Morning all.
Arsenal welcomed one of the most dangerous, resilient and consistent teams from La Liga to North London yesterday evening, a damp, wet evening at that. Considering Arsenal’s participation in the Champions League over the past 25 years it’s odd that we’ve never faced Atletico before. Both clubs have met in the UEFA Cup where we lost 1-2 on aggregate in 2018.
The manager of Atletico has a kind of legendary status, not least because of his refusal to move anywhere else. Atletico is his club and he isn’t shifting anytime soon. Mikel Arteta had already commented on his anticipation at facing Diego Simeone and that’s because Arteta thrives when contesting his ability against the best in the game and Simeone is definitely falls into that category.
Atletico know how to manipulate opponents and win games from the minimum of opportunities and with that in mind Arteta made two changes from the weekend, cavalier Calafiori was replaced by the more pragmatic Myles Lewis Skelly and Trossard dropped out for the hardworking Martinelli, signalling an approach to Atletico’s street-wisery and a match up in the dark arts. This game was going to be fascinating but not full of flowery football. Piero ‘Winterburn’ Hincapie was on the bench and I really wanted to see him in this game because he was made for these kinds of contests.
But I was wrong, because what I thought would be a cagey affair was nothing of the sort as Arsenal went for it from the off imposing their style onto Atletico. As early as the 4th minute Arsenal should have taken the lead as an Eze shot was deflected and spun past the helpless Oblak but onto the bar, the ball eventually ended up at the feet of the normally reliable Declan Rice but his accuracy deserted him and he hit his shot wide. No problem, Arsenal just continued their high intensity game and even though occasionally Atletico looked dangerous on the break the pressure was relentless.
10 minutes after the Eze shot he was again involved. The masterful Saka drove into the box but his shot was deflected to Ebs who found Myles on the edge of the area, he drove past the Atletico defenders in his way and put in a delightful cross into box but nobody could connect. A few minutes later another great Eze pass found Saka bursting into the box but Oblak saved.
Two seasons ago David Raya came charging out of his goal and caused Gabriel to lose possession which in turn led to Bayern scoring a goal in a crucial game and he almost did it again as his attempt to play left-back whilst challenging an Atletico player left his goal wide open which in turn led to a quick Atletico restart where Simeone junior almost scored in our empty goal but thankfully Junior put his shot wide, just. That was during a period when Atletico came into the game strongly. The Gunners defence was severely tested during this period but didn’t buckle then on 36 minutes Zubimendi won yet another crunching tackle and put Saka away. Bakayo surged into the box yet again and slid a perfect crossfield pass to Martinelli, who scored but he had just gone too quick and was offside. This game reminded me a little of Real Madrid last season, Arsenal’s first half domination not resulting in goals. Half-time 0-0.
Arsenal initially started the 2nd 45 a tad slowly and Alvarez almost opened the scoring when he turned inside an Arsenal defender and with Raya grasping air bent a lovely curling shot onto our bar, too bloody close for comfort that one. Then on 53 minutes Gyokeres was almost in after good work by Eze but the enormous Oblak smothered his shot.
Finally the dam was breached on 56 when a free kick expertly delivered into the box by the amazing right foot of Declan Rice and was headed home by the equally amazing King of Brazil. Oblak got his fingers to it but he couldn’t stop it and the party began. That free kick had been awarded for a foul on Martinelli who was having one of his best games for many a month.
Just after we had gone ahead, Atletico almost struck back when Simeone Junior shot wide leaving his Dad looking as if he was going to cry. Another close call and I thought we needed to slow the game down and make some subs but fortunately Mikel doesn’t take any notice of me. Atletico made 3 subs but the killer came on the 64th minute, Myles Lewis Skelly picked up the ball on the halfway line and just drove past three Madrid players before laying on the perfectly weighted pass to Martinelli who fired across Oblak and into the far corner. Again Oblak got fingertips to the shot but it wasn’t his night. The Emirates exploded.
Then between the 67th and 70th minutes our hardworking and much maligned centre forward silenced the haters as the Eze/Martinelli combo set Viktor up and he scored a scruffy goal, which is exactly what we want and need from him. I’m not interested in aesthetics, I’m interested in the ball hitting the back of the net. Then another Exocet corner from Rice found Gabriel careering onto the ball at the far post and he headed the ball back for Viktor to score with his thigh, the perfect finish for me and the stadium went full party mode.
The teams’ celebrations told me what they think of their introverted Swedish centre forward, he just gets on with his job minus any histrionics and they fully appreciate the job that he does and so did the crowd that got behind him for the entire game.
There was still time for Ethan Nwaneri to clear a deflected cross off of the line from under the bar with Raya beaten and make a full-blooded tackle in added time to stop a turnover. It was good to see Arteta use his squad again with Mosquera (Gabriel), Nordgaard (Zubimendi), Nwaneri (Eze), Merino (Gyokeres) and White (Timber) all coming on and contributing, finishers all of them.
For Atletico this result equalled their worst ever defeat in the European Cup/Champions League and for Arsenal, we march on…
By Kev
Morning Kev, all.
Excellent post Kev, one of your best.
It’s amazing how one minute we are deemed to be too negative, the next we’re considered Champions League favourites. How fickle people can be.
Arsenal were brilliant. Defensively incredible, patient and such a pleasure to watch. Our set pieces might be the topic of ridicule at times but it wasn’t that long ago Man Utd and Beckham were lauded for their set pieces. Rice’s dead ball delivery is up there with some of the best in the game.
