Well that was the sort of performance in March that a future champion will look back on as vital to the whole campaign. Arsenal had entered the state of almost unbearable lightness of being with huge wins in the last seven games. But what goes up must come down, and Brentford did us a huge favour by giving us a proper game. Heart, sweat and passion drove us to a win, and only with this experience and attitude will we have a good chance of beating the whily Portuguese this Tuesday, an equally important game.
Eight Quick Observations:
- Aaron Ramsdale is my man of the match. Yes he made a big mistake, but he responded like a champion. There is no doubt in my mind that his two key saves kept us in the game. Especially denying Toni, from what certainly would have become the goal of the season, with the claw-like stop was vital for our eventual victory.
- Not one but two headed goals from open play! It felt like watching football in the eighties. Is it coincidence? No, not much is with Arteta; we have a ‘new’ weapon.
- Attacking from the right is our strongest weapon. Saka, Odegaard and gradually also White are almost unstoppable. Opponents try to crowd them out by sheer numbers, but that leaves space on the left and also centrally. Jorginho was the master of finding players in those spaces, and what a joy to watch he was yesterday.
- The focus was on Saka and Ode, and that left Ben White in space to cross a couple of beauties. Every time he did so we had giants in the box to head the ball like old school CFs. I didn’t see this coming, did you?!
- Kai got the winner and it was totally deserved. The King of Unpredictability was everywhere and showed all his skills yesterday. There is nobody like him, and it’s hard to think of him as not in the team now.
- Kiwior is really growing on me. He had it tough defensively against a very strong opponent, but he fought hard. What I liked most are his forward runs and crisp passing.
- Iva Toni at Arsenal next season? The boy has presence, is technically gifted and made our CBs work as hard as they have ever done this season. It’s a yes from me. Saliba was a quiet giant again, BTW.
- The support was phenomenal again. What a bastion of passion and support Ashburton Grove has become.
By TotalArsenal
Bergkampesque 
I’m getting ready to go out to work and it’s pouring with rain, lovely, it should be busy.
Great to see a post TA, thanks for the effort mate…
Good write up TA…
Back in the summer, when Chelsea we’re having a fire sale, Arsenal were linked with Mason Mount and I thought ‘he’s not bad, worth a punt’ and then we ‘blew’ £65m on Kai Havertz and I thought they’d lost their minds. I never rated him at Chelsea and I was underwhelmed that Arteta pushed for him.
How wrong was I..?
I watched him closely at Wembley in the Charity Shield because I wanted to understand what Arteta was seeing and what I had missed.
Meanwhile all the Chav fans were laughing.
They aren’t laughing now!
I kinda liked what I saw at Wembley, playing as a centre forward, but I wasn’t keen on him as the left 8.
But he’s proved me wrong because he can play left 8, false 9, the 10 and a combination of all of them, he’s the perfect solution to our striker issue because he’s so intelligent, he reminds me of Alan Smith our old centre forward. An intelligent guy and an intelligent player.
8 goals in the Premier League, all of them different in execution and the prospect of a lot more this season and beyond.
I’m a Havertz fan…
Thanks Total, fine post which acknowledges Aaron in, what could be his swansong, rises the tide of appreciation for Kai, and gives the team kudos for overcoming a tough Brentford outfit who overcame their lengthy injury list to give us a real match.
I’m on the fence about Toney. That’s potentially a lot of money for a 27 year old who would not at this stage of our teams development be a starter. Who would you leave out of the current team to accommodate him?
Up early to watch our competitors play. Hoping for several red cards, torn hamstrings and a couple of touchline bans. Just the pastor coming out in me… 😇
Yes KKev, he has surprised me too. Kai can play anywhere and be effective, but I also prefer him upfront. 🙂
Toney is a CF, Stu. Eddie could move on and Jesus can play across the front. A 27 year old CF is right at this stage of Arteta ball. 🙂
I’m like most others, I ain’t sure about Toney, can he fit in? Well I never thought that Ian Wright could fit in but he didn’t do bad.
Tbh I think that Brentford are going to price Toney out of our range, but as long as Kai is doing his thing I’m not too concerned.
Any news from Canada yet TA?
