Dangerous animals

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
04 Nov	7:45 PM	CL	Az Alkmaar (H)	4	1	Win

Arsenal have been a strange animal in this year's edition of the Champions League group stages. Off to the most catastrophic of starts in the opening fixture, they needed a late comeback to acquire the three points, dominant against Olimpiacos, they still needed two late goals to get the result the performance deserved and, at AZ, they sloppily conceded a late equaliser when they should have been comfortably out of sight.

Last night, however, the strange animal turned dangerous and finally put an end to talk of Ronald Koeman as their own personal bogeyman. In some style, too.

The team had three changes from Saturday afternoon; it was Samir Nasri and not Eduardo given the nod to replace Nick Bendtner, whilst Eboue replaced Bac Sagna and, as we knew would happen, Keiran Gibbs took Gaël Clichy's place in the team.

And we picked up, pretty much, where we left off on Saturday.

An early move, which saw the ball pinballed between about 6 different Arsenal players - so quickly it happened, I can't remember who they were - ended with Robin van Persie's right foot shot across goal being touched behind by Alkmaar's Argentinian keeper. Which didn't stop the referee giving a goal kick. Which was a bit crap, but the quality of the passing signified danger ahead for the Dutch side. The ref then further endeared himself to the crowd when the keeper collected a backpass and he awarded an indirect freekick to Arsenal, but failed to keep the Alkmaar wall on the goal line, as they should have been, Robin van Persie's rushed shot hit the wall on the near post.

When the first goal arrived, it came during a period of relative quiet and the manner of it was most unexpected. William Gallas had such a quiet night last night that he spent much of the game bombing forward in Kolo style, it was from one such sortie as he wandered hither and thither along the grass that he found Cesc Fabregas on the edge of the box, 1 touch, 2 touch and a daisy cutter that was hit so slowly a passing tortoise ran zoomed past it, flicking a "V" as it did so, somehow crept just inside the near post. Yes, Cesc looked somewhat embarrassed, but who cares?

The second goal was indeed a thing of beauty. It came just before half-time, ending any pretence of a contest and came about when the Bergkamp like Arshavin threaded a lovely ball through to Samir Nasri - the beauty of our fluid football exemplified by the fact that Samir found himself furthest forward in the de facto centre forward position, rocking one way, before rolling the other and sending the covering defender to the turf, Samir advanced to the edge of the area and slotted the ball home. Welcome back Samir, we've missed you!

Half time was spent listening to Tony Adams talking about the cosy chats around the fireside that he has with his old boss and the fact that Arsenal don't play a 4-3-3, it's actually a 4-1-4-1. Which, when you think about it- though I laughed at the time, does explain how Emmanuel Eboue could be deployed in an advanced position. It also explains, partly at least, how Cesc has been so amongst the goals this season. In my opinion, anyway.

Cesc it was who set things in motion in the second half, the goal beginning with a smart interception and pass from Abou Diaby, who found Arshavin, who waited and then played Cesc in for a 1-on-1. The result from there was emphatic, the keeper anticipating a far post finish and totally deceived by the finish high into the near corner of the goal.

Shortly afterwards, Manuel Almunia made a brilliant reaction save to deny Alkmaar a certain goal (I'll be honest, I didn't think he still had it in him) and then Ramsey and Eduardo replaced Cesc and Robin. It was Eduardo's intervention that led to a wonderful 4th goal, the beautiful cherry on top of a ginormous cake of attacking football.

As with most classic Arsenal goals, the story of it began deep in our half. William Gallas was, to me, lucky not to concede a corner, instead putting the ball out for a throw in. We stole the ball almost directly from the throw, the ball found it's way to Eduardo who took it forward, stopped, swivelled and then tried something it's okay to try on the halfway line when you're 3-0 up, but not on the edge of your box in the first two minutes of a Champions League game. Yes, it was the famous back heel. This one, perfectly executed, found Andrey Arshavin who charged on, before squaring the ball to Diaby. Hard. Diaby managed to control it with one touch, his second planted the ball home.

Or, as Gordon Ramsey might have described it, Eduardo. Backheel. Arshavin. Square. Diaby. Control. Scored.

Rosicky replaced Arshavin and between him and Aaron Ramsey, they nearly managed to walk the ball into the net, Ramsey's shot hitting the bar - though it would have been disallowed by the offside flag anyway. That should have been that, but Alkmaar sub, Jeremaine Lens muscled Keiran Gibbs out down our left and then left Manuel Almunia looking rather sheepish with a toe punt inside the near post from the edge of the box. But then Arsenal wouldn't be Arsenal without the concession of such goals.

I think, though, this was the best team performance of the season. Everyone seemed to play their part - although Eboue's dawdling tendency to forget where he is and then brainlessly concede possession continues to irritate. Arshavin, as I alluded to earlier, had a quiet game, but still managed to create 3 goals, Nasri looked sharp, Gibbs excellent in defence and attack. The strength we have at the moment, evidenced by the substitutions even with Bendtner, Walcott and Vela all unavailable, is proving too much for the opposition at the moment. Qualification is not yet ours officially, but it is surely only a formality now, with one point required from our last 2 games. Unlike Liverpool, heh heh heh.

Peter Hill-Wood and Stan Kroenke must be best mates now, as the Chairman has sold him 100 of the 200 shares the American has just purchased. This purchase has taken Stan to 29.9% of the 29.99% of shares required to trigger an offer for all shares issued in da club - sorry, couldn't resist that one. Of course, it probably needs to be said that any offer from Stan to the shareholders does not have to be accepted by them. But an oik like me wonders where all this could possibly be going. Interesting times ahead...

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