Written by kelsey
Not for the first time at the Home of Football, we were about to witness a feeling of déjà vu, though after the first twenty five minutes we should have been totally out of sight against a bemused and disorganised Fulham side. Time and time again their defence was carved open and several chances fell to Nasri, Arshavin, Chamakh and in particular, to Song. Then on 14 minutes, a sublime piece of magic by our star player Samir Nasri gave us a wonder goal and surely we all thought that a cricket score was inevitable.
However, it was not to be, and a misunderstanding between Squillaci and Koscienly resulted in a clash of heads and the ball dropped to Dempsey who fed the ball through to Kamara,and he coolly slotted it past Fabianski. If Koscienly had initially stayed down, the game would have been stopped, but he had some sort of delayed reaction and slumped to the floor after the goal was scored. Djourou came on in place of Koscielny, and suddenly Arsenal seemed to completely lose their momentum. We gave the ball away cheaply and there was no fluidity in movement. Fulham began to dominate, Fabianski having to make a save from Kamara yet again.
This game was all about Nasri, scoring his eleventh goal of the season and what proved to be the match winner. It was a goal of which the great TH14 (watching from is box) would have been proud. Chamakh again had a fine game and just needs to add the shoot on sight policy to his game, but that will come as his confidence builds.
Arshavin showed he is returning to form and provided another assist, and Rosicky had a reasonable game, but the fact that it is 34 games since he last scored must be playing on his mind.
For once both full backs were producing decent crosses and Sagna had a most impressive game. The centre back pairing is still a worry and we definitely miss Vermaelen. Song still tends to go too far up the field, and this certainly wasn’t his best game.
RVP supplied the deft touch for the winning goal, but he is clearly not fully fit and Walcott seems to have regressed and made no impact on the game. We sit proudly on top of the league, and we have to thank the reactions of Fabianski in the dying minutes for that, but defensive issues still remain.
Player ratings added by Rasp
Fabianski 7
Clichy 7
Sagna 8
Squillaci 8
Koscielny 6 Djourou 8
Song 5
Wilshere 7
Arshavin 8
Nasri 9
Chamakh 7
Subs
van Persie 7
Walcott 4
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Morning Happy Smiling Gooners 🙂
Thanks kelsey for the post.
What is it about this team that most of them switch off when we take the lead? You have the sublime creativity of Arshavin and Nasri and yet Song must’ve seen that Jack was struggling to get hold of the mid-field and he should have been helping out not leaving him to cope alone.
Great result but t’was a shambles for a lot of the time as kelsey eloquently puts it in his title.
RVP10 don’t you ever get injured again. That touch for the assist was sublime 😛
sublime performance by djorou in place of kozzer.
Morning,
Good report kelsey. It certainly was a curate’s egg of a perfoprmance and I stand by my post of a few days ago in as much as: our system fell apart after we scored our first goal, we lacked a captain/leader figure on the pitch, we still seemed shy of shooting (Chamakh in particular)and we came out for the second half without any apparent urgency.
But it was a very good result and Nasri and Djourou are rising stars. I felt sorry for Jack because he was having to do most of the offensive work due to Song operating in a wandering role further up the pitch.
Hi guys, have to apologise to Peachy and Raspers after me and Mdi89 disappeared after we headed off to the Grove after Peroni’s.
We were deep in discussion on all things Goonerish and we looked round and we’d lost you.
MDi89 – you are a gooner and a gentleman, it was great to put a face to the poster.
I’ve got my report for the Septics site if anyone’s interested : http://www.7amkickoff.com/2010/man-at-the-match-chary-nasri-strikes-to-send-arsenal-to-the-top/#comments
EAT your heart out, Sepp Blatter. For right now English football fans need only travel to N5 every other week to witness true, dazzling world-class talent on show.
-brilliant!
if song gets a 5 then walcott surely deserves a 3 or lesser!!!
And due to where I was, North bank, it was easy to keep the chanting/singing up most of the game.
The Nasri song is too complex for me though, those around seemed to know it well.
You’re right RJ, I’ve demoted Theo to a 4. He was very poor and whinged when things didn’t go his way. He needs to grow up and toughen up.
