Arsenal 3 – 0 Newcastle: Familar scoreline and fabulously familiar peformance
3 comments August 31st, 2008
Arsenal 3 – 0 Newcastle (Van Persie 19Â (pen), 40, Denilson 59)
Highlights (courtesy of 101 greatgoals); Manager reaction
The above scoreline is becoming pleasingly predictable. I haven’t checked (it’s Sunday – too much effort), but I think yesterday’s result means we’ve had the same scoreline on the last three occasions this fixture has been played.
Since the defeat at Fulham, the team has responded in terrific fashion, scoring seven times and keeping two clean sheets. Although we were facing an under-strength Newcastle side, in aesthetic terms our performance yesterday was as good as anything we produced last season. The only criticism is an equally familiar refrain: we could and should have scored many, many more.
We weren’t helped by a referee who failed to give an absolute stick-on penalty in the first ten minutes, when Coloccini brought down Van Persie. No matter – the Dutchman would get another opportunity later on. William Gallas also conspired to miss an absolute sitter at the far post, before an Emmanuel Adebayor cross was handled by N’Zogbia, and the referee belatedly pointed to the spot. Van Persie made no mistake, thrashing his spot-kick low into the corner.
The front-two were running riot, and our second goal came when Adebayor broke down the right and crossed for Eboue. The Ivorian, who put in his best performance for some months, had the ball stuck under his feet, but managed to backheel into the path of the onrushing Van Persie, who right-footedly (I know, I was amazed too) smashed it into the top of the net.
Our third was also a thing of beauty. Nasri and Adebayor dallied in the penalty area, until the Togolese slipped a perfect pass through to Denilson, who slid in his first Premier League goal.
In and around those strikes were bad misses from Adebayor and Walcott, good Given saves to deny Toure (twice) and Nasri, and an RVP effort from a quite unbelievable angle that struck the crossbar. It really could have been anything. We looked occasionally vulnerable at the back, but the return of Cesc has reinvigorated our midfield. Eboue was very productive on the right, whilst Samir Nasri continues on his path towards hero status – after Joey Barton tackled him particularly aggressively, Nasri got up, stared him out, then earned himself a booking with a sneaky trip five minutes later. I enjoyed.
Denilson’s defensive game was improved, but sadly his passing is very wayward at the moment. It’s almost as if he has a limited number of ‘skill points’, and in order to improve his tackling, he had to sacrifice a few points off the ole’ passing. That analogy will only make sense to people who’ve spent too much time playing RPGs. If you don’t know what an RPG is, then you needn’t worry: you’re probably just cool. The point is: a central midfielder is still required.
Upfront, Adebayor and Van Persie were excellent, and Carlos Vela made an impressive debut from the bench. The only down-side from the game was that Van Persie, having seemingly hit form, departed with an ankle injury. Of course. Early signs are positive, but even so, his constant vulnerability is a perrennial worry. Every time he is tackled the stadium is silent and the other players rush over to him. I am genuinely concerned that if these injuries continue, he’ll never fulfill his extraordinary potential.
It was an excellent win, but we’re still a midfielder light, and there is just a day and a half to go. Stick with us here on Gunnerblog as we bring you the latest as we hear it.
(That’s the Royal ‘we’. It’ll only be me.)
