March 19th
An impressive 3-0 win over a fairly limp Charlton put us into the 4th place for a few hours yesterday – until those cocksmokers down the road rolled over relegation fodder Birmingham.
We were ahead after 12 minutes through Robert Pires but could have had a couple before that, especially when Adebayor just needed to roll a simple pass to Thierry Henry but delayed, went it alone and cocked it up. Some people have suggested the captain’s reaction was a bit over the top but I’m impressed at Henry’s restraint. If it had been me waiting for the pass I’d have gone over and kicked him in the balls, then when he was lying on the ground I’d have booted his ribs in before driving over him with a steamroller.
To be fair to the big Togan he made amends by sending Henry through to set up the first goal and he scored the second one when the Charlton defender let the ball go through his legs. As the striker was falling his nicked it past the keeper with the outside of his foot to make it 2-0.
Henry had a free kick for which Charlton had two men on the line. Had it been a foot or two lower neither of them would have got near it.
Second half saw us go 3-0 up after about 5 minutes. Hlen ran with the ball, gave it to Adebayor who shot and it scrambled around a bit before Helb himself volleyed it home for his second Arsenal goal and one he thoroughly deserved.
We probably should have scored more, Robin van Persie and Dennis Bergkamp came on, Robert Pires hit the post but it was a comfortable win and from front to back another good performance.
Afterwards Arsene Wenger said “The confidence is back in the team and we have found the way we want to play the game. It is enjoyable to see how quickly the young players have improved and how strong they look. I am very, very happy for them and for the club.”
And he’s right. We might have what we might have considered a makeshift back four but Eboue and Flamini are full of energy in the full back positions and Kolo and Philippe Senderos are forging the kind of partnership I really hoped they would. Senderos in particular looks more confident and that’s noticable in his performances. You have to think that the reason we’re better in midfield and up front is because we’ve become more solid at the back.
Fabregas in midfield is continuing his fine vein of form and again you can see the confidence in his game. He always does the simple things well but now he’s adding a bit of flair to his game and it’s great to see. Special mention again though to Alexander Hleb who has now started to show what Arsene Wenger saw in him. Great running on the ball, works hard and while his final pass still needs a bit of work he’s become far more dangerous and his goal was apt reward for his performance yesterday.
Up front Adebayor looks like a new born foal everytime the ball comes to him but he’s got a knack of scoring goals and all round he was invovled in a lot of good stuff. The only thing I’d say is when we have a corner I’d like to see him in the box instead of hanging around the corner taker looking for a short one. Then Thierry, who yesterday sort of distanced himself from all the Barcelona speculation, well, what can you say about him? He looked like he was just gliding across the pitch yesterday. Some people might say we could bring in a new era without him but I’d much rather our new era included him. On form he’s just a pleasure to watch and I hope he’s at the forefront of this exciting new Arsenal team. Overall, job well done, boys, thank you.
Sunday round-up from the papers: The News of the World suggests we’re soliciting offers for Henry from Inter Milan. I don’t even have the words to dismiss that for the load of bollocks that it is. Arsene Wengers says he’s not nice, according to The People and that his new dream at Arsenal is “…winning the Champions League and rebuilding an ‘invincible’ team to experience again the total serenity of 2004.”
Amy Lawrence talks about the support of Juventus, Italy’s biggest club. Imagine that they actually gave away 26,000 tickets for the Werder Bremen match but were still 30,000 short of capacity.
Right, that’s it. I’m away to get the always enjoyable after a win Sunday papers and some brekkie. Till tomorrow, Arsers.
