The Gunners had the better of the early exchanges without necessarily summoning the required tempo and impetus to make a break-through. Even so, several chances were carved out, none of which were taken. Too often, the frustratingly familiar option of an extra pass was chosen instead of a shot.
With the current ball being used in the Premier League so prone to moving around in the air, you can’t help but wonder why the players don’t chance their arm more often from longer distance. Even if the shot is not heading for the top corner, the amount of swerve in flight these balls seem to undergo would surely force saves out of opposing goalkeepers that could lead to rebounds or, at least, corners.
It was Birmingham that opened the scoring though when, just after the half-hour, they finally provided their giant of a centre forward Nikola Zigic the sort of service he needed and the towering Serb despatched his header into the corner of the net beyond the flailing hand of Lucasz Fabianski. At 6ft 7in, Zigic’s height advantage was obvious and, if given with the sort of pinpoint cross he received for his goal yesterday on a more regular basis, he is going to cause plenty of defences problems this season.
Arsenal equalised seven minutes later courtesy of a Samir Nasri penalty after Marouane Chamakh was adjudged to have been felled in the area. Seen in real-time in the stadium, it looked a dubious decision. Whatever contact there was could only have been minimal and, certainly, City’s players protested long and loud about it. Still, from an Arsenal point of view, having been awarded the decision, it was down to Nasri to take full advantage and, once again, he proved that he is shaping up to be a very reliable penalty-taker.
It was Chamakh who then scored the winner just after the interval as he latched onto a deft Jack Wilshere pass. The Moroccan twisted, turned, took the ball round Ben Foster and slotted it home. From there, Arsenal looked reasonably comfortable for the remainder of the match and looked the more likely of the two teams to score again. City did conjure up a few moments of late pressure but barely forced a save out of Fabianski.
As the game played out though, it was Jack Wilshere’s sending off in injury-time that stole many of the headlines. Both manager and player accepted and acknowledged that under present-day interpretations of the laws of the game it was a red card challenge and he had to go. There were no real complaints from Arsenal fans either.
It was one of those moments where, sitting in the stands, you could almost see what was going to happen a split second before it did. Wilshere lost control of the ball and, in trying to atone for his error, lunged in to try and win it back. You knew if he caught the man instead of the ball it would be red card. He did, and it was. Thankfully, Zigic wasn’t badly hurt and got up to finish the match. It was a shame for Wilshere as he had been the best player on the pitch up until that point. He will now be suspended for three games which will be a blow to the considerable momentum he has built up over the past three months.
Undoubtedly, there will be plenty of people rubbing their hands together and smirking at the perceived embarrassment Wilshere’s dismissal would have caused Arsene Wenger after the Frenchman’s forthright comments on reckless tackling in the Premier League over the past couple of years. However, yesterday’s red card does not undermine Wenger’s point nor should it cause him any awkwardness.
Arsene Wenger is not a stupid man. He will have known that, even after the stand he has taken, at some point it was possible that one of his players would be dismissed for a bad challenge. All along though, the central tenet of his argument has concerned the wilful use of dangerous tackling and excessive physicality as a tactic for intimidation. There is no doubt that certain teams get sent out with instructions to rough opponents up, something that Danny Murphy of Fulham was brave enough to speak up about a week or so ago. Approaching the game with that attitude is obviously going to result in injuries, accidental or otherwise.
It is clear that Wilshere was not sent out with instructions to “do” anyone. Had he been, he wouldn’t have waited until injury-time with the game seemingly in the bag to have done it. It was a rash challenge which rightly deserved a red card but there was no intent to injure and, more importantly, no directive from the manager for him to have gone in the way he did.
Still, Wenger’s critics will use Wilshere’s red card as a stick to beat the Frenchman with and he will have to live with that. I am sure he will cope. It seems that only him and Danny Murphy seem to want to have a debate about the darker side of the modern game. Still, he has never had a problem with putting his head above the parapet in the past and I doubt the events of yesterday will change his opinions or outlook one iota.
Arsenal get back to Champions League business on Tuesday night at home to Shakhtar Donetsk. A victory would see them plant one foot in the second phase of the tournament. Like the Gunners, Shakhtar have a 100% record in the group so far to protect. It is sure to be tough game made all the more interesting by the swift return of Eduardo to Ashburton Grove. He will be welcomed back by the home support before the match - but that is as far as the goodwill will hopefully extend.
Source: David Young, ESPN Soccernet on 18 Oct 10
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