Arsenal 2 Wolves 0

Milking it up....Van Persie celebrates Goal No 1

What better way to banish memories of last Saturday’s disgraceful capitulation at St. James Park, than to not only beat Wolves, but keep a clean sheet. We achieved both objectives with aplomb and swagger as Robin Van Persie continued his rich vein of form in front of goal with a brace.
Arsene Wenger read the mood of the fans perfectly and put it into words by declaring after the game that:

“We were defensively solid and that was important after the four goals we conceded last week. It wasn’t easy to read about the Newcastle result in the media and we needed a response today”.


And a response was delivered indeed.
In what was also effectively a dress-rehearsal for the big, big Champions League showdown against Barcelona on Wednesday, Wenger turned to the calvary as we welcomed back Alex Song and Johann Djourou to the side. Our movement and passing was top class as Fabregas, Andrei Arshavin and Theo Walcott took turns to cut Wolves into ribbons with their speed and interchange of positions.
The first goal came rather belatedly after soek susutained pressure, in the 16th minute. Unmarked on the right flank, Fabregas released a short pass to Van Persie, who was lurking on the edge of the box. Without breaking stride, the Dutchman bent his body horizontally and unleashed a sweet volley that flew beyond the reach of the impressive Wayne Hennessey for the opener. It was just reward for all our endevaour and it spread relief around the ground.
On the other end, Wolves were attempting to engineer something but with last week’s calamitious events in Newcastle still fresh I everyone’s mind, Johann Djourou and Laurent Koscielny were in no mood for gifts.
I mentioned during the week that the real turning point of last week’s game for us, wasn’t the dismissal of Abou Diaby. Rather, the departure of Djourou with a slight knock was the game-changer. Yesterday, the Swiss giant proved me right as he read every ball with precision and tackled with panache.
He has really come on in leaps and bounds this season and I can’t help showering him with praise after praise. He is developing into a class defender and in an era where such like him don’t grow on trees and are hard to find, Wenger must be commended indeed for persevering with him and nurturing a fine hardman.
His understanding with Koscielny, who won his first international invite last week, is proving to be one of the revelations of our season. Both men enjoy a telephatic understanding and coming in a part of the team that has endured severe criticism over the years, it is indeed welcome and timely.
The two centrebacks shielded Szszesny effectively in goal, restricting Wolves to long, hopeful shots that the goalie easily dealt with. The ever dangerous and lively Kevin Doyle - a player I think Wenger should make a move for – along with Nenad Miljas and Adam Hammill were squeezed off the ball and denied any real attempt at goal.
On our side, Jack Wilshire – another Gunner starting out on his international career with a maiden debut for England during the week – showed us why he’s got such a big future ahead of him. He ran with the ball confidently and took on opposing players without fear.
Mention must be made of Andrei Arshavin as well because the hit-and-miss Russian seems to be playing his way back into form. He peppered Ronald Zubar on the left flank with his direct running and tireless approach and deserved a goal if not for the brave goalkeeping of Hennessey.
I read somewhere that his game takes a dip during the winter months and if his recent form is anything to measure by, there might be some truth in that. But for a Russian who has lived 28 of his 30 years in the bitter cold of the Slavic country, it is indeed strange to whinge about the cold. Whatever the real cause maybe, the Arshavin who destroyed Liverpool with four goals at Anfield in 2008 seems to be re-emergig slowly but surely.
Back to the game, we continued from where we let off in the second half with more sustained pressure. Walcott ought to have got on the scoresheet after being put through by Wilshire but he missed the target in the 50th minute and even he himself looked shocked by the miss.
He supplied the assist for Van Persie though in the 56th minute as the Dutchman coolly beat the very-impressive Hennessey, this time with his regular left foot.
Soon after, with the points now seemingly in the bag and Barcelona now on our collective minds, Wenger rung the changes and withdrew Wilshire, Arshavin and man of the match, Van Persie.
Despite that, the stats for the afternoon spoke volumes for our dominance. We had seven shots on target as against nil for Wolves; we won 72 tackles as against Wolves' 45; we won 81 aerial duels as against Wolves' 19; and possession was 54% for us as against Wolves' 46%.
All in all, it wasn’t a day for mistakes. It wasn’t a day for unforeseen happenings. After Man Utd had earlier in the day opened up a seven point lead and with Barcelona arriving here in three days’ time, we couldn’t afford any blunders. None happened and we closed up the gap with Man Utd to four points and avoided any injuries ahead of Barcelona.
Don’t expect to see Bacary Sagna against Barcelona though cos he’s due to be suspended after picking up a red card in our last group game against Partizan Belgrade in December.

