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From Freepik.
Morning all.
The painful conclusion to that chaotic game in Birmingham last weekend opened up all those old nagging concerns we have as Arsenal supporters, brought about by three years of heartbreaking near misses. On top of that, of course, fanning the flames was the usual suspects on line laughing at our expense, but it is what it is and their laughter these days is borne more out of relief rather than the disrespect we used to suffer. I can deal with that and I’m sure most of us can after the fact.
Yesterday our fatigued and injury hit squad traveled to the Low Countries to visit a club that had just sacked its manager and was actually in a crisis. On paper Arsenal should steamroller Club Brugge but football isn’t played on paper and Arteta was not taking his Flemish opponents lightly.
Mikel left a few key players at home with an eye on the weekend and giving them a much much needed rest. He went against the ‘play the under 21’s’ narrative and sensibly went with as strong a line-up as possible respecting the competition and his opposition.
We didn’t want to follow up the defeat at Villa Park with a catastrophic result in Belgium as that would have really set the alarm bells ringing. No, it was time to get back to being parsimonious at the back, resolute in midfield and more efficient in attack. With that in mind Arteta freshened up the attack and tweaked the midfield.
So in came Norgaard, but into defence to replace Timber, who was not in the squad and Myles also came into the back-four. In midfield there weren’t any surprises, Merino dropped in alongside Zubi and Odegaard, up front the pace and pressing ability of Noni, Viktor and Gabby M. On the bench Arteta brought the academy into the squad, Nichols, Salmon, Setford, Ethan and Copley. The 5th cavalry of Jesus, Saka, Eze and Calafiori joined the kids on the subs bench, just in case.
Despite the form of Brugge recently and the dismissal of their manager, the home fans created a strong atmosphere but as early as the 3rd minute Odegaard got off a good shot on target which their keeper saved. Around the 12th minute Madueke went down just outside the Arsenal box and as the physio was treating him the thought of ‘not again’ crossed my mind, but some strapping on his left hand did the trick, phew!
After about 15 minutes there were some early sparrings and promising moves which broke down following misplaced passes and Arsenal came close to taking the lead but Brugge were a threat on the break. At the back Arsenal seemed slightly disjointed but Zubimendi and Norgaard often swapped places with Zubi dropping in to ping the passes and the Dane pushing up to cover his midfield spot. It was very fluid but unfamiliar so there was a certain amount of holding ones breath.
On 21 the ball pin-balled around the Brugge box with both sides trying to get the right connection. It ended with a Hincapie shot that looked as if it would sneak in but it unfortunately didn’t. Then a few minutes later it seemed that Noni Madueke just thought ‘sod this’ and burst forward on a penetrating run from the wing and just inside the Brugge half. He shrugged off a couple of challenges and then just let fly from the edge of the penalty area. His shot flew in like arrow into the top right hand corner of the net with the Brugge keeper grasping at thin air and we relaxed, well relaxed a bit. Sometimes you’ve just gotta go for it and Noni did just that.
Arsenal almost made it 2-0 from a corner a few moments later as the rest of the half became slightly disjointed, Brugge came on strong later and Raya had to make some important stops. Up front Arsenal still lacked a cutting edge but Noni almost doubled his personal tally in added time. Half-Time 0-1
Arteta must have got into Gabriel Martinelli at the break because he had a great second half roasting the Brugge right-back who had spent most of the 1st 45 giving him digs into his back and trying to rough him up. But on 47, with the game not really going anywhere, Arsenal had an innocuous throw-in on their left in the Brugge half. The ball went to Zubimendi who bent in a lovely cross and arriving on the far post was Noni with a beaming smile to head home. Brugge looked stunned.
At 2-0 it was job done but Brugge kept going although their intensity dropped away, meanwhile Arsenal threatened to inflict more pain on the men from Flanders. 10 minutes later Martinelli again turned his marker into an origami figure and left him floundering as he cut across the face of the Brugge penalty area before dispatching a blistering drive inside the far post. That was that.
Cue game management and the walking wounded of Arsenal just strangled the life out of Brugge, slowing the game down, keeping possession and breaking forward when the occasion presented itself.
On 63 Calafiori replaced Hincapie and Jesus replaced Gyokeres. 10 minutes later Saka replaced Madueke and Nwaneri replace Odegaard.
Calafiori looked very comfortable at centre-back, something Mikel might take note of and Jesus was a constant nuisance to the Belgians. On 79 Jesus hit the bar after good work by Nwaneri. On 83 Marli Salmon at 16 made his debut in place on Ben White, another teenager given his debut by a manager who doesn’t like youth. Ironic isn’t it? Salmon was sporting the 89 shirt, a nice number to have. On 85 Jesus went close again, so pleased to have him back and in added time Nwaneri blasted a shot in that had goal written all over it but the keeper made a good stop.
So, we can forget about Villa now can’t we and that’s 6 Champions League matches, 6 wins and top of the table. Crisis, what crisis?
We march on….
**By Kev**