February 2nd, 2011
Arsenal 2-1 Everton (Saha 24, Arshavin 70, Koscielny 75)
Highlights | Arsene’s reaction
Before last night, Everton hadn’t lost a single game this season in which they’d taken the lead…
That stat begins to do some justice to what an impressive turnaround this was. On a night when Chelsea and United both impressed, losing ground by dropping points at home could have been very damaging. Instead, Arsenal clawed their way to a victory without ever playing their best football. If United had done it, it’d be called the mark of Champions.
Louis Saha’s opener should never have stood…
7amKickoff explores Rule 11 in depth here. It’s worth a read. What it comes down to is whether you deem Koscielny’s attempted interception a “rebound” or a “pass”. Had his acrobatic volley been an attempted backpass, Saha would have been onside. However, as it was quite clearly an interception, only necessary because of the involvement of a player who was in an OFFSIDE position, it is indeed OFFSIDE.
That said, Everton were fantastic in the first half…
Their passing was crisper and their tackling crunchier. Marouane Fellaini in particular was excellent. I suppose if you’re going to have hair that ridiculous, you have to be quite good.
Andrey Arshavin’s finish was a reminder of his class…
The Russian made a huge impact as a second half substitute, replacing the peripheral Rosicky. Rather than sticking to the left-wing, Arshavin had free reign to roam, and used it to devastating effect, popping up in the box to volley cutely home after Cesc Fabregas’ through-ball had been flicked on by Jack Rodwell. A lot of out-of-form players would have slashed at that chance; Arshavin merely watched the ball on to his foot and guided it home. Equally, there we no dramatic celebrations, just a sprint back to his own half to get the game going again and chase a second goal.
The bundle after Koscielny’s winner…
…was something else entirely.
It was a fantastic show of the spirit in the team at the moment. Though knowing our brittle players, I’m quite amazed someone wasn’t injured in the melee.
How typical to start picking up injuries the day after the transfer window closes…
Although the club are yet to confirm it, reports suggest Lukasz Fabianski could miss the rest of the season after undergoing surgery on a shoulder injury – caused by a particularly powerful strike in the warm-up against Man City from, of all people, his understudy and the direct beneficiary of his injury, Wojciech Szczesny. Anyway, Fabianski’s injury pretty much explains why Manuel Almunia has suddenly been brought back in from the cold.
Alex Song and Theo Walcott also picked up knocks – it was a physical affair, after all – let’s hope they’re none-too-serious.
David Moyes was wrong to call for Cesc to be punished…
It was a clear attempt to divert attention from his team’s failure to capitalise on an outrageously fortunate refereeing decision. Fortunately, this has been recognised by the referee, who failed to make any mention of the purported incident in his match report.
–
It was a tight, tense evening at the Emirates. There will be plenty more of those before the season is out. I expect to have no nails, hair or sanity left come May.
February 1st, 2011
At the start of yesterday’s transfer deadline day, a tweet was doing the rounds, raising half-hearted smiles of recognition from Gooners up and down the country. There were various versions, but it went something like:
“Being an Arsenal fan on deadline day is like being in detention at school and watching other kids play outside!”
Quite funny, quite clever. In this instance, however, it’s also quite incorrect.
Being an Arsenal fan on this deadline day was like turning up at a party of which you already have fairly low expectations, only to discover Roman Abramovich and Kenny Dalglish leading an Eyes Wide Shuts-style masked orgy. Yes, like ITV’s Biggest Loser, there’s something horribly fascinating about it that means you feel compelled to watch, but it’s primarily disconcerting, disturbing, and leaves you feel like a bad person simply for observing.
£50 for Fernando Torres is excusable. £35m for Andy Carroll is downright insane. Andy Carroll is now the eighth most expensive footballer of all time. A recent example for comparison: he cost more than Man City and Barcelona paid for David Villa and Edin Dzeko.
But then this is a day on which Charlie Adam very nearly became a £14m player, surpassing the amount we paid Marseille for Samir Nasri.
What unites Carroll and Adam, and raises their price beyond reason and in to the ridiculous? Merely their Britishness. The tax on domestic players has reached preposterous levels, and Liverpool are fools to have succumbed to it. It makes no sense.
Yesterday, however, was not a day driven by sense. It was driven by posturing and pride. Liverpool suffered the humiliation of losing their talisman, and spent silly money to appease their supporters. The idiots burning their Torres shirts can pretend they’re not stung by the Spaniard’s defection but it fool no-one. They’ll hail Carroll and Suarez as reasonable replacements, not the successors to Duncan Ferguson and Mateja Kezman they appear outwardly to be.
For our part, we’re better off out of it. It’s telling that the Premier League’s elder, saner statesman – messrs Ferguson and Wenger – stayed well clear of the madness that unfolded. If Arsene had found a centre-back at a good price, he would’ve bought him: he didn’t. As for Alex Chamberlain, the player’s desire to join the club means that a deal is not pressing. We can wait till the summer.
I understand fans wanting the squad to improve. But days like yesterday are not the way to do it. Not for us, anyway.
There were a couple of players who went out on loan. Gilles Sunu joined French club Lorient, whilst Kyle Bartley switched Sheffield United for Glasgow Rangers. Ryo Miyachi’s permanent deal was announced, and in the very same press release it was confirmed that he’ll spend the remainder of the season with Robin van Persie’s former club, Feyenoord Rotterdam.
A bit of a footnote to the day was the departure of Nacer Barazite, who joined Austria Vienna on a permanent deal. Barazite was well thought of a few years back: a tall, elegant player with an eye for goal. Sadly, he’s failed to make the grade and has now moved on. It should bring a bit of perspective to the enormous expectations our young players sometimes find themselves subject to.
Tonight we face Everton at home. The good news is that the visitors are due to be without Tim Cahill, who played in the Asia Cup Final on Sunday. We should bring back a swathe of players: I expect Wojciech Szczesny in goal, with Sagna, Djourou, Koscielny, and Clichy in defence. Song, Wilshere and Fabregas remain as the core midfield trio, whilst Van Persie and Walcott will return upfront. Samir Nasri’s injury means there will be a place in the side for one of Bendtner, Arshavin, or even Chamakh.
United are at home and will expect to pick up three points, so we must do the same. After the events of yesterday, Chelsea might just be capable of turning this back in to a four horse race.
