Hello Everyone, we will depart from our usual practice of rating every player after every Arsenal game. Loads of readers’ comments have tended towards something different which is what we’ll start with last night’s game against Leeds at Elland Road.
Popular opinion suggests that readers will love a compact, general match report with outstanding performances highlighted and my own impressions featuring somewhere along the line. We will include headlines as well as more action pics from the featured game, while trying as much as possible to publish post-match reactions from players, Arsene Wenger and fans alike. It all still a work in progress and I don’t pretend to have the best ideas, so let’s give it a try and feel free to chip in your suggestions on how best to express our collective views on our wonderful club.
It’s a new dimension to how we cover our beloved club on the blog and we expect readers and followers to let us know how they receive this new way of doing things.
So, while still basking in the euphoria of last night’s smooth progress into Round Four of the FA Cup, here we go with our latest experiment.
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| There's no stopping him |
Samir Nasri was rightly hailed as “the man” last night as he led from the front not only as captain but as orchestra conductor for the side. The lithe Frenchman marked his first ever Barclays Player of the Month award with a virtuoso display that showcased his maturity and growing influence not only in the side but in the English game.
His goal in only the 5th minute; his 14th of the season was Mr Cool personified as he moonwalked through the Leeds defence at the end of an Arshavin-cum-Chamakh pass
He was instrumental and influential allover the pitch as he played the Fabregas role to perfection with his silky movement and intelligent use of the ball. After Bendtner did his usual impression of Josima - the highly-touted Brazilian striker at Spain 82 World Cup finals who flopped spectacularly - by missing a sitter after a fine Sagna cross, the no-nonsense Bacary rifled in a blinder that Schmeichel could only touch but couldn’t keep out for our second goal.
Leeds responded almost immediately with an even better goal of their own after the incredibly and increasingly-poor Arshavin managed to lose the ball and opponent at the edge of our box, allowing the home team to pass offload the ball to midfielder Johnson, who unleashed a 35 yarder pile driver that flew beyond a diving Szczesny into the net.
Of course, cue delirium and wild celebrations around Elland Raod as the hyped-up crowd of 38,000 bayed for more blood.
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| A goal for us....Sagna congratulated by fellow defender, Gibbs |
It wasn’t to be however as we contained them with ease and passed the ball around with our usual confidence. Song almost made it three immediately after the restart when he ran onto a through ball from the middle. His shot was well blocked by Schmeichel who was having a blinder in goal despite the two goals he had conceded. He had already stopped a nailed-on Chamakh header in the 13th minute that had power and direction on it.
In the 71st minute, Wenger threw on Fabregas and Van Persie to close up the game and seal our progress and they did exactly that. Especially the Dutchman, who rose majestically to nod in a fine, right wing cross from the misfiring Bendtner into the net for the clincher. For record purposes, the cross was Bendtner’s only meaningful contribution in the entire 90 minutes.
Leeds then became frustrated and picked up three yellow cards in quick succession for unwarranted and nasty tackles. There was to be no headline-making upset as we saw out the game and navigated our way out of a very tricky encounter in front of a typical FA Cup boisterous crowd.
All in all, Van Persie, Sagna, Szczesny and as mentioned earlier, Nasri stood out for us.
Van Persie sems to be finding his sharpness pretty quickly and his goal was Number six for the season after a rather lengthy injury lay-off. Long as he stays injury free, expect big things from him this season. About time too.
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| Heads I win...Van Persie nods home the third goal Sagna announced his return from suspension with a characteristic barnstorming performance where he destroyed the Leeds’ left full back with his pace, strength and daredevil running. His goal was well-taken and reminisced of the blockbuster he scored against Everton at Goodison in November. Is there a better right fullback in the England now? I think not. |
Nasri we all know about, but what about Wojniech? Well, I’m just quietly impressed. He reads the game very well and is quite calm for someone his age. With Almunia now very much out of the equation, the young Pole’s path to the much-coveted Number One shirt looks assured. Yes, he is supposedly understudy to Fabianski but over the past two months now that we’ve been witnesses to his abilities, he’s won admirers.
It is not a cakewalk for a 20year-old to put on the jersies of a club as huge and well-known the size of Arsenal and still keep their nerve to do well. Almunia and even Fabianski suffered from nervous jitters for so long that mistakes became a by-word for them. Not so Wojniech. He’s been thrown in at the deep end and he’s responded well. Yes, he’s conceded goals like all keepers do, but his confidence and all round positioning, reflexes and all the package that goes with being a top keeper are very apparent.
He always said his destination was Number One at the club - even when he hadn’t played a senior game for us. Now we can see where all the big talk was coming from.
For the first time in a long time, methink we’ve got a good competition going between the sticks.
Next up is Wigan at home on Saturday and another chance to see the Polish wonder between the sticks.
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