There have too many occasions in 2011 that Arsenal fans have been annoyed, frustrated, embarrassed, disillusioned, or have strongly questioned the most successful manager in our history. Often those frustrations and questions have been justified, and many, myself included, thought we were seeing the beginning of an inglorious end to Arsene Wenger’s reign as Arsenal manager.
I wrote on this blog earlier in the season that I was desperate for Wenger to turn things around because of how much he gives and cares for the club. We saw on Saturday at Stamford Bridge, that he’s far from done as Arsenal manager. Our eighth win in nine games confirmed this new team under Wenger are on the right track to salvage something from a season that looked set to be a train wreck.
Everything still isn’t perfect, we can still be defensively vulnerable, we’re still outside the top four and we drew Manchester City in the Carling Cup quarter finals, but we have pride, confidence and some real belief in this team now. The target is still the top four, suggestions that we’re now back in the title race are slightly far-fetched, but it appears the 8-2 at Manchester United can now be written off as a massive blip, and a result that wasn’t terminal for Arsenal Football Club. Lesser men and lesser clubs would have crumbled after the start to the season we had, so far it seems that doesn’t apply to Arsene and Arsenal.
So often in recent years we’ve come out of big games with some credit for playing some nice football, but haven’t converted that into a win. We did that on Saturday. After our recent improvement, we needed to send a statement out to the rest of the league that we were competitive again by beating a big team. We did that on Saturday.
It was a phenomenal football match and there is so much you could analyse from it. However pushing aside the technical aspect of the game, what was fantastic was the spirit from Arsenal. I’ve mentioned it after games recently that the team seem more together and willing to fight for each other, and it showed on Saturday. When you consider the squad has only really been together for two months, the way they’ve bonded and come together is to Arsene Wenger’s great credit. You only needed to see the celebrations at the end of the game to see how much it meant to all of them. Whilst we’re still arguably down on quality, the spirit, effort and commitment from the players is as good as it’s been for quite a few seasons.
The first half was worrying as both full backs, Djourou and Santos, looked vulnerable, and we missed a couple of great chances going forward. However the signs were there that if we could tighten up the defence, we’d make chances at the other end with the way Chelsea were defending.
Our first goal saw us rip Chelsea open in a style we haven’t seen since Bergkamp and co. in 2004. The pass from Ramsey was excellent, and Gervinho was calm in setting up van Persie. Both Gervinho and van Persie should have scored before that in moves that made massive holes in the Blues’ backline.
When Chelsea had the ball in the first half, we stood off them too much and allowed them time to pick out runners and move with the ball. That was clearly addressed at half time by Arsene Wenger, as we were much improved in the second half.
Andre Santos typified the difference in halves. Frankly, he had a torrid first 45 and a lot of fans would have wanted Thomas Vermaelen on. However there’s something about Arsenal left backs and scoring at Stamford Bridge. Think Nigel Winterburn and Silvinho, and now add Andre Santos. We won the ball back from applying pressure at a throw, Song played a fantastic ball, and Santos showed great composure to slot home. I don’t know where Chelsea right back Bosingwa, as he wasn’t where he should have been, but who cares? Santos spotted the opportunity, timed his run well and deserved his celebratory dance.
Another man who upped his game was Theo Walcott. Maybe he should face Ashley Cole every week, as the last two occasions he’s faced him, Walcott has destroyed everyone’s least favourite ex-Gunner. I’m not sure how he made his run work after falling over, but it fooled Chelsea, and his finish was fantastic. We love seeing anyone run Ashley Cole ragged, the challenge for Theo is to do it to whoever he’s up against every week, as Saturday was a reminder that he can be a great player.
As I’ve mentioned Ashley Cole, it would be wrong not to touch on Wojciech Szczesny’s challenge on him in the second half. I was very worried when he did it, but Koscielny was getting back quickly enough to put doubt in the referee’s mind about sending Szczesny off. After he only got a yellow, I’m sure many Gooners deep down loved seeing the Pole clatter into Cole. He got seriously Wojciech-ed.
