Well after a fairly miserable few weeks, we have our
winning Arsenal back. Saturday’s victory over West Bromwich Albion was our
first in the League since we smashed the noisy mob up the road three weeks ago,
and was a welcomed relief after what can only be modestly described as a pretty
tricky period for all at the club.
After a dismal performance at home against Swansea a week
ago plus a lacklustre display in Greece in Europe, the talk ahead of the WBA
match was one of a positive response and winning the fans over again, and
that’s exactly what happened. In truth, West Brom weren’t at their best but
that takes nothing away from what I thought was an excellent and professional
display from Arsenal, and the three points were very well deserved.
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| You beautiful Spaniard, you. |
Mikel Arteta scored both of the goals from the penalty
spot, and in all honesty we could and probably should have gone to score three
or four in a match we dominated from start to finish. Not that I’m complaining
though. The performance, result and clean sheet will certainly be a big
confidence boost to the players as we approach the busy winter period that
contains plenty of winnable fixtures.
There was controversy over the first goal, as Santi
Cazorla went down in the area under a challenge from Steven Reid that resulted
in a penalty that left Baggies manager Steve Clarke rather unhappy after the
game. I haven’t seen it on TV yet, but I’ve seen pictures and read reports that
offer differing opinions on the amount of contact (or lack of) that there
actually was.
To make one thing perfectly clear, Cazorla isn’t a diver.
He doesn’t have that extensive reputation and history of going swimming on the
pitch that the likes of Bale, Suarez and Young have, so the idea of dressing
him up and burning him at the stake is a little far fetched if you ask me. I
don’t condone it though. Not for a second. If it is indeed true that he dived,
I’d hope that Arsene Wenger would have a quiet word with him. But it doesn’t
require anything more. It’s an issue if he does it week in week out like the
aforementioned fuck wits do, but he doesn’t so I think we can get on with our
lives without losing any sleep on this one.
There was no such controversy with the second, as the
impressive Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (who had his best game of the season I
thought) was brought down by Chris Brunt. Arteta again converted with another
cool chip down the middle, and a two-goal cushion was enough to see the game
out without too many problems.
It was as complete a performance as we’ve seen from
Arsenal for some time, and credit must be given to the players and management
for turning around our poor form.
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| Excellent display from Wilshere. |
Whilst Arteta will rightly get the plaudits for the goals,
it was Jack Wilshere who impressed me most. His driving runs from midfield as
well as his improved understanding with Cazorla and Arteta were the heart beat
of our game, and West Brom simply didn’t have an answer. Last week there was
little ambition or confidence in our ability to move the ball forward, and I
think it was Wilshere’s contribution and determination that largely corrected
that yesterday. He was also unlucky not to get on the score sheet, as he
prodded wide from 6 yards after a Gervinho cut back. It’s simply great to have
him back and after Wenger’s comments about how he’s getting “closer to the player we know he is”, it’s scary to think how good a player he will be in the future.
Thomas Vermaelen also had his best game of the season I
thought. He looked assured and controlled at the back, stepped out of defence
with the ball well and also made several key blocks/interceptions. He’s taken a
lot of stick lately with questions over his performances and captaincy, but he
was incredibly impressive yesterday and let’s hope for more of the same.
Elsewhere, Olivier Giroud had another good game despite
being hounded by Olsson for most of it. With his strength in the air, he offers
something no other striker does at the club, and allowed us to be far more
direct in our attacking play with countless long balls used to good effect with
the wingers and attacking midfielders linking up well with the handsome
Frenchman.
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| Olsson, a bit of a bellend all game, being sized up by Jack. |
Defensively there was little to be worried about, and
Bacary Sagna and Kieron Gibbs both played well whilst Per Mertesacker was his
usual busy and effective self. Wojciech Szczesny was decent in goal, and it was a big
positive to get only our third clean sheet in the League since the beginning of
September.
After games like this there’s very little point in being
picky and fussy, but I’m going to have to be slightly about Gervinho. I’ve
defended him vigorously over the past couple of years but I’m finding it harder
and harder to do so right now. He’s busy, he runs a lot and he tries. But he
just isn’t a good enough footballer for Arsenal. I often saw him out of
position defensively yesterday, but it’s his poor decision-making and execution
that bugs me the most. He wasn’t terrible yesterday, but he was incredibly
frustrating. We’ve seen he can be good and I really hope he recaptures his fine
early season form, because right now he’s a headache.
Anyway, that’s only a small negative for me after what was
in all other areas a day full of positives. The wrongs of the Swansea game were
corrected. The confidence and belief was back in full flow, with the players
actually wanting to get on and use the ball rather than the dull passing along
the back line we frequently saw last weekend. We hardly gave West Brom a
chance, largely due to the return of the intense pressing that has worked so
well for us previously yet for some reason is only utilised scarcely as a
tactic. More of that please.
And with results going our way, it leaves us just two
points behind the trio of teams in fourth place. Not all that bad, is it? It
definitely has given us something to build on, and we really should be looking
at the upcoming League fixtures this month with four wins out of four very
possible. And necessary.
Up next though is a trip up North for the Capital One Cup
quarter final against Bradford City. I think we can expect a fair few changes
for this one, and without any kind of disrespect to Bradford it’s probably one
that we can afford to rest some key players without it harming us too much.
Cup games are tricky yes, and Bradford will be up for this
so we need to be prepared and switched on. But it’s a game that I expect us to
win without needing to be full strength and with a semi-final spot as the
reward I’m sure the players will go out there, give it their all and get the
job done.
That’s the performance that we saw at the Emirates
yesterday. The idea that these players aren’t good enough is ludicrous, so let’s
hope that now they can build on this display and really show everyone what they’re
capable of.
Follow me on twitter: @mattlittlechild
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