Gunners Through In Cruise Control
Jan 5th, 2019 by 'holic
Unai Emery selected a slightly stronger team than I had suggested in the preview, particularly in defence, but Carl Jenkinson was drafted in late for the injured Laurent Koscielny and it looked makeshift once more. In front of Petr Cech was a back four of Jenkinson, Stephan Lichtsteiner, Sokratis Papastathopoulos, and Sead Kolasinac. Mohamed Elneny and Aaron Ramsey were paired behind Alex Iwobi, Ainsley Maitland-Niles, and Joe Willock, whilst up front we started Eddie Nketiah. We also had a blend of youth and experience on the bench.
In the third minute Ramsey and Maitland-Niles combined to put Eddie Nketiah clear but the young striker’s left footer went the wrong side of the near post. Blackpool’s giant striker Gnanduillet beat the retreating Lichsteiner too easily and drew a brave near post block from Cech. Maitland-Niles again set up Nketiah at the far post and the young striker again missed the looming target. This was a lively opening.
As ten minutes approached Nketiah was tripped on the edge of the box, Ramsey smashed his free kick via Spearing’s shoulder into the far post, and Joe Willock happily nodded home the rebound with former Gunners keeper Howard left stranded.
Blackpool 0-1 The Arsenal
The travelling faithful left Unai Emery in no doubt of their thoughts on the Aaron Ramsey with a rousing chorus of “Aaron Ramsey, we want you to stay”. Amen to that but that door is most definitely wide open right now. Looking dangerous with every attack, we went close again with a long range effort from Elneny going just wide of the target. In the 37th minute Iwobi, Jenkinson, and Nketiah combined to present Willock with a second goal of the half. We had breathing space relatively early.
Blackpool 0-2 The Arsenal
In the added minute at the end of the half Nketiah burst clear for a third crack at goal but Howard pulled off an excellent save to deny the young striker who will have walked off the pitch extremely frustrated.
The Arsenal seemed to be settling for controlled possession in the opening phases of the second-half. Iwobi and Ramsey did engineer a shooting opportunity for the latter which was deflected for a corner, but generally we seemed happy to switch play from side to side. Kolasinac earned a yellow card from Mike Dean when he pulled back Delfouneso. No complaints from here.
When we momentarily turned off Blackpool’s other ex-Gunner, Bola, fizzed a ball to the far post and fortunately Nottingham thrashed it wildly into the few hundred home fans behind the goal. When Cech stumbled in front of that same goal we were fortunate that nobody in tangerine was alert to the opportunity. Former Maidenhead United striker Pritchard’s introduction for Taylor provided the hosts with another attacking option.
Unai Emery responded in kind, sending on Alexandre Lacazette for the unfortunate Nketiah. Willock crated panic in the area and Blackpool could only clear the ball as far as Elneny who once again drove narrowly wide of the mark. Shortly afterwards Howard departed injured to be replaced by Mafoumbi. Kolasinac failed to test the substitute goalkeeper when he blazed a wild strike over the crossbar by some distance.
Willock had the ball in the net for a third time but the assistant referee had, again correctly, flagged Kolasinac who was offside before cutting the ball back. The third goal did arrive when Ramsey’s effort was palmed by Mafoumbi into the path of the offside-looking Iwobi who tapped home. For some reason we didn’t have VAR at this match which would have denied us this for sure.
Blackpool 0-3 The Arsenal
Zech Medley’s introduction for Kolasinac got a good cheer from the majority of the crowd, the travelling faithful. Three could have been four when Iwobi ran clear again but he placed his strike too close to Mafoumbi, grateful for the saving opportunity. It was time for a cameo from Saka in place of Iwobi. Mafoumbi’s new found confidence was boosted further when he denied Ramsey on the edge of the box in the four added minutes.
The final whistle signalled the Gunners progress into the fourth round and kept alive the dream of a fourth FA Cup in six years. It also meant we had a rare clean sheet to celebrate. Not a bad evening’s work. It was greeted with a chorus of “She Wore…”
58 Responses to “Gunners Through In Cruise Control”
Arsenal News 24/7
First
I didn’t watch or listen to the game.
I’m cautiously gutted at the tone of some recent comments and will stop now.
Excellent high-speed reporting Guv’nor.
COYG
As quick off the mark, as ever, Guv’nor. Sounds as if this was a relatively stress-free outing. Northing like an early goal to settle the nerves. And good to see a couple of the up-and-coming getting a good run-out.
Some of us – Noosa and I at least – got the score right!
Like Pangloss I was unable to see the game but it’s good to see young players like Joe Willock doing so well. He is really improved this season. Sorry Eddie didn’t score but have faith he is a star of the future.
Not sure what might have upset Pangloss. This is the most constructive blog in Arsenaldom!
bt8b@previous drinks: Laffer’s middle name was Betz. True.
