Can The Gunners Outscore Everyone?
Sep 20th, 2018 by 'holic
Unai Emery utilised his senior squad players for the visit of Vorskla Poltava, as expected. There was a debut for Bernd Leno between the posts. Stephan Lichsteiner and Rob Holding slotted into the back four in place of Hector Bellerin and Skhodran Mustafi. It was all change in midfield where Lucas Torreira got his first start alongside the recalled Mohamed Elneny. Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alex Iwobi, and Danny Welbeck started behind Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang.
There was an early scare when Torreira was cleaned out by Kulach who astonishingly avoided censure from Bart Vertenten, the Belgian referee. Not surprisingly the visitors were defending in numbers when we had the ball and not for the first time season we started slowly. Kulach had the first attempt on goal in the ninth minute but volleyed spectacularly over the bar.
The home crowd stirred when Sokratis Papastathopoulos broke up a Vorskla break and careered forward with menace. He is a player who is definitely improving as he gets used to what is expected of him. Vorskla conjured up a second shot in the eighteenth minute but Rebenok’s effort from distance was comfortably held by the otherwise unemployed Leno. Midway through the half Elneny was frustrated by an offside flag against Mkhitaryan as he attempted to one-two his way through the crowded area.
The Arsenal’s slow, laboured build-up was comfortably held by the visitors who had probably expected a sterner test of their credentials. Iwobi had our first shot just before the half an hour mark but it was way off the target. Torreira limped off with what appeared to be a twisted ankle after a clumsy landing. He returned and the Gunners at last broke with pace and struck the first blow. Mkhitaryan raced out of defence and found Iwobi on the left. He quickly crossed the ball into the path of Aubamayang who fashioned a finish just inside the far post.
The Arsenal 1-0 Vorskla Poltava
Torreira, mobile again, crashed a free-kick into the side-netting after Lichsteiner was brought down. Sokratis again earned warm applause for another rampaging break out of defence. He is possibly destined to become a cult figure at the club. Iwobi made another rapid burst down the left but his attempted cross to Aubamayang was cut out by the massed rank of green shirts.
We finished the half strongly. Aubamayang cut in from the left and curled a spectacular effort against a post. Then Mkhitaryan’s fierce drive was parried behind by the Vorskla goalkeeper, Shust, a Ukrainian international. We had the advantage at the whistle but one goal felt a precarious lead to have.
Two minutes into the second-half Iwobi sprinted clear down the left and set up Mkhitaryan for a volley that went just wide of the near post. A minute later the pair combined again and the latters cross was glanced in by the forehead of Welbeck. We were comfortable now.
The Arsenal 2-0 Vorskla Poltava
Two was almost three when Aubameyang slid the ball to the far post and Welbeck was a whisker away from a rapid brace. The Gunners had obviously been advised to press more enthusiastically during the break and the performance was much improved as a result. Another Iwobi cross found Aubameyang at the far post but the Gabonese goalscorer volleyed over.
Interestingly Mesut Ozil and Matteo Guendouzi were being prepared to come on with the half just ten minutes old. The sight prompted an excellent team goal finished by Aubameyang who was promptly replaced by Ozil, while Guendouzi came on for Torreira.
The Arsenal 3-0 Vorskla Poltava
The Gunners continued to lay siege to the tiring visitors box. Ozil and Elneny teed up Iwobi but his shot was blocked and our tally remained at three. The substitutes combined when Guendouzi burst through the midfield and with a clever reverse pass found Ozil who couldn’t quite cut the ball back far enough to reach a red shirt. Cue two more substitutions with Sklyar coming on for Vorskla and Emile Smith-Rowe replacing Iwobi who was given a standing ovation for his man of the match performance. The youngster was immediately involved, helping out the defence with a headed clearance.
With seventeen minutes remaining Ozil struck for the second consecutive match when superbly set up by Sokratis and Lichsteiner.
The Arsenal 4-0 Vorskla Poltava
The ‘holic pound became a distinct possibility when Chesnakov took advantage of a miscontrol by Lichsteiner to drive the ball home. Leno’s dream of a first clean sheet for the club was gone but there was nothing he could have done about it.
The Arsenal 4-1 Vorskla Poltava
Smith-Rowe’s dancing feet drew more applause from the home support but he just over-hit the ball for Welbeck. The pound required one more goal in the final eight minutes. Sadly when it arrived with the last kick of the match it was Sharpar who scored for Vorskla.
The Arsenal 4-2 Vorskla Poltava
The two goals against will be a huge concern for Unai Emery, but for the supporters we have now outscored the opposition four matches running, and that is a wonderful habit to build on.
We move on.
21 Responses to “Can The Gunners Outscore Everyone?”
damn quick, holic. sorry about your punt!
Cheers H!
Cheers Esso. Thanks scruz.
Thanks for the report Guvnor.
Now to watch the game – after
fast forwarding the first 20 minutes.
Didn’t see it but your write up made me feel that I did. Great job.
