Chelsea v Arsenal 8 Observations: Hincapie and Merino a Class Apart

TotalArsenal

Chelsea 1 – 1 Arsenal

I don’t think you need to be a genius to have predicted a draw as the outcome for yesterday’s game. Both teams played last weekend and achieved big wins against CL elite clubs midweek. The Chavs had the advantage of both an extra day of rest and playing at home, but Arsenal are a clever, well organised team and can withstand all sorts of pressures, these days.

As Stu called it yesterday, it was an ugly game. The West-London team clearly wanted to disrupt us, which is of course fine. But there was a nasty spirit from the start, and it came as no surprise that they had a player sent off even before half time. I don’t really want to talk about this game too much. I did not enjoy it for various reasons and I don’t think it needs much analysis.

So here are 8 very, very quick observations:

  1. Hincapie I salute you. Passion with class is what we want at Arsenal; something the Chavs can only dream of. Great defensive performance relatively, and what a fine, fine cross at the end to almost take all three points. Big Gab will want to get back asap.
  2. MosqCapie partnership worked well given the circumstances. Maybe the biggest thing we can take from this game is that we indeed have great backup for Saliba and Gabriel. There is nothing better than finding out about new players (and combinations) than playing these sorts of matches.
  3. Mikel Merino that was a masterclass of staying calm and being the boss on the pitch, and what an equaliser. The best Gunner on the pitch.
  4. As GoonerEris pointed out yesterday, we missed the cunning and passing ability of Leandro on our left wing. Neither Martinelli or Madueke shun yesterday.
  5. Bukayo had a tough game against the hairy Spaniard but he had the last laugh with a sublime action and cross that led to the equaliser. At times Saka seemed to try and force it too much, but with Gyokeres and Odegaard now back in the team, I think we will start seeing the very best of our boy wonder again very soon.
  6. Rice and Zubimendi had good games but Eze seemed a bit lost in this encounter. It was good to see Odegaard back on the pitch, but he was clearly still rusty, which is of course understandable.
  7. It was good to see MLS take over from Calafiori without any negative impact. In fact, I thought he had a fine game during the second half.
  8. Let’s make a mental note of how our opponents approached this game and make sure we will thump them when they come to the home of football. Let’s show them who is boss in London.

By TotalArsenal.

35 thoughts on “Chelsea v Arsenal 8 Observations: Hincapie and Merino a Class Apart”

  • Good article. Now we have some players back, it should make it easier on the rest, as we have 4 games in 10 days, then after a weeks rest, two games a week over Christmas. Liverpool are back after their win.

  • Just to add to your brilliant comment in the previous thread, LG, Anthony Taylor didn’t even give the Red card. VAR did. That’s shame because you’d have thought the ref saw the leg-breaker first glance, but hesitated because Caicedo was rolling on the floor like he’d been shot.

    I was shocked to hear that was his first red card in the EPL. Just tells you how much the English Refs allow to go unpunished; that guy never makes a non-aggressive tackle, especially against close rivals.

  • Crisp and to the point with your observations, TA.
    1&2: I saw a few sites scoring Hincapie average and I wondered what game they were watching. People underrate the impact on our game of losing two of our regular starting CBs for such a clash. I would assume we are just not used to seeing an Arsenal backline without one (or both) of Gab and Saliba. Time will tell how good those two really are.

    5: Saka fared better than most wingers against the biting, snapping and ankle rapping of Cruella (thanks, LG) and I loved it too that he got one over him for that equaliser. I thought he tried too hard too, opting to go solo even where a cross or incisive pass would do more damage. He really wanted to be on the score sheet and hurried his shots/actions on more than one occasion.
    6: Odegaard’s presence helped no end. I wasn’t one of those who thought Eze will keep him off first team action too long. It is clear to see that rather than being similar, they have complimentary qualities which can see both on the same pitch, in certain games and circumstances. Happy he is back. Our forward press game will thrive again.

    8: I have no doubt we will have a special hiding for the Chavs when they do come calling at the Emirates. Hopefully, we have most players fit and the fixtures favour us during the weeks leading to the game and after it. A point at the bridge isn’t a bad result as the chavs seem to prepare differently for sides they deem are above them.

