….. and like that, it’s gone. (Positives Needs & Hopes) [MCI 2-2 ARS]

…… and like that, it’s gone

   An Arsenal blog from a coach’s perspective

The Usual Suspects. The greatest ending to a movie I’ve ever seen. I’m not going to try to link Keyser Soze to this game although if you told me Michael Oliver was Keyser Soze, I might believe you today.

I just love that title/line.

I’ve been thinking all afternoon how to frame what we saw. It’s so tempting to lean into the emotion but if you stand across the road and look at it then clarity gives you this….. the gap between City and Arsenal has gone. There is no gap. 

The last piece was physical and mental. We’ve been matching them technically and tactically for the last 4 unbeaten games. Those 4 games would even lead you to believe that we are superior. I don’t see any team in world football that City struggle against like they do with us. Haaland has his way with EVERY other team. He plays with such belief but not against Saliba and Gabriel. He seems intimidated by them and throws up this faux tough man act.

That first action by Kai was intentional. Rodri has been talking nonsense for a while and tried to break Odegaard’s leg on international duty…

Kai volunteered to give him a whack. Arteta knew that there would be nerves and so didn’t want to waste time in stamping our physicality on the game. That rattled City, perhaps energizing them, but sent a very direct message to them that we are here to dominate. I wouldn’t be at all surprised to find out that Arteta told them that the red card was going to end up being a positive thing. He knows their warrior spirit and City just activated it.

When the frustration settles for the players, Mikel will point out to them that City had given up. Our spirit and organization had overwhelmed them. I’ve never seen that team so clueless. None of them wanted the responsibility of creativity. They just shifted it. They only got a goal due to a lucky deflection falling their way.

City are an aging squad who will have one eye on relegation and where they are going next. If they don’t they are stupid. They may have a better player in DM and CF but we have a better GK, RB, LB options, CB’s, Right 8 and Right winger.

They are rattled. I thought Walker had a point when he said that Oliver didn’t let him get back in position for our first goal. He’s clutching at lies because here is the evidence….

They have likely lost their best player for the season and I say best player intentionally. Look at their results without De Bruyne and Haaland and then without Rodri. Stark contrast. He is their most important. Can you imagine their changing room after the game. Probably a whirlwind of confusion between those that were elated at drawing at home to Arsenal and those that were so rattled by our superiority that they resorted to cowardice. They may have rescued a point but that game was a big fat long term loss for that club.

To quote Gabriel Maghalaes after the game, “It’s a battle, a war and provocation in football is normal. Now it’s over and we’re waiting for them at our house.”

It might be City but I think, Arsenal just lit a fire under Arsenal.

POSITIVES:

Thomas Partey:

Can he return to his best days? He was brilliant.

David Raya:

He has been the best player in the league this season. Credit to Haaland for scoring 10 goals already but as far as performance is concerned, Haaland would never get applause for that as he has limited footballing ability and is fortunate that his gifts are super powers.

Raya saved us yet again. He doesn’t seem to have ordinary games with straight forward saves to make. He has had to wear his cape in all 6 games this season. I think it’s to the point where he is now the best goalkeeper in the world. Technically as close to perfection as you’ll get. Tactically advanced in his positioning. Outstanding in a crowd. Fearless even though he’s had plastic surgery to his face. One of the best with his feet and now doing what John Terry lied to us about when we got Cech, in his ability to win you points. His mentality seems to be unmoved by circumstance and his shorter frame has no detrimental value, yet gives him an extra athletic advantage in getting down quicker.

Timber:

Wow! Arsenal have unearthed yet another player who can do everything.

Discipline: 

That wasn’t just a parked bus. That was a clinic of how to play 10 v 11 against one of the best teams. Your sacrifice that you are forced to concede is that you let them shoot from 25 yards. You do not attempt to tackle them unnecessarily as they want a free kick or penalty. You just stay in front of them and place your entire focus on the distances between you and the two players either side of you. You don’t try to play when you are winning because they want you to, and hope they can catch you out of shape. You accept that it’s going against all of your attacking principles and you slide your armour on and block the bullets from hitting your castle.

I have done this exact strategy in 3 games in my coaching career and nearly won all of them. I teach and used to coach at a small school where we regularly come up against schools that are four times larger. We played one of these games against a school that had 33 club players. We had one.

If you play this way you are telling them that they have to rely on high levels of creativity that they may not have or are too crowded out to utilize. You tell them that you are happy for them to score bangers, but good luck. You lean into the band of brothers spirit that this creates and the frustration that it inevitably fosters.

Weight of pass:

What surprised me greatly was that City didn’t value the weight of their pass around the perimeter of the box in the second half. They could have had numerous 19 yard efforts if they weren’t passing the ball with such pace. Compare this to the weight of pass that Martinelli gave Calafiori for his goal. An invitation to hit it.

I love this picture.

