Arsenal Add Graft To Style And Earn The Breaks
Aug 18th, 2009 by 'holic
I would like to be able to wait until tomorrow and write about that game in the cold light of day, but sadly I am denied that luxury. So I am going to have to try and be objective whilst still caught up in the emotion of the immediate aftermath of the game.
I feel I need to say that I thought Celtic gave a hundred percent, and then some. They contributed hugely to a fascinating, if not a gripping contest. There was a derby feel about the game with no time allowed on the ball for either side. Therein for me lies the story of the night.
Arsenal have been getting better over the last couple of years of meeting the physical challenges of sides who set out to stop them playing. The old myth about them ‘not fancying it’ when coming up against certain teams, particularly in the north-west, has been largely put to rest.
Tonight, though, they took it a step further. Arsenal actually worked harder at denying Celtic time and space than the hosts, and that is saying something. Whilst there is no doubt that there was an element of fortune about both goals, there was likewise no doubt that only one side was likely to win tonight. When you marry the undoubted ability that we possess all over the park to a willingness to graft your socks off, then the potential to achieve something very special is immense.
There has to be a question mark against whether anybody can play a high-tempo pressing game over the course of an English Premiership campaign, with Champions League and domestic cup ties thrown in. The first time it fails there will be critics. The trick may be for Wenger to convince his charges that they are getting mentally stronger, not physically weaker, the longer they produce these levels of effort.
Tonight though we can look back on a job well done. In the place where many English, and European, giants have floundered we struck with a deflected goal from William Gallas, and an own goal from the luckless Caldwell.
Gallas is turning opinions full circle. He has now scored in both opening games. His partnership with the increasingly impressive Thomas Vermaelen looks as though it is developing nicely. I’ll hold my hands up as one (of many I suspect) who thought he would be on his way when last season ended. Whatever shortcomings he may have had as a captain have now been well and truly consigned to the past. Fair play to the fella. He deserves to have won the fans back by giving a hundred percent when another has given up the fight tamely.
The other big congratulations of the night must go to the travelling gooners. Whilst those on the pitch did their part in nullifying that special atmosphere that had been talked up in advance, the sound of the visitors was heard throughout. Pick of the night was the rendition of ‘WE FORGOT THAT YOU WERE HERE’ after just THIRTEEN minutes! Querying ‘IS THERE A FIRE DRILL?’ was probably a bit below the belt towards the end, though. Well played, lads and lasses.
33 Responses to “Arsenal Add Graft To Style And Earn The Breaks”
So, what are we thinking about vermeallen now then????
vermaelen is awesome and song is continuing last year’s form. arshavin was disappointing. song was motm.
verminatorrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
In response to Spike, I think he looked really sharp.
One thing that stands out was in the 1st half when Celtic broke quite quickly and I think it was Denilson messed up his tackle allowing the cross to be put in. Vermaelen sprinted back the whole length of the pitch to intercept the ball from what would likely have been a Celtic goal.
is Arshavin being played out of position?
Yep, Arshavin should be in goal. He is wasted in attack.
IMO you got of lightly. The Hoops never turned up.
Worked hard but were very poor on the ball.
Haha! Sore loser.
Whatever Trevor!
Rvp was seriously off tonight, i would liket to see Bendtner up front with Arsh, and Rvp on the right – he should be cutting inside and getting left foot swingers in.
Vermaelen quality.
Song class! MOTM
Well done the Gunners! I am a mad Celtc fan and couldn’t believe the draw! Hey, those are the breaks. Anyway, good luck in the Champions league and be gentle at the Emirates, Remember there are many celtic/gooner fans up here!
WOW Song motm? I guess Wenger knows something after all these years of our fans belittling Song as a donkey. Yet they forget song and Denilson are only 22 years of age.
things are really going well and we got Pompey to keep that trait going but um really worried bout Arshavin past two games he hasnt looked himself jus fear maybe he is starting to look himself now after punching above himself last season nnnnnnnnnnnnaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhhh um jus being paranoid and suspicious rite??????
