A last gasp win over FC Thun and a stroll against Everton represents a satisfying week for the faithful. With 2 wins on the trot, all outside talk of crisis has been banished. Mind you, I feel this is only temporary relief as any signs of wobble by the team and the media will only be too ready to jump on to the ‘Arsenal in crisis’ bandwagon. However producing results on the pitch is the best way to turn off the negative press. Now we are off to Upton Park for what should be an entertaining London derby.
Having watched both the matches on telly, I was happy with the improvement shown by the team in the Everton match. Since by now most of us have gone through innumerable reports of both the matches, I won’t add to the clutter but just leave some impressions. Against Thun, while we were creating chances by the dozen in the first half, the quality of our play left something to be desired. Passes were misplaced and possession was given away too easily near Thun’s box after lot of hard work. Reyes was a notable culprit in this regard. While the lad’s workrate was fantastic and he was reeling off his usual bag of tricks, he was being outnumbered by Thun’s defenders and lost the ball too often for my liking. As the first half wore on without any rewards for our efforts we obviously became more frustrated. One beneficial consequence of this was that we tried going for goal rather than trying for the perfect pass.
During this period, the Thun goalkeeper had an experience straight out of the Arsenal book of goalkeeping. He appeared to have under control a Reyes shot before inexplicably he allowed the ball to slip beneath him towards goal line. He gained control of the ball however before Ljungberg cannoned into him. I am sure both Lehmann and Almunia would have been proud of the gaffe! I am sure (based on some bizarre but painful CL experience with Lehmann) that if either of our goalies had been involved in a similar situation, we would have ended up conceding. As luck would have it Almunia was to be punished in the second half for straying a bit too far from his goal line to concede Thun’s equalizer. Nelson Ferreira of Thun didn’t look like he was shooting or lobbing the ball but a more alert goalkeeper would have anticipated such a danger. I hate to say it but I don’t see RMF conceding such a goal. God knows how many more silly goals we are going to concede to pay for the gaffer’s refusal to buy a good goalkeeper. Coming to Arsenal goals, both of them were well taken and it was good to see Gilberto plant a precise header into the net and to celebrate with some animation. What can I see about Dennis? His determination to make something out of an aimless long ball by Sol was fascinating and a lesson for our younger strikers. It may have been a foul on the defender as he gained control of the ball but heck, who cares? The adrenalin was surely pumping for me as the ball went into the net.
As to the talking point of the game, it was a tad too harsh on RVP to be sent off in the first half. The referee had a poor game throughout and compensated for this mistake by refusing to send off Thun’s Goncalves for a dangerous challenge on Gilberto in the second half! Having said that, it was a poor percentage decision by RVP to go for a high ball with his foot. Hopefully his decision making will improve because of this dismissal.
The quality of play picked up a couple of notches against Everton thanks mainly to Reyes. Passes were zipping across the slick turf and it was a surprise that we didn’t bang in any goals from open play. However both the set-piece goals were superbly taken and for me the highlight was the way Reyes planted quality balls into the danger area. Not to detract anything from Captain Sol’s efforts. Too often with Henry and Pires taking freekicks and corners we have wasted these opportunities. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for Henry taking freekicks when in a goalscoring position or when he decides to go for goal. But otherwise he is not too hot at putting quality balls into the box. Hope that even after he returns, he allows Reyes or RVP to take such set-pieces. RVP looked a shade under colour, possibly the dismissal against Thun was weighing him down. Still he almost squeezed in a goal from a Reyes throughball in the first half. While it was sad to see Pires had to hobble off under a challenge from one-half of the ugly sisters, it could prove to be a blessing in disguise if he stays injured for a while. I think Hleb deserves to start regularly and the more he plays with Ljungberg, Reyes, RVP and Dennis the better for the team. I do feel that recent comments by Henry and Bergkamp on releasing the ball quickly are valid as far as Hleb (and also Reyes?) is concerned but if he doesn’t start more often, how is he going to jell well with the team and improve his decision making? After all, as long as Henry is out injured, we have to rely on collective effort and there is no harm in trying to figure out the right way of using Hleb. I have nothing against Pires but he looks past his sell-by date and a spell in the stands would do him good. If ManU can shunt Giggs to bench there is no reason why Pires should be guaranteed a starting place. (And I hope he will stop moaning about Neville’s foul on him. He is only opening himself up to ridicule, some national stereotyping and more intimidation in the future.) Hleb has enough CL experience to cope up with the big occasions. Maybe like Sol, Pires will comeback stronger after a layoff.
Anyways after the first half goals, we eased up as Everton shifted to damage control mode. One does feel sorry for David Moyes as his team is paying the price for over-achieving last year. However for a team struggling to score goals, their conservative approach was puzzling. One member of Everton team Gooners won’t be feeling sorry for is Phil Neville. Perhaps he forgot that he no is longer at Old Trafford and continued with the ugly sisters brand of thuggery patented by his old team. So it was satisfying to see Reyes give back as good as he got. As to our players’ efforts, Fabregas was neat and compact in both matches while Ljungberg was his busy self although sometimes the over-reliance on the left flank by the team took him out of the equation. Teenager Song had his senior debut but there was little time to judge him and he looked extremely nervous. Understandable I think, but he looks to be a strong lad and hopefully he will develop quickly to provide us with one more option in the middle.
All in all a good performance and along with the win over Thun puts us in the right frame of mind to visit West Ham. I haven’t seen any of the Hammers’ matches this season but going by reports of their matches and the scores, it looks like Alan Pardew has got them playing an attacking game. What a refreshing thought it is to play a team that hasn’t blindly aped the RMF and plays to score goals. While on the subject, I couldn’t agree more with the gaffer who said teams should balance the task of entertaining with winning matches. We have done it with lot of success over the last four seasons and hopefully will continue to set standards in this manner in seasons to come. At present I can only hope that West Ham comes at us on Saturday thereby opening up the game and more teams follow their example. While it should be a spirited match given the local rivalry, I think we should be able to see off the Hammers if we can produce the compact display that we put out against Everton. And I do hope that Hleb starts on the left with Reyes and RVP up front. Also the gaffer does not choose to rest Fabregas. Dennis though may require a rest if he is going to travel for the Ajax game. So it may be down to the young guns again to pull us through with some help from the back four.
Oh before I forget, my day (or rather night) was made last Wednesday when Tabloid Rooney was sent off against Villarreal. I actually happened to catch that incident live while flicking channels and I almost fell off my couch in sheer disbelief. But it was soon replaced by mirth. The fat boy has proven that he is as much thick-skulled as he is vile-mouthed. Perhaps only those dumb-heads writing in some discussion boards defending Rooney brand of sarcasm can be as daft as the fat boy. And after the Arsenal match got over when news of Vieira’s dismissal against Juventus flashed on the screen, I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry.
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