Arsenal conquer the Bridge

Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal


Arsenal left Stamford Bridge with all three points after a truly fantastic game which will live long in the memory of every Arsenal fan as hat-trick hero Robin Van Persie stole the show. The gunners came into this game on the back of a run of six wins in seven games, but started rather nervously against a Chelsea team which boasted the return of £50 million man Fernando Torres. Andre Santos in particular did not look comfortable at left back as Chelsea looked to attack the Brazilian time and time again, going past him with consummate ease. The problem with Santos is that he seems too eager to win the ball back and dives into tackles rather than waiting patiently for an opportunity to regain possession. Consequently when he doesn’t win the ball, the opposition player goes past him and Santos cannot possibly recover as he has taken himself out of the game.

It was one such incident which resulted in Chelsea taking the lead, as Juan Mata evaded Santos’ tackle far too easily and crossed for Frank Lampard to head home. Arsenal understandably felt hard done by as they should have been ahead themselves with both Van Persie and Gervinho earlier failing to hit the target when presented with glorious chances. However this Arsenal team has shown great character to bounce back from their worst start in recent memory and in the 36^th minute were back on terms as the previously anonymous Ramsey slid Gervinho through on goal with a sumptuous pass and the Ivory Coast international showed great composure to cut the ball back to Van Persie to fire into an empty net.

On the stroke of half time Arsenal fell behind again following some horrendous defending from a corner kick. Per Mertesacker was signed to dominate the penalty area with his height, but failed to put any sort of challenge on John Terry, allowing him to run onto Lampard’s delivery and steer the ball into the bottom corner. As Arsenal have inexplicably decided not to have two defenders on the posts when defending from corners, this season, there was no one to clear the ball off the line and Arsenal would go in at half time 2-1 down, ruing missed opportunities and poor defending.  

While other teams may have felt sorry for themselves and let the game slip out of reach, Arsenal began the second half extremely positively and strongly, scoring two goals in six minutes to take the lead for the first time in the match. First, on 49 minutes, Alex Song put Santos through on goal to level the game with a shot that Petr Chech really should have saved, then Theo Walcott picked the ball up on the right and ran at the heart of the Chelsea defence. As he tripped over his own feet the chance seemed to have gone, but Walcott was not to be undone. He picked himself up, switched the ball quickly between both feet to evade three Chelsea defenders and as he bore down on the Chelsea goal, unleashed a powerful shot to beat Chech at his near post to give the gunners the lead.

Arsenal kept Chelsea, especially Torres, quiet until the 80^th minute when Santos played a poor forward pass which was easily intercepted and then played to Mata who unleashed an unstoppable strike to level the match once again. At this point I feared Chelsea would steal all three points and Arsenal would be left to pick up the pieces from another away defeat, however Robin Van Persie had other ideas. Florent Malouda passed the ball back to his defence and as John Terry slipped, Van Persie ran through on goal, rounded Chech and slid the ball home to send the Arsenal fans into delirium. The Dutchman then wrapped up the win with a brilliant strike in the 92^nd minute to complete his hat-trick and round off a wonderful day for those in red and white.

This could be the result which really kick starts our season. Many had looked at the recent run of improved results with a hint of scepticism as most of the games had been played at the Emirates against so called lesser teams. After today’s wonderful performance no one can doubt that Arsenal are well and truly back.

Futile AGM

Arsenal’s Annual General Meeting on Thursday 27th October, left supporters more frustrated and bemused than ever before, leaving many to wander what was the point of it all. This is meant to be the platform for fans to have their questions answered by those who have the final say on every aspect of the club. It has, however, seemingly degenerated into a political exercise with the main focus being to avoid answering those who truly love this great club.

Thursday had been billed as the day Stan Kroenke would dispose of his Silent Stan moniker by standing up and addressing the AGM. Yet his lack lustre two minute speech only served to enforce it further. Like all great speeches it started with a joke: “I’ve been asked to say a few things, I’m not sure why but people seem to be interested.” Well at least I hope it was an attempt at comedy as I can’t believe anyone can be that dim. But just in case, let me enlighten you Mr Kroenke: we’re all interested in what you have to say because you own our club, and it would be nice to know exactly what you intend to do with it! This “brilliant” opening line was followed by the usual pronouncements of support for Wenger and how this is the only club he ever considered investing in, leaving us all pondering the same question, “tell us something we don’t know, like what you intend to do with our club.” Unfortunately those present were prohibited from asking Kroenke any questions in yet another show of complete disrespect to the fans, the very fans who have incurred a 6.5% increase in season ticket prices and upon whom the club’s existence relies.

