Arsenal players, they are just like us Arteta says players on the bench were whispering "bring Ethan in".— James Benge (@jamesbenge) February 11, 2024
The carveout is that it's not a red if 1) the foul is in the penalty area and 2) there was a legitimate attempt to play the ball. Whether it's the keeper challenging or an outfield player isn't relevant as far as I'm aware. Areola didn't challenge for the ball and should've been sent off. Same conditions were met as that extremely dumb David Luiz red from a couple of seasons ago. Not that it matters, but I'm at least 80% sure Craig Pawson and the VAR got this wrong.
Yeah, I mis-spoke. My guess is they thought the step on Saka's foot was an (failed) attempt to pull out of the challenge, so they shouldn't apply double jeopardy. But yeah, that's about the only somewhat plausible reason.
Can I just take a moment for Bukayo Saka appreciation? He’s got 51 goals and 49 assists in his career now, and is still only 22. And he’s getting better every year: 25 goal contributions in 31 appearances (all comps) so far this season. This kid is approaching world elite attacking output, and he defends! He scores two goals and we don’t even mention him anymore.
Where I was watching (and who with) didn't allow me to hear commentary much, so I missed that reference. Plus I'm not immediately equating Phil Dowd with some A-related F-up? So feel free to mind me/us.
I thought I heard the tunnel interviewer say Saka has 60. If true, is that all comps? I assumed it was just EPL.
Last 2 matches we've played really well with big wins. Both of those matches we've been without Jesus. Is it possible we actually play better without him? I know during some of his prior outages we continued good form.
Part of me says Jesus can do anything Trossard can do and more and if he was in there the match would have gone the same way. @chjoak pointed out in the movement between the attacking players, which was also key in the Liverpool match, and something I wanted to see more of after the West Ham home loss. This fluidity does NOT happen when Nketiah plays. Jesus can and does move around more than Nketiah, but he still wants to be the focal point of the attack and isn't quite as selfless as Havertz or Trossard in the same role.
You can really see this by the way he’s defended: double and often triple-teamed. The one moment he was in the box and in between defenders, he made them pay and scored instantly. Other teams resolve to nullify him first as an option and they still can’t do it.
Kudos to the entire defense for the clean sheet and really not giving WHU any chances to get in this. Per understat, we held them to 0.19 xG for the match. It's amazing what happens when you don't commit stupid mistakes, which seemed to be WHU's only tactical plan to score against us. Ben White looks back in top form these last couple matches, and personally I thought Kiwior had a solid match against the Kudus. Personally, I think we need to keep Kiwior for depth and rotation, but if the rumors are true he wants an exit, he is improving his value with recent strong performances against 'Pool and WHU.
And the other part of you says? ps. Perhaps it wasn’t clear, but wasn’t talking about Eddie in our XI. But rather Havertz and/or Trossard.
100% agree that Eddie wouldnt be near as good in that role. Evident when he came in and did nothing. Hard to argue how well Jesus would have done. In theory he could/would have done well but it is hard to say since this was the 1st time (that I am aware) that we played with the level of rotation between CF, AM & W for either side. As well as the 1st time we spent so much time effectively playing in a 4-2-4 offensively. I would be curious to see the offense we ran today with both the left & right sides rotating at different times but dont think that would work with Havertz at the left 8 spot because whichever CM/AM is not pushing up as a F9 would have to drop back as a true 8.
Kiwior was shaky early but honestly what can you expect when he doesn't get a lot of game time. He worked his way into the match and by the end he was solid, which is what you want your depth to be.
My circumstances didn't allow me to watch the game as closely as I would like. Was Kiwior tested much during the game? Did they attack much down his side? Sadly I cannot say.