BUZZ CUT

Coffee is brewing, thoughts are forming, and the door to our humble digital door is wide open. Come on in, make yourself at home, GOONERS, while we have a cosy chat about last night's game. We're all friends here.

 

OPENING THOUGHTS

In a 38-game league season, nights like last night come along a few times. Crystal Palace at home was another perfect example. There are nights when you are down a few players through injury, playing an awkward opponent, and making a few lineup changes, so the football is not as fluid as usual.

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On nights such as these, securing all three points is imperative. That's all that truly matters, and we achieved it. We've accomplished this twice now, against Palace and Brentford, two games we drew last year. It shows the team's spirit and determination to persevere when things don't go exactly to plan. A change is in the air this year for sure.

 

LINEUPS

We called a few of the changes in our Guess the Eleven on the mark. White came in for Timber and Odegaard for Eze. We got Martinelli keeping his place on the left correct, but there was no rest for Rice or Zubi. The other change was Madueke for Saka on the right.

 

Timbers' night off didn't even last until halftime, as he was called into action late in the first half after The Curse of the Cluster Injury pointed at Mosquera and said, "It's Time."

 

We'll chat more about the injuries later.

 

Brentford went with five at the back as we predicted, but rested the spine of their team, including leading scorer Thiago, with one eye on this weekend's game against the Spuds, figuring they have a better shot getting points from them (you have to laugh).

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THE GAME

Taking the early Merino goal out of the equation, the game went pretty much to plan for Brentford. It's the same plan most teams come to The Carpet with, and Arteta has discussed it at length previously.

 

Even when going a goal behind, the opposition doesn't change its defensive outlook at all these days. This is why a second goal is so vital. Most teams are happy with a point away to us, so being one down doesn't affect the game plan. They make sure to 'stay in the game' then make changes around the 75-minute mark and proceed to give it a go in the hope something falls their way.

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This is EXACTLY what Brentford did last night. Lost an early goal, didn't change shape or style, then made changes, bringing on their rested players on the 60 and 75 minute mark. It was classic EPL away-side Hail Mary tactics.

 

I didn't agree with Keith Andrews' assessment of the game at all. He said they "unnerved us" and gave us "untold problems". Sorry, but I didn't see it. Yes, it was a bit of a slog fest, and we weren't at our best, but like a lot of tight games this season, I never felt our lead was under any threat, even with our depleted defence. You could say it was a pretty tame run-of-the-mill victory if you were being brutally honest.

 

They had 38% possession. Their xG was 0.34 with one shot on target, which was the absolutely world-class reflex save by Raya from a Schade header from a corner. From open play, they created nothing, zero, zilch, not one shot on target. This was the 4th top-scoring team in the league, remember.

 

Our home form remains extremely strong. Whether domestic or European, it's going to take a very, very good team to beat us there.

 

This is vital, as I checked our away fixtures: apart from Wolves, every road game looks like an absolute minefield, starting with Villa this Saturday lunchtime, with the preview on Friday afternoon as usual.

 

WHAT IT MEANS

With City winning again the night before in a humdinger away at the Cottage, our lead was cut to just two (how did that even happen?). With the victory last night, we stretch the lead back out to five points again.

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I'm just going to take a moment here to have a quick chat about our so-called 'title rivals'.

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Liverpool are out of it, obviously. Couldn't happen to a nicer guy than Arne Slot.

 

There was much chatter, mainly from their own deluded fans, that Chelsea would be a threat. I did say in the preview for them that I wasn't in the slightest convinced, and my thoughts were confirmed when they had zero gas left in the tank at Leeds last night and got stuffed 3-1. This is what happens when you are so weirdly overhyped to play us that you have to play with 10 men most of the game and are entirely out of gas the game after.

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This leaves us the big bad bogeyman that is City—Arsenal's Michael Myers, if you will.

 

Do they convince any of you? Do any of you seriously think they are capable of turning back the clock and going on a ten or twelve-game winning streak? They have lost four games already. Granted, they have the best attack with 32 goals (five more than us), but that defence. My god, that defence. They shipped two at home to Leeds, who are Brentford-level awful away from Elland Road, then shipped four away to Fulham the game after.

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They have conceded 16 goals, the most in the top six. That's NINE more than us. Their next five league games are Sunderland (H), Palace (A), West Ham (H), Forest (A) and Sunderland again (A).

 

There's much talk that it's an easy run of fixtures. Really? With a team that shipped four away to Fulham? Sunderland as we all know, are having a season that makes no sense. Pure nightmare fuel. Palace away looks dicey; they have the second-best defence in the league. They should easily turn over the hapless West Ham, but then it's off to Dyche Haram Ball at the City Ground, then Sunderland again.

 

I think if City take twelve points or more from those five games, then yeah, I'll say they are a real threat. Do any of you feel they will in their current form? I remain unconvinced, and I am sure you do too.

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HONOURABLE MENTIONS

I initially tweeted that Hincapie was my MOTM, but changed it, which tells you how close he was. He has that South American dawg in him, right? Takes a goal scored against him as a personal insult. Super aggressive but not reckless like Romero of the Spuds, where you are panicking he's going to get sent off every game.

 

Minutes played: 90 (full match)
•     Duels won: 7/10 (≈70% success rate)
•     Ground duels: 6/9 won
•     Aerial duels: 1/1 won
•     Tackles: 3 successful challenges
•     Interceptions: 2 key defensive reads
•     Clearances: 5 (including 3 headed clearances)
•     Passing accuracy: 92% (68/74 passes completed)
•     Progressive passes: 7 (helped Arsenal build attacks from deep)
•     Touches: 84 (high involvement in buildup play)
•     Discipline: 1 foul committed, no cards

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So as you can see, super aggressive, yes, but he only committed one foul the entire match, so is in control of it. Plus, his passing out of the back was terrific, too, something the stats didn't need to tell me; the eye test told me all I needed to know.

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Other honourable mentions go to two players. Odegaard and Benny Blanco. There is no way both players, with as little football as they have had, should have been left out there for the entire 96 minutes. The fact that they gutted it out and were still standing at the final whistle is a testament to them, but it is a terrible look for Arteta, given our injury problems.

 

Ben White was in the mix for MOTM regardless. What an absolute blessing it is to give Timber a rest and have someone of White's international-level quality come into the side. This was his first league start since Old Trafford on the opening day win, and he marked it with the cross for Merinos' opener.

 

I've said it a few times now. How long do you keep a guy with White's quality happy as a backup? Yes, he said all the right things in his after-match interview about team first, etc, but deep down, he must be hurting, especially with the World Cup on the horizon. He will be one of a few to keep an eye on, with a view to a loan move come January (hopefully not).

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Our amended MOTM though goes to