Sunday, January 9, 2011

Arsenal Versus Leeds - One More Go Around and Theo Acts the Grown Up

Well, it certainly is ironic isn't it?  That in a world with so many people having so many problems, a social worker would need to scrounge around for extra work because of diminishing hours? That's what I've been doing the past week or so and consequently two things have happened.  One - I found a job (yay, me) and two - I haven't written a post in a week.

I could have written a "Man City Park the Greyhound" piece but that was done to death.  And of course yesterday, our bench players drew Leeds in the third round of the FA Cup 1-1.  We now have a replay on the 18th/19th of January at Elland Road.  It's an extra match to play, but from what I read during the match (via ESPN commentary and Arseblog's live blog), it sounds like the Benchers could use the practice.  Playing away at Leeds also means our boys will be playing in front of our away fans whom I suspect are die-hard and will do more to encourage those players who are struggling (Arshavin/Bendtner) rather than boo them.  They both could use a boost from the 12th man in my opinion.  As long as they are hustling - and my take on the match was those two were not slacking off - then I think encouraging our squad is our job.  Not humiliating them.

Off that particular soapbox and straight onto another. 

Let's talk about one of the subs who made a great impact when coming on...Theo.  In the 90th minute, Cesc converted a penalty given to Arsenal because Theo had been brought down in the box.  A few plays before that, Theo had ended up on the ground in the box also, but no penalty was given.  After the match, Theo admitted he had dived in that incident trying to win a penalty call - and apologized.

“I am not the sort of player to do it but I own up to it and apologise. It is something I don’t want to see in my game."

He not only apologized to us fans, but to Wenger and Grayson after the match as well.  And he's received some flak for it.  On Twitter, fans are worried he won't get penalty calls after this admission.  Some are accusing him of caring too much whether or not he's liked.  There seems to be some admiration but it is grudgingly given.  You know what I think?  I think Theo acted like a grown up in an atmoshpere that is rampant with the attitudes of arrested adolescence.  Instead of covering up a bad choice, putting on an air of indignation at the slightest accusation, or rationalizing that cheating is "part of the game", Theo owned up - without being prompted, mind you.  When it comes to our children, we want them to be responsible, don't we?  We want them to make constructive choices and display the ability to learn from their mistakes.  Why would we expect less from an adult?  Only in the sports arena would an admission and an apology be construed as "weak".  Well, maybe sports isn't the only arena, but you know what I'm saying.

So Theo gets an unequivocal "well done" from this Gooner.

Onto other news, it looks as though Wenger will be delving into the market in January as Squillaci has a hamstring injury from the Leeds game and *sigh* my Vermie has had a set back.  So reports John Cross of the Mirror anyway.  The article also goes on to discuss our possible targets being Gary Cahill from Bolton, Mertesacker from Bremen Werder or even Jagielka from Everton.  Bolton has a very small squad at the moment and I'm not sure if they would be willing to lose a player.  Of course, Coyle wants Vela on loan, so maybe some sort of deal could be worked out.  There's no news of injury to either player on the official website, but it's the weekend and the site usually doesn't put up any news until Monday.  I'll be tuning in first thing.  My British comrades of course, will get the jump on me - unless I get up at 3:00 AM which I don't foresee happening.

That's it for now.  We have Ipswich on Wednesday for the Carling Cup and I suspect the squad to be a duplicate of the FA Cup barring those injured.  Now that I am once again gainfully employed, I will turn by attention back to that which really matters...writing about Arsenal.  Have a good one Gooners.

Sunday, January 2, 2011

Birmingham Result Sparks New Year


Robin converts his free kick...Cesc opens the Wall
 I'm writing my report after Chelsea's draw to Aston Villa.  Thanks to Villa's last minute heroics, Chelsea have dropped to fifth with Spurs taking their spot in fourth place.  And thanks to a confident winning performance at Birmingham, we are sitting in third place, one point behind Manchester United and Manchester City.  We are definately sitting in a great position, drafting behind the two Mancs who, if they were wise, would be looking seriously over their collective shoulders at the almost-ready-for prime-time-players of Arsenal.

