So What Did Chamakh Of That Then?
Sep 28th, 2010 by 'holic
I have to be honest, I had said beforehand that the performance was more important than the result. We got both in my opinion, but a difficult game could have gone either way until Marouane Chamakh dragged the Gunners over the line with sheer bloody-mindedness.
The packed and noisy Partizan Stadium was more than one bulb short of a lightshow as the game started, and the speed with which they were closing the visitors down in the early stages hinted at a difficult ninety minutes in the twilight zone. That all changed as the fifteenth minute approached.
Jack Wilshere and Andrey Arshavin shared in the creation, but the magnificent backheel from the teenager deserved the fierce finish of the little Russian. Arshavin still has the capacity to frustrate, but this is why he has to be on the teamsheet. The two of them ensured they would receive very close attention from the ‘enthusiastic’ tacklers for the remainder of the contest.
For the next quarter of an hour it looked as though Arsenal had broken the early resistance. Small gaps were found, the defence tested, and but for some rather delicate finishing, and some superb goalkeeping, the game could have been secured. Arsenal were at their best in this spell, but being Arsenal they surrendered a tame equaliser.
I have some sympathy for Denilson. I’ve played in games where you track a curving ball at chest height and at the last moment an involuntary reflex brings the upper arm in to assist the block. You are mad at the referee for a while when the award is made, but the official has made no mistake. A cool penalty by the free-scoring Cleo re-invigorated the Serbs.
Now back on terms, the home team were once again defending with vigour, the Arsenal passes were less precise, but to be fair we were applying pressure from back to front. The effort and application so lacking at the weekend was back, if perhaps the touch was still lacking on occasion.
The second-half was following a similar pattern until Chamakh took charge of proceedings. Arshavin released the Moroccan for a run on goal, Jovanovic made a clumsy challenge from behind which did not threaten the ball, and Chamakh made sure the foul was not missed. It was an easy decision to award both penalty and red card. Sadly ‘Arsh failed to live up to his name and a poor spot kick was saved.
Chamakh would not be denied though, and finally restored the advantage with just under twenty minutes remaining when he reacted quickest to his own header coming back off the crossbar to nut home the rebound. Indeed the striker’s performance mirrored that of the side at large. Not every touch he had was assured, but his workrate enabled him to finally display his ability and clinch the points.
There remained time for Sebastien Squillaci to head home a fabulous Samir Nasri corner for his first goal in Arsenal colours. He was another who was rewarded for his industry on the night. The importance of the goal was emphasised when Kieran Gibbs was adjudged to have conceded the third penalty of the night. At this point the reignited spotlights fell on one Lukasz Fabianski.
The Pole threw himself to his right to deny Cleo a brace, and screamed in delight to nobody in particular. Contrary to popular conception, Arsenal supporters don’t want to spend every waking minute getting down on their ‘keepers. It was good to see him claim the resulting corner. Confidence flowed through his veins, and was re-inforced by a superb save from point-blank range as the clock counted down.
If he is needed on Sunday at the bus stop in Fulham then at least he can go into the game with head held high. That is good, for you, for him, for me, for us all. Whatever else happens in his time at Arsenal, Lukasz will have tonight to look back on with some fondness.
It was that kind of night. We will play better and lose matches, but you just could not fault the effort, and the application.
Cheers Arsenal.
98 Responses to “So What Did Chamakh Of That Then?”
Get in,
You have!
The game was drifting towards a draw but we made sure we got what we deserved. Song worries me though…
A good response and in the end, a very decent result. Little jack was amazing tonight and Fabianski’s confidence will surley be helped by his overall performance. Heres to three points on sunday.
Really delighted for Fabianski. Was great to see a smile replace his normally haunted face.
Ever since Song has scored against Bolton he has just been bombing forward….he really needs a real lesson to help him remind what he is good at otherwise his adventures could prove costly st SB….too often today he was caught in possession in the opposition 30yards with the ball.
Much needed victory though. Well done you lads.
Fabianski
Safest hands in soccer!
I’ve always said he was the best and worth bringing through.
why does song sudenly think he is mesi and try and driblle around people all the time. why cant he keep it simple and stay back
Great report and I agree with Usama, Song’s wonder goal has negatively affected his game.
35 degrees here, I need a refreshing mint julep please bartender.
You little monkey, Fishwick. I saw what you did there π
Evenin Holic and Holics! A small Brandy for me ta.
It was a decent performance tonight, we did just enough, although as you say, we should’ve been out of sight before half time.
I thought Fabianski played well and that surely must give him a much needed confidence boost, which is all good to me. Whether he or Almunia plays Sunday is another matter though. I would go with Manuel just because the chances of a mistake are a lot less with the Spaniard!
