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“RVP doesn’t have the electrifying pace of Henry, or the brute strength of Shearer. He is a pure footballer.”

375 comments November 21st, 2011

Match Report | Highlights | Arsene’s reaction

For the second time in consecutive away games, Arsenal came from behind to take all three points.  Carrow Road isn’t quite Stamford Bridge, but the significance of that achievement cannot be underestimated.  A previous Arsenal side might have crumbled when Per Mertesacker’s clanger gifted Norwich the lead against the run of play.  A previous Arsenal side might have consigned it to being “one of those days” when they saw good chances come and go.  In the game’s dying moments, they might have naively overcommitted chasing a third goal, or wilted after the introduction of the bullish Grant Holt.

Not this incarnation.  The XI players on the field at full-time had an average age of almost 26: this is a more mature outfit, with players more psychologically prepared for the rigours of Premier League football.  It seems that finally Arsene’s boasts of “mental strength” might actually have some substance.

“Physical strength” was more the problem for Per Mertesacker in the early stages.  Steve Morison is one of the Premier League’s more agricultural strikers, and as such was always likely to prove a test for the German.  That said, the main issue with the opening goal was a moment of hesitation.  With the ball bouncing beyond him, it looked as if Mertesacker was waiting for a call from Szczesny.  When that didn’t come, he attempted the clearance – but by that time, it was too late: Morison has stolen the ball and given Norwich the lead.  It was a rick, certainly, but in my opinion he is good enough to learn from it.

By that time Arsenal should already have been a couple of goals to the good.  If there was one area in which you’d criticise the team’s performance, it was in their erratic finishing.  The Ivorian Gervinho, for whom the epithet ‘erratic’ might have been specially invented, was particularly guilty.  Indeed, even our equalising goal spared his blushes.  Theo Walcott, who was absolutely outstanding on the right wing, skipped past his man and fired in a great low cross which Gervinho attempted to back-flick in to the net.  Instead, he managed to miss the ball entirely.  Fortunately, Robin van Persie was on hand to stab in to the empty net.

It’s no surprise that Van Persie went on to grab the winner too.  When Song and Arteta won the ball back in midfield, the Cameroon midfielder embarked on a sprint towards goal with the ball at his feet.  Ahead of him, he had two options: Gervinho, central and devoid of any marking, and Robin, stationed wider and on his weaker right-foot.  Song, in his wisdom, opted for Van Persie, and the Dutchman’s subsequent finish was masterful, clipping the ball delightfully over the advancing Ruddy with his supposed ‘chocolate leg’.

It was his fifteenth goal of the season.  In the calendar year of 2011, he has now scored 31 goals in 29 league games.  In the history of the Premier League, only Alan Shearer (36) and Thierry Henry (34) have managed more.  It is an extraordinary run, and one that surely confirms his place as one of Europe’s greatest strikers.  What’s particularly fascinating is that he doesn’t have the electrifying pace of Henry, or the brute strength of Shearer.  He is a pure footballer, and it is a combination of intelligent movement, breathtaking technique, and devastating finishing that is seeing him ascend these heights.

The feats of Messi and Ronaldo have made this kind of goal ratio seem less out of the ordinary.  But this kind of stat (1.07 goals p/game) simply hasn’t been achieved over such a long spell in English football before.  He owes something to the work of his team-mates, undoubtedly – Theo Walcott, in particular – but it’s clear Robin is the star turn in this Arsenal side.  Worrying about contracts and what might happen in twelve or twenty-four months seems to me to be an unnecessary distraction from watching a world class performer at the peak of his powers.

I couldn’t possibly let the weekend pass without some comment on Arsene Wenger’s interview with L’Equipe.  You can read the full transcript here, and I suggest that you do just that.  Arsene says he’ll review his position at the end of the season, but I suspect every vaguely ethical manager at every top club will do just the same.  Whatever your views on the disaster that was the summer, the way he has steadied the ship has been mightily impressive – helped, in now small part, by a Dutchman who is, like Davy Jones’ ship, Flying.