By Tony Attwood
And so after five games of the season Arsenal have won three, drawn two and lost none, scoring six goals and conceding one. We might conclude the defence is ok, but the attack needs to recover last season’s form. Last season after five games (excluding the Community Shield), we also had four wins and a draw, and had scored nine. So a slight drop in attacking success.
But on the other hand by the five game marker Arsenal had conceded four, so it would seem the defence is tightening up.
Last season in the Champipms Leagie Arsenal played five games away from home, and won just one of them (2-1 at Sevilla). One was draw (away to PSV) and three were defeats. The goal difference for those five away games was four goals scored and six goals conceded. True, none of the games were goalless draws, but in the last two Arsenal scored nothing.
So within that context a goalless draw wasn’t too bad, and maybe should have been expected, although I had hoped for a win. But the goalkeeping is what will live in the memory – and that is important. For although it is clear that the players already had massive faith in the the keeper behind them, Raya’s performance last night will have given them an extra boost.
PSG who we play in the next game, beat Girona 1-0; (Girona being one of the subsidiary clubs of Manchester City). Girona are currently 11th in the Spanish League after five matches. PSG are of course top of their league having won all four games – which is how it always is given that they are the French equivalent of a City Group club.
So not a perfect start for Arsenal, but ok – particularly since the opposition only had one shot on target Also we might be grateful that there were no yellow cards – nasty things which have a habit in Europe of quickly totting up.
And thus day one of this rather bizarre adventure is over with five clubs in the Champions League league table winning their games and three of the matches being drawn. I suspect you will be able to guess how many teams lost. In the top-scoring game Bayern Munich beat Dinamo Zagreb 9-2.
And so we now look forward to the next game which is against, well I guess you know. The team with a defence that has let in three times as many goals as Arsenal have this season.
| Team | P | W | D | L | F | A | GD | Pts | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Manchester City | 4 | 4 | 0 | 0 | 11 | 3 | 8 | 12 |
| 2 | Arsenal | 4 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 6 | 1 | 5 | 10 |
But there is always the big news in the papers from Arsenal, so in case you have missed, it the headline reads, “England icon cheated on wife with Arsenal receptionist who he then married and cheated on”. It’s in the Star of course.
Meanwhile the attacks on Arsenal players return in earnest, with Partey and Gabriel Jesus coming in for all-out assaults, so it is life as usual. And we really are into the negatives now with the story that Odegaard will be out for the rest of the year. But I hasten to add that is a story – and stories don’t have to be true. Especially those from a source with an Twitter name but not much else identification.
As for the positives, Raheem Stirling’s appearance was one I would take, along with Raya of course, and indeed Havertz playing ina different way; all were positives. And the thought that maybe Kevin De Bruyne will miss the weekend’s match, which to a small degree lessens the disappointment of not winning last night.
And there there is the thought that Mancheser City drew 0-0 as well. Their manager said “I am really satisfied with how we played,” but then he does say all sorts of things so there’s no telling what he actually thought.
According to reports Inter had something like ten shots, which doesn’t sound like the ManC defence doing its stuff. Maybe the players are pondering who they will be transferred to when the 115 points deduction is announced. (Just one for each wrong doing sees modest, however).
I noticed during the game, Atalanta tried to take a quick free kick and one of our players slid in and blocked the ball about one yard away from where the kick was taken……..so, “by the laws of the game” it had to be a definite booking. The UEFA accredited ref was obviously useless and didn’t show a yellow card!
In my eyes it should have been a booking…..as opposed to the ludicrously biased PGMO behaviour in the Rice incident, of which we’ve seen several similar incidents since, all of which resulted in no yellow card.
“By the laws of the game”……..bullshit!
Mikey
“Atalanta tried to take a quick free kick and one of our players slid in and blocked the ball about one yard away from where the kick was taken……..so, “by the laws of the game” it had to be a definite booking. The UEFA accredited ref was obviously useless and didn’t show a yellow card!”
Good spot. I saw it too.
But the referee made the correct call. He did exactly what I have been saying Kavanagh should of done, and ordered a retake from the correct position. You cannot be accused of stopping a quick free kick when it has to be retaken anyway.
To be sure I have just found and re watched the incident. It is running in front of me as I write this, so this is exact:
1: Time: 24 Minutes 35 Seconds
2: Foul by Saliba on Retegui.
3: The incident occurred on the centre circle about half a yard into the Arsenal half.
4: The referee waited to see how play developed to see if there was an advantage to Atalanta. As the challenge by Saliba continued, play and the ball, moved about 7 or 8 yards towards the touchline away from where the foul occurred.
5: Retegui, who still pretty much had possession of the ball but without any advantage, stopped the ball where it was and attempted to take a quick free kick.
6: Timber blocked the taking of the free kick.
7: The referee immediately blew his whistle and indicated to Retegui that the ball was in the wrong place and ensured the restart was RETAKEN from the CORRECT position.
Not a word from him or any other Atalanta player. The camera went straight to their manager. Not a word. Not a word from the commentators.
Why?
Because everybody knows that is EXACTLY WHAT SHOULD OF HAPPENED, as it should of in the Rice incident.
This doesn’t surprise me with this referee. He is brilliant. Not perfect, I’ve seen him make mistakes, in my eyes anyway, but I’ve never seen him be anything other than fair.
That was the PERFECT way to deal with that incident, and everybody knew it.
Tony
“We might conclude the defence is ok, but the attack needs to recover last season’s form.”
Sorry to repeat but this is pretty much what I said to Chris in the last article:
Apparently in winning the Golden Glove last season his save percentage was 64% (or thereabouts).It currently stands at 92% (or thereabouts) for this season.
He is without doubt a fantastic goalkeeper.
It is proof yet again, as you suggest Chris, that it is probably best to leave who to sign and who not to sign in the hands of Arteta and Edu.
As for last night.
Another brilliant defensive display from front to back. The penalty and follow up header were their only 2 efforts on target from 7 in all.
But there is definitely something missing in our offensive play. Nothing to do with Odegaard because despite 4 solid PL matches we haven’t been anything special going forward all season.
I’m certainly not going to start moaning about individuals, and I’m no coach so what it is collectively I have no idea, but something hasn’t clicked yet.
Lets hope it does soon.
As for Man city v Inter Milan
Personally I thought it was a high class match. Inter looked very good to me. Away to them is going to be extremely difficult.