I too am a bit worried about Song, he seems to think he should be getting forward way too much and is looking for eye of the needle ridiculous defence splitting passes all the bleedin time! Get back and protect the back 4 Alex FFS!
I thought Denilson was excellent and his tracking back was good to see, especially after the slating he received last season (when I think he was simply not fit)
Squillaci was solid and I have no qualms about him and Koscielny starting Sunday.
I think Gibbs was very unlucky to have that penalty given against him, it was very harsh and not to mention, outside the box!
A good preparation for Sunday, where I expect Cesc to be back, but if not, we have nasri anyways, who is on fire at the moment, really impressive, Maybe its Samirs new song that is doing it for him???
Zafar: you are absolutely right! I would like Song to battle against Essien instead of trying to be a Nasri.
A midfield of Song, Denilson and Wilshere are the best we can have for the moment, and they cannot match the physicality of Mikel, Essien & Malouda.
I would love to congratulate Fabianski too, though in the 62 min he rushed out a long way from goal to kick the ball when Sagna had already covered it.
It is a bad omen. He is still liable to panic, very much like Clichy. Fortunately he calmed himself down to save the PK as well as Ilic’s shot.
Now Squillaci/ Koscielny/ Djourou against Drogba & Malouda on Sunday…cannot wait.
Here’s hoping this has been the making of Fabianski as a keeper.
Agree with Dazza. What’s got into Alex Song? He seems to think he’s become Cesc Fabregas. On Saturday and tonight he was getting forward at every opportunity, trying to play the ‘killer pass’ and failing, losing possession (sometimes as our furthest forward player) and leaving the defence sexposed.
On Saturday it made a big difference cos we had Diaby alongside abd the back 4 were exposed again and again. Tonight at least Jack and Denilson provided cover. Get off the pep pills Alex and get back to what you’ve been good at for 2 years!
And isn’t wee Jack the LAD!
Mine’s a big glass of bubbly!
Loving the continued Chamakh puns. Can we all vote for Fabianski for man of the match? It might be his only chance.
I think your last sentence sums it up the best. Not the greatest performance. We looked shaky at the back again, but without offering up too many chances. I agree re the Denilson pen and that apart I though he had another very good game. If we could ever become clinical, and I mean really clinical then we would absolutely murder teams.
What impressed me however was the character shown. Not too long ago we would have struggled under such pressure and crowd intimidation. But we weathered the storm and took the game to them. Flappy did well with the pen and the resulting corner. The save at the death I did not think was too difficult and was one that had he missed it he would have been very disappointed. I am still concerned about his paper wrists. That was not a firm hand that pushed that round the post. That said it would be harsh in the extreme to offer any criticism for his performance. All in I thought he played well.
Last word is for Jack. The boy just gets better and better. Nothing bothers him and nothing seems to phase him. Quite the contrary. The more hostile and the tougher it seems to get the more it suits him. He is turning into one hell of a player.
Some tightening up needed before the bus stop so lets keep our fingers crossed.
Keep the faith.
Mug, if I have to choose between Fabianski and Almunia, I will choose Fabianski on Sunday, because it is a golden rule to pick the confident keeper, no matter what. Remember Vito Mannone playing against Fulham. When a keeper is confident and on song, he can work miracles. And it is about time Fabianski plays. If he can get rid of his mistakes and be consistently good, we have a good keeper. If after such a confident performance, he falls back on his old panicky self, then get rid of him–he won’t be of any good any more.
Ultimately a solid performance, but the assist from TR for goal no.2 should not hide the fact that he was largely a liability. The loose and careless passes tonight were too numerous to be acceptable.
Not for the first time – and he is a senior player.
And, as noted already in the comments, Song is a worry. He needs a massive kick in the backside – some good things but way too many poor decisions/dwelling on the ball in our own half.
Positives, though, far outweigh – a good night for Djourou, who was dominant in the air. Jack gets better and better. Chamakh really stuck at it, won a pen and got the crucial goal. And a good night for Fabianski!
Sorry holics. I already have a nice 2009 Croix Des Alliances Cotes Du Rhone Villages on the go. You are all more than welcome to join me. Just bring a glass.
Very nice performance on the back of the shambolic weekend.
Just relieved we got the win and that Fabianski did nothing to further knock his confidence. In fact, it should have gained a bit. If he had had a nightmare tonight (as feared) and coupled with Almunia’s poor game last Saturday, it would have created the worst possible goalkeeping back-drop for the Chelsea game. It remains to be seen though as to who plays on Sunday. Great to see Chamakh score again and also win a penalty. He is having a tremendous start to his debut season. Crafty Heineken please ‘holic
Now if anyone see Brokeback Drogba in traffic,please run him over.