OM@previous drinks: Swiss Ramble’s point was, arguably, that David Luiz, Michy Batshuayi, N’Golo Kanté and Marco Alonso, all bought last summer, represent a base for rebuilding the cash-doped team. But your broader point may well prove right.
TTG@4 Very likely true, which isn’t a happy thought.
Tangerine and maidenhead. Haven’t seen those two words in the same paragraph for quite some time. Never I suspect, actually, but I challenge you to do it again in your next opus Guvnor. 🙂
Does the local train stop at Accrington Stanley, or do you have to take the extra local?
I’ve got a feelin’ a feelin’ deep inside oh yeah.
And if you leave me I’ll have to get down from this rooftop oh yeah.
Betz Laffer, Ned. You must be kidding. Or raking in your winnings.
Pangloss
I feel your concern but I think Football blogs by their very nature tend to be more critical than others and also reflect current results. The Liverpool game was a wake up call but we do need perspective. Emery has made a very decent start to his tenure. I will judge him when he has got his own defence in place, if our finances allow him to do it!
BDBDA.
As in bin dippers bin dipping again.
Can I get a witness?
Yes indeed.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46771871
baffled
but
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U1H6Q0VYXAc
Funny to see Warnock accusing others
of lacking class – I never knew he had
such a keen sense of irony!
Thanks for the report Guvnor.
Can’t argue with a good cup win
and a clean sheet. Joe Willock –
poacher of goals, great to see.
We’ve got Willock.
Could he be the reason we are letting Ramsey go? An optimistic and question perhaps.
Been reading up a bit on Willock who is of Montserratian (West Indies) descent but from northeast London and yesterday’s was not his first senior goal for Arsenal which came a few months ago in the 3-0 Europa League away win at Vorskla Poltava. So he hasn’t scored yet at the Grove.
Matt @14. Could the odds on Warnock being Liverpool’s next manager just become a tad more attractive? 😉
2019 Jan – May: Liverpool bottle the
title and finish 3rd
2019 Summer: Salah and Van Dijk
leave for big clubs
2019-2020 Liverpool revert to usual
2nd rate shite. Klippity Klopp is
fired.
2020 July: Warnock is appointed
Liverpool new manager. Promises
top class thud and clump footy.
@19
I’ll give you a 1000/1
Speedy and excellent report H. I can’t keep up with the velocity of your verbosity, sir.
Good win. Excellent performances from the youngsters. I hope Koscielny’s back issue is a brief hiccup in his recovery. Our defence needs his calm authority.
When did anyone anywhere associate Liverpool FC with having a shred of class?
Well that was an unusual, thought provoking away day.
Cambridgeshire to Blackpool was a 210 mile each way journey, albeit an easy one, motorways all the way. We took my son’s 11 year old Corsa rather than my 2 year old Merc so that he could share the driving (which he did, doing 2/3 of the return journey) as I didn’t fancy over 400 miles driving in a day, ending up late at night.
We arrived at our parking spot, a comfortable 10 minutes stroll from Bloomfield Road, about 70 minutes before kick off. We were early, but not ridiculously so. That was where it started to get strange. Normally, before any game (and I’ve been a fair few times to Cambridge United who regularly draw < 4000 spectators), it’s easy enough to find the ground, you just follow the folks in replica shirts, scarves etc. Well we found the ground easily enough, because we could see it, but there wasn’t anybody to follow. The streets were completely deserted until we got 50 yards from the ground. The gates weren’t open an hour before the game. We saw the Arsenal bus arrive and the players walk into the ground (I later learned that they’d been delayed due to a Blackpool supporter protesting on the roof of their bus at the Preston hotel they were staying in).
Anyway the delay getting in gave us a chance to talk to the Blackpool lads protesting outside the ground. They filled us in on how dreadful Owen Oyston has been, robbing the club of the £30m earned in their Prem season, suing fans for six figure sums, starving the club of any investment in the ground or the team. They spoke fondly of visiting the Emirates (brilliant ground, great day out, very friendly fans, six nil and you still don’t sing). They said they understood why we were there, and didn’t expect us to join their boycott but urged us not to buy a programme. This truly was a community being pulled apart. Just yards from where we were chatting was a statue of Stan Mortensen (of Matthews Cup final hat trick fame). This is a club with history and pride brought low by a rotten owner.
Into the ground (minimal security, no pat down, no turnstiles, just show your ticket to a fat lad). We were free to walk up and down the area in front of the stand by the touchline (at one side) where we were sitting (we also had the stand behind one goal). Our pre match meal was old school, meat and potato pie (filling lovely, you could have used the pastry as grenade shells) and a cup of Bovril (why is Bovril so Proustian at football – I don’t drink it anywhere else?).
