A GREAT STAR TO A NEW YEAR.
Arsenal went into the Burnley game in the FA Cup 3rd round proper on a high, after the Everton and West Ham victories, with a typical ‘Cup XI’ starting at Turf Moor.
A decent goal buy Eduardo put the gloss over a half-decent first half, but the second half left a lot to be desired. Arsenal looked jaded, with Abou Diaby in particular having a poor game. Nicklas Bendtner and Eduardo, for this writer, looked like a modern-day Ian Wright and Kevin Campbell partnership; good movement and good understanding, but utterly reliant on some midfield creativity happening behind them, for the hope of receiving the decent passes their runs off the ball demanded. Without Cesc Fabregas, Alex Hleb and Tomas Rosicky, such occurances were few and far between. Yet, whilst Bendtner dropped deep to little effect, once Eduardo went off in search of the ball, the Burnley defence went walk about. A perfect pass into Bendtner’s run allowed the Dane to round the comical Kiraly to make it 0-2 and complete the wallpapering over a rather insepid display.
On this evidence, yes, Arsenal can play well without key players - something the team must get used to with Kolo Toure leaving for a month (Toure, the captain today, was superb) - and still win against determined opponents. Manu Eboue was, for me, very slack with his final ball and may not be too missed. Calls for Luka Modric et al won’t disappear off the Arsenal forums for a while on this showing.
Some questions that for me need to be answered though;
1 - Where was Lassana Diarra? Was he left out in order to keep him elligable in the cup for other (lesser) teams?2 - Was that Jens Lehmann’s last game for Arsenal? Will Wenger sign a 3rd choice ‘keeper in this window?3 - How long will Wenger persist to play without a left-winger? Abou Diaby had a shocker and there isn’t a lot of choices for that flank.
4 - Is Manu Eboue ‘Arsenal Quality?’ His performance was poor on the right flank and his decision making was pub-league. I know he is a popular choice for a scape-goat, but surely Walcott would have put in a better shift?!
5 - Can Arsenal cope without Kolo Toure? He put in a game winning performance, but can Phil Senderos keep his level of performance up, as he was very good today too.
6 - Will Wenger dip into the finances? With Luke Freeman being touted as Wenger’s latest young signing, will he bow to the media speculation and sign some experience - especially on the flanks?
2008 has started well, let’s hope Arsenal can perform on all four fronts for as long as possible.
2008 has started well, let’s hope Arsenal can perform on all four fronts for as long as possible.Happy New Year Folks.
so many question..
one answer.. wenger know what to do and sure him will bring glory with this young squad
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Comment by weirdo` — Monday, January 7, 2008 @ 10:20 pm
walcott i feel is def not ready for first team action as he has a big big knock of making the wrong final decision! its something that will correct itself with mental maturity & experience! we shouldnt expect him to develop like a fabregas who’s just a one off, walcott is only 18 & he has all the physical attributes to succeed at arsenal it will just take aother year at least because this problem is a mental one, his technique’s improved, his penetration has improved, but this will be the all important improvement & we should just be patient. look at j-cole it took him til about 22 to fully flourish!
Comment by mohammed — Friday, January 11, 2008 @ 5:46 pm
is there a wordlimit for commenting on here??
Comment by mohammed — Friday, January 11, 2008 @ 6:06 pm
For the masochistic among you, consider how slight the margins were this season.
P Team Pld W D L Pts GD
1 Arsenal 38 25 11 2 86 45
2 Chelsea 38 25 10 3 85 39
3 Man U 38 26 6 6 84 56
This is how the table should have looked. Not after major alterations in our season, but if we had kept our concentration for the last 35+ minutes of the game at Old Trafford where we played them off the park. Instead we conceeded two needless set-pieces. That’s how close it was.
I know hindsight is always 20/20, and some will argue that if we had won, the other results may not have panned out they way they did, but that argument would also work in our favour, considering the morale boost a win over Utd would have given the lads. THAT”S how CLOSE it was!
Keep the faith Gooners!!
Comment by Ben Panther — Tuesday, May 13, 2008 @ 12:52 pm