Good to see Fabianski have a good game, but one swallow and all that….
Donald
Fair do’s mate. I am nothing if not open minded! You make a good argument for playing fabianski Sunday. Lets go with him then.
I cannot believe I forgot to mention Chamakh? He was immense, works his socks off and is very team oriented as well as being dead brave and has the ability to pick up scraps and loose balls in the box. Top signing!
I was, honestly, never worried. Even during their initial wave of attack I thought it was pretty obvious that they were running their socks off and that they would never be able to keep it up for the duration of the game and that they would tire pretty soon.
I also have to say that I thought Song got better and better as the game went along. Maybe he is starting to find his feet again.
Fabianski had a good game, and the penalty save (that penalty was a joke, by the way, Gibbs got the ball and it was never a penalty in a million miles) was really good.
But Jack Wilshere… oh my goodness me, that kid has got some talent. If he can just handle it mentally and not get carried away, there is absolutely no limit to how good he can become. The guy is 18 years old and completely runs the show in a rather hostile environment and despite being kicked almost every time he got the ball.
Off to bed in a while so just a cup of tea with a shade of milk, please.
Holic
I am certain there were a multitude of very nervous Arse followers out there,[ me included ] who were very concerned about this very tricky away game coming so soon after the w/end’s debacle.
So it was pleasing to see that after a few early nervous moments,the boys played well,stuck to their passing game and came through a tough mental,as well as physical test.
That will be a major confidence boost ahead of the Chelsea game.
It will be very interesting to see what team takes the field at the w/end.
But a couple of worrying stats from our league games,
We are already averaging more than 1 dropped point per game,and we are already averaging more than 1 goal conceded per game.
I know it is still early days,but it is still a concern.
I mind Song bombing forward, but mostly b/c he really ain’t great at the final ball. If he’d pick his moments sparsely and effectively then fine. At least he’s developing another side of his game that in 3-4 years might come in handy. But crikey I don’t really think we need that sort of learning curve on top of everything else Arsenal has to cope with.
WE dont need Song to be great going forward do we! I hope Wenger has a word with him!
My team for Sunday;
Fabianski (you see Donald? Im flexible!)
Sagna – Koscielny – Squillaci – Gibbs
Denilson/Diaby – Song
Wilshere – Cesc/Nasri – Arshavin
Chamakh
Just what we needed. Three goals and three points (and three penalties too).
I’m excited about JW. He reminds me a lot of Cesc at that age. The media who has moaned about Arsenal’s supposed lack of support for the English national side are looking rather foolish at the moment.
wonderful arsenal performance, great arsenal possesion, flappy did well, the defence overall did well and worked hard, jack is as good as cesc was at 18 and thats saying something he is a superstar in the making, denny pen apart had a good game which is very encouraging and arsh & chamakh were a joy, tomas and song were in and out but contributed to the win…
all the moaning over the weekend on some blogs makes me sick, we got it wrong, he was thinking ahead to the 2 away games, it happens, what matters is putting it right which he did tonite..
so.. really happy tonite, will be in the corner upper tier at the bridge.. i fancy us to do them
I tell you what holic. That home support could give lessons to any other club in how to make their presence felt. The noise level was incredible and they never quit.
Partisan by name and nature. I wish we had that at the Emirates.
Double Glenmorangie on the rocks please.
Heh holics, having been sat quietly in the corner of this bar for quite some time I thought i’d finally speak up…drinks all round please barman ! , mines a jd ‘n coke… just to say in response to 17 corto, that TR had the second highest pass numba and completion stats behind only deni and also covered more km than anyone bar deni too . To me, he’s playing better than he ever has … Give the man a break !!
Cheers Arsenal for restoring so much of what was missing at the weekend. Scrappy at times but never a hint of panic in the side. Be nice to have this group sewn up after 4 games so we can avoid some extra matches for whoever we have fit.
Chamakh….he works and works and works, I think he loves playing for us too….
I said last season Fabianski must never play for us again…I hope I’m proved completely wrong and he should play on Sunday…a clean sheet in an action packed game might resurrect what looked a hopeless task for him with Arsenal.
Jack….bloody hell he takes a kicking but keeps on ticking. Must not burn him out…..
More of the same Sunday please…..I’ll have a Zywiec for Fabianski please.
chrisgooner, I only saw the last half hour of the match, but certainly agree about Rosicky’s performance during that time. He was playing beautifully and his passing worth the price of admission alone.
All I’d like to say at this late hour is…
Lukasz… I’d love you to prove me wrong π
Hic! No more for me barman π
@ 30 Terence
Atmosphere was something else…especially that silence followed by the roaring in unison in the second half. Sounded brilliant….
