Wednesday, October 1, 2008

Back In Black


Arsene Wenger had demanded an ardent response from his team following the shock 2-1 defeat at the hands of Hull, and they delivered in irresistible fashion. Whatever was said on the training ground prior to the match by Le Boss appeared to work as Arsenal, particularly in the second half, ran riot whilst Porto crumbled.

We started the game brightly, spare a few nervy moments where Porto seemed to be getting the better of us and were actually playing some very good football despite all our dominance and possession. We gradually settled in to the game and therefore it was only a matter of time before we grabbed our first of the night in the 30th minute courtesy of Robin van Persie. Ade & RVP combined proficiently down the right of the field, creating space for Ade who with the greatest of calm looked up and delayed his pass to RVP, who fired the ball home. It was a lovely goal to open our account and settle any jitters that we had.

After that it was all Arsenal, the champagne began flowing more swiftly and we grabbed the game with both hands. We began to ask even more questions of Porto’s defense and one of the moves resulted in a corner. RVP fired the ball in to penalty area which after finding Ade’s head bounced rather awkwardly and sailed over the heads of Helton and Benitez and landed in the back of the net. It was 2-0 to the Arsenal.

Soon after play resumed, we were back to our usual antics but with much more fluidity and much more composure. 3 minutes into the second half and we added a third. This time a rather brilliant move sparked by Theo Walcott found its way to RVP, who showed strength to fend off Bruno Alves and stab it home.

The fourth goal was scored off the penalty spot by Adebayor after Bendtner was brought down rather gauchely by Guarin who made a stupid tackle when there was absolutely no need for one. In any case it was now 4-0 to the Arsenal. It was a night which had a bit of everything, an outstanding team performance. Everyone seemed to have the touch of magic. We scored four lovely goals and missed another four sitters. We saw Eboue doing some brilliant step overs which would have put the best to shame before trodding on the ball to put an end to that exuberance of talent. We saw how good Carlos Vela is and just how much potential that lad holds. In short it was a complete performance; the boss also seemed to agree by saying:

"It's difficult to measure our best performance of the season but this was maybe our most complete performance."

You can’t argue with that can you? The boss also hailed the king of Arsenal, Cesc Fabregas by saying:

“He was outstanding tonight. He was good offensively and good defensively and overall it was the complete midfield performance.”

It’s taken a while for him but knowing the quality of Cesc, it was only a matter of time. I actually know some jackasses who actually had the nerve of writing him off and declaring him as crap. I’m serious fed up of such fans, why don’t you go support Chelsea or something? You’d get along great, they too have no class like you lot.

Moving on, Manuel Almunia also hailed last night performance and states the claim that the win displayed our true colors by saying:

“It was crucial to have a clean sheet, have a victory like this and play fantastically like we did. think Arsène was furious before the Porto game and we said to ourselves that we had to play the Porto game as Arsenal know they can. We had to show we were a very great team.”


He makes a valid point of Arsene being pissed off. He very rarely criticises the team in the media but after the Hull game he was absolutely seething. As I said in yesterday’s blog, the players need to be given a kick up their arses and dropped from time to time to show that they aren’t indispensable to the Arsenal.

Moving on, Adebayor believes that the understanding that is developing between him and Robin can fire us to glory on all fronts by saying:

“Robin and I are working hard for the team. We are here to help this team win something so I am pleased with the way he played last night. I give him a pass, he gives me a pass so this means there is a good relationship between him and me.”

They have so far netted 11 goals in 9 games that they have played together and that is a good figure. What worries me is the erratic nature of their performances. They net 4 goals in one game combined and then fail to score for 3,4 games in a row. There is no doubting in their quality but the levels of consistency need to built up and maintained. If they are able to do so, I have no doubts that they will indeed fire us to quite a few trophies down the years.

To wrap it up, this win has undoubtedly restored the confidence in the team and it is crucial as the month ahead holds some very crucial games and we absolutely cannot afford any more slip ups like the one we had at Fulham and more recently at home to Hull.

And finally I’d like to wish the readers an Eid Mubarik.

Right then,

Until next time folks.

Come on you Gunnnnneeerrrrssssssssss!!!

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

it was good want it? i enjoyed the game immensely last night.

i still can't get over the step overs . hhaaha

Anonymous said...

great game, great game. a comlpete performance!!!!

Gooner14 said...

agreed.

Anonymous said...

i liked seeing cesc domnaite the game last night. It has been a long time coming but its been well worth the wait.

Anonymous said...

cesc for captain!

Anonymous said...

great post gooner14

The Goon said...

you alright mate?

no post?

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