Manuel Almunia’s huge save from a Robbie Keane penalty midway through the second half proved the turning point in a highly entertaining North London derby this morning.
After a tight, but goalless first half, Arsenal came out with great intensity in the second half. The intensity paid off when Cesc Fabregas’ slick back heel enabled Emmanuel Adebayor to maintain his amazing scoring record against Spurs. He now has six goals in six games against Tottenham.
It seemed that after the goal, Arsenal took their collective foot off the gas, and slowly but surely, Spurs re-gained their footing. Spurs’ hard work paid off, after just moments earlier having seen Robbie Keane’s effort clang off the cross-bar, Dimitar Berbatov smashed a loose ball into the roof of the net from only four yards out to put the score at 1-1 just before the midway point of the half.
It was a few minutes later that Spurs were awarded a penalty when Kolo Toure was adjudged to have taken Berbatov down the box. Robbie Keane stepped up to take the spot kick, and Almunia underscored why he’s firmly Arsenal’s #1 with an excellent save.
After the save, Arsene Wenger made his first substitution, sending Nick Bendtner on in the place of Emmanuel Eboue. It proved a master stroke, as within moments, Bendtner headed in what proved to be the winning goal.
An immensely satisfying win, and now on to Boxing Day, and a trip to Pompey. Kickoff is 2:30 PM ET, and the match will be shown live on Fox Soccer Channel here in the US.
92 Responses to “Arsenal 2 - 1 Spurs”
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December 22nd, 2007 at 11:11 am
for those who say that wenger has no tactics: how did the bendtner substitution worked today? even if he hadn’t scored with his first touch, it would have been the right call at the right time.
come on everton and blackburn, take points from manure and chelski tomorrow!
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:13 am
Bendtner no more had his boots on the pitch before he headed in that goal. What an amazing strike.
With the tired legs some of the younger guys had, I am thrilled with this win.
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:18 am
Who would have guessed before the season that Manuel Almunia and Nicky Bendtner would be the heroes of a win over Spurs? Amazing day
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:21 am
The fact is Wenger got the tactics all wrong, playing 4-5-1 was so negative. Arsenal just simply didn’t get players up the pitch to support Adebayor and Hleb was playing far too deep. Arsenal simply put no pressure on Spurs biggest weakness, their injury-strewn defence.
Sure, Bendtner made Wenger’s decision look good, but I very much doubt Wenger predicted Arsenal were just about to win a corner 1 minute later.
Still’ it’s not ALL Wenger’s fault, the fact is - Arsenal were awful, the fact also is, Tottenham are the biggest bottlers in British football, so we won.
Almunia (8) Penalty save hero
Sagna (7) Not at his very best today
Toure (5) Rash tackle for Berbatov’s penalty, started panicking afterwards, he’ll never be captain
Gallas (7) Needed his wise head in there
Clichy (5) Again, went missing on crosses and often didn’t close Lennon down quickly enough
Eboue (4) Crap, did nothing up front and didn’t even bother covering for Sagna half the time
Flamini (6) Industrious, but poor
Fabregas (5) Passing was all over the place, luckily his one flash of genius was enough to get the opener
Rosicky (4) Terrible, he offers nothing up front - I think he should be dropped, Diaby is more threatening offensively at the moment
Adebayor (9) Took his goal brilliantly, held the ball up brilliantly, has improved big time this season
Hleb (6) Some bright dribbles in first half but never really at the races
Subs:
Gilberto (5) Didn’t do much
Bendtnet (6) Great header for the goal, otherwise didn’t get a kick
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:28 am
LDE, let’s get this clear. It’s not the 4-5-1 formation. It’s the players. With Hleb, Rosicky and Cesc, we will always see cute passing but you need the end product. With RvP and Ade, you get it. Once it becomes 5 in the middle, you depend so much on Ade, it’s really unfair on him. Yet, he tries so hard, hats off to him.
Just look at today. Spurs’ central midfield was Boateng and O’Hara. One is making his league debut and the other has just come to England. We had three of our top players in central midfield. Still, ESPN stats shows Spurs had more possession than Arsenal in the first half. Of course, today we were poor. But things are just made worse with the player lineup.
With so many games coming up, Wenger needs to freshen up a little. Maybe use Diaby on the wings and start with Bendtner if RvP is not around. Not too many changes in one game, but one at a time.
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:38 am
Nipuna is spot on. Arsenal simply didn’t need 5 in midfield - it was not as if Hleb was playing up top with Adebayor. We are at home, playing Tottenham - their major weakness is defence - so you press their defence, force them into errors.
How can you do that with 1 up top and and 5 midfielders 20 yards behind him?
This really is elementary tactics, and had a disastrous effect on an already poor performance. If Wenger wants to throw away our position at the top, he’s going the right way about it.
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:38 am
With every formation, it works both way. For fans, we are looking things from a hindsight. Managers, however, have to see things before it happens.
As I said before, Arsenal has ALWAYS been a 4-4-2 believer. In fact, I recall lot of ppl criticized him for that at the past.
The reason he went with a 4-5-1 today, or the matches previously, it was simply because the absence of van Persie. When van Persie and Adebayor both fit, how many times did AW play 4-5-1?
AW was NOT trying to be negative. Rather, IMO, simply because he felt that Bendtner and Eduadro have not ready to lead the line alongside Adebayor yet.
Say, if we play Bendtner or Eduardo partner Adebayor from the beginning today, would it really have worked?
We are saying now it would work only because we IMAGINE it would. But there is no guarantee of it. In fact, it probably could cause us problem in midfield, and causing us difficulties to get control of the possession. Spurs, credit to them, passed the ball pretty well today. And their forwards, if we gave them space, definitely got the ability to harm us.
At the end of the day, it’s the RESULT that matters. And so far, be it 442, or 451, we are getting the RESULT. And we are top of the table.