Morning Gooners, morning Rico and thanks, yeah Arsenal can’t win with the pundits but I don’t care, I turned the volume down yesterday evening because I got sick of Alan Shearer talking shite, but in the end we got the job done, the fans in the stadium were great, there were a few moments when it could have gone wrong but once we scored the 2nd goal we looked like scoring a hatful. There were quite a few impressive score lines around Europe yesterday but ours will have been noted.
He changed his tune second half Kev and was quite complimentary about us..
Good morning Rico and all.
Excellent match report Kev. I enjoyed reading it.
Anyone can score with whatever part of the body they want…they all count as one…. whether it’s one like Zubimendi’s missile or VG14’s thigh. He could have scored with his third leg for all I care. Ad long as they go in.
Make no mistake, yesterday could have been a hiding. Simeone knows that Arsenal could have scored more
He knows that there were moments during which we were totally better.
Mistakes the players will make but even though they are all excellent footballers they are still human.
Morning Devil, Simeone won’t want to draw us in the knockout stages that’s for sure..
I was just about to say to my son that we should get Lewis Skelly off because of his booking and their theatrics getting him a red , when he strode through the midfield and set up Martinelli .
So what do I know.
Thanks Dev, I’m a lot calmer these days but I think my neighbours heard me roar when we scored our goals, it was a magnificent performance by the team and staff and yes Rico, Atletico won’t want to see us again this season.
I guess it shows a maturity when our players pick up a yellow and don’t let it affect them even with opponents trying to goad them into reacting. Zubimendi can now have a night off when we face Slavia in the next game – and with Rice on a yellow maybe he could sit on the bench in that game with Bayern up after the Czech mates.
the game was never close. Their first shot on target was late on in the game, around the 80th minute I think. The players controlled every aspect of the game and due to their size and weight, our players were more physical, more aggressive and this made life better on the ball. Do I care that we have Uruk Hai sized footballers?? No I don’t because I still remember when we had artistic ball playing midgets who were battered off the park by football illiterate monsters. We controlled every aspect of the game. We were more physical, more aggressive, better on the ball, we have Uruk Hai sized magicians who tower over other teams with an average height above 6ft who refuse to be beaten into submission.
The media pundits or whatever race they are are not liking it now. They had a narrative of us being chokers but due to our small size we got bullied off the park. Now the script has been rewritten and in their dim brains lacking any grey matter of essence they find themselves having to begin writing another script. And its a script that they cannot fathom out how to write so they could emerge with their dignity intact and save their face (if they have any that is).
They are simply not liking it at all and at the back of their brains (not minds) they are fearing that this might turn out to be a long haul for them.
Reminds me of the “get Walcott off” at halftime against Totts a few years ago.
Mea culpa, I said take Trossard of minutes before he scored on Saturday.
Excellent post Kev, your really getting in the swing now.
If there is such a thing as T A of the S (The Assist of the Season I’d give to Miles Lewis Skelly for his run and pass to Martinelli for his goal.
19 and leaving the Atletico midfield standing, a joy to watch..
Kev, I thought Zubimendi was trying to get booked..
I loved the fact that MLS began the game and Calafiori got a well deserved rest. Still only 19 so its understandable that he shouldnt be playing every game. Otherwise he would be burnt out. It has been quite a curve this year for him. A lot of achievements and overcoming situations.
He offered something different to Calafiori although much younger. Calafiori can play in multiple positions but it was quite enjoyable seeing MLS powering through midfield and laying on an assist. As Cicero said…..the assist of the season.
The Martinelli goal was a thing of beauty , which proves the need to supply him with the early ball on a regular basis,
The reaction of the players and the crowd should help settle Gyokeres now , if he had any doubts about his presence and place in the team 2 scrambled goals proved his goalscoring instincts . Now we can see that quicker through balls and earlier crosses should result in us being able to shuffle the players on the pitch and give them playing time and put games to bed earlier. .
This is TH14 goal vs Leeds……
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/KktlVca9Gi8
Oh and just one line of criticism . Saka needs to learn how to find players with his crosses , just putting into the space is not good enough . In the first 20 minutes 3 or 4 times although players were there he either over hit or had them cut out by defenders . In my mind it’s his only flaw .
This is Martinelli’s goal vs Atleti
https://streamff.com/v/3c48affe
The way that Martinelli opened his body before shooting was uncannily similar to TH14.
Even the Assist was similar. As much as the power drive from midfield.
Agree re Martinelli, early ball, no time to think and just let instinct take over. Again, like Walcott in so many ways. I still think there’s a striker in Martinelli
Cheers Cicero, there used to be an American fella who did the match reports on here many years ago, when I was a lad. 😁
He was excellent.
Yeah Rico, I did wonder with Zubimendi and with Bayern on the horizon. I wouldn’t risk Rice in Prague if it were me…
I’m just glad, given the comments on here, that we didn’t let either Martinelli or Trossard leave…
I never wanted MArtinelli to be sold. Trossard I was a bit ok about it, however that would have been a big mistake. I hope that we dont sell anyone before July 2026. Even if they are a year older. Martinelli, I hope we dont sell him anytime neither sooner nor later. Some sections of the fanbase are overly critical on him, however, their comments about he shouldn’t be anywhere near the squad are criminal imo. He is a good striker who will only get better.
I haven’t been on this site for a bit, but I will start reading opinions here again because I believe they
are quality. I haven’t read any by
Carmelesson before, but I agree with everything he said
Oliver Kev, he just one day disappeared. His match reviews were very detailed.
I’m in agreement with both Tross and Martinelli. A big offer might have been tempting but both have scored some really important goals so far. Perhaps competition has woken them from their slumber…
Dick, re Carmelesson, you might have caught his comments before under his previous name Devil.
Dick Tressider, my previous name has been Devilgunner and/or Grumblestiltskin.