Arsenal vs Brentford match report
Mikel Artea and his Arsenal squad travelled made the short trip over to Brentford to face off for game week 12 of the Premier League season. Arsenal walking away 1-0 winners after a tough game against the Bees and fly to the top of the table for the first time this year, going a point clear of Manchester City after they dropped points in the draw with Liverpool earlier.
The game started off looking pretty even, with Brentford setting up in a 5-3-2 formation and were looking to lock down the backline and stayed strong defensively throughout the game and were really well set up tactically. They were pressing the Arsenal players hard and fast and were doubling up on them when in their own halves.
Ramsdale started the match as David Raya was ineligible to play due to still being on loan from Brentford and the English keeper started off the game looking pretty shaky. Making some bad decisions trying to pass out from the back and on two occasions nearly opened up the goal for Brentford to score, the first one only saved by Declan Rice who made an incredible goal line clearance and kept Arsenal on equal terms.
Just before half time the ball was seen to be pin balling all over the box and landed on the head of Gabriel Jesus who headed the ball towards the goal, only to be saved and cleared by the Brentford keeper but only as far as Leandro Trossard who headed the ball into the back of the net. He thought he’d put Arsenal in front but VAR later ruled it offside and the half ended 0-0.
The second half started out a lot like the first and each team had their chances, but were both set up well tactically and were both defending well. Ramsdale started to look a lot more comfortable and we started to come settle into the game more, having a lot of the ball and a lot of chances but weren’t clinical enough when having a shot.
Arteta looked to his bench late in the second half and brought on both Eddie Nketiah and Kai Havertz to try bring a bit more energy and something different and almost instantly Havertz was seeing a lot of the ball and linking up play well.
In the 79th minutes Bukayo Saka spotted Havertz running towards the back post and whipped an almost perfect cross into the box and to the back post where Havertz was waiting to head the ball down into the net, putting Arsenal 1-0 up and scoring his second goal for the club.
Walking away with all three points and climbing to the top of the League, putting Arsenal in a great position going forward as we look for silverware.
What’s your thoughts on the Brentford game Gooners?
Daisy Mae
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Ramsdale had a shocking first half, got some self reflection at half time, had a fantastic second half and got mobbed by his teammates after the final whistle. What a team. We have 2 excellent GKs. Zinchenko lost excess weight and look like a proper athlete. He conquered that midfield with the indispensable Declan Rice. And there is no way through of the moving wall of Gabriel and Saliba. Kai Havertz came and showed his worth. Squad depth can’t be more essential in coming days. There are 6 important games in 18 days now. All the best to the boys.
Excuse me? Did you actually claim that “Zinchenko lost weight”?
Where from exactly? Perhaps he had a haircut and shed one hundredth of an ounce? I have heard everything now!!
I had not realised you thought him to be BILLY BUNTER!
ZINNY IS, AND WAS BEFORE, AS LEAN AS A PIKE STAFF.
One thing for sure, the debate on where the big German should play will continue.
Clutch tightly under his arm the gaffer drag the 24 year old to the away section, ensuring the £65 mill man was central to Arsenal win celebration.
The game started out evenly with some shaky performance from Ramsdale who grew in his performance, in a nut shell the game was bill for the under pressure Englishman and the much maligned big German.
A fairly accurate summation of how the game played out Daisy,and I think we did deserve to win, JUST ABOUT!
But why no mention of the awful fare served up by our team?
For all, save only the last late spell, when the game finally opened up , we looked shot shy, scared to pass the ball quickly, no interchanging of static players and it was a COMPLETELY STATIC team shape.
Yes, I know that briefly Martinelli was found on the right wing, but there was NO apparent urgency at all ,til those late subs.
I thought it dreadfully BORING and consider it, by a distance, our worst performance this season.
Thank God for Rice, our two CB’S and Tomi. Every other starter should hang his head in shame, esp Jesus who was invisible, and to me it seems ironic that we now sit top of the Prem.
We MUST improve dramatically from yesterdays debacle, OR ELSE City and Liverpol will power away from us into the distance. REALITY!
You certainly sugar coated our woeful play!
Debacle? What debacle Jon? We controlled the game against a lowblock team Brenford and collected the needed 3 points you called that debacle? All top 4 teams have had difficult games here on this ground. After the international break, when we usually play bad.
It seems Arteta has exchanged our open, dynamic, slick passing and movement style of play from last year.
Now we are far more pragmatic, slow build up, and put a priority on possession instead of overwhelming opponents with movement and direct attacks.
I would prefer a happy medium between the two, but I’m speaking as a fan and not a manager. We continue to amass points, but the matches are not nearly as enjoyable on the eyes as last year.
