Theo, Theo, Theo (12, 40, 58)
9 comments August 23rd, 2010
Arsenal 6 – 0 Blackpool (Walcott 12, 40, 58, Arshavin 32 (pen), Diaby 49, Chamakh 83)
Highlights | Match Report | Arsene’s reaction
Apologies for the delay in getting my thoughts to you. Paradoxically, a disappointing performance is often easier to write. A great win, like Saturday’s, can require a little more thought.
That was the best performance of Theo Walcott’s career.
His hatrick in Zagreb was bizarre in that, goals aside, he was barely in the game. On Saturday he was everywhere, zipping past defenders and laying on chances at will. His finishing was as composed as it’s ever been, and his goals will push him almost a third of the way towards his season target of double figures.
For the first-time, he looked like a striker.
Not for the whole game – he spent most of it on the wing and was devastatingly effective in that role. But at one point in the second half, he swapped positions with Chamakh. Receiving a pass from Jack Wilshere, he took the ball with his back to goal, span on a sixpence, and fired it underneath the goalkeeper. It was a centre-forward’s goal.
Although both Arsene and Theo clearly he believe that’ll be his eventual default position, I’m less convinced. However, when you play a front three it’s vital for them to be able to interchange and switch during the game. Theo’s increasing strength on the ball gives us that option.
There is, however, a caveat.
At the risk of going all Alan Hansen on you, it is worth pointing out the nature of Saturday’s opposition – not only do Blackpool lack defensively sound personnel, but they also throw men forward in a kamikaze fashion. Stephen Crainey, Blackpool’s left-back and the man ostensibly assigned to stop Theo, spent most of the game bombing on in to the Arsenal half – even once Blackpool were down to ten men.
The sending off ended the game as a contest.
The foul looked outside the box to me, which made the double award of penalty and red card particularly cruel. Until that point, Blackpool had threatened going forward, and Gary Taylor-Fletcher missed a terrific chance to pull things back to 1-1.
Tomas Rosicky was outstanding in central midfield.
If you watch the highlights linked above, you’ll see that Rosicky was at the heart of everything we produced. He linked well with Chamakh, brought some good moments out of the mercurial Arshavin, and generally was a buzzing hub of creativity. We’re extremely fortunate to have such a talented footballer as our third choice attacking midfielder behind Cesc and Nasri.
Chamakh needed that first goal.
He missed a couple of good chances in the game, twice sidefooting tamely when played in by Walcott and shinning the ball over when sliding in to a meet a teasing Arshavin cross. His goal, however, showed exactly why we’d signed him: a towering downward header from a Van Persie corner. His workrate and intelligent movement are not in question, but hopefully he can take advantage of the many opportunities he’ll get in this Arsenal side to evolve in to a goalscorer as well as a focal point for the team.
Squillaci can’t arrive too soon.
Johan Djourou was only deemed fit enough for the bench, which meant we were forced to play Alex Song at centre-half. The fact is that Djourou has been out for the best part of 15 months – he’s going to pick up knocks and niggles. Song is a midfielder, and Koscielny is lacking top level experience, having played just one season in Ligue 1.
All of that makes the news that Sebastien Squillaci has jetted in for an Arsenal medical all the more promising. A fee of £5.3m for an established international defender looks, on paper, to be great business. I’ve got plenty more to say about this if and when it happens. Hopefully we’ll hear something by the end of the day.
After that, all focus has to be on securing Schwarzer.
The Aussie keeper was left out of Fulham’s squad again yesterday, and is clearly available – at the right price. Arsenal must up their bid and secure the deal: Schwarzer, Koscielny, Squillaci and Chamkh would have to be regarded as a decent summer’s spending. The interest in Schwarzer has destabilised our current keepers and, if anything, made their confidence drop even further. £3m or so is a small price to pay to avert the risk of ending up in a worse position than we started. Get it done, Arsene.
