Gunners Graft To Make A Point
Oct 28th, 2018 by 'holic
With no recognised left-back available again Granit Xhaka had to deputise in the role alongside Skhodran Mustafi and Rob Holding. Petr Cech was fit again but Bernd Leno rightly kept the goalkeeping berth. Matteo Guendouzi joined Lucas Torreira at the base of midfield and the front four were as hoped for in the preview.
Palace started brightly and twice the alert Hector Bellerin was forced to concede fruitless corners in quick succession. The first yellow card was shown by Martin Atkinson for a nasty tackle from behind by Ayew on Alexandre Lacazette.
It took us until the fourteenth minute to get an effort away. A well worked opening saw Alex Iwobi shoot high and wide of the far post. That stung Palace into action and after Zaha had struck a post he skinned Bellerin to tee up Townsend who thankfully missed the target. That was a let off for the visitors, no question.
Ayew avoided a second yellow when he clattered into Torreira as the Uruguayan looked to get us moving forward again. Captain Mesut Ozil, Bellerin, and Iwobi combined to give Lacazette a shooting opportunity that was just wide of the mark. Then Ozil found Bellerin on the penalty spot but unfortunately he didn’t get his shot away quickly enough and it was deflected for a corner.
Leno justified his selection with a commanding punch clear in a crowded box from a corner just before the half hour mark. News drifted through that Chelsea had taken the lead at Burnley thus making it less likely that we could leapfrog them into second place today.
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang switched wings in a bid to shake things up but a solitary corner that came to nought summed up yet another quiet, low tempo first-half performance. It really is beginning to look like a tactic. Draw the sting of the opposition and hit them with pace and power later on?
Six minutes from half-time Ayew ensured there was contact with the retreating Mustafi on the edge of the box and he tumbled theatrically to earth. Referee Atkinson wasn’t buying that but it was a heart in mouth moment.
In the last minute of the half the German defender foolishly dived in on Kouyate and could have no complaints about the penalty award. Milivojevic sent Leno the wrong way for Palace’s first home league goal of the season. The second-half would be a real test of the new Arsenal’s character.
Crystal Palace 1-0 The Arsenal
Stephan Lichsteiner was sent on for the injured Bellerin at the start of the half. Palace noticeably retreated in the opening phases of play as if to invite the Arsenal to break them down. Milivojevic felled Torreira on the edge of the box and that presented Xhaka with the opportunity to curl a magnificent left-footer into the top corner. It arrived six minutes after the restart.
Crystal Palace 1-1 The Arsenal
Palace had to react but Zaha’s attempt to emulate Xhaka’s strike missed the far post by some distance. Chelsea took a two goal lead at Burnley seconds before The Arsenal went ahead in controversial circumstances. A corner was diverted to Aubameyang at the far post and technology proved that the ball had crossed the line before Hennessey could complete the save. Ayew, who clearly got the headed touch to the goalscorer but claimed that the ball had brushed Lacazette’s hand on the way through. It would have been harsh to rule any touch as deliberate given Ayew had shoved Lacazette in the first place.
Crystal Palace 1-2 The Arsenal
Lichsteiner put in what was once termed a reducer on Zaha and was fortunate that the referee saw fit to settle for a lecture. Meyer then got in behind the Swiss defender and hit the near post. This was far from over as a contest. Roy Hodgson sent on the giant Sorloth for Ayew, and Unai Emery responded with Danny Welbeck for Ozil after Meyer hit another close range volley over the top. Ozil’s body language suggested he was less than impressed. I’m not sure Danny will have played as a number ten before?
Chelsea got a third at Burnley and the Gunners were in need of one too. This was not a totally dominant performance but there was certainly no lack of effort being shown. Torreira won the ball and released Iwobi. The Nigerian’s shot was deflected wide of Hennessey but also his right hand post.
Aaron Ramsey was introduced for Aubameyang with thirteen minutes remaining. That enabled Welbeck to move into a wider role. Stephan Lichsteiner saw yellow for his third ‘enthusiastic’ challenge and would need to show good discipline for the remainder of the match.
Zaha’s dive over Xhaka’s knee brought a second penalty for Palace and left a nasty taste in the mouth. Milivojevic went the same way as his first, so did Leno, but the strike was firm enough to level the score.
Crystal Palace 2-2 The Arsenal
Puncheon came on for the injured Kouyate and with our full-backs struggling that was a worrying sight. However Puncheon’s first involvement was a crunching ‘tackle’ on Torreira giving Xhaka the chance for a spectacular second of the lunchtime. It flew into the Palace fans behind the goal. As Palace threatened a retaliatory break Guendouzi took a yellow card for the team with a tactical trip on Meyer.