5200 Gooners across two stands were loud and proud throughout. There were a few gaps, where folk had obviously bought tickets just for the credits, but not many. If you didn’t drive or take a club coach the journey was a nightmare with no trains back from Blackpool to London after 7.30. We went through the usual repertoire, with a new song for AMN and yellow ribbon heard several times, as usual for the cup. The Blackpool supporters who did turn up were few in number (whole stands were empty) and very quiet.
I thought Iwobi, AMN, and Joe Willock had excellent games. Eddie got into position to score three times but missed each time. It’ll come. Ramsey just bossed midfield in a Pirlo position as a deep lying midfielder. We looked a bit dodgy when they got wide (especially any time they got near Lichsteiner who was absolutely awful again), but luckily their crossing wasn’t good enough to find their big tall lads up front. Lacazette was quality when he came on and worked very hard.
At half time Arsenal came out early and Jenks was up and down the right wing in front of our stands. He started before second half kick off by high fiving some Gooners who were virtually on the touchline. All through the second half we were singing “Carl Jenko’s a Gooner”! and he absolutely loved it. Never really any tension after we got the second and the third put the tin lid on it.
Job done. But a salutary lesson in first world problems for our sometimes over entitled fans. Same story after the game. Empty streets 100 yards from the stadium. The easiest drive out of a town after a game that I’ve ever known. Back home just before midnight.
I’m very glad I went. Je suis Blackpool.
Excellent report, TTG. There but for the grace of God…
This could have changed history, if true: ‘Abramovich could have bought Arsenal instead of Blues but was warned off’, according to a Sun report on a new book about the Premier League by two Wall Street Journal reporters.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/sport/football/8129204/chelsea-roman-abramovich-arsenal-takeover-plan-revealed/
This quote from the book has the ring of truth about it:
Abramovich met with Tottenham’s chairman but “while his Mercedes trundled along Tottenham High Road, he looked out and said in Russian, ‘This is worse than Omsk’.
This is the book: The Club: How the English Premier League Became the Wildest, Richest, Most Disruptive Force in Sports by Joshua Robinson and Jonathan Clegg
https://www.amazon.com/Club-English-Premier-Wildest-Disruptive/dp/1328506452
The dream of a fourth FA Cup AND four Shields in six years, Holic and at the princely sum of £250 million big ones less than the mugsmashers have spent to win nothing of note. Stan knows. He’s enjoyed sitting beside royalty on these occasions. And for every single one, so have I, sitting with Holic Royalty. Another helping will go down very nicely thank you very much. 🙂
Missed opportunity there for……. veritable velocity and veracity of your verbosity…..and probably even more had the Bath brain been operating on all twelve cylinders 🙂
Wonderful texture live from the front line, Countryman. ‘Over entitled fans?’ Wot, ours? Never.
Cheers H.
Well done lads. Eddie and Joe- lots more work to do but we are all rooting for you. And Saka. AMN is further ahead. I like him a lot. Lacazette is always class and always works hard.
So pleased that Jenks had a good day. He deserves it.
Rambo will be a sad loss. Not the end of the world. But he is a damn good player (even if he never developed into Lampard Mark 2- which he could have done)
Countryman. Really fantastic report. A drink for you sir.
Cynic. From last drinks. Sounds like pointless semantics to me… but I’ll bite!
Fumes come off an open can. They may have certain effects that I could not possibly recommend.
Exhaust fumes come from the tailpipe. They will kill you. Which I certainly cannot recommend.
I suppose it depends on one’s objective.
Or possibly it highlights the difference between us?
I am fuming. You are exhausting.
?
Coulthirst? Who are ya?
Countryman
A wonderful report, the sort of father/son road trip that you will remember forever and reminisce over many times. Glad you had a great day and didn’t have to drive all the way !
Flicked through the first 100 pages of the Robinson/Clegg book on the Premiership, and it promises to be a good read. All the fly-on-the-wall reporting you would expect from a couple of WSJ hacks who have been covering professional sport for more than a decade but they both grew up as Brits so understand the game properly. Robinson is a Gooner. Clegg of more questionable pedigree, a West Ham supporter. Haven’t go to the Abramovich parts yet, but the early chapters have a lot about David Dein’s pivotal role in setting up the Premier League.
Great report, thanks C100.
Much as I dislike Stan, he’s better
than having Abramovich.
Press reports going round that
Barcelona don’t want to sell us
Denis Suarez.
I’d rather we got a centre back
anyway.
CM@22, thanks for that report. It sounds like a good day out as well as the correct result. I hope Stan has paid attention to the travails of Blackpool FC. It’s a cautionary tale for the likes of him who don’t care much for ‘the little people’.
