COMPLACENT? NO. PERFORMANCE OF THE SEASON
ARSENAL SMASH LEICESTER
Arsenal put on their best performance of the season, even if the goals didn’t fall exactly where we wanted them to.
Leicester were bunkered in. They didn’t want to play; they just wanted to avoid humiliation. That is sometimes really hard to play against and dangerous. We found that out the hard way. After dominating the first half and going up by two goals, the boys found themselves in a nightmare scenario of conceding two goals off about 0.32 xG. One was a deflected cross, the other a worldie by Justin.
The team didn’t play the victim. There was no panic in the system. They just accepted the job was to score, and they pummelled that task hardcore.
It was a destruction zone out there – but the Leicester keeper Hermansen was putting on a worldie, and it really did start to feel like they weren’t going to find a way. Then it arrived in the 94th minute. From a corner, the ball found Trossard at the back post, he put it back into the danger zone, and it was turned in by Leicester. Three minutes later, Kai Havertz capitalised on a poor clearance and made it 4.
36 shots. 16 on target. 4.62 xG. This was a battering of exceptional proportions – but it was funny to hear some of the hot takes on the podcast that danced around emotional responses like ‘complacency’. That would have been the narrative. I thought about that as a point before we scored… and it’s actually incorrect to lean into easy views like that in the moment, but unless your expectation is to dominate every single second of a Premier League game, that view is not right. They got really lucky. We didn’t have much luck. The performance would have been top-tier regardless.
I think the real insight out of all of this is that game had to be a win. We can’t get away with dropping points against poor teams when we’re fighting machine-like sides. Newcastle took a point at City – they’re in crisis by their standards – we needed to beat their points haul, and we did. We can’t be talking about xG wins this season… we need real wins. Every point is consequential, and we’ve already dropped 4 because of dodgy red cards. If we had dropped more points today, you’d have to start wondering if our luck was just going to be shit this season.
There are some things that need fixing. Thomas Partey is killing us. He gets run past too easily, and his confidence isn’t where it should be, leading to a lot of dumb ball losses in midfield. That will no doubt get solved next week when Merino gets back into the mixer and we see Declan drop into the 6 role. You can’t afford non-runners long-term in the Premier League. Thomas is the new Elneny, that’s where he should be now he’s done, and we’ll exit him in the summer and sign something fresher.
The two full-backs are looking really, really good. People calling time on Ben White are forgetting what an incredible player he is… but Timber and Calafiori are excellent options, and they’re both looking really good. The left side of our defence is shaping up with him in it, and guess what… Martinelli is back to his best and starting to produce. Having two additional warriors in an already incredible backline is going to be so valuable as the games come thick and fast.
Let’s also give some love to Nwaneri, who came on before Jesus and put in another stunning cameo. He really is top quality. His touch, awareness, strength, and burst of pace to get into good positions is dreamy to witness. His low backlift strike was the sort you’d see from players like Rooney when he was a kid. He’s brave, and he’s ready. Let’s see him at Southampton.
Trossard is the main guy the team looks to for end product in the box. He won’t be ignored. If you need him, he will deliver. The output is starting to look very Freddie Ljungberg. We have a gem at the club. The type of player that helps you drive titles over the line. I love him.
Let’s also remember to credit our manager. He’s one of the best tacticians in the world. The PGMOL put him in a bind this season because they clearly don’t like him. He’s shown a lot of maturity and restraint. The team reacted exactly how they should have – two momentum-shifting wins in a row.
So… massive result. We’re all happy. PSG next. Let’s have a very nice Sunday. x
I'm not sure why Pedro decided to single out Partey. He had a good game and was one of our best performers against City last week. He's not as athletic but he still sets the tempo for the attack when facing most teams in the league apart from when we are facing top quality
After a first half with 0 attempts and 1 touch in the penalty box for Leicester, Partey passed to Saka deep in the opposition half. Saka didn't run towards the ball but decided to wait for the ball to roll all the way to him instead of attacking it. An opponent intercepted it, started an attack that resulted in a bit controversial free kick (it was obvious that Vardy slowed his run to cause the contact). From that free kick, Justin's header took a wicked deflection off Havertz and wrongfooted Raya.
Partey to blame for passing in a rather imperfect way. Doesn't matter that there were about 2 or 3 situations after that play. He made a bad pass next to the sideline deep in the opposition half. Insane mistake, it totally doesn't happen about 15-20 times a game.
For the 2nd goal, I guess he had to aggressively defend on the flank instead of Timber, who was covering air and Calafiori, on the other side of the pitch, who was also covering air. Ndidi with a first time hopeful cross had no business causing any trouble if our LB was doing his job and was aware of the player behind him instead of getting so close to Gabriel who was already covering his guy.
I saw Arseblog gave Calafiori a rating of 8, despite mentioning that "the ball floated over him for their second". I love the guy, he had a very impressive game. But that 2nd goal is almost entirely on him. Would he have gotten a 9/10 if he didn't make that mistake? I doubt it. So that score doesn't reflect the player making an error leading to a goal.
It's fine to have favorites and scapegoats but as someone yesterday said, if Zinchenko was in Calafiori's place and made that mistake for their 2nd, he would have been shred to bits and for a good reason too. I know Cala is still a newbie in a new country, new club, new language, new league, new championship etc etc, but a mistake is a mistake. Let's not put it on Partey just because he's currently an easy target.
Cala could have been sent off at 2-2 and then his positive performance would have been an absolute disaster. Hindsight is a beautiful thing but yeah, we need to look a little bit deeper.
Like singling out Partey but not a word on Rice who hasn't had a single good game for us this season (Carabooboo doesn't count) and has actually cost us points this season. Declan's combined whoscored rating in the PL is 6.43, Partey's is 7.02. But let's bag on Partey, not a word on Dec (or Calafiori). Gotcha.