Match report – Participant rankings – Arteta response – Video
It’s by no means simple going to Selhurst Park, and enjoying roughly half an hour with ten males makes it even much less so, so to return away with all three factors final evening was very pleasing certainly.
The one change from the aspect that beat Nottingham Forest was Takehiro Tomiyasu coming in to interchange the injured Jurrien Timber. That meant Thomas Partey beginning once more at proper again, and Gabriel staying on the bench. I’m not likely satisfied that that is 100% a tactical choice by Mikel Arteta, continued chatter concerning the Brazilian and curiosity from Saudi Arabia could also be an element, and I definitely don’t see it as a long-term factor. Nevertheless, final evening it was all proper, if not good.
If you transfer Partey there, play Tomi at left again, and add each Declan Rice and Kai Havertz to proceedings, it’s quite a lot of change from final season, so I don’t suppose it’s a giant shock that we weren’t fairly as fluent as we’d like. For me it’s most evident within the broad areas: the Ben White + Bukayo Saka connection is gone for essentially the most half, though he does make the occasional raid ahead, and on the opposite aspect Martinelli and Tomiyasu have barely performed collectively. In broad areas specifically, I feel we miss these relationships, and neither of our wingers obtained quite a lot of pleasure final evening.
Partly that’s as a result of Palace defended very effectively. Like Forest final week they sat off in a compact, effectively organised block, and it was laborious to interrupt down. That mentioned, we in all probability ought to have been main on the break. Eddie Nketiah’s sport final evening was spectacular all over the place however in entrance of objective. He hit the put up after good motion following a Palace mistake, after which scooped over from shut vary after an important go from Declan Rice. On the different finish, their most harmful second got here when William Saliba made a little bit of a mistake, however made up for it with an immaculate sliding problem.
Within the second half, Ayew – already on a yellow – dedicated essentially the most cynical foul/drag on Saka you’ll ever see, and escaped a second reserving. Minutes later we had a penalty when Martinelli’s fast free kick discovered Eddie within the field, the keeper got here charging out, didn’t get the ball and we had a penalty. In all honesty, it’s a kind of I discover tough because the participant falls into the onrushing goalkeeper, but it surely stood.
Martin Odegaard took it and dispatched it into the underside nook. It was a choice which stunned Mikel Arteta however he mentioned:
in the event that they felt it was the fitting factor to do, for me I’m superb. They need to make these choices on the pitch. I used to be stunned like all people else, however he scored the objective which is the vital factor and we gained the sport.
Possibly Saka wasn’t feeling that assured, wherein case he handed duty to the skipper who stepped up. So, 1-0 and also you thought the sport may open up a bit. Nevertheless, Tomiyasu obtained booked for time-wasting taking a throw, and I feel that first yellow was a bit harsh as he appeared to get punished for Havertz holding onto the ball for ages. Because the ref was flashing the cardboard, he’d really taken the throw.
As for the second yellow, I feel this can be a real shame. There’s barely any contact with Ayew who, fortunate to be nonetheless on the pitch if that is the brink to scale back a group to 10 males, threw himself to the bottom. Actually, it’s a horrible choice – and I’d say the identical factor if an opposition participant was despatched off for that. I actually suppose soccer has to rethink the purple card. A sending off needs to be virtually a final resort, except it’s for one thing like a dreadful sort out or violent conduct. To alter a sport that considerably over one thing so gentle simply isn’t proper – the bar needs to be increased than that.
I additionally discovered the post-game evaluation of this on Sky fairly baffling, the place they spoke about it as if Tomiyasu was some form of villain whose purple card was apparent. Very like the commentary on ITV in the course of the Neighborhood Defend, it felt prefer it ought to have include a ‘Promoted by PGMOL’ sticker. I can’t think about Neville or Carragher accepting that nonsense if it had been a United or Liverpool participant.
Anyway, it left us with 10 males for 25 minutes plus harm time or thereabouts. Gabriel was despatched on for Martinelli, and Palace took management. Typically that occurs when it’s 10 v 11, it’s virtually unconscious and the roles have been reversed. We sat deep in a compact, low block and I’ve to say regardless of how nervous I used to be, I believed we defended very well. Their most harmful second was when Ebere Eze dribbled into the field, and when Partey dangled out a leg I feared the worst because the Palace man went down. If that had been given, I’m unsure we might have complained an excessive amount of. Even when he was searching for it, it’s no completely different actually to Eddie up the opposite finish.
It felt a bit relentless at occasions, however we have been mainly equal to every part. Saliba gave the impression to be all over the place, and I feel the supervisor’s subs positively helped. Jorginho’s expertise was actually vital within the remaining levels, and bringing on Oleksandr Zinchenko helped take the sting out of the 7 minutes of harm time as we loved a few spells of possession which halted their momentum.
Ultimately, a basic of the ‘hard-fought’ style, however three factors away at Crystal Palace is to not be sneezed at nevertheless you get them. Afterwards, Arteta mentioned:
I liked it, completely liked it. It’s a extremely tough place to return. We performed how we wished to play 11 towards 11, we dominated the sport, we created sufficient probabilities, we missed two very, very large probabilities that usually we put away, however we by no means gave up. We continued the way in which we wished to proceed. Eddie earned us the fitting to go forward along with his motion, we scored the penalty after which we needed to play half an hour with 10 males, which is clearly a battle that we didn’t put together.
We needed to adapt and I feel the gamers labored fantastically as a result of I don’t suppose we gave something away. The subs have been nice, the way in which they got here out, the focus, the deal with how they helped the group and adjusted the group’s momentum in lots of events of the sport, so I’m actually comfortable.
And he will be rightly happy with the end result. I’ve to say Declan Rice who had a storming sport in midfield whereas we had 11, however confirmed how vital he will be to this group defensively after we have been right down to 10. He has quite a lot of presence and it’s coming to the fore in a short time right here.
I additionally suppose Arteta has a bit to do earlier than our subsequent sport when he considers the line-up. As I mentioned above, I’m not significantly keen on Partey at right-back, and whereas this could be him making an attempt one thing out tactically, I don’t know that it helps get the most effective out of the gamers we’ve on the pitch. Maybe the return of Zinchenko at left-back, which appears inevitable now, necessitates the return of Gabriel at centre-half, so let’s see.
However, figuring out issues and tweaks once you’re two from two and have six factors on the desk might be the most effective place to do this, so let’s see what occurs.
Proper, we’ll depart it there for now.
James and I will likely be recording an Arsecast Additional for you this morning. Maintain an eye fixed out for the decision for questions on Twitter @gunnerblog and @arseblog on Twitter with the hashtag #arsecastextra – or should you’re on Arseblog Member on Patreon, depart your query within the #arsecast-extra-questions channel on our Discord server.
For now, have one.
