After the last few days of purgatory following the defeat to Manchester United and having to listen to the obvious joy from the usual mob of wind-up merchants and general pee takers, we definitely needed a bit of a lift. We wanted to see a response from our team and a return to resolute defending, control and an improvement in the finishing. Kairat were the CL whipping boys and just the team we needed for that pick me up, that was the feeling going into yesterday’s game anyway.
Arteta made eleven changes from the team that started vs the Mancs and chief among those changes was the return of Kai Havertz who made his first start in a year, Calafiori almost returned after his unexpectedly long lay off and Kepa kept goal.
After just two minutes Arsenal took the lead. Kairat kicked off and went straight on the attack. I guess they had nothing to lose but the Gunners responded via Eze who brought the ball out of defence and found Havertz loitering around the halfway line. Kai didn’t hesitate and quickly slid an inviting ball to Gyokeres, who almost lost it when the ball hit the back of his legs but the big Swede quickly regained control, surged into the Kazak box and fired powerfully home. That was just the ticket.
We sat back waiting for the floodgates to open but Kairat responded when Calafiori pulled the shirt of an opponent in the box following an attack, which led to a protracted VAR review. Eventually the referee had another look and awarded a penalty. Kepa dived too early, again, and the penalty taker simply passed the ball into the opposite side of the goal. All that by the 7th minute, it was also only the 6th goal Kairat had scored in the competition this season.
Arsenal continued to pile forward with most of the best stuff coming through Havertz and Eze. There was obviously some disjointed play given that this was a totally different XI but eventually it clicked again. Around 15 minutes Ben White sent a searching long pass towards Havertz and Gyokeres, the Swede blocked off an opponent which opened a large space for Kai to run into and he clinically buried his shot, showing us what we’ve been missing.
Kai and Viktor we’re linking up really well with the German showing a rare ability to react quickly to the Swedes darting movements and he almost put Viktor in again minutes after his own goal. On 25 minutes Calafiori found Myles overlapping and he put over a delightful cross that a stretching Gyokeres just couldn’t get to then on 32 Havertz and Eze combined to set up Myles but he fired over the bar. On 34 Eze chipped a floating pass to Gyokeres but his low drive was blocked by the Kairat goalkeeper who was having a good game.
Then on 37 minutes some neat approach play saw Havertz drive into the inside right area of the Kairat penalty area. He slid a lovely weighted diagonal pass to the onrushing Gyokeres who flicked the ball into the net, only he didn’t because before the ball crossed the line Martinelli following up, tapped it home. About a minute later Kai broke forward again and found Martinelli but his shot was saved, we were missing a lot of chances! Half-Time 3-1
Arteta made two changes at half-time wisely taking off Havertz and Calafiori and replacing them with Odegaard and Hincapie. Most of the rest of the 2nd half saw Arsenal creating some really great opportunities but under-hit, over-hit and misplaced passes saw all of them wasted. The Kairat goalkeeper dealt competently with any corners we had and despite a couple of Odegaard efforts easily saved and a few mazy but ultimately fruitless dribbles from Madueke, Arsenal didn’t come that close. Gyokeres had a couple of chances but a poor first touch saw them fritter away, it was for me quite frustrating because I wanted to see the Gunners show some ruthlessness, but we were sloppy. Jesus replaced Gyokeres on 77 minutes and Martinelli was subbed off for Bailey-Joseph for his senior debut.
Jesus missed a good chance shortly after coming on then on 88 minutes Norgaard fired in a peach of a long pass to Jesus who took the ball in his stride and clinically fired home but unfortunately he was offside, it was that kind of a half of football. Jesus then was put through but again failed to beat the goalkeeper. On 89 minutes Norgaard departed and Ibrahim earned his senior debut. Then on 94 minutes Kairat scored their 7th goal in this seasons CL when a last ditch attack saw the Arsenal defence stretched and Hincapie out of position. It kinda summed up that 2nd half.
Full-Time 3-2 and Arsenal not only secured top spot but a 100% winning run in this league format.
Positives for me was the return and form of Havertz, the return of Calafiori, the form of Eze and Myles and the two youngsters earning their debuts. The rest was just ok.
We march on…
By Kev.
Morning Kev all.
Spot on with your views Kev.
Well well, who would have thought the return of Havertz would change as much as it did last night. Eze was so much better, Norgaard was very good and Gyokeres had a teammate who made the most of his movement. Yes, it was against the CL minnows but so what.
The first and second half were like chalk and cheese and the reason for that is probably obvious. Keeping Havertz fit for the next four months will massively help this team imo. Nice to see Eze in the mix too, he’s not one for a negative pass is he, or a fancy lofted flick to no one…
Good morning Lass and Lads.
