REDEMPTION TOUR OPENS WITH A WIN

Sorry, I'll need to keep this blog shorter than usual tonight, as it is family Christmas Movie with Party Food night, so time is of the essence.

 

OPENING THOUGHTS

The opening night of the Redemption Tour Re-run was a hit. If you think like me, unfortunately, you seem to be in the minority when it comes to being happy or even satisfied these days with a victory.

 

Social meeedja was so bad after the game that you would think we had lost.

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This is just a sample of things I read post-game:

 

"Raya needs to work on his distribution" (yes, really),

Hincapie is "Dog-Shit",

"Zubimendi is so bad away from home, we should leave him in London every time we travel"

"Since Odegaard came back from injury, we've been shit in attack" Oh, and let's not forget about the guy who scored our winner.

"Gyokeres is so shit. I'm sorry, but he is"

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Like, WTF, people?

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WE WON THE GAME!! It was a textbook away-day performance.

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They had 33% possession and, depending on which outlet you follow, 0 or 1 shot on target. That was it. Raya made zero saves all night. All he had was kicking and catching practice.

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The consensus seemed to be, "We're never winning the league playing like this"

 

Like what exactly? I thought some of our football was easy on the eye. One move in particular started at LB, and we moved the ball with some excellent passing all the way to the RW, earning a corner. In the second half, I thought we played some really, really good stuff. If it weren't for two posts struck and Saka missing a great chance, we would have won 4-0. Would that have been enough for the haters?

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The faux outrage at how bad we are is tedious to the max. The glass-half-empty agenda is tiresome. If you can't extract any enjoyment out of the team you support WINNING a game, then maybe following a professional sports team isn't for you. Like, you know, fuck off. Go and whinge and whine somewhere else.

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LINEUPS​

We (and most of Twitter) called our lineup correctly. Think that's the second time this season, maybe, we've got it right?

 

Trossard coming back into the side confirmed what I've been saying all season. He has locked down the LW spot, and neither Martinelli, Eze, nor Madueke has staked enough of a claim when he's been missing to change that. He is consistently our biggest goal threat and missed a great chance to seal the game, hitting the post. Most unlike him.

 

I don't know what you all think, but if you insert  Gabi at the Back in last night's lineup for Hincapie, that's arguably our most potent eleven. Some of you would have Havertz over Gyokeres or Eze over Odegaard, but give the odd tweak or two, I don't think last night is far off.

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There are, of course, players on the bench who cannot be happy with their lack of game time. 

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Norgaard has been underutilised, but I made a point about him on Twitter last night. If you don't bring him, then what's the point of him? If Arteta did bring him on for, say, Odegaard, then the haters would be all over it, saying how negative the move was, and we are inviting pressure and holding out for a win instead of going to kill the game off. It's a tough one.

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Madueke can feel hard done by. Two goals in Europe, and hasn't seen a second of game time since. Not one second.

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Nwaneri cannot get near the field despite looking the absolute biz in every small cameo you see of him.

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Eze has seen an hour since his concentration lapse cost a goal at Villa.

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Merino has been reduced to cameo appearances off the bench since Gyokeres returned to fitness despite his goal-scoring form.

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They can all feel like they deserve more game time, and they are all right. One thing's for sure, they will see it on Tuesday in the Carabao against Palace.

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THE GAME

The game itself followed a similar pattern to recent ones vs Wolves and Brentford.

 

We dominate but don't get the killer second goal, which encourages teams to hang around like the proverbial bad smell and try to nick a draw in the latter stages. I've called it on here before. I call it the Hail Mary tactic. Everton goes a goal down, but doesn't change the way they play one iota. They don't bring on another striker. Well, actually, they do, but it's to replace the striker they currently have on.

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Then cue the 80-minute mark: long balls into the box, hoping something lands their way. All so predictable. We really, really need to be more cut-throat, boot on the neck in these kinds of games.

 

Our goal came from the penalty spot after a ludicrous handball by O'Brien (which he never got booked for). It was awarded after a VAR check, and it was a bit of a weird one. I never spotted it; none of our players appealed; the ref didn't spot it. Yet when you see it back, it's so blatantly obvious you wonder how everyone missed it? The ball, after a player vote of sorts on the pitch (hmmm, not sure I agree with that), was handed to Gyokeres, and he smashed the ball with pent-up frustration past the diving Pickford.

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Everton had ten minutes when they thought they still had Sean Dyche in charge, and built a little pressure through long throws and corners. Apart from that, we were completely untroubled and dominated the game. Trossard should have scored, Saka should have scored, and Zubi maybe could have scored.

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They had one penalty shout that looked a little dicey when Saliba caught Barry, but replays have since shown he actually knees the ball first before the striker theatrically throws all 6ft5' of himself to the ground. 

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WHAT IT MEANS

It means that for 2025, Arsenal are the Christmas Number One. Unfortunately, this isn't the flex we would hope for, as in the four previous instances, we've never gone on to win the league. We finished 2nd in 02/03, 3rd in 07/08, 2nd in 22/23 and 2nd 23/24. Surely this time around, it has to change?

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We head into Christmas with our two-point lead back in tact after City demolished a dreadful West Ham earlier in the day. Villa are just about to kick off against Man Utd.

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​HONOURABLE MENTIONS

We have a few to shout out before handing out the MOTM.

 

First up, as most weeks, is Jurrien Timber. He absolutely locked down Grealish all night and was more of a threat for us going forward than the English winger was the other way for them. He didn't give poor Jack a sniff all night—another top performance from our Dutch RB.

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Next up is Saka, who got the Sky MOTM award, I believe? He, yet again, was our brightest attacking spark and should have scored. He, like Timber, is a model of consistency, and we often take their weekly 8/9 out of 10 performances for granted.

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Last HM goes to Gyokeres. In a week when he had been the subject of widespread criticism, including from his own fan base, he took the penalty. With the pressure on, he strode up confidently and dispatched it with minimum fuss. Just what I want my centre forward to do.

 

He did, however, draw my wrath when he lost a physical duel to Mykolenko, their LB. That should not be happening, but I've already discussed his lack of dual strength at length in my piece about him.

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My MOTM goes to a man that I swear was born with three lungs, and that is ....​​​