SECOND STRING, FIRST CLASS

Well Gooners. That couldn't have gone much better? A 3-0 away win against a side who had put four past Monaco and three past Barca was highly welcome. The fact that we did it with a patchwork side, including Norgaard in central defence, tells you all you need to know about this side's determination.

 

Six wins out of six in the Champions League—seventeen goals for, one against. I wonder what the Emery revisionists who crawled out of the woodwork last weekend think when they see stuff like this?

 

OPENING THOUGHTS

I said in my preview that the best-case scenario was to play a duct-tape line-up, get the win and exit without any further injuries. We got two out of the three.

 

We had the curious case of Jurrien Timber travelling with the squad despite not being fit after suffering a 'bad kick' against Villa, a kick nobody had heard of until just before kick-off.

 

Travelling to European away games when injured is definitely not standard practice, and I do wonder if something happened between travel and game time, as I get the impression he was ready to play.

 

We had to throw Norgaard in at the deep end last minute. What did Arteta say to him pre-match? "Look, I know you haven't played centre half since you were twelve years old, so focus on the basics. Don't score an own goal"

 

Is it a discipline thing? Did Timber and Arteta have a falling out? Did he travel, thinking he was playing? Are we looking too much into it? Maybe he was bored and fancied a trip to Belgium? Was he looking for an award for 'Most Dedicated Cheerleader"? Was he there for the waffles? So many questions and all a bit weird.

 

LINEUPS

Our stab at the lineup actually wasn't as far off the mark as I thought it would be.

 

We had four of the back five correct, with Calafiori not starting as predicted. I'm calling anyone who says they had Norgaard playing in central defence a liar. We got the front three also accurate, but then got the whole midfield wrong with Zubi, Odegaard and Merino all surprisingly starting.

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It added up to five changes from the weekend, with Raya, Hincapie, White, and the three midfielders just mentioned keeping their places. Even with a side as decimated as that, with the changes on top, we started the game with eleven full internationals. Mental.

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THE GAME

The main talking points obviously were the two goals from Madueke and Martinelli. We'll get on to Noni a bit later.

 

Both were absolute worldies, with Madueke's being the pick of the two. He also scored pretty much from the goal line with a header from a cross by Zubi. I think it's safe to say our Spanish Six 'put it on a plate' for him.

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I see a bit of online chat about our woeful defending and how Brugge could have scored 4 or 5. I honestly didn't see the game that way. I saw a lot of huff and puff from our Belgian opponents, and Raya made one or two saves, but even when they had a spell of first-half pressure, it felt like we were bending but not breaking.

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Any opposition, especially away from home in the Champions League, are always going to have a spell in the game where they are in the ascendancy. You can't expect us to dominate these games for a whole 90 minutes, especially with a mix-and-match lineup and a midfielder playing centre back (who did very well by the way).

 

The goals came at just the right times, especially the early second-half one. You could see it knock the stuffing out of what looked like a very young Brugge side.

 

what it means

We stay top of the Champions League table with our perfect record intact. What was just as welcome as the quality goals was the clean sheet on the road. We needed it. It gives us some welcome momentum going into the Wolves game this weekend. 

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We also got bodies rested, which was kind of the aim of the night pre-match.

 

I did say in the preview that in the League Stage, it doesn't matter where you finish, and that's true to an extent. The way the table works, you obviously have to finish in the top eight to dodge the qualifying round to get through to the knockouts. You also get to play the second leg at home.  I'm not sure how much of an advantage this actually is?  UEFA seem to think so, or else why would they 'award' it to the higher-seeded teams?

 

HONOURABLE MENTIONS

After a victory, I know I'm guilty of running through pretty much the whole lineup, so I'll need to try to cut the praise down. It's hard when you're on a high after a win, and most of the team has played well.

 

We'll start with the two centre halves. Not that Norgaard was outstanding, but he filled in admirably and contributed to the clean sheet. It couldn't have been easy with so little game time, then on top of that, playing in an unfamiliar position.

 

His partner for the night, Hincapie, gets huge props. I see people saying he's not an upgrade over Kiwior, so why didn't we keep Jakob? I find that a bit harsh. For starters, Kiwior wanted out for first-team football, so we had no choice but to let him go and source a replacement.

 

Since coming into the team, Hincapie has had four different defensive partners. Saliba, Mosquera, Timber and Norgaard. He is new to the club himself, so that cannot be easy. Centre-backs are all about partnerships; look at Gabriel and Saliba, a formidable duo forged over time.

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What I liked most about his performance was that he looked across at Norgaard and thought, "OK, it's on me", and was outstanding for the hour he played.

 

Hyper-aggressive, but again controlled with it, committing only one foul. He was even unlucky not to score a couple in the first half, hitting the post and one got cleared off the line. He has been a way better signing than I anticipated—another W for Berta.

 

Next honourable mention is Zubimendi.

 

Controlled the game. Kept us flowing. A proper metronome that every successful team needs but few have. He is equally happy passing off either foot, the cross for Madueke's second coming from his left.

 

Played the whole game in second gear, it seemed, but ended with 91% passing accuracy, 6 chances created, which is the most by any Arsenal player this season, assisted on both Noni's goals, 10 final third entries (for a defensive midfielder), 8 possession recoveries, 4 duels won and 2 interceptions. Their captain, Vanaken, was anonymous, and a lot of that was down to Zubi. Midfield Master Class.

 

Couldn't leave the mentions without giving a shout-out to Martinelli. Poor in the first half, an absolute terror in the second. His goal makes him the first-ever Arsenal player to score in FIVE consecutive Champions League games—quite the achievement.

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Our pretty obvious man-of-the-match award goes to .....