So even though AW may not be the best tactican around. He surely isn’t that poor as some of u believe. A poor tactican can’t possible get his team winning as many games as we did. In fact, we have now earning even more points than our unbeaten season.
December 22nd, 2007 at 12:18 pm
Andez, there is no hard and fast rule that we should 4-4-2 or 4-5-1 in ALL games. Adapting to the opposition, curcumstances, injuries, etc. - that is called tactics. That is something Wenger is poor at. He always sticks to what is best for his team and rarely, if ever, changes things around.
As for RESULT is all that matters, if Keane had scored from the spot, the result would have been very different. Better to discuss tactics in a game we won so that we can learn and improve, rather than in a game we lose (like Boro).
To be fair to Wenger, he has played 4-4-2 in Rv’P’s absence. Walcott vs Wigan and Eduardo at Derby, Newcastle and Boro. For me, it makes sense to play 4-4-2 at home and against lower opposition than away at places like Newcastle.
December 22nd, 2007 at 12:44 pm
I think AW felt short of options up front today. Bendtner and Eduardo played 120 minutes on Tuesday. RVP and Walcott were not available. Not sure what else he could have played besides 4-5-1. Perhaps he should have instructed Hleb to play higher up in support of Ade.
December 22nd, 2007 at 12:46 pm
LDE, I have been here, just haven’t wrote anything.
I see Stag is back as well
As for the game, what can I say, it was a poor performance and God knows how would have ended if Keane scored from the spot. We were very lucky, but luck is a factor in sports, isn’t it?
At the end, all that matters is the three points and we got them.
Bring on Pompey!!!
December 22nd, 2007 at 1:00 pm
Pompey lost 4-1 to Liverpool and before that 1-0 at home to Spurs. Not a bad time to play them. Hope RvP is back.
December 22nd, 2007 at 1:42 pm
the league table looks sweeeeeet……the last time we have been on top for this long was in 2004….so i hope it lasts.
as for the tactical arguments. ok, maybe he rested all those players becos they played 120 minutes midweek. however i expect and hope not to see eboue or gilberto against pompey.
in the brief cameo gilberto had, he still had time to make 3 direct passes to the opposition and 2 of those idiotic “ass on the floor, legs in the air” tackles that always look clumsy. everytime he plays he looks more and more like a dinosaur.
December 22nd, 2007 at 1:56 pm
Glad we got the point even though I am not too pleased with the way the team went about it…expecially in the middle of the park. Credit to Spurs they came to play and knocked the ball around quite well for part of the game. I agree with some elements from both sides of the selection debate above but bottom line everyone fit and rested Wenger needs to sit people like Tomas and not play people like Gilberto and give the likes of Diaby and Diarra a run. Either way good game and vital win! Next Pompy!
December 22nd, 2007 at 2:03 pm
i haven’t been able to find out why van persie wasn’t in today’s lineup. anybody know?
December 22nd, 2007 at 2:32 pm
@nicosian: He picked up a knock I think.
December 22nd, 2007 at 2:34 pm
From Arsenal.com -
However Robin van Persie, a substitute against Avram Grant’s side, was left out of the squad after picking up “a knock”.
December 22nd, 2007 at 2:47 pm
It does appear as though Toure got a slight deflection for their goal. This is quite a sequence
- Gallas deflects Rooney’s shot
- deflection of Gallas for Maloney’s goal
- Gallas deflects Tuncay’s shot
- deflection of Gallas almost leads to SWP’s goal
- Toure deflects Berbatov’s shot
A bit unlucky?
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:31 pm
We’ve been a bit unlucky on that score but overall I think we can count ourselves very fortunate that we have taken six points out of the last two games. We’ve played like complete shite bar a few counter attacks and I’m not sure what the reason is. It could be 4-5-1, however the whole team looks off-colour and hopefully they get a mental second wind in the next week or so.
Thankfully we’re playing away next and most of our good football has been away from the Emirates when teams come on to us. At home we’ve been pretty average all season and we’ve rarely had a comfortable afternoon at the Emirates.
I’ll be disappointed if we don’t build on these two fortunate results and beat Portsmouth on Wednesday or at least put in a dominant performance. If we put in another nothing performance then we can safely say our title charge is grinding to a halt.
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:49 pm
Well it wasn’t mashed potatoes made from Spuds. In fact it looked more like a stroke of really good luck for the Arsenal.
Well take it! Hooorah.
Tomorrow we’ll learn that Spur’ts all had a bad case of constipation this time.
December 22nd, 2007 at 3:54 pm
The adage “If you miss a Penalty, you lose the game” remains true.
I was disappointed with the “cautious” tactics that AW employed today against an injury ravaged team. I was looking forward to an attacking display from the first team, but all I got was a pretty uninspired and flat performance. And, had it not been for Almunia, we could have lost it as the tide was turning. So big up to Manuel (Does England need a new Keeper???!!!!!)
I suppose AW was forced into the 451 with Robin and Theo being out as he won’t play Nik and Ade together and I don’t think Eduardo is ready for a London Derby (yet)…..But I think AW is growing fond of playing Hleb behind Ade, which if he continues to use Eboue, will leave no place for Theo or Robin.
I would be interested to see Robin replace Eboue in the Right wing and by Arsenal’s standards Tomas has been awful (though he did give the ball to Cesc for the first goal). But I think overall he’s been pants and may be Diaby should get a shout for that position.
We were fairly lucky today, but better lucky than good…..
December 22nd, 2007 at 4:01 pm
It looks like some things never change. What is it about this Arsenal team?
They play when they feel like it is time to play! A very lackluster first half, not due to lack of quality, but lack of commitment. I would hope the reason for this is that Hleb and Fab are still coming back to match fitness.
