FREE FLOWING FOOTBALL IS BACK! Sporting 1-5 Arsenal reaction

Free-flowing football is back, people. It's our second win in as many games now. Arsenal 5, Sporting 1. I'm a happy lad. In terms of improvements, before I start waffling about what I think was good in the game, in terms of improvements, I think, you know, when you look at the scoreline above my head, 5-1, it does and it was complete dominance from Arsenal and all of those kind of connotations. But when you look at the second half, I think it was a lot closer than people would have liked. And when you score five goals and you've got plenty of goals and assists and things, it will go under the radar. But I think we called David Raya into action a lot more than we needed in that second half. And I think David Raya was quality. So big up to David Raya. You know, I don't know if it's something mental with our team. I don't know if it's Martin Odegaard's absence prior. But one thing I did like is it feels like in the last two games, Mikel Arteta has kept what he wants to do tactically, but simply put, freed up the players, put down the handbrake. There's a lot more attack in football, really. And, you know, we shared the goals around. It's always nice to see your attacker score goals. Nice to see Martinelli, Saka, Trossart, Kai Havertz all get on the score sheet. The best goal for me was Gabriel Magalhães because set-piece FC were back. And to see him on Joker as his block dude at celebration was great. You know, Timber was very good, got an assist as well. I think Timber and Saka looks quite exciting on the right-hand side. I don't think Califuri was bad or amazing, but I love Califuri. I just think a couple of little things he needs to fine-tune. I think Gabriel and Saliba did well to nullify Jokeres, although in the second half he purred a bit. I think Partey was very good. I think Odegaard was a joy to watch. I think Moreno had an encouraging cameo and his shot, you know, was parried into the path of Trossart. You know, so generally it was a good day at the office, man. And obviously, Arsenal don't have the, well, sporting don't have the best of records against us. Arsenal fans, we don't have the best of records when we travel to Portugal. And we looked very good. The first half was complete domination with three goals up at halftime. Gabriel's goal came at the best possible moment it could have. So I'm a happy lad. Again, naturally, I don't, I think Arteta would have urged against complacency, but whether it's a bit of complacency naturally, subconsciously, because we're three goals up or sporting rightly so. If you're the sporting manager, you probably got at them at halftime and absolutely bollocked them and gave them the hair dryer. They did come out the blocks firing. They did kind of score a good goal from a set piece. Again, I wasn't happy with that goal. We conceded, what, 90 seconds into the second half. And you were thinking we needed another goal, really. So I did think when Odegaard won the penalty and Saka evidently stepped up was good. I'm a big fan of Dia Mondi. Had a terrible audition based on Arsenal being linked with him and him being linked with Man United today. Don't know how he never got a second yellow card for the Odegaard one. Fair enough, though. But it is what it is, man. I'm a happy lad, man. I feel sorry for Raheem Sterling because he was about to come on and then Gabriel Magalhães had to come off, forgive you. I don't know if Arteta had a change of mind. I don't know if there was cramp or an injury from Magalhães. I hope there's nothing serious in that regard. Congratulations to Saliba, actually, for making 100 appearances for Arsenal. So, yeah, man, I think that was a great team performance. The only thing I can really cry about is conceding in the second half being a bit more even. Obviously, we scored a bunch of goals. The goals were shared around. Plenty of goals and assists to share around. If you didn't get a goal or an assist, you had an encouraging performance anyways. And in the same way, losing is infectious. Winning can be infectious. Whether it's in the Premier League or the Champs, you want to win as many games as you can. So now we've got two wins on the board. We obviously pat ourselves on the back. Tomorrow, we focus on West Ham at the weekend. And then I think we've got Man United after that. Obviously, this propels us back into, on paper, one of the qualifying positions in the Champions League. It's got nothing to do with us. But City also, after going to three goals up, drew three free people. So City's struggles go from bad to worse. So yeah, I'm a happy lad, man. I've got no problems for today, man. So yeah, it is what it is in that regard. Let me know your thoughts. Don't forget to like, comment and subscribe. Let me know how you thought the game went. And on that note, peace.