Arsenal 3 Burnley 1: Match report and making their return… player ratings
From Goodplaya at the Emirates
Very nicely done
The banner for Aaron Ramsey…
Looked great, (even if the man himself looked a tad post orgasm in his pose!) A house move limited me to just one post Stoke post and so I largely watched from afar as the whole furore unfolded. While I can understand (though not agree with) those who argue the tackle was not particularly bad, it does seem very strange that a player who has broken two legs and put Adebayor out for six weeks with a wretched off the pitch ankle rake by the age of just 22 does not see it necessary to at least reflect on his approach. I don’t blame Shawcross himself, more those who make such a lack of introspection apparently acceptable.
So, onto Burnley and was it was same old profligate Arsenal, then?
Well that would be the easy narrative. But while we were undoubtedly profligate, it’s hard to say that has exactly been a feature of our season. Go back and look at the dropped points and you can’t really argue we’ve been guilty of glaring misses.
The team line-up was…
The right one. For games like this Eboue over Sagna really is the right choice. Nasri likes playing centrally so was unfussed being moved into the middle and sorry to bang on about it again, but with the trickery and craft of Cesc, Nasri and Rosicky, Bendtner gave welcome height and Theo welcome pace.
The start was…
Far better I thought than some of the recent fare at the Emirates. To my mind we looked hungry and determined. And also a bit like we might end up having one of those days.
When the goal came…
Around 10,000 people were telling Nasri to shoot. He didn’t and instead chipped it for Cesc who slotted in number goal number 17 of a quite wonderful season.
Then he went off…
And we took a little time to readjust. But Abou Diaby (his replacement) has not had a bad game for quite a while and this was no exception.
Then in the second half we missed chances…
A lot of them.
The story with Bendtner was…
That when he missed his first couple of chances the typical Bendtner baiters got their usual cheap thrill, revelling in his failure to score. Seriously, there are people at the ground so full of self loathing for Arsenal it’s unbelievable. It’s as if they predicted failure at the start of the season and would rather be proved right than wrong.
But then…
The rest of us thought that actually those people could go f**k themselves and so the rest of us sang Bendtner’s name, he acknowledged the support and the idiots had lost. It’s one thing to let a player with a bad attitude know what you think of him but another to get on the back of someone simply having a nightmare day in front of goal. And anyway, in the back of my mind I kept thinking back to Stoke and just how crucial that equaliser was.
They equalised…
It was a bit of a weird one really. On the defence, two left footed centre-backs didn’t really work very well, though Vermaelen was generally excellent.
Then Theo…
Stepped up to the plate. Like Clichy, it either happens instinctively for Theo or it doesn’t happen. And as he set off on the run from which he scored, a little part of me thought that I fancied him to do something soon. And he did. Not just a beautiful finish, but exactly the kind of shot Jensen in the Burnley goal was always going to struggle to get down to. On Chris Waddle’s comments, I’d be an utter hypocrite were I to slam him for them. I’ve thought and pretty said at times that when not playing well Theo looks like he has something footballistically missing. Yesterday, he played very well, was impossible to live with and appeared to be lacking nothing brain wise.
And from then on…
We proceeded to miss countless more chances, before for the fourth time in three games, we netted in stoppage time. I’ve said it before and it’s never been more true that this is a team with great stamina. Almost a quarter of all our goals (23 out of 94) have come in either the five minutes before half-time or the last five minutes. Admittedly the statistics also show that the period 85-90 minutes is the five minutes when we are most susceptible to concede, though I believe I’m right in saying that other than the draw at AZ Alkmaar, none of those seven goals have been particularly crucial.
All in all…
It was exciting. It’s March and we’re still hunting the league title and that’s a nice feeling. People are realising we have a real chance and with that came a great deal of nervousness yesterday, both in the stands and on the pitch. People will say it wasn’t a great performance, but I saw a lot of good things. Crucially, I saw real desire, real hunger to make sure it didn’t turn into one of those days. That really pleased me.
