Gervinho off as Gunners are held

Gervinho's Arsenal debut ended in ignominy as he was sent off for slapping Joey Barton in a hard-fought goalless draw at Newcastle.

The Ivory Coast international was dismissed with 14 minutes remaining of the Premier League encounter after lashing out at the midfielder when he confronted him over what he believed was a dive inside the home penalty area.

Gervinho's premature departure capped a disappointing evening on Tyneside for the Gunners as they were unable to break down a Magpies side which rarely looked like taking all three points, but was in no mood to surrender the one with which they started.

Theo Walcott might have won it within three minutes of his introduction as a 61st-minute substitute, but goalkeeper Tim Krul denied him with one of the few genuine saves he was called upon to make.

Transfer-listed Barton only started the game after assuring manager Alan Pardew that he was fully committed to the cause, but he turned in a fine individual display in a team performance which was solid rather than inspired.

But the home fans among a crowd of 46,894 left reasonably satisfied, unlike their travelling counterparts, who repeatedly implored Arsene Wenger to "spend some money'' after a toothless start to the new campaign.

The corresponding fixture last season demonstrated the best and the worst of both teams as the Gunners raced into a 4-0 lead by half-time, only to succumb to a stunning fightback to allow the Magpies to snatch a point.

In that respect, Pardew will have been delighted to see his side reach the break with their clean sheet intact, although perhaps not with the pattern of play which had seen the visitors dominate.

Even without Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri in the starting line-up as speculation mounted over their futures at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal moved the ball confidently with Andrey Arshavin and Tomas Rosicky particularly prominent.

Gervinho, one of the men close to the top of the list of strikers Pardew tried to sign during the summer - the vacancy at St James' Park remains unfilled - caused problems for makeshift left-back Ryan Taylor as he repeatedly pulled to a wide right position.

However, although he linked up with Robin van Persie on numerous occasions, Wenger's men were unable to break down a defence well-marshalled by new skipper Fabricio Coloccini and Steven Taylor to the extent that keeper Krul, preferred to Steve Harper and Fraser Forster, did not have a single save of note to make during the first 45 minutes.

Rosicky steered an early shot wide of the Dutchman's far post, but despite all the pressure, his only anxious moment came 14 minutes before the break when he spilled the Czech Republic international's corner under Laurent Koscielny's challenge and Danny Simpson had to clear off the line.

In fairness, opposite number Wojciech Szczesny was similarly under-employed as strikers Shola Ameobi and Demba Ba saw too little of the ball to cause any damage.

He got down well to collect Simpson's deflected 17th-minute cross and Jonas Gutierrez smashed a 22nd-minute volley well wide, but the Gunners' goal rarely came under any real threat during the first half.

Pardew changed both personnel and formation after the break when he withdrew Ba and replaced him with another debutant, Gabriel Obertan, who lined up in a five-man midfield behind lone striker Ameobi.

Kieran Gibbs and Rosicky picked up bookings in quick succession as the game restarted at a high tempo, but it was the visitors who came close to breaking the deadlock with 55 minutes gone.

Gutierrez was penalised for a challenge on Rosicky wide on the right and Van Persie sent in a viciously-dipping free-kick which dropped onto the roof of the net with Krul desperately trying to get across.

Yohan Cabaye was unable to make the most of Obertan's back-heeled 61st-minute ball into the box, and Wenger decided to make a change of his own seconds later when he replaced Arshavin with England international Walcott.

The newcomer might have given his side the lead within minutes when he ran onto Aaron Ramsey's through-ball, but he could not beat Krul from close range.

However, the game exploded into controversy with 14 minutes remaining when Barton reacted furiously to what he believed was a dive by Gervinho under Cheick Tiote's challenge inside the box.

The Ivory Coast international lost his cool and slapped Barton in the resulting melee, and referee Peter Walton had little option but to produce a red card.

Newcastle might have snatched victory at the death, only for the impressive Koscielny to deny substitute Peter Lovenkrands a close-range header, but that would have been harsh on the visitors, who were nevertheless booed from the pitch.

Source: ESPN Soccernet on 13 Aug 11

Arsène Wenger defends Gervinho after his sending off at Newcastle

It was no eight-goal thriller but Arsenal's visit to Newcastle still ended as contentiously as last season's game, with Joey Barton as the agent provocateur when the visitors had a player dismissed in the second half.

Last season it was Abou Diaby, this time it was Gervinho, making his English league debut. Alan Pardew insisted he dived, Arsène Wenger claimed he did not, but the salient point was that after Barton had hauled him brusquely to his feet and told him to get on with the game the Ivorian became involved in a scuffle and clearly slapped the Newcastle man.

"I think I saw more than the referee did," Wenger said, making an unusual case for the defence. "It was just an argument, the referee could have produced two yellow cards or two red ones. I don't think Gervinho deserved to be sent off and certainly Barton was not hit hard enough to lie down for two minutes in the way he did. I will have to have a good look at it again before we decide whether to appeal."

That much is true, though the letter of the law is that raising one's hands constitutes violent conduct, so Gervinho will now be looking at a three-match ban, unless Arsenal manage to successfully appeal. Pardew advised them not to bother.

"First of all Gervinho dived, there's no question about that," the Newcastle manager said. "Joey's reaction was to chastise him, which you can understand, and then there was a tussle and Gervinho slapped him. You can't do that. I'm not going to defend Joey to the hilt, I've had my run-ins with him too, but on this occasion he was calm. He was just incensed at an opponent attempting to con the referee and I don't think that makes him a villain. He's just an opinionated boy, that's all."

Even Wenger could not disagree with that assessment. Showing remarkable good humour in the circumstances, the Arsenal manager noted that Barton was the obvious link between the two dismissals in the last two games and claimed he had "got away with it" on both occasions.

