Sunday 14 September 2008

Things take shape


It would be hard to have many complaints after such a convincing performance away to Blackburn yesterday. To be fair to Blackburn 4-0 does not tell the entire story, things could have been a little different if certain chances had been taken, however only a lunatic would claim that Arsenal didn't deserve the sound victory.

Almunia did everything in an accomplished fashion, the ball was rattled around very nicely indeed, while Eboue and Walcott gave us incisiveness on the flanks, with Denilson and Fabregas showing composure in the centre. RVP and Ade look far hungrier than they did a few weeks back, that Fulham debacle seems to have been a rather useful kick up the backside.

The first goal came after some brilliant Walcott jinking and weaving, his slide rule pass was taken on by RVP and dispatched beyond the hapless Robinson. The second crucial goal came on the stroke of half time, Denilson swung in a tempting delivery from the left flank and Ade nodded it home. In between these two goals, Toure had twice helped us out of pickles at the back. The only criticism of the side would be a few slightly dodgy moments at the back, having said that, Blackburn did set their stall out to attack and limiting them to zero chances may not have been entirely realistic given their unbeaten record at home this year.

The second half was one way traffic. Eboue's excellent direct run was unfairly ended by a reckless Warnock lunge, Ade put away the spot kick. There are some who reckon Eboue dived, I fail to see how they can reach this conclusion as on the replay one can clearly see Warnock's studs clattering Eboue's legs twice. Then the icing on the cake came in the form of a clever bit of play from Ramsey who fed in Ade, who then rounded fatty and slotted home. A good day at the office was complete.

Results elsewhere in the Premiership did not go the way of the Mancs. Liverpool worked hard for their three points against Manu, who put in a rather unexpected Fulhamesque performance. Vidic was lucky not to have been sent off with a straight red card, his cycnical last man foul and his reckless elbow were both worse than yellow card offences.

Personally I can't see Liverpool lasting the pace, they just don't seem to have enough quality going forward. Chelsea easily overcame City, whose fans will be coming back down to earth as we speak. How unfortunate for John Terry that a ref finally had the bottle to send him off, it's good to see that these kind of cynical professional fouls are somtimes given the punishment they deserve. Unlucky John, it couldn't have happened to a nicer bloke.

7 comments:

Ted said...

4-0 away from home is always a good result. The highlights on MOTD suggested we could have scored more.

Anonymous said...

But do we love Ade again? As a signatory of 1979gooner's acclaimed pre-season letter, I'm still struggling to be overjoyed by his goalscoring antics, not least because he'll probably demand an additional £10k per week performance bonus during the January transfer window. Or am I too harsh on the poor guy? I still wished we'd flogged him for £35m and spent the money on Crouchy.

K man said...

If his dodgy goal celebration daning continues then I will definitiely be booing him. Can someone teach our boys to celebrate? Walcott is rubbish at it as well.

Blackburn deserved a less harsh scoreline and I'm still not convinced by our defending. Still, the boys have responded well to the Fulham defeat. Thought the first 2 goals were class.

Obsinho said...

Just seen that Hulls' Fagan has had his leg broken by that awful tackle from Guthrie at the weekend.

The FA has another chance to get this right - it was a despicable foul aimed to hurt the opposition, purely out of spite. And should be punished heavily. Hull are a small club and the rules should protect them.

Equally, the FA has now to decide on its "respect" ruling. Chelsea and Utd surrounded the ref numerous times. The red cards have been given, and very publicly attacked by the clubs - either the FA back up their pre-season theatrics or they let everyone walk all over them again. Except poor little us of course.

1979gooner said...

spot on obs,

the 'respect' thing is nothing but hot air from a body that has no fucking testacles,

guthrie's tackle was awful, it should get a good six game ban at minimum,

strange how taylor's last season wasn't roundly condemned as guthrie's has been

Ted said...

well said Obs.

John Terry, the King of the Chavs, deserves everything he gets.

Diaby knocked him out, Eboue broke his foot. I reckon Ade will finish him good and proper this season.

Si said...

A fantastic result. It does seem unfair that Eboue has again been blamed for diving. I am no huge fan of the man, but he is playing well at the moment and Saturday's run into the box shows that no matter who gets on his back he has confidence and can do the job. He's a very good player, he's just a tosser that's all.