Tag: david luiz

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Arsenal 1 – 1 Southampton

Theon’s Return to The Iron Islands

Just when I thought the football gods and goddesses couldn’t be any more brutal to us Gooners, guess who returned to the Emirates? Theo Walcott. Just in time for the holidays. The same gent who started his career at Southampton before moving to North London where he scored more than 100 goals over 12 seasons for us. Walcott only scored two goals during the 2019/20 season, so it’s hard to argue with ownership’s decision to move on from him in 2018. But in a cruel twist of fate, Walcott–who had only one goal this season entering today’s match–managed to score the opening goal today with a clinical chip over Leno.

Better (Part III)

Once again, Saka deserves credit for getting forward and making something happen. His dribble drive into the box, which started the move that led to Auba’s goal, would have made fans at the Rucker Summer League proud. And while Auba’s goal unfortunately did not open the offensive floodgates for us today, he must feel like a huge weight has been taken off his back, so hopefully Auba and the team will be a little less tight offensively going into our next match against fifth place Everton on Saturday.

Worser

That’s no typo. It’s a term that my young daughters use from time to time, and I found myself thinking of it at least a couple of times during today’s match. First, when Elneny and Gabriel got tangled up, which allowed Che Adams to regain possession and release Walcott for his goal, I was absolutely shocked to discover that Luiz was nowhere on the pitch. Second, when Gabriel was sent off for his second yellow, it meant that we’d have to play our second match in a row and our third in five a man down. When your team is struggling to score, your teammates simply cannot get themselves dismissed. People are (rightfully) asking questions about whether or not Arteta has lost the locker room, but I’m starting to wonder if the boys have lost all faith/trust in each other. Unfortunately things may be worser for us than they appear.

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Arsenal 1 – 2 Wolves

His Darke Materials

As NBC match commentator Ian Darke pointed out during today’s match, Wolves had not beaten the Gunners away from home since 1979, our average of nine shots on goal per match is our worst in the last 22 years, and a loss today would ensure our lowest point total through the first 10 matches of a season in the Premier League era.

Charlie Brown, Lucy, and a Football

I foolishly believed our early season defensive results would at least somewhat offset our offensive struggles, but if our loss to Leicester (who played without Jamie Vardy for nearly two-thirds of the match) wasn’t bad enough, today we somehow managed to concede twice in the first half to a Wolves side that had only scored two goals in an entire match just two other times all season. Even more damning, they did so today without their leading scorer. How much longer will Gooners and ownership give Arteta to turn things around?

Silver-ish Linings

This is a tough one. Sideshow Bob actually looked pretty good playing with a concussion through the end of the first half? We scored a goal from open play in the league for the first time since October 4th? Willian picked up an assist for the first time since Week One of the league season? We actually took more shots today than we averaged coming into today’s match? Perhaps Partey, Elneny, and Pépé will be available next week?

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Arsenal 2 – 1 Sheffield United

Déjà Vu

Admit it, in the fifth minute of the match, you too thought (knew?) David Luiz would be sent off for impeding Sheffield’s Oliver Burke. Luiz and Arsenal’s chances of winning all three points would have been the latest casualties of the all-unforgiving VAR. But alas, Luiz escaped without so much as a warning, and the sphincters of Gooners everywhere unclenched in unison.

Bang Bang

After a fairly lackluster first half from our Gunners, during the second half we struck twice within a span of just three minutes. The first goals of the season for Bukayo Saka and Nicolas Pépé, were welcome sights. For Saka and Pépé–who scored 6 goals over a combined 57 league appearances last season–hopefully this will provide them with a boost heading into the more challenging series of matches ahead.

Schizophrenia

Last week I mentioned the Murderers’ Row of upcoming fixtures for the Gunners. Well, what a difference a weekend makes! Manchester City recorded just two shots on goal in yesterday’s 1-1 draw with newly-promoted Leeds, league scoring leaders Leicester recorded ZERO shots on goal in a 3-0 loss at home to West Ham, and at the moment, 10-Man(chester) United–after Anthony Martial was sent off in the 28th minute–is losing 5-1 to Spurs. With City up next for the Gunners, will some combination of Sergio Agüero, Ilkay Gündogan, and Gabriel Jesus return to their Starting XI by the 17th?

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Liverpool 3 – 1 Arsenal

I Would Have Gotten Away With It . . .

Admit it, in the third minute of the match, you too thought (hoped?) Sadio Mane would be sent off for illegal use of hands to the face of Kieran Tierney. Mane and Liverpool’s chances of winning all three points would have been the latest casualties of the all-unforgiving VAR. But alas, VAR did not intervene, Mane was awarded (rewarded with?) a yellow, and the sphincters of Liverpool supporters everywhere unclenched in unison.

Go ahead – Admit it. After Mane’s rocket of a shot from point blank range in the box landed directly in the welcome arms of Bernd Leno and Trent Alexander-Arnold’s more speculative shot from distance deflected off a cringing Hector Bellerin and into the woodwork, you too began to think (hope?) that perhaps this was not Liverpool’s day.

And then the unthinkable happened. After a brilliant move against the run of play, Alexandre Lacazette scuffed a shot past the diving Alisson. 1-0 to the Arsenal. Tactical genius of the week Mikel Arteta had his counter-attacking mojo working once again.

. . . If It Weren’t For Those Meddling Kids

But less than three minutes later, Liverpool finally found the back of the net. And as they say, the rest is history. Strangely enough, today’s final stats were eerily similar those in Arsenal’s 2-1 win over the then newly-crowned champions in July. However, this time around Liverpool were not playing fresh off the hangover (both literally and figuratively) of winning the league, when in July’s match both Alisson and Virgil Van Djik made David Luiz-esque errors that the Gunners clinically pounced on that day. While I did not expect us to win today’s match, I also did not expect such a passive effort (e.g., we had just over half as many tackles today vs. in July’s league match). That said, the fact that we were still in the match until the 88th minute–when Liverpool newcomer Diogo Jota tacked on a goal after a poor clearance from Luiz–at least in part says something about the renewed spirit of Arsenal under Arteta.

More Questions Than Answers

Why did Gabriel not feature today? Honestly, I watched nearly the entire match in fear that at some point Luiz would take down at least one of Liverpool’s front three. How many times can you allow one of the best sides in the world to have that much possession and expect to win? A couple of incisive balls today from substitute Dani Ceballos exposed the cracks in Liverpool’s backline, so perhaps a bit more of an attacking edge was warranted (e.g., even newly-promoted Leeds put three past the champions in Week One of this season). How do we get Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang more touches in the final third? One can’t help but wonder what if the chances that Lacazette fluffed today had instead fallen to the more clinical Auba. Do we really have to be so dogmatic about playing out from the back? We dodged more than a few bullets today in Liverpool’s final third (e.g., when Rob Holding had his pocket picked by Mane on the edge of the box). How will our boys respond with winless Sheffield United up next in the league? The Blades will be desperate to pick up their first points of the year, and with City, undefeated Leiceister, and United to follow (gee thanks, Prem scheduling gods), we can’t afford to drop points against lesser competition if we hope to return to the Champions League next season.