The final whistle brought an end to the winning run but if there was a positive to take from the match it was that we found that hard graft will make up for a lack of fluidity on days like this. Fair play to Palace who went toe to toe with a side that has blown better teams than them away this season. With respect to Blackpool who we play on Wednesday, bring on Liverpool. The next big test of the new Arsenal lies in wait.
32 Responses to “Gunners Graft To Make A Point”
Drink!
Number 1, is…….
BB apparently….
Not the worst result in the race for the top 4.. let’s hope for a Man City win tomorrow and all is good
As you say ‘holic it was “a day like this” and I found my heart beating a lot faster than I would have preferred. Fixture congestion could have been a factor. I hope Hector is okay. The Welbeck-Aubameyang-Lacazette combo might not have worked out quite the way Emery hoped but Ramsey made no impact either. It seemed like one of those days when it would have been nice to bring Torreira off the bench but that was not an option. How goes Nacho?
More command in your prose, Guv’nor, than we managed during the game. But a draw probably a fair result.
Nice report H. That’s pretty much what I saw.
We did not really click today. Nothing much came off for any of our attacking players. We worked hard though and a point was a fair result.
Xhaka playing left back looks like… Xhaka playing left back!
Lichsteiner is clear understudy to Bellerin.
I thought Torreira was our best player.
Holding and Sokratis would be my first choice CB pairing until Lolo is fit enough to see how he has recovered from a nasty injury.
UTA
We looked understandably weary today and Palace in this bear pit are a tough nut to crack and deserved a draw. We aren’t the strongest at full back. Xhaka was naive and neither Bellerin or Lichsteiner fill me with confidence defensively.
We made two stupid challenges in the penalty area and literally paid the penalty even if Zaha dived. Zaha would be a stellar addition to our ranks he is very talented . The big let-down was Ozil who yet again let a tough, meaty game get away from him after being brilliant on Monday. If the top six dropped more points this wouldn’t be a bad result but they don’t and after leading it was.
Zaha didn’t dive. Xhaka stuck out a leg and Zaha gratefully accepted the opportunity to tumble over it. It was as poor by Xhaka as Mustafi’s challenge was in the first half. Two niaive and stupid bits of defending by two internationals.
A point in the end was a fair result in my opinion. I don’t agree with you H re the potential hand ball by Lacazette. For whatever the reason, he decided to stick his hand in the air. If he made contact then in my opinion we got away with one.
2 wins and a draw from 3 Games in 6 days is not a bad return. But the defence for me is still a major worry. I think we look so vulnerable at the back. I’m not sure that any of the back four that started, or ended up there today are good enough to be regular starters. One area where I think we need to get players back and some additions as and when the time arises.
Steve re our 2nd goal.
What did you think of the fistful of Laca’s shirt that the defender was pulling?
A fistful of shirt doesn’t make someone’s hand fly into the air any more than a hung out leg makes someone shoot eight inches into the air to fall over it.
Trying to excuse the handball via shirt pulling is a bit straw clutchy really. He cheated, Zaha cheated, a draw was correct.
Barcelona 5 Real Madrid 1
Takes some doing to lose the Spain and RM jobs in four months, but that’s what’s gonna happen to Lopetegui.
Steve,
I’ve not seen the Zaha incident on TV and entirely accept what you say. As might be known in this bar I’m not Xhaka’s biggest fan but it is asking a lot to expect him to adapt to a new position against such a talented – and crafty- opponent like Zaha. He doesn’t tackle with any intelligence and Mustafi just has massive brain farts, that was a ridiculous challenge after Leno flapped at a cross ( his weakness I believe) .
Lacazette was silly to wave his hand in the air. Did he make contact? Certainly it was unnecessary. Our best player was Torreira who loves a scrap. He is exactly what we’ve needed for years.
I also agree with Steve re our defence. It is very shaky and we miss Sokratis although Holding is a decent defender . We do need better personnel and I hope Nacho and Sokratis are fit for Saturday .
I still think the major problem atm is the loss of four full backs (incl Bellerin) at once. It affects both our attack and defence big time. It’s unlucky, it won’t last for long (hopefully Bellerin and Nacho are back for Saturday). As I said in the last drinks I thought both their pens were justified (I know most don’t agree) and a draw was a fair result (most do agree).
Right. Off to Cambridge to see Jools Holland. That should cheer me up!
GSD.
The shirt pulling is a pen. I hate it. I had hoped that with the apparent change in view point that it would have been eradicated by now but apparently not. But Cynic is spot on. Whatever happened did not result in Lacazette’s hand being forced skywards.
Zaha did exactly what any other player would have done. TTG, I agree entirely with regards to it being a big ask to expect Xhaka to be able to adapt to a new position. Especially when you consider how inept he is at his more favoured spot? He did strike the free kick well though.
Cynic.
I’m not excusing a handball. I did not mention the handball. I’m saying there was a clear penalty before it happened which should have made it irrelevant. If you think that asking for a penalty to be given for blatant shirt pulling in the box is clutching at straws then we will have to agree to disagree.