I hope we don’t win a pen vs Chavs…who to take it??? Jack !!!! Lukasz??
Just wanted to say I support Fabianski and his name isn’t too hard to spell so if he can build on this success I’ll support him right down the line.
Fabianski is entitled to his modest moment but he may need to be in goal against the Chavs so be ready old boy!
We’re already jaded with Wilshere. That pass for the opener was brilliant, but it’s nearly a footnote because he’s established that kind of play as the norm.
Nice report, ‘Holic and a very nice result in a hostile environment. We were not at our brilliant best, but there really wasn’t a point in the game when it looked like we’d come away with anything other than a win.
I enjoyed seeing Denilson start. Thought Gibbs looked very good tonight. Djourou was powerful in the air and cut off every high ball that might otherwise have caused some grief.
Six points out of six cannot be bad.
A great victory!
To travel to Eastern Europe and play in a stadium with a hostile atmosphere like that and come away with all three points is an excellent achievement. I’m proud of the lads.
Vodka shot please ‘holic.
Cheers!
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A Q of rum, a few smokes and a big sigh of relief come the end of the game! What an Arsenalesque performance! Should have been outtasight by half-time! Well done to the lads-we needed the win! But geez we make it difficult for ourselves! We must TAKE our chances-sure we have all heard that before! Onto the chavs! Come on u GUNNERS!!
Well said everyone. I thinks Song’s performance today was bad, as does everyone else, but I think his going forward was because he had Denilson covering him/playing in his normal spot. I hope this is not a part of Wenger’s strategy but who knows at this point.
Jack W.. 2 back heel assists thus far.. what a career this kid has in front of him.. and he was taking knocks this match that would’ve put RvP out for a couple seasons.. i hope he can keep it up.
As for the weekend, my hopes are not high. Lampard out, Cesc in, makes me feel a bit better, but can our defense handle it. Is anyone coming back this weekend other than (hopefully) Cesc? More specifically where’s Vermaelen and why has his whole injury situation been dodgy? I don’t want him in the line-up if he’s not ready but with such a shaky back line I wouldn’t mind seeing him.
Let’s get 3 points this weekend boys!
I’m not sure what I Chamakh of Chamakh me like a hurricane’s name, tbh.
Just getting rid of the remnants of my temporary name bit by bit. Did I mention that we’re gonna have a Drogba roast this weekend?
as i predicted yesterday@49,
‘
“please please prove us all wrong tonight and let fabianski have a blinder; letβs see sagna and gibbs marauding down the flanks to support arshavin and nasri, (have a little rest, gael), with plenty of crosses for chamakh to get on the end of. song to just sit in front of the cbβs with jack and denilson further forward to get a foot in and give it wide.
bring on eboue for the last 20 to run at their tiring full backs, and hopefully vela with 10 to go so he can get the 3rd and decisive goal in a 3-1 victory, chamakh to get the other 2 from nasri assists.”
Not a million miles away from what happened!!
Denilson was excellent. He’s an unspectacular sort of player but he does a tremendous amount that’s important to the team. He’s rarely caught out of position and mops-up, intercepts and tackles as required. When he has the ball he uses it sensibly and rarely gives it away or loses possession. I also seem to remember a couple of spectacular goals somewhere along the way.
Very pleased for Fabianski, but the jury is still out as far as I am concerned.
Also pleased for Djourour who seems to be settling in nicely. He’s obviously a good footballer and just needs to toughen up a bit I think.
Is Nasri our most improved player so far this year?
Norfolk dumpling – I agree with you Nasri just looks class at the moment, great impact yesterday when he came on.
Hard to know how to squeeze them all in for Sunday. I really want Jack to play as you have to go with form, but same also applies to Nasri and Denilson.
My team for Sunday:
Fabianski
Sagna Squillaci Koscielny Gibbs
Wilshere Denilson Fabregas
Nasri Chamakh Arshavin
Only doubt there is Denilson vs Song, but I have gone with form. Also, on the basis that we cannot match Chelsea for strength so let’s have a team that can pass round them. Song at moment is not playing well, but if Fabregas is injured he comes in.
Gibbs just has to start if Wenger wants to prove that there is no French bias in his selection as he is currently way ahead of Clichy on form.
