How on earth do you recover from losing disastrously at home to Bournemouth in the Premier League whilst also handing to your bete noir the advantage psychologically they crave? Well for a start you get to your second successive Champions League Semi-Final, that’s what you do and meanwhile you double down on repairing your confidence.
Listening to Declan Rice after the game being interviewed on the pitch and negotiating some fairly regular and achingly dumb questions I was heartened to hear his responses and the resolve in his voice. So maybe the fightback does start here and now.
The crowd at yesterday’s tie vs Sporting was noticeably different from the agitated PL crowd we’d heard last weekend. This crowd stayed with the team and the team responded, but no not like they’d responded earlier in the season when everyone was fresher but they responded all the same.
Both teams tested each other out during those early exchanges but there was more of a zip about the Gunners. Arteta had brought both Mosquera and Hincapie into the back-four and both of them gave resolute performances. Eze began in midfield and generally brought his A- game with him, linking play and trying to progress the ball. The rest of the starting XI mirrored the previous match as Sporting looked to emulate the boys from Boscombe.
Around 13 minutes we had a scare when Hincapie inadvertently caught a Sporting player in the box but after a VAR check it was waved away probably because of the play acting of the lad from Lisbon. All the same I’d seen lesser challenges penalised so we rode our luck there. With 20 minutes on the clock I was alarmed to see the ball still being passed back to Raya too often again as the team continued to exhibit its lack of confidence. Madueke, who was creating and wasting in equal measures created a chance for Gyokeres but our top scorer screwed his shot high and wide, he should have done better.
Sporting were continuing where they had left off in Lisbon as in between some slick build up play they never lost their knack for the cynical foul stifling any Arsenal creativity, the French referee was as inconsistent as the German we had in the 1st leg.
With 27 minutes gone the Sporting goalkeeper had had a fairly uneventful evening then on 29 a smart pass by Eze via Zubimendi almost found Gyokeres but he got his feet mixed up and the chance was blocked.
With no shots on target by either side and Sporting showing more invention the crowd got agitated especially when Raya had another brain fart on 40 minutes, these are becoming a bit too frequent for my sanity. On 43 Sporting had possibly their best chance of the game when following some incisive passing they opened up the Arsenal back-four and a spectacular first time shot from the right of the penalty area saw the low shot fizz past Raya and fortunately for us hit the far post and stayed out. That jangled the nerves but Eze hit back as he created some space and stuck a rising drive that flew over the bar seconds before the break.
Half-Time 0-0
Sporting came out after the oranges looking to take the game to Arsenal, which suited us and the game opened up, slightly. On 49 Eze again found himself some space but he fired wide. On 56 Madueke again drove at his opposite number swerving past him and hit over a cross that eventually found it way to Martinelli who should have hit the target but he wastefully thrashed his shot over the bar. Gabby had done some sterling work defensively in the game but at the sharp end he was just as careless as ever.
Following that chance Arteta made his first change and took off the ineffective Gyokeres and on came Havertz and from then on the midfield and attack suddenly began to find some rhythm and connection. I don’t want to bash Viktor but maybe at this stage of the season we need a centre forward who retains possession and links up the play?
On 63 minutes Madueke was clattered yet again and after treatment needed to be replaced so on came Max Dowman. Max gave the Madueke assailants some interesting exposure to his wonderful and varied talents which, Heaven be praised, saw the Sporting left-back, he of the endless foul, finally given a yellow card. The referee also booked Arteta because he was complaining too much about the officials poor decision making, so no, it’s not just our lot…
65 minutes and Mosquera in chasing down the Sporting left-winger, brushed the Lisbon man on his back and of course he sprawled into the box, VAR waved it away but my heart was in my mouth. Arteta took off Eze and Martinelli for Jesus and Trossard on 79 minutes as we looked to game manage the last 10+ minutes. On 84 a dipping Dowman corner evaded everyone but Trossard could only hit the post with his header at the far stick, an on form Leo scores that!
Jesus had put in some hard graft when he came on playing a type of false 9, No.10 role, his link up play with Leo and Kai gave us the control we needed as the clock ran down. On 85 he won a corner after a smart spin and run at goal, then 4 added minutes went up and the Gunners negotiated it without too many hairy moments despite some desperate late attempts by Sporting, who I’m not 100% but I don’t think they had a shot on target.
We now face a double header with Atletico Madrid and their crazy manager, the 1st leg in Madrid will be 90 minutes of gamesmanship, play-acting and all the best cheating you could ever wish for from Argentina, so I hope we have a strong referee otherwise El Loco will referee it for him…
We March On….
**By Kev**