Sure, effectively, in fact that was going to occur. Ange Postecoglou has a specific method on the touchline, a approach of standing in the identical spot for lengthy durations of time, fists bunched in his pockets, a bit hangdog and unhappy, like an extended‑struggling dad at sports activities day.
As this slow-burn north London derby ticked down in direction of its inevitable endgame, because the sight of Arsenal’s set-piece coach leaping up on the fringe of Postecoglou’s eyeline turned ever stronger and ominous, there was a way additionally of a person being chased down by the fates, just like the doomed priest in The Omen, destiny foretold by the shadow of the church spire protruding of his again.
Let’s face it, that is how this stuff work. When you say you’re not curious about set items after dropping one north London derby on set‑piece targets, and never since you simply wish to play a extra expansive holistic sport, soccer logic states very clearly that you’ll undoubtedly lose the following one which approach, too. And that you’ll achieve this after enjoying actually fairly effectively, with some good holistic‑course of stuff chucked in.
And so it got here to cross right here. Partially as a result of it was at all times going to, however primarily as a result of Arsenal made it occur. It’s a good cinematic element that Mikel Arteta’s crew received this sport due to a single clear header from a nook. However zoom out a bit and set-piece readability is simply a part of the package deal, a symptom of this Arsenal period’s mania for element.
This can be a minutely deliberate sporting entity from urgent to passing mixtures. So, sure, in fact that features corners, headers and getting in the way in which artfully. You don’t problem for a league this manner. But it surely definitely helps.
The decisive second arrived on 64 minutes. It was a basic one‑two. As Bukayo Saka took a right-wing nook there was a distracting surge previous the entrance put up. The ball went to the again, the place Gabriel Magalhães produced a beautiful wrench of the neck to thump his header into the again of the online.
It’s an attention-grabbing a part of the dynamic that for an hour it had been tempting to surprise if this was the form of afternoon the place Arsenal would miss having a sniper, a finisher, a one-shot killer. It was a scruffy sport, not a lot a boxing match because the soccer equal of the form of brawl inside a Wetherspoons that ends on YouTube, all haymakers by the pool desk and wild flying air-kicks.
Have there ever been so many bookings for pulling your man again within the centre circle? This was a free for all of pulling-back, no quarter requested, none given within the pulling‑back-in-the-centre-circle stakes.
It at all times gave the impression to be narrowing in direction of a second. And because the objective went within the realisation arrived with it that Arsenal do have a killer of their ranks.
His title is Nicolas Jover, the set-piece specialist, who was instantly engulfed by a gaggle coach hug, and who was nonetheless up on his toes wanting a bit wild and emotional as the sport restarted. You possibly can add Gabriel to that too, whose objective right here was the fifth time he has scored the winner for Arsenal.
It must be mentioned that Postecoglou isn’t some form of luddite anti-set piece fanatic. Spurs do have a brand new coach who takes care of this facet of issues. However Arsenal are simply higher at it. There have been 4 Spurs set-piece deliveries into the field within the opening 10 minutes right here, all of them received by Arsenal gamers fairly comfortably.
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Jover has been known as a revolutionary, a sport‑changer, a visionary. He definitely should have unimaginable thighs. His whole afternoon is principally a collection of squats and leaps and sprints, as set items come and go. It’s a barely bizarre new dynamic all spherical. Will the set-piece coaches ever cease leaping up? Why don’t goalkeeping coaches leap up each time there’s a shot or a penalty kick? Why don’t the analytic guys leap and stare intently from the touchline throughout every interval of sluggish possession?
However then the present focus can also be a fad to some extent, the Premier League and its broadcasters mining recent meat, recent content material. Maybe earlier than lengthy we will look ahead to a set‑piece coach golden age, from the nice Scottish mining inventory set-piece coaches, a set-piece Clough a set-piece Ferguson, our first set-piece coach Mourinho, the smouldering dangerous boy?
The fact, in fact, is that Arsenal received this sport in lots of different methods, all of them linked to the identical mania for element and planning. The midfield was lacking not simply Declan Rice however Martin Ødegaard, however made up for it in vitality and scuffle.
Jurriën Timber and Gabriel Martinelli seemed like a cultured little two-hander on the left at occasions. Leandro Trossard labored actually onerous within the centre, even managing to tear his shirt theatrically, opening up a door in his chest, C-3PO-style. Even the 17-year-old Ethan Nwaneri got here on and battled impressively. By the top the main points had been sufficient. Together with, in fact the plain one.
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