I’m not generally one for a big statement. As I’ve got older I think Kipling’s maxim of treating success and failure as impostors has become ever more resonant.
Things are rarely as bad, or as good as they seem and the truth is most people live in the middle. Most normal people, anyway. That being said, I have to tell you that the strike with which Eberechi Eze vanquished Bayer Leverkusen last night was, perhaps, the greatest goal I’ve ever seen live. I can’t stop thinking about it.
It was certainly up there with the purest strike of a football I’ve ever borne witness to over 35 years. The only goal I think I’ve seen which comes close is the goal a certain Dutchman scored, from a similar sort of range actually, to level the game up against Spurs in 2012 – we would, of course, go on to win that game 5-2.
Anyway, enough about the Unmentionable.
Whilst I – correctly – made great play of Max Dowman’s composure over the space of 6 touches and what must have been the longest 10 seconds of his life on Saturday night, there was such a sudden violence in Eze’s strike that, from row 19 of block 29, it kind of took your breath away.
The clock has just ticked around to 34:24 as Trossard touches the ball onto Eze 25 yards out, his back to goal (thankfully we haven’t heard anything about it being laid on a plate for him today). Eze takes a touch on his thigh, swivels and strikes the ball with such ferocity that the ball is past the keeper and threatening to burst the net, from my position I can actually see how far back the ball, this cannonball, takes it. The clock is at 34:26, just two seconds later.
It’s been one second of maximum violence.
You can tell it’s a special goal. 1) It’s beaten this keeper, Blaswich, who was hitherto threatening to turn a promising night for Arsenal into an incredibly frustrating one. 2) The noise. Not the characteristic “Yeeeeeahhhh”, or variation of which is usually released whenever a goal is scored in an English stadium.
No, this goal is greeted with the kind of noise reserved for the shock of seeing someone try something outrageous and, moreover, executing it, it is the sound of 60,000 people gasping for breath and then, as the net explodes, exploding with it, “OHHHHHH – YEAAAAAAHHHHHHHH!!” Luckily for us, I guess the ball had gone to the person on the pitch with the confidence to try, and the ability to execute it.
I’m off down the aisle towards Eze who is walking towards our block with a look on his face that says “I can do that, you know”, before he breaks into a grin and is engulfed by disbelieving team mates, chief amongst them William Saliba.
How Mikel Arteta was choosing to celebrate, I can only guess at.
Around me, as I get back to my seat, people are looking at each other, grinning madly, as if to check whether they saw what they just thought they did. You did, we did.
What struck me on the replays, each initial replay in the ground being greeted by the customary “ohhhh” that goes with an absolute banger, was not just the ferocity of the strike, but the purity of it. There’s barely any spin on the ball, any deviation and had Dinos Mavropanos had the misfortune to get his head in the way of it, it would surely have killed him. The whole piece is like an amalgam of Thierry Henry’s 2000 goal against Manchester United and his 2004 goal versus United’s city rivals.
After a slow start to life at Arsenal, things really do seem to be coming together for Eze now, who has become ever more involved since pair of assists against Wigan. Goals at Spurs, another rocket at Mansfield in the FA Cup and a very influential performance against Everton all pointing to a man who has now found his role in the team.
It would take another great goal, this one from Declan Rice to put the tie away in the second half, striding onto a poor Leverkusen clearance, Rice stroked in a remarkable finish from the edge of the box that bent just enough to kiss the post on its way into the net with the keeper rooted to the spot. He made it look so easy that Jo, despite being at the game and having seen replays, still can’t quite grasp how it happened.
I feel like the few games this season where Arsenal have largely dominated proceedings, but not got what they deserved due to ridiculous goals – Liverpool, Sunderland and, to a certain extent Aston Villa all spring to mind. To win, therefore, this game with 2 stunners of our own made for very pleasing viewing indeed and hopefully it reminds the guys that sometimes you just have to try something. If you feel it, do it, sort of thing.
And, maybe, as has been discussed this week, that is the multiplying effect of Max Dowman’s electrifying cameo on Saturday night. A few weeks ago, I asked, who will the be the man to put their hand up and win us the Premier League? Well, it turns out there might be a few candidates.
Before I go, big shout out – again – to Piero Hincapie, who made one of the best “where did he come from?” blocks on the guy who looks a little like Phil Foden in the first half and was excellent again. And Benny White. We haven’t seen him for a while but I thought he was really good tonight and I find myself asking, is it a coincidence that Bukayo Saka looked much more like the Bukayo Saka we all know and love with White, who knows when to go and when to get out the way, behind him?
Also, Viktor Gyokeres had a very positive night, without scoring, his hard running, link up play and ability to get wide and create danger bodes well for his upcoming return to Lisbon. We might not have been expecting to go there, but Sporting made a remarkable comeback to overturn a 3-0 deficit and win the second leg, 5-0. I suspect Lisbon in April will be much more to our liking than Norway would have been. How mad for Gyokeres that he played against us last season and will now go back to his old club.
Football, eh?
Right, that’s definitely me for the week now. I still think we’re going to beat Manchester City on Sunday afternoon and look forward to talking about that with you all next week. Take it easy!