To add, every time a player near the center of the park gets the ball, they look wide immediately. Not only is no one trying to drive through the middle, no one's even thinking about it.
And why is Nketiah playing so far from goal? A few mins ago Willock did some nice work and put in a super dangerous cross about 4 yards in front of goal mouth. No single Arsenal player was anywhere near the goal. Including Eddie... who woulda buried it.
Halfway through the first half, 0 shots on target against a team that has won 7 of their 16 games in the Irish league, with a goal difference of +4.
Nelson looks lively and eager to prove himself. He just screwed a hard shot about 6 inches wide. Before that he did some tricky spins & tricks on the edge of the box. Maybe he's going to be our X-factor today?
If Pepe can't find a way to dominate their LB I don't know what to say about him. He needs to go all out! p.s. Nice little combo he was involved in in the box just then.
He gets in good positions, but he's not talented enough to do anything when he gets there. In a few years, he and Harry Winks are going to be a spectacular midfield duo for a team that falls just short of promotion from the Championship.
When he's played this year, he's been dangerous on the flanks and put in some rather useful crosses. Today included.
The announcer's ignoring it, but that was a really bad miss by Nketiah. He had time to set himself, shape his body, and he screwed it wide from like, 6 yards, somehow.
Yeah!!! Eddie makes up for that last miss, and buries a gift from 1 yard out! Edit: Showing a little physical chutzpah there too. Phew!!!
And the flood gates open. We take them apart on the counter and Willock roofs it! 2-0 to the good guys.
He’s also maybe the only midfielder that Arsenal have who is willing to consistently make runs into the box. If he eliminates the mistakes of youth he may become a key player for Arsenal. Its interesting that this group is attempting more combination play than the regular starters. Part of that may be the opponent, but Willock and his runs certainly plays a part, and I get the impression that Nelson is also playing a part.
The playbook on Arsenal is sit back, let them pass the ball in an arc around the area with no penetration, launch the occasional cross to a 5'9" Lacazette, hit back on the counter. If, all of a sudden, guys in the center of midfield start getting the ball and running at the defense, it creates new passing angles and forces the defense to be more active, which creates more space, so on and so forth. Credit to Willock and Nelson for being willing to make those runs today, because no one did against Leicester.
Missed the first 10' of 2T live, but thanks to my nifty DVR I caught up fast and fluidly. Nice streetball move by Nicolas for his goal. The spanish announcer said "Golazzo!" Not sure it was quite that, but it was sure sweet. 65' and Willock is my MOTM so far.