Hi everyone, first of all I have to apologise for missing the Spurs v Arsenal game yesterday, I didn’t even get to watch it myself. We changed islands yesterday and rolled up at a new hotel in good time, but they had no internet at all! I was gutted and spent a few hours turning the laptop on and off! But they finally got it fixed this morning and I got to watch all the highlights at last, and then I was gutted all over again, especially at the missed penalty!
Anyway, I’ll try to make up for it today while the internet is on…..
There were very few people that tipped Arsenal to come away with the points against Tottenham yesterday, but they very nearly did so only to be thwarted in the last minute by Aubameyang’s missed penalty, although that should have definitely been retaken. We should have still been in front up until then as it was very obvious that there were at least three Spurs players offside just before Kane was awarded a penalty as well.
Unai Emery was not too unhappy with our performance and our mentality, but obviously had to point out that VAR could have made a big difference. He said after the game: “Good afternoon. I am proud of the players, of our work and then you can win, you can lose, you can draw like we did. But above all, we played like a team, feeling together and pushing individually and collectively. After the adaptation to the match was good, our moments in 90 minutes, they were strong for us to think that also we could win this match.
“Two months ago, I said to everybody that I think VAR is coming to help the referees. Today, for me, the referees were with a big personality, but it’s not enough for making the best decisions in difficult actions in the box for them and for us. I think VAR is coming to help them to be fair for a match like today. After, in 90 minutes, if you create chances and you score, you can win. They also created chances and our goalkeeper saved or they shot [off target]. But I think today that we played with a big collective spirit and tactically, I think we adapted well to battle them in our moments, also with transitions and some quality actions from our players. I am very proud of the players because after the 1-1 we got into their box to score the second goal and to win. This is the mentality that we want.”
It was a much more confident display from our players, and it was good to see, but I would have been happier to see all three points on the board!
Admin