It feels good to win


Whilst obviously taking in to account the standard of opposition, the fact it was only the second round of the League Cup and our current league situation, boy does it feel good to be waking up to a win! Not just a win, but a win where we scored 6 goals! Not just a win where we scored 6 goals, but a win where we scored 6 goals and kept a clean sheet!

West Brom fielding what was essentially their U23 squad no doubt helped facilitate a smoother passage through the second round than I anticipated when the draw was made, but there was still plenty to enjoy about the performance. For the first time this season, except for perhaps the first 10 minutes against Chelsea, we moved the ball forward with pace. Saka was excellent at carrying the ball from deeper positions, driving the team forward on several occasions. Even Mo Elneny played a forward pass in the build up to Aubameyang's second!

With regards to Aubameyang, it's too soon to say how big and impact his hattrick last night will have going forward, but there's no doubt that he is a striker who thrives on the confidence he gets by scoring goals so here's hoping it gets him up and running for a big season. Last season was a difficult one for him for a multitude of reasons, with his bout of malaria and his mother falling ill being just two of them, and it all contributed to an uncharacteristically low output in terms of goals. No doubt being shunted out to the left didn't help either, and it was somewhat telling that all 3 of his goals came with him playing as the centre forward; two classic poachers finishes following a saved Saka effort and a rebound from Pepe hitting the post, and a trademark curler in to the top corner.

Another thing that helped with our attacking output yesterday was the return of Martin Odegaard. No one could argue that our attacking of late hasn't been repetitive: pass out to Tierney, ping it in to the middle, hope for the best. The return of Odegaard changes that, and it seemed last night the the whole pitch opened up, with the right side of the field actually being used. It makes such a huge difference to the play, as it makes defences think twice about what we will do. The predictability of plan Tierney made defending against us so easy to set up against, but now hopefully that will change. I absolutely love the way Odegaard is able to take the ball in tight spaces, wriggle away from defenders and spread the ball in all directions. It really does provide us with a whole other option. If you want a small snapshot of his class, take a look at the flick for Saka's goal. It just looks instinctive to him, and the finish wasn't too shabby either. He maybe should have had a goal himself in the first half, hitting the post from a tight angle, but lets put that down to a lack of match practice


A shout of for Nicholas Pepe too. He scored one, but also missed two that he probably should have scored, hitting the post and bar on either occasion. his 1v1 take-ons weren't too impressive last night. I don't recall him beating his man on many occasions. But I cant help but feel that can be remedied by adding a right back who can overlap and take a defender away. Calum Chambers just doesn't have the pace to help in that way, and although he does have some qualities that are useful in a right back, pace and athleticism aren't two of them. He also got himself an assist for the returning ALex Lacazette. It can't be understated how important it is to have our 3 top goal scoring threats in Auba, Laca and Pepe all scoring. The team in general struggled for goals last season, so to have all 3 firing is huge.

Final tip of the hat goes to Aaron Ramsdale. A player who faced so much scrutiny without even playing a minute for the arsenal, came in and did a fine job. He made a couple of solid saves, was commanding in the air and his distribution was excellent on occasion, with one particular line splitting pass late in the first half standing out to me. He wasn't always helped out by his defenders in terms of the passes being played to him, but he seemed comfortable with what he was asked to do, and you can't ask for more than that from a debut. It will be interesting to watch the battle for the number 1 shirt between him and Leno from here on out.


As I said, it was "only West Brom", but there was a lot of positives we can take from the game. Here's hoping that confidence is up ahead of the daunting fixture away to Manchester City on Saturday lunch. With regards to the League cup, the third round draw threw up a home match against AFC Wimbledon, so definitely an opportunity to progress further and hopefully entertain a packed home crowd. 

Until the next one..

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