Whisper It Gently, Arsenal Look Special!
Sep 19th, 2007 by 'holic
The interesting thing about deciding what to write in a blog is the knowledge that at some stage in the future some smartarse can dig through your archives and pinpoint the moment you made a complete arse of yourself!
I’m sure that all of us have watched Arsenal’s progress this season with a mixture of hope and surprise. After all, weren’t we suppose to be the most vulnerable of the top four, almost certain to lose our Champions League qualification to another, possibly nearby, rival.
Ok, yes it is early days, but the current Premier League leaders (that’s us by the way with a game in hand over Chelsea and Manchester United!) have just passed two tests in five days that could be seen as pivotal.
I don’t know how many of you, like me, watched Sevilla at the weekend and thought ‘we could have our work cut out here!’. They are probably the closest side I have seen to Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal in their approach to the game.
Like Saturday the Gunners produced a quite special performance as if to confirm just how good they really are. Early doors tonight, the pessimist in me sighed as Gael Clichy surprisingly squandered possession cheaply on at least three occasions. A delicious Cesc Fabregas strike, deflected in by Escude, gave the hosts the advantage, but then I sighed again as Emmanuel Adebayor finished wastefully.
‘This is a real test for your boys’ the landlord assured me. ‘Did you see what they did to Tottenham last season?’. The second-half revealed yet more quality from the hosts, however, and Robin Van Persie calmly escaped his marker to add the second from a Cesc free-kick via the head of Bacary Sagna. How good is our new right-back who spent the night terrorising his opponents at both ends of the park?
The closing stages saw the introduction of the lesser-spotted Eduardo, a rarity in this particular Autumn. It wasn’t long before the mercurial Fabregas found him in front of goal and the Croatian goal machine slotted in the third.
Hands up now, who really expected a victory margin of this comfort? Had I been able to provide my preview then some in another place know that the ‘holic pound would have been on a draw.
I watched Adebayor summon the troops to the centre-circle huddle at the final whistle, and just allowed myself to dream just what this apparently excellent team spirit could yield by the seasons end. I was drawn to a comparison with the young Guns of 1989. This current crop have the two seasons of experience behind them that George Graham’s boys had then.
Yes I know, it is only September and a long, long season lies ahead, but with every passing game these boys are a disappointing draw away from where they were last term. Does that make sense? Will this moment come back to haunt me? I’m getting rather excited about what this team can achieve.
18 Responses to “Whisper It Gently, Arsenal Look Special!”
`Holic, I share the surprise and excitement with you. I started today a little nervous over tonight’s match but I’m simply astonished by the final score. The only thing I can think of right now is “Wenger does know”!
I’m not surprised as I was one of the team’s biggest supporters over the summer when we were being written off left, right and centre, but I am pleased and taking one game at a time hoping that we can keep the momentum going. I was lucky enough to be at the game tonight and it was amazing. I never felt nervous when Sevilla threatened and always felt our team were in control.
Really impressive performance, cool calm and composed, never pushed in the least. Yes Wenger Does know.. and how!
Mr. wenger does know. As a friend always says, “Arsenal play Wenger footbal”. Nothing more and nothing less. We are yet to see the full potential of this team. Carry on Gooners!!!!
I’m more with Passenal; not so surprised by the Arsenal’s good start. I’ve always had confidence in Hleb, Rosicky, RVP, and Adebayor. I thought Diaby would be up for it a bit more, but overall I rate the players on the squad.
The team is in good form. Here’s hoping it can last a long time with only the most minor interruptions.
Last night Rob claimed he was “curious to see where this team would finish up” and I must say I agree.
Worst case scenario is we gain plaudits from all over the world for our fantastic football, but become the “almost” boys, best case? Rulers of the world.
You know what I missed out in the excitement of the evening and thumping at random letters on the keyboard while inebriated? I forgot to mention the part played by Matty Flamini, preferred to Gilberto in midfield, he was awesome. Sagna was my man of the match, but the pairing of Matty and Cesc ran him close. I still can’t get over how well we are playing, and how we are punishing teams by keeping going for ninety minutes plus. The next test will be how they react when they have an off-day, which must surely come somewhere along the line. Until then let’s enjoy them, whether you expected this or not they are becoming irresistable.
It would be quite disappointing if that “off game” came on the weekend against Derby. Arsenal supporters are almost expecting a convincing victory. To be turned over at home to relegation-zone Derby would be hard to take.
It seems that a few from the first team will be rested for the Derby game. I just hope the players don’t get too complacent.
433 – I’d rather have an off day versus Derby and win against United, Chelsea or Liverpool.
(Although beating all four would be preferable)
I agree ‘holic – Flamini was a revelation last night. His tackling and interceptions by throwing himself infront of shots was amazing. But even more amazing was how much his passing has improved. He totally deserves his starting berth in midfield at the moment.
There will be off days to come, but hopefully some minor adjustments to the starting line up will allow players to be rested at the right time to keep the balance going.
Do the fans know the new Arsenal supremo is a mafia rapist ?
He’s not the supremo, at least not yet. But yeah, the guy’s a PR nightmare.
Danny, why is everybody trying to get us bloggers sued. The word you missed out there is allegedly. The lawyers can come after me, but only because the words squeeze, blood, and stone, accurately describe their chances of getting a bob or two out of me. Give us a break.
😉
Goonerholic,
What about petitions, demonstrations, etc. to try to block the Usmanov takeover? Man U supporters burned Malcom Glazer dummies in effigy didn’t they, and that didn’t do any good.
But the way Usmanov wants to keep critics quiet suggests that he may have a real fear that public discourse about him could get in the way of his attempted takeover. I’m intrigued by Murray’s assertion that he asked Usmanov’s lawyers to sue him, but that they weren’t too keen.
I had a good feeling about this season as well, and fancied us to challenge for the title. I am a little surprised we are top of the league though, I didnt expect that so soon. This team looks very good, and the questions about this team are slowly being answered. I just hope we dont increase our expectations unreasonably.
It was the off-days against teams like Derby that cost us last year rather than our performances against the big guns. The next game is the chance to consolidate our points total we shouldn’t underestimate their willingness to fight for survival.
The more vocal the opposition to Dein and his cohorts the less likely they will get their way. The fact that Usmanovs lawyers are so quick to silence dissenting voices means that any opposition has to stick to the facts of which the fact that he is unable to tolerate dissenting voices is a pretty damning one. But that needn’t stop anyone expressing their preferences and any support for the current position of the club loudly and clearly.
Nice one, Amos.