Home from a wet Dublin. Fast forwarded the match. Two concerns- a VERY slow start and two goals given away. It’s still a team that looks like a Wenger outfit. Lots of positives with three excellent young midfielders, Iwobi was good and Sokratis will become a cult figure but Lichsteiner was sloppy on occasions and we leak FAR too many goals. Eleven in six games.
Lovely to see Smith- Rowe though. He’s going to be terrific.
Just back from a half empty Emirates. First half an hour was as dull as ditchwater but then a cracking counter attack worthy of the Invincibles. Great run by Mkhi, great pass by Iwobi, great finish by Auba. Couple of minutes later, Auba weaved his way through the box before hitting the post. That looked like Henry said half the North Bank. Nah, Titi would have scored said the other half.
H describes the game well as usual. I loved Auba’s return to confidence, I’m completely with H on Sokratis, he just gets better and better (his pass inside the full back for Lichsteiner for the cross which led to Ozil’s goal was sublime). I thought Iwobi and Mkhi had good games. An entertaining night out in a balmy North London (apart from the brief shower).
Four on the bounce. I like. Bring on the Toffees.
Just back from the game. Excellent summary Holic. Almost like you saw the same game.
Leno looks very comfortable with the ball at his feet, a very different watching experience. He had no chance with the goals.
Lichtsteiner is a no nonsense full back. I think he probably takes his steaks rare. A very useful addition to the back line though he was a bit dozy for their first.
Sokratis looks like the CB we have been crying out for for ages. He sure likes a tackle and his bulk belies his pace or vice versa – too tired to work that out. He positions himself well defensively, is happy to just clear the ball when necessary, has a good first touch when it comes to him and an eye for a good through ball and makes some useful forward forays.
Rob Holding looked solid and confident. He is definitely a future fixture.
Torreira makes the midfield far more solid when we are out of possession, has a great eye for a forward pass and has a good dead ball shot on him. I don’t think we would have been so open to lose the second if he had still been on the pitch. Hopefully he will be fit for Sunday.
Guendouzi I like a lot. Head up, deft touch, turns nicely out of trouble, lovely surging runs and through balls. Needs to get shots into his game.
ESR is an extremely tasty prospect for the future. Nice feet, good vision and strong already. He will get more games this season.
At 75 minutes I couldn’t see the opposition scoring. When they did, I thought your bet was odds on. So close!
What’s the name of the team were we playing?
I’ve just seen the goals. Ours were good. Theirs were pretty good too but Guendouzi and Elneny were sleeping for their second – or maybe it was just a problem of hair in their eyes?
Yes to all of that, Bath.
Possibly destined to become a cult figure at the club. High praise indeed for Mephistopheles, er, Sokratis. I do hope it works out better for him than it did for Eboue. Thanks for the report, ‘holic.
Nice report as ever and agreed to everyone’s sentiment that Sokratis had a very good game and has been having so from the time he has come in.
Iwobi though was the best player on the pitch and i am one of his critics for certain. He took on players, had the awareness to look up and did almost everything he makes a mess of usually, well done and due credit.
Leno had nothing to do than pick up the ball from the net twice, still see Cech starting this weekend and more weeks. Torreira was his busy self until he got the knock, feel he will take time to get used to the pace of the league and hence doesnt get started by default.
Everton will be a test, Silva sets him team well and in richarlison(if eligible to play) and theo, he does have wingers who can exploit pace behind our full backs. Will be a good game this sunday.
Meanwhile at a small club just up the road…..
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2018/09/20/spurs-stadium-workers-heads-cocaine-alcohol-construction/
Oh dear!
In every sense of the word.
How can it take so long to build a
giant toilet?
The sheer incompetence is just
spudsian in its scale.
Fines and a points deduction for the
inconvenience of their new
convenience is the only answer.
Having watched the game now I
agree Sokratis did play well. I
wonder if playing on the
right with a more stay at home full
back contributed to that.
Anyway, Iwobi played well after the
first 20 odd minutes too.
In fact it was an enjoyable game
for about 15-20 minutes either
side of half time.
One particularly for Clive.
I have a couple of friends who follow the young teams and tonight we have apparently just beaten Liverpool 4-0. A clean sheet and I believe a couple for Eddie Nketiah. The lad really impressing is apparently Joe Willock and we might see him against Brentford on Wednesday
Evening TTG
Just seen the result,very impressive,and has the team 2 points clear at the top of the table.
Eddie very impressive along with Joe as you point out,and dare i say it they could be our junior Laca/Auba combo.
I am sure we will see some of the young guns against Brentford next week.
Cardiff 0 Citeh 5
That is the sort of result ( maybe a goal or two less ) we should have got there. Good sides ( and Citeh don’t have a great defence) don’t concede stupid goals to teams like Cardiff or the Ukrainians .
Food for thought for Unai as he prepares for tomorrow
“Good sides don’t concede stupid goals to teams like Cardiff or the
Ukrainians.”
Exactly.
and we all know who will score for the toffees tomorrow…
Mustafi to score as well as he is ex-Everton?
SSY,
Lest we forget Theo did play in Auba’s first match for us early this yea4 and he didn’t score then. We were 4-0 up at halftime. But we still conceded in the second half
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