Second half was an improvement, but once we score we just looked like we had done enough on the afternoon and the players took their foot of the gas. This team needs a killer instinct and it really lacking in that department which is a great concern.
Berbatov goal was quality and well deserved. Penalty on the other hand was not. If that challenge warranted a penalty Rocicky should have been awarded one as well. Kudos to Almunia for saving it; he is growing on me everyday.
3 points, top of table with a small gap…here’s hoping Manure sh*t themselves tomorrow.
Up the Arse! Kiss the Crest! Believe!
PS: DannyT - why the hell are you always so unhappy mate? You resort to name calling and putting down everything in your sight. As I said, you need some Prozac - PRONTO! Cheer up!
December 22nd, 2007 at 4:09 pm
Yeah, sorry if I was rude, can’t help it sometimes. I’m not unhappy at all, quite the reverse - just get passionate about Arsenal sometimes and have a short fuse when people say things I deem to be stupid - like “believe”
December 22nd, 2007 at 4:23 pm
I think Almunia is starting to BELIEVE in his ability to hold down the #1 spot!
In fact, I think he looked Keane straight in the eyes and still believed he would save that penalty. Look at the replay, he knew where Keane was going the whole time!
Wish I could see a replay of Jens once Almunia save the penalty…something tells me he may have looked like he just bit into a Lemmon!
December 22nd, 2007 at 4:49 pm
we still lack a killer instinct i think….the main reason being that when we play the 4-5-1, we have basically nobody who is a natural scorer - no greedy bastard whose only thought is putting the ball in the net.
adebayor is a very useful forward but not a natural scorer.
flamini is willing and makes the runs but is a CM.
fabregas tries, but still not there yet after his purple patch was truncated by injury.
hleb REFUSES to think of scoring when he gets near the box.
rosicky is the same as hleb but with a poorer build up.
adebayor, flamini and fabregas at least TRY.
hleb and rosicky needs to be more single-minded. they should shape their body to shoot not pass all the time.
December 22nd, 2007 at 4:52 pm
its funny how the carlings cup is no longer played by any “big boys” in the team.
with that in mind, anyone else thinks maybe its time for rosicky and eboue to play in the carlings cup?? that should ground them a bit……and hopefully humiliate them enough to improve their form.
it should light a fire under rosickys ass. but for eboue, it would be his proper position. his only contribution is pace….and he hardly shows it.
December 22nd, 2007 at 5:04 pm
Disappointing first half. Arsenal played at 1/2-3/4 speed and Sp**s got their confidence especially in midfield where they had two rookies starting. Boateng (just a few appearances) and O’Hara (1st Premiership start) were allowed to play Sp**s into the game. 2nd half with the same formation but increased tempo in play and we get our just deserts.
Ironic that Sp**s now rely on Arsenal cast -off O’Hara, who kicks Huddlestone (U21 MF) to the bench. You may not be good enough for us but you”re still better than England’s hopefuls.
That was a fantastic save by MOTM Almunia. We’ve all seen keepers guess right and still not make the save. That save guaranteed us a point and psychologically put us in a position to get the win. That save just crushed Sp**s and they were not coming back. Berbatov’s body language said it all. That Mr. Lehmann is how you keep your team in the game. Lehmann had an a facial expression that screamed with grim disappointment that Almunia had made that save.
Everyone except Bendtner was just so blase today that it is not worth singling out anyone for praise or criticism. Bendtner’s goal came off a diagonal run into the box. Why the f**k is he the only Arsenal player I’ve ever seen make that type of basic run on a CK. Every other Arsenal player just bobs up and down in place hoping the ball will find their noggins. Adebayor’s goal was well struck but his touch and control were generally poor the whole game. I lied about singling out.
I was also disappointed that we did not attack Tainio, a MF, who was playing RB. This a shite defense and we failed to pressure them as we have done with teams in the past. I respect Ramos and what he can do with a team (even Sp**s) but this was ridiculous.
I watched this game at Nevada Smith (my first time) and I yelled out nooooo when Gilberto was about to come on. Some one asked me why? I replied, he’s old, he’s slow, he gives away FKs on the edge of our box and he gives away the ball. I’m glad that there are some things in this life that I can get right ;).
December 22nd, 2007 at 5:28 pm
I just turned on Sevilla- Racing Santander on GolTV. The commentators stated that Wenger will be looking to bring in Diego Capel when Hleb leaves. Where do they get this shite from. An absolutely ludicrous BS statement.
December 22nd, 2007 at 5:36 pm
Djourou back pass to GK is stolen by Anelka for an easy goal. He better get all that shite out of his system before he shows up here.
December 22nd, 2007 at 6:21 pm
After his performance the other night at Blackburn, I’d play Song ahead of Senderos or Djourou.
December 22nd, 2007 at 6:55 pm
yeah, me too….song and diarra should replace senderos and gilberto on the bench. and diaby should replace eboue on the pitch. bendtner should always be on the bench.
its funny how the commentators were harping on o’hara……calling him a kid. at arsenal, by age 21, u are no longer a kid………infact apart from if your fabregas-like the fans have probably gotten tired of u! lol.
December 22nd, 2007 at 6:56 pm
Blaise might just be the key word for our first half. Do Sp*rs really mean so little to us now? Even the crowd was quiet.
It was interesting how little we created with Fabregas so off the pace. Flamini was aggressive, but nobody else seemed to follow his lead. And that Sp*ds midfield was there for the taking! Never mind the defence. We could have destroyed them in the first half-hour, despite the newfound organisation.
I think the Kids will make this Sp*rs team work harder in the Carling Cup.
I guess the positive side is that we only raise our game when we need to. If the penalty had gone it, or Keane’s early sitter, we would probably have been able to roar back to save a point. But you can’t last a season winning only with massive battles.
It doesn’t hurt, also, to put away a simple clear set-piece goal for the second week running. I love the way Bendtner’s marker ran into his own player.
