An emphatic 3 goal win for Arsenal in Frankfurt and almost every fan, including yours truly, erupted with joy. Nobody could have been any happier than Unai Emery. Ever since the debacle at Watford last Sunday, he has come under enormous criticism from Arsenal fans everywhere in social media that the standard of football is inferior to the worse years of his predecessor (who shall remain un-named) and that this decline is due to his coaching.<\/p>\n
But post Frankfurt everything is rosy in the Arsenal garden. The dot com is euphoric. According to Bukayo Sako, our young hero with a goal and two assists:<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s a very proud moment and I’m just so happy. It’s a dream come true, since I was as a kid I’ve always dreamed of scoring for Arsenal’s first team, so now I’ve done that and I just want to do it more and get that feeling many more times.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Emiliano Martinez, who faced 28 shots but managed a clean sheet, pulling off some important saves to keep the Gunners in the game, was ecstatic:<\/p>\n
\u201cWe’re over the moon with the back four because I thought we defended really well. We knew they were going to be strong in the air from crosses and we defended really well. It was a good performance.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n
Has the euphoria of victory wiped away all the anxieties and doubts that have plagued supporters during most of the match?<\/p>\n
How many us remember that for much of the first half Frankfurt had as many if not more chances to score than Arsenal?<\/p>\n
Thanks to Joe Willock, we put our noses in front in the 38th<\/sup> minute, when his shot rocketed by Kevin Trapp thanks to a deflection. Yet it could easily have been 1-1 at the break if it wasn\u2019t for brilliant goalkeeping by Martinez. To be honest either side could have been 2 or 3 goals up.<\/p>\n
At half-time any Gooner with a sembIance of football literacy would have been appalled at the ease at which Franfurt surged through our midfield, attacking the back four and getting shots off. \u00a0Shades of Watford.<\/p>\n
The match was still in doubt until around the 80th<\/sup> minute mark when the Germans were reduced to 10-men after a 2nd<\/sup> yellow card to one of their players. Shortly thereafter, Martinez had the intelligence, after snapping up a tame shot in his direction, rather than his usual long kick, rolled it out to Xhaka for a counterattack. \u00a0A sweeping move culminated in the young Sako curling an unsavable shot to the right of Trapp. Shortly thereafter a third goal was scored by Aubameyang after an assist by Sako, his second for the match.<\/p>\n
Long into the night everyone was justifiably singing the praises of the 18 year-old academy graduate for a remarkable performance, putting in the shade players with bigger reputations and price tags. Even the usual scapegoats, Xhaka and Mustafi, earned some praise and generally escaped any criticism.<\/p>\n
At the end of the game I tweeted:<\/p>\n
\u201cArsenal is improving; allowed 24 shots at Frankfurt vs 31 shots at Watford, a whole 23%.\u201d <\/em><\/p>\n
\nArsenal is improving; allowed 24 shots at Frankfurt vs 31 shots at Watford, a whole 23%.<\/p>\n
— Shotta (@shotta_gooner) September 19, 2019<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n