And…
A couple of players showed signs they may be finding form at the right moment. Samir Nasri added to a couple of decent performances of late with his best for a long while. And Theo Walcott had as good a game as he’s had for a while. This is the time when the likes of them need to come good and make their name. You think back to 2002 and it was really in a 10 or so game run at this stage of the season that Freddie Ljungberg went from a flattering to deceive dribbler who spent half his life on the floor to the man who inspired thousands of red mohicans.
Add to that…
That we were able to call on Diaby, Eduardo and Arshavin from the bench suggested that just maybe our injuries are beginning to ease a little.
The thing about Arsenal this season…
Is that ours has not been your typical title tilt. Firstly, injuries have severely limited the number of players who can be said to have been consistently excellent, which is usually a sign of a team with title aspirations. I’d say Vermaelen, Gallas, Song and Cesc have been. Many others, including pretty much the entire attack, have missed significant chunks through injury.
The other thing…
Is that perhaps understandably, people can’t see past our results against United and Chelsea. I’ve argued before that far worse Arsenal teams than this one have taken far more points off United and Chelsea in a season and that in one sense there is almost something freaky that we should have lost all four games to them. As an example, the 06-07 team who amassed just seven more points than this team have with nine games to go beat United home and away.
But the point is that other than those results, we’ve been remarkably consistent. We’ve won 19 and drawn four of our other 25 games, which is 61 out of 75 points. And excluding the Chelsea and United games, the nearest we’ve had to a bad run has been drawing at West Ham, beating Spurs and Wolves and then losing at Sunderland. So two wins and a draw from four games. Of course you can’t exclude the United and Chelsea games but somewhere along the line you have to acknowledge that a team renowned for coming a cropper against the lesser lights has actually achieved great consistency.
And so now…
I think Europe will be tough. By which I mean I have a sense we might go out. The good news is I also had a sense Burnley would make it 2-2 yesterday.
And player ratings…
Almunia (6.5) was fine, Eboue (7) flew before the break but was more restrained after it, which is no criticism because Theo was seeing more than enough of it. Clichy (6.5) stuttered early on but had a good second half, Silvestre (6.5) didn’t do a whole lot wrong but nonetheless aged me around six months in 90 minutes in the usual fashion. Vermaelen (8) was awesome and in spite of being part of a defence that has shipped goals, is a worthy candidate for footballer of the year. If William Gallas could be made club captain after a year, then surely the armband could have gone the Verminator’s way when Cesc went off? Then again, he doesn’t really need it.
Denilson (6.5) was a mix. There were some nice passes and at the end he looked really committed to keeping the lead. But equally there were moments when he seemed to be passed too easily and before the Denilsonistas start having a go, I don’t think I’m the only one who thought that. Cesc (7) was fine and took his goal very well, Nasri (8) revelled in the central role, Diaby (7.5) offered great physical presence at times, Rosicky (7) oiled us nicely, Theo (8.5) ripped em to shreads, Bendtner (5.5) offered a lot but had a nightmare in front of goal, Arshavin (6.5) struggled to get into the swing of things before scoring and Eduardo (6.5) did fine.
Great result. The fixtures are set up nicely
Bendtner had 8 shots yesterday. The glass half empty brigade with scream that that is unacceptably wasteful. However, I would instead suggest that he is showing lots of signs of becoming an absolutely top class striker. A striker able to get into pace to find 8 chances. A striker who scored one of the best headed goals I heve seen in Wenger’s Arsenal.
Funny thing about Bendtner is that he scores crucial & difficult goals for us, but was glad that he could afford a smile at the end of the day. He works hard for the team.I think someone has done a voodoo on him – he can’t score against Burnley – he has missed dozen of goals in two games against them.
