Following their victory over PSV in the first leg of the Champions League round of 16, supporters of Arsenal are all expressing the same sentiment.
As Mikel Arteta’s team ran amok at the Philips Stadion, the Premier League team simply outperformed their Dutch opponents. They were simply too good.
Jurrien Timber gave the away team the lead after 18 minutes, and then Ethan Nwaneri, who was assisted by a pass from Myles Lewis-Skelly, doubled Arsenal’s advantage just three minutes later.
By the time the Gunners had reached the 31st minute, Mikel Merino had added a third goal. However, Noa Lang scored a penalty kick for Arsenal at the 43rd minute, which brought them back into the game.
But things went back to normal the other side of halftime, when Martin Odegaard brought the Premier League team back into the lead by three goals from the previous half. Following that, goals were scored by Leandro Trossard and Odegaard, and then Riccardo Calafiori scored Arsenal’s seventh and final goal of the evening.
However, among the many goals, fans noticed something that caught their attention.
Fans of Arsenal believe that Arteta has actually implemented a strategy that he hinted at a few weeks ago, which is considered to be unconventional.
At the time, he was speaking with former defender Martin Keown, who joked that Calafiori could be used as a makeshift striker after scoring impressive goals against Man City and Wolves this season. This conversation took place on February 15, prior to Arsenal’s victory over Leicester in the Premier League by a score of 2-0.
During an interview with TNT Sports, Arteta made a witty remark, saying, “You know, it’s been done in the past.” “They [defenders] have the potential to become a threat, particularly in the context of the game against low blocks; this is an option that we have,” the coach said.
Arteta is believed to have used the Italian defender as a forward, according to the opinions expressed by fans on social media.
“We have CFs playing as defenders,” exclaimed one of the players. Simply take a look at that finish that Riccardo Calafiori has created.
An additional participant said: “Calafiori’s more dangerous than Sterling in the final 3rd lol what a finish.”
In the meantime, a third individual made the following observation: “How do I explain that Calafiori actually plays like an attacker and not a defender?”
Odegaard, the captain of Arsenal, expressed his satisfaction with his team’s performance after the victory.
“I looked forward to that one,” he said to UEFA. When you play at this stage, it is always difficult, but it is especially difficult when you play away from home, so I believe that we have done an incredible amount of work to get like that result.
“It is difficult to explain, but I believe that we put in a lot of effort to improve after the two games that we played. I believe that you witnessed what we are capable of doing today, and I hope that we will continue to do so now.
“We know how important every goal is and today we are happy with the result.”
During this time, Arteta, who is 42 years old, also shared his thoughts on the resounding victory.
“So happy for the boys because in the last two games, we haven’t scored a goal and we know the noise around that,” he told the television network.
“It’s a massive result away from home in a competition that we love, that we miss for so many years,” he stated in addition. This evening is going to be memorable for both of us.
xz
