I missed the game despite spending hours on the phone and entering into the
ballot so watched on TV.
I feel a lot better this morning than I did after the Palace game. We were
excellent second half and Arsenal looked out on their feet at times. Was this a
consequence of playing last Thursday ? Maybe, but who cares ?
First of all the controversial ending - unfortunately it was a blatant push by
Bamford so no chance of a penalty. Yes their guy lashed out a bit with his feet
and you could argue that was a red but Bamford had already committed the first
foul.
I thought first half we competed well but were 2nd best and Arsenal had the
best chances whilst we only made their keeper work once from a scrappy corner.
Our tactics weren't really working with Harrison playing as a striker and
Rodrigo as a no 10 where he was pretty ineffective.
Marsch said that it was an agree swap at half time of Rod for Bamford (you
don't often hear about planned subs like that). It did work though and for all
the abuse Bamford got on Sunday night Twitter I thought he was excellent and
really made the difference. Arsenal couldn't cope with him and as a result
Aaronson and Siri started to get more space and time. It was one way traffic
for most of the half and the only surprise was that we didn't win it 3 or 4-1,
we were that much better. Finishing however it becoming a problem and you can
see that Bamford is getting twitchy. On another day though, his disallowed
effort which looked like a dodgy decision in slow motion is given and he sticks
the pen away, we win and he's a hero - of course that didn't happen his haters
will say.
I think that performance made me realise what Marsch is trying to do and it
could work although I've still got that nagging feeling that the only reason we
overran them was because they were knackered.
My scores:
Meslier - 7 Didn't do a lot wrong. Some blamed him for the goal, I think that's
a bit harsh
Rasmus - 8 Definitely looked a lot better last two games. He is never going to
offer as much as Ayling going forward though
Struijk - 7. Struggled first half but then realised he need to get to Saka
earlier and after that Saka never had a kick. He also got forward well which he
has done in the last 2 games.
Cooper - 7. Solid. No complaints.
Koch - 8. Extra solid
Adams - 7. I sometimes feel he's fighting a one man battle in there as I don't
think Roca helps him too much. Gets through a lot of work.
Roca - 5. Poor first half in which he was a passenger but to his credit he like
everyone improved 2nd half and put in some good work and good balls. For me
though he's disappointed.
Harrison - 5. Out of position.
Rodrigo - 4. Ridiculous pass for the goal
Sinistera - 8. Lively throughout even in the first half. Probably needs to get
a bit fitter
Aaronson - 8. I thought that was his best game for a while especially 2nd half
where he ran them ragged down the left wing.
Subs:
Bamford - 8. Missed pen but was the difference for me
Koch - busy
Jimmy - missed a great chance
Thankfully I've got a ticket for Fulham so looking forward to Sunday.
On Monday, 17 October 2022 at 08:42:01 BST, Nick <[email protected]>
wrote:
So ref doesn’t see a clear handball, game goes on for nearly a minute until
someone gets his attention - VAR & a penalty, which we miss.
Then in injury time there’s a tussle as Bamford goes through, there’s some
afters and their 6 kicks his studs up and into Bamford - doesn’t look like a
penalty but he gives it and sends their guy off, for the violent conduct I
assume, because the tussle wasn’t a sending off. There’s 5 minutes while they
go nuts. VAR again - penalty and red card overturned.
What is the point?
Add to this the 35 minute break in the first minute, when we lost power and the
referees can’t communicate via their little walkie-talkies…but you know it was
a clear sunny afternoon, we had a ball, the ref had his whistle and the
linesman had their flags… don’t know how managed for the 130 years before all
this technology.
All that said, we were better than Arsenal and deserved at least 1 point, if
not 3. We keep Jesus and Martinelli quiet. Struijk had a battle with Saka,
which he won over the 90 minutes, but of course Saka ‘won’ ‘cos he got the
goal, from one of those utterly unpredictable mad moments, when Rodrigo
attempting to switch play to the other wing, badly misjudged his pass, sending
it 40 yards back towards our goal, out to the wing, where Saka pounced and 5
seconds later it was in the net.
Bringing Bamford on at half time changed it for us. The movement and stretching
of their defence gave our midfield targets to hit with passes - suddenly
Aaronson was everywhere, Sinisterra was in the game - he is quality -,
Somerville should have hit the target with 5 minutes left.
But as is par for the course, the visitors time wasted and “managed the game”
(what a fucking horrible phrase that is) and we couldn’t hit the net. I hate
Arteta and all his bleating and shenanigans on the touchline.
Frustrated but hopeful.
Nick
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