Hi chary, sorry we lost contact before the game yesterday – blame it on a sudden yearning for a cheeseburger 🙂
I think the Song experiment has failed. He was great last season when he stayed deeper. I cannot fathom whether it is AW encouraging him to go further forward or whether Song himself has expressed the wish and Arsène is allowing it. I think Jack would have scored the chance that Song muffed had they swapped positions. Jack gets subbed early because he’s ‘young’ but actually I think it’s because he’s run his socks off having to defend for two men.
As Homer would say: “Hmmmm…..cheeseburger.”
Rasp,
I know seeing the game at the Emirates gives a very different impression to watching on TV, but I have some difficulty with your player ratings.
You give everyone in defence an 8 or a 7. How can this be? We scored two sublime goals and yet we could easily have drawn this game or even lost it with the shambles in defence. (admittedly we could have scored more too).
Squidgy is v. poor and the only defender deserving of an 8 was DJ.
I know ratings are very subjective but almost everyone, (fans, ex-players and pundits) know we are fragile and sometimes poor at the back, whereas your ratings would indicate most of our players are only 2 points from perfection. (Could post match euphoria have had anything to do with your marks? Well we are top) 🙂
Hi RA,
The goal we conceded resulted from the head injury to kozzer as far as I’m concerned. Djourou played really well, but he is complimented by Squidgy who always mops up the second ball and uses his experience to good effect. I really wanted to score everyone at least a point lower (except Nasri) but since we won the game and are top of the league it would have been a poor show. We have reasons to be happy, but as far as I am concerned, the old weaknesses are still there.
Fab2 made 3 very good saves but also came out twice when he had no chance of getting the ball and was lucky that neither resulted in a goal.
Does anyone know when the draw is for the knock-out stage of the Champions League – is it next Friday 10th December?
Fine write up Kelsey
I watched the game today and knowing the result makes watching a different experience.
Firstly, I though Theo was OK, not good but certainly not worth the criticism – if he had been passed a single ball in frot of him one could be more critical but he wasn’t.
Also Song had a decent game, not one of his best but the young lad will occasionally fall below his newly acquired consistent quality. I think that the results of the past 3 games have caused the Emirates to become very nervy when we are holding a lead (understandably!). but we were never under the cosh and apart from a couple of shots were untroubled in defence. Had Kos not been nutted by Squill Kamara would not have scored.
In fact all round everyone played well. If you don’t believe me watch it again. I give the team an overall 7
Peaches. Will it matter?? 😉
That’s fair enough Rasp.
I was/am thrilled by the result but very uneasy (still) about our defence. Remember Fulham have not won away since the first game of last season.
I am probably being picky, and if you had scored them sevens I suspect I would not have commented.
Still commenting is by definition what blogging is about! 🙂
Sorry Kelsey, forgot to say I enjoyed the write up!
RA. Of course we have organisational problems at the back however I do not accept they are as catastrophic as some think – but then I am a very moderate man!
We won, we played better than we did against WHU but less well than we did against Sp*rs.
Do I think such a performance will bring us 3 pts at OT? No.
Rasp,
Re your comment on Fabianski. I so want him to do well, but you are quite right, he did come out flapping at two far post crosses, completely missed man and ball, and needed RVP to defend one resulting shot.
BR, All Arsenal bloggers/fans need an optimist like you to leaven the more analytical realists, of whom there are too many (like me perhaps)! 🙂
I love my team, although rose tinted glasses are not part of the deal, but I will shamelessly suck up individual wins and trophies without a murmer. 🙂 I am such a tart! 😉
Hi Raddy,
From where I was sitting at the game, Theo was dreadful. He did receive the ball in front of him and with space to run into but as the defenders backed off, he just kept going into dead ends. Song didn’t seem to know where he was supposed to be playing. Song was a round peg in a round hole last season, this season he seems to want to force himself into a square hole and I don’t think it is working.
All the difference in the world Raddy 😉
Rasp. We disagree about Song. Watch the game again – as in most games we dominated midfield.
As to Theo, I cannot argue that he is in form but we know when in form he is dynamite and he needs pitchtime to achieve it.
