Well that was a pleasant surprise. A really hard working win, away against a team that is lauded for their organisation and solidity. It was a victory based more on endeavour than skill, but as Mikel says, that type of endeavour is non-negotiable if we are to get consistent results. He is clearly starting with the base before he starts putting on any icing. His philosophy is possession-based free-flowing attacking football, so I am happy to wait for it to emerge.

We scored two good goals and restricted them to one shot on target. No one can legitimately suggest that we didn’t both earn and deserve the victory.

Luiz, Mustafi and especially Xhaka, were magnificent. This isn’t an exaggeration, much as it must infuriate the hissy fit brigade.

No point me going over events you will all have seen, so I’ll just point out a few things that I think went slightly under the radar.

Tierney struggled. Now a I know he’s flavour of the month, but he really does struggle with his positioning when trying to stop his winger. He looks much better going forward than defending, something I’m sure he and Mikel will get right. His attitude seems exemplary.

AMN made a huge difference when he came on, at left back. Yes, left back! He is way more talented than he gets credit for. We rightly wax lyrical about Saka’s versatility, but Ainsley’s seem to go unheralded.

Aubameyang puts in an unbelievable shift, but his hold-up play and passing leaves much to be desired, that won’t change at his age, and maybe explains why Arteta is reluctant to play him as CF? Let‘s not forget though how brilliant he is on the left. It’s not like we lose his goals.

Saka, despite his fantastic goal, struggled on the right. He got better but it was still a struggle. It seems he was shoehorned into the eleven but even if he was, it can only help with his development. He is a mouthwatering prospect.

Sead is terrible at passing the football.  I know Mikel is desperate to have a left-footed CB, but he can’t be other than a very short term solution.

Ok, that will do from me, have a lovely Sunday and be careful out there.

Pedantic George.

That was a very pleasing win against a very generous Norwich team.

Both of Abameyang’s goals were gifts from the visitors. The first when he closed down Krul and pinched the ball from his toes. He took the ball by accident with his trailing leg, but hey, you have to buy a ticket if you want to win a raffle. His second came courtesy of a fine cross field pass into  him in the box, by the Norwich centre forward, but he dispatched it ruthlessly, nice finish. In between times he provided an assist from which Xhaka(more on him later)lashed the ball in under Krul.

Cedric rounded the evening off with left foot screamer, and a very satisfactory evening it was, following on from the satisfaction of Saka signing a new long term deal in the afternoon. A great day all around.

The game itself showed us to be improved on what we’ve see since the restart, but, and I hate to use this cliche, it was only Norwich, They can’t buy a win and are comfortably the easiest team in the league to beat.

That said, Mustafi, Luiz, Sead, all had good games. Tierney and Hector look good at wingback/wide midfield and Ceballos had a decent game as well. And so to Xhaka.

Here is what Arteta had to say about our former, and real, captain after the game.

On whether Granit Xhaka has come full circle from his difficulties…
“Absolutely. He’s a player whose commitment goes beyond anything normal. He leaves every drop of blood on that football pitch every day and he does the same in training. For me, he’s a great example to any other team-mate, the way he looks after himself and lives his profession. I’m really happy that we could convince him to stay, give him another opportunity, learn from the mistake that he made and as well appreciate the player and the person that we have at the club, and support them. When someone has a difficult moment, we are right behind them. We can give them another chance.”

“happy that we could convince him to stay” 

That was following the disgusting treatment from a large section of the fans, both in the stadium and on-line, when he quite rightly told them to F*CK OFF*, several times.

The current explanation from the idiots that couldn’t see what a great player he is, for him being very good and our most important player, is that he’s improved under Arteta. Frankly that is bollocks. He has always been very good, in fact statistically this is his worse season at the club.

I also saw this on twitter from our friend Ehab

Xhaka isn’t that flawed He lead the league in passing, passing accuracy, touches 3 out of 4 years, never lower than 3rd He made 6 errors leading to goals in 5 years, 4 of which he lost the ball after the final 3rd. He gave away 5 pens He is 3rd amongst CMs in tackles/blocks

Despite the evidence, and him being first choice in MF by 4 Arsenal managers, there are those still clinging to the wreckage of their sunken arguments. It seems these people would rather continue to look stupid, than admit that they were previously stupid.

So a reminder of some things I’ve said previously, I love a bit of “I told you so”

Good morning you happy lot.

Arsenal progressed to the semi final of the FA Cup via Sheffield, where we have the dubious pleasure of being passed to death by Pep’s City. More on that nearer the time, let’s enjoy getting there first.

A late late winner is always a thing of joy, somehow it just lifts the spirits more. It also makes you forget the game, which quality wise, is a good thing. It wasn’t that we played badly, it was just a poor game , neither side providing much in terms of fluency or skill, but the effort was there from both teams. It’s changed days I suppose, where we now celebrate effort and endeavour because there is little else on show. But at least it is now on show.

So lets, in he spirit of the blog, look at the positives.

We won.

Only one minor injury to Luiz.

Xhaka yet again demonstrated that he is, by a distance, our most important player, goodness knows what we would look like without him, although when he doesn’t play trough injury, we do know. We can’t buy a result without him.

Tierney demonstrated how well he plays when fit, some people had him as MOTM, he was good, but I can’t remember one of his crosses finding an Arsenal player, so MOTM might be a stretch.

Young Saka again showed his class and versatility, what a player he wil be, let’s just hope it’s for us?

