Posts filed under 'Premier League'
October 24th, 2011
Arsenal 3 – 1 Stoke
Match Report | Highlights | Arsene’s reaction
Imagine, if you will, that Arsene Wenger had been dismissed following Arsenal’s defeat at Blackburn on September 17th. It’s not beyond the realms of possibility – certainly, a large proportion of the fanbase were calling for just that to happen. Now imagine that the new manager – some idealistic lovechild of Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola, conceived in a bout of passionate hate-sex, had achieved exactly the same results Arsene has in the last seven games.
It’s six wins from seven games, with 15 goals scored and just six conceded. It’s a run that’s taken us to the top of our Champions League group, and within three points of both Liverpool and Tottenham in the Premier League.
Had these results been picked up by a new manager, divorced from the stigma that Arsene has collected in his 15 years at charge, he’d be being praised for the impressive and pragmatic turnaround. Arsene, too, deserves that credit. I want to stear clear of cliche and avoid claiming that we’ve turned round any corners or over any leaves, but there is an increasing confidence in this Arsenal squad – a confidence underlined by the fact that Arsene felt he would be able to start Robin van Persie on the bench yesterday.
As we know, the Dutchman eventually stepped on to the field to resume his customary role as match-winner. He is now just one off double-figures for the season, and has a staggering 25 goals in 26 league games in the calendar year of 2011 (thanks Orbinho). His evolution in to a central striker has been fascinating to watch. He arrived at Arsenal as a lanky teenager who had, like another great Arsenal striker, Thierry Henry, spent most of footballing career on the left-wing. Unlike Henry, Van Persie was not blessed with blistering pace, and so was ear-marked by many (including Arsene) as a potential successor to Dennis Bergkamp in the support-striker role. When we made the necessary switch to 4-3-3, however, Arsene needed a centre-forward who could receive the ball with his back to goal and bring the midfield in to play. He needed someone with an immaculate first-touch, and Van Persie was that man.
What he and others could never predicted was that the Dutchman would unearth in himself such a goalscoring instinct. Both finishes yesterday were instant near-post strikes – real poacher’s goals. If he somehow manages to avoid injury, he promises to have his highest scoring season to date.
For both goals yesterday he owed a huge debt of gratitude to Gervinho. The Ivorian winger had his best game in an Arsenal shirt, scoring the opener after a lovely clipped pass from Aaron Ramsey, and then setting up the second and third with darts to the right and left byline respectively before cutting the ball back in to Robin’s path. Whilst his first touch and finishing can be erratic, he does seem to possess that burst of pace over five yards than allows him to get past a man in the tightest of situations. And, unlike Theo Walcott, he seems to be able to take the ball with him when he does it too, and find a pass at the end of it. Hopefully his goal yesterday marks the start of a scoring run – we need the likes of Gervinho and Walcott to take the pressure off Van Persie.
Finally, I wanted to speak in praise once more of our centre-back pairing of Per Mertesacker and Laurent Koscielny, who (for the most part) coped admirably with Stoke’s aerial bombardment. Stoke’s goal was the unfortunate product of a lapse on concentration – I think fans and players alike thought they’d hoofed their free-kick out of play, only to see it catch in the wind and turn out to be a perfectly clipped pass to the near post.
Koscielny has been getting a lot of praise of late, but it doesn’t take a genius to see that having the giant German alongside him is helping him enormously.  It means that Thomas Vermaelen will have a genuine battle to get back in to the side when he returns from injury, which is a luxury we couldn’t have dreamt of a few months ago. While we’re on the defence, I also though Andre Santos and Johan Djourou performed very ably in the full-back positions.
Right, Carling Cup tomorrow, and another chance to look at Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, among others.