I have to lend my weight to Rasps argument that Song did not have a good game. What gets missed from watching the game on tv is that Wilshere needed more support than he was getting and Song was playing too far forward. The jitteriness comes from the mid-field not having control not from the defence doing a bad job.
Maybe Denilson would have been better alongside Jack than Song.
You are perhaps right about the midfield not protecting the defence Peaches.
BR obviously disagrees, but I think you have a point, (Theo is just incapable of tracking/tackling back), but I fear the CB’s are not up to it!
On other matters, Rasp is spot on!
My Player ratings
Fabianski 6.5
Clichy 7
Sagna 8
Squillaci 7
Koscielny 6 Djourou 7
Song 5
Wilshere 6
Arshavin 7.5
Rosicky 6.5
Nasri 9
Chamakh 7
Subs
van Persie 6
Walcott 4
Hi BR,
subs are usually used to make an impact,especialy as was the case yesterday at 1-1 with RVP and Theo.neither changed the game to any great degree except for RVP clearing from his own goal line and his lay off to Samir.
Song just shouldn’t go over the half way line in games like these.he was awful in the first half and peaches emphasises the point.
Raddy,
I must have watched the game 3 or 4 times and I still think Song would have been much better staying back and allowing Jack to go forward. Song misplaced quite a few passes too. It worked so well last season, why change it? Even Arsène concedes that the defence is our weakness, why allow our best defensive midfielder to play too high up the pitch? It would be OK if he had blinding pace, but he doesn’t as was shown when Dempsey ghosted past him to feed Kamara for their goal. Song actually fell over when Dempsey wrong footed him.
kelsey – Rosicky didn’t play in your game then 😉
Hi kelsey,
Your player ratings are not that far removed from mine 😉
If I had to give the players a confidence rating out of 10, it would go like this:
Fabianski 7
Sagna 8
Clichy 8
Squillaci 8
Djourou 8
Song 8
Nasri 10
Rosicky 7
Wilshere 8
Arshavin 8
Chamakh 7
Walcott 5
RvP 7
I agree that Song would be better served playing deeper but I belive he plays under instruction. If AW wanted him to be more defensive why not tell him?
Exactly Raddy – what do you think the answer is?
If AW thinks it’s a good idea, then this is another example of him stubbornly persisting with a failing experiment – and if he doesn’t think its a good idea, why is he too ineffectual to persuade Song to go back to doing what he does best?
Rasp. The failed experiment with Song has led us to be top of the table.
I realise that had we not been “complacent in our defensive duties” we could and should be 7 points clear (at least), but for a team that is lacking it’s defensive leader …….. you know the rest.
Rasp. I think the answer is beyond my comprehension 🙂
Aha, one man doth not a team make certainly, but we can’t afford too many passengers. Before Saturday, we were 11 points behind the chavs at the same stage of the season. As Arsène quite rightly observed, it is the most open Premiership in memory.
We’ve already made some fundamental mistakes this season having failed to learn the lesson from last year. Fielding a weakened team away at Shakhtar after only 3 games was way too risky. We will almost certainly qualify second in the group and as a result, there is a strong chance we will play Barca, Inter, Real or Bayern in the next round. I would hope that we will put out our strongest team on Wednesday as we are not playing manu until the following Monday.
A very juicy discussion if I may say. The Song conundrum probably generates more controversy than any other subject; so much so, that some blogs have established a very large following on the back of it. My tupence worth is this: Song was not up to his usual standards yesterday, I was at the game; I always am. Passes did go astray but when Nasri started hobbling Pat Rice shouted instructions to Song to stay behind him and with that he put in a very good and an extremely important defensive shift during the aerial bombardment that took place in the remaining fifteen minutes.
It should be clear to everyone that the more attacking role he is playing in midfield is being done with Wenger’s absolute blessing. So, the finger of blame, if you are in that camp, should be aimed at our manager and not at the player. The question that then arises is – why has Wenger given him such a free rein?
I’m on the fence as to whether I agree; it all seems to make sense when Song scores but on other days, like yesterday, I must admit that I do question it.
