Not the most exciting of Arsenal games
Arsenal 1 QPR 0
From Goodplaya at the Emirates
The games are coming fast at the moment and this one already feels a while ago. In part that is probably because it was quite unremarkable for long patches.
We weren’t great really. Midfield was a bit slow and the wings were frankly poor. They have been of late. Gervinho finished very poorly from a couple of yards wide very late on. Before that Theo Walcott had pulled his shot very poorly wide when one on one. Far be it for me to lecture on how to finish a one on one, but one thing the best strikers (such as Henry) seem to be able to do is to allow defenders to get very close to them but then to simultaneously fend them off while finishing the chance. Theo seemed to feel his only chance of scoring was to shoot before the defenders got anywhere near.
RVP looked the most dangerous but was off target on a couple of occasions. But not when Arshavin (who I must put on record has of late been as poor as he has looked disinterested) weighted a very nice ball through that the captain slotted home.
And that by and large was the sum of it. I should say I thought Coquelin did well and again there were no real qualms to be had with our effort, even if at times late on we really struggled to keep the ball late on.
All in all, this was not one to linger long in the memory but it was crucial to win given results elsewhere both yesterday and today.
Onto Fulham.
You’ve been pretty negative of late. Cheer up chappy, and enjoy the good times – for these are good times, for sure.
I actually disagree on Theo’s chance…I thought his look around was actually to see if there was anyone he could pass to. Once he realised there wasn’t, panic set in. Showed a shocking lack of confidence in himself. He needs a goal badly. And very soon..
Both him & Gervinho have had good spells this season but 4 goals each by the New Year for strikers with more than 20 starts each is simply not nearly good enough. Then there’s Arshavin,Chamakh & Park – the less said the better.
In short – Henry (even at 60-70% of his peak) can surely offer something more & has got to be worth the risk. We simply cannot keep depending on RvP to dig us out of a hole.
Massive, massive game today. If we can get 3 points given all the points dropped by everyone the last few days, we’ll then have 2 weeks to get injured players closer to fitness, rest some weary legs & get TH some game time v Leeds to get him ready.
Come on u Reds !!
A couple of points to end on re: the hypocrisy (i.e. xenophobia) of the British press :
- nobody attacking Warnock for his criticism of RvP ? Strange that. If the tables were turned, they’d be clamouring for an apology from Arsene
- Nearly every single match report of the Scum either glossed over or completely ignored Bale’s yellow card for diving. You think what happened to Eduardo & it sickens. Particularly the Guardian who had one whole paragraph in their report on Bale’s contribution to the game & didn’t mention it. Shameful.
With these games coming every 48 hours the only thing that matters is 3 points. Who cares about the performance? The Premier League is an obstacle course and at this stage of the race you just have to pile through the challenges and do just enough to win each game.
Maybe Fulham is a chance for Benayoun, Park and Oxlade-Chamberlain to make a fresh impact?
It was a dull and flat game-but 3 points are just what the doctor ordered!
Happy New Year all, let’s start with another 3 points!
And there we have it. 3 points down the drain down to the simple fact that we have only one player who can score goals. Not good enough lads. If the Totts win their 2 games in hand (quite likely) they’re almost out of reach & we’re down to scrapping with Chelsea/Pool for 4th. That’s not a scrap I see us winning I’m afraid
Ah dammittt!!!! Team needs some fresh legs….in addition to Henry!!!