Villa Fall To First Half Masterclass
Dec 1st, 2007 by 'holic
There are very good reasons why bloggers are bloggers, and Arsene Wenger is manager of Arsenal. Not for one moment did I (and I suspect Martin O’Neill) consider that Le Boss would replace Cesc Fabregas with anybody but Denilson at Villa Park.
Into the midfield came Lassana Diarra, and it seemed his job was to ‘baby-sit’ Gareth Barry. The two of them spent almost all of the contest in each others pockets, which definitely favoured Arsenal. Early on it was a pleasure to see the home team line-up with two attackers, a rare opponent indeed these days even away from home. Their adventure was rewarded with the opening goal when Kolo Toure deflected a John Carew cross into the path of Craig Gardner, and the young midfielder finished well.
Arsenal are not on top of the table without reason. Scoring against them so early could be seen as being merely provocative. The response was a half-hour demonstration of the beautiful game at its finest.
Midway through the half Arsenal were level after an interchange between Bacary Sagna and Emmanuel Eboue on the right set up Mathieu Flamini for a tremendous left-foot finish. Just over ten minutes later a Sagna cross, also from the right flank, was finished imperiously by Emmanuel Adebayor.
So many chances did Arsenal create in that opening period we sat back and waited for the inevitable drubbing to conclude in the second-half, and once again we were left scratching our heads as the home team grabbed the initiative.
The Villa cause was helped greatly when Carew scythed through the back of Hleb, and Arsenal’s finest creative force hobbled from the fray. Please let him be fit for the sterner challenges to come in December. That should not though detract from the determined efforts they made to level the contest, and the solid defensive display from the visitors.
Arsene Wenger summed up the evening perfectly, “I think the first half was amazing. We were quick and sharp on the move, while in the second half we were resilient”. His opposite number felt that “We showed great character in the second half and I don’t think Arsenal have been put under that sort of pressure for some time”.
O’Neill was correct, but stopped short of the obvious conclusion. This Arsenal side can take the best that a good side can throw at them on their own patch, and still emerge with the points. Tonight a five point lead over Chelsea, and six point lead over Manchester United and City, makes excellent reading.
Next up is Fat Sam and his boys. Bring ’em on!
21 Responses to “Villa Fall To First Half Masterclass”
First drink!
Did Pip put you up to that KT?
‘First anything’ is reserved for the far more impressive arses and guns, thank you.
😉
3rd drink!!
Gunnerholic, Denilson is average in every single facet of the game. That’s why Wenger didn’t play him. He’s a poor mans Xabi Alonso, and I don’t even rate Alonso.
Sorry ‘holic….All my own, er, work. Pip, unusually, is entirely blameless. 😉
Paul, one of the methods David Bowie used to employ in writing his lyrics was to write a number of words on sheets of paper, cut them all up, and re-assemble them in a random order. It seems you are familiar with the technique. I can think of no other reason for your contribution.
I never doubt Wenger’s judgement but there were a couple of things I would love to hear him explain.
Why in God’s name bring on Walcott when we have our backs against the wall? He can’t hold on to the ball; he can’t tackle or cover back and he skips out of any challenge. I know he is only 18 and I desperately want him to become an Arsenal great but when he came on, it was like playing with 10 men. Bendtner would have caused Villa a lot more problems.
Secondly, why doesn’t somebody whisper in Almunia’s ear and just point out to him that punting the ball straight through to the goalkeeper at the other end, just allows your opponent to come straight back at you. It’s simple really.
Anyway, I thought it was vitally important that we got this difficult December of to a good start and that was a monster result today. Well done lads!
Let me guess, you were one of those fans who saw Denilson play decent against Spurs in the Carling Cup, jumped on yet another bandwagon annointing him the next Cesc, and then your eyes glazed over as he produced one mediocre performance after the other. Surely you can’t jump off the bandwagon can you? That would require critical thinking, which judging after the Hleb article, is beyond you.
Third-gen predicted Diarra – Denilson has not performed in a while, Sheffield United aside. I dont agree with what Paul’s saying wholistically, but frankly, Denilson is not being criticised enough whereas players like Walcott are. Denilson will never learn at this rate.