Those with questions could only pose them before the event to Peter Hill-Wood and Ivan Gazidis and were not permitted to ask any follow up questions. Therefore rendering the whole question and answer session a pointless exercise as both men could simply reel off answers that had been prepared for them. And even then the answers were pathetic; nonsensical reposts with the sole aim of avoiding actually answering the question. Although Gazidis (the man who has received a bonus for all his splendid work, most notably allowing Nasri to enter the final year of his contract and effectively hold the club to ransom) did attempt to steal Kroenke’s prize for best joke of the day; as he suggested his target for the next year was for Arsenal F.C. to have 10million followers on facebook. That utterance alone was well worth his £1.7 million pay packet.

Ultimately yesterday’s AGM was merely an exercise in futility. The only man who spoke with any passion about our club was Wenger himself as he urged the fans to get behind the team, but even he let slip that the most we can aim for is a top four finish. His admission simply highlighted just of how far we have fallen behind the top teams, from Invincibles in 2004 to scrapping desperately to make the top four in 2011, hardly the most rousing endorsement of our self sustaining model.

Park breaks duck

Arsenal 2-1 Bolton

Arsenal continued on their quest for Carling Cup success with a 2-1 comeback victory over Bolton Wanderers last night. The match saw the welcome return of Thomas Vermaelen from injury as Arsene Wenger made 11 changes to the team that defeated Sunderland at the weekend, providing reserve team regulars such as Ignasi Miquel and Nico Yennaris with the opportunity to prove they can perform at this level as well as offering the likes of Oxlade-Chamblerlain, Francis Coquelin and Emmanuel Frimpong the chance to enhance their burgeoning reputations further; while Ju Young Park was given the responsibility of the lone striker role.

Although Arsenal started brightly, with Oxlade-Chamberlain squandering an opportunity to give the gunners an early lead, following a wonderful pass from Frimpong, it was Bolton who seemed to pose more of an attacking threat in the first half mostly through the impressive Gael Kakuta. However Lukas Fabianski essentially only had to pull off one good save to deny Darren Pratley while Adam Bogdan, in the Bolton goal, twice saved well from Park.

While Oxlade-Chamberlain was rather quiet and did not seem able to impose himself on the game, Yennaris proved he has the ability to eventually break into the first team with an accomplished performance. Coquelin and Frimpong also worked tirelessly in the centre of the park, with Frimpong in particular using his strength to great effect, winning the ball back on numerous occasions, although his concentration must improve as he was dispossessed a few times on the edge of the Arsenal box, one such incident resulting in Bolton taking the lead through Fabrice Muamba at the start of the second half.

While lesser teams may have crumbled, Arsenal showed tremendous strength of character to not only come back into the game, but take control of it too. The previously ineffectual Arshavin was suddenly roused into action, powering forward at every opportunity, striking fear into the Bolton defence. It was this feeling of trepidation which led them to stand off Arshavin in the 53^rd minute and he duly made them pay, slotting the ball into the bottom left hand corner to bring Arsenal right back into the contest. Three minutes later and Arsenal were ahead through a wonderful curled strike from Park, following another great run by Arshavin, driving forward, at the heart of the Bolton backline, before setting Park up with a perfectly weighted pass. Bolton would threaten the Arsenal goal again but a combination of good goalkeeping and luck, when Fabianski’s attempted save saw the ball squirm out of his hands and sail just over the bar, as the gunners progressed into the quarter finals.

This result will fill Arsenal fans with great optimism as it not only highlighted the fact we have a strong squad that has the quality to overcome those inevitable suspensions and injuries which affect every team but also extended our recent run of improved results. Saturday’s trip to Stamford Bridge will, however, prove a must sterner test. A positive result here would really galvanise the whole club and confirm our recovery from that horrendous start.

Super sub Van Persie

Arsenal 3-1 Stoke City

Robin Van Persie came off the bench and scored two crucial goals to secure the three points for Arsenal. Although it was a strange decision by Arsene Wenger to leave his talisman on the sidelines, especially with a Carling Cup game against Bolton in mid-week in which Van Persie surely will not play, in the end it paid off.

Chamakh replaced Van Persie in the starting line up and proved just how reliant this team is on the Dutchman. Chamakh did not hold up and link the play and so did not offer anything to the team's attacking play. He seems to be severely lacking in confidence, highlighted by an extremely poor headed effort in the first half when he was completely unmarked. But then what are the alternatives? Ju Young Park is still yet to feature in the Premier League while the manager also seems reluctant to give Theo Walcott a chance up front. Although Walcott often struggles on the wing, and he did so again today, his phenomenal pace would terrify opposition defences, forcing them to play a deep defensive line and so creating space between the midfield and defence in which Van Persie could operate to devastating effect.

