I CANNOT BELIEVE WHAT I HAVE SEEN! | Sheffield UTD 0-6 Arsenal Tactical Analysis @deludedgooner

March Madness. The Premier League title race goes on for another week or so, people. And I could get used to this. Arsenal 6, Sheffield United 0. You know what we do in the last recent games when we've been turning up all around the country. We turn up, take the three points, demolish the opposition's and have the away fans departing the stadium before they've even put bums on seats. You know, that was the first time I actually saw a sub in the first 16 minutes of a game. Commiserations to Sheffield United, but big bad Arsenal are in town. We wear the cannons on our crest for a reason. Let's get into it and review the game from a tactical point of view. So as you can see on the screen, Sheffield United 0, Arsenal 6. 22 shots, 10 on target and 6 goals. We should have had 7. Mikel Arteta out, 81% of the ball. It went how it was expected. You know, the first half was we absolutely blitzed Sheffield United. We're actually winning 11-0 against Sheffield United on aggregate, people. It is now Mikel Arteta's seventh consecutive game. He's won representing the club for the second time. We have scored 31 goals and conceded three this year so far. We have scored 31 goals since the winter break. That's, you know, six less than United all season. On the road, we've been amazing. We've had two fives and a six. It's been absolutely amazing. West Ham, Burnley and Sheffield United have all stared down the cannon that is the Arsenal. When you look at the field tilt for some of you stats merchants, again, it reflects what we saw, which was total domination and nothing less than that. It's been raining goals up and down the country in the Premier League and Arsenal are the suspects with that. Martin Wondergaard, what a player, man. You know, he's definitely one of the most entertaining players in the Premier League and one of the best players in the world and actually in this Premier League. We got him for £30 million. He's finding his goalscoring touch again. When you look at his passes, his draws, he's dribbling the goals, he's doing what needs to be done and when he's operating in them pockets like he was, absolutely amazing. Shout to Rice and Jorginho. Wondergaard, our Capitano, thinks we're actually better than last season. We all know, you know, Saka on the right wing is trouble. Not for us though, for the opposition. You can't get tight to him. You can't give him space. You know, you're taught in Sunday League, put the ball in the area and we got an own goal to kick things off with Saka and then obviously the two England boys linked up. I hope Gareth Southgate watched this game for Saka and Declarise. I also hope he was looking out for Benjamin White for what it's worth. Saka has 50 goals for Arsenal in all comps. He's just the sixth Premier League player to register at least 50 goals and 50 assists since November 2018 and as you can see, he's in great company with some of the names on screen, people. Most assists in Premier League Arsenal history. The young Saka is at 34. He's got a long way to go, but he's doing all right, if I must say so myself. Declarise, how on God's green earth you've managed to make £105 million look like a bargain? I don't know, but you have five goals, five assists. That's the most he's averaged in the Premier League season and he's becoming an all-action midfielder. He's definitely London's finest and the second best defensive midfielder in the league, if you can still call him that. It was Pogba, Diaz and Kulishevsky for a £65 million flop. He's doing all right and his goal was a bit of history as well. It's lovely to see a confident Kai Havertz and he might just be a striker really. You know, he popped up with an assist as well. Benjamin White doesn't score many. As a full-back, you have to hit and hope and he's done exactly that. He's our most underrated player. So I'm happy to see Kai Havertz scoring goals and making a difference. I'm happy to see Martinelli's found his goal-scoring boots again. Mikel Arteta has actually said Martinelli's injury is nothing to worry about. It's just a cut on the foot, which is going to be painful, but we need you for this running. You know, we battered West Ham, battered Burnley and battered Sheffield United. What we should be doing, you know, 10,000 all-time goals for Arsenal Football Club. So again, history is being made. We became the first team in the top four tiers of English football to win three consecutive games on the road with five-plus goals. Big up David Ryan because clean sheets are vital. You know, he has the most clean sheets of any goalkeeper in the Premier League, despite not actually starting the season for Arsenal. Now Sheffield United were like a blunt table knife, but still you look at Saliba's passing metrics in comparison to Sheffield United and it shows the golfing class. You look at the average positioning for our players. Of course, we expected the game to go like this. We have scored the most goals in the Premier League with 68. We also have the most clean sheets with 11 and we could score more goals and get more assists. It's the craziest thing about us. We've conceded the fewest shots on target. We've had 65 in second is 80 with Man City. So it shows we're moving in the right direction. I don't know if we'll win the league. I don't think so, but we're doing things. That was also the first time in the Premier League that Arsenal have scored five goals in the first half, something we should have done a lot more recently. We've only faced one shot on target on the road in our last three games. We have now scored 300 Premier League goals under Mikel Arteta in