VCC
It’s only two games, Arshavin and RVP will come right. I was particularly impressed with how hard the forwards worked tonight – amazing how many times one of our forwards blocked balls out to touch.
We did struggle with cohesion up front. The interesting factor with the Everton game was that we went back to our old counter-attacking game, which we’ve not been allowed to do since teams figured us out after the undefeated season. I’m not sure we’ll continue to have that luxury, which is why scoring headed goals from freekicks could become an important part of our diet, hence the interest in Chamakh who clearly is good in the air.
Personally I think the ability to work in tight spaces up front would be important, and Wilshere, Eduardo and Arshavin will be important in this regard.
RVP has made a slow start to the season – but that’s only cause for more optimism. What is brilliant is that the midfield and defence are the two areas that have clicked so early – the attack will take care of itself over time.
The 4-3-3 is going nicely and Bendtner and Arshavin are applying the right sort of pressure. Song is playing well, Vermaelen has settled in, what not to be happy about?
And by the by, a nice write-up ‘holic, very level-headed given your “emotion”.
Vermaelen and Song are pure class. Gallas is a great soldier but a hopeless General. Great to see that Cesc has rediscovered his shooting boots. Only worry is, can the same 11 keep performing every 3 days. Hopefully Le boss will be able to rest some players against Portsmouth after a smashing first half 🙂
Dont worry fellas, Arshavin will come good. Class is permanent.
As far as the match, it was played at a very high tempo and Cesc played his fucking socks off and was special yet again.
We are playing some very tough games here. Three more massive tests coming up – just hope the boys are physically up for it.
Amazing…Its the Defence & Midfield that has kicked off our season in fine style…
Forwards havent clicked as yet…not cutting edge & havent got behind the defenders as yet
The match yesterday was very interesting.
The positives for me were the grit and determination not to be bullied off the ball, and the ability to mix the ugly with the beautiful. It may be only two games into the season, but nevertheless, they were two games that gave Arsenal an opportunity to set a marker of their intent for this coming season.
The doomsayers will still look for excuses not to acknowledge the progress in the team, but then again, if they didn’t then gossip, speculation and punditry wouldn’t be such a viable employment opportunity for the so called expert whankers of the ilk of Phil Thompson, Alan Hanson and the comedians at Talk Shite.
I’m very pleased that the boys went to Glasgow, quickly shut up the home supporters – though I also thoroughly credit our away fans for playing their part in this – and did the job they were sent to do with professionalism of the highest order.
I think the Verminator (I’m most definitely buying a new home jersey with Verminator 5 on it) and Alex Song deserve special mention here. For me, their input in the last two matches has provided the rock for the team to excel.
In a sort of twisted way, I’m hoping Cameroon get kicked out of the ACN in January as quickly as possible and Song gets smuggled into the first plane out of Luanda. That’s possibly wishful thinking considering that Song was by miles the most effective DM/defender in the last ACN, and in my view, excelled more than Essien or even Yaya Toure. I was also impressed with how he kept the Argentinians like Messi and Aguerro very quiet during Cameroon’s match against Argentina during the 2008 Olympics. I think the more productive path is to ensure that Song gets plenty of pitch time to consolidate the progress he has made, and has good cover both for the ACN and to give him vital bench time, as opposed to the clammer for a 6 million dollar man defensive midfielder of the Steve Austin power ilk that the punditry is calling for Wenger to buy – not withstanding that there’s no guarantee a big money buy for a big name to appease punditry won’t guarantee success.
Case in point £10 million for Verminator, vs £24 million for a one Jolian Lescott. I know it’s early days yet, but I’ll take Verminator over Lescott every day of the week and 3 times on Sunday for good measure.
