Arsenal: Team of the Year so far*
771 comments January 2nd, 2011
Birmingham 0 – 3 Arsenal (Van Persie 13, Nasri 57, Johnson (og) 65)
Highlights | Arsene’s reaction
Happy New Year, folks.
The New Year is a time for drawing a line under things past.
So let’s start 2011 by ending the debate over whether or not Arsene was right to change his team so dramatically for the game at Wigan. He reversed the eight changes last night, reverting to the side that beat Chelsea, and the benefit of a breather was clear as Arsenal outclassed their opponent.
Van Persie exaggerated the contact to win the free-kick from which he scored.
It was a deliberate attempt to sway the referee. I only point it out to remind everyone that we’re no angels – Charles N’Zogbia’s dive in midweek was more blatant and more damaging, but these things do have a habit of evening themselves out. Rather quickly, it seems.
Robin had an ‘Arshavin’.
He played horribly but managed to score. If his touch in the box had been a little less rusty, he might have had a hatrick. Still, perhaps his deflected strike can spark a return to form. By the way, that was his first free-kick goal since October 2007…
The first-half was fairly feisty.
Birmingham were physical and responded well to going behind. We struggled to deal with set-pieces, and our 1-0 advantage looked a very fine margin indeed.
But in the second half, we were dominant.
Birmingham had fielded almost exactly the same side that faced United on Tuesday, and paid the price. Arsene’s fresh team were able to control the game, with Samir Nasri and Cesc Fabregas coming to the fore with some beautifully intricate passing play.
Both the second and third goals were outstanding.
Nasri’s is more obviously a ‘great’ goal – his finish in to the near post had accuracy as well as incredible power for a side-footed effort with little back-lift. The third goal, however, was the conclusion of a beautiful passing move, with Cesc and Nasri again at the heart of things. Had it been put in to the net by an Arsenal player rather than the unfortunate Roger Johnson, it would have gone down as one of our goals of the season.
The stats suggest Johan Djourou is our most effective fit defender.
Yesterday, returning to the club where he spent a spell on loan, Djourou was again impressive. Allyboy of the arseblog forums has put together this intriguing set of stats about our central defensive pairings this season:
Djourou/Koscielny Pl 5, W 5, D 0, L 0 F 16 A 2
Djourou/Squillaci Pl 8, W 6, D 0, L 2, F 18, A 8
Vermaelen/Koscielny Pl 2, W 1, D 1, F 3, A 2
Vermaelen/Song Pl 1, W 1, D 0, L 0, F 6, A 0
Koscielny/Squillaci Pl 13, W 6, D 2, L 5, F 27, A 18
Djourou and Koscielny have a 100% win record this season. The pair of Squillaci and Koscielny, however, have a win record of less than 50%. The conclusion is clear: the Swiss centre-back must play as many games as his injury problems allow, and should be at the head of the queue to partner Thomas Vermaelen when the Verminator returns later this month.
The work-rate of the side was exemplary.
Again we pressed well from the front, and Alex Song was content to concentrate primarily on his defensive duties. Even Andrey Arshavin seems to have got the message: when he came on as a late substitute, he was closing down defenders and harrying in the way that he’ll have to if he’s to reclaim his first-team spot.
Bacary Sagna is an awesome athlete.
Three games in five days in one of the most physically demanding positions on the pitch, and he didn’t miss a beat. Sagna is a machine.
Chris Waddle remains an intolerable idiot.
Those of us subjected to his ‘commentary’ yesterday will have been infuriated by some of his comments. A clear stamp by Lee Bowyer led him to suggest it might be worth a yellow card, whilst he almost burst in to tears when Brum were denied a ‘pelanty’ for a handball by Robin van Persie. His hatred of all things Theo Walcott continues – I’m not sure he’ll quite be satisfied until Walcott is dead at his feet, his non-footballing brain splashed over Waddle’s triumphant grin.
Is there a worse side in the league to watch than Birmingham?
If they were relegated, no neutral would miss them.
Now time for one more push.
The boys who played tonight will probably be asked to step in to the fray once more on Wednesday night, against Manchester City. A win in that game would take us above City with a game in hand, and put us in poll position as the challengers to favourites United, who had the kind of lucky escape at West Brom yesterday that denotes potential champions. After that, there are a couple of cup games which will doubtless bring a rest for the likes of Sagna and a few others.
The games are coming like Aaron Lennon at the moment: thick and fast. It’s a great time of the year to be a football fan,
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*‘the year’ being 2011, obviously