After a nights reflextion the cover the centrebacks receive still worries me immensly and good sides and in WBA case not so good sides will take advantage, Thought both fullbacks were steady last night and Arsh and Chamakh were general menaces but im still glowing with the performance of Jack what a talent – the best compliment i can pay him for his performance is that out of all the players on the park last night the one he was most in tune with and hit some almost telepathic passes to was our mecurial Russian and that to me says a lot as great players tend to dovetail perfectly,
TBH we were wastefull in the final third, and a times seem to lack ideas in the final third, and for all of nasri artistry, he lacks the creativity which jack offers the team .
we were salvaged by chamack, even though he didnt have a particularly excellent game. All the same good game.
my major concern ahead of the chavs, would be song, he should stick to what he knows best, and the manager should be telling him that, and denilson playing behind song is a recipe for disaster.
secondly i’m not really sure who should start in left back, gibbs left a lot of space to be exploited yesterday, unfortunately clichy has a habit of making one or two costly mistakes every game.
i can’t help thinking Djourou has looked suspect the last couple of games, maybe it’s lack of match fitness but he’s been turned a few times and caught out of position, no doubt chelsea will be praying he’s on the pitch on sunday…apart from that song was unconvincing, wilshere was doing 2 shifts in midfield whilst gibbs was outstanding (ok apart from the pen).
sagna and tomas r could have offered a lot more down the right for me, and up until the cross for chamakh i was cursing sosicky for another ineffectual performance. chamakh is of course the modern day alan smith we’ve been crying out for, and how our season pans out will depend greatly on his form and fitness; not counting on getting the perennially injured robin van porcelain back anytime soon..
nice at at last to see arshavin showing a bit of interest, and i can’t help fast forwarding to 5 yrs time every time i see wilshere play, thinking how him and ramsay will be ruling the premiership and dare i say europe too?
as for our fab keeper, it’s been mentioned on here, one swallow doesn’t make a summer. well thats what i keep telling the missus anyway…
those slating song for seemingly taking it upon himself to bomb forward, need i suspect, look no further than those who instruct his alexandery self.
while i agree that he is no cesc, and truly i found much of his movement confusing and kind of ‘piss of and let jack do that’ ish, he’s obviously been instructed to do so.
Re Jack and Arshavin – people always talk about the great partnerships in football and I have to say, last night these two seemed to have a real understanding of where the other would be, particularly JW for finding AA (Jack has a great awareness of where to find Arsh!!!).
That cut back on the edge of the box that AA ran on to when he should have shot but elected to pass was just excellent.
Anyway, I guess my point is that you can’t teach that understanding, it either exists or it doesn’t, and if JW can get Arshavin playing his best again, then he is almost deserving of selection on that basis alone.
Essexpieboy,
Yep that cutback ball was unreal there is no way he saw Arshavin he just knew where hed be,
The thought of Ramsey,Jack,Fab and Arsh in one side is frightening !!!
I know you pay for your attacking beleifs with goals at times but if we could just tighten up a bit at the back we would be unstoppable !
“Contrary to popular conception, Arsenal supporters donβt want to spend every waking minute getting down on their βkeepers.”
So some of them selflessly force themselves to, hmm? π
Great report, Goonerholic. I am so happy for Fabianski and I really like the midfield we started with.
@ H2H
“To travel to Eastern Europe and play in a stadium with a hostile atmosphere like that and come away with all three points is an excellent achievement. Iβm proud of the lads.”
Sums it up for me, too!
It was a nervy performance where we lacked confidence and against better opposition it could have been different. However at the same time I got pleasure out of noticing that we really didn’t need to move out of first gear against PB, who I can see us putting out a skeleton side against in the home fixture.
My hope is that we reserved enough energy to go out against the blues on Sunday with a dynamic highly focused performance.
I would prefer if we did not rush Fabregas back as I would love to play consistently well with what we have and get stronger with each returning casualty
Here’s to another victory!
A cup of lem tea pls Holic, I’m feeling comfortably relaxed right now
@53 wandarah you raise an interesting point – how much does AW tell people to stay back and/or have freedom, and how much are they all given free rein to run forward
As in my post the other day, I do like Eboue running forward with the ball, when playing midfield, but sometimes I have noticed that he hangs back as if under instruction, and to this extent that unlike Song, he may be a better judge of when to do so
Song, for me has also been the target of double tacklers, and so has become more prone to lose the ball – unsurprisingly, but also has ‘lost’ the previously high pass completion rate – a feeling rather than based upon stats – perhaps someone can check these out please
BTW last night was frustrating – not available on satellite and piss-poor streaming – watching 80 minutes of frozen screen and occasional flickers of movement – what it means to follow the reds!!
Come on Chelski – oh no Im in Paris for the races – maybe they’ll show the match on the big screen there -NOT
A lot of things to be positive about last night for me:
1. Thought Djourou may have been a risk and whilst there were a couple of moments which gave me a scare overall he did quite well – will be interesting to see if Kos was dropped or rested last night come team selection on Sunday.