Delivery quality: 

I’m reminded that Gareth Southgate chose Foden to deliver bad corners in the Euros when he had Rice and Saka. The players must’ve been collectively shaking their heads

Blocking on corners:

Firstly, Jover has worked a masterclass this season. Every opposing coach was ready for more White antics. The refs certainly were. So he flipped it. White doesn’t mess with the GK anymore. Instead we have players just standing still behind Ederson so he can’t get to his back post. Now I can see how this could be obstruction. Probably is, but in the current climate when the penalty box looks like a Royal Rumble, the ref cannot punish this when players are trying to wrestle whilst not even looking at the ball.

On top of this you have Saka, who has now got an assist in every game, sending over a cross that should be on that You Tube challenge channel. That is ridiculously difficult to get the trajectory right so Ederson can’t punch it away in the centre of his goal.

NEEDS:

Michael Oliver:

Firstly, I’m writing this whilst watching the extended highlights of all the PL games on Peacock. I’ll get on to Michael Oliver, but the first three games that they’ve shown have been impacted by a woeful refereeing performance. Forest’s penalty was a giggle, Gibbs White got sent off for a brilliant tackle and sending Lisandro off was the sort of decision that you get as a ‘gimme’ as the first question on the referee test, yet the ref chooses to be the conversation. Again. This might be a good time to insert this tweet I found.

I’ve always found the opinion of a new employee/player, fascinating. They have a completely different perspective. They aren’t used to the incompetence that we comment on bi-weekly. For him to say this during his first post match interview in England must be because he sees such a stark contrast in the quality of refereeing in Italy and England.

Michael Oliver ruined one of the biggest games in world football. My assumption is that he wanted to. This isn’t just based on Sunday, it’s a theme he has created by finding a reason to send off David Luiz against Wolves (the worst red card decision I’ve ever seen) and giving Martinelli two yellows in 15 seconds, as well as handing the title to City by not giving MacAllister a PK when Doku cleated him in the chest, and many others. I don’t know him but he he certainly gives the impression that ‘he is not afraid to make the big calls,’ which is an excuse for bias or incompetence.

What I do know is that when I write, I don’t want to talk about refs, but if I don’t then I am ignoring moments that affected everything else.

His performance was pitiful. He should give his wage back. He has added minutes to both halves that weren’t justified. His injury time is based on vibes, never reality. We don’t even have to find another game to find the same incident. Doku and Silva both denied a quick restart. Arsenal getting to take our free kick 10 yards from the incident was a combination of errors as Oliver was allowing us to do so because Doku had kicked the ball away earlier and then Silva had delayed the restart by picking the ball up and moving it to this spot.

Trossard wasn’t denying anyone anything because the first half was over. Alongside this, Trossard was not kicking the ball away. When the whistle was blown his leg was in motion and he was passing it to Martinelli.

The total truth of the situation was that he could’ve sent Trossard off for a late barge on Silva yet decided to choose the incident that would highlight himself in the media. I have a theory that those that choose to referee do so because they were picked on at school or simply not popular. They see negative attention as attention and crave it.

Haaland could’ve been sent off twice. He ran at full speed at Saliba and flattened him. If his decision to chuck the ball at Gabriel’s head was spotted by any of the players then it would’ve been fisticuffs and he would’ve seen red. Oliver is equipped with eyes everywhere but somehow decides to not insert himself when City give him a freebie decision.

Somebody needs to take Oliver, Coote, Kavanagh and the rest of The Muppets to watch the better referees. Pick a country. There are lots. Ultimately, the message needs to be that the players in these countries don’t know their officials names. You need to get to a place where the PL players forget who you are.

Finally, should we ignore that Man City ‘s owners paid Michael Oliver 20,000 pounds to ref in Saudi Arabia?

Imagine this for a minute….

You get sent a private jet to pick you up. You are lavished unlike every other time you’ve ever flown. The contrast is extreme. You are met off this private jet by a private car that expedites you through the airport and takes you to a hotel that you’ve never dreamed of staying at. You are welcomed by the owners of Man City who give you a stunning and very expensive new watch as a ‘welcome gift’ as a ‘thank you for accepting our offer.’ You are taken to your suite and told that you can order anything you wish and you lay your bags down as you are scheduled to receive a 60 minute massage before returning to your palace suite. For the remaining time you are there, you are chauffeur driven on a tour of the UAE and to the best restaurants in town as well as to and from the game. Manchester City is never mentioned during your trip but as you are leaving to go to your private jet, Shake Cookies n Cream tells you that he will look forward to seeing you at the Etihad this season. This has been by far the highlight of your traveling life and even though favours were never mentioned you are eternally grateful to the City owners for the over flowing blessings.

Nice work if you can Getihad

Apart from the Sheikh’s name, this is how I imagine it went. No exaggeration. The league and country isn’t excited to see Michael Oliver. He refs 1 game and his impact is miniscule. Clearly the purpose wasn’t to ‘improve the refereeing standards of the league,’ because it was a one time thing. It was to garner favour. These are the same people who have 130 charges hanging over them, so don’t tell me that they are just ‘nice guys trying to improve their league.’

I’ve learnt over the past 3 years to believe the evidence of my eyes and ears. Don’t read this next stat if you get upset easily.

