ARSENAL 4 AZ 1
A TRIP overseas to meet a new baby niece and to catch up with her sister, mother and father meant that for the first time this season I was not at the Grove.
But I did catch all of it, save for a couple of minutes when screaming erupted upstairs meant I was called upon.
The long and short of it is that we were as you were. We’re a joy to watch going forward. Seventeen years ago the fact we managed 92 goals in a season (with four more league games) prompted the end of season video to be titled in honour of that feat (92 for 92 it was called.
At the current rate (51 in 18) we’ll shatter that record sometime around the new year. At home it’s played ten, won 10, scored 33, conceded 7.
Last night the attacking carousel was in full swing again. Off stepped Bendtner, on stepped Samir Nasri. He added a beautiful second before the break. But before that Cesc had broken the deadlock with a shot that made up for what it lacked in power with accuracy. Still the keeper might have done better.
That Nasri goal followed a wonderfully precise slide rule pass from Arshavin, a quick footed turn from the Frenchman and a very decent low finish.
The third after the break came from another Arshavin pass and Cesc went as if he was going to sweep the ball across the keeper, before sending it high into the near post. Lovely.
The carousel did it’s thing again. Eduardo and Tomas Rosicky both climbed aboard. I’m not going to lie, the return of Rosicky, who I think has been moonlighting in a Beatles tribute band, was something of a relief. I hadn’t wanted to say anything but the vagueness of his injury situation had left me fearing the worst. I don’t think I was the only one.
But it was Eduardo whose brilliance set up the fourth with a backheel that travelled straighter and more accurately into the path of Arshavin than many a player’s pass would have done. He set up Diaby who converted.
A word on the tiny Russian: give him a break. Yes, in an excellent team performance against Spurs, his player rating was at the lower rather than higher end. But can we stop over analysing everything? The guy’s a genius and when he needs to step up, he does.
As if to offer a truly accurate picture of where we are at the moment, there was the obligatory goal conceded too. And in keeping with recent trends it wasn’t particularly the fault of the back four – can you see where I’m going here.
In fairness to Manuel Almunia the toe-poked finish from 18 yards that beat him was unorthodox and unexpected, but nonetheless he’d left an absolute chasm at his near post.
All in all mind, it’s looking decent right now and I just love watching us attack.
Ratings
Almunia 6.5
Seemed to be playing well and had made one very decent save indeed until his late lapse.
Eboué 7
That very decent save from Almunia coincided with Eboue being beaten in the air in a way Sagna would never have been. It was a reminder of who is boss defensively. But going forward Eboue is still stronger (despite Sagna improving of late).
Gibbs 7
Still raw but I do love his pace and the way he presses play. Also razor sharp on interceptions. It's a good chance for him this, though he could have done without an international break.
Vermaelen 7
Usual stuff.
Gallas 7
Like his partner, is loving galloping forward at the moment. Sign of a team high on attacking confidence.
Cesc 8
Tasty right now.
Nasri 7.5
Became the 17th Gooner to score this season by my reckoning and will be pleased to get off the mark. Faded occasionally but there is no arguing with a 90 minute return.
Song 7.5
Before the break occurred to me that someone watching Arsenal for the first time would remark on what a decent holding midfielder we have. Who'd have imagined saying that a while ago?
Diaby 7
Reports I've read said he was much improved but on my distant viewing he still seemed to be struggling for confidence at the moment and not going into challenges with the conviction he can do. Hopefully the goal will help. Glad he scored it because missing would have done his confidence no favours.
Arshavin 8
See what I said in the main piece.
van Persie 7
Confident on the ball right now.
Eduardo 7.5
A beauty of a backheel.
Ramsey 7
With all the subs we lost our shape a little.
Rosicky 7
He lives!
so nice to see a LB putting in good crosses!
I didnt get to watch the game last night, it starts quite late over here in the RSA !
Nice to hear that Diaby had a better game and that Gibbs slotted in nicely. What I am most happy about though is the return of Nasri,whom I think will have a massive season, and a much quicker return for Rosicky. I was fearing another lenghly lay off for the latter.
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i hate it when people try to persecute almunia. i will tell you this.he is the best goalkeeper we have right now. had fabianski been there we would have conceded 3. why the fuck is it a big deal when almunia concedes but not when fabianski does? fabianski is the worst goal keeper getting the best reviews abd compliments. mannone and sczn*****y r better than him.
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the goal almunia conceded was as a result of eboue. almunia thought that eboue would challenge and as such there was no need to dive for it but he didnt and it went in with little opposition.
Song is not just decent. He was fantastic yesterday. His movement, his agility(!) and passing are amazing, his strength is great and he covers excellently. He is great at the moment.
Happy to add to the praise for Song. When he’s, erm, on song, he looks world class.
Diaby was fantastic last night, ran his socks off, strong in the tackle, improved distribution and got a goal. Gooners need to be a little less biased when rating the players.
i loved Arshavin’s perfomance last night. he played at left back a couple of times, headed the ball, kicked players and three perfect assits.
one thing i would like Song and Diaby to improve on is that – when we are in front – they should stay more organized to elimate any counter-attacking chance opposition would have. so we can have more clean sheets – and hence – get people start appreciating our defensive unit.
i feel our defensive unit is stronger than any other teams in the league but soemtimes we lack the organization and become over confidence. if we can control that then.. the world is our oyster… something like that.
Song and Diaby were excellent yesterday. Great movement and positioning from both of them.