Surely ‘jumping on the bandwagon’ is judging a player on one or two performances, ignoring his contribution in other matches and describing as ‘average’ the potential of a 19 year old midfielder when compared to the performances of a player 7 years his senior in Xabi Alonso.
Those seeking to criticise Denilson for what they see as sub-standard performances are making much the same mistake as the people slating Hleb last season as not being up to it.
Hw 1derful it is 2 see AFC bk on track,after dat sevilla game i wasnt dat good wit myself.i tink diarra was splendid 2day i always wnt 2see him play.ade actually need 2work on 2tins,1,his finishn nd ofcuz his passn.dat is where Bendthner is better dan him.hleb was super he has always bin.i think big ars sam is gooner have whooped on wednesday.a gooner4life.
Every Arsenal player is capable of fantastic play. Not all of them are consistently good. Having won a game with some quality passing in spite of missing Cesc, Arsenal have shown resilience.
What concerns me more is the referees approach to nasty fouls. Carew kicked Hleb out of the game with no attempt at the ball and in clear sight of the referee. It should have been a red card. There were a couple of other games with nasty tackles and only Melchiot saw red. Obi Mikel – the catalyst of the Carling cup reds – should have seen red but didn’t. John Terry should have seen red for raising his hands at Boa Morte. I wonder if the FA will even look at an offence from the shy England captain.
However, Arsenal are top of the league and have yet again showed how to play the beautiful game.
Great result against a very good Villa side that are going to cause many other teams problems this season.
I agree with the comment about Almunia kicking the ball long too often. Every time he does, we surrender possession and someone needs to tell him that when we’re under pressure, the last thing we want to do is give the other team the ball back.
In saying that, I thought Al played very well against the constant aerial barrage and I would hate to imagine what trouble mad Lens would have got into when trying to defend all those corners, free kicks and crosses.
Our fullbacks were magnificent again. Hleb and the Flamster have improved off-the-chart in a season and Diarra is already starting to fit in with the ‘Arsenal way’ after only a couple of full games. I am now starting to get excited about our chances this season, although not confident enough yet to start making predictions. I just hope we can keep it going until May. Up The Arse!!!!
Sir Arsene knows all
Goonerholic – Love your blog. It’s a great place to get early reaction on Arsenal games from a very knowledgeable Gooner.
I can’t go along with the criticism of Denilson. I’m a big fan of the player.
That second half, for me, was not Arsenal quality, but very pleased with the result.
let judge denilson after he has a consistent run of games and in one or two season times. remember cesc did not exactly light up the pitch when he first started playing.i personally think he is a great player who in two season times could be as good as cesc.afterall wenger just gave him a long term contract.
is it me or did eboue have his first completey outstanding game on the right. threatened, backtracked, last ditch tackles, and (most amazingly) no play-acting. think he got an earful from arsene?
Just to note that “Paul” is not the Paul that usually posts here. That Paul, is this Paul & this Paul thinks Denilson is a damn fine player, maybe a bit off colour, but even the great Thierry Henry had his off days.
Lots of love,
Paul!
Ah, indeed Paul, the original and best. It was a bit confusing when the pale imitation turned up to give Arsenal fans generally a bit of grief in the Hleb article. I had to check out his ip to make sure it wasn’t you on a wind up.
As if! 😉
He is a long way away from where you are…
GOONERHOLIC
CHEERS FROM ACROSS THE POND – MILWAUKEE WISCONSIN USA
HEARD YOU ON THE ARESBLOOGERS PODCAST NICE JOB.
HOPE WE GET VAN PERISE BACK SOON
HAVE TO GO
TAKE IT EASY BROTHER.
David M Sheridan
Considering that one Paul was here earlier, it might make sense going forward if the newer Paul posts under a slightly different name, and he could do a lot worse than “Angry Paul.”
Arseblogger seems to do well in the US, based on the number of comments that make it onto the Arsecast from Americans, and posts from listeners like Mr. Sheridan of Mil-town. I wonder if he has statistics on that.
Actually 433 if you look at the stats for any given site on different packages you will get different results. I have a majority of readers from the USA on one set of stats, which is not repeated on the other two that I check frequently. All three report different numbers. Which just goes to prove that there are lies, damned lies, and then there are statistics!