Marking Gabriel:

I understand that you want your tall trees to protect your goalie but why do all teams put a smaller, less defensive minded player, on Gabriel? Surely you can sacrifice a player like Gvardiol who wouldn’t be so quick to allow Gabriel to have his way.

Exposing your dribble:

There are too many wingers that dribble with one foot only. Honestly, I only know Ousmane Dembele that dribbles correctly. When a defender is running with you and especially when they have hands on you pulling your arm, you need to have the ball on the outside of the furthest foot from them. Dribbling isn’t a fading art but less specialized in the modern game. We have become so ‘pass focused’ that very few teams give energy to correct dribbling techniques.

Graeme Le Saux:

Those who live in North America will be able to relate to this. I like Peter Drury but when Le Saux is on co commentary, I pine for a remote control that can turn certain voices off. Max had to calm me down after yet another backward comment from him.

The Game:

The bigger question that the PL has to ask and answer is that the first half of the game was worthy of the hype and the talent of the two teams and coaches. The second half might have been nerve wracking for Gooners but I’d imagine that a good 50+% of the audience on TV are not supporting either club when it comes to the biggest games. The second half was the opposite of the first half. It was insanely dull. Incredibly repetitive and it was killed by a ref who wants to Hollywood.

Football is not getting better. It has become a coach’s game with significantly less freedom for the players. This has elevated the need for elite coaching vs motivational coaches and that’s cool, but it’s not necessarily more fun for the viewer. Arsenal are benefitting so maybe we don’t see this clearly. On top of this, since the refs went ‘pro’ they have gotten worse. They probably aren’t worse at their jobs than the pre-VAR crew but they are hamstrung by the deflection that is happening. I believe that the PGMOL and PL are intentionally focusing on the minutiae of the game to either hide something nefarious or simply to hide incompetence. Toe nails offside, coach’s with a foot outside the technical area, kicking the ball away, penalties for being born with arms in the right place. I could be wrong and it could simply be that they love the drama. Need the drama. The TV companies rule and as you will have noticed almost every the pundit prefers to talk about the drama rather than the game, mostly because they don’t have the skillset to see the modern game. You will also have noticed that Arteta asked the press core why they hadn’t asked him a tactical question. Unless one of the Arsenal podcasters like James McNicholas, Tom Canton or Harry Symeou are there, all the questions are drama related.

Whatever the reason is the product is falling apart and fans aren’t just looking at their politicians with a skeptical eye, they are wondering about their favourite pastime. We sometimes assume that ‘everything gets better’ as we figure out as a society how to make it so. Those who are paying the most attention see that the opposite is happening as those that are in power surround themselves with Johnny McNobody to hold them to account.

HOPES:

Team v Bolton:

I care that we win on Wednesday but not enough to play any of the guys that emptied their tank on Sunday. Injuries make this almost impossible so maybe we play our starting back four a half each with Lewis Skelly starting at inverted left back. I’d honestly rather start Viv Anderson and Igor Stepanovs than White, Timber or Saliba. Maybe Maldini Kacurri can play right back with Kiwior and Calafiori centrally? Or perhaps we sign Paolo Maldini and give him a 1 game contract?

Is Max Dowman 15 yet? Nwaneri debuted at 15. I just looked it up, he’s 14 and 15 in December. Would you?

I’m excited to see Nwaneri start which he will. a great opportunity for him to audition for Odegaard’s back up role.

Limping Raya:

Neto is cup tied so I’m hoping that one of our many third choice GK’s starts as Raya was limping after the game. We may have no choice.

FINAL THOUGHT:

I’ve solved the Michael Oliver conundrum.

I wasn’t going to sacrifice my writing career for the greater good but I feel left with no choice. My birth name is actually Michael Oliver McDonald. I am willing to shave off my beard, get fitter and take the refereeing course but I need your help. I need someone to offer to kidnap Michael Oliver for 8 months so this Michael Oliver can take over.

I have this way of getting Arsenal an edge in the title race. I’ve always been good at running into people’s elbows so I would bring this gift to the field and intentionally run into the following players, dive, roll around and give them a red and a 4 game ban. Here is the list….

Son

Rodri

Salah

Haaland

Allison then Kelleher so Trent has to go in goal

Haaland again

Harry Kane (not sure how I’d do this)

Kyle Walker

Howard Webb

Bruno Fernandes

The thug at AFCB, Ryan Christie

Romero

Michael Owen

Veltman

Jason Tindall

Jason Tindall

Erling Braut

Jason Tindall

Angie PastaCheeseSauce

Gary Neville

Eric Ten Haag

The tall chap at City who looks like a giant baby

Clearly, I would cause as much controversy as the actual Michael Oliver but nobody would notice the difference and I would get to ref the Champions League Final, World Cup Final and be a judge on America’s Got Talent.

I’ll supply the zip ties and duct tape if you can just get in the comments and sacrifice a little of yourself. It’ll be quick and then “like that, he’s gone.”

Mike McDonald

Former Highbury regular. Moved to TN, USA in ’99. Married with 3 kids. Coached in UK and US for 27 years.
Mike McDonald Soccer Academy in Morristown TN, Olympic Development coach, Regional Premier League Champion.