October 17th, 2011
Robin van Persie celebrates the winning goal
Match Report | Highlights | Arsene’s reaction
Arsenal are more reliant on Robin van Persie than ever…
There are two reasons we have relied quite as much on one Robin van Persie. Â The first is that it hasn’t been possible, simply because he hasn’t been fit. Â The second is that it hasn’t been necessary, because we’ve had a more even distribution of talent. Â At the moment, especially with Jack Wilshere and Bacary Sagna injured, he is the sole world class performer in our team. Â He’d grace any team in the world, and finds himself as the talisman of a struggling side. Â Fortunately, he is seizing responsibility with relish, as his match-winning display yesterday demonstrated. Â This Robin is, unlike his comic-book name-same, no ‘boy wonder’: he’s all grown-up. Â And we desperately, desperately need him.
Robin is swiftly becoming too good for this side…
The sad truth is that as Robin’s shooting star is looking lonely in a darkening Arsenal constellation. Â He has less than two years to run on his current deal, and Arsene didn’t exactly sound confident of him signing an extension any time soon:
“The ideal situation is that he extends his contract but if he doesn’t you have to respect that. You know what is important is that he plays like he plays because we are all here to see special football players and he is a special football player.”
In other words: enjoy it while you can. Â As I said above, Van Persie would not look out of place at Real Madrid or Barcelona. Â If he keeps playing like this, he’ll have his pick. Â Perhaps his future will depend on our Champions League status.
Carl Jenkinson has one oustanding quality…
There may be question marks over his defensive positioning, but you can’t argue with the fact that he is quite possibly the finest crosser of the ball at Arsenal Football Club. Â For anyone who has spent years watching our corners hit the first man that won’t be a huge surprise, but yesterday Jenkinson’s delivery of the ball was consistently excellent. Â It was a solid performance from the young lad, and hopefully he’ll grow in confidence and stature as the games go by.
Andrey Arshavin can be a great impact sub…
Yesterday he was introduced for the patchy Gervinho, and made a real impact, drifting infield and showing a willingness to run at defenders and try to make things happen. Â I know I have a reputation as something of an ‘Arshavin apologist’, but when you witness cameos like he produced yesterday it’s easy to see why I can be seduced by his talent before being appalled by his attitude.
Arsene does not trust Park…
Had Van Persie not spared our blushes with that sumptuous free-kick, surely questions would have been asked of his Arsene’s continued unwillingness to make use of his new striker. Â Against both Spurs and Sunderland, Arsene chose to introduce Yossi Benayoun ahead of our number nine. Â Perhaps it comes from an unwillingness to change our shape, but with only two years in which to make his mark at Arsenal, Park will surely be conscious of the early lack of opportunities.
October 16th, 2011
Arsenal play host to Sunderland today. It’s a meeting between two teams at the wrong end of the table, desperate to get their respective seasons back on track. According to rumours in the media, Sunderland boss Steve Bruce is on the verge of the sack. It is a measure of how poor our start has been that at kick-off we have just one more point and a significantly worse goal difference.
Like us, Sunderland underwent major rebuilding in the summer, bringing in a host of new players and losing a couple of key stars in Jordan Henderson and Asamoah Gyan. Unlike us, they do not expect to be challenging for honours at the end of the season. A few wins on the bounce will take them up in to mid-table and back in line with their expectations. Arsenal have a far greater hill to climb.  We have an obligation not only to pull ourselves clear of the relegation zone, but towards the distant goal of the top four.
At the moment, this feels like a relegation six-pointer. It ought to feel like a home banker. Although Sunderland’s away form has been surprisingly decent (only one defeat for their first three games), Arsenal have to win today. Our next league fixtures are home ties against the Mackems and then Stoke. Six points would make a tremendous difference to our confidence, and almost double our total for the season.
There are, however, new problems to overcome. We have lost our most consistent and reliable defender, Bacary Sagna, for a period of several months. There are serious doubts over the ability of the obvious deputy, Carl Jenkinson, who has played most of his football in the non-league and still carries the scars of an Old Trafford mauling. Nevertheless, he’ll start today, and Arsene has unsurprisingly declared his confidence in the young man:
“He has top qualities. His fitness is outstanding, he’s quick, he has good crosses and he is good going forward. He needs to adjust a little bit his defensive game. But we are working with him and he is improving.”
