Arsenal 3-2 Sunderland: Van Persie Flying but lessons to be learned
46 comments October 8th, 2007
Before we go into any sort on analysis of a quite crazy game, just savour this:
Ten wins in a row, and top of the Barclays Premier League.
I don’t think I could ever tire of saying that.
On another day, yesterday would have been an absolute walkover. We started the game like a whole townful of houses ablaze, and it was no surprise when we took the lead after just seven minutes. The referee blew for a free-kick just before Abou Diaby launched a twenty-five yard fire-cracker into the top corner. Our disappointment was shortlived, as Robin van Persie stepped up to thunder in a 77 mph rocket of a free-kick and give us the advantage.
Our attacking players had the bit between their teeth, and only an excellent save from Craig Gordon prevented Emmanuel Adebayor from heading a second. However, not even the £9m keeper could wishstand the tide of pressure, and with fourteen minutes played, Philippe Senderos scuffed in a second after Adebayor had retrieved an overhit corner.
And it should have been three. A cross from Aleksandr Hleb found Abou Diaby who fired in at the far-post. Celebrations, however, were shortlived: the linesman had incorrectly flagged for offside against Mathieu Flamini.
Now, if the goal had been given, the game was over. Sunderland would’ve been forced to come out and play, and we would have destroyed them on the counter. We could’ve been looking at a cricket score – our football in the first part of the game was absolutely scintillating. As it was, the team slumped into a period of confusion and sloppiness. Our inexperience showed, as our professionalism dropped and the effort levels of the team visibly lowered.
That sloppiness allowed Sunderland to half the deficit before half-time – a long ball by Dwight Yorke who outmuscled Gael Clichy to fire against Manuel Almunia, before Ross Wallace ended our five-game clean sheet with a neat finish.
It was Jones himself who made it 2-2 shortly after half-time, climbing above Clichy to head past Almunia, who seemed to dive at an awkward height when throwing an arm or leg out may have given him a better chance of making a save.
Credit to Sunderland for fighting back, but if it wasn’t for our complacency they wouldn’t have come close. Our play had become predictable and reminiscent of last season, and Arsene recognised that, introducing the pace of Theo Walcott and Emmanuel Eboue (for the now dreadlock-less Bacary Sagna) to provide width and attacking impetus.
Walcott was able to help make the result the right one when he span his marker and crossed for Van Persie to flip the ball up and fire beyond Gordon for his seventh goal of the season. Arsene was pleased with the teenager’s impact, saying:
“Yes, I felt that we needed some pace to go in behind them, you know? We gave them too much of the ball and that made it easier for them. Theo gave us something that was certainly determined today.”
Walcott went on to hit a post, whilst Adebayor came close after a good run. Paul McShane was dismissed for being the latest assassin hired to take out Aleksandr Hleb. When the full-time whistle went, the atmosphere was one as much of relief as anything else.
One man who was brought on late on to help seal the victory was forgotten hero Gilberto Silva. Arsene was quick to give encouragement to the Brazilian as he seeks to regain his first-team place:
“I have a strong relationship with Gilberto, I spoke with him about that, I have a huge respect for him, you know? At the moment it is frustrating for him – incidentally it is his birthday today. He is an important player in the group, he is an important player in the team. As I said, it is a selection problem at the moment but he will come back into the side, I don’t worry about that.”
Mathieu Flamini is in oustanding form at the moment, but I think that Gilberto will respond to the adversity he currently faces in the manner he always has: with courage, determination, and oodles of quality. He’ll be back; be sure of that. In the meantime, the competition is healthy – it’s been a while since we faced that kind of ‘problem’.
Jens Lehmann, however, is not reacting so well to the competition he faces from Manuel Almunia, and was yesterday spotted leaving the ground before kick-off. Whether or not that has anything to do with these comments is anybody’s guess.
You can’t help but feel that last season yesterday’s game would’ve yielded one point, not three. If we can be two points better off in a significant number of games this season, a title challenge is well within our reach.
