Well we wanted a response to the disappointment of last Saturday and we got one with a 4-0 thumping of FC Porto at the Grove last night.
After all his talk of making changes the manager’s axe turned out to be not so much an axe as a teeny-tiny meat cleaver taken from an Action Man Kitchen Adventure set. The only change was Nasri in for Eboue and that’s one you would always expect when Nasri is fit anyway.
And there were a few moments of real danger before we opened the scoring. You need a bit of luck on your side and we had that when Rodriguez’s header bounced up and just about over the bar. Then I remember Almunia making a very good save and from the resulting corner Gael Clichy clearing off the line. Had any of those gone in then things might have been a bit worrying but as I said, you need the run of the green sometimes and once the first goal went in there was no looking back.
The first came after a wonderful piece of control from Cesc who played the ball into Adebayor. He held it and fed it to Robin van Persie whose run to the near post was perfectly timed and he poked it home convincingly. The roles were reversed for the second when Adebayor headed home van Persie’s corner.
The third came early in the second half when van Persie showed good strength to brush past Bruno Alves and his improvised finish went in at the far post. After that we had a whole host of chances. Walcott put one just wide from about 6 yards, then he turned provider for Nasri who put one wide from what seemed like even closer. The manager made some changes, Bendtner and Eboue coming on for van Persie and Nasri and the big Dane won a penalty which Adebayor converted to make it 4-0.
Carlos Vela came on for Theo Walcott and showed some quick feet and good skill while Adebayor should have had a hat-trick after being set up very well by Bendtner. So 4-0 it finished and I’m glad that the players who might well have been dropped have repaid the faith the manager showed in them. For the two strikers, so heavily criticised after Hull, to score 2 each is fantastic and I’m sure I even saw Gallas compete for and win a header [insert ironic smiley].
What was most pleasing was that this was probably Cesc’s best game of the season. There are lots of theories about why he hasn’t really performed this season. From tiredness after the Euros to lacking the kind of player like Flamini who allowed him to thrive last season to just lack of form everyone’s got an opinion, but he showed last night just how important he is to the team. We can play well without him but when he clicks into gear we’re a different beast altogether.
Afterwards the manager explained his decision not to ring the changes like he had threatened, saying:
I was tempted to make more than one change but I did not because I did not want to give the feeling that you punish one more than another. I believe sometimes you give the team the chance to respond quickly.
And fair play to them, they did. And it’s good to see. The main thing though is that the lesson stays learned, that complacent performances against teams like Hull do not happen again. It’s a cliché but there are no easy games in the Premier League and with Sunderland away on Saturday you can be quite sure we’re in for another battle for the three points.
And Theo Walcott said of the win:
We owed that to the fans. It was very disappointing at the weekend but we’ve got that out of our heads and showed tonight how good we are.
While Robin van Persie was keen to let the supporters know his thoughts, saying:
Everybody was really disappointed after losing against Hull. We knew we had to make it up to the fans and make it right. We played well and it was a deserved win.
With the manager also talking about owing the fans it seems everybody was singing from the same hymn sheet. It was interesting to see the amount of empty seats last night though. Not all the fans appear convinced by this team. No doubt when we get a few wins under our belt again those seats will fill up, which is another debate altogether.
So top of our Champions League we go but that should go out of our minds for the next few of weeks. With the next game not until October 21st against Fenerbache we’ve got to get ourselves focussed back on the league with two tricky games. Sunderland away, as I’ve mentioned, and Everton at home coming after the international break.
It was a good response last night but let’s wait and see how things go before we decide the corner is well and truly turned.
More tomorrow.
Update: Having real problems with the mailing list software so nothing has been sent out today. Sorry about that. I am trying to fix it, it appears to be a well-known issue but nothing has worked just yet.
