It's not a long-read, but it *is* a quick set of notes after the Newcastle game

Just passing along my raw, unedited observations right after an initial watch of the game:

• The opening phase showed intent from both sides: there was immediate, aggressive high-pressing from Arsenal, with Saka sprinting forward. Arsenal looked fluid and pretty. Newcastle also sought to play their game early, with high, coordinated pressing. It got busted quick: Saliba to Nketiah to Saka. Saka sprinted out on a break, and White led the line forward, burning Burn high. It didn't ultimately materialize, but it showed the danger.

• Partey’s press-breaking and Nketiah’s dropping deep were both strong early and throughout. Oddly enough, this may have been Nketiah’s strongest overall game as the starter, though his position is judged by goals.

• After all that, it wasn’t long before there was a break in action and Newcastle regrouped and said “fuck this. We’re not going to get a point playing this kind of game.” And Howe and Tripper busted out their Simeone DNA for much of the rest of proceedings, save for occasional waves of high pressure.

• Arsenal showed their lower defensive cards around 10’: Martinelli was going to help Zinchenko, almost like a wing-back, and Xhaka was going to help out too. Almiron got essentially zeroed out as a result, which is no small feat.

• There’s a problem with that, though: Xhaka is then overly involved in the middle third, which renders him as the Xhaka of old instead of the new, refined version. His physicality and reverse-shithousing was welcome but a little bit more touch would have been welcome there, too.

• Saka was roasting Burn. Within 4 minutes, they were frantically sending help, and he was still getting around both guys. Once they abandoned the high-press, the support over there got solidified, and Joelinton did just enough to cover for Burn’s lapses, but man, it was close.

• Every member of the back four was pretty great. Saliba looks to be rounding back into form, Gabriel was pretty faultless — and they both did a wonderful job on balls over the top, aerially, and leaning into Wilson. White had a hilarious sequence where he slid through Willock, cleared it from the ground, limped back up, grumpily guarded him again in the box, and took it back for a second time. Love that man.

• Zinchenko was indeed the right call, as he almost always will be when healthy. He had one mistake but the tactics supported him well, and there was some real highlight reel shit in there to start the second half. There will be an excellent comp of his line-breaking passes.

• As a whole, the team did an excellent job of harassing and zeroing out Bruno G, who didn't have anywhere near his usual impact.

• As we wrote in the preview, successfully breaking down the compact mid-block meant that Odegaard was going to have to make some elite, incisive passes behind the line. Thanks to some personal underperformance and fun-killing work by Botman, those never happened. That dude is good.

• Once Newcastle gave up on attack, Martinelli was getting man-marked by Tripper, who was supported by Almirón and others. It was tough sledding, and he had a few almosts, but this feels like a game that would have been nice to have a LW sub handy.

• Aside from that one 😬, Ramsdale's distribution was lovely as usual, though I didn't fully understand the value in pinging aerial duels to Saka and the world's tallest man.

• Tomiyasu looked night-and-day to his Brighton performance. Good to see.

• It’s a mild bummer that Arteta didn’t deem Vieira ready for a sub in this kind of affair.

• I don't have anything particularly novel to say about the timewasting or refereeing. The shirt pull was a penalty, of course. The timewasting was all to be expected, and I know I'm going out on a limb here, but the league should consider the dramatic innovation of having the game clock reflect reality.

Can't help but feel somewhat frustrated, but as you'll hear a thousand times, it’s a top-three side, and that frustration is a sign of how far things have come. I will say this: the savvier the manager, the more concerned they seem to be with the Arsenal attack. That counts for exactly one (1) point today.

Anything else you’d like to discuss? Pop it in the comments.

Here's the game preview again, if you'd like to review in the aftermath.

Be good out there.