The good start to the season continued yesterday with a 1-0 win over a Manchester City side that looks unrecognisable from the ones we’ve been used to down the years. They were organised, quick, hard working and pretty good, if a bit toothless up front.
It took us about half an hour to get going but when you consider Gilberto was a last minute replacement for Senderos who was injured in the warm up and the Flamster was at right back when Sagna went off after 19 minutes that’s understandable. We had a couple of moments in the first half, one when van Persie just failed to get on the end of a ball across the face of goal and another when van Persie himself rolled one across goal only for Adebayor to stop his run for some unknown reason.
The second half was better and more enjoyable but it was City who could have scored first when Petrov drilled a shot just wide of the far post. Mpenza was put through then but Almunia was out of his goal quickly and made a very good save. City’s defence coped well with Adebayor and van Persie and the two strikers had games to forget but it was Micah Richards who chopped down Hleb and gave Arsenal a penalty on 65 minutes. I’ve always liked Robin van Persie’s penalty technique, he hits them high and into the corers where it’s impossible for a keeper to get near them. This was the complete opposite, he hit it hard and low and in the perfect place for Schmeichel Junior to save it. Having previously been a bit shaky looking that boosted his confidence and he made saves from van Persie and Cesc.
Adebayor was withdrawn for Eduardo and the Crozilian looked sharp and lively as Arsenal pressed for a goal. In the 80th minute Hleb played a lovely little ball through to Cesc inside the box and he spanked it home from a tight angle inside the keeper’s near post. Cue delirium, badge kissing and good times. We could have had a second when Hleb’s left footed shot scraped by the post. There was a late scare when Schmeichel came up for a corner and got a header on target but Almunia made a routine, if rather showy, save.
So, a victory, three points and a rather better start to this season than last. Now, I don’t think we played particularly well today. The two strikers didn’t do a lot and Adebayor in particular looked rusty, half fit and, for the first time in his Arsenal career, a bit lazy. Maybe he just doesn’t have the legs at the moment but what I really liked about him last year was the effort and workrate and that’s not something he can afford to do away with. As it was his first game of the season we’ll chalk it all down to fitness though and expect better next time.
My main point was the fact that we played badly and won. Some people might say the result simply papers over the cracks but there were times last season when we played lovely football and got nothing from games. Performances can be improved as the season goes on, results cannot. This was our first 1-0 at the new stadium and it was the kind of result that can make a huge difference at the end of the season. I’d much rather play badly and win games than be nice, pretty and ineffective. The desire to keep pushing for a goal was there and the amount of goals we score inside the last 10-15 minutes of games must be huge. Obviously I’d prefer if we scored a lot of goals earlier in games but beggars can’t be choosers.
Arsene’s comments afterwards made mention of that and he is really trying, publicly, to emphasise his belief in these players. He also spoke about transfers, saying:
I am not in the market for any new players.
I think you all know my stance on it. I think a genuine wide player would really make a difference to this team. I think most Arsenal fans would like to see a couple of players come in to give the squad some depth. The back four had two midfielders today, the wide areas are a problem and we don’t produce enough from there. There’s also the feeling the striking area could use a bit more quality but if Arsene has decided that there are to be no new arrivals then that’s the end of that. There’s no point us bleating and gnashing our teeth. I think he’s taking a gamble and if we do go on a bad run you know that this is a stick that people will beat him with. I’m sure he knows that too. Let’s just accept it and move on. If anything does happen between now and Friday night it’ll just be a nice surprise.
Early start this morning so I don’t have time to wait around and see what kind of gossip and scuttlebut fills the Sunday papers but I’m sure you all know how to find that yourself. Just bear in mind that from four games this season we’ve had three wins and a draw.
Next up a CL game on Wednesday against Sparta Prague. More tomorrow.