his 161st game. Kyrgios is obviously making the difference in the recent games as well. So big him up. We have five players with 10 plus goal contributions as you can see on screen. If only we could get a striker. Mikel Arteta praised the performance, praised the pressing, praised the positive arrogance and all of the things that we came with, but he did urge caution. If we are to win this Premier League, it's out of our hands. All we can do is win our games and hope Liverpool and City slip up, really. And since the winter break, since Dubai, it's been fun times where Arsenal are concerned, people, as you lot can see on screen. So may the good times keep going where Arsenal are concerned and the race for the Premier League, I still think we're third, but it hots up. Now, I don't know about you Arsenal fans, but I'm always happy to win. I am very happy with this real purple patch we've obviously done on the road. I'm a static, you know, clean sheet, scoring a lot of goals, sharing the goals out, you know, confidence can be infectious and every one of our players looks confident. Of course, the Sackers, the, you know, the Sackers, the Declan Rices, the Odegaard, the Jorginhos, these players are showing their quality. I'm very happy with Kyrgio and also Kai Havertz up front and everybody concerned. You know, while we scored a lot of goals, you know, goals to attacking players are clean sheets to goalkeepers and defence. And you look at the metrics, we have the best or one of the best defensive units in the Premier League and that's not actually our first choice defensive unit. We need to get clean sheets and reflect that. As I said, you have to chase the illusion of perfection. I feel there's been times we could have scored more goals, got more clean sheets. There was times where, for instance, we scored five goals in the first half. There was times this season, especially at the Emirates in the first part of the season, where you felt we could have done this. So are we hitting peak performance at the right time? I don't know, but I'm loving what we're doing. And again, I think the Premier League title is out of our hands because we're relying on City and Liverpool to drop points. But as a minimum, we need to take our points, you know, there's what? 11, 10, 11, 12 games left, people. Forgive my maths. Our tether has said we need 90 points. So there isn't too much margin for error. We enjoyed last night, but the boys need to focus where Brentford is concerned. If we can get six points this week, obviously 24 hours after our evening fixture, it's Liverpool against City. Somebody's got to drop points in some capacity. These are the moments we need. All we can do is keep this alive and make sure this is a segment that is said year after year. I don't know if we'll win the Premier League. I don't know if every season will be positive, relatively like Arsenal. But you can't deny, Mikel Arteta and the players are developing something special. We're scoring a lot of goals, even though we think we need a striker. I think we can go up several gears defensively, but we're keeping clean sheets and there's more of a grit in that regard. You know, we do need some more defenders because when there's injuries and whatnot, as you can see, you know, Cedric came off the bench, but we only had one defender on the bench. So obviously, I think Fabio Vieira, Thomas Partey and Gabriel Jesus, they look like players that haven't had too many minutes in their legs. But we need our players back. Hopefully, Zinchenko and Tommy Yassou can return sooner rather than later. And at best, just give our maximum and see what happens really and truly. You know, we're one of the statistical best attacks as well as defence in the league. We're sharing the goals around. Dare I say, we're probably the most versatile attacking unit in the Premier League because we score from set pieces. I was impressed with our professionalism, our pressing, our intensity, our maturity, our ruthlessness, as has been the case in the last few games. Second half, obviously, towards the end, it became, you know, Arsenal knew we've won the game. Sheffield United were resigned to defeat. It did go a bit flat at moments. Arteta, I love you and what you're doing at the club, but I would have loved to have seen Smith Rowe, but it is what it is, people. All in all, I'm a happy bunny, as you can be really, but we need to be easy, you know, not to be devil's advocate or water down our performance. You know, you can only play what's in front of you. But could you argue this run of fixtures on top of what we've done in Dubai, coming off the back of December? Could you argue this run of fixtures came at the right time? Take nothing away from Arsenal. As Mikel Arteta said, you have to earn the right to win every game. But when we play Crystal Palace, their form is shaky. Forrest's form was shaky. Burnley's form is shaky. Sheffield United's form is terrible. West Ham, terrible. So all the stars are lining. I don't think we're going to win the league, but even me, who tries to keep a level head, you can't help but think the stars are starting to align. We need a bit of luck. We need a bit of fortune. It is out of our hands because Liverpool are top, City are the big, bad bullies, and we're the new kids on the block. I believe we're the third of a three-horse race. But let's keep going, man. And, you know, obviously there's going to be bumps and bruises. I don't know if all these players are going to be here for the duration of what we're developing, but it just feels like we're hitting maturity. We're hitting peak performance. Everything's going right. If we could just bring in some players next summer, look after