Enjoyable match report KEv. Loved reading it.
Bring back the 4-4-1-1 I say. Up top Gyokeres and behind him Kai. On the wings Saka and Martinelli. Behind Kai Rice and Zubi/Norgaard. Defensive dept Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabi, Calafiori/Hincapie. I put Zubi/Norgaard and Calafiori/Hincapie simply because I trust them equally. Zubi is Petit but Norgaard is Gilberto. Norgaard was so good he was invisible yesterday. He just played simple football to great effect.
These dying minutes we are conceding are becoming utmost concern. Arsenal have done that more than six times this season. Is it due loss of concentration, tiredness or what ? Something need to be done about that fast, especially as we are heading into the knockout stages of the champions league. Great to see King Havertz back and firing. This is Arsenal’s season, so let’s get it done …
Morning Rico and Dev and thanks, I was left feeling we should have shown no mercy but maybe I’m being too harsh but I felt we should have doubled our score at the very least – and as Mo commented we are also developing a worrying habit of conceding late goals, Liverpool, Villa, United, Sunderland all spring to mind.
Leeds is going to be massive.
Much of my thoughts have been echoed this morning which makes me feel that if there is almost a consensus here that it should be blindingly obvious to our coaching team , however I doubt that it is.
The difference between the first and second half was so marked that Arteta now has two teams within his team . If he starts with Odegaard then he has to play with Saka , Trossard and Jesus, but then take three of them off and replace with team 2 Havertz, Gyokeres and Eze leaving Saka until possibly introducing Kanu light for a bit at the end.
It’s a bit like Ice hockey where each team has two squads in one team .
The difference when the changes were made was stark , throughout the first half chances were coming along like taxis in Oxford street almost continuous but as soon as our captain came on the steady stream dried up .
Fitting players into a system doesn’t work , Jesus is not a centre forward , at best he is an inside forward . Every time the ball is played long to him it comes straight back , if we are forced to play long our defence is always under pressure .
Odegaard ‘s first and only thought is how to find Saka it makes us one dimensional slow and predictable.
Lewis Skelly is a midfielder with potential to become for example an Alan Ball .
Kepa should never face a penalty again , hopefully Inaki Cana is training Setford and Porter to come through although they might have to learn Spanish or even Basque first.
On paper everything looks rosy , but we delude ourselves if we don’t see whats on the pitch.
We can only hope that Arteta is watching closely.
I hoped we would batter them Kev, to be honest, with the chances we created, we should have.
Havertz returns might not be our striker saviour but he certainly gave us something more creativity wise.
Morning. 8 out of 8, making Champions League history in the league phase play. Great way to start the competition.
However, I went to the match and in the second half I did not think they were very convincing. They should never have been in the position of giving away two unwarranted goals. 1st one due to Calafiori’s unnecessary shirt pulling. What was he thinking of?! 2nd one. Again what was Hincapie doing?! One thing for sure, not defending as well as he should have been and getting in the way of Kepa. All very well him storming off at the end of the match in a bad temper because of these two conceded goals, which stopped Arsenal making history of being the 1st team ever to win the league phase with an overall two goal majority.
They should have put this game to bed with at least a four goal lead in the first half and never conceded. Which means, work still needs to be done with this team if Arteta is going to use this formation again. Currently they are not firing on all four cylinders.
Now the Champions League really starts, with it getting tougher and very competitive so each player needs to wise up.
Echo your thoughts Potter. If Arteta couldn’t see it, let’s hope Albert etc did.
Mohammed, agree re the defending. Hincapie got the wrong side of his player. Don’t think I’ve seen him do that before though.
How fabulous to see Havertz back and contributing so much,in only half the game as well.
He will be important for the rest of the season.
I made the line-up spot on,to be honest Kairat were flattered by the final score,we should have scored 4 or 5 at least,where have we heard that before. Familiar failings at the back as well,gifting them goals.
I saw a thing earlier saying we kept 13 clean sheets in our first 16 games.
We need to get back to that,starting at Leeds.
I wonder what’s changed to go from one extreme to the other? Is it as simple as fatigue I wonder or certain players being out injured.
Apparently Arsenal will get one of either;
Bayer Leverkusen, Olympiakos, Borussia Dortmund or Atalanta in the round of 16.
Could be a lot worse.
If Scholes said that if Arsenal win the league they will be the worst team to win the EPL and resulting from weak teams, how come 5 of the top eight in the Champions League are from the EPL?
Maldini Kacurri to be sold to Grimsby Town for a modest fee