On replay it seems like a clear pen to me. Targett kicks the back of Laca's leg before he makes contact with the ball. Would be impossible to see that in realtime, which maybe is why it a no-call at first. But thanks to VAR, I think the truth was found. And for me that's why VAR exists. And I'm not just saying that because the call went our way.
3-0 and a FANTASTIC counter attack goal. ESR was the man in the end and he made it count! Edit: And BEAUTIFUL flick/chip pass by Auba to ESR.
Clive on AV has been pushing this a lot lately, but Sambi and Partey are playing much more as a double-pivot today rather than the Xhaka left back role or whatever Odegaard has been doing. Not sure if that is down to Tavares playing for Tierney, or an unrelated tactical move. And I took too long to type this - 3!
Great finish. We are so clearly a transition team. I wish we were more than that but at least we are that.
I disagreed with a lot of what Clive said last podcast but yeah, Partey is ineffective playing that lone 6 role he's been playing. Sambi/Partey is a good combo. Okay let's see some subs Arteta!
And yet, from what Efan Ekoku just said, Arteta said he doesn't have the players to be a countering team. Huh?? Did he REALLY say that?? If so, this game is proving him wrong. And presumably Mikel set up these tactics so I have to question if that's what Arteta really meant. Unless is was some very very clever pre-match mind games.
Every single one of our goals scored in open play have been in transition this year. The dude's a moron
Oops, he shoulda listened to you. Laca just paid the price for 65 extremely active minutes and has to come off with some sort of muscular problem.
Commentators knowledge is a mile wide and a foot deep. They have to be able to talk about all 20 clubs, but any of us on this board know more about Arsenal than the average commentator. Lee Dixon is an exception as an Arsenal fan.
Would be nice to get above water on goal difference for the year. Has Tavares made a case to start the next match if Tierney is healthy? At the very least, there is no reason to rush him back into the lineup.
IDK was he even much tested today defensively? I noticed some of his offensive contributions but not many defensive ones. p.s. Your hope of getting to GD=0 just went out the window. Jacob Ramsey just scored a stunning first for him.
God damn, just see out a full game. This team still so mentally and physically drained at the end of matches. What the hell is our conditioning
TBF we've played more full gas tonight than just about any other game. And we already knew that our fitness wasn't as good as it needed to be. So it should be of little surprised that we're flagging and letting Villa back into it of late. I'd like better overall fitness, but I'll take today's performance. To use a cliche word, we were much much braver than typical.
It looked unintentional by Mings, but it was a legit elbow to the side of Laca's head on replay. Good no-call, imo.
Tierney hasn't been all that good this season. I think Tavares has held his own, he's in great condition and hasn't made any big mistakes. And making him an ideal Arsenal fullback, he just had a foul throw.