March 13th, 2012
Thomas Vermaelen celebrates the late late winner against Newcastle
Arsenal 2 – 1 Newcastle
Match Report | Highlights | Arsene’s reaction
This is becoming a run that beggars belief; it’s putting the ‘mental’ in to ‘mental strength’. Â Thomas Vermaelen’s late late goal made Arsenal the first side in Premier League history to come from behind to win four consecutive games. Â And three of them have been snatched with stoppage-time strikes.
For sheer drama, none of them match last night. Â Perhaps it was that took place at an almost-full Emirates. Â Perhaps it was the fact it robbed Alan Pardew and the time-wasting Tim Krul of a precious point. Â Or perhaps it was the sheer guts of Vermaelen’s fifty yard, lung-bursting run to meet Theo Walcott’s cross. Â It’s difficult to say, and to be honest, it doesn’t matter. Â But it was brilliant.
Something has changed in this team. Â It would be nice to pin-point a precise moment when things started to go in our favour, but the reality is that the upturn in fortunes is down to a combination of factors. Â The return of our full-backs has added width and defensive stability. Â The emergence of Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has given us a direct, penetrative option from the left, and brought the best out of Theo Walcott on the right. Â Tomas Rosicky is playing the best football of his Arsenal career, and in this form is richly deserving of a new contract. Â And then, of course, there’s the consistent excellence of Robin van Persie.
It might be a little whimsical of me, but I also think it has something to do with the brief but potent return of Thierry Henry. Â His sheer presence seemed to instill a belief and confidence in the squad, and maybe went some way to remind the players of what it means to represent Arsenal Football Club – and the legendary status that will be bestowed upon those who bring glory to its name.
For the first time in a long time, Arsenal play without fear. Â In they go behind, they believe they can retrieve it. Â If they go in to the tackle, they believe they can win it. Â The ghosts of Eduardo, Ramsey and others have evaporated, and Arsenal players are throwing themselves in to challenges like they’re impervious to pain. Â The commitment is fantastic, and it’s bringing results.
There will inevitably be a lot of talk of reeling in Spurs. Â With the ups and downs of the past few months, my principal target remains fourth spot and a chance of Champions League qualification. Â Anything beyond that will be a bonus – albeit a very welcome one indeed. Â For the first time in a while, Arsenal are beginning to look up as well as down.
October 19th, 2011
Aaron Ramsey netting the winner against Marseille
Arsenal 1 – 0 Marseille
Match Report | Highlights | Arsene’s reaction
You know what, Chelsea? You can keep your 5-0 romps. Truly, there is no sweeter way to win a football match than with a solitary last-gasp goal. More than ninety minutes of turgid entrenchment punctured by one sweet strike from substitute Aaron Ramsey. Cue much air punching, back-slapping, and (in my house at least) spilling of tea.
To say it was an average game would probably be generous. After a promising start, it fizzled out, which felt a little like seeing Joey Barton on fire, and then having some jobsworth health and safety officer throw water over him. The closest we came to goalmoath action was a shout for handball at either end, with Carl Jenkinson and Souleymane Diawara the men lucky to escape censure.
Andre Santos also carlessly handled the ball having already been booked, and was probably lucky not to be sent off. If you knew nothing of Santos, just five minutes watching him would enable you to guess he was Brazilian. Plenty of skill and imagination on the ball, but a tendency to overplay and take some quite insane risks. Needless to say, he is fitting in perfectly at Arsenal.
The basic problem was a lack of quality in the final third. Marseille lacked ambition; Arsenal urgency.  Andrey Arshavin had been selected ahead of Gervinho but was having a nightmare of a game. At least he would occasionally find himself on the ball – the same could not be said for Theo Walcott.
The second-half introductions of Johan Djourou and Gervinho for Carl Jenkinson (injured) and Theo Walcott (AWOL) threatened to bring our right-flank to life, but it looked for all intents and purposes as if Arsenal were playing out a creditable 0-0 draw. I even began composing a blog, now thankfully discarded, which reported the result as fact.
There were positives to be drawn. Laurent Koscielny was quite outstanding at centre-back, with Per Mertesacker equally assured alongside him. Ahead of them, Alex Song added to what is becoming an increasingly impressive portfolio of performances this season. He breaks up the play well, and uses the ball intelligently. Next to him, Mikel Arteta showed more graft than craft with a number of crucial and crunchy challenges. The advantage of signing players with Premier League experience is that they usually know how to scrap.
The frustration was that Marseille were clearly there for the taking, if only Arsenal could up their game. In the end, the man to release the figurative handbrake was subtitute Aaron Ramsey, who collected a Johan Djourou cross, miscontrolled by Gervinho, and fired low in to the near post – the perfect way for him to prepare for a game with Stoke at the weekend.
And so it finished: 1-0 to the Arsenal, with our first clean sheet away from home in Europe since Milan ’08.
Afterwards Arsene said:
“We left it very late but we had a difficult start. We lost some balls in the first half due to the fact Marseille pressed us well.
They didn’t find their fluency but in the second half we took over and I don’t think Marseille were dangerous at all [after half-time]. Marseille defended very well but you could see in the last 15 minutes we created some chances and were rewarded because we kept going and got an important victory.”
It leaves us top of the group, and a win in the return fixture would all but guarantee our qualification to the knockout stage.
Quietly, without anyone taking much notice, Arsenal have won five of their last six games. It’s not quite a resurgence, but it’s certainly a relief. Long may it continue.