Per Mertesacker, Laurent Kosicelny and Kieran Gibbs attempting to help him acclimatise, and they’ll be pleased not to have to deal with Nicklas Bendtner, who is prevented from playing for Sunderland by the conditions of his loan deal.
Alex Song, Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey will most likely patrol the midfield, with Gervinho and Theo Walcott flanking Robin van Persie.
On paper, Arsenal should win this. In reality, one can’t help but have doubts. This side has betrayed our faith so many times already this season. Arsene often speaks about the length of time it takes for the team to regain confidence. Arguably, it will take even longer for the fans to regain confidence in the team. Only once that happens, and the healing process is complete, will the Emirates become the fortress it ought to be.
Let’s hope that process starts today.
October 3rd, 2011
Bacary Sagna writhes in agony as Arsenal go down at Spurs
Match Report | Highlights | Arsene’s reaction
The table makes unpleasant reading for Arsenal fans today. Â Spurs are in the top six; Arsenal are in the bottom six. Â If Tottenham were to win their game in hand, they’d have more than double our points tally. Â Seven games in to the season, we have less points than the promoted trio of Swansea, Norwich and QPR.
After the game, Arsene trotted out the now-familiar refrain of Arsenal’s problematic braking system:
“In the first half I felt we played a little but with the handbrake on.”
Maybe. Â But I thought a handbrake was supposed to stop you going downhill fast?
This wasn’t, by any stretch, our worst performance of the season. Â But that only makes the fact we failed to take any points away from it all the more damning. Â The first half was a fairly even affair, and we should have taken the lead when great work from Van Persie down the left saw the Dutchman cut the ball back to the onrushing Gervinho, who put his effort wide at the near post. Â It was a fantastic chance, and underlined some of my concerns about the Ivorian. Â When he signed I compared him to Chelsea’s Salomon Kalou, and it was as much for his inconsistency and erratic decision-making as his pace, trickery and versatility. Â It’s clear Arsene is a big admirer of the winger, but at this level you simply have to put chances like this one away.
Spurs had opportunities of their own. Â When Alex Song overplayed in defence, Wojciech Szczesny spread himself well to block Scott Parker’s goalbound effort. Â There was little he could do, however, about the goal that gave Spurs the lead.
Rafael Van der Vaart uses his arm to control the ball
When Emmanuel Adebayor brought the ball under control on the edge of our area, Kieran Gibbs and Bacary Sagna were nowhere to be seen. Â Adebayor looped the ball over Mertesacker, for Van der Vaart to bring it down and finish smartly in to the far corner. Â The German immediately appealed for handball, and whilst replays yesterday still left me feeling it was a marginal decision, the photograph on the right provides little room for doubt.
With Van der Vaart already on a booking for a lunge at Kieran Gibbs, a deliberate handball could even have seen him dismissed, which would have altered the pattern of the game enormously. Â Some suggested he was lucky not to go for his celebration, which saw him embrace fans in the crowd, but that’s a rule I’m neither fond nor keen to take advantage of.
The start of the second half saw Arsenal looking purposeful, and we swiftly had an equaliser – Alex Song danced to the byling and pulled a left-footed cross in the box for Aaron Ramsey to tap in.
From then on, however, we simply failed to impose ourselves. Â Spurs grew as the game wore on, switching from a 4-4-2 to a 4-5-1 to combat our midfield trio.
The winning goal was one strewn with errors. Â First Arteta and Ramsey were slow to react to a quick Spurs throw in; then when the ball was cleared Kyle Walker was not closed down and allowed room to hit a screamer from range. Â Powerful though the shot was, Wojciech Szczesny (who had produced another outstanding save to deny Adebayor) will know he ought to have done better, allowing himself to be beaten by a late swerve on the ball.
