[Post-Match Thread] Champions League Final (lemmy.world)

submitted 6 days ago by Astrealix@lemmy.world to c/gunners@lemmy.world

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[-] merc@sh.itjust.works 5 points 6 days ago

Random thoughts:

Havertz's goal was absolutely beautiful. Into the roof of the net from that close at that angle? Wow.
Third choice RB (a CB playing out of position) gave away a penalty against possibly the best winger in the world right now. I'm not bothered.
That almost-pen involving Madueke... I can see why maybe the ref thought that Madueke was going down on his own, OTOH the defender smashed into the back of him. If it had been given as a penalty against Arsenal I couldn't complain. So, I will complain that it was so quickly dismissed in this case.
I wish Arsenal had had a more attacking mindset overall. Arsenal is great defensively and PSG didn't score at all from open play. However, Arsenal is more than just a defensive team. I wish Arsenal had tested PSG's defence more than that, and shown the world that it wasn't just attack against defence.

On the penalties:

Nothing but respect for any player willing to take a penalty kick.
I expect a striker to want to take a penalty and to score, so I'm happy that Gyokeres led off the penalty kicks
Of course Declan Rice took one. What a leader. And he did it after playing the full 120 minutes. 3 of the other kick takers came on halfway through the game.
Martinelli -- much respect for being willing to take the kick and for scoring
Eze -- I really hate stutter-step penalties. When they work they look like cheating. When they don't work you look like a fool. Thanks for being willing to step up, Eze. But, please learn to take normal kicks.
Big Gabi -- a central defender not only taking a penalty, but taking the final penalty kick, the one with the most pressure. That's incredibly brave. Doing it after the full 120 minutes when there were fresher players available, even more respect. Too bad it didn't work out.
Raya -- a saved penalty is always amazing. That save meant Arsenal were still in it when Big Gabi stepped up, thank you for giving us a thread of hope.

[-] Astrealix@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

I mean, yes, we didn't attack much, but we had the best chances of the game throughout and our attacks were fluid, we just ran at them and sent long balls more than passing cuz they weren't good in the air

[-] merc@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 days ago

Yeah, there were some fast breaks, but apparently "PSG had 75.3% possession, the highest by a side in the Champions League final since records began."

There were a number of times when Arsenal blocked a shot or intercepted a pass deep in the defensive third and either just booted the ball long, or gave away possession cheaply while trying to play out.

[-] Astrealix@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

I dunno. Stats are stats, felt like we were attacking more and with more threat than them watching the game

[-] merc@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 days ago

I watched a different game, the one I watched matched those stats.

[-] Astrealix@lemmy.world 1 points 6 days ago

Yeah, agree to disagree. I felt like they were basically horseshoe of dooming us lol

[-] merc@sh.itjust.works 1 points 6 days ago

At the end, especially in extra time, that was definitely the case. And, it's true that they didn't manage many real attacks. OTOH Arsenal couldn't break out of that horseshoe either. The XG graphs suggest that even though they weren't getting a lot of high quality chances, they were getting enough low quality chances continuously throughout the game that a breakthrough eventually was expected. Meanwhile, Havertz scored on an extremely low XG chance. That was Arsenal's only shot on target all game. There was also one miss, and 5 blocked shots. That's it for 120 minutes, and includes the attempts from set pieces too.

120 minutes and 1 shot on target is pretty poor.