Anyone who doesn’t notice we have a world class DM in the making in Song in my view is wearing rose tinted glasses and should have gone to specs savers. Many will aptly point out that it’s only the second game, but it will be equally naive not to recognize the team spirit and team ethic in play. I would go as far as saying that that team spirit and togetherness has contributed the most to the change in performance that we’ve seen so far. The least this team has done in the way they have fought tooth and nail for both matches is earn the right to be whole heartedly supported when they put on the red and white of the Arsenal and get on the pitch.
The team have started to do their part and are exceeding all expectation, and its time for the gooners on match day inside the stadium to show them that they have noticed their hard work and determination.
Bring on Pompey.
Terrific performance by the whole team.
Sure, there was an element of luck about both goals but they came as a result of the pressure applied which resulted in a free kick (and a lucky deflection) and an own goal. Well done Arsenal!
Vermaelen looks to be a terrific buy, so once again the Boss has picked a winner. Song and Denilson continue to improve and impress, so once again the Boss demonstrates his ability to pick talent at a young age and then bring it on. Gallas had another good game at the heart of the defence – and in attack – thus proving that the Boss knows when to hang on to players in spite of various ‘problems’. The sale of Adebayor has brought in much needed funds and eliminated a bad influence from the Club thus demonstrating once again that the Boss knows when to sell and how to get a good price. Anyone can spend money but it takes managerial class and talent to balance the books transfer wise and still end up with a tip top team. All in all I think we can be reassured that Arsene Wenger definitely knows what he is doing and is probably the best football manager around at the moment – bar none!
Cheers M. Wenger.
Nice write up ‘holic.
Don’t think we need to worry about fatigue affecting these young spunkers in the team, and nobody monitors this aspect more than Arsene – we’ll be fine.
Oh, and a pint of London Pride please!
Enuf has been said of the performance and players have been pointed out…
I would like to knw, if any1 can tell me, who is this player that can provide cover for song? IMO i think we definitely need a central defender and this haageland fella looks a good buy…
However, who in the world is there for us to buy to provide cover for song? I dnt think we are looking for some1 to come in and replace him as a first choice so who is there that is “that” good yet still willing to play second fiddle to Song???
The way i see it, there isn’t anybody out there and should we lose the services of Song through injury, ACN, etc., then Denilson should be an adequate replacement in that role. And there are countless names that can fill in on the right where denilson has been playing…
Can any1 give me a name of a DM thats fits the bill, pls?
Great write-up yet again ‘Holly.
I’m not going to accept that we won this game out of luck. If we had only one goal attempt, however beautiful, and it had gone in – that is luck. When you play well so the opposition have to give away free kicks that deflect into the goal, that is not luck. And just because it was a very special deflection doesn’t make it luckier than if, for example, it struck the wall and got deflected in. Unwilling deflections are a part of the game, a well recognized tactic both at set plays and in a confused box. Period. Same goes for the cross, perfectly whipped in, that a defender has to deal with.
That’s why the crowd often urges players to shoot right, even from bad angles and long ranges, because once you hit the ball _you never know_.
In other words – we created our luck, and I don’t for a minute believe that the own goal or the deflection was luckier than the strike Denilson got in the other day (nothing bad about Denilson but there is always a element of luck when shooting as well, I mean, look at all the balls going up to row z)
Lastly,
South African Gooner:
I believe that Wenger is quite happy to play a midfield combination of Nasri, Denilson and Cesc for example. Nasri has gone out in interviews on arsenal.com and said that he can play box-to-box, and has shown that he can put in a tackle and work hard. He is not Song, but at the same time he adds something different. And concidering that, and all the talent we have coming through (I’m still hoping for Coquelin/Frimpong!) I can’t see The Boss buying anyone for cover there.
vermaelen and gallas pair is impressive. so too is song. and there are no doubt about our attacking options. just praying that injuries don’t befall on our central defence pair and our only defensive midfielder…
Nice one ‘holic. @ Darius Stone- you should have seen Song in the Olympics against Brasil I mean the way he maltritated RONALDINHO. How old was he then. We should all expect greater things from him. Where is Danish gooner?