Don’t believe the hype, we have no squad

We’ve had the chance thrice. Not once, not twice, but thrice to have a good look at Arsene Wenger’s squad players. The back-up who are expected to fill in once in a while whenever the calvary are unavailable or need to simply take a break.
In the category of squad players, belong the likes of Manuel Almunia, Kieran Gibbs, Seb Squillaci, Emmanuel Eboue, Denilson, Abou Diaby, Tomas Rosicky, Nicklas Bendtner and like it or not, Andrei Arshavin. They are the flotsam and jetsam that Wenger often calls upon to do a job for him when the regulars, whom I call the calvary, whom Jose Mourinho calls the ‘untouchables’ are unavailable.
Since the turn of the New Year, we’ve had the chance to have a better look at all the afore-mentioned players because the FA Cup and the Carling Cup have afforded Wenger to use his full team. So far, the squad players haven’t done themselves proud at all.
Twice, against Leeds in the FA Cup third round and against Ipswich in the Carling Cup semifinal, Wenger has had to wheel out the calvary to rescue the team after the squad players have had their chance to show what they’ve got – and bungled it. Firstly, it was at the Emirates where the ‘squadies’ huffed and puffed in vain against Leeds and even fell behind after Denilson hacked down a Leeds player inside the box. It took the introduction of Fabregas and Theo Walcott to save our bacon and force a replay two weeks later.

Night of a million stars..Arshavin destroying Liverpool at Anfield in 2009.
Since then, he has lost form and motivation.

Yet again, against Ipswich in the Carling Cup semis. The ‘squadies’ lost the game meekly and without guts, forcing Wenger to use the calvary to steamroll Ipswich in the second leg and book us into a first final in four years.
Looking at our ‘squadies’ individually, every single one of them, except Denilson, is a full international for their respective countries. But within the confines of Colney Creche, they are treated as tin-gods and serenaded by Wenger as the best young players of their ilk in the world. Such kid-gloves handling creates the impression in the minds of these over-pampered players that they are indeed very good, when the real truth is that they are basically very average players.
I can’t see any of the ‘squadies’ walking into any starting eleven of any of Europe’s top ten sides. It is indeed hard to imagine the likes of Denilson, Eboue, Squillaci or Bendtner displacing any player in Chelsea, or Man Utd or Bayern Munich in their respective positions. Trying to imagine them claiming a shirt in star-studded Real Madrid or Barcelona is just taking things too far. Too ludicrously far.
Arshavin perhaps could hold his own elsewhere and in any clubside of pedigree around the world. But the Russian had gone backwards, so alarmingly in the past one year that it is now a formidable risk to vouch for his effectiveness. I watched him plod around the ground against Leeds in the first leg that ended 1-1, that it was hard to believe he was the same player that scored four goals against Liverpool at Anfield in March 2009. So terrible was he that even the mightily-clumsy but egomaniac Bendtner looked a better bet than him. What a downturn for such a classy player!
Yes he scored a huge, huge equaliser against against Everton the other night, but such cameos are too far apart to rely on him game in, game out. The fact that he's coming off the bench is even an indictment with someone of his mercurial abililties.
Like them or hate them, those are the players on whom are silverware hopes rest upon. Even though they were not collectively good enough to beat the likes of Leeds and Ipswich Town, we will have to live with their limitations as we enter the serious part of the season where trophies are the be-all and end-all.
Let’s just pray and hope that nothing tragic in terms of injuries happens to the calvary. Because if it does, then we can kiss our trophy hopes goodbye for yet another season. Because also, I cannot for a second fathom Denilson doing the job of Alex Song; or Eboue stopping the likes of David Villa and Lionel Messi; or Bendtner attempting to score past Carlos Puyol or Victor Valdes.
If they couldn’t cut it against Leeds and Ipswich, they won’t survive against Barcelona and Man Utd when the chips are down.
Can you for a second imagine the incredibly-fragile Rosicky standing up to the hard-tackling Darren Fletcher? Rosicky can’t even stand on his own two feet for five minutes without hitting the turf at the slightest touch. How then can he ever hope to survive a ‘cuddle’ from the no-nonsense Fletcher if need be.
So far, Nasri apart, the scourge of injuries haven’t been too hard on us. Almost all of Wenger’s first eleven starters have remained fit till now. Fingers crossed, our luck will hold. Because if the unthinkable happens and we have to do without the likes of Fabregas, Wilshire, Djourou, Sagna or Chamakh, then our hope of winning anything this season would simply go up in smoke.
Because fact is, Arsene Wenger has no reliable back-up to these ‘untouchables’. Bitter, but true.