What a few days it has been for The Arsenal. After the disappointment of the North London Derby we’ve managed to beat both the newly crowned champions in the league & then Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City to reach the FA Cup final.
After the disenchantment of last weekend, I don’t think any Arsenal fan would have thought that the following week would have finished up the way it has. But that’s football, that’s why we love it it. That’s why we tune in despite the agonising pain it can cause you as a fan, because it can throw you up some truly unexpected results when you least expect them. Admittedly from an Arsenal perspective these kind of results don’t happen that often, but we’ve been thrown two surprises within the space of four days.
It’s amazing what a week can do isn’t it? I mean when you look back to that defensive display against Spurs last weekend, you would never have imagined that we could put together a couple of well organised & determined defensive showings against two of the finest attacks in the country. I feared the worst going into this week & twenty minutes into the Liverpool game on Wednesday night, I’m sure most of us had that fear heightened just a tad. Incredibly though, off the back of that lightning rod of fear, we haven’t conceded a goal since. That’s not to say we have been dominant in our approach at all, but what it definitely has been is structured, dogged & passionate.
During the second half of the Semi Final yesterday there were a few moments where the players were high-fiving the defensive work & encouraging each other throughout. Now we’ve seen this type of behaviour before of course; but usually when I look at this team I sometimes feel that they’re just going through the motions & maybe doing this more for the eyes of the fans to show “they’re in it for the cause” etc. Yesterday however, when watching the team interact, it looked/felt different. Hard to put a finger on the why but Arteta has to take credit for this & you have to admire the players character here as well. We give them slack & deservedly so at times, but yesterday they really stuck together & put in a fine team performance. Every man on that pitch played their part, you could honestly go through each player & have (probably for the first time this season) something positive to say about their individual performance.
The game was always going to have to be a tactical masterpiece from us. Arteta is surely the best placed manager in the league to be able to outsmart Guardiola & we all know why. Now was watching parts of the game comfortable yesterday? Absolutely not, but that’s not to say we weren’t playing well. You could really see what Arteta wanted the team to do. He wanted to make that pitch as big as he possible could. The uncomfortable watching was probably based purely on performances of past, so when watching us play out from the back against one of the best pressing teams in the league, you couldn’t help but worry ever so slightly. We played as close to our goal as I can remember & the passing in & around our biz was done in some incredibly tight spaces. It was high risk stuff but Arteta was wanting to draw as many City players forward to help create the gaps for us to play into so we could try & hit them on the break. He executed that plan wonderfully in my opinion & so did the defensive unit.
Of course that doesn’t tell the whole story of the match. It wasn’t a case of us being battered with shots like we were against Liverpool. Just before the half time whistle I distinctly remember thinking that we’d been solid, for all City’s play & possession, Martinez hadn’t really been tested. Considering they had 60% possession they only managed two attempts on target. Our commitment levels throughout this match were absolutely first rate. Mustafi, Luiz, AMN & Tierney we’re practically faultless. Bellerin, Xhaka & Ceballos were busy throughout & stuck to their individual battles well. The front three weren’t hiding from the work rate either, Lacazette holding the ball well as Auba & Pepe ran the channel’s, with the former taking both his goals excellently. Martinez continued to Martinez. He keeps getting his mention & it’s clear to understand why. The save he made in the second half low down to his left was another firm piece of goalkeeping. The most impressive part of his skillset is his ability to make everything stick. It’s so refreshing to have a keeper who wants to hold onto everything he possibly can & I think it’s massive credit to him that really, we haven’t missed Leno at all since he got injured.
The final stretch is upon then & it’s all starting to feel a little odd. Firstly because it feels like May, but it’s not & then there’s also the growing realisation that after the long wait for football to return, it will all come to end after this bombardment of football since the restart. How long will it be gone? Hopefully not very long. Next up we face Villa on Tuesday night, as they are scrapping for their lives to remain in the league it will be a tough game. It will be interesting to see how we get on following our last couple of results.
Until then, have a good end to your weekend.
The Arse 