The match at Birmingham on paper looked as if it could be tricky.  Birmingham had not lost to any of the Big Four teams at home this season and had consisitently held us off the past couple of seasons.  Wenger opted to start the same XI as he did with Chelsea, and they looked as threatening and powerful as they did last Monday.  The main difference in the outcome was that we kept a clean sheet against a defensive, physical side on a poor pitch on a cold and rainy day.  Last season, all three of those factors could have affected our play.  It has to be said though, this is a different, tougher team who are -I think - finally understanding what it takes to win.

Here are a few things I noticed
  1. Bacary Sagna is a tough humble man.  Rarely have I seen him given to arguing with a ref afer a bad call or doling out retribution to the opposition after being on the receiving end of dirty play.  Twice yesterday Sagna was the target of petulant stamps by Bowyer.  Both incidents were not seen by any of the officials.  However, since the TV cameras captured the moments, the FA is looking at charging him.  My point is, Sagna did what he always does.  He got up and played on and played well.  He was the Man of the Match for me.
  2. Robin is his usual self after coming back from a long layoff. He missed easy opportunites in front of the net.  At the start of last season, Robin took four Premier League matches before he scored and then went on to score 8 times in 9 matches before having his ankle crunched by one of our least favorite Italians.  He's in the right positions, he's unselfish and creating chances for others, and his free kick yesterday (assisted by Bowyer and Cesc's disappearing act from the wall) shows why he has the best left foot in the EPL.
  3. Cesc is back.  One can tell from his sprints that he feels unhampered.  He is threading passes and keeping possession of the ball whilst defending it from three defenders.  His heart is there for all to see also as demonstrated by his reaction to Nasri's goal.
  4. Djourou and Koz are the best defensive combination we have right now.  This comes as no surprise to many of you, but this duo is unbeaten.  And Koz did not make any costly errors.  In fact, I think his match was pretty error-free.  And DJ was impressive as always.  I can't wait to see the DJ/Vermaelan combination.  Who am I kidding?  I can't wait to see Vermaelan period.  But for right now, these two are holding their own.
  5. This next observation has been evolving over the last couple of seasons, but here it is.  We can't get booted off the pitch anymore.  Kick us, bite us, put your studs into our kidneys (Theo) - we are not going to panic.  We are going to take it and then outplay you.  I notice that Wenger has stopped complaining about the bad tackling.  That's good.  Bad tackling needed attention brought to it and now that's done, we're getting on with things.  Hopefully, Bowyer will get a three game ban and Johnson's tackle on Cesc?  Well, that was paid for in spades by ...
  6. Birmingham's Own Goal.  That's right.  Believe in Karma or Reaping What You Sow or whatever way you want to put it, but Johnson's deflection into his own net was sheer poetic justice at its best.  We thoroughly deserved it too, as we put all the pressure on them to scramble and defend against us...and they made an error.  It's nice when the other team does it, isn't it?
  7. Fabianski made an important save and more than naught was aggressive with the ball on crosses, shot attempts, and set pieces.  He still flounders at times, but seems to build momentum off of one good display.  The drawback...what happens if he has a bad display?
  8. Song seems to have found his rightful spot again and balanced his defensive duties with wanting to go forward.  He handled the midfield beautifully yesterday and did not have to race back, foul badly, and earn a needless yellow card.  Well done.
  9. Theo is important even when he blows scoring opportunities.  His crosses have improved dramatically and he seems to get better every time he gets a chance to play.  He scares defenders, and after handling Cashley last week, I think Theo's confidence will only improve.  He's also so important for our defense as he raced back and tackled a ball forcing it out of bounds while covering for our full back.  For me, Andrey still needs to find that desire and hustle before replacing Walcott in the starting XI.
  10. Nasri continued his goal scoring after being set up by our Skipper.  He had missed an easy opportunity earlier, but made sure to finish this shot - right footing it on the inside corner of the left post just out of reach of a diving Ben Foster.  Lovely.
That's about it really.  We have a HUGE game on Wednesday against Manchester City and speculation will focus on who will be the starting XI.  The squad will have four days in between matches, so theoretically Wenger could stick with the winners from our last match.  With FA and Carling Cup opportunities in the wings, he can afford to rotate later.  Let's hope there's no new injuries reported before Wednesday.  Have a good one Gooners.

P.S. (Oh - if you wondering?  Yes, I held that lucky pennant the WHOLE game - except for halftime.  What'd I tell ya?)