The brave line-up from Arteta debunked my post Port-Vale expectations. Mikel went for Eze instead of Merino. I don’t know how much internal feedback he has from the coaching staff, but he definitely listens to the external criticism.
And not only we had a more creative squad, we played with a lot directness. In the first half we had several very dangerous moments: Eze shot from the edge of the box, Gyokeres 1-on-1 that should have been a penalty - Viktor really have to work on his falling in the training. Losing this battle to a late clumsy broom-of-a-man Nick Pope is not a good characteristics for a Swedish striker. The really interesting and encouraging part of this attack was that Eze found initially Saka with his, what’s already a signature, 40-meter pass and the consequent combination found Gyokeres in front of the keeper. The defenders who have already tracked back once will not track back twice with the same sharpness.
Afterwards Trossard hit the post with a juicy shot after the fast turn-over and perfectly executed counter. By that time we should have been two up. And as it always happens in football, if you don’t take your chances, someone else will. Newcastle’s stretched Isak replacement score a header. Gabriel fell down after a shove in the back and it was too soft from a usually tough Brazilian. Expecting that this kind of contact would be treated as a foul at the Newcastle ground.
I had no complaints on our first half, despite the result. It was so different from the other visit - proactive entertaining football with a lot of real chances and some risks, instead of risk-averse horseshoe of boredom with a hope of an occasional goal. It was the type of football when the manager doesn’t need to explain the statistical advantage of nine unlikely chances, it was when “the game speaks for itself”. I was a bit concerned Arteta would take this result as a confirmation of correctness of his ultra-defensive approach.
In the second half the aggression continued. Eze showcased his passing skills by finding yet another run, now directly from Gyokeres. Fair to say that we were lucky with Newcastle hitting the bar and not scoring their second. These feelings really got stopped mattering, when Trossard was clearly shoved in the back in Newcastle’s box. It’s really a penalty in 90 percent of games, especially in post-VAR era, but the ref decided to please the home crowd. In general he allowed all kinds of brutalities, as it usually happens on St James Park, the standards there a really different from the Emirates.
Arteta could not help him and subbed in his favourite disciplined midfield players in form of Merino and Odegaard with Martin taking a deep playmaker role from Zubimendi. They have been duplicating each other functions at times so taking Zubimendi off made a lot of sense. Surprisingly Trossard stayed for too long. I really expected him to be subbed off after 70 minutes, because normally he starts to be ineffective afterwards.
It might sound cheesy but Arteta’s bravery with the squad selection and tactics was truly rewarded. Both subs contributed to our breathtaking comeback. Merino equalized with a precise header. This time the celebration didn’t take as long, as against Man City, and the team was on their way for the come back.
Odegaard who looked very rusty, he was really out of shape and not ready for a competitive action. But when it mattered the most, the captain delivered a crucial wining assists on the 95th minute. Right into big Gabriel’s head who came to rectify his earlier weakness.
It was so pleasing to see all the team, including warming up subs, resting players in long grey coats and the ones that were recently subbed off. As always, Bill Saliba was the biggest cheerleader of all.
Mikel Arteta could notice how much creativity and unpredictably gives drive, energy and confidence to the team. And he was paid in full for his choice of wearing a Super Mik’s uniform on Sunday. And even the irony that we scored from a header and a set piece after so many beautiful attacks can be explained. When you bombard the opponent with different tools in your arsenal, rather than relying only on set pieces and crosses, they start paying less attention to them and become more vulnerable.
Liverpool scored an even later winner on that same stadium, so our goal on 95th minute is nothing to be ashamed of. It’s vital that we repeated their result on this very hard ground and broke our bad record here in style. It’s so symbolic that it happened on the same week-end when Liverpool got completely battered away at Crystal Palace. If we win medals this season, we should send one for Oliver Glasner himself - giving us Eze, blocking Guehi and beating up our biggest rivals. That’s now my favourite competitor coach in the Premier League and I wish them all the best in their Conference League journey. They are also the only unbeaten team so far and sitting high up in the table.
We are having a second Champions League game at home against Olympiacos. I am not too worried - European teams don’t have a good grasp of our tactics and individuals, so especially at home we are too much for them to handle. This year our schedule is reversed - our toughest fixtures are coming late and we need to rack up the good points before we face the big guns.
The only thing remaining for Arteta to show is the ability to trust a bigger squad in top competitions. Myles, Ethan, Martinelli and White should start. Maybe Norgaard as well. It was so pleasing to see Mosquera trusted, while Saliba is already fit, so the hopium levels are quite high in the blood. And then we start our powerful victory run in the Premier League!