Arsenal fans hail Mikel Arteta’s genius pre-season move for winning Community Shield after club were brutally trolled
ARSENAL fans hailed Mikel Arteta’s pre-season focus on penalties – as Wembley shootout joy avenged trolls who attacked the unusual strategy.
Many put Sunday’s Community Shield win over Manchester City down to Arteta‘s support for end-of-match spot-kicks on tour in the USA.
Leandro Trossard only earned the Wembley shootout with a deflected equaliser ELEVEN minutes into stoppage time, following Cole Palmer’s brilliant late opener for City.
The Gunners then confidently converted all their spot-kicks to win 4-1 on penalties.
Fans immediately homed in on Arsenal’s shootout antics across the pond last month.
One said: “Those pre-season penalty exhibitions turned out to be pretty useful in the end.”
Another posted: “It was deffo Arsenal/Arteta that asked to do Penalty shootouts after the games in USA to prepare themselves for this.”
And a third wrote: “Seems like Arteta’s plan wanting pre season games to have penalties is bearing fruit.”
City keeper Stefan Ortega came nowhere near thwarting Wembley penalties from Martin Odegaard, Trossard, Bukayo Saka and, finally, Fabio Vieira.
And many Gunners’ supporters treated the triumph as highly significant.
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According to one: “The most important thing for the players is the confidence to beat City.”
“This is just the beginning,” chimed another.
But two fans might have gone slightly over the top with their verdicts.
“Give Fabio Vieira another +5 contract ,” wrote one.
And another, who could just possibly have been a City follower, claimed: “4 rigged penalties.”
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