In the second half, as much as I was full of nerves, we controlled the game quite well. Szczesny wasn’t tested too much, until Mata’s long range strike. It just seemed like another case of a player scoring a wonder goal in a big game against Arsenal. My mind went back to Essien doing something similar a few years ago at Stamford Bridge. Although at 3-3 with ten to go, Robin van Persie had barely got going.
Our fourth goal is something I can watch again, and again, and again, and probably again and it’ll still be absolutely hilarious. You often need some luck to win big games, something that we’ve arguably not had in recent times, but we got some with Malouda’s back pass and John Terry’s slip. It’s not just how the goal happened, it’s who slipped over. John Terry has been annoying football fans up and down the country for years, so I’m sure it wasn’t just Arsenal fans that had more than a chuckle when it happened. Once he was one-on-one with Cech, there was no way Robin van Persie was going to miss.
Having got the lead, I immediately assumed we’d throw it away somehow; this was still Arsenal we were watching. However we were composed at the back in the final minutes, Koscielny had another very good game, and then wrapped it up on the counter attack. With just a one goal lead, we probably shouldn’t have had so many players rushing forward, but the move was well executed, and Robin van Persie scored the pick of his hat-trick with another wave of his wand of a left foot.
With Robin van Persie, I’m not getting tired of mentioning him on this blog every week. He is a phenomenal striker. I am getting tired of some still arguing that Arsenal are a one-man team, as every great side needs someone to score a load of goals. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that, in our recent trophyless years, we’ve rarely had a player score more than 20 goals in a season for us. We’ve still got to create the chance for Robin, it just helps that he is finishing them so well.
The midfield were very good again in helping the team tick over. Aaron Ramsey has grown massively in confidence since his goal against Marseille, whilst Mikel Arteta is getting through a lot of unseen hard work. Although it could be argued he should have done better with Chelsea’s third goal, Wojciech Szczesny continues to endear himself to Arsenal fans. As well as the Ashley Cole takedown, go and watch back Daniel Sturridge’s disallowed goal. Szczesny’s reaction afterwards is brilliant.
In the context of the league table, it was a massive victory. We’re now seventh, but are just three points off Chelsea and can sniff the top four again. Plus we’ve almost wiped out the goal difference from Old Trafford.
Regardless of how bad Chelsea’s defending was, the records tell you how impressive it is to go and score five at Stamford Bridge. The way this team was a little over two months ago, one goal in this game would barely have seemed feasible.
We move onto Marseille in the Champions League on Tuesday, knowing a win will secure qualification for the knockout stages. The team will be full of confidence, and getting qualification out of the way will really help later in the year.
We have to guard against any possibility of complacency and treat the game as a completely fresh start. As much as we’re basking in the glory of Saturday, and trust me us Gooners are doing some serious basking, the players have to be ready to put in the same levels of effort and commitment that has brought the recent improvement. Marseille will probably try and keep it tight, so we’ll need to show some creativity to open them up, and if we give Robin van Persie any sniff of the goal, we’ve got a good chance of winning.
The 8-2 was a fairly grim time to be an Arsenal fan, but the team have quietly worked hard, become a strong collective unit and provided the travelling Arsenal fans (who were superb by the way) a memorable day at Stamford Bridge. Arsene Wenger took a big gamble, by his standards, with all the signings on deadline day, and so far that gamble is paying off. I’m loving the work of the new players, I’m loving the spirit within the club, I’m loving the attitude of the players, I’m loving the effort and desire to play for the Arsenal, I’m loving Robin van Persie, I’m loving that Arsene Wenger isn’t finished yet and I’m loving that there is some positivity around the Arsenal again. Saturday was proof that with Wenger in charge, it’s always worth keeping the faith.
This has to be the base. We have to build on this result and get ourselves back up into the top four.
That’s enough from me, I’m off to practise the Santos samba shuffle whilst trying not to slip over…………
Source: Sam Limbert, ESPN Soccernet on 31 Oct 11
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