Today, with Chamakh up front, Arsenal's attack looked blunt, especially following Peter Crouch's equaliser. Arsenal went ahead on 27 minutes through a Gervinho strike, thanks to an excellent chipped pass by the impressive Aaron Ramsey and appeared to be in control as the defence coped admirably with Stoke's long throws and long balls. However one lapse in concentration would undo all their hard work. A great aerial challenge by Koscielny on Crouch was incorrectly penalised by the referee, Lee Mason, giving Stoke a free kick in a very dangerous position. Gervinho failed to pick up the run of Shawcross, who nodded the ball across the box, for Upson and Walters to set up a tap in for Peter Crouch. After half time, Arsenal had plenty of possession without ever really threatening, never getting in behind the Stoke defence or producing a killer pass. To the fans' frustration a succession of corners were simply wasted, as time and again they were easily cleared by the first man. 

The Gunners faithful cried out for the introduction of Van Persie as he warmed up on the touchline, and their prayers were answered in the 66th minute. Seven minutes later, Gervinho darted to the by-line and cut the ball back to Van Persie who prodded in at the near post to the relief of all those in red and white. In the 82nd minute the two combined similarly once again on the opposite flank to ensure Arsenal took home all three points and well deserved it was too. The Gunners could now relax and highlighted the vast chasm that exists between the abilities of both sides by spending the closing minutes of the game passing the ball between themselves to the delight of the home crowd and cries of "Ole".

 

Following a disastrous start to the season, Arsenal are now seventh in the league, only six points off Newcastle in fourth place. The performances are steadily improving too, with the defence in particular looking more and more assured, especially Koscielny whose partnership with Mertesacker is blossoming; Song was a tower of strength in the middle of the park, while Gervinho had his best game in an Arsenal shirt. Hopefully the team can take these positives into next weekend's game against Chelsea and achieve a good result. Onwards and upwards.

Gunners leave it late!!

Marseille 0-1 Arsenal

Aaron Ramsey's injury time winner in the south of France sent Arsenal to the top of group F last night. Another win in the return leg at the Emirates in two weeks time will see the Gunners on the verge of qualification to the knock out phase of the Champions League once again. Furthermore, they will have done so with two games to spare, all despite the lacklustre start we have had this season.

Although last night's game continued a run of positive results which have seen Arsenal lose once in their last six games I still believe there is much room for improvement. While the team looked solid defensively, with Koscielny and Jenkinson in particular excelling, going forward we still seem to lack a cutting edge and the ability to retain possession for a prolonged period. This is rather concerning as these are the principles that all of Arsene Wenger's teams have been built on. The players seem to lack ideas when we approach the final third and Van Persie becomes an isolated figure, while Walcott and Arshavin do not offer enough width resulting in our play becomming narrow and predictable, Consequently possession is lost as the opposition easily intercept our forward passes and get the opportunity to hit us on the counter attack.

Arshavin yet again proved yesterday that he does not deserve to wear the famous red and white shirt, with another insipid display. He has openly admitted that he has not performed to the best of his ability, however it is his work rate, or lack of it, which concerns me the most as he rarely chases back when he loses possession giving the impression that he isn't really bothered. I hope he is sold in the January transfer window as I would rather see a player with half his talent who gives his all for the cause.

The introduction of Gervinho, who always looks to attack the opposition with his direct runs and incredible pace, gave us another option and subsequently Arsenal created their best opportunities. The goal when it came owed much to Ramsey's willingness to support the attack despite the clock ticking over into injury time. A good cross from Djourou, miss-controlled by Gervinho, found Ramsey in acres of space and he calmly slid the ball past Steve Mandanda in the Marseille goal to give Arsenal a great result away from home.

Hopefully this result will give the squad great confidence going into Sunday's game against Stoke, and lead to an improved performance as well as those much needed three points.

Thomas Vermaelen signs new long-term contract

It has been confirmed today that Thomas Vermaelen has signed a new long-term contract with the club. This is great news for all gunners fans as Vermaelen  is clearly the best defender at the Emirates. We all hope he will return to full fitness soon as his sheer presence will have a positive effect on the defence which still appears extremely vulnerable despite the acquistion of the vastly experienced Per Mertesacker

The fact Vermaelen has commited his long-term future to the club will also help to convince the likes of Theo Walcott, Andery Arshavin and most importantly Robin Van Persie that Arsenal have a bright future and will be able to compete for silverware for years to come.

http://www.arsenal.com/news/news-archive/vermaelen-signs-new-long-term-contract