On a wet, windy Wednesday night in North London. The Champions League returned, with it came the Arsenal finding their killer instinct once more. What a game, my voice is still recovering!
The line-up:
Arsenal fans, it’s time to realise there has been a changing of the guard. Thierry Henry said it in his post match analysis, and now John Cross head sports writer for the mirror has evidently confirmed it. Raya is our new number 1. Thierry said’ Ramsdale was brought in to get top 4 and Mikel got Raya to win things!”.
A statement of fact from Thierry, and perhaps one that simply cannot be ignored. As much as we all like Ramsdale. And I’m a big proponent of the GK rotation. Given what happens to Ramsdale personally at the end of season that impacted his mental health for the games etc. I think Thierry is right. Mikel favours Raya. All will be revealed if he starts North London Derby on Sunday.
What I will say that the eye test with Raya and Ramsdale. It’s clear where each have their strengths. Watching Ramsdale in the Fulham 2-2 he commanded his defence but made errors.
Watching Raya last night. He doesn’t command defence he simply joins them as another option! It’s a method of playing sweeper keeper that is yet to be seen in the prem. Raya goes from GK to False CB and back to GK. Not to mention he looked incredibly calm and in control.
All the fans appreciated the number of times he came for the ball and simply caught it. Very composed. This gives great comfort to your back line. When the GK supports them like so! It was clear the backline respect and trust Raya too.
10/10 Performance from XI and Manager:
We saw a perfect team selection last night. Perfect tactical approach and perfect man management. The game was over after the first half and Mikel knew it.
What we saw in the 2nd was clear instructions to Kai to really push forward, he began making darting runs forward moving in between the lines of the defenders, he finally began calling for the ball. It was a great 2nd half and evident Arteta told him he would get a full 90 to flourish.
As for the substitutions with the game being won, intelligent subs at 60 minutes and 70 saw us save key players ahead of the Sunday Derby. Finally we saw Vieira used on the right wing in order to allow Saka a rest. Thank god! Finally he can rest. With the versatility that Vieira provides also help out Mikel on the rotation side of things, we finally have a chance to let the Starboy take a break.
SHOOOOOOT
I mean the crowd were certainly involved last night. But the shots we scored WOW! They were incredibly powerful, accurate. Sniper shots were going in. The crisp striking of the ball from Jesus and Trossard. It was lethal, at one point I started to feel bad for the PSV keeper.
To further compound this new killer mentality our frontline seem to have rediscovered. Jesus on his post match interview, without hesitation or doubt said to Thierry Henry, “that was a good warmup no?”. That right there, is exactly the mentality we need in this side.
Yes this was our long awaited return to the UCL. But it is still PSV and we should always have won this game comfortable. A warmup it is, ahead of the NLD on Sunday. We needed this game to get the mentality and the fight going. Our Arsenal side truly is lethal and they needed reminding of this recently. This game has certainly done that!
Conclusion
Arsenal dominated. It’s as simple as that. We are powerful, aggressive, and rapid. The mentality showed by every player in the side including the substitutions, it was terrifying if you were PSV. Arsenal was so dominant they even shut down the PSV ultras in the away corner, they spent a good 40 minutes just being quiet and depressed.
This was the perfect game. However, the question that comes out of the perfect game is simply who is the number 1 goal keeper? From the looks of it, it’s David Raya.
Written by Reekesh Somaroo