No news, Kev. Quite worried 😯
That’s not good Frank. 😟
Had an update from Cyril’s daughter. He is in hospital and hopes to be out again soon. Will keep you posted. 🙂
Nice One Cyril
Thanks for the update, Total.
Yeh, Kev, “Nice one, son…”
thanks for the update, Total. Nice going, GN5. It won’t be the same without your contributions. 👍🙏
Fine ppost, TA. That new chant of his is very apt now, isn’t it?…. “£60 million down the drain; Kai Havertz scores again”. I was one of those who didn’t think he would be a good fit but trusted in Arteta who has bought well for us in the summer; Declan Rice and Havertz have added to whatever success we are enjoying at the moment. So has Raya. Timber, we shall find out soon enough but he did show promise at the start.
I daresay, Ramsdale’s recovery from that error was immense. Raya won’t be saving that near-goal of the season strike by Toney because it needed for a keeper to have a good reach and good positioning. I want to see how he will be overlooked by the England manager this break. I love Ramsdale and rue the fact he may have to leave us in the summer.
I fully understand why Arteta appears to start with a near-predictable 11 most games; everyone is putting in a shift and this makes it hard to drop players. Gabriel is looking like a £80m player; Kiwior has just adapted to the new role; Saka is mesmerising defenders and Odegaard’s dancing feet befuddled opponents. How do you tweak with such a side in the league, unless there is an injury or suspension? Well, long may it continue.
PS: My man of the match would be Benjamin White, closely followed by Kai Havertz.
Oh, on Toney joining us, I am not so sure now because I see us from how well we look today (not too concerned about his age if he can help us to a few more trophies – I believe we should win this EPL, you see – in the future) . However, he will be a good addition because of his power and determination on the job. If Arteta has a better, younger and less pricey prospect, then I’d accept that too.
Leandro Trossard and Ref Clement Turpin must be related, somehow. A DNA test will settle it. 😂
We have started tentatively and there is nothing wrong with that because Porto look a very well groomed side. Now we have gone ahead, calm heads would be needed as I sense nerves in our lads, occasioned by the need to break the jinx of falling away at this stage since 2014(?). Gabby Jesus will be a good one to involve amd, for me, ESR.
Woohoo. I fancy PSV for the QF. Barca or Bayern aren’t scary anymore either.
Took me a while to get over the disallowed goal. If it was a foul it was the keeper at fault.
Definition of a sore loser: Sergio Conceicao.
Definition of anti-football: Porto
Definition of incompetence: Turpin
Definition of satisfaction: All of us.
Good night
And Porto, feck off.
Well said, Kev. That summarises it all.
Countless successful cup runs started just like this, by making it to the second knockout stage through the eye of a needle, against an opponent you should’ve eased past …
Mmm good, feels good. Will Timber be back after the break is the question now. Rarely has a defender impressed me so much, so fast … some addition he’d be.
COYG
Well, the boys were nervous and the opponent defended very, very cleverly. Best defending faced all season. Portugal: beautiful food and woman, language pure poetry and a land full of colour and wonderful smells. Yet the footie is shite. 🙂
Update from Cyril’s daughter, guys:
Sorry it has taken me so long to reply!
Wanted to check with dad before saying yes to you sharing my message on Bergkampesque. Dad said that would be ok and thank you for caring 🙂
Dad remains stable and is improving as each day passes but until they have run some more tests and until he is fully mobile again they will be keeping dad in hospital. They are hoping by the end of the week but nothing is certain at this point.
We all went to visit him yesterday and he couldn’t wait to get rid of us so he could watch the Arsenal game on his tablet lol, so you know he is doing ok when his priorities are the Gunners 🙂
Will update you again if the situation changes.
T.
Total, thanks for sharing that, but never mind the Arsenal, I bet Cyril is chasing all the nurses around his ward…
Feeling it is going to be Atlético next.
Cyril we miss you mate. Get well soon.
He’s the goalscorer, he is the player in the team,” Gasset said on Amazon Prime after the match. “In every team, there’s a player who makes the difference, in any team in the world.
“We need to protect him, and get him in the best place so that he can keep his energy in order to make the difference later.”