@South African gooner.
This is the dilemma. Everyone keeps screaming about this one man band Chuck Norris Rambo style superman of a defensive midfielder who doesn’t exist, at least at our price range – and Wenger reckons only 10 players in the world are beyond our price range. I agree with Toby in that the versatility of the 3 man midfield allows for any of the current personnel to seamlessly slot in and I would suspect that if Wenger doesn’t find someone who can play second fiddle and not take over from Song, then he’ll go with Cesc, Denilson and Nasri/Rosicky, with Diaby, Ramsey and Wiltshire as viable options.
They will still do the job effectively as the strategy seems to be to mutate to a 4-5-1 when we don’t have the ball and to defend as a team, rather than depend on a Chuck Noriss type of super hero defensive midfielder that has been made folklore by the British media “we are the football experts” whankers of pundits.
Nevertheless, I doubt if Wenger is interested in stiffling Song’s progress, and will probably sign someone to cover for ACN, injury, etc, but not someone to replace him. In defence, I think if Senderos leaves (which is very likely), then he will sign someone and we can have Djourou and the new CB as cover for big bad Billy G and Verminator.
The whole team is making progress, not just Song although his improvement is probably the most apparent and vindicates Wenger’s faith in him. Those ‘supporters’ calling for him to be dropped only a few weeks ago should have burning ears and red faces at the very least. It just goes to show that AW knows much more about football and the people who play it than we do – although well expressed and reasoned opinions are always interesting.
We probably do need a bit more cover at CB and I think the team would benefit from a target man up front and a bit more pace – non of RVP, Bendtner, Eduardo, Arshavin and Vela have great pace which leaves just Walcot to give us that option and I think he needs a good season, free of serious injury. Who these players may be I don’t know and it’ll be interesting to see who the Boss signs – if anyone.
@ Darius Stone
That is exactly my point…
I think everyone needs to stop crying for AW to sign a DM. At the moment all we need is a CB (assuming Phillipe leaves)…
Arsene has said himself that this is the season his team will stand up and be counted and i think we all need to be patient and KEEP THE FAITH!!!
Can’t add a jot to your post, ‘Holic. Ronnie Simpson would have been proud of you and would probably have mentioned you in his book had he realised that you were capable of such a fine synopsis under time pressure. In fact, he may be considering this in “Ronnie Simpson – In Bathchair In Goal for Celtic” which is, I understand, currently in preparation.
The divide in the capabilities/talent of the two teams reflected many of the comments that AW has been making in recent months about the harsh realities of football economics. Few, if any, of the Hoops team would make the starting eleven for Arsenal. What can Celtic do about this? Virtually nothing. They can’t spend there way to success because they don’t have the revenue stream, despite their strong support. So the weak (Celtic in this case) will get weaker as the strong get stronger. It really isn’t too difficult to see the creation of a European Super League in the years to come.
Our chances of four wins out of four in competitive games look reasonable prior to the two difficult away trips to Manchester.
Also, the days when it might have been possible to recruit eleven able bodied men, capable of winning the ECL, from a 20 mile radius of Glasgow Central seemed to have disappeared into the mists common in that part of the world.
I fully endorse this blog
Heh, that’s it. I’ve cracked it 😉
Back this evening with the Pompey preview…
The new look looks good.
Song playing well. Very aware defensive midfielder.
However NickB down the right? I’m not sure how that will hold up defensively.
Tactical analysis of the diamond formation
Excellent points by DARIUS STONE. I agree with you and say ‘Amen’ to whatever you said. Two fingers up the socalled pundits asses. We’re good hardworking people in the morning and pundits in the evening. We dont’ accept BBCs, Skys, and crazy tabloids to bring us some style biased people, called pundits to tell us about who’s good and who’s not, that we’re rubbish, not physic and not techniques or skills. I don’t know how Arsenal will perform but I know we have very good players, and excellent coach.