Alright then.
The Arsenal hosted Wolves to a crowd of 60,050 on Saturday, and those 60,050 got a great match.
We started with a full strength starting XI, Szczesny, Clichy, Koscielny, Djourou, Sagna, Song, Wilshere, Fabregas, Arshavin, RvP, and Walcott.
And we dominated the first period. We created many chances, and found the breakthrough in the 16th minute. Cesc turned onto the 18 from the right hand side, played a left footed ball in to RvP near the center of the 18, and his one-time volley found the bottom right hand corner of the net, despite Hennessy getting a hand to it. A fantastic goal from Van Persie's "chocolate leg".
After that Arsenal continued to go forward. We made so many chances. When I say so many, I mean a lot. But the ball just wouldn't find the back of the net. Why? Walcott didn't have his shooting boots on today, Cesc was unlucky, and Wilshere simply did not shoot.
I was afraid that the match would turn out to be anothe typical Arsenal match, as we all know- lots of chances, poor finishing, and a late goal from the opposition to spoil our hopes.
In the second half we started right where we left off. Tons of chances, and again poor finishing. Walcott had an open net after brilliant work from Wilshere, and he slotted his shot wide.
But finally, the long awaited second goal came in the 56th. Fabregas raked a world class one touch, ball down the right flank for Theo on the counter, who squared it to RvP, and the Dutchman wouldn't miss. Van Persie has been on fantastic form as of late, scoring 9 goals in his last 5 premier league matches. Unstoppable. After that goal, stress was relieved from the Arsenal.
Chamack came on for Robin, Bendtner came on for Arshavin, and Denilson came on for Wilshere - subs clearly made in thought of the Barcelona tie on Wednesday. But I was surprised to see Wilshere go off instead of Song. With Song coming back from injury, minor or not, I didn't think Arsene would have wanted to take any risks. Welp, I was wrong, wasn't I?
After that, Arsenal played the possession game. The match was truly over for Wolves. They threw on Steven Fletcher though, and with Denilson on the pitch doing his usual defensive work (absolute shite) our back line was forced to defend. None the less,Wolves never fashioned any real chances and the match ended 2-0 to the Arseanal.
Yes, Arsenal won comfortably, however our finishing was very, very poor. We won't be able to conjure up as many chances against Barcelona as we did against Wolves, so when we do create chances on Wednesday night, we MUST take them. To take down a side like the Catalan club, you have to be firing on all cylinders.
Well then, my thoughts-
- Szczesny- Hahaha. He didn't play bad or good. Wolves didn't have a shot on goal, so he had the day off. I guess you could say his distribution was good?.......
- Sagna- For me, he didn't have the greatest match. His crosses weren't the best, and he simply wasn't very effective going forward. Defensively, he was decent.
- Djourou- He had a brilliant game. Watching this Wolves match and then watching the second half of the Newcastle match really puts you in hindsight of how important he is to our title challenges.
- Koscielny- Also had a very good game. Not as brilliant as Djourou, but still very solid at the back. He and Djourou didn't put Szczesny in any danger.
- Clichy- Like Sagna, he didn't have a very good match. Forgot he was on the pitch at times.
- Song- He had a very good match considering the fact he's coming back from a minor injury. Defended very well- our defense was untroubled, and made some very important tackles to turn defense into attack.
- Wilshere- Had a brilliant game. Made fantastic passes, was full of energy, and played better defensively than I'm used to seeing him do. One complaint - SHOOT THE DAMN BALL JACK!
- Fabregas- Heh, he's Fabregas. Assisted RvP's first, and created the second after an AMAZING one time ball to Walcott. Our captain kept everyone organized and determined out there. Great preformance.
- Walcott- Despite his assist, had a fairly poor game in my opinion. He simply wasn't decisive in the final third, mistiming runs and wasn't very clinical with his finishing. Not the Theo we're used to.
- Van Persie- What is their to say? Scored two goals, and his finishing was spot on, unlike the rest of the team. 9 goals in 5 matches. I just can't get over that statistic.
- Arshavin- Once again, he shows us he's coming back to form. He was a good outlet on the left hand side, turning on to his right. I suspect he'll be a real threat against Barca.
- Bendtner- Pretty poor. Touch was off, passing was off, shot was off. Unlucky day for the Dane.
- Chamack- Didn't really see him much after he came on. It seemed as if he was too eager to get involved, perhaps dropping a tad too deep, therefore not giving us a point up top to play the ball off of.
- Denilson- Put on to give Jack a rest and keep possession. When he came on, Wolves had their best stint of possession. Not a coincidence. I think it's time he moves on to another club, I'm afraid.
