like/But you can never leave”)
That’s where I am right now, thanks to Williams.
Stan and Josh Kroneke have been given (or given themselves) the title of Co-Chairmen of Arsenal, Tim Lewis is Vice-Chairmen, or as I don’t want to trigger anyone Co-Chairperson and Vice Chairperson 🙄.
Does it make any difference?
Nope…
Lord Phillip Harris of Peckham remains a director and the only remaining link to the old Board, Lord of Peckham, anyone who knows Pe khan wouldn’t want to lord over that part of SE London, but hey, maybe it entitles him graze his sheep and cattle on Peckham Rye?
It is a shame, LG. There is some kind of conspiracy to devalue our achievements and it is the height of it to make that comparison with Leicester. It just belittles our run, when we get to win the title. Commentators, certain pundits and even columnists are on the bandwagon, all with an intent to place us under pressure in the hope our drive wilts.
Palhinha is a good DM but he couldn’t have changed much. Ode would run rings around him and he’d get a card or two, before long, the way he often goes to ground to tackle for the ball.
All we need to do now is stay humble, focus on each game as they come and just match/better Man City’s results.
Thanks for that update, Kev. Co-chairmen is an interesting one. I still go with “chairman”, by the way; only use “chairperson” when it is a female or when I am not sure of the gender involved. 🤨🤷🏽♂️
2022-2023 Youth League
Round of 16: Barcelona 0 AZ 3
Round of 8: AZ 4 Real 0
Something’s brewing in North Holland
Oduro, Beukers, Smit, DeJong, Meerdink, Poku, … I wouldn’t be surprised if we heard a lot about these names in the years to come
Was it not Williams who said, “To read without joy is stupid”?
The same could be said of football.
Arsenal/Arteta have put the joy back into football for millions of fans worldwide. The home fans have returned to being supporters and not booing critics. It’s just wonderful to see them become our 12th man again – they have made a huge difference.
Good comments!
I think the Dutch journalists think it would be a bigger achievement for Arsenal to win the league compared to Leicester, because their competitors have all bought so many new, expensive players last summer, whereas Leicester had relatively lower level of competition in their winning season. It was a compliment to what Arteta and Arsenal are achieving,
Good one TA, i think we should not worry about what others say to us. We just concentrate on our games and keep winning. Others will shut thier mouths automatically if we win the league. These are deliberate attempts to derail us as we are not playing to their narratives. We are creating our own narrative every single match and that’s what makes these so called pundits look like fools. Let them keep doing that and i think Arteta has used that narrative as a binding force for the team. I just want Arsenal to defeat Man C on thier turf and win the damn thing. It’s about time we beat them. Come on guys
Madhu, a win at Guardiolas Den would be the icing on the cake indeed. 🙂
Another fine game tonight.
New Post 🙂