However, in an attempt to make sense of this some very unusual answers have sprung to mind: could it be that Wenger is grooming Wilshere? To be a good all round midfielder you have to be able to attack as well as defend; Jack has the creative, going forward, part of his game, in the bag but he needs to improve his defensive game to become a general. Is Wenger trying to improve Song’s all round game? By contrast Song already has the defensive side in the bag and is in the process of improving the offensive side. I suppose this does raise the question: why don’t they simply do what they are good at; Song stay back and Wilshere play more advanced?
I can only guess, yet again, as to why Wenger chooses to do what he does but there is one thing that is certain in this confusing time and that is we are top of the League, so someone is doing something right.
Evening all
“Also Song had a decent game, not one of his best” – well said Mr Radders.
“Song just shouldn’t go over the half way line in games like these” – Really..? At home to Fulham..???
Hi London, missed your brief visit the other day, good to see you back.
More from me on the Song debate in a bit. Kids need putting to bed.
The Arsenal are top. But the hard work begins. Arrogance must be spurned, nothing should be taken for granted, & every game must be taken on its merits, or merwits as mon ami would say 🙂
Make no mistake Gooners, we are in this up to our eye balls.
COYRRR
MY take on the Song, Wilshere debate is that Wenger openly encourages them to reverse their roles during a game in the hope of maturing their all round game.
AW also states that he believes in having 11 captains.
These two belief’s sound counter productive as who decides when enough is enough and they go back to their core responsibilities? Eleven different opinions are ten to many.
I’m thrilled with where we are and the prospect of winning something this season.
I’m going to write to Santa and ask for a big brute of a CB and a defensive coach, but he may not listen as I’ve been a naughty boy….(unspecified)
In fact Peaches/Rasp whoever, I can expand my comment into a post for tomorrow or another day if you like
If you’ve got something for tomorrow already, then thats cool as I can expand and polish what I’ve currently got (a turd?) into a half decent piece tomorrow.
GN%…thats what I also see, Jack and Alex sharing the responsibility, and taking turns to push on depending on who sees a gap in the oppo’s formation at any particular point in time. The trick is to always have one of our MF 3 stay out of the mix and it seems to work well.
With Fabregas as one of the three he’s the least likely to be seen holding back, but it was him who lost the foot race with Coleman at Goodison park from a deeper starting position.
Likewise when Denilson is a third (thats THIRD for any of you from LeGrove reading this) of the MF, he’s the least likely to get into the opposition box. Song, Wilshere (and Diaby I guess) are all just as happy taking up any of the 3 positions DM, CM, AM, with almost no preference shown for any one position over another.
Rotational midfield, keep the oppo guessing, I like it !!
Like has been already said, its gotten us to the top of the League, and does anyone really think that we haven’t lost any points simply due to not taking gilt edged chances.
Yesterday was almost another example, so fair do’s to w Brom who played very well, but the other two losses really don’t require a supercomputer and NASA’s finest to understand.
Sharkey – Rocky will send something through overnight for tomorrow, I won’t know its content until I see it in the morning but if its not solving the Song conundrum can you have something ready for Tuesdays post?
London 😀
Tues is good for me…cheers Peaches
Great to hear your views London, sorry I missed you whilst you were around. Last year, Song would have been my second name on the team sheet because he was the rock on which our attacking play was built (Cesc was tthe orchestrator). I don’t think many would say that Song is playing as well this season as last, and I believe that is mainly to do with his changed role. It is a very interesting theory that the emergence of LJ has changed the dynamic in midfield – but I don’t buy it. Jack is being placed under huge pressure as an 18 year old and Song had matured into the role (despite the vitriol from some areas). It makes little sense in human or footballing terms.
I can see how forcing Theo to play out wide can help his development whilst not hampering the team, but to lose your midfield lynchpin when the defence is leaky dumfounds me.
It’s as though Arsène has ‘Oppositional Disorder’ and will challenge any conventional football belief = CB’s have to be tall, CF’s have to have a good shot, GK’s have to be able to catch ….. OK, I’ve gone way too far 😆 , but you get my drift…..
Sorry – just catching up on the comments now. Have written about the Song issue as it seems the most controversial one at the moment. But I’m sure it merits more than one piece.
Thanks Sharkey
Sharkey – I’ve just emailed you.
Rocky – I’ve emailed you too, wouldn’t want you to feel left out 🙂
Morning all
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