Steve. Totally agree that Laca’s hand should not have been up. But as the other bloke had already fouled him when he handled it I am saying that I don’t agree that we were lucky with the 2nd goal. We should have had a pen- not them a free kick for a handball.
GSD
I get all of that but until we get to the stage of allowing VAR or genuinely starting to clamp down on the penalty box cuddlefest then things aren’t going to change.
Zaha knee exactly what he was doing. As do hundreds of others. Personally, I hate it but again, until we seriously decide to clamp down on it then things will never change.
Steve.
I agree as to the practicality of VAR needing to be used to get rid off the shirt pulling. But as the replays available to viewers did show the shirt pull so clearly I was/am pretty miffed by all of this ‘we were lucky for the second goal’ talk. How are people saying that the ref was wrong not to give the handball without acknowledging he was first wrong not to give the shirt pull?
The Zaha one I thought was a dive but I see why the ref gave it and I’m not going to lose sleep over it- they can go either way, we’ve had few given our way. It was a poor challenge by Xhaka and in realtime I thought it was a pen. And a draw was fair overall so que sera sera.
GSD
As I’ve highlighted on numerous occasions on here, cheating is now an acceptable part of the game. What Zaha did was wrong. But what he did is absolutely nothing different to anything any other players would have done in that situation. I include all of those wearing Jade today. I will always remember the well drilled phrase, “there was contact, he was entitled to go down.”
I agree that in the end, that the result was the correct one. We look a nightmare still at the back and only had two shots on target.
Bring on the Pools. Both of them.
Steve. I’m not sure cheating is ‘ acceptable’. It is certain common. I don’t think that one equals the other. It is certainly common enough that the response is not much more than a shrug and an acknowledgement that it happens week in week out. Which is pretty sad. Still, it is what it is. There’s a drink on the bar for you.
Bring on the Pools.
Palace saw the midfield manned by teenaged Guendouzi and never let him settle on the ball at all. It is no coincidence that whenever Guendouzi plays, we never seem to control games for long periods. Xhaka even though he plays some mind bogglingly bad short passes and makes late tackles, he does give more control to us in midfield through his physicality and less hurried style. It sometimes seems like slowing us down but it does give a sense of calm and control which a forward line like ours – built on balls played through the lines & quick one touch give and goes, requires. This perhaps explains why Emery prefers Xhaka in the central midfield role as his first choice. Guendouzi will only get better because of these experiences and there could be a cracking midfield partnership emerging between him and Torriera in a year or so.
Just when things were starting to look better, the Arsenal injury curse clouds are hovering again. It is just unbelievable that both the first choice left backs and their versatile third choice back up are all injured at the same time. It is even more frustrating because Nacho didn’t even play during the international break and got injured subsequently. One can only hope that both he and Bellerin are fit for the Liverpool game because those two Spanish full backs provide the needed width for our attack to really flourish. With Xhaka playing full back today, we hardly ever ventured onto the byline on his flank. That is a real blunting of our attacking prowess especially when one considers the amount of goals we have scored through cut backs from wide areas this season. If Nacho doesn’t make it, the next best thing would be to have Ainsley Maitland Niles fit for the Liverpool game – him at left back at least gives us the pace required to deal with Salah and the Liverpool counter attacks. If we are in a situation where Xhaka is the only available option then I would much rather prefer we played a back three of Mustafi, Sokratis and Holding and played Welbeck and Bellerin (or Lichtsteiner if Hector is also crocked) as wingbacks.
As for the debate regarding our second goal – have to agree with GSD, if we are debating the referee’s fault on that one then the debate should really be that why he didn’t give a penalty despite such a clearly visible shirt pull (certainly more visible than the ball brushing Laca’s hand). And one point being missed here is that Laca’s hand was raised to alert the referee about the shirt pull and never intended to intentionally handle the ball. Replays clearly show his hand is raised just before the corner is even kicked into play.
Overall it was a good result. The team fought and dug in well towards the latter stages, a different sort of test and they did well. Torriera was immense and played a vital part in us holding on to the draw. A win would have been great but perhaps the draw will ensure even better preparation for the Liverpool game. That promises to be a cracker.
Excellent post Desi.
Midfield completely unbalanced with 2 right footers,and Granit filling in at left back.
Hector clearly not fit,and did well to get to half time.
Muscular pains apparently according to Unai in his prezzer.
So for 2nd half we have a pensioner in football terms at right back,and a ‘ slowcoach ‘ in full back terms at left back.
With 2 good wide players,Palace made the most of our disjointed rearguard,and Holding and Mustafi constantly pulled out of position having to bale out the full backs.
2 – 1 was always precarious,and needed the 3rd goal to kill the game.
