The first league visit of Ipswich to the Emirates was not one they or most of the sixty thousand spectators will remember with any fondness. Even as an eye witness I am starting to find the game fading in my memory but the important facts are that Arsenal beat Ipswich and moved into second place in the table tonight.
My report will not follow the usual format which describes the ebb and flow of play in some detail because there was very little ebb and flow to the game particularly in the first half. Arsenal controlled possession to an almost unprecedented degree in the first forty five, having close to 85% of the ball and over the ninety minutes, having 68% of the possession. Raya didn’t make a save in the ninety minutes and the three shots that Ipswich generated were all blocked by the Arsenal defence. The nearest they came to threatening the Arsenal goal was in the very first minute as the strains of North London Forever were ringing out, Delap almost got control of the ball in the six yard box but Arsenal scrambled it clear.
Arsenal had picked Lewis-Skelly at left-back in the staring eleven and he played the whole game. Kai Havertz and Jesùs interchanged in a sort of striker/false nine combo and Martinelli replaced Saka on the right with Trossard on the left.
The early exchanges took place in the foggiest conditions I had seen for a while. I had anticipated a special night from the appearance of two legends – the estimable C100 who uses the same entrance as me and the appearance before the game of the much-loved Santi Cazorla. I missed most of Santi’s interview but the deep well of affection for him was very obvious from the crowd reaction. He is one of the most talented natural footballers I have ever seen at the Stadium of Stone and is still plying his trade, at the age of forty, with Real Oviedo in the Spanish Second Division. How sad and unfair that in such a long career we were deprived of his services for so long.
Santi would have been very useful in helping to provide a creative spark for Arsenal tonight. Despite overwhelming possession the absence of Bukayo Saka who will surely miss the majority of this season was keenly felt. Arsenal began slowly and their first effort was a run and shot from distance from the excellent Timber. The Ipswich goalkeeper, who played well tonight, saved it and then watched a Rice drive whistle over. Ødegaard prompted and probed but when our goal came it was very simple. A long Ødegaard cross reached Trossard on the left who dinked a ball into the middle for Kai Havertz to nip in and turn the ball home.
Arsenal 1 Ipswich 0 – Havertz, 23 minutes
The rest of the half saw us continue our overwhelming territorial superiority but to no great effect. Jesùs had a goal rightly disallowed for offside but despite a coordinated team performance and a press and particularly a counter-press to which Ipswich had no answer, a rather flat first half ended with us only one goal to the good.
Half-time: Arsenal 1 Ipswich 0
We hoped for better in the second half and there was greater intensity about Arsenal’s attacking with Ipswich being penned in for large parts of the second period. Muric, the Kosovo national keeper, made several fine low saves most particularly from a Rice volley direct from an Ødegaard corner. Our Norwegian captain is desperate to score but miscued or failed to beat Muric several times. Gabriel headed a superb Rice corner wide from close range and Havertz missed a close range chance, not being able to direct a flick-on beyond Muric.
This was frustrating, not just because it kept Ipswich in a match they had no right to be in, but also because it illustrated how thin our attacking resources are. All of our fit front-line forwards were on the pitch and we desperately need reinforcement in the attacking area. It is inconceivable that we can successfully get through the season with the attacking resources we currently have. If Saka is lost to us this season we need more penetration on the wings and we ideally need someone who can be a predator in the opposition box. Jesùs was admirable in his work rate. Havertz played excellently in both the roles he had but we lack the attacking resources of Liverpool who have Salah, Nunes, Jota, Gakpo and Diaz to throw at the opposition and their midfielders are likely to score more goals than ours too. So far this season our midfielders have notched five goals between them and one was a penalty.
We are also much more potent away from home where we have scored five or more goals seven times by my reckoning. I fully expect us to beat the three promoted sides much more easily than we beat them at home but low blocks and organised defences will be a common site in N5 for the rest of the season and we have to find a way around them.
It should also be said that we have the best defence in the league, have recorded four successive clean sheets at home, have got the only unbeaten home record in the league and have a number of admirable performers. Gabriel and Saliba regularly get flowers but Timber is also a terrific player and a huge asset. Tonight Rice was measured and prescient, putting out potential fires before they could begin and young Lewis-Skelly, two rushed clearances aside, played extremely well and does not look remotely out of place at this level. But with no Saka or Sterling we have only Nwaneri to bring into our forward line.