2. We scored 2 headed goals last night, one direct from a corner. I had started to think that this species had become extinct at Arsenal and its good that we now have that back in our repetoire with the addition of Chamakh and Squillaci.
3. The performance of Jack the Lad – what more is there to say? Well done son.
4. Finally, much as I agree that one swallow doesn’t make a summer I have to give Fabianski praise where its due. He did what was asked of him last night and hopefully he goes on to prove me and a substantial number of other doubters wrong. I will however temper my enthusiasm for now until he shows he can do it consistently.
I think that winning as we did last night may have done us more favours than a walk in the park 4 or 5 nil. The result and performance should be sufficient to keep our feet on the ground to form the basis for what will need to be another gritty 90 minutes of graft to bring something back from the “bus stop”.
Oh and a glass of water and an aspirin please barman π
BOOZY, WERE YOU HUNGOVER WHEN POSTING THAT?
Jack is getting a lot of plaudits and rightly so, howver, i think Denilson deserves some credit too. He looked a completely different player to the one i remember from last season. Then again, he was coming back from a horrible injury wasnt he. Good to have him back and fighting fit.
I am not surprised that the defence looked a bit shaky at times. We were away from home, in a hostile environemnt and had a completely new back line yet again this season! Considering all that, i think they did really well and lets face it, it was only the penalties they had that gave them any sort of shot on our goal really.
here’s to Sunday and a win for the Gunners!
@arsene knows Ill be in the lower tier SB Sunday!
I think we are missing the point of the Song thing. It looks to me as if we are trying to get a much more fluid line up – interchanging going on with practically all the front 6! I don’t think Song is daft – he imo is playing to instructions, joining in and creating options from deep etc.
There were times once we went 3-1 up when I thought we were actually using the opportunity to practice moving the balls in and around the box with people come in from all angles.
Apart from the hand ball β I think Dennilson again looked sharper.
Cup of tea please. It is about that time.
when will rvp ,walcott and vermaleen be fit to play
sONG WILL BE FINE ON sUNDAY AS HE WILL HAVE TO PLAY FURTHER BACK BECAUSE OF THE OPPOSITION. pEOPLE ON HERE ARE CORRECT THAT SINCE THE bOLTON GAME HE HAS BEEN GIVEN THE FREEDOM TO PLAY FURTHER FORWARD, ALSO BECAUSE OF THE INJURY TO cESC. i THINK WE CAN SEE THAT WHN cESC IS IN THE TEAM HE OPENS UP SPACE FOR THE OCCASIONAL SURGE FORWARD FROM sONG TO MAKE A PASS ETC, BUT HEN HE IS NOT THERE AND sONG IS TRYONG TO FORCE IT THEN THERE IS NOT THE SPACE TO BE ABLE TO DO THAT/. wE NEED HIM TO GET BACK TO DOING WHAT HE DOES BEST, WHICH IS PROTECT THE BAK FOUR WITH SOUND DISTRUBTION FROM THM DEFENSIVE PSOITIONS. hE IS ACTUALLY A GOOD PASSER WHEN THE PASS IS ON. wHEN HE HAS TO TRY SOMETHING EXTRAVAGANT TO PLAY A PASS OVER THE TOP OR THROGH THE EYE OF A NEEDLE, HE WILL ALWASY STRUGGLE AS IT DEPENDS ON WHO YOU ARE AIMING AT AS WELL. THIS IS AN ART, WHICH HE CAN NOT LEARN IN 3 GAMES. iN SHORT, HE HAS TO PLAY AGAINST CHELSEA AND AS GOOD AS dENILSON’S FORM HAS BEEN THUS FAR, HE IS NOT STRONG ENOUGH TO DEAL WITH cHELSEA UNLESS sONG IS THERE ALONGSIDE HIM.
Our unabashed penalty takers need to stand up and be counted in Cesc’s absence. Rosicky and Arshavin having missed recently, shouldn’t we try somebody else? Nasri has done fine but if he is unavailable how about some of the players who confidently stepped up at Roma and did the business, like Denilson or Sagna??
Good performance, great result. I wouldn’t have minded a boring or even sloppy performance as long as it resulted in a win. I don’t care how we win, as long as we do. Fortunately, last night’s game was satisfying on all counts, including something I, being Polish and not old enough to remember the 1974 World Cup, never expected to see outside of (and from him, no longer) Artur Boruc: A Polish goalkeeper playing very well!
bt8bbnn, I agree that somebody else needs to take our penalties. My vote (if there were such a thing) would be for Chamack.
