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Set Piece FC keep the points coming against United

Suburban Gooners Logo Suburban Gooners Logo That’s three in a row in the Premier League now and after an initially poor / average first half, Arsenal turned it on in the second to secure all three points at home to a United team who are certainly more structurally organised under Amorim than under Ten Haag.

The Portuguese manager had said there would be ‘pain’ in the opening part of his tenure and I’d talked about how he was clearly trying to remove any pressure from his team ahead of this tough task for them at The Emirates. We’d been bagging goals for fun since the international break and so he would have been very mindful of a football match that could end up with us running away with it if they were too open. So he set his team up to control more of the ball, although I think Amorim probably didn’t expect us to be as passive as we were, if I’m honest.

I reflected on this with Nick who I sit next to; we were not pressing with the same intensity as Sporting or West Ham last weekend. It was almost as if Arteta had told his team to hold back a little bit because we haven’t really sussed them out. Of course we were missing a couple of key players in Gabriel and Calafiori, but our back line in that first half largely coped fine with a negligible threat that Man United offered. This was two teams who shadow boxed with each other in that first half, which I have to admit was frustrating, because United probably couldn’t have been happier that we were willing to do that in the opening 45.

We did fashion a pretty good chance with Martinelli swivelling inside the box from a deflected Zinchenko shot, but that felt like the sum of our parts and when the halftime stats came up in the concourse that we’d had three shots and none on target and United had two (again, none on target), it felt like a bit of a nothing first half. Odegaard had misplaced a pass or two, Saka wasn’t getting enough space to run at Malacia, plus we didn’t get to see Martinelli make enough of the ‘out to in’ runs that you’d expect against a team playing with a back three and missing players.

We needed a second half reaction.

We got one.

Sure, it wasn’t from open play that we secured this victory, but they all count. If you tell me we’re going to win every game between now and the end of the season 1-0 and score a penalty in each one, I’m taking it. So set pieces were the order of the day once again and the team delivered once more, despite the absence of the main man Big Gabriel. Jurrien Timber’s near post flick was precise and no more than he deserves for what he is serving up for us each week this season. He was once again brilliant and in the second half when Zinchenko picked up a yellow for a silly mistake and was being run at by Amad on the right wing, Arteta simply pulled Timber in to play left back and Amad was pretty quiet thereafter.

The second half was a much better display and even without the set pieces, I’d wager we’d still have broken the deadline, because after the first 45 Arteta had seen enough to work out Amorim’s approach and he altered our playing style accordingly. That’s what I love about Arteta – his in game ability to change things – and he acted and we eventually did the business as Set Piece FC cranked the gears to pick up the second. In an age of so much concern, it’s nice to have something positive to chuckle about, so the fact it came off Saliba’s arse from a Partey knock back was funny and brilliant. On the final whistle you could see Gabriel having a bit of banter with his centre back partner and you could tell he was saying words to the effect of “that’s not how you do it! LOLZ”.

It certainly isn’t, but nobody affiliated with Arsenal will care one jot. We picked up the three points, we were deserved winners, all of the metrics showed this was a United team who didn’t really have a sharp end and that has been something that has been the case for them all season, by the looks of it. They fashioned one chance from a free kick that David Raya made a very good save on, but that was pretty much it for them and we march on with another three points. And with Liverpool dropping two against Newcastle, it means that gap is reduced to seven points, making it a pretty positive night overall. The relentlessness of a title charge means that this win will be quickly parked as we look ahead to Fulham in a couple of days, but for now we can certainly bask in the fact that an old foe has been vanquished and we’re still up there chasing Liverpool. Chelsea have knocked us off second on goal difference after they beat a woeful Southampton down to 10 men for most of the game, but that was always going to be expected so I don’t think there’s much to talk of there. We have to focus on ourselves, we have to keep doing what we’re doing and then we’ll see how we are shaping up come Christmas. There’s a lot more work to do for this Arsenal team before we can claim that we’re clawing ourselves back in to the title race.

And to be fair to them, when you listen to the Rice interview afterwards, that’s how the Arsenal players are thinking too. They know that there’s a long way to go and a steep mountain to climb because of Liverpool’s excellent start. So talk of the title just isn’t worth it at this stage. Rice was man of the match yesterday though, which is good because a few have wondered what has happened to him this season, but he stepped up in a big way and in a big game. I thought he was great against West Ham, then brilliant last night and if we’re getting him back to his best now and for this hectic run in, then that will be pivotal for us I’d wager.

Onwards to Fulham, where we need some revenge from last season, so let’s hope the players bring it.

Catch you tomorrow.

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Gooner born in 1982 from Harlow, Essex, now living in Uxbridge. I say what I see - frequently wrong, but hey, it's just an opinion piece, right? Leave a comment and let me know what you think.