A flat game ended …flatly, but the points were safely secured and tellingly Arteta made only two substitutions, both fairly late on, for Jesùs and Rice. Was he sensibly shepherding resources sending a message to the boardroom or was he trying to give our more delicate defensive players more respite?
Full-time: Arsenal 1 Ipswich 0
Whatever the case, we were deserved winners and should not beat ourselves up too much from this point on if we secure the necessary points. This can still be a wonderful season but it is unlikely to be so if we cannot increase our attacking threat. With no Technical Director that is quite a challenge for our management team.
Thanks TTG – a fine write up if a less than scintillating game. We definitely do need more attackjng resources but we can also use those we have much better. This ultra slow build up play with paceless passes into feet is giving these low blocks far too much time to get organised when we turn possession over. And by crawling up to the edge of the opposition area there is no space for the ball in behind which would suit a speed merchant like Martinelli much better than trying to trick his way past a double marker – something he is not suited too. He worked tremendously hard again and every time he had a yard to work in he produces a threat but our own build up play is nullifying him at the moment. When opposition defences drop so deep we have to stretch them out wide but much more quickly.
It’s been a cruel season in terms of injuries but we are still second and mostly finding a way to get it done. I don’t know exactly what Bukayo Saka’s injury is but the fact he has needed surgery indicates a very serious tear given that Bath has learnt that there was no avulsion. It’s going to be a long, slow route back to ensure that he can regain the range of movement and crucially strength needed to avoid reoccurrence. Fingers crossed – for Bukayo and us.
Thanks for the match report TTG. I agree with every word of it. I thought we were pretty good last night. Especially in the second half we created lots of chances, mostly by running directly at their defence. Only a glaring miss by Gabriel and several excellent saves by the Ipswich keeper, the score could have been two or three nil. TTG rehearses all the good stats about this team. I didn’t think anyone played badly and many, especiallly both full backs were very good.
And yet, as we headed East through Hackney on the way back to the M11 the radio featured Arsenal fan after Arsenal fan saying that because we didn’t put six past Ipswich and Saka is injured that was it, league was gone, we wouldn’t make top four.
Well, we’ll see.
What a bonus ! Thanks Ned and TTG for a very swift update to the Predictathon ! Finally some upward movement as we approach the second half of the season. Form is temporary, class is permanent as the saying goes so hopefully my “safer” selections than last season will start to pay off.
A speedy and accurate account of an eminently forgettable game. ’twas a well executed and created goal by Kai Havertz after good work by Ødegaard and Trossard but all other mammoth efforts expended in this contest went for naught. We would have had a less nervy last ten had Timber’s dribble directly into the heart of their defence ended in a shot anywhere than directly at the keeper, had Rice’s superb volley direct from a corner not struck Tractorboy flesh, had Gabriel not misdirected his header after amazingly losing his marker who was clinging to him like a lost lover and had Havertz connected better with the ball at close range. Hey ho. As Mikel always says the game is about fine margins.
The team is learning to play without our starboy who so often makes the difference in these tight affairs. As you rightly observe, TTG, we must learn to be patient with them as they do and accept points won without style and panache. You are also right that we need to re-inforce the attack if we are to sustain our challenge. There was no-one but Nwaneri on the bench to bring on for that department and while he has talent, given his low recent impact as a sub, I can see why Arteta did not throw him on. Who can be persuaded to join and sustain a title challenger in January?
C100 – Arsenal is clearly not exempt from entitled, ignorant fans either. Injuries, one time only red cards and well organised low blocks aside, we’ve done remarkably well to be where we are.
I didn’t spot any fat ladies singing North London Forever last night so it ain’t over yet. Not by a long way.
A fine report, TTG and some builds with which I agree fully @1, Trev (“let’s pass the ball back and forth a few more times in our own half – Ipswich are not quite fully organised at the back yet”) and 2@, C100, indeed, we’ll see.
That was a tough watch but three points, elevation to second, a fourth consecutive clean sheet, no injuries on the night, Santi in the house and a partridge in a pear tree were all worthy footnotes. More importantly, MLS is already ready to play as a six as much as he is a three – what more can we ask of the young man – some goals maybe?
Every single team in Europe would miss Bukayo as a starter. Winning the title without him will be a fantastic accomplishment – and we can.
Trev @1, I have NOT learnt that there was no avulsion. I was deducing (PERHAPS WRONGLY!) from Arteta’s comment on the healing of scar tissue that they had decided that it was preferable to surgically remove the scarred muscle that he had damaged earlier this year and had caused a recurrent tear. It is possible to interpret his words as referring to the healing of the scar at the repaired avulsion but that would seem to me to be a less likely way to describe that. However, unsurprisingly, Arteta does occasionally use strange forms of the language. I am definitely not ITK.