- Arsene Wenger- Played all his cards right. Erased Newcastle from the minds of the lad sand set them out determined and eager to win. Finishing could have been better, but three points is three points.
After the match, Mick McCarthy had very kind words to say. In fact, they were oddly generous:
"There was a murder going on out there and we were the recipients of it unfortunately,We've come and tried everyhting but they were better than us from one to 11.
They were better than us and have slapped us.They were better than us and turned us over and I have not one complaint at all.
The TV are trying to make a story out of the second goal and the fact it might have been offside but I could have been sat here on the end of a 6-0 defeat.
For my team to get better, we have to acknowledge that performance by Arsenal and we have to aspire to it."
Strange, isn't it? Most managers in this league are stubborn and sore losers, but Micky seems to look at matches with a logical, almost unbiased view. Love it. Thats what we need more of- for managers to swallow their pride at times.
Also, I admire how he openly admits, and proves, that our second goal was not offside. I'm not even going to get into that though, because it's such a stupid argument. The goal was good and legal, everyone shut the hell up.
After the match Van Persie talked to BBC and said that he isn't on top of his game yet, and that there is more to come. Whaaaaaaat??? But I can see where he's coming from, being a player myself. On paper you're brilliant, but everything else isn't quite clicking yet. Can't wait to see him hit top gear.
You can see his interview here, where he also says he wants to give more to the team. Brilliant. Gotta love RvP, even though he's given up the number 11. I like RvP11 more than RvP10. Crushed my heart.
There's also a glimmer of hope for Nasri to return for the Barcelona match. When asked in his post match press conference, Arsene said:
"I wouldn't say 'no chance'. There is a chance."
Quite the lengthy quote, eh?
On friday Wenger again spoke of Nasri and Vermaelen's progress:
"[Samir Nasri] is continuing his progress, difficult to make an assessment at the moment. I would say he should be fit in one week. No, [not to start training], he is training already, [it's] to be competitive, to play.
When [Thomas Vermaelen] is fit certainly we’ll play him in the Reserve team. [But] not before two or three weeks. You never know until he is completely fit to play again but we are hopeful [he is progressing well].
He feels he is over the problem but he played his last game in September and we are in February so it will take some time to come back to match fitness."
It would be a real bonus to have Nasri back for the Barcelona ties. For the first one however, I suspect he'll make the bench. Actually, not suspect. I know. Arshavin is returning back to his usuall form, and it is a lot to ask Nasri to play against Barcelona his first match back.
I'm giddy with excitement thinking about Vermaelen coming back. I really feel that the Vermaelen - Djourou combo will be a brick wall, just like Koscielny - Squillaci, right? HA.
Arsene then spoke about the Newcastle Match, and how Arsenal has to take the positives of what they achieved in the second half. He also talked about Andrei Arshavin's current form, and how Arshavin is a very intelligent player:
"There’s a lot to say about the [Newcastle game]. I will just say one thing; people spoke only about the second part of the game, forgetting the first part. I believe that as long as we were eleven against eleven this team has showed outstanding game and that never came out because of the disappointment at the end of the result.
But personally, that strengthens my belief that we can win this league, to certainly strengthen the belief of the team [but] having said that, you don’t want to win four nil and go home with four-four.
I believe that there are some aspects of the game that we cannot master, that it’s down to decisions but the part of the game we can master is our attitude, our behaviour, our focus and that’s what we want to learn from that game, that no matter what happens, you have to master your response, your emotions and be only guided by one thing: to win the game.
[Andrey Arshavin] is an intelligent player, that’s, I believe, his main quality. He’s as well a team player [because] a selfish player has never good record in his assists and that tells you a lot about him."
I completely agree with Arsene. If it wasn't for poor refereeing, Arsenal would have been level with Newcastle regarding men on the pitch (10 v 10) and Newcastles second penalty would not have been awarded. As a result, that match would be remembered for our fantastic attacking display.
Regarding Arshavin, he's right. And because Arshavin is an intelligent player, he uses his technical ability to create chances, henceforth returning back to form.
Before our match took place, the Manchester Derby went to United. Not the result we would've hoped for, but no need to dwell on the matter. City is now, as I believe, out of the title race. It's just us and United now. And kudos to Shreck for that goal. He'll probably bed a hooker tonight as celebration. Double kudos to Shreck! Good work lad.
And our other opposition, Barcelona. They were only able to scrap a draw to Sporting Heehawn. According to my knowledge, I thinks thats the first time Barca has dropped points away from home this season. Maybe it's asking a lot, but I hopefully their heads will be down after dropping points, and make our run in with them this Wednesday night a little bit easier.
Cheers.
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