the depth and just keep improving, go from being a good side to a great side, there could be many a happy year or happy moments at Arsenal Football Club. In case I missed out any statistics, people, we've scored 31 goals in our last seven Premier League games, and that is what I want to see. We've got cannons on our crest. That's what we should be doing. Declan Rice, £105 million bargain, has been directly involved in 10-plus Premier League goals in a single season for his first time in his career. So it shows Declan Rice adding new layers to his game and Mikel Arteta obviously seeing a good player and earmarking him for improvement. In 27 games, he's got five goals, five assists. You know, you could extend what I said to Kai Havertz. You know, his goal tonight, well, yesterday, which was Arsenal's fourth, was our 150,000th goal scored in top-flight league history. As I said, Saka's got 50 assists in all comps, sorry, people. Arteta is creating some monsters individually and collectively. When you look at us this season, I'm proud. While it might not count for nothing and we ain't got a Premier League title, I'm proud to say at this moment in time, we've got the most goals scored, kept the most clean sheets, had the fewest goals conceded, had the fewest shots on target. Now, again, our run might have been a bit favourable, but that's nothing to do with Arsenal. We can only play what's in front of us. Kepa, man said Kepa, sorry, I'm reading two separate things. David Ryer has kept the most Premier League clean sheets this season, which is fantastic. You know, Ramsdale's going to have an opportunity to play against Brentford people. Kai Havertz has been directly involved in more Premier League goals this season. Then Bruno Fernandes, Raheem Sterling, Luis Diaz, Moussa Diaby, Kody Gakpo, Kuleshevski, Rashford and Doffy. Now, obviously, there's still question marks over Kai Havertz and I'm not saying he's better or worse than these players, but it just shows when the manager can get a tune out of a player and put them in certain roles, it's lit for us people. You know, Kai Havertz was mocked in the early months of the season, people. He has scored and assisted in each of his last two league games. I actually think he's, for some reason, I think he's done that in the last three, so I'm not too sure of the statistics there. He's become the first Arsenal player to do so in successive matches since Hendrik Mkhitaryan. He actually has scored seven goals from 11 shots on target, people, which shows he doesn't shoot much, but he's clinical. You know, in his last three games, he's done something against Newcastle, Burnley and Sheffield United. So he's firmly a man on fire. He actually has more non-penalty goals than Marcus Rashford and Cole Palmer in the Premier League this season. William Saliba had 180 touches against Sheffield United. That's the most by an Arsenal player in a single Premier League game on record, and Saliba has played every minute of Premier League games, for what it's worth, people. In fact, Saliba's passing statistics against Sheffield United is a record. He's surpassed Santi Cazorla, people. You had 169, so you're doing all right if you're there, people. 69 for some of you freaky people out there. Only three players in the Premier League have completed more in the whole competition since 2003, people. You know, our goal difference is now six better than Liverpool's and ten better than City. So again, we're doing all we can to keep this conversation alive, people. Only three teams have ever had a longer winning run from the start of the calendar year, which was Manchester City in 2021, Liverpool in 2020 and Manchester United in 2009. Now, I could be wrong, but didn't all them teams win the league? So hopefully the stars are aligning. We now have seven successive league victories, which matches our best run last season, people, that was brought on to a crashing halt against Liverpool. And sadly, while we've been great on the road, our next away game is actually Manchester City, folks, people. You know, there's been three teams in Europe's big five divisions that have five players with ten plus goals in assisting the league this season, which is Bayern Leverkusen, Big Up Granit Xhaka and Xhavia Alonso, Pep Guardiola and Pep Guardiola's protege in Mikel Arteta. So we're building something. Obviously, you want to see this built and see the fruits of our labour, i.e. winning the champs one day, winning the Premier League for the first time in our, can you really say the Emirates is a new stadium, but our new stadium. So, so far, so good. I'm a happy man with individuals and collectively, first things first, at this moment in time in the season, I just care about winning, really. And it feels like such a long time ago that, you know, the turn of 2023, December, January was upon us. So we just need to keep working. And I think we look a lot more confident in front of goal. I was really impressed by the first, I would say the first 20 minutes from an Arsenal perspective, maybe even the first five, because it felt like there was goals here and it looked like the boys were intent on getting that. So yeah, smash the like button, comment, like, subscribe. Let me know your thoughts. Big up to you lot, whether you're watching this on Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, whatever you're doing, people, make sure you're cross-following and all of those good things. Let me know your thoughts on YouTube in the comment section. Don't forget to hit the like button and all that good stuff. Hopefully against Brentford, we're in similar boyish spirits, people. But for now, I'm out. God bless you all. Peace. Come on, you Gunners.