New Dimension/fine night at Elland Road/A Capable Pole

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.

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 5^th minute; his 14^th 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.

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 13^th minute that had power and direction on it.

In the 71^st 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.

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.

The claws are out – bigtime

As it was in the beginning............

 Consider this from one Arsenal player to another Arsenal player.

"Fabregas is the captain but he is not a leader”.

Whao! What a bombshell. In the perfect, sterilised world that Arsene Wenger has created at London Colney for his pampered ensemble, that statement has the same effect the hydrogen bomb, ”Little Baby” had on Hiroshima and Nagasaki . It was seismic. A huge, huge force of nature that goes against everything Arsene Wenger and his Colney crèche stands for.

It’s the sort of thing you hear all the time coming from inside Roberto Mancini’s dysfunctional Manchester City where no fortnight goes by without one disgruntled player aiming barbs at either Mancini, his teammates or assumed injustice in the whole world.

Back to Arsenal and all things bombastic.

"It's a personality thing and a leader can be young. It's something they are born with. We are lacking leadership and we need leadership to go forward. There isn't a leader. I don't see one player as a leader.  At Arsenal it's more of a collective team at the moment, everyone is talking - but a leader is always important for a team."

What the hell is going on?

..............so it is hugely different at present

The statement, in case you haven’t heard was from Denilson, the ex-captain of Brazil’s U-17national side who has been a Gunner since Wenger bought him from Sao Paolo in the summer of 2006. He has been slowly integrated into the side after the hugely respected Gilberto Silva took him and the misfiring  Julio Baptista under his wing and helped them settle down at the club.

Denilson has impressed and frustrated us all in equal measure since he stepped into the shoes of Mathieu Flamini from season 2009. He’s supposed to be a defensive midfielder but he clearly lacks the ruggedness for such demanding task and often falls short of expectations.

I hate to hammer on people’s weaknesses like this, but when you’ve been given chance after chance to make amends and step up to the plate, I can’t help but vent some criticism.

For Denilson, Flamini’s departure was a golden chance to show what he could do and sadly he hasn’t lived up to expectations. This season has seen him pushed to the bench by the mercurial (and more painfully), younger Jack Wilshire. Jack, as we all know has been simply untouchable, making it more and more difficult for Denilson, whose other names are Perreira Neves, to get a look-in.

However the background to all these bare-knuckled attack on Fabregas began two weeks back during the FA Cup game against Leeds at Emirates. Denilson fouled Leeds’ Max Gradel inside the 18 yard box and conceded a penalty. Leeds went onto score it and we faced a rather uncomfortable afternoon as we huffed and puffed without any effect.

It wasn’t until the 89^th minute, with serious aggravation and anxiety spreading through the crowd, that we managed to equalize through another penalty – scored by none other than  Fabregas, the  perceived “non-leader”.

In his post match comments, Fabregas later callously attacked Denilson by saying:

“They (Leeds) scored from a penalty that, at this stage when you are a professional footballer you cannot give away this type of penalty so easily".

As a professional indeed, Denilson ought not to have given away such a cheap, senseless, stupid penalty. But Fabregas as well, as a professional and a skipper of professionals ought not to have knocked down his colleague in full view like that. It was an et tu Brute moment. A betrayal of sorts which must have caught Denilson by surprise and when the implication of what Fabregas said has settled-in, stirred up anger.

That anger was what led to the “non-leader” statement.

To douse the smouldering embers, Fabregas was quoted to have dismissed Denilson’s attack as “just a misunderstanding”. But we all know it is not. It has shaken the publicly-touted and well-groomed image of the club as an oasis of glacial calm. Wonder what Wenger would be thinking now.

He ought to know better though. Denilson, who grew up in Brazil’s infamous, drug, gangster-infested favelas and lost his mother at the tender age of 10, once described the volatile but hugely-talented Romario as his footballing idol. Despite the legendary animosity between Brazil and Argentina, Romario is Brazil’s answer to the Argentine enfant terrible.

