On the back of the home defeat to Newcastle, those two matches were a real tests of resolve and the Gunners passed them with flying colours showing the sort of grit and determination that has so often been lacking in recent times away from home.
On both occasions the team was far from its fluent best. At Wolves, the match should have been over as a contest after fifteen minutes. After Marouane Chamakh’s early strike, Arsenal squandered two or three good chances which would have put the match beyond their hosts before they had even settled into their rhythm. As it was, Wolves hauled themselves back into the game and dominated most of the play. Only some desperate defending and a couple of brilliant reflex saves from Lukasz Fabianski kept Arsene Wenger’s men in the game until Chamakh made the result safe with a breakaway goal at the death.
It was a somewhat similar story at Everton yesterday. The Gunners played well within their abilities but, having taken a deserved lead through Bacary Sagna and doubled their advantage just after the break courtesy of Cesc Fabregas, they had to weather a late Everton onslaught which saw the home team peg one back late on. However, Arsenal kept their nerve through the dwindling moments of normal time and the four minutes of injury-time to earn another vital victory
There is something of a culture amongst a minority of Arsenal fans these days that if the team are not destroying opponents three or four nil and turning on the style at the same time, then something is not going right and Arsene Wenger has got it all wrong. The displays against Wolves and Everton ought to go to show that, whilst it would be great to see the team play champagne football every week, there is virtue and, indeed, beauty in "winning ugly" - and, for my money, those two displays were easily as satisfying as any of the wide-margin victories that the team have produced so far this season.
Time could be spent on picking apart the performances and asking why the Gunners weren’t rolling over their opposition or why certain players were not at the top of their game but to do that would entirely miss the point. Desperate defending, finger-tips saves, riding one’s luck, hanging on by a thread and having to mix it physically are as much part of the game as a twenty-pass move leading to goal or a screaming volley that breaks the net. There will be other days where everything clicks to perfection and the team look unstoppable but, on days when they are not quite the well-oiled machine we know they can be, if they can grind out wins with sheer fighting spirit and a strong team ethic, then there can be few complaints.
Over the past few years, many pundits and observers have questioned the Gunners’ ability to whittle out victories at difficult away grounds when they are not playing their best. However, the trips to Wolves and Everton show that the team can adopt a pragmatic approach when they have to. The trick now will be to produce this sort of character and tenacity every single week and not just as a reaction to an embarrassing home defeat.
A lot of that pragmatism can be attributed to the fact that a lot more players seem to be stepping up to the plate this season and there is not so much reliance on the “big-hitters” in the squad turning it on week in and week out. This is largely because most of the perceived big-hitters have been struggling with injury and have not been there to be relied upon. At the same time, players like Nasri, Wilshere, Song and Walcott have upped their games a notch or two and new boys like Chamakh, Squillaci and Koscielny have settled in quickly and made a positive impact.
Consequently, the two dodgy home defeats to West Brom and Newcastle aside, the shared responsibility that the manager also has often talked about in recent years appears to be a bit more of a reality rather than just talk. Again, this is something that has to be maintained consistently all the way through until May rather than conjured up sporadically if the team are to win anything this season.
It has been apparent that over last month or so that the Gunners have performed better away from home in the Premier League than they have at the Grove. This is an aspect of their current form that does need to be sorted out urgently and there will be no better game in which to turn the corner at home than when Spurs come to visit on Saturday lunchtime.
As good as the wins at Wolves and Everton were, they will become distant memories if Arsenal lose to their bitterest rivals at the weekend. The North London derby transcends the weekly to-ing and fro-ing of the Premier League and stands as a home and away fixture that both sets of fans want to win more than most - and, as always, it is a game that, “if you can’t win it, just make sure you don’t lose it.”
Players from both sides will be away on international duty for a round of completely pointless friendlies this week (yawn), which is hardly the best preparation for such a massive match. Let’s hope Arsene Wenger gets his players back fit and well and mentally ready to do the business in what is a red letter day in the fixture calendar.
Source: David Young, ESPN Soccernet on 15 Nov 10
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