What?! Denilson was good! Don’t be harsh on him. He doesn’t need to be flamboyant for us. But having said that, I would play Song-Diaby-Nasri if Cesc is out on Tuesday. Cos Diaby’s got more goals than Denilson.
nice write up playa. yesterday the first time i really saw a different side of nasri. i’ve asked a number of times (quietly, so as not to be proved wrong) what is the point of nasri, hoping for him to show me. it was an unbelievable assist, and great overall match.
Bendtner has the positional awareness and physicality, Walcott has the pace and finishing.
I move that Wenger puts Theo’s legs on Bendtner’s top half and we’ve got the world’s best striker.
Bendtner had 15 goals last season as a 20 year old who didnt often start. And as we all know, he missed about 40 sitters too. At some point chances begin to click. Far harder to find chances than to finish them.
Denilsonistas. HA!
Consider that stolen playa.
Nice to see our key players coming in to form right now. I think we are looking better and better and more able to dig out results even when we aren’t playing well.
I don’t know why you won’t have a go at Chris Waddle. I’ve heard him commentate several times when Theo is playing and the mulleted one is over critical and desperate for him to fail regardless how well the youngster plays.
I think maybe he is jealous of Theo’s cool action man hair and rather fetching earrings. Either that or he is worried Theo will replace another former England winger in the nation’s affections…
great write up,
i agree with good to be a goonah, bendtner had a shocker in front of goal against burnley but the fact he made all those “sitters” is a very good sign. aside from the chances i thought overall he had a terrific game
Chris Waddle – He is a prat. I think, he was commenting during the Sunderland game – and I just felt like smacking him. I am not a big fan of Walcott (cos he is not consistent and doesn’t put enough effort in a game sometimes – he seems lost sometimes – but he has got pace, good finisher and his off-movement of the ball is good)- but what Chris was saying about him was so unreasonable and felt like he had some kind of personal vendetta against him.
On Bendtner, it’s interesting to note a comparison with Berbatov. Both the lone frontman, both against relegation threatened sides. Bendtner was getting in the right positions to have loads of great chances. Berbatov had one shot, which was blocked.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2010/mar/07/premierleague-chalkboards
“Seriously, there are people at the ground so full of self loathing for Arsenal it’s unbelievable. It’s as if they predicted failure at the start of the season and would rather be proved right than wrong”
YES…. Thankyou!!!
It really pisses me off. Those pricks at ArsenalAction that predicted 7th spot and release 5 blogs when we lose… one of them wrote “I told you so” when we lost a while back. F’in plastic fans.
btw, i have the same feeling we might go out. i don’t know what is, but that match in porto seemed like a bit of a sideshow — i haven’t focused on the champions league in months
My thinking is this. If Adebayor can have a 30 goal season then so can Bendtner. The difference is Bendtner already thinks he is one of the best in the world and still works hard so he won’t stop doing that like Ade did. Here’s hoping!
Many many Arsenal “supporters” are too easily affected by a generally hostile media. Sly Sports, BBC Hotsp*r. 60% of pundits had Liverpool winning the league this season and Arsenal struggling for 4th. Look at it this way, with so much anti-Arsenal nonsense about, it is easier for the more ’simple’ supporters to swim WITH the stream of stupidity that goes on in the press. “Pink boots” and “arrogant” Bendtner is the most recently of many media whipping boys. That cretins read the Sun and then repeat it should be of no real surprise.
I’ve deleted a load of comments…
my sympathies Goodplaya, it seems that your blog attracts several morons
With regards to the poor results against the Mancs & Chel$ki, a season cannot be defined by results against 1 or 2 teams. If we win the title & anyone say’s we didn’t deserve to due to those results, well first of all I for one will not care one iota, but secondly using that logic you can just as easily claim that the Mancs & Chel$ki do not deserve to win as they lost to Everton, a team we smashed 6-1, it’s the exact same logic and it’s flawed.
The thing I was impressed was that finally the young GUNS had learned how to win; playing keep ball and wasting time towards the end.
somebody clarify this, did walcott mean that time is not yet over for him to board the plane to africa by pointing at his wrist?..
