Back to winning ways in convincing fashion yesterday and that was the kind of result and performance that we all wanted to see after last weekend’s disappointment against Birmingham.
Fulham were no match for us at any stage of the game and look like they’re going to have a serious struggle on their hands to maintain their top level status. Man of the day was Emmanuel Adebayor whose two goals put him on 15 for the season and will hopefully go some way to convincing those still doubtful of his ability that he’s very close to being the real deal.
The first came from a Gael Clichy cross, he leapt in the air, he hung there for a few minutes, then, only when he felt like it mind you, he headed it past Anti Niemi who didn’t even move. We put together some lovely moves but couldn’t find the finish to match until Flamini made a fantastic tackle to win the ball, got the ball to Hleb and his cross was duly dispatched by the head of Adebayor and once again the keeper didn’t even move. Two fantastic headers and the perfect antidote to the last couple of games when it looked like we might be falling back into the habit of trying to walk the ball into the net.
At 2-0 the game was pretty much all over. Danny Murphy had Fulham’s only real chance of the game but he put it over the bar. The second half was all Arsenal again. Hleb was mesmerising and there were a couple of moves of the highest quality. One saw some slick passing end up at Cesc’s feet in the box but his toe-poked shot crept wide while Eduardo, who was pretty quiet in general, bamboozled their defence out on our left, raced into the box and gave it to Rosicky whose shot hit the outside of the post.
There was icing to be put on the cake though and who better than Arsenal’s master icing on cake guy, Tomas Rosicky. A quick break from midfield saw Eduardo put clear on the left. I thought he was going to play it first time to Hleb in the middle who was all on his own but he held onto it for a bit and picked out the onrushing Rosicky who knocked it home the stretch. 3-0 then and the scoreline was in no way flattering.
Especially pleasing were the performances of Hleb, in particular, and Rosicky who was as good as I’ve ever seen him in an Arsenal shirt. If we can get that level of performance from him on a consistent basis between now and the end of the season then he could do some real damage to the opposition. In Clichy and Sagna we have surely the two most energetic full backs in the league. As for Adebayor, I don’t understand why people continue to have doubts about him. I’m not suggesting he’s the finished article or anything like it but he’s stepped up this season having been given more responsibility and his goal tally speaks for itself. Keep it up, big man. He earned the praise of the manager and we can really thank our lucky stars that Togo didn’t qualify for the ACN. With Robin van Persie on life-support we really, really need Adebayor.
Afterwards the boss was pleased with the performance and the response to last week’s result, saying:
I believe we were in control of the game in the 90 minutes. We gave a strong performance based on last week’s result. It’s a great boost for us. The way we played on the pitch today sends a strong message on how much this team wants it. The title race is interesting, it’s exciting and it promises to be a very interesting end of the season.
Yes, indeed it does. United keep winning, Chelsea keep winning, so it’s going to be neck and neck right to the bitter end, I think. Next up in the league is the visit of Kelvin Koogan’s Newcastle – but only after two cup games. Firstly the Carling Cup second leg against Sp*rs then Newcastle in the FA Cup.
Looking around the Sundays for the bits and pieces now. There’s a ticketing row ahead of the game on Tuesday – Sp*rs are being blamed for the low attendance at the Grove for the first leg. With gate receipts from cup games shared they nixed the idea of £10 and £20 tickets so they could swell their coffers so they could then go and spend the money on some shitehawk midfielder. Cunts.
Jens Lehmann says he still believes he’ll get a chance in the Arsenal first team again. At the moment it looks like the only games he’s going to play will be in the FA Cup so a long run in that will see him get a few games.
The Telegraph has a piece on Theo Walcott comparing him to Michael Owen at the same age. It’ll be interesting to see Theo’s response to the coverage of his career this week but let me ask you this. Would you prefer Theo were like Michael Owen, scoring goals early in his career but then ending up a crippled half-wit playing for a bunch of shitkickers like Newcastle? Or would the long term approach to his career be best? I’m also curious to see where he’ll play on Tuesday against Sp*rs – down the middle or back out on the right hand side because we have no other obvious candidate to play there.
And that’s about it. Thanks to Tom for his sterling work yesterday. I had serious problems with NTL who assured me modem was fucked and that only a visit from a technician would fix it. I then went out to buy on off-the-shelf broadband thing so I could get online for the weekend and when I came home my completely fucked modem had somehow fixed itself. They really are a shower of useless cunts.
Enjoy your Sunday, more tomorrow.