  • Having reflected on some headlines and the alarmist take of pundits after that draw, I am encouraged to believe, still.
    Let’s be clear, we aren’t going to win every game, so 1 point away at Chelsea cannot be bad.
    Chelsea are a very expensively assembled side and do have eyes on silverware, too. Which makes me observe that the sheer number of league derbies in London can have its toll and be a disadvantage for the London sides. My studied opinion.

    REF RANT:
    I thought the Ref was intentional with the early cards for some of our key men. Caicedo and Cucu should have been booked much earlier; Caicedo for that blatant shove at the back of Timber and Cucu for persistently going for Saka’s ankles.
    The time added-on of 4 minutes at the end of the 90 mins is questionable (to think he gave 5 mins at the end of the 1st half), in a half where we had subs, injuries, their keeper down for about 3 mins and with the Chelsea players rolling all over the place, screaming like they had been shot, just to even out the red card situation. Arteta sensed the ref was looking for an excuse to oblige and subbed off Zubi and Cala, which affected our control of the game.

    REF RANT OVER!!

    I read for them it is 1 win in 12 now, against us. We are 7 games unbeaten at the bridge. Why is there any doubt who rules London?

    I am certain after the players sleep over that result and consider the context (3rd & 4th back-up CBs playing for the first time away at Chelsea; all 3 striker options out injured, with one coming on late; our captain could only start on the bench, etc. – Odegaard, Gabby and Saliba are a serious part of our spine), they will see it as a good point too.

    After that run of fixtures, the boys just need to reset and return to winning ways from Wednesday night.

  • Been meaning to put that out all day, but been on a long distance flight to Lagos, Nigeria and had to make it a stop-start one. Phew!

    Hincapie grew into that game nicely. A high score, for sure.

  • Glad to hear you arrived safely, Eris.

    Agreed on the narrative. It could, or even should, have been:

    “Chelsea missed a great opportunity to close gap with the leaders

    With both regular red and white CBs missing the home side wasted a fantastic opportunity to deal Arsenal a blow. They went in too aggressively, resulting in a dumb red card and leaving Chelsea in a vulnerable position. Yet they managed to get infront from a set piece early on in the second half. They fought for survival but Arsenal still found a way through with a brilliant goal by Merino, supplied by Saka. Arsenal applied a lot of pressure and a miscommunication prevented a late winner for Arteta’s men. Points were shared and the gap between the nr 1 and nr 2 at the start of the weekend remains unchanged.

    With home advantage and the number of key injuries at Arsenal, Chelsea’s discipline let them down, and a great opportunity was missed to close the gap.”

  • You’re spot-on on so many things, Eris … A few words on the so-called “added time”.
    In his latest “Breakdown” Adrian points out that the game at the Bridge had an actual playing time of … 50 minutes!! The PL average is around 60 minutes, and the game with the longest last week-end was (I think, might need to be checked out) ) Brighton-Brentford with … 67 minutes!! How can such differences be allowed?
    Because of my son’s job, I watch basket-ball games on a regular basis. Even at the lowest level of youth basket-ball, there’s a table by the touchline: a ref sits there, in charge of timing only; the ball stops moving, the clock stops turning … as simple as that. Football can use 21st-century technology to determine if a player is 3 mms offside or not (as yesterday at the Cottage), but can’t in order to make sure that games have at least 60 minutes of actual playing time. C’mon, gimme a break!!
    There are all sorts of insane suggestions about how the game should evolve, but never have I heard mentioned anything about playing time. I’ve long thought it should be at the top of the agenda – my suggestions would be three 25-minute of actual playing time periods with a “time-ref” stopping the clock for as long as the ball is not in motion, with two 10-minute breaks between the periods…
    It’s so simple that it beggars belief why it hasn’t been implemented yet. Or does it? Last Sunday, it was there for all to see that Taylor and his PGMO buddies were bent on making sure that The Arsenal wouldn’t see the end of the week-end on top of a 9-point-lead. They just couldn’t keep the Ecuadorian psycho on the pitch, but it took them ages to send him off – only for them to make up for it afterwards, first by not ruling out their goal although Fernandez was clearly offside and blocking Mosquera (VAR could spend what? ten minutes? yesterday on the positions of all Fulham players, but not one second on Hernandez’s …), then by cutting short the actual playing time, knowing they would get away with it (“pas vu, pas pris“).
    The narrative since Sunday has been that we were 11v10 for one hour – when it’s very likely it was for 30 actual minutes of football only – with he PGMO’s blessing, a kind of power they sure don’t want taken away from them …