Good time to meet Portsmouth, who have begun a big wobble. Poor Sol got given a torres time by Torrid (or is the other way round). Expect lots of songs about his mental state.
But we need our midfield trio to get their collective zip back if we’re going to get anything from Everton.
December 22nd, 2007 at 6:58 pm
lastly i like the way no one talks about buying a bunch of players to solve our problems like a shocking number of people were advocating in the summer.
quite a number of people said we needed 2 strikers, a winger, a centerback and a backup leftback to compete LOL!
December 22nd, 2007 at 6:58 pm
Wow Danny, I bet you never thought you’d say that huh? Never thought I would pick Song overr annyone else either. I guess Wenger really does know (not everytime, of course).
December 22nd, 2007 at 7:26 pm
Yeah, I never had a go at Song like other people did last year - for Wenger to give him a new contract it was obvious he was seeing something in training that we weren’t. For me, Senderos is finished, Djourou has not impressed at Birmingham, so Song is looking like the best prospect. Personally, I would sell the first two and buy another centre-back who is half-decent.
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:01 pm
Danny, I agree. Senderos is awful and Djourou doesn’t exactly fill me with confidence, although maybe he’ll be another player that comes around and settles like Flamini and Song (so far). I thought Song looked pretty poor when he played previously but he showed a lot of improvement after he went out on loan. Like many players, regular time on the pitch helps out quite a bit.
December 22nd, 2007 at 8:36 pm
It looks like the ACN doesn’t start until later January. Me thinks Arsene will continue with Song in the CC to evaluate his readiness to step up to PL level. I hope he can make the step.
Is he much faster than Senderos though?
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:12 pm
I must say this was one of the best performance from Spurs in a North London derby in recent years.
They will get stronger next season without doubt. Ramos knows what he’s doing.
defensively, they were more disciplined. And one most impressive aspect of them under the new manager is - despite trailing at one stage, they didn’t go the usual EPL mentality - by just hoofing the hopeful ball up front. Instead, they did try to pass the ball around. and seemed to be adopting a more contentially style patient approach.
The current team is not Ramos’ team. If he stays there long enough, and get his own men who play his style of football, we may not find things as easily as at the past when facing Jol’s Spurs.
Berbartov is a truly top class striker, the goal he scored was increditable. But his attitude sucks big time. He looks like someone who would sulk and be the first one to drop his head when things don’t go their way.
I think by now Spurs fans are absoutely hate of the sight of Adebayor. How many goals Ade has scored against Spurs so far?!
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:33 pm
Andez - Ade has 6 against Spurs in the lat year.
December 22nd, 2007 at 9:35 pm
Check out this flight..
Photo 5
http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/7157364.stm
December 22nd, 2007 at 10:09 pm
Six?! that was impressive! He’s now surely taking over from Pires - the new Spurs slayer!
December 22nd, 2007 at 10:13 pm
btw, i really love the sight of Bendtner heading the ball in the box. Whenever he jumps, i feel that the description of “towering” was like exclusively designed for him! The goal vs spurs, even if he’s marked, i doubt anyone could have stop him.
December 22nd, 2007 at 10:47 pm
Bendtner’s first goal in the league. What a goal and what a time to score. Long may it continue.
We still need a winger. If not for anything else, at least to put Eboue and Rosicky under pressure. They are coasting with no competition as Wenger persists in his Hleb up front formation. Without anybody challenging for their position, they have got all too lax and complacent.
I’d be very cautious about Song being played ahead of Senderos and Djourou. I am not saying he is a bad player. I am just pointing out that 1) he is a midfielder so will take time to settle into a defender (if that’s the plan) and 2) shining in one Carling Cup game cannot be taken as any indicator of how you will do in the league. Both Eduardo and Denilson have also done well in the League Cup.
Frankly, I think Wenger needs to sign a CB too in Jan. Senderos is looking very jittery and Djourou has gone and just done that vs Bolton. Senderos does tend to improve with regular games, but will it cost us? Wenger has three big decisions to make in Jan - Gk, CB and winger. I hope he makes at least one.
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:00 pm
“lastly i like the way no one talks about buying a bunch of players to solve our problems like a shocking number of people were advocating in the summer.
quite a number of people said we needed 2 strikers, a winger, a centerback and a backup leftback to compete LOL!”
Fred, we signed Eduardo and got back Bendtner - that’s 2 strikers. We still need a winger and CB. And we signed a right back instead of the left back. And we are competing for all 4 titles.
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:27 pm
While the positions u pointed out probably are we really needed nipuna, but I do feel if we r going to buy someone, we must sell someone beforehead.
At the moment, there have already been quite a few miscontend inside the squad. The squad basically is too big to keep everyone happy. Add a few more players it would make things only worse.
AW, unlike Rafa, does not rotate players much. He sticks with a winning formula, and it works. Yet that also means if you are a finge player, you never know when your chance will come. So we kinda can understand the frustration of Diarra, and Bendtner (previously) had. A few more new players into the squad, it would further discourage the finge players.
A new winger for instance, yes, perhaps we need one. But how would Walcott and Diaby feel if a new winger being signed? And when the manager signs a new player, he has to make a promise to him on whether he’s a starter or rotation player. If we sign a quality player, and he wants to start,yet somehow finds himself on the bench. It certainly won’t help the team chemistry.
as someone pointed out previously, football is 50% about psychology. I do believe a “happy team is a winning team”. A talented side yet with an unhappy dressing room will be unlikely to win anything.
so i’d perfer we leave everything in the summer. to decide who should we sell, before consider bringing in someone new.
at the moment, i frankly don’t see Eboue, Rosicky the likes are taking things easy. Rosicky is getting into form. His slow start more down to his on and off injury problem than anything else. while Eboue will be stupid to believe his place is safe, not with Theo has been improving this season.
