Dirk Kuyt: Unlikely Arsenal Hero
98 comments March 7th, 2011
Arsenal 0 – 0 Sunderland
Highlights | Arsene’s reaction
Ugly, one-paced and clumsy, Dirk Kuyt is an unlikely hero for Arsenal. He’s a much more suitable hero for Liverpool, or indeed eighties cult movie The Goonies. However, yesterday his hatrick saw Manchester United fall to their third defeat in five league games.
If Arsenal had that sort of record, the “chokers” line would be all over your back pages. After we threw away a four goal lead at Newcastle, United had a chance to extend their lead: they blew it. When we suffered the blow of a Carling Cup Final defeat, United had the chance to rub salt in to the wound by winning at Chelsea: again, they blew it. And yesterday, having seen Arsenal’s pursuit slowed by a 0-0 home draw with Sunderland, United, like the wolf arriving at the third little piggy’s house, blew it once again.
The gap now stands at just three points, though United have played a game more. It promises to be the tightest of title races, and that clash with United at the Emirates on May 1st looms ever larger on the horizon.
Those Arsenal fans whose glass is half-full will be delighted by yesterday’s results – particularly with the added augment of seeing Spurs twice lose a lead at Wolves. The other half will bemoan what they perceive as another missed opportunity. Personally, my opinion is that we were very unfortunate to drop points against Sunderland. With better refereeing, we would have won the game.
The first half was a fairly tepid affair, but even then we created chances. Sunderland’s Belgian stopper Mignolet did well to deny an angled drive from Nicklas Bendtner, and the Dane also came close with an acrobatic overhead kick. Had his attempt been a foot either side of the ‘keeper, it would have registered the opening goal. Unfortunately, it flew straight in to his open arms.
Sunderland were matching us though, and Wojciech Szczesny got down well to a long-range effort from the dangerous Sessegnon. Without Alex Song, Cesc Fabregas, and Robin van Persie our spine was understandably less formidable than usual, and in their place the likes of Denilson and Diaby were unimpressive.
In the second half, however, Arsenal cranked up the pressure. The introduction of Marouane Chamakh also gave us an extra penalty box threat, whilst I thought that Samir Nasri and Andrey Arshavin were particularly influential, and took on the creative responsibility demanded of them by Cesc’s absence with gusto. It was the Russian who should have proved the match-winner. First he went through on goal after Nasri’s sumptuous pass, only to be first tugged then pushed by Titus Bramble. It was certainly a red card offence, and the most obvious foul took place inside the box. There is an argument that the first offence occurred outside the area. There is, however, no argument for what the referee chose to do, which was not to blow at all.
Perhaps the fact that Andrey got a shot away as he fell swayed the decision. I’m not going to criticise a player for attempting to stay on his feet. It remains the referee’s fault that he didn’t spot the foul. Look at the penalty Wolves were correctly awarded yesterday: Milijas did get an attempt in, but he was hugely impeded by the foul by Hutton.
If there was a smidgen of room for debate on the penalty incident, there is none whatsoever about the incorrect offside decision that denied us a winner. Nicklas Bendtner’s pass and Arshavin’s run were both perfectly timed, and his finish, rounding Mignolet to tap in to an empty net, deserved better than to be unfairly cancelled out.
There were other opportunities: Chamakh powered a header against the bar, whilst Koscielny should arguably have done better with a late chance, but in the end it wasn’t to be. I’m not going to come down hard on an under-strength team competing against an impressive Sunderland and unimpressive official. We’ll just have to hope that between now and May, we get the luck we didn’t have on Saturday.
This is the start of a massive, season-defining week for Arsenal. By Saturday, we could be either be in with a chance of a historic treble, or fighting for one remaining prize.
Come back tomorrow for a Barca preview.
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ps. I was on the arsecast on Friday, where I talk a bit ramble about my early thoughts on the Barca game. Have a listen.