  • Yes, excellent use of that French idiom, LG. I rarely seethe, but, while boiling point was still someway off, once my attention was drawn to the Fernandez offside my hackles were raised. And reading yours and Eris’ detail of abridged playing time just heightened that piloerection.
    However my growl has subsided, mitigated by Mikel and the boys response: a pursing of the lips, knowing nod, steely eyed and unwavering focus on achieving their goal this season. Like our South Island farmers unfazed, they’ll look at the cold, bleak day, the freezing rain, and the cow shit in the fields, they’ll pull on their Sou-wester, their gum boots and face it all down.
    I wouldn’t like to be in Brentford or Villa’s boots. There’s a team of John Deere tractors coming for ya’all…

  • A lot of changes. Is it rotation or too many players not fit enough?

    Raya
    White. MOSQUERO, Hincapie, Calafiori
    RiceMendi
    ODEGAARD
    Madueke, Merino, Martinelli

    Strong bench except for central defence.

  • I was expecting even heavier rotation, to tell the truth …
    I think Zubi-Declan are walking on tight ropes, risk-of-injury-wise; I expected our Dane to start. This is Boxing Day schedule, really: the beep of Villa Pk. ko will be blown just a little more than 60 hours after tonight’s final whistle; Cala is a yellow away from being ruled away from saturday’s game and a rested MikelM we could have done with then too – so that I thought either Ethan, or Myles, or both would get a start …
    Anyway, that’s a fine XI indeed, and I sure look forward to watching Ben being himself again … as for CD, Jürrien would step up, wouldn’t he, T.?
    COYG

  • Happy to see White get minutes, albeit without his favoured wing man in Saka.

    COYG!

  • Merogol!! What a player … Noni-Ben connection amazing so far – looks like the lads have played together since forever; are you watching Tuchel?
    The jugular, now boys
    COYG

  • A beautiful goal and some lovely moves without a similar end product. Chelsea one down at Leeds.

  • What an excellent game of football. They’re a good team, we might have to dig in to win this. Our benched attacking combo (Bukayo-GJ9-Cyö-Eberechi-Ethan) will play a part tonight, that’s for sure.
    COYG

  • Lovely. Clean sheet. Two goals. Martin played 90 minutes. Hincapie and Mosquero fine CBs. Merino just quality. Zubi Rice just have to play, the central spine of the team.

  • Yeh, love him, Total. Our South American gunslinger.
    Couldn’t seem to get that John Deere out of second gear for much of that match but, as LG mentioned an absorbing game of football. Come on Leeds…

  • Well the boys clawed their way out of this, eventually Given how bottomless the pit of our bad luck is, this is a champions’ win. Bukayo needed this goal; it’ll bring him the peace of mind that appeared to be eluding him. Let’s hope the “Thriller at the Falmer” will have taken a toll on the Villans, too.
    Bring ’em on
    COYG

  • Thanks, TA. Still a bit jaded from it, to be honest.
    I like your own “article”, for the correct narrative too. The results from our rivals have been kind to us again tonight. City escaped with a 5-4 win. This league isn’t the easiest.

  • Ah! Fine comments all round.
    Notice how it was 7 minutes added on, at Anfield (game ended in the 99th) and 6 minutes added on at the Leeds Chelsea game (ended at about the 98th)? The PGMOL have it in for us.

    But, what will be will be.

  • LG, I agree with you, re Bukayo’s state of mind these days. Hopefully, the goal helps.
    After this, many will put respect to the name of Sunderland and no one is doubting the Xhaka influence in all this.

    The clean sheet will install confidence in the team about our new CB pairing.

    On to the game at Villa (why is it a Saturday fixture though?)!!

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *