I have seen this match so many times before. Arsenal are playing against one of the top sides in Europe; one side has technical quality, passes the ball around well and creates a few decent chances, but ultimately succumbs to the knowhow and ruthlessness of the side that knows how to win football matches.
I cannot tell you how much I enjoy that we have graduated from being the former side into the latter.
There were so many games in the late Wenger years when we were done by teams in exactly the same way that we did PSG tonight, and this evening it was a pleasure to see on full display how far we’ve come.
We lined up the same as at the weekend, the continuing absence of our captain necessitating that we cut our cloth accordingly – we just don’t keep the ball half as well without him, so we don’t bother half as much. Instead, we let PSG have the ball for large parts of the match, confident they would not be able to hurt us and happy to damage them from turnovers or from our own buildup when we did put our foot on the ball.
After a committed start from us where PSG did well to keep the ball away from our press, it was just before the twenty-minute mark when the magnificent Havertz got in down the side of the box and rolled the ball across the six-yard line only to see a static Rice recognise too late the run he should have made for a tap in.
No matter, as two minutes later we were ahead. Trossard held the ball well and found an excellent cross for our German striker, who had drifted into the perfect spot to get in front of Donnarumma and win a brave header which looped into the side netting. It was fully deserved for both the player and the team. Havertz was superb tonight. He won so many duels, held the ball well, never stopped running and made life horrible for PSG. My man of the match.
PSG looked like their best chance of finding some joy might be to get quick balls in behind as they have some pace out wide. Hakimi beat Calafiori for pace but Raya saved from a tight angle. The Spaniard was as assured as we are coming to expect, whilst Calafiori reminds me somewhat of a young labrador – he is just so damn enthusiastic, full of energy and wants to be in the middle of everything. As he adjusts and absorbs more and more of Arteta’s tactical demands his positioning will improve and he will fit in even better. A good performance but plenty more still to come from the young Italian.
Minutes later, Mendes burst past Saka and hit a long- range curler which clipped the post, but it was bending away from goal and Raya did not look troubled.
Donnarumma certainly did when we scored again from a whipped free kick into the box by Saka. Martinelli, Gabriel and Partey all threw legs at the ball but no-one made contact and it went through the crowd and the keeper to double our lead. Lovely stuff!
Trossard had a chance from a Saka cross that he could easily have scored, whilst PSG moved the ball around smoothly but without much threat.
Half-time came and, when the teams emerged again, we replaced the injured Timber with Kiwior. I can only hope he is not injured too badly (felt something muscular according to Arteta and replaced as a precaution) as he is one hell of a player. However, Kiwior is an excellent replacement to be able to call on and he was fine in the second half. Good for him to get some minutes and keep his eye in.
The lively Martinelli did not manage to build on his goal at the weekend despite a few decent chances, including an effort he volleyed straight at Donnarumma, after a delightful Havertz flick, when either side would have been a goal, but he was still racing around deep into the match in a way that made me tired just watching him.
Shortly after the hour we got to see Mikel Merino for the first time when he replaced Partey, who had cut a cultured and assured figure, spraying the ball about nicely without getting caught out of position as he has too often recently. The Spaniard did well enough, and it was good to see him get his first taste of life in front of the appreciative Emirates crowd, who gave their team plenty of support in a second half where PSG had spells of mild pressure that we seemed happy enough to weather, perhaps confident that PSG’s shower was unlikely to turn into a downpour.
They hit the bar from a corner that we let their man get to first, and a swerving long-range shot got Raya out of shape before he recovered to beat it away, but our defence has given us much reason not to be too concerned by this sort of thing, and once again they kept the clean sheet we know they prize so highly.
Personally, I rate Barcola, but he got very little out of us all night. Even though I don’t know the current PSG players as well as some of the former ones, they are clearly all good players whom we nullified to a large extent, at times keeping our shape and protecting our area, at others pressing and harrying them into mistakes.
A quick word for the ref, as he was excellent and conspicuous to anyone used to watching the Premier League by the quiet competence of his performance. He gave Ruiz and Calafiori both a yellow for a bit of nothing but overall he was excellent – impartial, consistent, in control of proceedings and making his business to enforce the laws of the game. He gave short thrift to play acting, or desperate shouts for a penalty when a ball rebounded onto Calafiori’s arm, and he kept his cards in his pocket when both sides made the minor delaying restart actions that the PL has started its pointless war against (well, at least when we are the ones doing them).
Frankly, by the end, I was a bit sad that this sort of performance is so rare to see for those of us who support English teams. Never mind can we play Spurs every week… can we have this ref every week?
Jesus came on for Trossard, and then took the captain’s armband from the hardworking Saka when he was replaced by Lewis-Skelly for the final three of four minutes injury time. By my reckoning, the ball deflected off his foot once when a PSG lad tried to pass it around him. Still, a few minutes were doubtless good for him as he learns to feel more at home on the big stage.
The match ended and it was all just so routine. We just took the sting out of what was supposed to be a tough game and got the job done with the minimum of fuss. Great result, great performance and a lot to build on and work with as we try to put together a run deep into the competition this year. On tonight’s showing, we are starting to look like a serious outfit at this level. Long may it continue.
I’ve just got home from the match after a smooth combination of tube, rail and road . A bit like the smooth combination we saw from our team tonight . You describe the gang very well GSD . It had the feel of a big European night but we made it a relatively comfortable evening for ourselves through a combination of tactical nous and great commitment , talent and organisation .
MOTM was difficult to pick as we had so many fine performances but the leading candidates in my view woukd have been Partey who played so intelligently in a holding role, Trossard who was a real livewire in the first half especially and the magnificent Havertz. Here is a man transformed from the hesitant , peripheral cypher we saw this time last year and the brave, combative and silkily skilful we saw tonight .
I’m so glad you mentioned the ref GSD . Slovenian, authoritative, unfussy and supremely in control . Contrast him with Chris Kavanagh who is apparently the rising star among English referees . Lord help us!
A good night in almost every respect, it even stopped raining so we could get to the tube in the dry .
Excellent match report, GSD. We saw the same game. As I said in the previous drinks, we negated a team that will be a handful with a couple of seasons’ experience under their belt. Barcola, who I also rate, got no service as we shut down PSG’s two key midfielders Vitinha, whose haircut reminded me of Michael Bentine (look him up, younger ‘holics), and Joao Neves.
I agree with you 100% about the refereeing. It was the same with the Atalanta game. Puts the PGMOL to shame, low bar, though, that that is.
Good to see Merino get on, especially as it meant Partey could get off before he got tired, which is when he gets sloppy, but he had an excellent first half. No arguments with Havertz as MOTM, though.
The visuals from this description of Saka’s goal by Barney Ronay made me laugh:
The goal came from Saka’s free-kick wide on the right touchline. Arsenal’s attacking five were bunched together at the back post. Moments before the ball was floated in they set off on a straight line jog, knees theatrically high, like sailors in a musical production off to hoist the rigging. The PSG defence seemed hypnotised by this, horrified that such subterfuge could exist. Saka swept the free-kick in, Trossard swung a foot, and the ball floated in though the crowd without a touch.
One can conclude that Barney has watched HMS Pinafore one time too many, and that he knows more about football than sailing.
Great summary, GSD – like the comparison of our status in this match compared to so many CL matches of years gone by when we sacrificed two leg ties by going for that unnecessary bit of last minute glory.
Ned actually had me quite worried by his preview -detailing all these very expensive young, quick, skilful players recruited by PSG to rebuild their squad and their ethos. Well, we must be getting seriously good because they were all kept under almost perfect control last night.
Potsticker 🤣
Trev@4: Your last sentence is spot on.
Excellent write-up, GSD. (As an aside, whenever I see “GSD”, I immediately think of “Get Shit Done”😁)
I think the scoreline didn’t really reflect our dominance. With a bit more clinical finishing and application, we’d have put 4 or 5 past that lot.
On a different note, I’ve not seen enough credit being given Arteta for the degree of transformation he has made in Trossard’s performance. I remember watching Leo at Brighton. He was always a lethal finisher, but he was somewhat mercurial and, most importantly, he always seemed to have dips in his performance after extended runs in the team. Generally, he’d score or assist regularly for the first two or three games in a run of appearances, then his productivity would tail off until he was “rested”. Then, he’d return to the team with productivity for a spell…wash, rinse, repeat. (I used to have him in my fantasy teams with frustrating results.)
This Arsenal/Arteta version of Trossard is noticeably different. Leo is a dependable performer with few, if any, peaks and valleys. Even when he is not scoring or assisting, he is creating havoc in the attack and bringing guile to the defense. His mentality and performance level improvement has been substantial, and, I think, speaks volumes to Mikel’s ability to elevate quality players to even higher levels. He is a maestro.
MCMBD
Very fine performance. Very fine report. Refereeing at the standard the League requires.
Excellent report of an excellent performance, GSD. I particularly like your observations on our transformation in this match – if you like, from prey to predator. It was a superbly professional performance, firstly punishing PSG’s errors with goals resulting from superb attacking movement from Leo and Kai and our ‘Tiller Girls move’ (I’ve never seen high kicking sailors, Potsticker) to distract their keeper from the flight of Saka’s beautiful curler then completely neutralising PSG’s second half efforts to get back into the game just failing to demoralise them utterly with our chances to score the third (and fourth, as Lonestar observes). A well deserved victory acknowledged by no less an expert observer than Luis Enrique himself. Superb performances from all but the surprise for me was TP5 who was absolutely brilliant in the first half, breaking up the PSG moves through midfield and initiating our attacks. He’s not been as effective for ages.
I forgot the flowers for the referee. He was a revelation. How well the game can flow and the players kept in order by the intelligent application of the laws of the game. As Clattenberg observed, I hope the PGMOL grunts were watching and learning.
LG@6: Good point about Trossard. I had a quick look at his numbers. He has gone from a goal or an assist (excluding penalties and counting PL games only) every 236 minutes at Brighton to every 111 minutes since joining us. He has also upped his shots on target per 90 mins ratio from 0.79 to 0.97 and his goals per shots on target from 0.31 to 0.48. Those are coaching effects.
bath@8: There was a point in the second half when the camera pulled back to show the 4-4-2 we adopt without the ball. The three banks were moving left to right and back again in lockstep, spaces between the players staying constant, like a perfectly orchestrated line dance. Also, it was being done at a walking pace, as if to say, we’ll take a rest now while you tire yourselves out with the ball. It was almost as if the defence was moving the attack around, not vice versa, as the coaching manuals say it is meant to work.
Ned
Where I sit on the North Bank Upper gives a brilliant view of the formations we adopt. I was interested that pre-game Luis Enrique suggested Arsenal were the strongest side in Europe , out of possession . Last night wouldn’t have changed his mind. We’ve discuss on here ‘ juego de posicion’ , Arteta’s football philosophy, which I think he has tweaked this season further . There is great tactical discipline but last night Calafiori brought an incredible sense of adventure to was is nominally a left-back role. I remember playing for my school team at right-back and being castigated if I went anywhere near the halfway line . Calafiori appeared almost everywhere, his ‘ heat map ‘ would be fascinating before he switched to right back where he sat in a deeper formation as we invited them on in the second half . But the team is brilliantly drilled . You can still concede as we saw against Leicester but those goals were either lucky or unstoppable but this is the most cohesive Arsenal team I’ve ever seen
I wonder if MA8 has tied his back 4 together in training the way GG8 did back in the day.
TTG@11: Surely overlapping fullbacks were a thing, even when you were at school. Wasn’t that why Sir Alf got rid of wingers?
My two-cents on Calafiori is that he is a supersized Zinchenko with the strength to drive forward when Zinchenko would look to pass. A fair criticism of Zinchenko over the past yeara or so would be that he has been slow to pass, so in comparison with his caution, Calafiori looks (and is) all energy. Plus, Calafiori is an elite defender, whereas Zinchenko is just a very good one, except for that moment in the second half where he makes his customary error. However, I will be amazed if Calafiori makes it to the end of the season without getting a red card. GSD was on the money in describing him as a labrador pup.
In case you missed it in the summer, here is Adam Clery on Calafiori:
Great result and thanks for the report GSD as I missed the game. Hope Timber’s injury is minor.
TTG, Ned – I commented on our defensive formation after – I believe – both the Tottenham and C115y games. You can see the entire defensive unit move as one – side to side and backwards and forwards. They allow the opposition wingers a bit of space but that is to keep the rest of the unit nice and compact. The problem for the opposition winger is that there is nowhere in the centre where he can find a team mate in space.
The movement of our defensive unit is perfection and it was interesting to watch Merino when he came on against PSG. He slotted immediately into position and didn’t miss a step. His head looked like it was on a swivel, constantly checking g left and right to keep the distances absolutely bang on.
Even Manchester City couldn’t muster a decent shot against that formation in over 50 minutes against 10 men – then scored with a fliuke from a corner in the dying seconds.
Great report GSD. That has to be the most chilled I’ve been in a big Champions League night. When PSG made their subs and got some control from 60-70 minutes, my son said to me “ we’re just letting them play in front of us”. He was right. We were never going to lose that game from 2-0 up.
Here’s Mike McDonald’s view
That’s a great piece from Mike McDonald. Thanks for posting. Much the same theme as GSD’s – the transformation of Arsenal from minnows to sharks!
Thi (£) is a good read too – everyone is sitting up and taking notice!
“…you begin to appreciate how Arsenal’s quest to sweep all before them is anything but a delusion of grandeur. They can be both exhilarating and efficient. They contrive ways to win with or without Odegaard, their captain and talisman. And crucially, their confidence remains intact even when they are starved of the ball. It is an intoxicating combination – and there appears no limit to the rewards it could yield.”
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/football/2024/10/02/arsenal-psg-champions-league-win-saka-havertz/
C100@15: Thanks for the Mike McDonald link. As illuminating a read as ever — and, to echo bath, kudos to GSD for making the same point straight after the PSG game. It is also telling that we are now mentioned in the same breath as Real Madrid, City and Bayern as suitors for Florian Wirtz. We are back at Europe’s top table.
McDonald’s remarks about Raya’s long, flat kicking caught my eye as an example of one of the little improvements that add up to making a big difference. I also think I’ve seen that near the end of games, Raya kicks long, high and looping, presumably to chew up a few more seconds and keep the ball longer in the opposition’s half.
Tomorrow we will know the outcome of a case that is potentially as significant as the Bosman ruling in relation to the transfer system in football .
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2024/sep/29/will-the-lassana-diarra-case-bring-down-transfer-market-as-we-know-it
Interestingly the prime mover is our old player Lassana Diarra ( a very good player ) who one might claim underachieved in his career because of his tendency to look at greener grass elsewhere . This is a very significant case and will be particularly dreaded by Chelsea who have a lot of players on very long contracts . Ironically Diarra joined us from the Chavs .
TTG@20: Here is a counter view that the Diarra case will not be as consequential for transfers as Philippe Auclair and Diarra’s lawyers suggest:
https://sports.yahoo.com/lassana-diarra-case-explained-bosman-120736041.html
I guess that we shall have a better idea on Friday after the ECJ has handed down its ruling.
Thanks for the various links gents.
It’s good that although we miss Ode, we have been steadily getting stronger as we adapt to playing without him.
Diarra was indeed a good player but also clearly an awkward little cuss. I seem to remember him throwing his toys out of the pram because “I don’t want to play fullback, it’s a hopeless position for useless players!” Or words to that effect. Unsurprising that he’s taking the system to court. Did he ever achieve anything significant in the game or indeed in his life? Am I interested in his latest beef? No, I have to wash my hair.
Wasn’t it Arseblog who used to refer to Diarra as Dolphin headed c***?
It was indeed.
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