Pepe also did well, he took a fine penalty and was heavily involved in the winning goal having the good sense to leave the ball for Ceballos to take it off his toe and score. That was a nice finish too. In my opinion having the composure to take good penalties gives an indication of how composed a player is likely to be given a decent chance, and I think Pepe will have no problem turning chances into goals.

I was also impressed by AMN, I hope he sees sense and declares a willingness to play as wing back, if he gets more game time it might see him given a shot in his favoured CM position, you never know.

There was another good performance for Mustafi, another player that has turned his fortunes around under Mikel. On that, there is a decision to be made about Shkodran, it’s reached the point on his contract, where we either stick or twist. We have to really sell him or extend him (if he is willing to stay), his performances deserve a new deal, but the memory  of his horrible gaffs in the past, loom large in the fanbase. That’s a tricky one, but given his resale value will be modest, I’d tend to favour an extension, it’s unlikely he will be  first choice, but with no fee involved, he could be useful going forward.

Finally, I though Martinez was excellent, he has waited a long time for this chance and he appears to be making the most of it. I just hope that if he proves to be as good as he has looked, we might struggle to keep him as a 2nd choice. If Bayern want Leno then perhaps…………………………………..no lets not go there today.

So there we are, quite a few positives today. However, I have to say that we were outplayed in the entirety of the second half by a very average team. In the dying minutes Billy Sharp could well have scored and we would likely have been dumped out, but we would have played exactly the same game, we would then have been really unhappy with the performance we are today, happy with. Many fans are fooled by a result, but then again, many fans are just fools.

Thanks for coming and reading, see you soon

Pedantic George.

Arsenal faced Southampton under a blazing hot sun but started the match cold. They were initially nervous on the ball and unable to maintain possession. Fortunately, this lasted only about 5 minutes. For virtually the entire match after, the players were comfortable passing the ball out even under pressure.

A returning Xhaka showed us some of what we’d been missing with a super through-ball that found Saka’s run from deep. Eddie finished the move by putting the ball in the net but it was chalked off for offside. A long ball from Tierney also sent Auba through on goal, only for him to strike the bar via McCarthy’s thumb. Unlucky or a great save. But a few minutes later the goalkeeper committed a grave error. Under very little pressure, he casually played a pass straight to Nketiah who ran through to score in the open goal. 1-0 to the Arsenal.

Southampton troubled us with a dangerous cross, and one through ball that was cut out by Mustafi. But apart from that, they weren’t creating much. Arsenal were in control without being spectacular. A couple of promising counter attacks came to nothing, and the referee brought the first half to a close.

Second–half battle

The Saints came out in the second half more determined to make a game of it, and they put together a great move. We were fortunate that Bertrand’s cross didn’t find its intended target, and a long range shot is all that came from it. Arsenal responded with a fantastic long kick from Emi to pick out Auba, whose square pass would’ve led to an easy tap in if it wasn’t cut out by the defender.

All the same, Southampton were posing an increasing threat and Arsenal kept dropping deeper. A period of poor concentration and an injury had us under pressure, and Arteta decided to make a change. Willock came on for Pepe, while Kola for the melting Scotsman was a straight switch. Southampton kept coming at Arsenal though. A cross found Redmond in a dangerous position, but he shot into the side netting. Shane Long had a shot on goal from a ball over the top. Martinez made the save, and managed to gather the ball before an onrushing Ings could get a foot in.

Arsenal made their final batch of substitutions to bring on Lacazette and AMN in place of Nketiah and Ceballos. Soon after, Auba ran through on goal from a careless Southampton backpass and was brought down just outside the box. A red card to Stephens for denying a goalscoring chance, and Lacazette stepped up to take the free kick. He hit it against the wall, but followed it up with a powerful snapshot on the rebound. The GK managed to block the shot with his body, but could do nothing when Willock followed up and scored from the loose ball. Arsenal managed to play out the remaining few minutes easily enough. 2-0 and job done.

The Shape(s):

Our burned bananas came in all shapes and sizes today (Macey is a GIANT) It was fascinating to see all the formations we used in this game. The idea seems to have been to overload on our left flank, which we did.

At various points we were playing a 523, 424, 541, or some strange 432 +1 where Saka was a roaming left flank presence with no fixed position. With so many changes in different phases of the game, and substitutions, we could easily have become disjointed, but the transitions were seamless and the gameplan effective.

We were defensively sound and never caught short of numbers at the back. We were always dangerous on the counter. And the overload caused Southampton problems, especially in the first half.

It wasn’t the most spectacular performance. After all, we got somewhat lucky with both goals. There will be tougher opponents and matches played at a quicker tempo, which might present a sterner test. But I am hugely encouraged by what I saw from Arsenal today. A gameplan for the future.

Miscellaneous bullet points:

• Speaking of the future, how great is it that both goals were scored by our academy graduates. Nearly half of our 20 man squad came from the youth system.
• Martinez was really good today. Not the busiest day for him but some of his passes were brilliant. Made the saves that he needed to, and was generally very assured. Long may that continue, and I am very happy for him.
• Arsenal were much more robust in the tackle. Great controlled aggression with the possible exception of Saka, who was almost reckless. A different referee might even have sent him off.
• Rob Holding’s performance and hairline both say he’s the next Steve Bould.
• Tierney’s formal stand-at-ease in the tunnel before the second half is funny but endearing.
• Hassenhutl suddenly aged 10 years at the final whistle. Weird.
• Not as weird as the fact that Liverpool have won the Premier League. Congratulations to them.

 Written by: Shard. Find him on twitter @shardgooner