easy-peelers – Bergkampesque

Oh what a glorious NLD Victory on a momentous day for red and white North-London.

What’s the score Declan? On my back, Gooners!

8 Observations

Rosicky, Flamini, Fabregas and many other famous Arsenal midfielders have come before him but Eze, with his fabulous ‘training-ground’ hattrick, will be remembered for many decades to come. Arsenal were deadly through the centre of the Spuds’ central defence, something we have not seen this season. It looked like Arsenal targeted this area constantly on purpose, and boy did Eberechi make it look Eeeeeezeeeeee.
But there was more to Eze’s game than just goals. He brought dynamism and confidence to our attack and played by far his best game in his beloved shirt.
The other fundamental difference was the wall of RiceMendi behind Eze. I thought the Spuds’ midfield would give us a proper game but our boys bossed them 90 minutes long (except for that one moment of Palhinha theft and Richarlison magic). This midfield combo is of the same quality as Vieira and Gilberto once were, and thwy are absolutely fundamental to us for winning silverware this season.
I still want to pick out Declan’s performance who was a real leader today in all aspects of the game. He is always good but today Rice was the embodiment of what our club stands for, and this is priceless.
Piero Hincapie was excellent and made us forget Big Gabby in defence. Not that the defence had much to do, with them having just two shots on target and the single corner to defend. But Piero played with presence and confidence and was great support to RiceMendi.
Our wing-play was excellent and both Leandro and Bukayo played very, very well both technically and tactically. Their play created space in the centre of the box area and they were also able to get the ball into that space at will, it seemed. Both play3d out of their skin.
And then the full backs!! How strong were Calafiori and especially Timber today??! They were a big factor in both supporting attack AND not allowing the Spuds any time on the ball. Just awesome wing back play.
The atmosphere was electric and Oliver had a decent game for once, but my last observation is for Mikel Arteta. That was a tactical masterclass against a good manager who was out-manouvered from the get go. To do that with so many key attackers missing and score four in the process against a team that conceded just 10 in the previous 11 PL games is nothing short of genius.