December 22nd, 2007 at 11:33 pm
@ nipuna: nahhh….those asking were looking for “top quality”, “proven” players.
at this point i dont even bother asking for a known player. i just want one winger…..anyone wenger deems fit.
i think Song is very sufficient in CB. he has a calm demeanor, he is tall, he is powerful and he is twice as fast as Senderos - plus he doesnt blunder that much.
it doesnt look good for djorou that he went on loan and flopped when Song went on loan and did very well. i guess he shouldnt have been too hasty….now he knows he is not that good as to have such an ego.
ideally, like danny, i would like to get rid of both sendy and djorou and get someone in new….but i doubt wenger would and i doubt he would even make a good purchase anyway….defense is not his strong forte.
with that in mind, i say get rid of sendy, and let song and djorou fight it out for bench duties.
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:20 am
This team has many qualities the invincibles didn’t have, but killer instinct is not one of them, not yet. How many league games have we made safe by the 75th min, let alone at half time or after 60 min? The answer is two - Derby and Reading.
Like Fred said, we lack deadly goal scorers who will take their chances when it comes. RvP is injured and Eduardo is yet to settle in. I have always feared that our goal scoring options are limited and considering that, I am absolutely delighted that we are on top at Christmas time. If Eduardo and one more player can get their shooting boots on, we will be a very strong outfit.
Another aspect missing which would help kill off teams is pace. Eboue is our quickest player? Walcott is fast, but he doesn’t run with the ball very well, at least not yet.
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:28 am
Andez, agree with you that we can’t sign anyone without letting someone leave. But if that is required, we should do it. On the top of my head, I can say swap Rosicky with van der Vaart, but that would be a hasty decision.
Walcott is hardly competition for Eboue. He has shone more in a striker position and severely lacks defensively. Hleb is competition, that’s why I pine for the 4-4-2. Diaby is improving but will not replace Rosicky. Like it or not, that’s not Wenger’s way of doing things.
Y’day’s game epitomised Rosicky’s contribution. He made the pass to Fabregas which led to the pass to Ade’s goal. Basically, a part of the play but never the main man. I wouldn’t mind if Rosicky or Eboue is rested/benched just so that they are on their feet.
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:29 am
“i just want one winger…..anyone wenger deems fit.”
Fred, Wenger may sign Dimitrov in Jan and, like Song, he won’t shine till 1.5 years later on.
December 23rd, 2007 at 1:26 am
Tonight, Barca play Real. Messi is injured and reports say that Ronaldinho is benched for some strong remarks at Riijkaard. Henry is tipped to start. It’s a good time for him to shine with other stars missing.
December 23rd, 2007 at 2:29 am
We needed RvP against Spurs. We are getting by with 4-5-1 but with Fabregas and Hleb a little out of tune and little goal threat from the midfield 5 the games are unnecessarily tight.
We’re seeing again and again that Hleb, Rosicky and Eboue lack a goal scorers menace (Fab’s goals disguised this). Rosicky is probably the most attacking of the three but as Fred astutely said he is very reliant on the form of others. So with the midfield passing of Hleb and Fab out of tune Rosicky struggled to make an impact.
But there are pluses.
1. 3 points again, solutions were found
2. Bendtner’s goal in a big game. Major confidence boost and important for him in creating a good rapport with fans. Great run…..nice jump
3. Almunia. 2 fingers to Lehmann. Bit by bit he is building his credibility.
4. 1st at Christmas - don’t underestimate the mental aspect of things. ManU et al are the ones having to respond with wins to keep pace with us.
5. Ade’s goal is good, we need him, he is part of the glue that is keeping this team going. We need his confidence high. He is a workhorse much like Toure at the back. I think he can be a monster.
December 23rd, 2007 at 2:34 am
Think of what Anelka could do at the sharp end of this team?!!
December 23rd, 2007 at 3:36 am
@#51: True .. but he’s burnt his bridges and it won’t happen.
Regarding the game albeit a bit late here are my thoughts:
Almunia: Yet another near post goal but it was struck with such pace that he can be excused for not stopping it. Look at his position when the goal went in. He was still half upright. Usually goalies would be srawling on the turf. the fact that he wasn’t down shows you the pace at which the ball was struck..add the deflection to it(which I havent seen) and he has no chance. Great save from a poor poor penalty by a player who rarely misses and has played in a number of NLD’s. Thats football and thats the NLD.
Toure: Bad penalty ..sliding in. Stone dead penalty. No question about it. He does give away a few ; doesn’t he King Kolo. Not one of his better games but still pretty much dealt with everything.
Gallas: Competent. No errors. Possibly the missing piece in this Arsenal team with his will to win. The only thing that this side didn’t have was a champion who had won things and hated quitting. They have that with Gallas now. So I guess… Stag is vindicated on that one count at least
Clichy: Was okay I guess. People are slating him for not sticking to Berbatov. Not sure how much he could’ve done even had he been there coz two players were already converging on him.Still hypothetically it is an error.
Sagna: Great clearing header early on. No doubt he has added so much in the air despite his height.
Eboue: He has flaws; no doubt. But he does give you something going forward. Went missing in defense though and had Keane scored on the volley we might have been in trouble.
Cesc: Quiet and uninspiring today. But one stroke of genius unlocked the jigsaw. Hope he isn’t knackered already though.
Hleb: Poor poor game. Usual mazy mindboggling dribbling skills but unable to stamp his authority on the game. Not worried ; he usually starts slowly after an injury much like Senderos…never mind..I won’t go there coz I know what’s coming if I do.
Mozart: Thought he had a good game unlike many here. Full of running and “indirectly” ( u listening Fred
? ) contributed to the first goal. I think he will come good though. he definitely offers much more than Bobby defensively atleast. Yes he probably needs Cesc n Hleb to play at his powers but its not that he has been total rubbish.
