David Luiz admits Arsenal found it hard work overcoming Rapid Vienna on a night when his second half header and an intervention by substitute Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang secured a 2-1 win.
The Gunners were far from their best in the Austrian capital, starting the match slowly and growing gradually sloppier until the home side took the lead through Greek striker Taxiarchis Fountas following a bad mistake by goalkeeper Bernd Leno just after half time.
Luiz settled his teammates’ nerves on when he rose high to meet Pepe’s free-kick on 70 minutes and four minutes later Aubameyang tapped home from close range to complete the comeback.
“It was hard work, I think that’s normal,” said Luiz.
“We’re playing in Europe, they have a great team with great players. They started the game very well so I was happy because, especially in the second half, we did much better to understand the game.
“We had the opportunity to play our philosophy and in the end the hard work paid off and we won the game.”
Not for the first time this season, the Gunners formation stumped the broadcasters before kick-off. On paper, it looked like a regulation four-man defence but it was very apparent during the game that Arteta’s men often switched to a three-man backline to create an overload on the left flank.
“We changed it during the game, it was not just a back four,” confirmed Luiz.
“We tried to create a three of a four depending on the game, depending on how they defended us, depending on our plan for the game.
“The most important thing is to try and do the job in the best way. I think we did that in the second half.”
Tonight’s match at the Allianz Stadion was the first time Arsenal had played in front of more than matchday staff since lockdown restrictions were imposed in March. Around 3,000 masked and socially distanced Austrians sat in two stands providing a novel soundtrack to the evening.
“It’s a great feeling, even against us, it’s a great feeling,” reflected Luiz.
“If you think about football, our job is to play for the fans, for everybody, to make people happy so to have this feeling again is always great.”
Geezer done well for us today (Y) 🙂
Credit where its due 👍
He’s been solid again. It’s a pity he has these 2 out of 10 games once every few months. Because if he could eliminate them we’d be talking about him being a world class player still. He is a heck of a player – just terribly prone to brain farts. But I do like the partnership him and Gaby are forming. Dam gaby looks like a beast!!
Positives:
1. 3 points locked in.
2. Partey gives a glimpse of what is to come.
3. Auba back on the scoresheet.
4. Gabriel shows his worth once again.
5. Leno gets his bad day out of the way without much damage.
You mean that Leno has another error prone match just as he has during his whole Arsenal career. As always a liability. I agree with your other points so it wasn’t a total disaster.
You don’t watch many of our matches, do you? Leno has been faultless in most matches, even if we’d like his distribution and command of the area to be better. Thankfully we survived tonight, and hopefully he has a consistently good season from now on.
What do you mean faultless ?? He has third highest errors leading to goal since he came.
Emi >= Leno. Anyday.
Even if you believe that, we had one keeper who wanted to leave and one who wanted to stay. We could not have kept Emi unless Leno was willing to go to another club. So, either keep both, which (a) would have made Emi unhappy and, arguably, was unfair to him and (b) would have deprived us of a serious amount of money for selling him to Villa.
Arsenal had no choice; there is nothing to debate.
Don’t be a total pillock.
Feel the only actual progressive players are Gabriel Partey and Saka. In fact, I’d reckon after watching this match, Gabriel got tired of seeing the midfielders and fullbacks passing backwards to them with such frequency.
Stop having a go at Cedric guys (on the other articles) – he did exactly what he was given a contract to do – give Bellerin a rest so his tank is full against sterner opposition. And he can also give Tierney a rest once Kola goes.
Really happy we signed Cedric as Bellerin has needed a rest and less game time for years 🙂
Except he was so shite he got subbed on 60 and didn’t end up giving Bellerin a rest..
Yes he didn’t have a great game, but you are missing my point – we won the game and Bellerin got to rest for 60 minutes, which may have an effect on his performance vs Leicester – in seasons past Bellerin would have had to play the full 90 today 🙂
He did for those 60 minutes… and I didn’t feel he was particularly bad, rather a bit below average.
He played the full 90 in those 30 minutes? Always hope it’s going to be Arsenal 7, 8, 9 to Anonymous FC 0, but Leicester and Sh*te played more regular starters the we did.
Must say im glad Leicester played last night, even if it was we that travelled and their fixture appeared more comfortable… still feels like a leveller where we would have been at a distinct disadvantage last season
Bring back Carl Jenkinson.
The Corporal!!
Cedric is a decent backup as long as we don’t have to rely on him. I’m not happy with his signing, but we’ve done much worse before.
I mean we’ve signed Siquillaci, Silvestre, and Santos among others…so yeah. It’s hard to beat that bunch for worst ever, but at the overall price, the need (we have Bellerin, AMN, Chambers, and even Papa previously at a stretch), and the fact he came injured and then got injured again it can only be rated as a bad signing. At best he could be described as solid or average. Another of the Raul legacies we’re stuck with…although it wasn’t Raul that gave him a long term deal was it?
Emi >= Leno
Don’t understand why fans compare our current squad to players that have left the club. Backwards mentality
I believe it’s not far-fetched to suggest Arteta is either overrated or he still doesn’t have the right players in his team. When he was appointed most expected the great football at Man City. But unfortunately it hasn’t been replicated. Pep deserves a lot of respect.
Is Pep good coach ? definitely, but when you can buy CBs for 200 millions and when they don’t work, spend another 100+ millions in same season then definitely you will have better team. We couldn’t afford Aouar as we had limited money and that was for Partey.
Arteta has had less than a full season, came in when the club was beyond toxic and has still won a trophy while improving us.
Way too early to be suggesting he is overrated.
Another ‘handbrake off even if it has crashing into the wall’ comment
This team was an utter shambles when he took over. If you expected man city level football within ten months…. Just go support them, dont bother yourself with a team not resourced entirely by a petro-state
“ they have a great team with great players”
Eh , the commentator definitely mentioned one chap on loan from Barnsley 😂😂🙈🙈.
Anyway , well done David on a good performance last night!
These Emi comparisons are getting as annoying as the Ozil saga. Emi isn’t here he’s not our player, and Leno had a shit game but he is class. We are making him play out and use his feet more and more and that he’s not old means he has more capacity to learn. He’s got some pace too, comes out quick and he’s been excellent with that sort of decision making. It not easy clearing the ball near the half way line as a keeper.