At this stage there were still twenty minutes to go, but instead of laying the Tottenham goal to siege, we lay down and meekly accepted our fate. Â Even when we threw Per Mertesacker upfront in stoppage time, we seemed reluctant to hoist the ball towards him. Â There was a lack of urgency and a clear lack of belief.
At full-time Arsene Wenger shook hands with Harry Redknapp and his assistant, before being pursued by the demented figure of Clive Allen, who felt he’d been overlooked for a handshake. Â Allen himself overlooked the fact that he’s about one above ‘kit man’ in the Spurs pecking order, and that he did little to endear himself to Arsene by giving him a shove on the touchline in this fixture last year.
As I said, it wasn’t our worst performance of the season, and young Francis Coquelin can be very proud of the job he did holding midfield. Â However, there were still plenty of negatives. Â Aaron Ramsey, goal aside, had a dreadful game and seems to be making countless wrong decisions on the ball. Â His performance highlighted a longer-term problem – without Wilshere or Diaby, we don’t have anyone in central midfield with the acceleration to beat a man. Â It means our game is inevitably slower and more predictable.
Defensive organisation was again an issue, and both Gervinho and Walcott will have reason to feel they didn’t contribute enough to turn our possession in to chances. Â The greatest blow could yet be the injury to Bacary Sagna, who is expected to miss three months after breaking a fibula. Â Sagna remains an outstanding right-back and relatively consistent performer, and without experienced cover could prove to be a huge loss. Â Although Carl Jenkinson replaced him yesterday, I wonder if Coquelin might be given a go in a role he played several times for Lorient last season.
Another international break now. Â A fortnight of stewing over how to put this right. Â Just what we don’t need.
October 2nd, 2011
Hello all. As fate would have it I am unwell on Derby Day, so this will be a very swift, digestible preview. Which is ironic, as my stomach seems unwilling to digest anything at the moment. Let’s begin with team news.
Laurent Koscielny is almost certainly out, and with Sebastien Squillaci lacking match practise Alex Song is expected to partner Per Mertesacker at centre-back. The goalie and right-back pick themselves, but Arsene has a tougher call to make between Andre Santos and Kieran Gibbs. I expect him to opt for the young Englishman, though Santos’ performance in midweek will certainly have given the manager food for thought.
Wojciech Szczesny will keep goal behind the defence, and he has revealed that Arsenal have jettisoned their much-heralded zonal marking system:
“We have decided to change it since Blackburn. It really doesn’t matter what you do as long as you do it correctly and it works. I think zonal works better for us. We have worked on it during pre-season where we never conceded from a set piece and it looked like it was working.
We did concede a stupid goal at Blackburn [Alex Song’s 50th-minute own goal when no defender dealt with a free-kick] and I hope the man-marking will work for us now.”
I do find it slightly disconcerting that after a summer working on a tactic to counteract our set-piece frailties has been abandoned quite so quickly. Hopefully the man-marking system proves a little more effective than it did last season.
Song’s place in midfield is likely to be taken by Emmanuel Frimpong. Arteta and Ramsey are guaranteed to start, and it’ll be one of Frimpong, Coquelin or Rosicky completing the trio.
Robin van Persie will lead the line, whilst the selection of the wingers will be dependent entirely on the fitness tests of Theo Walcott and Gervinho – Walcott is considered more likely to be ready. Beyond those two, Arshavin, Rosicky, Benayoun and Chamberlain are all in contention.
It’s a massive game. We got hammered at Old Trafford, but we were never realistically going to compete with United. This season, our immediate competition are the Spurs and Liverpools of this world. Defeat today would leave us adrift and having a significant hillock to climb to reach the Champions League. Victory, however, would take us above our local rivals and within a one-game swing of Liverpool.
A final note for those going to the game: by all means boo Emmanuel Adebayor if you want, but don’t sink to the level of Spurs fans and worse by singing racist chants. We’re better than that. Hopefully we’ll show it on and off the pitch.
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