GABI J... IS HE BACK?
HE'S BACK BABY!
Oh, that feeling in your neck? It's called whiplash. This is how it happens.
'GABI JESUS IS ABSOLUTELY DONE, I'M SICK OF HIM'
To...
'OH MY GOD THE MAN IS MUSTARD, CAN WE SEE THIS EVERY WEEK?'
That is why I am sitting here, in my pants, with a neck brace on.
The Brazilian was not doing bits against Derby County; he dropped a world-class performance against a Crystal Palace that has been on a monstrous run of 2 wins and 3 draws in their last 5 games.
Ok, so maybe not the greatest of opponents. But when you've been walking in the football desert like Gabi has, you'll take even the tiniest of dry crackers for sustenance, and let's be real here... that was actually a feast of a performance. Did that line work? A bit try-hard? Maybe.
Mikel Arteta has been dealing with a week of criticism so OTT, it might even top that period of his career when fans were legitimately taking offense to his use of the term 'project.' He's had jokes about Community Shields taken out of context, he's been slammed for saying Ethan could play 9 one day, he's even being attacked for saying we've played well recently.
That's why I liked the boldness of the starting 11 he put out. He knows we're good and isn't going to change the way he operates for anyone. It was a rotation special with a few surprises; most notably, we saw Kieran Tierney back in the starting 11, and Ethan Nwaneri getting a start. He also gave minutes to Sterling, Kiwior, and Jorgi.
Things kind of went the way they have been over the past month. We dominated possession and managed to find ourselves a goal down to a lovely piece of individual play, totally propped up by some Pascal Cygan-like defending from Kiwior. The Polish centre-back bottled a header, was second best in the foot race towards goal, and showed zero strength when Mateta shoved him to the side to rip a shot past David Raya. He's not strong and he's not fast. He's a Serie A player. No doubt there's a lot of talent there, but he's a wreck on the pitch and he's standing out like a Rob Holding type figure in this squad.
Arsenal didn't let their heads drop, which is always a good sign with secondary squads. Nwaneri wasn't really in the game, which stumped us creatively. But we had good chances. Sterling looked fairly decent, making a few teasing back-post crosses. He also punched a lovely free kick at Henderson's top corner, but the keeper scrambled over to make a very decent save. Gabi J looked hungry again, he was playing more like a #9, he was contributing all over the pitch like he usually does, but he looked interested.
The second half was all about him. Arteta brought Odegaard (Ethan) and Saliba (Partey) into the mix and shuffled the defense around to put Timber at right back.
The changes made the difference. Tierney gifted the first massive chance to Sterling with a beautiful low sweeping cross to the back post; the first shot hit the keeper, and his rebound somehow found the bar from 3 yards.
Trossard followed with a 20-yard shot that Henderson spilled back into his area.
Merino blasted another long-ranger just wide.
Arsenal were starting to bring some heat.
Martin Odegaard dropped some world-class bits, bypassing 5 bodies with a pass to Gabi J. The Brazilian had a perfect first touch that took him past a slide tackle. The finish was a disgusting dink over the keeper. Pure joga bonito. Where has that been?!
Jesus was feeling himself. He accepted a Trossard nutmegged pass, spun his man like a mannequin, but had his poked shot well saved.
The second goal came from the right; Jesus drifted across the box, Saka cut his pass inside, Jesus just ripped it across goal. Were my eyes deceiving me? Jesus just having a crack?
His final goal was a beautiful counter-attack. Palace overcommitted. Odegaard caught the run of Jesus nice and early. Gabi powered into the box. You worried he had too much time to think. NOT TONIGHT. Jesus smashed the ball into the bottom corner again.
Wonderful.
But things weren't over. Eddie had entered the conversation. He wanted to prove that I was actually right about him, so decided to score his second Palace goal against top 3 opposition. He turned a header in from 10 yards. It was a world-class goal.
But... not his night to be Narrative FC.
The narrative was: Arsenal now have 22 goals in 8 games. We opened Palace up with 3 great open-play goals. On another night, we could have had 5 or 6. We also conceded less than 0.4 xG for the 5th game in a row. We're really, really good at defending. That'll put us on a great footing for the run-in if we can keep everyone relatively fit. The best thing: we did it with a largely second-string team. We're now in the semi-final of a very winnable competition.
Gabi Jesus is the main talking point. Is the form real? Can he carry it into the next game? Why can't he play like this more often? Is he REALLY back or is this another false dawn?
We know he's a confidence player. We also know when the confidence is high he can contribute to title-winning seasons. Sometimes a team needs a spark. Goals can cause contagion amongst other players. I might be dreaming here, but maybe the Brazilian could bring a little bit of life to our attack and prove that he still has what it takes?
Martin Odegaard looks like he was allowed to sleep in the spare room for a few days after his less than beautiful performance against Everton. He looked sharp. His range finder looked recalibrated. He made a massive difference when he came on.
I don't want to go too big on Raheem, but he looked pretty decent. His crossing was good, his free kick was nice, he certainly didn't look like he was finished. Ethan played like a teenager. He was lost at sea a little bit. You can see why he wasn't chosen to step in for Martin in September. There's a lot of talent there, but clearly, he's going to need to spend a lot of time on the training ground to get to the level needed to make an impact at Arsenal on the regular. Final moan goes to KT. Loads of 2020 style full-backing, nice crosses, some good overlaps… then an injury. Poor kid.
Overall, a good night out. No one will be criticizing Mikel after that win. Now we need to get ready for a much more serious round two with them at the weekend in their gaff.
Ok, that's me done. Get on the On The Whistle Podcast below! x
MG42, put you in the sin bin for a week so you can think about how you conduct yourself daily on an Arsenal blog.
It's very boring.
However, I've always felt and I've been convinced by yesterday's performance that our recent poor output in front of goal is the team's fault.
We tend to appreciate low blocks. We welcome low blocks as a safety net that we won't concede chances, so let's just play around.
By the time we hit the 70 minutes mark, we realize were running out of time. However, the zip to pull through isn't there and at the back of our minds, were trying to avoid a defeat through a counter attack. So we end up with a dull draw.
Arsenal should be pummeling teams who sit back. Make life hell for them. Quick incisive passes while positioning properly to break up counters. We should not be content with passing slowly across the field without penetration.
Pass fast with purpose. The little time we raised the tempo against Palace yesterday, they ran out of ideas, steam, and composure.
Make the low blocks uncomfortable!! Keep trying those splitting passes. A few will go through. Much better than passing from left to right without penetration for 90 minutes. The low blocks welcome that happily.