Arsene finally rewarded with a win on his 20 years milestone! by KM
Boom! Nobody saw that coming! Great day to all of you lovely Arsenal people! It’s truly time to celebrate, because it’s been a mear five years since we last beat Chelsea – with a Van Persie hat trick at the Bridge! We had a great performance and I’m sure lots of people will heap praise on our attacking players, so I’ll speak about our unsung heroes at the back.
What a game from Mustafi and Koscielny. Arsenal have had their problems with Costa since his arrival in English football, but on the day, our two CB were simply magnificent. There was always someone pressing Costa, even pushing him a little bit and they got him enraged while keeping a stone cold face. Brilliant if you ask me. I’m so pleased with Mustafi. We suffered so much with experiments in the back, but this could be a great CB partnernship.
Bellerin and Cech also produced that one moment of magic that saved our clean sheet. Did you see that pace to outrun Pedro? I really hope Bellerin learns from Cescs mistake and doesn’t go to Barcelona. By the way seeing him get subbed at minute 54 was also hilarious!
Moving upwards Coquelin got injured and Xhaka came on almost like some higher power heard the fan’s voice and the Swiss international slotted in perfectly. The funny chant “shoot” each time he touched the ball was really fun! Gibbs also was a good sub in my opinion, because Monreal was clearly struggling and there is an obvious dip in his form, especially how he moves too close to the CB and his flank got exposed.
Up front Theo is playing with a point to prove and it’s not about renewing his contract which is refreshing. The interchanging between him and Alexis as to who is our false 9 gave a clueless Chelsea defence lots of trouble. I wanted to see Perez come in for Iwobi and we just destroy Chelsea with pace, but instead we opted to close the game.
Still we had quite a few chances to humiliate them and we were sloppy and wasteful with them in all fairness. It should’ve been at least 4 or 5 but it’s been so long we’ve beaten Chelsea that I’d take any win. This game was huge for Arsene for a number of key reasons.
One is that a lot people including me, have questioned whether Arsene can compete with younger managers like Klopp, Pep and Conte. Well this time Arsene showed he’s maybe not done just yet. Another reason is that Chelsea is one of those many bogey teams Arsene has and the result was so important to break that negative stat against them.
The final big point is that against your direct opponents, you must win your home games. Mourinho won the title two years ago, by being ruthless at home against the big boys and happy with a draw away and it worked for him. We need to implement this too and today we were really good.
Finally, the season is long, City have made the perfect start, but there are at leas 5-6 teams that are real contenders for a top 4 spot, so we cannot afford sloppy mistakes any more as the quality in the league has no doubt improved. Last season we made 5 wins in a row and we were top on Christmas. We have 4 in a row now and a favorable fixture list. Can we take it further than 5 this time?
It’s a night to celebrate, so enjoy!
Konstantin
I just can’t stop watching repeats of the highlights. It even feels better than it did to beat united last season. the key now, as we all know, will be consistency, which often comes down to our injury problems. lets hope the team can stay fit and push on. Come on you Gooooners!
The part of the match I’ve been replaying was when Bellerin sprinted back to deny Pedro. Persistence. That sprint could have won an Olympic 100m gold. 🙂
COYG
Anytime I watch a replay of that, this Barca thing will come to my mind. I hope Hector B can be with us PERMANENTLY.
Best moments during the game:
1. All three 3 goals of high quality showing different sides to our game – pressing, tiki taka build up play, lightning fast counter.
2. Bellerin’s interception on Pedro (who himself is a speed demon) convinced me he could probably outrun Usain Bolt. That lad’s gold. And yeah, Usain better take Hector’s challenge.
3. Ozil’s Ronaldinhoesque no-look-pass after he had taken out a player with an Iniestaesque dribble on the counter. Sent shivers down my spine, made my head swell.
Sanchez also did a no-look-pass in the 18 box latter on.
4. SHOOT!, SHOOT!, SHOOT!. Is there a new player named “Shoot” on the team? When did we sign this guy? Cos he is very popular now!
5. Walcott screaming angrily at .. i can’t remember who.. because he didn’t get the ball to him where he was at a killer position in their box. I was like “this Theo is surely smelling blooood!”
6. That 3rd goal counter… After Ozil had broken Kante’s waist on the turn, I could see Alexis gesticulating to Ozil as if to say “don’t worry about me mate, you just keep running here so we can f^ck ’em up together, just me and you“. #PRICELESS!
Where’s Galen? Wrote a whole article about mesut being dropped and just thought people would forget? Give credit when and where it’s due my friend.
THANK YOU!!!
When we’re playing a game and losing, or when it seems we’re having a bad game, you see something like 100 comments before half time.
But when we’re beating a team like Chelsea -with a line up no one thought would work- you see only 18 comments or so! And few more praises by full time.
We should be careful lest we are consumed by negativity towards the team or anyone player in the team. Criticize when there is reason to. And bloody commend when it’s obvious the lad(s)’ done fine.
It doesn’t change the fact that we haven’t won the league in 12 years 🙂
I know! And it frustrates me too! Trust me.
It is an “inconvenient fact”… but one which we are about to change, it seems. Doesn’t it look like we are headed in the right direction?
We should be happy about this. We mustn’t let the negativity of times past lead us in to forgetting how to celebrate the team and the players.
Is it by negativity always that that fact will be changed Twig?
It is as if you were not happy at the end of the match as it did not afford you the opportunity to release you prepared negative comment even as you were not satisfied with the line up.
Encourage the boys and ginger them to win trophy for us, and trophies are won by winning matches one after another.
In fairness it’s well-documented that I don’t believe Ramsey should be in the middle of the field for us, but I will acknowledge when he plays well.
I must give theo credit. He’s been quite productive thus far this season. This new structure up top that gives Alexis the freedom to roam and theo the ability to make runs into the space he’s vacated has really benefited theo. Hopefully he can stay healthy and keep this going.
By the way, on Ozil..
Early last week, someone had wished that this was the game Ozil picks up form by going on a run of 7 assists in 7 consecutive games like he did last season.
I think we can comfortably say the first part of that Gunner’s wish has been fulfilled, albeit with Ozil getting a goal for himself rather than an assist.
So is it okay for us to expect that Ozil goes on a run of 7 goals in 7 consecutive games this season?? #OzilIsAGoona #OzilIsAscorer #YaGunnerYa
Oh yeah…. Watching the highlights is so cool. You just feel relaxed watching it. Lovely goals. I just love how Mustafi and Boss Kos held their own against the erratic Costa. Calm, cool and collected. Let’s build from here and maintain some level of consistency…
Well done @KM.
Great article. Criticize where there is a reason to. But give credit to whom it’s due. I like that you are flexible with your view on Arsene.
Perfect present for Arsene, truly. And he deserves it in every bit of way, cos he’s worked for it this time!
Benefit of sound business in the transfer window paying off. Team is rejuvenated and inspired, and the manager can express himself more tactically.
OT but why did West Ham get the Olympic Stadium on a free again? What have they done to be deserving of it? Makes me have even more respect for the Arsenal…
Mustafa and koscielny 》dynamic duo
Am glad that am one of the few who can post a comment on here after a victory without apology for a previous one.. anyway I’ll go on to say that ourbest performance have always come without ramsey, he is a good player but our philosophy and the way we want to play is beyond his ability even at his best.
Not a big fan of KM and his most of time unjustified hatred for our manager, but I have to give him credit where credit is due – Great Article!