Apologies guys - didn’t have time to create a Matchday thread. Feel free to use this one (3-0 up at HT as things stand).
Glad to see Martinelli blossoming into the player we thought. Laca has done well at dropping deep and linking play. Xhaka and Partey have been solid. Saka has been ripping the fullbacks apart. We have to caveat this slightly as Leeds have 11 players missing either thru covid or injury, but you can only beat who’s in front of you and we are doing that in style.
Xhaka is very lucky he didn’t get booked or sent off for that. Stupid challenge to make on Raphina when we’re 3-0 up and in control. Why do that?
FT. 4-1. A bit of a nervy second half, but deserved to win overall and some great displays against an admittedly underpar Leeds team. This could potentially be our last game for a while depending on what happens with the rescheduled/postponed fixtures so, if it is, I’m glad we could have a nice away win.
First half we were clinical, fast and tough. 9/10 Second half intensity dropped, mistakes and generally played within ourselves. I'd like to have seen us put Leeds away like Man City did, but as long as we got no injuries (don't think we did) it was a good performance. I'd like to see Lacazette take another year with us, I think he's generally a great role model for the younger members of the squad. Shout out to Martinelli.
I think we could easily have put 7 past Leeds as we missed some sitters on the 1st half, but we shouldn’t grumble as we did score 3. Martinelli needs to keep his place as does the whole team so no way back for Auba at the moment
Yeah the score should have been higher. Martinelli is looking like the talent we all thought he was a couple of Seasons ago - but that does beg the question why Arteta hasn't really played him for the last 14 months or so. Have a real selection headache now with Smith Rowe/Odengaard/ Martinelli/Saka/Laca all putting in excellent performances.
Arteta has kept Martinelli wrapped in cotton wool as he kept getting injured - now he seems to be fully fit so is getting game time, from the bench initially but thanks to Auba issue he had been on from the start. not sure if Auba can displace any of front 4 and ESR would be for me ahead of Auba