Bendtner is probally the worst forward of all time for Arsenal. I would boo him on Tuesday but have still lost my voice from Saturday’s dire performance. We need 3 new strikers in the summer. Everyone knows Van Persie only plays for 4 months a season, Dudu is not the same, Vela is weak and Walcott & Bendtner are just not interested.
Sagna did not play against Burnley because I suspect that because he played for France during the week Wenger wanted to rest him.
Still Eboue is faster and a better passer of the ball and should perhaps be ahead of Sagna
T. Stillman go and support the lilywhite c*nts if you hate Arsenal so much!
@Tim Stillman: I would like to put you as our forward to play against people like Shawcross and Taylor. Maybe they can takle you so high it brakes your jaw…
Great game on Saturday. I never thought we would lose it, but I was always concerned that we may draw.I agree that it appears certain players are coming to form just at the right time which can only be good. But to use a well worn cliche , we need to take one game at a time, as each game has a bit of the previous game in it. I believe that Ramsey’s injury will act as a catalyst for us. The ratings are pretty spot on but I must say Silvestre for me is past it at this level..the words panic and rash come to mind.
All around me on saturday, fans were calling for Bendtner to be substituted after he missed the header at the beginning of the second half. But they all seemed to be missing the point..1)you have to be there to miss em and 2) If Wenger had removed him early for any reason other than injury we would then have a player with shot confidence on our hands for the remaining games. How he was dealt with means that belief was shown in him and he gets the chance to reflect positively on his own performance. Personally I would rather a striker who gets into good positions and misses than one who does not get into those positions at all. It is only a matter of time when he gets into the ‘zone’ and when that happens he will be unplayable
@Tim your analogy reflects your lack of understanding of the role of a coach/manager
Bendtner at the moment is the equivalent of a young salesman who always gets lots of good high quality opportunities but whose closing ratio is poor. As his manager you would need to assess whether you thought the fact that he was able to secure so many interviews/ meetings was in itself good for your company and whether one day the tide would turn. Obviously based on your comments the work put in to secure the interviews/ opportunity a) has no benefit what so ever and b) is not an indication of what is possible in the future
This team is doing us proud . No other club anywhere has had so many serious injuries over a 2/3 year period and yet kept within striking distance of a trophy. I would love Arsene to play the following team without Cesc.
Almunia,Eboue,Campbell,Verminator, Clichy
Song
Nasri, Diaby
Walcott, Bentner, Arsharvin
Subs: Rosicky, Sagna, Sylvestre, Denilson, Fabiansky.
playa ratings, welcome back.
porto: i guess cesc might play, which would mean a starting line up with song-diaby-cesc, nasri-bendtner-arshavin. i think we’ll go through.
Some of the stuff written here is amazing – we did win- even if we won 10-0 some people would criticise the team. Tim- perhaps only you think Walcott was not interested. There were a lot of positives in the performance- but there is a long and tough road ahead starting Tuesday- which will be a different game altogether.
We have won our last 4 EPL fixtures, scoring 9 and conceding 2.
If we can do the same over the next 4 games (Hull away, West Ham at home, Birmingham away and Wolves at home) we will be in the driving seat for the title with 5 games to go.
We can complain about failing to keep a clean sheet and missing open goals but the ONLY THING that matters at this stage of the season is that we score more than our opponents do when the whistle goes to end the match.
cool blog, you talk a lot of sense.
AW has always said that Nasri has the ability and legs to play centre midfield, now Aaron and Cesc are out for tomorrow night it is set up perfectly for Nas and Diaby to play in front of a screening defensive player (alex or denilson) with three forwards (take your pick (i would go arshavin, bendtner and theo)). having missed my first home game at the Emirates (damn work!) the view from the outside was that we kept going, didn’t let our heads drop and obviously (against a weak team (sorry, burnley!)) always looked like getting a couple more goals. tomorrow will be the time to stand up and be counted, players and supporters, coz if we can come from behind another test will have been passed.
COME ON YOU REDS!!
