Weekend thoughts: Almunia solid, Vermaelen clubbing, and Denilson the forgotten man
57 comments September 13th, 2010
Hello all. I’m actually writing this on Sunday afternoon, but have delayed posting until Monday morning as I’ll be otherwise engaged then. If something momentous happened on Sunday evening that I’ve failed to mention, then I apologise for its absence from this blog. My powers of prediction have deserted me.
Assuming it’s all still “as you were”, how about a few more thoughts from Saturday’s win over Bolton?
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Manuel Almunia was perfectly solid throughout.
The willingness of some fans to blame him for the Bolton goal baffles me. It was entirely due to Koscielny’s misplaced backwards header. Almunia has had a solid start to the season, and needs the fans to be back at his back, not on it.
I wasn’t overly impressed by Koscielny and Squillaci.
I’ve read a lot of praise for the French pairing, but to my mind there were a few nervy moments, and Squillaci seemed to be struggling with the pace of the game at times. That said, they grew throughout the game, and facing Kevin Davies will only help their adjustment to the English game.
The boss doesn’t want to take any risks with Johan Djourou.
Although he’s been on the bench this season and played in the Reserves, it’s plain to see that Arsene doesn’t feel Djourou’s knees are ready for the strain of Premier League football. He should get a run-out in the Carling Cup game against Spurs next week.
Thomas Vermaelen can’t be too badly injured.
He was out clubbing with Cesc Fabregas on Saturday night.
Denilson made his first appearance of the season.
Had you noticed he was missing? Me neither. He has some value as a squad player, but hopefully the emergence of Wilshere will mean his days as a regular starter are behind him.
Abou Diaby is lucky not to have snapped his leg.
Again. The ‘tackle’ from Paul Robinson (picture here) was as ugly as they come. Hopefully he hasn’t suffered a major injury – by all accounts, his form for France during the international break was quite exceptional.
Bolton underestimated the pace of Arsenal’s front-line.
With Theo Walcott missing, Bolton elected to play with a high-line. They clearly hadn’t done their research, however: both Chamakh and Arshavin have the pace to get in behind, and did so on several occasions.
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Enough from me. Have a good Monday, all.
