There is not much that I keep more in life than that Arsenal does exactly the right amount of football in an afternoon to keep my BPM out of a heart attack.
You didn’t need any stress today, I didn’t need an aggro writing, Arteta understood the assignment and the boys gave us a very simple 2-0 win.
Arsenal gave 0.49 xg, another game that we gave under 1 xg. In total we only admitted 3 goals in the Premier League this season, only two in open play, and both goals came across the two best teams in the country outside Arsenal.
It’s time to beat our chest. Arteta has created the best defense in world football. We knew we were coming in the neighborhood, but this season, with the extra depth, I think we are finally there. Nobody has the density of quality players we have and it is not even close.
Arsenal put a clinic in control against West Ham, there was never really much threat to a team that could go down tomorrow. But there is always a danger with a new manager of bouncing, especially when the new manager has secret powers that sometimes disrupt the seasons of Arsenal.
From an offensive perspective, things start to evolve, because Arteta finally has the right types of players, in the right part. Matt said it on the AOP after the podcast:
“I don’t think Arteta has changed his thinking, he just has an option to attack more things.”
He rolled with Martin Odegaard and Eze in the same start 11, with Declan there for the Brawn. Of course it didn’t take long, because Odegaard was unfortunately to make his knee and take the record that he is the first player ever to be immersed in the first three home games of the season. I have seen people try to criticize him, namely Johnny on the podcast, and I think that is a coarse view. Three impact injuries is bad luck. You could see that he was absolutely furious with the Luck gods while he tried to run away. But that’s just how the world sometimes kicks you. You would hope that he contains the anger and it will take on the season when he will soon be back in the mixer. Arteta said this about the issue:
“We have not had him since the start of the season for some reason, the shoulder twice and then this injury. So we have to wait for the extent of that injury. We will find solutions, but our captain is clearly a player who gives us a completely different dimension with the things he can do, especially in attack. Let’s not so bad.”
But what happened? We have put forward Zubimendi. There were simply not those kinds of options last season. Arsenal now has access to the same number of players that Chelsea, City and LFC have had for years.
I am not sure if we can say that Arsenal has set up the biggest attacking versions, but after a Champions League match on Wednesday it is rarely perfect. We have created many opportunities and attacked their goal 21 times. Hitting the target was not entirely, only 5 of those 21 were a target threat, but in this phase of the season I am just looking for positive signs that we are working on a playing style that is unpredictable and fun to watch.
We have that, but we also get it over the line. The first goal was thanks to a Declan Rice Half-Volley in an empty just that arrived after Eze forced a parried rescue of Areola.
The care that I took the peace was that Arsenal was fine last season, but we did not kill enough matches. Well, we did against West Ham, it came through a penalty that deserved wood. Saka made it quite clear that he is still the big dog in Arsenal, so Viktor remained at a distance. The finish was quality and corresponded to the performance of our winger.
Don’t know if I read too much, but it seemed that West Ham players leaned on our players like a heavyweight boxer on an opponent to remove their energy. Saka let Paqueta hang with him for large pieces of the game, but he invented manners and he looked really threatening. I thought some of the attacking movements we created were really exciting. Finish was not entirely, nor the control in certain areas, but you can see where we are working.
Calafiori still had a striking version, the man is such a strange talent. He just does what he likes? He doesn’t look like he can dance through a line, but he just constantly does it, disturbing the game, tearing defenders from positions and creating space and moments for others. He really was a pleasure to look at, and all the compliments for Arteta because they played him for about 70 minutes every match to keep his body.
Declan Rice had a really good match, he scored a great goal and dominated midfield. Just a pity that he left with a complaint that looked like a back injury or a kind of hip tax. We are really not lucky with injuries, which is deeply frustrating, but it seems to be part of how to deal with a season. Good news is that Kai will soon be on the grass again, just like Hincapie and Madueke.
I am not sure what I can say about the performance of Gyokees, we are now in a world where his disciples work very hard to convince people who are external goals, shots and creating opportunities really, very important. I’m just not going to push such agendas, we had exactly the same with Gabi Jesus and Kai Havertz. We need more than hardwork. Hopefully it will come, but everyone who positions that outing as something other than forgotably forgotably, the propaganda machine works for attributes that we already had with Kai at a higher level. I want to goals, goals, goals, goals. He has to do better, especially against teams in the lower third part of the competition that deserve it completely to be there.
So we are top of the competition, joint best defensive record, joint top goal scorers, the most points, and to think, just a few weeks ago, a fight with people who thought that Arteta could not go from second to first. Stupid comment that happens much too early in a season, from people with extremely weak knees.
Liverpool lost their third game of the season and they all happened successively. The loss of Chelsea was beautiful for many reasons. Their fullbacks look another mess, Virgil was roasted for pace, Salah does not do the work needed for the team, the manager always looks very angry and they were done beyond the 95th minute for the second game in a row. What does you say about mentality?
Not much. But it shows you that the shameful happiness that their run has fueled, maybe sputtred. Things don’t look. Football is bad. Their record figing do not start games or looks good. The operation looks sick. Is it a hot take to say that I am more worried about Man City this season?
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West Ham (H) On the whistle (early bird)
Arsenal is again on top of the competition and the vibes are flawless. Johnny and Matt are breaking a smooth, drama-free victory over West Ham Af-performing the kind of performance that Arsenal has been missed in the past seasons.
#Arsenal #Boogeyman #defeated