Don’t i just love Arsenal. We were great last night bar the conceded goal. Diaby did pull himself together and performed much better than he has in his previous games, Song was amazing in the DM role as we have come to expect of him, Fab was Fabulous and fired up, Arshavin had a hatrick in assists and showed up for the whole game, he was abit aggressive and i feared he would get a yellow but it didnt come to pass.Nasri….I am so happy he is back!!Eboue wasnt at his best . yesyesterday, GI
playa, i disagree on gibbs. i like him, since last year’s carling cup, but i thought he was our weakest player, by far. when they scored, it all got dangerous because he over-committed and misjudged the ball. he could have been more cautious. he made a few of those mistakes, and i am a bit afraid of having him when we play strong teams.
song was immense and i thought almunia was strong when we needed. he is the type that switches off after it is 4-0, i dont care.
i also think 7 +- 1 to all players does not really reflect what i saw. eboue and gibbs were way worse than gallas and vermaelen, song was better than diaby, etc.
“As if to offer a truly accurate picture of where we are at the moment, there was the obligatory goal conceded too.”
Hahahaha! I loved this part.
Its good to have both Nasri and Rosicky back in the squad, and it was an excellent win last night. However, I am worried about our soft underbelly, particularly when we start playing better teams than AZ. Some reports talked about the need for arsenal to get the third goal to settle the nerves. It wasn’t that long ago that the first goal signaled “game over”, not the third. We lost our shape too easily last night when AZ began to build a little pressure.
bernardinho,
I also thought Gibbs was charging into tackles too much but then, over the touchline microphone, you clearly heard an Arsenal coach (I assume Pat Rice?) shouting “close him down, close him down” when an AZ player had the ball on the halfway line. Once he’d successfully won the ball the shout was “well done lad, well done!”
On this basis, I assume the Arsenal full-backs are being instructed to close down the ball as quickly as possible on the wings to stop attacks before they start. It worked on the whole last night apart from the one goal. Clearly, in a tighter match, that ploy might not be such a good idea…I’m sure the coaching team will have that under control though!
Personally, I’m loving the “we’ll score more than you” approach to our play at the moment; it might come back to bite us but only time will tell. I think the next two games are key to our league season though. Forget Chelsea at home for now, we MUST win away at Wolves and Sunderland – I hope the team don’t take six points for granted – Utd proved last year that these are the games that decide title winners.
Great game yesterday. Its so good to see people are not slagging Diaby and Song off for one or two missed placed passes as they sometimes do. This is part of football and as confidence grows this will be reduced game by game. I’m glad people appreciate what they both bring to the team, last year they were laughably labelled as ‘not fit to wear the shirt’ by some. The only worry now is where do Rosicky and Nasri fit in? Very nice problem to have though. Hopefully we can put together a great run of games and really push on……..hopefully!
Cesc goal, for me, was reminiscent of the one he scored v Juve 2006; in that it was a soft shot from about 20 yards that went thru a defender’s legs and in at the near post.
our 4th was the best team goal we’ve scored on the counter since Adebayor v Reading 07/08 imho
and I hope Fabby can, unlike 07/08, keep this scoring run going throughout the season. Obviously I am not expecting him to score every game or even every second game, and he will go thru a dry spell at some point, but he’s now got 8…if he can stay relatively free of injuries I don’t think it’s unreasonable to expect +-18 from him in all competitions.
Brilliant offensively again.
Also, nice to see that we were the only English team to record a Champions League win this week!
Good write up.
Song has been god since January, andfinshed last season in very good form.
This season its only Verm that can match him for consistency.
Fab’s been a little bit up and down here and there before his current spell…but when you’re as good as he is its less of a problem
Freuudian slip…Song has been GOOD. I’m his biggest fan, but even I think calling him GOd is a step too far…for now ;-)
The clocks went back two week ago…!!!
Stupendous performance !!! the whole team played very well, 11 players stayed focus & worked hard for each other until the final whistle. A few players were electrifying. Keep up the confidence boosting performance on a regular basis.
Every home game a big win? Sounds like the Grove might become a place others dread to visit. I don’t wish to jinx things, but maybe this season we’re creating the history that the stadium needs.
e.g. were you there when Cesc scored from the Spurs kickoff?
I hope we can keep it up. I think we can.
I loved watching Arsenal last night, it was a joy to behold. The passing was sharp, the movement was imaginative, there were loads of chances created and four lovely goals. That said, let’s be honest, AZ Alkmaar must go down as one of the worst teams we have played in the Champions League. But, make no mistake, a 12 game unbeaten run with only two away draws in which we dominated, tells its own story. Arsenal are a force to be reckoned with this season.
You missed a good one playa. Good report. totally agree with you on arshavin,the man is a genius,and you know in the big games he will make the difference, hopefully in madrid. Bernardinho,what you on about fella, gibbs is learning his trade,and doing a good job at it to,he started out as a midfielder,wenger has turned him into a left back,like he did with cashley,give him a break.
Danny_27,
I wasnt aware of those instructions to full backs, thanks for that. ok, i am sure in a tougher game they will change that strategy. actually, i thought at some point, after it was 3-0, they were using the game as a training session, trying to give them some space and see if we could cope…
but let’s not panic if we don’t get 6 points in the next 2 games. i am tired of a doomsday every time we get a draw. we dont need 114 points to win the league.
bernardinho:
” we don’t need 114 points to win the league.”
It’d be nice though. :-)
Excellent blog as always! Your Friday entries are a joy to read, makes my Friday just so much better :-)
I really think your blog is one of the very best Arsenal blogs around, but one thing has puzzled me since the re-design: it’s also the blog that looks the least Arsenal-like!
I mean, blue, yellow, black, white? Whatever happened to the red&white? Not a critisism by far, I’m just curious how you ended up with the current colour scheme.
And no worries, I’ll still keep tuning into your blog every day :-)
Keep up the good work!