Gunnerpete, i had not read your post before i posted my team! great minds think alike……
Goodplaya spotted! On Arsenal.com, the boss was speaking about B52: “It’s true when you are 194 [pounds] like he is you cannot be short and sharp like a smaller player. But he will be a good player.”
Please Wenger do not play Bendtner tomorrow. The guy is useless and has a poor attitude.
Hope “Old pink boots-trousers down-miss 5 sitters in a game” Bendtner ain’t playing tomorrow, geez that guy is 2 bob!
Thanks Larry. Good work! Will add it to the list.
What a load of bollocks ! You’ll be pleased to know True gooner is signing off.
Thank you Goodplayer for players rating if you do like this always I will recommend a pay rise
Reply to Rocky7 and Tim Stillman. While you are free for your opinion(s) I still recommend that you way the situation for a yound lad trying to get his trade on line this lad makes good effort to hold the ball and get his team mates closer, he also not hide he gooes in the box where he is dangerous atleast, he is geting into good positions and try to score he is working hard. Surely he needs encouragment rathar than being outcast. I realy hope this boy will win us games in future.
Goodplayer I don’t understand why Sylveter rating is so high he was slow, undicisive and always panic when a need arise to make a tackle.
True Gooner.
You’ll be back!! As soon as “you know who” makes his re-appearance you wont be able to resist getting back at him.
Anyway I’ll miss you if you go!
Didn’t have a chance to catch the game…can someone tell me who Cesc passed the armband to when he went off? curious
As Goodplaya said Sat was the perfect type of game for Eboue at right-back. But picking him ahead of Sagna in a tense European tie where concentration will be key for our defenders?? Not a hope in hell. Team picks itself with Cesc out to be honest : Almunia,Sagna,Sol,Vermaelen,Clichy – Song,Diaby,Nasri – Theo,Nik,Arshavin.
Will be simply astonished if it’s different to that.
(Have to say I’d prefer to see either of those two centre-halves as captain too but doubt it’ll happen)
Nik played well in parts on Sat but a striker missing that many sitters had a nightmare, no point saying otherwise. What really impressed me though was the fact that he wouldn’t disappear & kept looking for the ball. Would not be at all surprised if Porto felt the backlash from him.
(he’s 40-1 on Paddy Power to score a hat-trick !!!)
As others have said at this stage of the season all that counts is 3 points but……nagging away a the back of my mind if the thought that if it comes down to goal difference & we miss out by 2 or 3 that Saturday will be a day we look back on in despair.We could in all seriousness have won 9-1.
Larry Mbaco (33): Bendtner is 194 centimeters, not 194 pounds.
http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/wenger-why-bendtner-impressed-me
‘playa you are spot on with regards Bendtner and the more general point about people happy to be loathing and negative. Some people would rather voice their displeasure to prove their pessimistic half empty viewpoint than actually help contribute to helping us win. It’s the same idiots who make no noise what so ever when the team needs some support. Even then those afore mentioned will still leave focusing on why we didn’t win by 6 and how shit we were to only win by 2. Pathetic, rant over.
5 – 0 to the Aesenal and a hatrick to super nic capped off by a wonder goal by sami. Oh happy day! fantastic performance.
Tim Stillman where are you????
Nasri was on a different planet last night. He was another alongside Diaby, Song and Bendtner that ’supporters’ had given up on at various stages of the last 2 seasons.
Worth noting that no one here predicted Wenger’s 11 last night.
“It also occurred to me that perhaps I’d been a little crude in fearing that without a new keeper in January we were signing away our hopes of a trophy. If Manuel Almunia can regain last season’s form (and he has improved of late), we will have a solution of sorts, if only perhaps a short term one.”
yeah I agree, he’s played with a lot more poise since he came back for Fabianski. Hopefully he can hold it together and regain his 07-08 form. but he generally seems to have got his shit together a bit, which is good. hopefully Arsene brings in some competition because he thrived under that previously.