Arsenal 4 – 0 FC Twente: Arsenal Answer Twente Questions
320 comments August 28th, 2008
I’m sure FC Twente were better in the first leg. Perhaps, as arseblogger remarked to me this morning whilst recording the arsecast, they are simply getting exponentially worse the longer Steve McClaren is at the reigns. Nevertheless, last night was just what we needed. A win, a clean sheet, and plenty of goals.
The team was stronger than I had anticipated, and it was certainly the right decision. Kolo Toure and Emmanuel Adebayor were left out, replaced by Johan Djourou and Nicklas Bendtner, but other than that it was our strongest XI. That meant that Cesc Fabregas made his first appearance of the season, and the dominant nature of our victory is indicative of the positive influence he exerts on the side.
The Twente left-back was somewhat clueless, and the sprightly Theo Walcott tormented him all night long. It was his cross that allowed Robin van Persie to touch the ball back for Samir Nasri, whose dummy took out three men before Nasri’s deflected left-foot strike rolled in to give us the lead. That’s two in two home games for Nasri, and I really like the look of him. If he keeps up that scoring record, then by December he’ll have scored more goals than Hleb did in his entire Arsenal career…
Walcott squared again for Van Persie, who somehow missed the open goal from about eight yards. One has to hope that a) once RVP gets one his shooting boots will be firmly back on, and b) that he doesn’t get injured before that has a chance to happen. However, after half-time, arguably our best goal-poacher (centre-half William Gallas) tapped in the second after the keeper had kept out a Bendtner shot.
The third goal is the one that caught the headlines – Bendtner miscontrolled, but Theo Walcott zoomed onto the ball before curling it round the goalie with such style that his number 14 shirt seemed to fit him snugger than ever. More of that will be expected of him this season.
Bendtner’s miscontrol was typical of a night in which little seemed to go for the young Dane. However, late on, a lovely move ended with a delicious Denilson backheel into Bedntner’s path, and this time he simply couldn’t miss.
So we’re into today’s Champions League draw, which is all that really matters. Goals here and Arsene’s reaction here. If you’re in the UK you can watch the whole game on BBC iPlayer.
Transfer News
- Philippe Senderos has completed his move to Milan. He doesn’t seem particularly interested in the possibility of coming back. Fair enough, really.
- Gareth Barry is staying at Villa, which in turn means that Xabi Alonso is probably staying at Liverpool. Which means I have no idea who we’ll be signing.
- But it won’t be Johnathan De Guzman. Maybe because he is neither a central midfielder, nor the “New Hargreaves he seems to have been labelled. Hilariously, The Sun appears to have confused him with his elder brother, Julian De Guzman. Oh dear.