Flamini: Not in the game much ; though Boateng n O’Hara dominated him a bit. Hope contract talks aren’t affecting him.
Ade: What can you say? Has the ability to look total rubbish for a whole game but never never hides and gets a goal even when he isn’t playing well. BTW yesterday I thought he was outstanding with his running and pace.
Bendtner: Super sub. What an awesome header? How high did he go?I’m not sure anyone has gone up that high. Unchallenged yes…but a fantastic leap.
Overall…I thought we were subdued; not poor. Poor is a word I reserve when we couldn’t pass the ball at all like Boro or Sheffield last year. Today we were flat…Spurs wanted it badly; new manager first derby factor…. plus their first choice defence being out meant that they would work harder for each other. All that coupled with Cesc/Hleb still off form meant it was much closer than it should have been and I guess we were a bit lucky that Almunia saved the penalty. Once again .. We WILL WIN the league this year
December 23rd, 2007 at 4:42 am
Wenger will believe that one of Song, Senderos or Djourou will make it long-term and another might hang around long enough as back-up so that Havard can be considered. That means no centre-back in January.
For the left-wing, he has Vela from next season. Yes, he might sign the Bulgarian or African he had on trial. That would be enough for him.
For GK the question is how good will Fabianski or Mannone be? A signing like Sorenson from Aston Villa or the Finn from Bolton is a possibility for a couple of years to compete with Almunia.
You never know where Wenger is going to sign a player. Flamini might decide not to sign, Gilberto be let go, Diarra keep moaning and Song move to centre-back leaving Wenger signing a defensive midfielder. Who predicted that we needed a new right-back last summer?
December 23rd, 2007 at 5:30 am
it’s also a myth of that theory Wenger doesn’t sign good defenders. particular when u consider Wenger himself played as central half when he was a semi-pro. Sol, Lauren, Clichy, Gallas, Toure and Silvinho are hardly the worst around neither.
But Sagna must be AW’s best (defender) signing. he just got a knack on signing the unknown. During the summer, lot of folks had listed some Youtube potential signings. Yet none of them mentioned about Sagna.
What a signing that is. There was talk of the purchase of M.Richards. not only it would have cost us a fortune, like many English young prospect, as season progress, his game started to get found out. Sagna, on the other hand, just looks better and better.
IMO, the impact Sagna has made to Arsenal is like Vidic to Man U - immediately he has helped to transform the defence to a much solid unit. If Vidic is Man U’s best central half since Jaap Stam, Sagna gotta be Arsenal’s best right back since Dixon.
December 23rd, 2007 at 5:46 am
DannyT, what are you whining about? We WON! No wonder Howard on WorldSoccerDaily says Arsenal fans are the only ones who moan when we win. ! Did Arsene get his tactics wrong when we were victorious? By what criteria? Not happy enough with 2-1 wins, we have to dismantle every team like we did Derby? Sorry son, it’s just not going to happen. Winning when not at our best is a sure sign of our strength.
December 23rd, 2007 at 6:50 am
Hey, half a season has gone, what you guys think about Fernando Torres now?
December 23rd, 2007 at 6:55 am
Andez, I don’t know remember if anyone here mentioned Sagna, but on the internet, stories that we will sign him went on for so long that I thought it could only be a bluff. Contrast that with Eduardo, who really came out of the blue - a typical Arsene signing. Nobody had any clue about him till a day before it was announced.
December 23rd, 2007 at 6:58 am
IrishG, pretty accurate analysis of Wenger will likely do (or won’t do) which is not the same as what we fans want.
In the long term, it makes sense.
The question is - to win the title now, do we need a Gk, CB and/or winger? Only time will tell.
December 23rd, 2007 at 8:47 am
I’m not whining, we won - so I am pleased. Buy you can’t dispute the facts - Wenger’s 4-5-1 was a bad mistake and Arsenal played very poorly.
What’s pleasing is that we’re winning games without playing well including Chelsea and Tottenham, when you do that, you can consider yourself title challengers. The good football will come back soon enough.
December 23rd, 2007 at 9:21 am
@Sheed: Torres looks great so far and the real deal. However the true test is not this year(dont get me wrong ; he has doen great so far) but next year. Is it a one season wonder? I mean - I remember once when Jon Stead signed from Huddersfield in the 3rd division kept Blackburn alive with 9 goals in 9 games or soemthing and saved them from relegation. Next year he was poor and now he has vanished. So yeah lets wait till next year. Signs though are that he is top top quality. DannyT should answer the Torres question though
December 23rd, 2007 at 9:59 am
Just saw ManU beat Everton. It was 1-1 till the 88th min when Pienaar gave away a stupid penalty which Ronaldo duly converted (does he ever miss?). Everton are going to give us a really tough time on Sat. But it’s Pompey first.
December 23rd, 2007 at 10:30 am
Is it my imagination, or has it been a couple of games now that Eboue keeps the ball too long near the box when he’s got a man nearby and wide open (Adebayor)?
December 23rd, 2007 at 12:36 pm
@ sheed: i admit he has looked good so far…even though i never rated him.
however wenger was never going to buy him and was never in for him - because 1) he was too expensive for frugal Wenger. 2) He and RvP would have been competing for a spot - with the other spot going to a “big” man in Adebayor or Bendtner. And in the pre-season Wenger built the team around RvP, so buying Torres was always out of the question. So he went for the cheaper unknown option - Eduardo.
that said, my prediction that Adebayor will reach 12 goals looks likely to pass.
my prediction on eduardo to reach 10 looks highly unlikely though, he hasnt even scored one!!!
December 23rd, 2007 at 1:11 pm
Eduardo has only started one Premiership game and 4 as a late sub.