Ref to cba (hopefully still watching from self-imposed exile), that’s thee and me and many others here, not those other little people you’ve got over there.
GSD, if you’ve never experienced the unbridled joy of whiffing unleaded petrol exhaust fumes, you haven’t truly experienced Life.
With a capital L.
🙂
OM@33: A bit like the choice between the devil and the deep blue sea, though.
A small but select group of Norfolk Gooners made the trip to Blackpool. The journey went smoothly and we found ourselves in the pub by 3pm.
Gooner Malcolm had spare tickets required by a couple of Shrewsbury Gooners, so we found ourselves at the ground at the time our coach arrived searching for the two likely ticketless fans, several phone calls later we found one another.
I thought we were too spread out in the East stand and being at the far end from the majority of our fans behind the goal, there was a lack of the usual away atmosphere but we did our best joining in all the usual songs.
Excitement was in short supply but we did enough to make the 4th round,Willock being the star turn of the day. I think Eddie rushed his chances and probably tried too hard.
Like Countryman getting away from the ground was easy and we were dropped off in King’s Lynn at just before midnight, tired but happy we won. Fingers crossed for a decent draw tonight.
COYR
Yeah, the lesser of two weevils
Ned.
Rhys Jaggar who is one of the better informed people about Arsenal wrote this disturbing piece a few days ago. It implies Kroenke is in fact loading debt onto the club from his other activities and starving Emery of transfer funds.
I’ve not seen anything to confirm this. We didn’t have an AGM because Kroenke now earns the whole of the club but it’s very disturbing if true.
I presume we won’t be able to validate it ( or otherwise) until the accounts are filed.
http://www.arsenalnewsreview.co.uk/so-far-emery-is-outperforming-klopp-and-pochettino-in-their-first-seasons/
Manure.
unbelievable. why not gillingham? at least at home.
btw, anyone wants exotica with heart, bali’s the place. wow.
Any home draw would’ve done.
Manure should be fun.
Liverpool already gone; Palace to do one over the Neighbours; Stoke to take care of Wolves; we’ll take care of business vs MauU. Should only leave Chelski and Citeh to worry about. Watford or Brighton may be the dark horses.
We have only faced ManU in the fourth round once, in 1962 when we lost 1-0 at Old Trafford in a game featuring no one who wasn’t born in the United Kingdom or Ireland (13 Englishmen, three Irishmen, two Ulstermen, two Scots and two Welshmen).
Scruz, are you in Bali? Beer later this week?
george, i’d’ve loves to. we’vebeen back a week, one had tropical fever and am just out and about. where do you stay on bali? we were up in sidemen and candidasa, and went down to samurai, junbaran, and uluwatu visiting. too bad!! i was actually trying to find arsenal bali folk, no luck, to watch one or another games. even brought my red O2 shirt!
Scruz, only my second visit, nearly 20 years after the first. This time with late teenage kids. Staying in an AirBNB villa in Seminyak this time after doing a resort in Legian last time. I still have a DB10 shirt at home I bought here last time at home. Shame to have missed you, have seen a couple of Arsenal shirts around on locals.
george, let me rephrase that 🙂 spillchucker mauled the heck out of 47.
we were in sidemen, candidasa, and went down to sanur, jimbaran, and uluwatu. didn’t get to legian or seminyak, but we did go through gianyar and ubud.
too bad we couldn’t hook up. we were with our 20 yo, it would have been fun to break open a bintang. enjoy the rest of your stay!
How many aspirins should I take before you call me in the morning?
Aspirins probably an irrelevance in Bali I suppose …
These people bullying Anna Soubry outside the House look uncannily like the mob (aka Arsenal fans) who treated me in exactly the same way on the tube after City had the temerity to beat us on our last visit to Wembley.
My offence? Like Ms Soubry, I had admitted that I was not a supporter of the out campaign, in my case, the Wenger Out campaign.
Not nice. Strange times.
It is now a couple of months since I last commented on this topic, but Sp@@s have still not announced a date for moving into the new stadium. One way or another they must be hemorrhaging funds paying for two stadiums at once, and long may it continue.
I’m curious to see whether Chavski
will take 35m for Hudson-Odoi.
Would we take 35m for Reiss-Nelson?
It looks a real race in Scotland where 8 points separate the top 6 clubs.
The club have exercised the option to extend Nacho Monreal’s Contract by a year. A very good decision in my view despite his injury problems this year.
In other news I can’t see the Totts in their new stadium this season. But I’m not laughing ?
History-minded ‘holics might appreciate a BBC piece ahead of the 70th anniversary of an air crash in 1949 that killed most of the Turino team and their coach Leslie Lievesley. His father, Joe, kept goal for us for two seasons up to the First World War and had made his debut in our first game at Highbury.
https://www.bbc.com/sport/football/46788983
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>