It’s good to read a blog so full of praise and satisfaction at the performance of the Gunners. Recently all I’ve heard is grumbling from the madmen who want to get rid of Arsene Wenger. We’ve suddenly got a side that’s bursting with talent and what a pleasure it is to watch them! Chamakh makes Rooney-esque runs, all over the place and is really difficult to track. He holds the ball up well and brings others into play very effectively. We’ve needed him for ages. Wilshere – what a talent! He has the extravagance of an 18 year old Messi at times and his importance to the Gunners future cannot be over-estimated. Song, getting better all the time even if he’s getting over-adventurous; Nasri – fantastic, Gibbs the same and on and on. Bring on the chavs. Beauty versus the beasts. I know who I’d prefer to watch week in week out!
So it’s beauty vs. the beasts, eh Chris? If so, let’s hope the beasts don’t come out of their hole on Sunday. And Joshua, I haven’t seen Chamakh take a penalty yet but being a striker and having seen his calm demeanor he seems like a logical candidate. The fact that Arsene hasn’t used him to take penalties must be because he is trying to keep the pressure off him, but it could be time for a try since he has passed his other initial tests with flying colors.
BT8BNT – Chamakh did take one in one of the pre-season games and scored (can’t remember which one). Clearly not the same thing as in “real life” but means he has run in from 12 yards for us.
I think the final piece of the jigsaw if for some of our players to grow bigger balls and start demanding to take the game by the scruff of the neck, which includes taking penalties. We should be in the position of people fighting to take them, not clambering over each other to hide in the cupboard!
KingsVeryCross@61 –
I see your point about Song.
I noticed when RVP went down injured last season, the following game v Sunderland , Song made alot of runs in to the box. IMO using his upper body strength, AS is able to hold up the ball and bring it in to the danger area, abit like Rooneh!
OK that was a good game but aren’t we celebrating too early.i am still afraid of drogba he seams to have a formula for dismantling us ,dn’t forget on form malunda.all the same have faith but il keep my figures crossed.our defense might be our undoing.the battle all the same will be on the midfield.
joseph, Keep no faith in formulas even though we have seen certain patterns repeated. Our team is different from last season, as is theirs, both in personnel and psychology if not also in tactics so everything is to be played for this season, not in the past. Fingers crossed here too, but let’s see how they can handle the Chamakh attack, and if our new defence might just be a little bit improved now that our WBA blip is in the past.
Arsenal fans are so fickly I can’t stop laughing.
Remember how Monday’s Arseblog’s poll ended up with less than 1% voting for Fabianski to start against Belgrade, with Woj a huge favorite? Now Arsenal Addict has a poll asking which keeper should start against CSKA London. Guess who’s the most popular choice?
Here: http://www.arsenaladdict.com/home/2010/9/29/vote-after-fabs-partizan-display-who-should-be-arsenals-keep.html
behind the 8 ball but not nasri –
I have this feeling Chamakh-attack will cause one or two problems on Sunday!
Well boys we still need a goalkeeper of world class caliber or it will end up the same old story looking back last year goalkeeping mistakes cost us at least 4 wins that is huge so far goalkeeping mistakes have cost us 1 game 3 points in less than 2 months on these nos we will loose another 9 points due to goalkeeping this is the difference between winning the league and coming 3 or 4 th one good game by flappy is not the answer a new world class keeper in January is.
History will repeat itself if we don’t make this change no silverware the facts are glaring
History has a pattern of repeating and it
A really good result an a not half bad performance. Jack was at his brilliant best. Tim Vickery, the S. Americal football expert, thinks he is marvellously talented. What can I say about the penalty save; well, the ball wasn`t exactly travelling at pace or heading for the corner of the goal, and otherwise Flappy had little to do, but still its an improvement. However, for AW to use this performance to afterwards trumpet his world class quality is plainly risible, although he needs to big him up for his confidence sake. I expect him to start against Chelsea, and if there are no balls-ups from him, expect a lot more I told you so`s.
Matt –
Glad I’ve never seen that blog before then…..the very notion of giving Chesney his league debut away to Chelsea would be foolish unless no options remained, yet 30% of the those asked thought it a good idea. Luckily someone else is managing Arsenal and I trust him.
On most things I do. On this one I don`t!
I wonder what Cesc thought of Barca tonight. π
good away point … π
@Tim: There are (too) many Arsenal blogs not worth the visit, this is one of them. That being said I’m pretty sure that if there was a poll on Arseblog the results would be similar.
On the other hand, the best blog about football finances written by an Arsenal fan to boot (the Swiss Rambler) just came out with a post detailing our financial situation in layman terms. Do yourselves a favor and rush to read it: http://swissramble.blogspot.com/2010/09/cash-city-rockers.html
Thanks Matt…will do….and a Clash reference to boot….
