Open question, is Arteta playing a 3-4-3 vs Dundalk because he wants to get both Chambers and Mari playing time or because he’s going back to it in the Premier League?
41' AMN with a nice shot from >25yds out. Forced their keeper into a save. Everyone's havin a go now!
We should be blowing this boys out of the water, but guess what??? They almost leveled the game with 30 secs to go in the half.
I still really need someone to explain to me what Joe Willock 1) is supposed to be good at now, and 2) what he's supposed to grow into. I just absolutely do not see any potential in him at all. Every minute he plays is a waste of resources.
Willock has had some good moments this season, but he can't seem to do much consistently or reliably. He wouldn't be unique in that.
Even without the benefit of hindsight, in many ways I would have preferred to see this lineup on Sunday.
Jordan Flores has already 1 goal for them tonight. We better be very attentive defensively to him because here's what he's capable of:
62' Ceballos & Balogun come on for Elneny & Nketiah. Straight swap looks like. Then Cedric takes a nice FK that forces their keeper to make a pressured save.
I read an article when Wenger was still at the helm, where El Neny said he understood why shooting wasn't a good thing. This after the Barcalona strike and a screamer for his country.
Ha! But TBF, for this season here's what our meager team has produced... 5 goals - Eddie 4 goals - Auba, Pepe, Laca 3 goals - Willock
80' 4-1 Balogun! Never in doubt when he got it wide open to the left of the keeper. He looks a super cool finisher that boy.
I just noticed something significant, and I wanted to share this POSITIVE thought: We finished atop our group with a perfect record: P6 W6 D0 L0 (and +15GD) No other team in UEL did that No team in UCL did that That's something. Regardless of the quality of our group opponents. And I can't remember if/when we ever did that before in a UEFA group stage I hope Mikel and his squad take/took that thought to bed tonight, and that it helps them when Burnley come to town Sunday.
Apparently he's a MF-er, he replaced Willock tonight. He only got 10' and I didn't really watch him much but I do recall him in a pretty advanced position once or twice. He's also a big lad, which is always nice to see from an Arsenal academy product. English w/ Nigerian roots I think. Here's something the club put up for him after his senior debut: https://www.arsenal.com/news/azeez-im-buzzing-i-love-club
Nice win. Hard to take anything away from this though as far as player assessment is concerned because Dundalk are not good. In fact, even for a Europa group stage, I thought all our opponents were quite poor --- low Championship level at best. That being said, I'd like to see Balogun against better competition to see how he fares. Same with ESR. Runarsson----uh, Arseblog wins the internet today with our second string keeper's new nickname -- Icespina. Please stay healthy Leno.