Rather than the thrilling play of slick passing and movement, on the front foot keeping you on the edge of your seat, we have changed.
We see a more reserved, pragmatic, and slow grind of probing and wearing down opponents before capitalizing.
However, we win, we move on, we shall see which philosophy is better.
Excellent and well observed post that I doubt ANY intelligent fan could possibly argue against. For myself I am thrilled and I MEAN that word, that after very many years of having either duff CB’s, mostly from Wengers last decade and a number of well known shirkers staying at the club and in the team, some long term too, thatwe now, at long last, have a team all pulling so plainly together in pursuit of success.
I was pleased to see those who patted RAMSDALE on the back when he made that last minute catch and thus encourage him , esp as he had made two bad, nervous, errors early on.
Likewise with HAVERTZ after his goal and after the game too. This is heartwarming, in contrast to those who constantly write nonsense about MA having a “favourites”, an “agenda” or even, from the most daft on here, “an ego”.
.
HOWEVER, it is plainly true, as you say, that our flowing football of last season has GONE and is now replaced by a pragmatic and even boring style play.
I thought the Brentford game was APPALLING, if you look for entertainment , as I DO.
As you say , we are still developing and to me I WILL BE SURPRISED IF WE COME ANYWHERE BUT THIRD, neither higher nor lower IMO.
We have not the squad depth of CITY, nor the exciting attacking strikers talent of Liverpool AND City. We have a formidable defence, though we rely so very much on SALIBA and RICE staying fit all season for that. Other defenders too but ESPECIALLY those two giants. So fingers crossed, tempered with mature realism .
Third place then for me, just POSSIBLY SECOND THOUGH, and hopefully a cup, which I much doubt can be the CL.
We should also bear in mind that most teams last year didnt expect us to be at the top so were quite open against us… this year as one of the favourites its a different game alotgher
While no player delivered an exceptional performance, I cannot help but admire the team’s relentless determination to secure victory, persisting until the final minute. Top of the league, without getting anywhere near top gear, no complaints.
Up the Villa!
The match was predictably awful to watch, as are many of our matches these days. We are just so slow and ponderous in possession this season. I am not a fan of Arteta or his tactics but last season we were good defensively (mostly) and exciting in attack. No doubt our defence is just as good if not even better this season, but quite a lot of that feels as much luck as judgement.
Robert and Soccer boy, Just goes to show how various fans see things so ENTIRELY differently.
I stand firmly by my comments and IF I had to watch games like THAT, all the time and no other with any entertainment, I would not bother watching football at all.
Indeed the bore factor that is so common, is why I rarely watch international football. It is mostly as boring as reading many of the “bland, say nothing” posts on JA. I would love to know do you both consider our football anywhere near as entertaining as this time last season?
You KNOW my opinion but you have not said yours yet.
Jon, I’m feeling both bored and frustrated with our current style of play, especially considering the entertaining performances we enjoyed last year. Honestly, my loyalty to watching Arsenal isn’t solely about being entertained; it’s ingrained in my DNA to watch, whether we win, lose or draw.
It’s really desperately poor, isn’t it, Jon? I will always watch Arsenal games but right now the anticipation of them doesn’t fill me with joy, more like the expectation of 90+ mins of tedium and frustration.
As much as I thought Rice was outstanding yesterday, I do think we’re badly missing a partey-type player for that 6 role. I think that is the main reason our attacks looked slow and we struggled to break them down to the extent that we did – they defended well and we would have struggled anyway, but it was too much yesterday. We miss the playmaker who can quickly spot and accurately play the key passes to get our attackers into truly dangerous positions, before everyone is lined up and things stagnate. We might have fared better with jorginho tbh.
It’s funny how it works sometimes – in trossard, martinelli, Saka, odegaard and jesus, we had all of our best attacking players out there, and you’d think that would only make our attack more dominant and difficult to deal with, but i think it caused congestion as they mostly lined up against their back line, which meant they didn’t have much space to move into, and we didn’t have the passer to get them into the areas they wanted to be quickly enough.
Rice is kind of a facilitator imo – he’s brilliant defensively and is great at getting forward and making himself available for a pass, and he makes *very* few real mistakes, but imo we need a specialist DM-playmaker for the holding midfielder position in our team. Rice should be an 8.
At home I want Arsenal to dominate, entertain and win, but away from home I don’t care, all that matters are the points. If we win every away game 1-0 then I prefer pragmatism over entertainment.
All I want is for us to win. Where did the entertainment get us last season?
without Partey we are top.. but lacking in creativity and a bit boring. Maybe we have a youngster that can fill the role along with Odegaard.. Liked the scene with MA
dragging Kai to the fans, overjoyed by the result !!