The Game
It wasn’t the most spectacular games of the season at the Emirates but Arsenal were brave enough to hang on and win three very important points on a day which saw Manchester United and Chelsea both drop two points.
Not included in the “brave” part of my introduction is of course Marouane Chamakh’s dive in the first half which allowed us to level things up. Was there contact? Yes, absolutely. Was it penalty? Yes it was. But it was very similar to the Wayne Rooney dive against us at Old Trafford last season where Manuel Almunia made a big mistake in going straight at him instead of just pretending to make a challenge.
Dann was today as equally foolish to make a challenge but you can’t deny it was a dive because he went down before any contact was made. We hate it when other players do it and my feelings don’t change when it’s an Arsenal player diving, especially since it was not the first time Marouane went down so easily. Minutes earlier – in fact – he was fouled but went down with both arms flying around getting four feet off the ground which was so unnecessary to see.
Anyway, as I said the game was not an easy one to follow, we again missed numerous chances in front of goal and were again shocking at the back especially in those five minutes in which Brum took the lead and went close to double their lead.
I understand we are missing key players and how what we need to do as we wait for them is to grind out the points but we need to improve at the back because regardless who plays it seems we always have to witness poor defending, today’s coming from Johan Djourou.
As for Jack Wilshere, I wouldn’t say the red ruined his top class game. We all know Jack is always full of energy and never shy to tackle but also true that he needs to learn when to tackle and when not to, something which this red will hopefully teach him.
To conclude by looking at the positives of the game, I was impressed by Lukasz Fabianski in goal who maybe wasn’t kept busy by long-range efforts or things like that but he had to deal with a number of high balls and didn’t disappoint. Abou Diaby was very good as well and Tomas Rosicky, coming on as a substitute, was superb, doing in 30 minutes what Andrey Arshavin failed to do in 70 minutes with the Russian again showing how he doesn’t deserve to be in front of the Czech in the pecking order.
Player Ratings
Fabianski: 7,5 – Very solid and secure in the air. Nothing he could do to deny Zigic’s goal. The Serbian took full advantage of some shocking defending and produced a phenomenal leap.
Squillaci: 6,5 – Very solid performance from our captain who also managed to score though it was correctly ruled out for offside.
Djourou: 5 – Poor game. Very disappointing in the way he challenged Zigic for Birmingham’s first goal and made a very dangerous pass towards the end of the game which could have cost us dearly.
Clichy: 6 – Also at fault for the first goal as he just stared at the Serbian who went up in the air to meet the ball. Minutes later he again lost an important challenge in the air, clearly showing how he can be a big liability when high balls are thrown into his direction.
Eboue: 6,5 – Worked very hard on the right and was very good with the ball especially in the final part of the game where we needed to hold onto the ball and win important fouls.
Song: 7 – I believe Alex had a very, very good game today. He was more disciplined than he was in previous games and won some important challenges in midfield.
Wilshere: 7,5 – It was a very bad tackle, straight red, no complaints there but we all know Jack is like that, it is his tenacity which makes him special. Apart from that, he was involved in almost all our moves throughout the game, providing the assist for our second goal. He will be missed against City.
Diaby: 7 – I think many are looking way too much into his contribution in the final third. I believe he was brilliant, the way he was robbing the ball in midfield – especially from Hleb’s feet – and the way he pushed forward dribbling his way past blue jerseys was top class. Granted, as I said weeks ago he needs to be more adventurous in the final third but other than that, hats off.
Nasri: 6,5 – I feel he wasn’t involved much in the game, most likely because we insisted on pushing from Arshavin’s right-hand side even if the Russian had a very poor game. Cool on the spot though.
Arshavin: 4 – As hard as I tried, I simply found nothing worth mentioning in his performance. Nothing worked for him and instead of keeping it simple he kept on trying clever tricks which never paid off. Arsene blamed it on the two games he played for Russia. Fair enough, but I think it was pretty obvious to understand this before the game.
Chamakh: 6,5 – Enough diving please. His work rate is fantastic and yet again on the score sheet but when I say that we should learn how to win ugly, cheating is never part of my wish.
(Subs)
Rosicky: 7 – Superb game from the Little Mozart. Not shy to dribble his way past his marker, not shy to shoot from distance and produced a delicious cross for Bendtner.
From .thegunninghawk.com
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