It’s funny how when you’re playing well and in good form you find things going your way, little bits of luck that can help decide a game.
I think it’s fair to say we got a bit of that yesterday against Wolves. You certainly wouldn’t have put too much money on the final scoreline after the first twenty minutes. The home side played very well, put us some pressure and had they a more clinical striker they might well have scored.
For our part we looked a bit unbalanced. There were three changes from Wednesday night. Sagna came in for Eboue, as expected. Eduardo for Nasri was no real surprise but the inclusion of Aaron Ramsey at the expense of Alex Song was a bit curious. I’m sure Song needs a rest now and again, our lack of an alternative to him is a bit worrying, and I know Ramsey needs games. I’m glad to see him play as he’s a huge talent, I just don’t see the Welshman as a like for like replacement.
There was definitely an element of good fortune to Arsenal’s first two goals but perhaps the best thing to happen on the night was the injury to Diaby. And I mean that in the sense that it meant Song came on, Ramsey was free to play alongside Cesc, and we immediately looked much better. Obviously I hope Diaby’s not injured in any serious way but the difference when Song came on was so obvious the manager can’t be blind to it.
We went ahead through a corner from our left. At first it looked as if Eduardo had poached one in typical Eduardo style but it was an own goal from Wolves defender Ronald Zubar who really has an excellent name. The second also looked like a piece of classy finishing from Eduardo but I think it’s one for the dubious goals committee. We caught them high up the pitch, Ramsey and Eduardo were 2 on 1 against the Wolves defender, Ramsey’s pass was a little short and I think Eduardo was trying to chip it back over the defender for Ramsey to score. Instead it hit Craddock on the head and looped into the top corner. It was very nice to look at but I think it was another own goal.
There was nothing lucky about the third though. A sweeping move saw Bacary Sagna out on our right hand side, he crossed it into the box and Robin van Persie touched it into the path of the oncoming Cesc Fabregas who finished at the near post to make it 3-0. Sagna has perhaps responded to Eboue being considered a better attacker than him by upping his game in that area. His final ball is a lot more threatening than it was but you really won’t see a better first touch than than van Persie’s all season long. With his wrong foot he just killed the pace on the ball, Cesc didn’t even have to break his stride to score. Sublime football and 3-0 to Arsenal at half time.
With the game essentially dead and buried the second half was a bit dull. I remember a decent chance for Eduardo, Rosicky put one over when he came on, Aaron Ramsey shot just wide late in the half, and our goal came from Andrei Arshavin. At first I thought we’d gotten lucky again, at first view it looked as if the defender had kicked the ball off the Russian and it had gone in. The replays showed he was quickest to react after the keeper’s poor punch from our corner.
If you want to nitpick at all you might point to the fact that their late goal is another clean sheet gone begging. The normally faultless Thomas Vermaelen showed he’s human after all when he let Craddock get away from him and the header into the top corner was pretty much unstoppable. Arsene said he’s not that worried about the goals we’re conceding because if you look at the stats we’ve had the fewest shots taken against us. Maybe the worry is we’re just much better at conceding than anyone else. As I said though it seems a bit nit-picky when you score four away from home, but you’re not always going to score four.
It was disappointing to concede from a set-piece like that. They played well. We were not at our best but still managed to score four.
We have a style where everyone goes forward. You cannot have everything in football, but I believe we have a good balance between offense and defence, and as long as we score as many goals as we do, we can accept that.
We are in a strong position because we have a game in hand. Let’s keep strength in our belief, keep humility, and enjoy our game
The win puts us in second place in the table. It might just be temporary. In fact, I hope it is just temporary. If United get anything from today’s game against Chelsea then they’ll go above us and the ideal outcome of today’s game is a draw. Even with a game in hand we don’t want Chelsea going 5 points clear.
Of course now we’re into an Interlull which really is a pain. The way we’re playing at the moment you just want the next game to come, even if it is November, traditionally a difficult month for us. There’s not much we can do about though beyond hoping for injury free international outings for our lads and that we can pick things up where we left off when we come back.
And that’s about that. There’s nothing of any great interest in the tabloids this morning so it’s breakfast time. Have a good Sunday, here’s to a cracking and destructive draw between Cunts and Cunts this afternoon, more tomorrow.
