Arsenal One Step Closer
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hello and welcome into the latest edition of ESPN FC. Kay Murray, Alejandro Moreno and Stevie Nicol here in the studio. We're going to kick things off in England. We've got lots of cup action for you and we got to see the second leg semi-final in the League Cup between Arsenal and Chelsea. Arsenal bring in a lead into this game and they won on the night as well, securing a 1-0 victory over Chelsea. Kai Havertz the goalscorer and that sends them through to the final of the competition at Wembley Stadium. Stuart Robson was watching for us today. It's Arsenal booking their spot in the final. What are your takeaways from this game, Stuart?
Well, you just summed it up with the highlights package there. There wasn't too many highlights. It was a strange approach by both teams.
What were the highlights of Arsenal's victory over Chelsea?
I mean, Arsenal, I thought, would come out all guns blazing, but they didn't. They just kept the ball at the back and kept it in midfield. There was no forward runners. Chelsea came out thinking, well, we're going to keep it tight and we're going to play five at the back. We might press every so often and stop Arsenal scoring. So it was a stalemate in the first half. There was hardly any shots on goal.
How did Arsenal's tactics influence the game against Chelsea?
It was all played at a very slow tempo. It was all about possession football. There was not enough forward runs from either side, not enough forward passes. So it really drifted. And if anything, Chelsea had the better chances in the second half without having a one-on-one with a goalkeeper. They had a couple of moments when the midfield player, Fernandes, got on the ball. He had three shots from just outside the box, which could have flashed into the top corner if he'd hit them well. But overall, it was a fairly tame game. Chelsea, I've seen them under Rosinha and there's a lot of talk, what a great job he's done. And he's done a decent, an OK job. But there's been times when there's been an absolute shambles in the first half of games.
They were against West Ham, they were against Napoli. And then he's had to make changes and they've played better. Today, they defended quite well. They stopped Arsenal really playing without Arsenal really posing too many threats. But they didn't have enough in the front areas and they didn't show enough... They didn't show enough determination to go and get at Arsenal and get the win they needed. And he played, did some strange things. De Lappe played out on the right wing, a centre forward. We thought he'd play up front with João Pedro. He played out on the right wing. I have to say, it wasn't an enjoyable game to watch. And Kai Havertz just scored when they were in the very last minute of the game.
So not a great game, I wouldn't say.
What did you think of it, Stevie?
Well it's the semi-final and at the end of the day semi-finals are not about playing silky soccer it's about getting a result and at the end of the day again you have to say that Chelsea were the team that had to get the result because Arsenal had gotten themselves ahead from the first leg so the onus really is on Chelsea and Arsenal We've complained all season that they've found it hard to break teams down and they couldn't break Chelsea down in the first half. But again, at the end of the day, if you're ahead in the tie and you're the one pushing the game and you just can't break through, you're going through, you're winning when the final whistle goes. So to me, particularly the second half was on Chelsea.
If you want to keep it tight like they did, And then you want to bring on your Palmers and Estavals. But you've got to bring them on at half time. You've got to do part of the job in the first half. And in the second half, you've got to give yourself time to win the game. You know, there's no point in bringing the cavalry on with 15, 20 minutes to go. and then run out of time. That doesn't make any sense. So, listen, if I'm Arsenal, I couldn't care less that I didn't play any great type of football to watch. But we won the game, and if you're Chelsea, it's a semi-final, you've missed out on playing at Wembley in a cup final, possibly because the manager was a little too scared to begin with and didn't give you enough time to actually win the game in the second half.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:04–0:47
2
What were the highlights of Arsenal's victory over Chelsea?
0:47–1:05
3
How did Arsenal's tactics influence the game against Chelsea?
1:05–4:55
4
What were the key moments in the second half of the match?
4:55–6:09
5
How did Chelsea's strategy impact their performance against Arsenal?
6:09–22:23
6
What are the implications of Arsenal's striker situation after the match?
22:23–55:38
Speakers
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