For those who, like me, do not have the benefit of a medical or sports medicine background like Bath or Trev, Dr Google gives the following definition of an avulsion.
An avulsion injury is a forcible tearing away of skin or other body parts, like a finger or ear. It can also refer to a fracture where a ligament or tendon breaks off a small piece of attached bone. Avulsions can expose muscles, tendons, tissue, fascia, and bones. Common sites for avulsions include the hip, ankle, knee, elbow, heel, and pelvis.
Bath, oh ok – I haven’t heard Arteta’s interview and assumed you were adding to what SP in the previous bar had taken from Pedro at Le Grove. The internet and a game of Chinese whispers – what could possibly go wrong ?!
Send three and fourpence, we’re going to a dance !
Great report TTG – and I agree with @2Trev on all his observations.
We need to sign a forward in January. Rashford loan would be perfect – he would love to rub manure in Manure’s face😜
As ever there is a stack of good sense – and a symposium on muscular injury – in this bar! I wrote the report very late last night and was worried that the inevitable irritability that comes with tiredness would sour the mood of my report . But I hold to what I said . We do need to refresh and extend our attacking resources in the best way possible . My sense is we may see Osimhen in North London by the end of the window but I also hear whispers about Cunha which would please Trev and I .
I avoid most social media after a game nowadays – the BBC message board is one of the worst because it is full of trolls and WUMs. What Arteta has built is a remarkable construct but if major parts get damaged the replacement is not simply a slot-in . Watching from the cerebral heights of the North Bank Upper it is possible to see how Arteta’s JDP model works and how players fit into the roles they are given. Rice holds that team together in central midfield and Odegaard provides a creative spark but at home we play to a rhythm that is too slow as Trev points out . We need to find ways to liberate pace out wide and to get more players into the six yard box at crucial times . You get nowt for artistic impression in this league albeit that everyone plays almost the same way especially in build-up play . I trust the process but Mikel needs to inject some rocket fuel
A match report that is absolutely on point, TTG. On another day, we’d have scored two or three, and this would have been chalked up as a routine win.
One random thought to add is that we have minimised the risk of teams that employ a low block hitting us on the breakaway. The cost of that may be the more patient build-up. Yet, we need to be able to move up through the gears more rapidly when we reach the edge of an opponent’s penalty area.
I suppose the absence of any of the most promising Academy wingers — Kabia, Ferdinand and Butler-Oyedeji — from the bench suggests Arteta doesn’t see an internal solution to Saka being off games.
Trev@3: 👍 For those who had no idea what Trev was talking about, the GHF Predictathon leaderboard for Match Week 18 has been posted, along with the latest five-week form guide. Trev’s form is spectacular (Matron!). You know where to find them…
Thanks TTG for your report on a forgettable game but decent performance particularly defensively to have secured us an invaluable three points. Ipswich never threatened except at the very start as you say. Merino had a decent chance that the keeper kept out but that was as good a second half chance as we had. January shopping options don’t look that plentiful unfortunately so what will Mikel do?
I’ve been discussing elsewhere with Trev the possibility of signing Rashford . He is understandably dubious about his character and attitude. I’m starting to think that if we sign Neto on loan he might be worth a punt if Arteta can rekindle the Rashford who was so electric two years ago . That’s a huge if but we don’t have unlimited options . A lot might depend on the terms we could negotiate but the main imponderable is whether there is still a top- class player there
Not for me, TTG.
Terrible attitude, can’t see him fitting Arteta’s template for a hard working winger who presses and tracks back to defend. If he’s capable of doing that then, as a highly paid professional, he should have been doing it for a long time now.
Thanks TTG, an excellent report that I mostly agree with as usual.
On we go to Brentford away, a tricky game as is Brighton a few days later.
But before that we’ll have hope that somehow the useless hammers can take
points from the scousers,
TTG @14, I’m with Trev on this. Not even with a rancid barge pole from the foetid Manchester Ship Canal. Rashford looks as if he no longer loves the game and he clearly now gives the appearance of being primarily a party animal. A cross between Marinello and Ozil, if you will, taking the least satisfactory features of each. And imagine the effect on the dressing room of bringing in another overpaid, underperforming narcissist!
It would appear that last night’s rumour of the return of Vieira has been scotched. Not the worst plan though it’s hard to see him being a PL-winning force.