I didn’t rate Torres either, he is doing surprisingly well though. He looks world class to me, will likely be a 20+ goalscorer season in, season out.
December 23rd, 2007 at 2:13 pm
“Eduardo has only started one Premiership game and 4 as a late sub.”
I know it feels that way, but it’s far from the truth. He has started 5 games - Blackburn, Derby, Newcastle, Boro and one other I can’t remember.
Some players (like Torres) settle in quickly and some others don’t.
December 23rd, 2007 at 4:06 pm
Bolton.
December 23rd, 2007 at 5:26 pm
Wenger on the ANC……I guess he needs to get his facts right too
http://www.ghanaweb.com/GhanaHomePage/soccer/artikel.php?ID=136491
December 23rd, 2007 at 6:19 pm
Most Goals Scored 36 Arsenal
Highest Goals Scored Average 2 Arsenal
Fewest Goals Conceded 9 Man Utd
Fewest Goals Conceded Average 0.5 Man Utd
Highest Goal Difference 23 Man Utd
Any questions!?
December 23rd, 2007 at 6:37 pm
Pretty good article:
http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/23/sports/cup.php?page=1
December 23rd, 2007 at 6:53 pm
Auf Wiedersehen Lemmon?
http://sports.setanta.com/en/Sport/News/Football/2007/12/23/Premier-League-Lehmann-on-offers/
December 23rd, 2007 at 7:04 pm
I’m staying here no matter what happens,” he said. “Moving now or going on loan would not be what I want.
“It is the squad that wins all the games. You need to have a strong squad. If someone is tired later in the season it is important that you have someone who can come in and take over.”
This is attributed to Bendtner, I guess he’s happy since getting more games.
December 23rd, 2007 at 7:49 pm
Sheed, have to admit i also had doubt on Torres in the summer on whether he got what it took to make it in a more physical league EPL.
i was wrong. He coped it surprisingly well. and showed he’s true class.
December 23rd, 2007 at 7:50 pm
I still think Diarra needs to stay, but Lehmann? I feel kind of sorry for the crazy one. Maybe he is better off back home.
December 23rd, 2007 at 8:10 pm
Yeah, I was another doubter re Torres. But he’s providing Liverpool with a sharp edge.
December 23rd, 2007 at 8:55 pm
i dont know, but i am beginning to fear that eduardo is going the baptista route. yeah, i know its still too early….but there is one definite similarity.
both are specialists in a sense. ie. they are very good at doing just one thing.
baptista was only good at running late off the ball into the box and was generally deadly in front of goal…..but approach play was quite lacking.
same with eduardo. deadly on the thru balls, when all he has to do is run off the last defender and finish the keeper. also when the ball is ping ponging around in the box he can hustle the ball into the net. otherwise his approach play when not in the box is not that good.
but the problem for them is that wenger likes “all-rounders”. he will never leave space in the team for a player to “do nothing but score”. becos of this baptista suffered and looked like an oaf…while eduardo is also looking like going that way.
but both of them shine brightly in the carling cup because it is only in this competition they are ever played in their proper position with the team play revolving around them and their needs.
December 23rd, 2007 at 9:01 pm
in a way, i do feel sorry for lehmann - even though i have never really liked him that much, and i definitely think he shouldnt have been offered an extension anyway.
however, this was to be his last chance to win the CL - i guess. and also his very last chance to play for a big team too - considering he is 38.
any club he goes to now, will have to assure him of a first choice role - and they will most likely be a really small club that ships in goals…….not the ideal retirement spot at all.
December 23rd, 2007 at 10:27 pm
Me too. Also feel a bit sorry for Jens. And try putting ourselves into his shoes, it’s perfectly understandably of his frustration….
First, he was dropped not because of a poor form or performance. He had basically done nothing wrong (in fact, had an excellent game Vs Blackburn) but that two high profile errors.
one about about Jens is - his mistakes often came with a “high profile blunders”, while foundatmentally he’s very solid. Yet we all know those high profile blunders would often make the headline, and u get to watch on TV highlight again and again.
while other keepers’ more foundatmental mistakes, such as fail to deal with cross, got shot past from near post, poor rush out decision….. all those didn’t make headline, nor the highlight reel.
in a way, i think the treatment Jens got has not been very fair. Almunia made probably even more mistakes than Jens, but he kept his place.
And if Jens was not on AW’s plan, why did he give him and extension last year?
Jens worked very hard to win his national team place from Kahn, it’s a great achievement as those soft of things usually don’t happen in football often. ‘cos Jens was not a young player. An old keeper if he was not the first choice for his national team, normally he would never be. Nigel Martyn never be able to win the first team place from Seaman. That just showed how determined a player Lehmann is.
This is probably his final season for Germany, and his club career is drawing to a close as well. For what he had done for Arsenal, he really doesn’t deserve to be treated like this.
December 23rd, 2007 at 11:32 pm
The points. We got them. And against Spurs. All the better.
No, we didn’t play well, and Wenger obviously didn’t feel comfortable with who he had available up front… but if you can play less than your best, and still win the match, its a very good sign for the team. We’ve done that fairly regularly this season, and thats why we are top.
In the past few seasons, we’ve often dominated with possession and often drew or lost to lesser teams. Not this year so far.
And of Baptista… great goal for Madrid as they beat Barca today.
2 more matches in this “holiday period”… one at a time… play lots of players, because they will get fatigued… and we’ll be just fine.
December 24th, 2007 at 12:16 am
On a personal level you can empathise for most players Jens included.
But overall I think Almunia has vindicated Wenger’s decision to play him over Lehmann. Let’s remember Lehmann is 38, his high profile blunders may have been 2-off’s (2 x one-off’s)or perhaps a sign that his age is starting to have an impact on his game. None of us know that, but Wenger is in the best position to make that judgement.
