Show of Faith or Shop Window?
Arsenal’s line up gives starts to Martinez, Holding, Bellarin, Elneny and Maitland Niles. All rumoured to be part of the ten players Arsenal are willing to sell this transfer window. Martinez was fantastic when stepping in for Leno. Holding is young enough to improve. Bellarin is a stalwart. Elneny plays in a position where we have two no-shows and a player returning to their parent club. AMN is consistently one of our best performers in our biggest games against the toughest opposition.
The centre-back area is definitely one in need of cleaning up. If not in terms of quality than at least in terms of numbers. But of the players playing tonight, all of them have given a good account of themselves. Whether that’s to Arteta or to a new club, is yet to be seen.
A Wonderful Arsenal Goal
The club appear relaxed about the Gabonese striker’s contract talks, and the evidence on the field suggests the player remains focused. Reports are saying Aubameyang is happy to stay, as long as Arsenal show some ambition in the transfer market. So far, we have collected a centre-back and a winger. Two more high-calibre signings should convince him, and us, we are moving in the right direction.
Auba’s goal today is a brilliant team goal topped off with a beautiful finish. The move stretched the length of the pitch. Once again we dangle the bait in front of our opponents in the 18-yard box. Holding, Luiz, Martinez, Xhaka and Elneny draw the opponents in from a goal kick, with the centre-backs dropping all the way to the by-line to receive passes. Holding passed the ball out to Bellarin, who plays a long ball down the line to Saka. The youngster cuts inside and sprays a lovely cross-field ball to Aubameyang on the left wing. He controls it, shifts the ball onto his right foot and fires a curling rocket into the far corner.
Our Egyptian King
If Arteta can turn Elneny into a first team player, then he is capable of anything. When the midfielder was playing for Arsenal, he never stood out. Never made any costly mistakes, but rarely contributed quality to the game. For that, most fans have seen enough and would be happy for him to be sold. Can Arteta turn this average plodder into a midfield linchpin? You look at the opposition’s central midfield three and maybe it’s possible. None of them seem to possess outstanding quality. Responsible positioning, a decent reading of the game and a good work rate are enough.
The Egyptian has played a part in some tidy passing triangles. He showed neat footwork to win a free-kick from Milner in the middle of the pitch with Santi-esque touches. And apart from a careless touch that sees him run the ball into an opposing player and a bumble into the back of a Liverpool, the likes of which have cost penalties in the past, he’s had a decent game.
Scousers Draw Level
60 minutes in, and Liverpool bring on their new signing Takumi Minamino. Bought for less than ten million he can’t be very good, can he? Despite his low price tag, the ex-Red Bull Salzburg has been bright spark today, breathing some life into Liverpool’s performance. Unfortunately, after 73 minutes he gets his reward.
Salah drives into our defensive line, he attempts a one two with Minamino. After a few ricochets, the Japanese midfielder finds himself through on goal and slots the ball past Martinez. Replays show it was a fortunate goal with deflections from Holding and Cedric before the ball falls Minamino. There were even claims of handball against Salah in the build-up. Camera angles never really gave a good view of the incident.
Decided from 12 Yards
The final whistle goes, and its penalties to decide the tie. Martinez is clearly getting an in-depth briefing on potential penalty takers, which is good to see. Nelson sets the tone with a great first penalty, and the standard never drops from there on in. AMN Sleep walked his penalty into the net, and Luis and Cedric both scored theirs to leave it to Aubameyang to hit the net and wrap up the cup.
It’s hard not to be impressed with Arsenals recent giant-killing Cup wins. The squad that everyone agrees needs dismantling has now won two domestic trophies against two of the League’s biggest hitters. It appears the manager knows how to beat teams that want to beat us. We just struggled earlier on in his reign with more negative teams. If we could learn to unlock those teams as well, surely the world is ours.
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