Little Mozart and King Midas

Since we last met, 72 hours ago, a lot has happened. Beers have been drunk, several of them, goals have been scored, six of them and points won, three of them, in an excellent Arsenal performance. Obviously they weren't drinking the beer, that was our job.

The story of Arsenal's first home game of the season began for me on Friday afternoon when I went off to meet Chris and James for James' birthday celebration in the bars and pubs around Old Street. James had also brought a few of his mates down and we were joined by Asa and another Arsenal Mania forumer, Ali later on in the course of a very drunken evening. With the game tomorrow in mind, I didn't want to go too mad, so I left the guys to it at around 11pm. I was quite happy to wake up at around quarter to eight yesterday morning as excited as a kid at Christmas. Albeit with a bit of a headache.

Skipping forward, through Grove Park station, London Bridge and an M&S sandwich, Kings Cross, Finsbury Park and the Twelve Pins, Jo and I found ourselves outside The Twelve Pins just after 1pm, a Baileys for Jo and a Guiness for me. We found James, Chri s, Matt and Matt and, to my immense surprise, an extremely hungover James was nursing a lager. He'd just about managed to finish that lager by the time we set off for the ground an hour later. Asa and his brother Marc had joined us by then. And we'd been treated to the obligatory game of beach ball tennis between the crowds outside the The Twelve Pins and the Blackstock- which is just across the Seven Sisters Road- this one brought to a premature end by a spiteful/sensible bus driver.

New edition of The Gooner purchased en route, we'd established the team news by the time we got to the ground; Rosicky's impressive cameo last week secured him a starting spot in place of the injured Nasri, Walcott in for Eboue and Alex Song returned to take the suspended Laurent Koscielny's place. But before we could get to the match, having split up into small groups, we had the welcoming ceremony for the huge new Clock that towered above the, you've guessed it, newly named Clock End. This was essentially some important goals scored at the old Clock End shown on the big screen, blaring portentous music and then some rather loud fireworks. There were also massive "We're the Clock End" and "We're the North Bank" banners on display behind both goals. It was ironic that, amongst the huge amount of hoopla behind getting our old stand names back, I didn't hear a single "We're the Clock End" chant throughout the match. But that could have been because the Blackpool fans were loudly telling us that "This is the best trip I've ever been on" throughout. Yesterday I tweeted that they were liars, but the best stadium in the country, a wonderful display of attacking football and lots of goals... maybe they really did enjoy it.

Ah yes, the goals. Well, when the first one arrived, I'm sure that I wasn't the only one a bit relieved because in the opening ten minutes, we hadn't started wel, Arshavin in particular wasting possession with annoying frequencyl. But as the Arsenal passing machine suddenly sparked into life; Diaby to Clichy to Arshavin, a 1-2 with Chamakh and another with Rosicky and the Russian delayed his pass just a fraction of a second, when he released the ball it was so perfect that the onrushing Theo could steer it just inside the far post without breaking stride.

Blackpool should have equalised almost immediately, a free header on the far post from about three yards somehow going begging. But then three Arsenal chances in quick succession might have put the game beyond Blackpool. First, Walcott played a 1-2 with Rosicky before bursting down the right and crossing deep for an onrushing and (from my point of view, unseen) Arshavin to volley at the goalkeeper. Then Walcott, turning inside his defender and played a lovely reverse pass to Chamakh, putting him in on goal, Chamakh steered the ball just the wrong side of the same post that Walcott had found the inside of. Rosicky was living up to his "Little Mozart" nickname in grand fashion because it was he that created the next couple of chances, first playing in Walcott down the right only for Theo to hit just high and wide. The next chance was decisive though, as he broke forward Rosicky had time and space to pick his pass, sliding the ball inside the centre back, Evatt, for Chamakh to run onto. Evatt's recovery tackle was on the edge of the box and not accurate enough. Chamakh down, penalty and a red card given. Arshavin's penalty was powered just inside the post, perfectly.

With Blackpool two goals and a man down, it was now just a question of how many. Everything Theo touched yesterday turned to gold, he scored the third after being fed, back to goal, by Wilshere, his shot on the turn deceived the keeper and found the net. Chamakh was unlucky not to open his account as the first half wound down, a first time shot from Clichy's cross turned away on the post.

Goal number four came early in the second half as Bac Sagna careered down the right, evading a reckless challenge on the touchline, his cross was smashed in on the half volley by Abou Diaby. Diaby had an interesting game I thought, he's so obviously a skillful player but just seems to forget where he is whenever he gets the ball and so slows the game down when he should be speeding it up. It's like he needs to be woken up. He turned provider for the fifth which as a bit of a ridiculous goal, a Pro Evo type goal. Playing the ball to Theo, Theo ran into the penalty area and across it onto his left foot. His King Midas day was summed up when his left swinger clearly took the goalkeeper by surprise, leaving him rooted to the spot as it rolled into the corner for the first hat trick of his Arsenal career. A hat trick which seemed ironic when balanced against the Highbury Spy's claim that Walcott is "dead wood" and Simon Rose's belief that Walcott is wasted on the right. All explained in the first Gooner of the season, I wonder if he read it?

With 25 minutes to go, Arsène decided that enough was enough, a wise decision bearing in mind whoever plays well for us seems to get injured and Walcott was replaced by Carlos Vela. For some reason, his arrival wasn't greeted with the same fervour as that which heralded the return home for Cesc and RvP, I can't imagine why. The noise generated by their arrivals was, for once, genuinely spine tingling. With Cesc seemingly content just to play himself back in, although there were glimmers of his understanding with Rosicky, the game began to meander to a close. We were treated to what would have been a great goal, if only Carlos Vela had a right foot. Cutting in from the left, he lifted the ball over one defender after another after another but had to shoot on his right foot- so he slashed at it. There was also time for Chamakh to register his first Premier League goal for us and I'm glad he managed to do it yesterday, otherwise his open goal miss from an Andrei Arshavin cross might have nibbled at him somewhat. As it was, a header from a RvP corner was enough to open his account. As ever, more than a few people had missed at, arriving as it did after the 80 minute exodus had begun.

That was that really, all that was left was the final whistle, Curtis Mayfield's joyous Move On Up and the Tollington for a few more beers. Oh, and James managed to get Emmanuel Eboue's autograph when he pulled up outside the Tolly. I'm not going to linger long on Hansen's criticisms of Theo last night, because it's nothing that hasn't been said before, not least of all by me. I will say that it seems a touch mean spirited to mention the one thing he did wrong yesterday when 99% of what he did was right. Yes, he will have to do it against better teams than Blackpool and yes, he will have to do it more often, but I think most of us are able to put that to one side and enjoy yesterday afternoon's performance for what it was. And it was brilliant. It would be wrong not to mention Chamakh and what seemed like a slightly happier Arshavin yesterday as well. I feel sorry for Tomas Rosicky that he wasn't able to claim either a goal or an assist yesterday afternoon, because he was head and shoulders above everyone except Theo. I liked Jack Wilshere's performance too, although one attempt at a dummy on the edge of our box showed that maybe he still hasn't learned about not messing about on the edge of the box yet.

One thing is certain, as I said last weekend, whilst we are still in need of defensive reinforcement, we do have an embarrassment of riches going forward. That showed yesterday and you have to think there are a few players sitting on the treatment table wondering how they're going to get near the first team picture when they return. That's got to be a good thing, hasn't it?

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