Almunia has taken a lot of stick. Wenger summed it up beautifully, like he often does, he said Almunia came with no CV and this made his task even harder, to replace a top keeper and gain credibility when you have no track record is a really hard task. Everyone is waiting for your mistakes to say “see, he’s not up to it”. But for me he has performed really consistently and repaid the trust Wenger has put in him.
I have also said before, that I’m happy that the defence doesn’t have to cope with Lehmann’s nonsense at set pieces. That was a major hinderance, all the moaning, theatrics, pushing, diving. Hardly the calming influence you want.
December 24th, 2007 at 12:41 am
personally i think almunia is a disaster waiting to happen. and he is definitely a poorer keeper than lehmann….however he does improve our performance on set pieces and corners though.
the good news is that a great keeper is not necessary to win a league IF you are an attacking team. valdes is an even worse keeper than almunia.
to buttress my point: look at van der saar. he was awesome at ajax an attacking team, woeful at defensive juve and OK at attacking Man U.
the teams that need great keepers are the defensive type teams. that is why arsenal must always attack and not try to do some tactical, defensive bullcrap. we just dont have the players for that. and certainly not the keeper.
i just hope almunia can get his act together in the games that matter.
December 24th, 2007 at 12:42 am
The other interesting point to note was that Henry didn’t even come off the bench when Barca were down to Real. Instead, it was 18 year old Giovanni and 17 year old Bojan.
December 24th, 2007 at 12:50 am
With every passing week, I feel Lehmann will leave in Jan. Put yourself in his shoes. Would you jeopardize your national team place in your last international tournament waiting to get a chance at the club level? No way.
Wenger has passed up the opportunity to get back Lehmann into the team. He should have done it earlier. Now with the Spurs’ penalty save, he cannot do it without destroying Almunia forever. Unless Almunia makes a high profile mistake, which would be detrimental to Arsenal.
December 24th, 2007 at 12:59 am
yup….i dont think he will be liking it that much over there. his teammates dont defer to him, and his main weapon, his speed his gone. he is very unlikely to ever reach anything near the heights of 2004 again. at this point 16 million for him was a great deal for him.
coming to think of it, barca are not looking that big compared to arsenal these days are they? we have as much chance if not better of winning our league than they do.
i really used to like them as a club until they started the arrogant “galacticos” who poach - no different from madrid in any way.
December 24th, 2007 at 1:06 am
“personally i think almunia is a disaster waiting to happen. and he is definitely a poorer keeper than lehmann….”
Fred your not the only one to express that view, and I too felt uncomfortable with Wenger’s decision to start but….there hasn’t been a lot to back that up over the first half of the season has there.
December 24th, 2007 at 1:31 am
Cech took a hit from Santa Cruz and had to come off. He will need a scan. Drogba, John (”Billy Big Boots”)Terry, and now possibly Cech could be out for the Christmas period. There is the potential for Chelsea to fall off the pace. Chelsea has no convincing goal scoring threat at the moment. Chelsea only had 4 subs on their bench today. Where did all that expensive depth disappear to.
I can see Everton overtaking Chelsea in the second half of the season. This makes our game on the 29th even more important.
Was Portsmouth that bad or did Liverpool decide to bring their CL game to the table? The Portsmouth back line with our old friend Campbell was a disaster today. Do you think Capello will keep him in the picture ;)? The MF especially Muntari provided no support to the back line. This a good time to be facing Portsmouth on an extra day’s rest. Hopefully Campbell won’t be able to recover. Anyone still want Lauren back? No. I didn’t think so.
My fondest hope is that Fabregas and Hleb get their acts together with this next game. RVP could still be a doubt with a muscle strain.
December 24th, 2007 at 2:03 am
After the hick-up at Boro we’ve responded with 4 wins on the trot. Now 2 more tricky ties against Portsmouth and Everton.
If we can navigate those, and get Fab, Hleb and RvP back fit and with reasonable form we go into the new year very well placed.
December 24th, 2007 at 2:12 am
Pompey are facing a bit of a wobble, but we aren’t at our best either. Both away games will be tough, but Everton will be far tougher than Pompey.
December 24th, 2007 at 5:23 am
Hey guys, it’s Christmas Eve here in NZ. Wishing you all a happy christmas.
December 24th, 2007 at 5:39 am
Yup, Merry X’mas everyone!
December 24th, 2007 at 6:01 am
As for tactics, the 4-5-1 was essential for the Spurs game because of our five strikers 2 were not available and two had just played 2 hours of soccer the other day. I don’t think Wenger wanted to play 4-5-1 but with Adebayor as the only one ready to play a full ninety minutes, it was the right decision.
As for Almunia’s heroics on the penalty, that was an absolutely horrible penalty by Keane. It was soft and barely off center. It’s a shame that a play like that will cause us to lose a player of Lehmann’s quality.
On Boxing Day, I’m hoping to see Wenger opt for a 4-4-2 once again, playing Ade and Bendtner. It depends on how well Hleb plays. He’s not hit his top stride since coming back from injury. 4-5-1 seems kinda smart because it’s an away game against a good team but we really need to attack that Pompey back line.
December 24th, 2007 at 7:15 am
Perhaps there were good reasons to play 4-5-1 on Sat. But it was not an isolated incident. I noticed that Arsene will NOT play 4-5-1 unless Hleb is fit. Whenever Eduardo has started in recent games, it’s been when Hleb is not around and so we have played 4-4-2.
When the first team is not fully fit, there are two choices - stick to your formation/tactics and adjust the players to it OR stick to your best players and adjust to whatever formation that it results in. It’s pretty clear that Arsene trusts the latter.
December 24th, 2007 at 7:40 am
Continuing on #91, Rafa is possibly a manager who trusts formations/tactics more than players. I don’t think either choice is right or wrong. Some kind of balance is needed and whoever does it the best turns out to be the better manager.