Arsenal 3 – 0 Sheff Utd: The Floodgates Open
20 comments September 23rd, 2006
With just 25 minutes of our game against Sheffield United left, I began to think about how I could put a positive spin on the match should it remain 0-0. “Unbeaten at Home” was one potential headline, with “Two consecutive clean sheets” another. Then William Gallas burst into the penalty area, fired the ball into the top corner, and 60,000 people were allowed to breathe a harmonious sigh of relief.
It wasn’t the first time Gallas had found himself inside the opposition box, after missing a clear opportunity earlier in the game and showing plenty of willingness to get into goalscoring positions. This time he made absolutely no mistake, and any forward would have been proud of the ensuing finish.
Then, it was as if the weather broke, and suddenly Arsenal found both their confidence and their goalscoring touch. An Henry cross was diverted into his own net by Phil Jagielka four minutes later, and Henry himself nodded in a third with just ten minutes still to play.
It wasn’t as good a performance as against Middlesbrough and Aston Villa, but you can’t complain when you consider the respective results. I said before the game that we had the potential to score a few today: one gets the feeling that had we grabbed a first-half goal the score could have been four or five. As it was, we didn’t, and this was partly due to a “laissez-faire” display from skipper Thierry Henry.
I am not one of these people who says that Henry is characteristically lazy, indeed I am one of his strongest supporters: he is, in my opinion, the world’s best striker. But today, for whatever reason, he wasn’t at the races. Perhaps he was carrying an injury, I don’t know. The records will show that he scored and had a hand in both goals, and I appreciate that. But his movement was poor, his touch sloppy, and he seemed more likely to bawl at Emmanuel Adebayor than encourage and cajole his impressive and hard-working strike-partner.
However, after our first goal his game seemed to lift. Perhaps it is not unthinkable to suggest that the great man himself was suffering from the same crisis of confidence that has affected so many of his team-mates?
In defence, Johan Djourou was outstanding, whilst Gallas’ goal capped another impressive display. It is easy to understand why Chelsea found it such a temptation to play him at full-back.
Freddie Ljungberg showed plenty of endeavor with little end-product, whilst Cesc Fabregas and Tomas Rosicky continued to build on their clever interplay.
Ultimately, all that matters is that we have our first league win at the new stadium. With Charlton, Watford, and Reading our next opponents we have a real chance to build on our good form with some tangible results. Average performances with 3-0 scorelines will do just fine.
