Miracles will truly never cease. Arsenal should be thanking the football gods they were able to somehow redeem themselves after a downright pathetic showing in the first half of their encounter with Leeds United in north London.
And although they weren’t exactly playing spectacularly well in the second, the chasm in the quality of play between both halves was simply too bewildering to fathom. It was like as if two entirely different teams were playing!
Arsenal’s ragtag, disembodied defence took a battering as the Leeds marauders swooped in with their well-strategised formations with Ezgjan Alioski, Harrison and Kalvin Phillips in commanding form, taking full control in midfield.
Arteta’s side was brutally reduced to a shambles and could barely hold up. It was a brutal 45 minutes with the Gunners totally outclassed and outplayed.
The goalkeeping by Arsenal keeper Emiliano Martinez was left with no choice but to save the day with stupendous, breathtaking goalkeeping with slick moves that would look snazzy even in the next Avengers flick, executing a flurry of brilliant saves as Leeds boss Marcelo Bielsa’s well-heeled boys dominated the Gunners for the better part of 45 minutes.
The half-time team talk, or more appropriately, take-it-squarely-on-the-chin dressing down according to Lacazette, certainly did its part to inject the adrenaline zap and surge into Arteta’s boys, judging from the frenetic but definitely improved quality of play in the second half.
Arteta had served prior warning about the grave threat Leeds would pose before the match. Lacazette further revealed how Arteta shouted ‘a lot’ at his players at the half-time scrubbing, which was taken seriously by the team, obviously enough to spark their feisty comeback after they had failed to heed his pre-game warnings in the first half.
And fight the Gunners did in the second half, giving it all they could muster with Alexandre Lacazette’s ball hitting the bar right after the restart.
Subsequently minutes later he relayed the ball onto Reiss Nelson for the ultimate goal. That must’ve certainly been a heart-stopper for the Gunners’ fans and not least for the man watching the entire match from the sidlines with angst and anxiety, Mikel Arteta.
Arteta said: “Now I’m really pleased but we saw two different teams from the first to second half. I tried to tell them exactly what they were going to face and after 32 minutes we had won one duel, I think. We changed our attitude, desire and organisation at half-time and then we were completely different.”
“They had to experience how hard and tough it was going to be. I watched a lot of Leeds games and they battered every team every three days. It was good for my players to learn and to suffer on the pitch.”
With the Reiss Nelson goal producing a fortuitous 1-0 win the Gunners now face a tie with AFC Bournemouth in the FA Cup fourth round. Furthermore, Arteta and his team will also be re-engaging in Premier League action at Crystal Palace on Saturday.