Electric light

Written by Paul Williams on Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
18 Oct	3:00 PM	P	Everton (H)	3	1	Win

Wow.

After a first half of football on Saturday notable only for the fact that the team played poorly enough to make the crowd go so quiet I could hear some kind of generator humming away behind me, Arsenal's second half performance really set the pulse racing.

The players starting the game yesterday were as expected, with Alex Song reverting to right-back and Emmanuel Eboue playing in midfield. Which may not have been the best decision Arsène Wenger's ever made, but given the fact he doesn't think Eboue can defend, it wasn't altogether surprising.

Everton managed their usual trick here of scoring from their first opportunity and Denilson needs to have a long hard look at himself and his laziness in tracking the goalscorer, Leon Osman. An early goal against was probably the worst thing that could have happened after the international break and for the rest of a generally soporific first half, everything Arsenal did was laboured and uninspired.

The best moments involved Francesc Fabregas; first when he played in van Persie's whose shot was well blocked by Tim Howard and then at the end of the first half when he fizzed a shot a couple of yards wide from around 30 yards. By then Everton might have been 2-0 up. Had Gaël Clichy not been alert on the post, Joleon Lescott would have profited from Arsenal's continuing vulnerability at corners. But he was and so they didn't.

So, one-nil at the break and there were a fair few boos from the seats around me, not me though. I don't think it's productive and even if I did, I didn't have the energy yesterday having been completely drained by what I saw, best summed up by Jo saying to me, "You look pale!"

"I feel pale." I replied.

The second half commenced with Theo Walcott replacing the injured Kolo Touré and Eboue reverting to right back and Alex Song shifting into the very makeshift centre. Yakubu was denied early on by decisive goalkeeping by Manuel Almunia and this was the turning point of the game. Within minutes Arsenal were level as following a corner Mikael Silvestre shovelled the ball out to Samir Nasri, just about managed to get out his way and, through a couple of sets of defending legs, Samir positively drilled the ball into the bottom corner.

The ground erupted and the mood had changed. Arsenal, with Walcott to the fore, were pouring forward now, and with the crowd finally behind them, the boys looked likelier. An ugly tackle from Tony Hibbert on Denilson saw Clichy squaring up to him. From where I was sitting it was difficult to make out what was going on exactly, but having seen the replay, Hibbert was quite lucky to stay on the pitch in my opinion. It seemed to me that the referee had let a few robust tackles on our heroes go unpunished, so this tackle by Hibbert was perhaps inevitable, as was the reaction, both from Clichy and the crowd: "The referee's a wanker!"

Robin van Persie who apart from a first half free kick; seemed to have left his shooting boots at home, thankfully managed to remember where the goal was as good play from "offside" Adebayor (Rob Hawthorne's commentary at this point is funny, "Adebayor's ONSIDE!") played in Cesc, his shot was beaten out, but only to van Persie who picked his spot well in nodding home what would prove to be the winning goal.

There were no alarms and no surprises from a limited in ambition Everton following that. Well, apart from their fans. James had earlier asked me if I'd ever seen a fight at Arsenal, I replied that I didn't think I'd seen one. After the second goal, something kicked off below us which led to a few Everton fans being variously escorted from the ground, or arrested. Reading my nan's Mail on Sunday today, it appears that perhaps some of our boys were to blame. It didn't seem that way to me, but then I was in row 15.

David Moyes brought on old favourites Phil Neville and Louis Saha, prompting a muted rendition of The Neville Family song, but the last laugh would fall to England's new hero. A smart give and go between Walcott and Diaby saw Theo driving Diaby's cut back from the byline into the far corner. As ever, people around us had missed it, the thought of being late for dinner too much to bear, no doubt.

The sustained applause that greeted the full-time whistle seemed to me borne of a certain relief that such an abject first half performance had not been punished as it might have been, and perhaps, also a little guilt at the slightly melodramatic booing that followed that half. Mind you it could also have been relief that Abou Diaby got through ten minutes of yet another comeback...

Overall, I was pleased with the way we came back, but the defence is still a huge area of concern, especially with 3 of the first choice 4 now sitting on the treatment table and one of the guys we believed to be providing defensive cover no longer trusted to play in defence. We are stretched. Emmanuel Adebayor's continuing inability to stay onside continues to perplex, so many attacks broke down around him yesterday, it's now difficult to conclude anything other than the fact he's doing it on purpose, though I'm sure he can't be!

One instance really stood out yesterday as Walcott broke with the ball, with "Offside" ahead of him, but a bit offside, if only he could have held, or bent, his run a little, Theo could have slipped him in. But he didn't and the chance went. I have been a big defender of the big attacker, but he's losing me at the moment because he's not playing with any intelligence.

With his continuing malaise, the pace of the electric Theo Walcott remains the best chance we have of unlocking a defence. Well, apart from the wonderful Samir Nasri, who showed some delightful footwork yesterday, and also scored the kind of goal that can prove so crucial against a ten man defence. I feel any chance of success we have this season may depend on his ability to stay fit.

Right, gone on for long enough now, if you're still here thanks for reading.

User Comments

2

ken

Posted on 21 Oct, 2008 at 10:26 PM - Reply

thanks for the nice good read paul :)

1

fahmid

Posted on 21 Oct, 2008 at 07:44 AM - Reply

fully agreed

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