Morning all.
Where to start? The 100th penalty in ten games for Kane on Saturday, the 2-0 Chelsea victory over Everton or the shock 1-0 defeat of Man City by Liverpool? None of the above as thereās only one real place of interest and thatās Elland Road. A match which saw Arsenal beat Leeds 1-0. A match which but for VAR, weād have probably lost.
The game stopped no sooner than it started because of a power cut but 40 minutes later, all was well and the game kicked off again. Gabriel Jesus had a chance to put us ahead but his shot flew over the crossbar but when a similar opportunity fell to Bukayo Saka after a lovely through ball from Martin Odegaard, the net rippled and we were 1-0 up.
Leeds thought theyād equalised through Bamford but following a VAR check, the goal was ruled out for offside. William Saliba was the next to get ball to hand and Chris Kavanagh pointed to the spot after another VAR intervention. The offside wasnāt spotted though. Bamford dragged his spot kick just wide but Aaron Ramsdale had it covered anyway. Later in the game, Bamford gave Gabriel a shove in the back, Gabriel went over, his feet went up in the air and Bamford made sure he made contact with one of them and went to ground like heād just been hit by Anthony Joshua. Kavanagh showed Gabriel a red card and pointed to the spot. VAR intervened again and the red card was changed to yellow, the penalty cancelled and Leeds Utd were furious. Why Bamford didnāt get booked for his involvement I donāt know.
I think in the first half, we had some great moments, some incredible plays where we should have scored two or three goals, and we didn’t. Then the second half, we started right from the kick-off in a really bad way. We conceded a goal that was disallowed, and we never got any momentum. We put ourselves in trouble in the first regulation, especially in build-up. After that we never got a real kick of the game and be able to impose ourselves. But that said, as well, the resilience, the character, the personality, and as well, that willingness that I saw there from the players to win again, is what I really love. – Mikel Arteta
Pundits often suggest that how Arsenal perform against the top teams in the league shows how good or bad the team is but Iāve never really believed in that. Certainly not when playing against the free spending clubs in the past because straight away, they have an advantage. How we play against the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and City on the pitch will always be relevant but there are fixtures which offer a different threat, a different hurdle to overcome and in my opinion, that is most of the Premier League clubs, certainly away from home.
Leeds were always going to be difficult to play against and hard to beat at Elland Road. This was a game when different qualities were on show. Digging deep, defending well, everyone giving their all and in every position on the pitch. Maybe thereāll be āpeopleā who think we got lucky, but did we really? We scored the only goal of the game and itās Bamfordās fault he missed from the spot. Thatās not luck, thatās his error and as said earlier, Iām convinced Ramsdale would have pushed the ball away for a corner had it been on target. Luck isnāt VAR overturning the red card/penalty decision, or disallowing Bamford his goal from open play, thatās just VAR doing their job properly. Paul Tierney doing his job well.
Arsenal did their job well too so credit to Mikel Arteta and every single player involved. I just hope theyāre all walking without wounds this morning.
See you in the comments.
Morning Rico
Caught the highlights on MoTD2. Looked like we got out of jail a few times yesterday. It’s the type of game we might well have drawn or even lost in the last few seasons. That can’t be bad.
Leeds deserve everything they get. Horrible set of fans and a dump of a ground. Have got first hand experience of their knuckle dragging welcoming committee.
Afternoon Rico and all,
I still say we were lucky to win even though Leeds didn’t do them self any Favours, at times we looked shaky when defending, Whether the false start due to power cut or the short period between matches had something to do with it we will never know, but the positive to come out of the game was that we kept trying.
The other positive from the weekend was Man city loosing.
Morning Pete, Geoff.
Iāll take that kind of result away from home every week. Especially up there.
Good morning Rico and all.
I’ve watched recordings of both motd 2 and the Sky highlights, I’ve also listened to various pundits, a very rare thing for me to do, the consensus seemed to be between them the ref and VAR got it right in the end.
So Bamford missed a penalty, tough s**t. He has always struck me as a limited footballer trying to be an old fashioned centre forward without the bodily strength to succeed, as such he reverts to the dark arts of diving, shirt tugging, simulation and bleating to the officials. To think that a few years ago he was heavily linked with a move Arsenal.
The squads togetherness and a growing resilience is testament to Arteta’s coaching expertise.
I have had no time for them since going back to the 60’s when those lovable sweaties Bremner and Collins set about George Eastham not only to screw Arsenal but England as well and put him out of football for about 3 months.
Then the Revie era with their media accepted Dirty Leeds tag , watching them drop to the lower divisions was one of my great pleasures it’s a shame that they managed to crawl back up again .
Has Kavanagh done his job properly the Gabriel red /rescinded card incident would not have happened . had he whistled for the first foul ( the push ) then anything that followed was immaterial. However as is usual when a ref has missed something they always go to the reaction rather than the cause.
Perhaps this was the first time that VAR was used to see the blatantly obvious. Had they let it stand the uproar would have been embarrassing for Kavanagh , Tierney and the PGMOL because you can bet your boots that social media would have been full of video images of Bamford instigating the affair.
Having said that I would urge the Bamford push to be shown as much as possible and put the blame where it belongs because the PGMOL will be keen to be seen to level things up and Jesus and Saliba are one booking away from a ban.
For the first time in the clubās 136-year history, Arsenal have won 9 of their opening 10 games of a top-flight league season:
WWWWWLWWWW
ā Goals: 24
ā Conceded: 10
ā Clean sheets: 4
Thanks for the post Rico, I think our defence did a great job it was the guys in front who were below par because we usually defend front the front.
The crowd at Elland Road show the psychology advantage they give the home team as it always the case at Old Toilet and in particular Anfield, weāve not had that since we moved to the Emirates in 2006 but it was improving last season and this season itās up there with the best, something Arteta understood from the off and has cultivated since. Nothing is certain in football and as Arsenal fans we know that better than most but I really think this team, supported by the current home fans could see Arsenal win all of our home games in what could be a memorable season.
psychological that should be, and from the front, shrunken comment box š
Morning Cicero.
I quite like Bamford, not his nasty streak though.
To be fair to Kavanagh Potter, he didnāt give the decision on Gabriel, it was his assistant.
Kev, Ramsdale too, from the highlights, he looked really good again.
Kavanagh should have whistled and stopped the game at the Bamford push , that was the foul.
Agree there but he was doing an Arsene, he didnāt see it.. lol
How good was Sakaās goal he made something from nothing.
Some games we will dominate and lose, i.e., United. And some games we will be dominated and find a way to win. Yesterday was a mixed of both.
Why does it seems that when VAR works most are surprised, that is the way its supposed to work, correct wrong calls.
Rico, I agree with you. I still can’t understand the yellow for Gabriel if there is a foul by Bamford. If that’s the case they both should’ve gotten yellow cards. Bamford has always been a cheat and sinister player.
Excellent Geoff, a top quality finish.
Obi, agree re VAR, Iām glad to see it work as it should. This should be the norm, not the exception.
The offside too, how did that get missed.
New post up now