At 23, Fabregas is just three months older than Denilson who turns 23 as well on February 16.So sticking the knife in, the way Fabregas did after the Leeds game would have riled the Brazilian even more, coming from your own captain who isn’t talking from a standpoint of years and years of superior experience.

It however gives us fans a better picture of what goes on behind the scenes. Unlike the carefully managed (and sometimes doctored) reflections we are constantly fed with by Wenger. Since the loose cannon Adebayor headbutted Nicklas Bendtner at White Hart Lane in a Carling Cup semifinal in January 2009, we’ve not had a good, old civil scrap to chew on at Arsenal.

It may sound like an ego thing on Denilson’s part but methinks he’s just giving as good as he got from his supposed leader.

We can’t for now hazard a guess where this will all lead to, but with both players constantly linked with moves away from the club, this might just make Wenger reconsider offers for both, or one of them again – at least in the interest of peace at the crèche.

West Ham 0 Arsenal 3

 Theo Walcott and Robin Van Persie combined to secure a sweet win at Upton Park over beleaguered West Ham and further push the embattled Avram Grant towards the exit door. Both players added the finishing gloss to all our good work and slick play by scoring the goals that ensured victory in Saturday’s late kick-off.

After the debacle at Portman Road over the midweek, there would be no room for complacency this time and it showed as we took the game to the West Londoners right from the kickoff. We scored in the 13^th minute after newly-acquired Wayne Bridge allowed the marauding Walcott lots of space to cross from the right and find Van Persie who hit a first time shot with his supposedly-weaker right foot past the diving body of Rob Green in the West Ham goal. It was a fine, opportunistic strike and if nothing else, it signalled the return of our injury-plagued Dutch star to his sharpest best.

Van Persie almost doubled his tally with another snap shot in the 35^th minute after a good interchange between the mercurial Jack Wilshire and Fabregas found him. His left-footed rocket left Green for dead but hit the base of the post and rebounded agonisingly back into play. He however returned the favour done him in the 13^th minute by finding Walcott with a cut back ball from the byline, which the English winger buried into the roof of the net in the 41^st minute.

Second half saw us ease off a bit as the defence earned their spurs, curtailing a fightback from West Ham. Djourou and ‘The Kos’ did brilliantly though, dealing professionally with the Hammers attack until the 78^th minute when Walcott’s speed invited a desperate tackle from Bridge inside the 18 yard area. Van Persie stepped up to sidefoot the ball past Green for his brace.

All in all, it was a job well done for the team as we hung onto the coattails of Manchester City who earlier in the day had surged to the top of the table with their goal-drenched 4-3 win over Wolves.

Below are the ratings on a night when everyone put their foot right.

*Szczesny (7/10) – Starting his third straight game after Fabianski failed a fitness test, the gangling Pole took his chance with both hands by denying a certain West Ham goal in the 20^th minute after Carlton Cole pounced on Djourou’s weak back pass. Szczesny came out to make a very crucial block and save us from all round embarassment. He is clearly growing in confidence after making the step up into the first team this season. He executed a couple of saves as well in the second half when West Ham poured forward in search of something and must share in the accolades for our third straight clean sheet in the league.

* Clichy (7/10) – One of his better games for us this season. Full of tackling and running all night long. Gave no quarter to Savon Hines and later Luis Boa Morte who attempted to initiate attacks for the hosts from the wings. Did well and never allowed his concentration to drop. Also linked well with Samir Nasri in front of him.

* Koscielny (7/10) – ‘The Kos’ was his usual tough-tackling, no-nonsense self. Seems to be at his best when paired alongside Johann Djourou and last night was no exception. He frustrated the dangerous Carlton Cole and kept him quiet and ineffective.

* Djourou (7/10) – He continued his development as a defender of repute here and passed once more with flying colours – almost. The one blemish in his game was in the 24^th minute when he launched a weak backpass to Szczesny under pressure, but the goalkeeper saved his blushes by blocking the eventual shot from Cole. That apart, the Swiss youngster did well and used his huge frame well. I just pray so fervently that he doesn’t pick up one of those injuries that sidelines him for months and months. He’s become integral to us now and without mincing words, we simply cannot afford to do without him.

