Goody two shoes

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
17 Jan	5:30 PM	P	Hull City (A)	3	1	Win

What a weekend that was eh? As the Setanta commentator remarked during the game against Hull City, at half past four, results were looking very good for Arsenal.

The final whistles blown countrywide around 5 PM on Saturday painted a very different picture. Manchester United getting their usual 90th minute goal to turn a draw into a win, Chelsea somehow turning home defeat into a win and Aston Villa ... well, I'm not a conspiracy theorist, but it seems to me that perhaps amongst the CIA, Lee Harvey Oswalds, Bin Ladens and Al-Quaedas of this world lies Martin O'Neil and Randy Learner.

They seem to have had a season's worth of luck over the last 6 or 7 matches. Surely it will run out soon. Hopefully, the Arsenal side, beginning to emerge like a phoenix from the ashes of last season's failed title challenge, will be around to take advantage of it.

If they are, it will surely be down to the flowering Robin van Persie. Pilloried here after the defeat against Stoke, though that was more about maturity than ability, it is he, along with Samir Nasri, who has taken on the challenge of dragging us back into the top four and beyond. Such has been his influence of late, it would come as no surprise to me if he were to complete a hat trick of Arse.com Player of the Month awards come the month's end. Okay, so he didn't score. That he didn't was due to an excellent save from Myhill. Robin hasn't scored from a free kick for a while, I feel there must be one coming. He could have had two on Saturday.

As it was, it was his delivery from a corner, immediately following that Myhill save, that made Adebayor's 9th league goal of the season a mere formality. It was his guile and ability to pick a pass that put Nasri in to score the winning goal and it was his pass that led to a third goal in as many matches for Nicklas Bendtner.

We did well to win really, especially with a few of the team not quite at the races. Amongst all the frustratiion of seeing United, Chelsea and Villa all taking a late three points, it's easy to forget that our three most recent wins have been secured only in the last 10 minutes of matches. That we secured this one was, at least in part, due to the substitution of the continued ineffectiveness Emmanuel Eboue, who seemingly lost the ball every single time it came to him. Can't pass, can't dribble, can't shoot. In the words of Adam Ant's 1982 number one, Goody Two Shoes, "What do you do?" Is this me being negative?

I don't think so, it's me stating a fact. The man offers us nothing. Well, nothing of any relevance. It now seems ludicrous to me to consider that either Wilshere or Ramsey would not be a better option in midfield. At least both of them know how to pass a ball. And, in the latest issue of the Arsenal magazine, Kenny Sansom, Charlie George and Lee Dixon all agree with that assessment- so there!

It would be very unfair though, to suggest that Eboue was the only one on Saturday. Nasri aside the midfield didn't play that well and as for Clichy and Djourou. Clichy is probably being hung, drawn, quartered and his metaphorical guts fed to the rats that pervade the London Underground on the Arsenal Truth blog for his involvement (or lack of) in the Hull goal. I feel for him though, every mistake he makes costs us at the moment, he is in danger of becoming this season's Senderos.

Suspended for the FA Cup match next weekend, this will give the guy a seemingly much needed break and give the boss a chance to look at Keiran Gibbs. Who has impressed on most of his, admittedly, few appearances this season. Djourou? Could haver conceded a penalty, was slow to react to the deflected cross that Clichy should never have allowed into the box and made a couple of very dodgy passes at the back. He will have better games though.

Not to end on a neagtive- me? Perish the thought! This was exactly the kind of game we would have lost at the beginning of the season, to win it was very pleasing. Our 8 game unbeaten run, having taken in the likes of Chelsea and Villa away and Liverpool at home... is it evidence of a newborn spirit in the camp? I hope so. That spirit is going to be tested in Cardiff on Sunday and then, not to get too far ahead of ourselves, another must win game at Goodison Park. Scene, last season, of an amazing individual performance from Eduardo.

User Comments

tom

Posted on 20 Jan, 2009 at 10:25 AM - Reply

really negative as why are you putting so much blame on clicchy and djourou, as i dont know how on earth djourou was at fault, who do you think he is, superman??? clichy was at fault but theres no need to drop him! whats that going to do to his confidence and his commitment?

Mos

Posted on 20 Jan, 2009 at 01:43 AM - Reply

I dont agree with you, Djourou had a good game as did Toure and our central midfielders played very well and protected the back four against a very solid Hull team. Hull have given the likes of United and Liverpool trouble and lets not forget how they played at the Emitates. Every game that we have lost this season has been because of us not being able to win the battle in the middle of the park and bad defending. I have watched lots of games where Denilson has been the only player battling with no support from the other players and after the match i have read articles saying he played poor. To win matches you need your midfielders to breakdown the opponents attacks, fight for eachother and keep the ball, if the midfielders can do this then the defence will play well too as there is less pressure on them which has been our problem in a lot of games this season, if you look back at the matches we have won its because our midfielders have played well and allowed the defence to play well by not leaving them exposed. Finally this brings me to my point, your saying that our midfielders apart from Nasri did not play well on saturday but if you watch the match again you will see how well Diaby and Denilson played together, look at how many attacks Diaby broke down and they hardly gave possession away. I cant remember the team being under pressure on saturday which means that the midfielders were doing well, they only had one chance in which they scored from and that was because of an error by Clichy. So in my opinion our midfielders protected the team which allowed everyone to play well because we were winning the battle and dictating the game.

billp79

Posted on 19 Jan, 2009 at 09:17 PM - Reply

agreed- eboue has lost all confidence and with ashivan coming, nasri can go into the middle and pair with cesc when he comes back...we will still need some help at center full or defensive mid, but it appears as though ebo is dead weight...i think denilson needs to make more of a contribution as well or make room for someone else...like yaya? haha

Patrick

Posted on 19 Jan, 2009 at 07:21 PM - Reply

Total agreement with the eboue comments.
we are playing every game with 10 men.
he rally must have something that we don't know about after all we are only PAYING fans.
i would add that i'm thankful for what Mr Wenger has done for our club its been fantastic but he's lost the plot when it comes to eboooooooooooooe

Rachid

Posted on 19 Jan, 2009 at 07:05 PM - Reply

I agree with everything you said here. Good article. I think more attention should be paid to the fact that Gael Clichy is one of the few players in the squad that hasn't had an extended time away from playing, either due to a long term injury or being rotated out of the squad for a couple weeks. I think he just needs a bit of a breather to get his head sorted again. I hope the fans don't start riding him like they did to Senderos and Cygan in the past. One thing you have to respect about him is that he gives 150% every single game. That's the difference between him and Eboue. While both are making lots of blunders this season, at least Clichy is putting in effort.

GunnerPete

Posted on 19 Jan, 2009 at 06:46 PM - Reply

Good write up but wrong about Djourou...It was Kolo who was slow to react to the centre for Hull's goal, the kid is on a fast learning curve, and cannot be held responsible for bad play by so called experienced team mates. Clichy at the moment is not a defender he is out of position so much its the obvious place for a quick outlet for the opposition. As for Eboue its all been said before .he has a magic hold on Arsene...I would play Ramsey, Lansbury or or even Coquelin in his place. But what do I know?

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