Written by Mean Lean
on
Monday, 01 November 2010 11:09
A last gasp Alex Song header gave Arsenal all three points at the Emirates on Saturday afternoon. The game could be seen as an Arsenal team struggling to break down a West Ham side who have had a terrible start to the season. If you are of more positive persuasion then you could also say that Arsenal showed the stuff champions are made of by producing the goods right at the death and never giving up when we were clearly below our mesmerising best. As usual a bit of both would be the closest to the truth as you are likely to find.
Chelsea had come back at Blackburn and managed to snatch a victory from the jaws of defeat. Chelsea once again dipping their hands into the pot of good fortune as Blackburn spurned very good chances to double their advantage at 1-0 up. Hopefully they will soon stick their hands in to find that all the luck has run out and even Roman's wealth cannot assist his club.
In the meantime, victory at the Emirates was vital. Whilst I do not agree with those who write off our title hopes on one result in October, I do concede that title winners cannot go losing at home to the likes of West Ham too often before it makes the task beyond an uphill struggle.
I was certainly surprised to see Theo Walcott start from the bench after a super showing against the Geordies in midweek. Theo usually needs momentum and belief, well he certainly would have had the latter and if he started the game he could have continued with the former. Perhaps Theo is now being nursed into the team after injury, instead of dropping him into the deep end. Being the all-conquering hindsight manager that I am, I believe that Theo would have made a big difference to how the game would have panned out.
Cesc Fabregas started to feel a strain on his troublesome hamstring, Andrey Arshavin continued to be mostly ineffectual and we missed Jack Wilshere in the middle of the park instead of the more efficient Denilson. Denilson is a fine player, someone who helps the engine tick over nicely but Jack is an engine starter. Without Cesc being at his best, we lacked guile from our midfield three.
Denilson worked hard but looked understandably tired after two back to back 90 minutes along with another tough tackling West Ham side.
After Robert Green flew across to deny Cesc Fabregas after lovely work between Song and Sagna, I just knew it would be yet another Green away at Arsenal performance. It always seems like Green, Given and Friedal all save their games of the seasons against us.
Had Cesc's shot flew in above Green's hand instead of against it then my predicted 4-0 score line could have been a reality. We had lost that freedom in the offensive half, we lacked that spark or imagination. An early goal could have relaxed the players as well as opened up the opposition but as it was the squareness continued.
You can often gage the path of an Arsenal performance by the first 10 minutes. As soon as we started passing, I could see that there was a handbrake firmly pulled up. Passes were robotically played in straight lines and the tempo is far lower than it can be. When we start the game by fizzing passes into feet and the player in possession has already thought of the next move then you know we are in business. When balls are being played around the corner of the opposition instead of in front of him then you know that we are sharp.
If we start off wrong then we need an early goal, otherwise we are likely to struggle. It was the same against West Brom a few weeks back, the difference was our commitment and defensive work off the ball which could not be faulted on Saturday. Laurent Koscielny was superb once again in the Arsenal back four. He is fast becoming one of my favourite Arsenal players in this squad. It is no coincidence that we have managed two clean sheets in his last two appearances back in the Arsenal team after injury.
While many suggest and rightly so in many ways that it should be Vermaelen plus one. I am slowly starting to veer towards the cobra plus one.
I was left scratching my head for a couple of seconds after Nasri struck the bar with a long range free kick. My poor old mind could not understand what just took place. Nasri was standing next to the ball, enough room to execute one action, a cross into the box. How he managed to strike the ball with such little back lift from that distance was remarkable.
Walcott came on late, a little later than I thought but the customary twenty minutes were saved for Theo to make or score a goal. He very nearly did as he proved that his goal at Ewood park was no fluke earlier in the season. Theo's run and Cesc's execution of pass was pure poetry. Walcott's strike was almost perfect but for the far post to have had a tad too much paint on it and deflected the ball out to safety instead of into the net.
I had a feeling that we would score a late winner, but for some reason I had told myself that it would be Bendtner who had replaced Arshavin. Maybe it was his run of late goals last season but it was almost as if not another player would be capable of scoring at the time. My mind works in very strange ways at times.
Song played an outside of the foot pass to the galloping Clichy on the left. SONG! SIT BACK AND HOLD, YOU ARE A DEFENSIVE MIDFIELDER FOR GOODNESS SAKE! Clichy swerved inside his man, leaving him for dead and then produced the calmest of quality right footed dinks into the box for Bendt.... Song? Oh. YEEEAAAAHHHHH!!!! cue plenty of shouting and fist pumping. Alex Song's third goal in three games.
While many might criticise Song's new tendency to get forward, I feel that it is making us more unpredictable and you can see from his goals and assists in recent months that we are greatly benefiting from this. It will only become a problem in my eyes if all three of our central midfielders are in attacking areas at the same time but as long as the second or third midfielder are covering then it should be no problem.
Conclusion
We seem to have an issue with producing our best after Carling cup performances by other memebers of the squad, we lose our sharpness and can be vulnerable. It has happened for the last few years now all with varying results. Maybe our team suffer when too many players have had a rest and then they all have to come in cold and find the groove at the Grove again? We only played last weekend so who knows. At least we managed to find the three points in the end. The players will have to sharpen up now with some tricky games to come.
Fabianski (7.5)
Sagna (7)
Squillaci (7)
Koscielny (8)
Clichy (7.5)
Song (7)
Denilson (6)
Cesc (6.5)
Nasri (7)
Chamakh (6)
Arshavin (6)
Please note that ratings are only my interpretations of the game and that others will have differing opinions
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