Arsenal had a tough night against Vitoria in the Europa League group stage yesterday, but apart from Unai Emery’s not so impressive tactics – there was one more thing I noticed.
Hector Bellerin captained Arsenal and it was a tough start to his life as skipper, but he was impressive.. Infact he impressed me more as a captain than Xhaka ever since he took that armband.
The Spainard was probably the architect behind Arsenal’s victory MORE THAN Emery.
Here are some of the things Hector Bellerin did against Vitora which got to me –
After one the close efforts from Gabriel Martinelli which was denied by Miguel in the first half, Hecky rushed to support the ‘next Ronaldo’ and hugged him trying to clam him down. Gabriel soon scored Arsenal’s first with a neatly directed header.
One of the highlights from the game apart from Nicolas Pepe’s freekicks was that poor pass from Ainsley Maitland-Niles which gave away the possession in open play as the visitors scored on the counter. And Bellerin went straight away to Maitland-Niles talking about THAT pass.
Hector was seen in conversation with Unai Emery for most of the match trying to implement the instructions in the game and passing on the same to his teammates as well.
And in the dying minutes of the match, Gabriel Martinelli missed a fine chance and was seen frustrated after the final whistle and Hector again was seen in deep conversation with Martinelli.
Yes, its too less to take but rather than talking about mistakes openly and not doing anything worth about it by Granit Xhaka.. I feel I atleast can see someone who could get arms around and try to get things resolved in a calm manner.