@52matt p “One swallow doesn’t make the summer…that’s what I keep telling the missus anyway” you sir, are a genius. You have no idea how much that made me laugh (for real).
Anyway good performance yesterday, many of you have already raised many interesting points, but allow me to keep judgement on Fanianski until after he had a few decent games where he won’t cost us points.
I was really happy that he saved the penalty and you could see how that boosted his confidence afterwards. However I believe we shouldn’t get ahead of ourselves. He cost us so many points and made so many terrible mistakes up til now that unless he has a good streak of decent performances we shouldn’t keep him at the club.
Bring in a world class goalkeeper if you’re not playing the youngsters as there can be NO COMPROMISE for such a vital poistion in the team.
Now I feel Arshavin is about to have his best season yet, as is Nasri and hopefully Walcott when returns. Attack isn’t a problem for us, defence is. We need more steel (a la City) and more back-tracking from our midfielders/forwards. And our full backs should really step up their game and make defending their priority.
Fingers crossed for Sunday and Come On You Gunners!
I’ll have a martini bianco please.
π
Goonerholic, what are the early odds on Arshavin putting five past Chelsea? It could be the bargain bet of the biennial.
Don’t get carried away, bt8bbnn.
2 or more goals for Arshavin is 33/1 with Paddy Power.
How about Chelsea to lead at half time, Arsenal to win, at 45/1?
Biscuitbum
You seem to have forgotten the reflex save wright at the end?
I would love to see you in goal for that penalty he had to get down really quickly I’m sure you save those all the time. For me I’m glad he had a good game he needed this to boost his confidence ahead for the Chavs on the weekend and to be honest it’s not him I’m worried about is our back four who have the hardest job there. We know how Chavs play football they are a power team nothing else.
Instead of bitching and moaning get behind the team my friend, for me it doesn’t matter who’s in goal, if we loose we loose together as a team. Individual mistakes can be assessed after the game, and if Fabianski will be the one to blame I will point it out first, but please give the bloke a chance.
The thing is we haven’t even played them yet and your pessimism is very overwhelming!
Shop around.
Chelsea to lead at half time, Arsenal to win is 50/1 at sportingbet.com
The ‘holic is on π
‘holic, mnre than a bet, that’s a scenario I can really latch onto. I’ll be watching the second half with added interest now if we’re behind at halftime!
Couldn’t get here last night but, after my gloom and doom of Monday night, congratulations are in order to Fabianski.
Clearly the general ‘keeping situation has not changed but he did really well, and looked almost eager to come for everything after the penalty stop.
We’ve all mentioned swallows and summers, but he has at least proved that he can do it.
He must now prove that he can do it consistently.
Every keeper, without exception, makes the occasional mistake, and Fabianski will certainly make some more.
For the time being at least, we simply have to stay positive with him when it happens, and encourage him to produce more of last night’s quality.
He has produced a performance that I said he was not capable of.
I am glad to be wrong and am genuinely pleased for him. At least he looked like it really mattered to him.
Good performance from Denilson, especially as he hasn’t been playing.
Gibb’s did very well too. First choice now ?
Still not sure how we’re gonna cook Drogba at the roast. Anybody have suggested recipes?
cover him in (La)Sagna and a hint of a Song. Maybe some roasted Faba beans
sod it…cover him in petrol and drop a swan vesta
take some logs of Cashley , fix to the spit of Terry, cover with Roman oil and gently simmer for 95 minutes (at least) before dumping them all in the river
Uhmm intersting recepies guys, how about chopping him in pieces and make some Drogbanof, pleant of onion and garlic to kill of that Chav smell too.
Then feed it to the dogs π
I believe we’ll be able to season him with a little Nasri and Jack, with a hit of Koscielny and Squillaci and cooked him down for around 90mins, but not to exceed 95mins otherwise that could be detrimental.
Ah yes that reflex save. Have you noticed that all of our keepers are said to be `good shot stoppers`? In my book that is damning with faint praise. Good goalkeeping is also about good positioning, good decision making, and good distribution, among other things.
What with Terry and Cashley in the fire I cannot see any reason to spare the rest of them so seeing as they have a significant Eastern European component with Zhirkov and Ivanovic, some Slivovitz brandy should do the trick of igniting the whole lot for a robust and thorough roasting. Just the right flavor after the required minimum of 95 minutes. Should the score be in our favor at that time, however, I plan to keep them in the fire for a good while longer mind you!
Hmmm? My guess is that if the chavs are cooked beyond the required 95 mins they could burn!
Anyone for some barbecued Drog?
Err.. a round of Absinthe for everyone – it’s clearly what’s been going down in the last few hours!