Arsenal 2 – 0 Bolton: Supersubs Help See Off Bolton
Add comment October 21st, 2007
Bolton are not what they were under Sam Allardyce. Granted, they have the same overtly aggressive tackling and long-ball tactics. But they are now far worse at both. Their display yesterday was one of the most negative ever seen at the Emirates Stadium. With Nicolas Anelka missing, they lacked any kind of attacking impetus, and I can’t remember Manuel Almunia making a single save.
That’s not to say it was a walk in the park for Arsenal. Bolton’s sheer weight of numbers in their own half meant space was tight, and the shape of our front six was all wrong. Emmanuel Eboue started on the right, pushing Aleksandr Hleb over to the left, with Eduardo partnering Adebayor upfront, playing just to the left of the Togolese target man. Hleb’s tendency to drift inside meant that most of our width came down the right with Eboue and Sagna. However, with Adebayor playing more towards that side than usual, there was no obvious target at the far post.
I wonder why Arsene chose to change the set-up of the side. He could easily have begun with Hleb on the right and Diaby on the left. Instead, the lanky Frenchman and Slayer of El Campo was left on the bench until the last ten minutes.
The first half played out without any great incident, apart from a miscued Adebayor header which drifted wide of the near post. As the team’s ran out for the second half, it was clear Arsene had made an astute change, shifting Eduardo out to the left and putting Hleb in behind Ade. He later said:
“In the second half today I used Hleb in the middle because there was so little space and he’s the one who can. I wanted us to go through the flanks but first to attack them through the middle, and he can get the ball out of a very small space and play it through to the flanks, and we took advantage of that.”
Hleb immediately began to cause havoc in the Bolton defence with his neat control and incisive passing. Indeed, it was a wonder we didn’t take the lead after Emmanuel Eboue somehow blasted wide of the top corner. Eboue didn’t have his best game today, and with Tomas Rosicky close to full fitness, will struggle to keep his place in the side.
It was the introduction of Rosicky and young Theo Walcott that proved the crucial turning point. Eduardo and Eboue made way, and suddenly we had balance, pace, and directness on the flanks. Yet when our goal came, it was from a set piece – a layed off free-kick which Kolo Toure powered into the bottom corner from 25 yards. It had been coming.
Soon after, it should have been two. A Cesc throughball released Adebayor who took it too far beyond the goalkeeper before slipping and allowing the chance to pass by.
No matter. Inside the last ten minutes, Theo Walcott controlled a long ball expertly, before turning inside the box and firing the ball across goal. His fellow substitute Rosicky met it with a neat finish to net his third goal of the season. I think it’s fair to say the double substitution worked.
Walcott made a critical contribution yet again, and Arsene was quick to praise the teenage winger:
“It is just that now that you feel he has come back with his shoulder problem, he has found really the injection of pace he had before, his co-ordination is better, he uses his body better – his shoulders. Today, when you see what he’s brought, when he came on, you think ‘that’s certainly a promising striker’.”
I might aswell add an automatic signature which adds “We wouldn’t have won this game last season” to the bottom of every match report. But it’s true: we showed real patience to overcome a poor but very stubborn side who showed little ambition. Crucially, we go into the games with Liverpool and Manchester United with our lead intact. I cannot wait to see how we fair in those matches.
