I suspect there are students of Arsenal statistics out there who may well prove me wrong but I can’t remember a start to the season so filled with goals. Another four went past a fairly hapless Portsmouth yesterday, we might even have scored more, and the positive start to the season continues.
The manager made some changes, Abou Diaby coming in for Alex Song, Eduardo started in place of Nicklas Bendtner and Eboue and Gibbs replaced Sagna and Clichy. I’m not exactly sure what formation we played yesterday, it seemed to alternate between the 433 and a traditional 442 but every time I thought I’d got it sussed I’d see Diaby popping up in a different area of the pitch. He seemed to have licence to roam yesterday and that turned out to be a good thing.
He scored our first two goals. The first came on 18 minutes after Eduardo made a chump of the Portsmouth right back, surged into the box and sqauared it for Diaby to sidefoot home with aplomb. The second was another great counter attacking goal. Arshavin picked up the ball in the right back position after a Portsmouth corner, he played it infield to Cesc who picked out Eboue who had bombed forward down the right hand side. Eboue’s simple ball across to Diaby saw the Frenchman slide it home for his and Arsenal’s second.
Diaby’s overall performance had the manager comparing him to Vieira on one hand and suggesting this might well be his breakthrough season on the other. We know he took it upon himself to do extra training this summer and there’s never really been any doubt that the boy is a talented footballer. What many said before this season started though is that it was now or never for him and if this kind of form continues then it looks like now.
Of course it’s just one performance. We need to see this again and again and again. And I don’t just mean the goals. I mean the overall performance he put in which was good as any he’s had for the club. It’s too early to say he’s proved people wrong but he’s on the right track and that’s good to see.
We might have had at least three or four other goals in that first half. David James made some excellent saves, not least from a Robin van Persie free kick, we dilly-dallied in the box a few times when we might have been more decisive and we dominated the game completely. Which is why it was fairly typical that we conceded one. A Portsmouth corner was cleared to our right back position, we kind of stood off and allowed them cross it in and Kaboul rose higher than Almunia to head home.
It was poor goalkeeping, no question, but nor was there any challenge from a defender and Almunia seemed to think he would be able to claim it unchallenged, perhaps a lack of a shout from a teammate about the arrival of Kaboul (who looks like something Hellboy might fight, doesn’t he?). Nevertheless you expect your keeper to dominate that part of his area and the Spaniard won’t be happy with his efforts.
The second half began without Cesc who had tweaked his hamstring, the manager choosing to throw on Aaron Ramsey rather than Song. Early in the second half there was a moment of panic when Utaka got in behind Gallas and on the edge of our box went down as if he’d been fouled. I still haven’t seen the replay of it but I think we can count ourselves lucky a bit. It’s the kind of challenge that generally results in a red card, even if the defender hasn’t made any contact with the attacker. There’s some suggestion Utaka tripped over his own feet but even then we can count our blessings that both referee and linesman managed to see that and wave play on. The easy decision there was the free kick and red card.
Portsmouth were unhappy with the decision and you can only imagine the expletives on their bench when Gallas scored the crucial third goal. Arshavin played in a free kick from our left, van Persie nodded it on, Vermaelen got to it at the back post, it came across goal, hit Gallas on the foot, then on his goalscoring left nipple and went in. The defender is now our top scorer this season with three in three. What a start to the season he’s made. I think he’s going to score with his bellybutton (which is an outy) next.
After that it was all over. There were a couple of dangerous moments when Portsmouth got in down our left but thankfully their lack of quality there meant they couldn’t take advantage of the rawness of Kieran Gibbs. Aaron Ramsey made it 4-1 with his first league goal for Arsenal when played in by Robin van Persie and that was that.
Overall not as accomplished a performance as against Everton but then it didn’t need to be. We skirted with danger a bit but you always sensed that we had more gears to step up into if needed. On the evidence of yesterday Portsmouth are in real, real trouble this season.
So in our first two league games we have won two, scored ten and gained 6 points, leaving us with a goal difference of +8. I know there are some that will analyse things to death but you cannot possibly ask for more from a start to the season. When you also take into account that of those ten goals only one has been scored by a striker then it augurs well.
I’d agree with those who say van Persie could do with a goal, he’s still obviously learning that lone striker role, but as long as the goals are going in and we’re winning the games it doesn’t really matter who scores. If you’re a team that is dependent for the most part on your strikers for goals then you’re in trouble when they don’t score. We have a team that, at the moment, can bang them in from all over the pitch. To me that’s a positive.
Afterwards Arsene Wenger said:
The first week was very successful with two difficult away games. Now we have another week, a second week, it is another test with Celtic and Manchester United. It looks to be exciting and interesting.
On the potential injury to Cesc he said:
If it is a little pull, he will be out for three weeks, if it is just tightness, maybe he can get away for Wednesday. In 48 hours we will have a better view.
Fingers crossed it’s not that serious but whatever happens I think it’d be mad to play him against Celtic. Having him fit for United away is far more important and with the greatest of respect to Celtic we should be able to cope better without him for that game. Let’s see how it goes.
Rounding up the Sunday news now and Andrei Arshavin talks to the Sunday Times. He’s certainly not one of those boring ‘Yeah, I just hit and it’s gone in the back of the net’ footballers when interviewed. He talks about how he’d have earned more money by staying at Zenit but joined Arsenal for the sporting challenge, saying:
I wanted to see what the game is like when you play for a world-class team and play only on world-class surfaces and meet only star players every week — as opposed to having to travel to play at half-demolished stadiums, sometimes with artificial pitches, where the result of your game can depend on what the referee is feeling like that particular day.
I like that. He also believes we need to make new signings, re-iterating what he said some months ago about bringing in players who have experience and quality. I don’t suppose there are too many fans who would disagree with him, as such. The start the season has been fantastic and wonderfully positive but if you asked me if I’d feel more confident with a couple of additions to the squad then of course I would. When pressed about where he’d like those signings to be made he said:
I’d rather not comment. I don’t think that would be appropriate. Arsène understands where improvement needs to be done.
You wonder quite how comments like that will sit with AW but then he knew what kind of man he was signing when he brought him to the club. He’s honest and straightforward and says what he says because it’s what he thinks. All the same we know Arsene will do what he wants to do, not what any players wants him to do.
AS in Spain are linking us strongly with a move for Dutchman Rafael van der Vaart while claiming there’s still interest from Atletico Madrid for Emmanuel Eboue.
And beyond that there’s little else happening. As it stands right now we’re top of the league. I like that.
Till tomorrow.
ps – You might notice things have changed a little bit in terms of fonts/menu bars etc. Things may get a little more weird over the course of the day, please ignore. It’s just me tinkering with the engine, so to speak.