Aubameyang became the top scorer in UEFA Europa League history when he was on target against Villarreal earlier in the week — taking his tally to 33 goals in the competition, surpassing Radamel Falcao — and he can now realistically target Didier Drogba’s Marseille record of 32 goals in a single league season.
“I knew about him,” Gasset said. “I spoke to friends who had coached him, and I knew where he loved to play, where he likes to start from, and I took it from there.
“We’re building the team around him.”
On 31 August 2023, the deadline day of the summer transfer window, Mattel Guendouzi joined Serie A club Lazio on a season-long loan,[22][23] with the deal including a reported €15 million option-to-buy, plus €3 million in add-ons, which could be turned into a mandatory purchase depending on certain conditions being met.[23]
On 8 August 2022, Lucas Torreira signed for Süper Lig club Galatasaray[29] on a four-year contract, for a reported fee of €6 million.[30]
Torreira became Süper Lig champion in the 2022–23 season with Galatasaray. Defeating Ankaragücü 4-1 away in the match played in the 36th week on 30 May 2023, Galatasaray secured the lead with two weeks before the end and won the 23rd championship in its history.[31]
Good news on the contract front…
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/68562296
Get well, soon, C.
Just caught up with a lot of BK comments I’d missed; very sorry I didn’t give you a supporting shout before …
Stu, I don’t know if the Six Nations is covered down below, but if it is, tomorrow (Sunday morning in your Paradise Islands) night’s “Crunch” should be worth its name. England need an emphatic win to keep a (slim) chance of ending up first, but most of all they’ll want to make up for the beating they took last season at Twickenham. As for France, they had a very depressing start – should have lost against Scotland, were bailed out only by a very dodgy “VAR” decision – so that Galthié has finally decided to inject young blood in the team (21-y-o Barré- Depoorterre-BielleBiarrey-LeGarrec), and it worked wonders against Wales last saturday …
Le Garrec in particular is a sight for sore eyes, he might even be a match for Dupont in the years ahead … or one of them might switch to fly-half in order for them to play together.
So … some battle it’ll be, I pretty much guarantee it!!
I’ll be watching, LG. Six nations is well covered down here on SKY Sports. “Rugby, racing and beer” is an age old slogan which describes my fellow countrymen’s preclusions.
Interesting draw in the CL. Bayern won’t be allowed their fans at the Arsenal stadium for the first leg. Time to settle a few scores.
Preclusions? My fellow countrymen’s predilections.
I am excited about that draw we got because I believe Bayern would hold no fear for our boys. Revenge should be in the air, ordinarily, but you know Arteta won’t let them feel that way. I thought playing against another Portuguese side in the roundoff 16 came with its own pressure for the boys so there was a need to overcome that hoodoo.
At the quarter-final stage, I’d want to think we would play freely with less tension seeing as we aren’t the favourites. A good place to be.
Thanks for that bit of cheerie news on Cyril, Total. Thanks and God bless you. GN5, glad to know you are doing well.
Stunning first half from your boys LG. Young, huge, exciting. I’d hate to pack down against your scrum, almost a ton in weight!
Great game it is … the margin’s small, though and as exciting as they might be, our young backline might have 1 or 2 errors waiting to happen in them. Funny you should mention the weight of the pack, I was afraid it was the main reason why we beat Wales last week … but the England pack are no ballerinas either, so there was more to last saturday’swin than this, or so it seems.
What a great game rugby is, when “played with the spirit”!
Some game, mate. Ramos is a fine place kicker, and that volley leading to the third try was pure Ozil.
Those Samoan boys will be enjoying the cuisine in Lens this evening.
That’s brutal for England. 10 minutes into the 2nd half, I thought they were going to trample us under foot. It was a bit like THAT game in 1999, when you were oh so superior, but some moments of chaos went our way … and, tbh, I must say there is something exhilarating, inebriating, unforgettable, about such wins.
Bring on Bayern, I have a feeling that’s how our boys’ll make us feel, come april 9th!
Amen on the last sentence, LG. But, for the sake of our friendship would you not mention 1999 again. 😒
In oother (happy) news, it ended Fulham 3-0 Spurs; a real dent to any aspirations that lot have for a top 4 finish and that, with Man U breathing down their necks…
New Post 🙂