* Eboue (7/10) – Played his best game so far in the three-game spell that Bacary Sagna is suspended. He seemed determined to prove that he deserves a place even when Sagna returns. Everything that came his way on the wings, he handled with confidence. Stayed on his feet for the 90 minutes and cut out all the annoying diving and play-acting that often blights his game. Methinks though that he will always play second fiddle to the hard-tackling Sagna.

* Song (8/10) – One particular moment in the second half encapsulated his entire performance last night. He was surrounded by three maroon-shirts and after collecting a pass from someone who I think was Wilshire, he feinted, body-checked and barged his way out from amongst the West Ham trio and though he found himself on the floor, he still stuck out a leg to offload the ball to Fabregas. He is determination personified. He gives us a crucial balance in the middle and is full of stamina and positive energy. A vital cog in our wheel as we chase glory.

* Wilshire (7/10) – Mercurial is the only word I can find appropriate enough to describe his performance on the night. He was almost everywhere on the pitch. Despite his lack of inches, he makes up for it in fighting spirit and hunger for the ball. Starved the West Ham midfield of the ball with his ever-changing positioning and eye for the pass. Almost scored late in the game with a fine shot from the edge of the box, which Green had to scramble across the post to push away for a corner. Jack is your quintessential box-to-box midfielder.

* Fabregas (7/10) – When he is on song as like last night, we always, always dominate and win. El Capitan was happy doing what he does best – pulling the strings in the middle like a trapeze artist. It emerged after the game that he alone made more passes than the entire West Ham midfield of Mark Noble, Jonathan Spector and Freddie Sears. Was influential in the middle for us and seems to be finding the understanding he once enjoyed with Van Persie. Was scythed down by Julien Faubert in the first half, which almost earned the fullback a redcard but Fabregas rose to dominate proceedings and put the Hammers to the sword.

* Nasri (6/10) – His first game after picking up the Barclays Player of the Month award for December, though he didn’t hit the lofty heights we know he can. Could be because he was marooned out on the left wing, where it is difficult to make your presence felt. Still worked well with the frontmen and almost scored after waltzing through West Ham’s defence late in the game just before he was substituted.  

* Walcott (7/10) – Despite his deficiencies and often-trumpetted poor decision-making, you still have to give him top marks for endeavour. His work rate never drops and he was a handful for Wayne Bridge, who was skinned repeatedly by the speedy Walcott. He laid on the pass for Van Persie to score the opener in the 13^th minute and scored himself in the 41^st to record his tenth goal of the scored and his highest ever in an Arsenal shirt in one season. He is certainly growing into a player of repute and hasn’t even peaked yet from what we see week-in, week-out. With his frightening pace, expect much more from him sooner than later as he fulfils the full limits of his potential.

* Van Persie (7/10) – The sharpest I’ve seen him since he returned from injury in November. He completed his third 90 minutes of action last night and it was obvious that he is picking up his World Cup form. His goals brought his season tally to five and if he stays fit and avoids injury, his presence will be vital in the run-in. In the absence of Marouane Chamakh, Van Persie is a good outlet for goals and between the both of them, we always carry a potent goal threat. Better to look up to them for goals, rather than the erratic and unreliable duo of Bendtner and Vela.

Substitutes

*  Denilson (4/10) – Did nothing after coming on in the 80^th minute for Fabregas. With the points in the bag, he was plunged into the shut up shop and so was it.

* Arshavin (4/10) – Also came on to shut up shop as we had already sealed the points. He replaced Walcott on the right wing and was promptly not seen or heard for the rest of the ten minutes left in the game.

* Gibbs (4/10) – He came on in the 87^th minute for Nasri and occupied the left wing in front of Clichy. Nothing required of him. Nothing delivered.