What is most disappointing for me was we had the ball in their penalty area,and with one misplaced pass they are up our end in a flash,and we concede a penalty.
2 dropped points for mine,and yet a gain a crucial goal right on half time,in this case against us,gives Palace momentum,and in the end earns them a point.
Injured personnel notwithstanding,Unai is going to have to come up with a hell of a master plan to contain Pool next weekend.
Desi,
A super post you have made some great points. I find Guendouzi is much more effective at home than he is away and Xhaka the opposite .
Also you are spot-on about how handicapped we have been by losing our full-backs. AMN should get a full game against Blackpool and might be an option if Nacho doesn’t recover.
Torreira is absolutely key to our play. It will be interesting to see how effective he can be against Liverpool
desi@22: as Clive and TTG say, top post.
AMN had 67 mins for the U23s in their draw against Swansea but looked rusty after two months out. He played right wing, not DM or full-back, however. The promising Dominic Thomson of the U18s played left back, and Pleguezuelo played right back.
Of our other Academy full backs who might expect at least to make the first team squad given how the first-team full-backs are going down faster than Zaha, Osei-Tutu has only just returned to training and, a longer shot, Bramall was an unused sub against Swansea, coming back from injury.
After we scored and made it 2-1 is it a tactic to just sit back and absorb pressure and make the opposition feel they can come back? seems like it for this happened against chelsea too, had them by the ropes at 2-2 and then inexplicably just dropped deep and never looked like scoring. Whatever be it, it is definitely not working.
We make Zaha seem like Messi and boy do we ever learn that he is not that good. It was not just yesterday but in recent years we seem to give him the undue importance and when he gets the confidence that there won’t be a lot of resistance to his step overs etc, he will be more than happy to do so, add in his drop at a feather touch attitude as well. He is over rated for me and nothing has changed about that.
Torreira was terrific but that one moment of hesitation when lacazette crossed to him which led to the palace counter and penalty( 2nd goal) was something I feel he may regret knowing how well he read the game throughout, it was lacazette’s mistake but torreira played safe than going for the ball which may have resulted in a foul as well but not a counter for sure. On the other hand, Guendouzi was all good but in playing him midfield, we lose out on Xhaka as a CM and for me we are wasting Granit, yes we have no LB but Lichsteiner as a LB is better than Xhaka, simple. Better only in the sense of him being a natural full back and Xhaka being not.
I have decided not to comment about Mustafi, he is just hopeless and for me, he is amongst our poorest defenders since I started watching from the last 20 odd years, he is as poor as silvestre, cygan, luzhny, squillaci or even the hoyte boys. Expecting him to be better and reading the game is just not worth it, he cannot.
Blackpool midweek and then that shit pool weekend, I so hate them and their manager and I am not saying it of any envy etc, I just feel disgusted seeing them. Their front 3 will absolutely fancy our defense and knowing their so called tactics, it will be blitz first half, stay back second. Arsene did not pay heed to it and we were blitzed actually, hope Unai knows whats coming. Play 3 man midfield for this one, Xhaka/Torreira/Ramsey please.
Appreciate the report even more than usual Guvna due to distractions elsewhere as I was watching the good guys winning at Hampden against one of Hell’s legions.
The result at Selhurst was disappointing but not unexpected. Having seen the highlights on MOTD I cannot agree with the decision on the second penalty but it fits withAtkinson’s record in refereeing Arsenal away games. We have only won one out of 17 (Sunderland) and he tried hard to make that difficult. In the others, we got 5 draws and 11 defeats. His immediate decisions against us contrast with his hesitation before awarding us anything: as if he thinks, ‘Do I have to give this?’ He must be gutted that he didn’t see the opportunity to disallow our second goal.
Here are the away games we couldn’t win under Atkinson (from @afcDW):
Stoke
Blackburn
Liverpool
Ipswich
Spurs
Fulham
Chelsea
City
Everton
Palace
5 draws, 11 defeats.
Interesting analysis, Bath, truly indicates a bias. I think that not giving a penalty against Mustafi (correct decision) left him itching to award one as soon as he could.
We’re only a couple of players away from having an excellent team, but it showed yesterday.
CBA from previous drinks, I liked the brewery so much that we moved house to be closer to it. That, my friend, is dedication. The new Black is delicious, not one of those poncey vanilla sweet things people seem to brew now.
I can’t fault Atkinson for awarding either penalty. Some have written that there is a camera angle that shows that Zaha dived, but that is not evident from any of the camera angles I have seen.
Others have faulted Xhaka for committing the penalty in the first place but he knew better. Mustafi was right behind him. 😉
“…but that is not evident from any of the camera angles I have seen…”
there’s only one angle that is right.
My angle.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5GWyyPXwpX4
https://twitter.com/Born_a_gooner/status/1056566515305201666
Taking off two-footed.
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