When it was put to Wenger that Arsenal had been linked with Barton in transfer speculation over the summer, he smiled and did not rule out the possibility. "That may be the solution to sort out our problem," he said. "We do not seek to provoke opponents though, we try to play football. I am concerned that maybe sometimes our players overreact to provocation and that is an area where we must try to improve."

Wenger was somewhat less relaxed about the visiting Arsenal supporters telling him in no uncertain terms to spend some money as his players ran out of ideas in the second half. Clearly frustrated by the apparently inevitable departures of Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri, and the lack of replacements being lined up, the Arsenal fans high up in the Leazes End twice chanted that Wenger needed to get his chequebook out.

Source: Paul Wilson, The Guardian on 13 Aug 11

Gervinho sent off as uninspired Arsenal are held by Newcastle

Gervinho was dismissed on his Arsenal league debut as Arsène Wenger's side made an unconvincing start to life without Cesc Fábregas and Samir Nasri in another fractious encounter on Tyneside. Perhaps not quite as unconvincing as their memorable collapse in the corresponding fixture last season, when they managed to throw away a 4-0 interval lead and indicate to all concerned that they were unlikely to win the title, but unsatisfactory in the sense that they began a new campaign looking just like the side that finished the last one. A side looking tired and short of ideas.

Newcastle can be even happier with this point than the one they gained in such unpromising circumstances in January. They never looked like winning the game but they were never taken apart, either. They too were solid but uninspired, though at least for Newcastle that counts as improvement. There were chants of "Spend some of your money" from the end containing the Arsenal fans as full time approached, though it was impossible to tell whether there were home supporters joining in as well.

That seemed about as exciting as the day was going to get until a fracas in the Newcastle penalty area 14 minutes from the end. Gervinho was lying on the floor attempting to make a meal of minimal contact in a fair challenge by Cheik Tioté when Joey Barton came across to tell him to get on with the game. Gervinho took offence, a scuffle turned into a melee and, amid all the handbags, the Ivorian connected with a girly slap to Barton's temple. Barton probably did not need to fall down as if poleaxed, though he did, and Peter Walton probably did not have to produce a red card, though he did. Barton was given a yellow card, which was possibly slightly harsh, and Alex Song went unpunished after an earlier stamp on Barton, which was caught by the cameras. The Newcastle player was far more sinned against than sinning here, yet in almost identical circumstances, with Barton involved both times, Arsenal went down to 10 men for a second successive season in this fixture. The only difference this time was that Newcastle were not inspired to score four goals.

"I will have to have a good look at it again before we decide whether to appeal," Wenger said. "I don't think Gervinho deserved to be sent off, and I don't know how the decision was made because I am 100% sure the referee and the linesman did not get a good view of the incident. I think there should have been a yellow card to each player or a red card to each player."

Arsenal began with the slick, quick passing game that got them off to such a good start here last season, without seeing anything like the same results. They lacked penetration and precision, though Gervinho showed up well in the opening exchanges. He found space in the Newcastle penalty area after just a couple of minutes, after Andrey Arshavin and Robin van Persie had made the initial inroads, but wanted too much time to release a shot. Then he turned up on the left wing, dancing round Danny Simpson and putting in a decent cross that needed a sharper reaction from Van Persie.

Simpson made a timely intervention to prevent Arshavin's cross from the right reaching the Gervinho in the 13th minute before Newcastle launched their first attack of any note, Wojciech Szczesny diving to his left to make a near-post stop after Barton's raking pass had freed Simpson on the right.

Jonás Gutiérrez flashed a spectacular volley well wide midway through the first half, but with Newcastle repeatedly giving the ball away, and Arsenal missing the invention of Fábregas and Jack Wilshere, the game was already settling down into an ordinary sort of midfield struggle, nothing like last term's goalfest.

As if to prove the point, when Arshavin stayed onside after almost half an hour and had a great chance to play Gervinho clear with only Tim Krul to beat, he managed to pass straight to Fabricio Coloccini.

Moments after that Krul failed to deal with a corner from Tomas Rosicky and Simpson had to prevent the ball crossing the line.

Just as one of the most yawnful of opening-day first halves was drawing to a close, Arshavin managed to create something out of nothing with a scooped pass over the defence that caught Newcastle by surprise, but though Van Persie was ideally positioned to anticipate it and accept the ball, he again reacted too slowly to take advantage.

The reason Arsenal were four goals to the good at the same stage of the game last season was that almost everything they tried had worked to perfection, not to mention that Newcastle were a ragged mess. Here, Arsenal did not even try that much and Newcastle were much more secure at the back, not that being any less secure would have been a viable option.

This ought to have brought some cheer to the home support, though by the interval the Newcastle fans were becoming audibly dissatisfied with their side's inability to offer any kind of threat going forward. Set pieces seemed Newcastle's best hope of pinching something, and most teams have found them profitable against Arsenal, yet in the first half at least Newcastle failed to put Szczesny's goal under any significant threat from the few free kicks and corners they managed to win.

Alan Pardew attempted to change that at half-time by sending on Gabriel Obertan for the ineffective Demba Ba, stationing the former Manchester United winger in the middle in the hope his pace could trouble the Arsenal central defence. The French player spent a frustrating couple of years at Old Trafford struggling to make sufficient impression to break into the team and has signed a five-year deal at Newcastle in the expectation of getting regular games, so he must have been relieved at not having to spend the whole afternoon on the bench.

Wenger responded by bringing on pace of his own after an hour and Theo Walcott was into the game quicker than Obertan, bringing a save from Tim Krul with one of his first touches when he possibly had the time to do better.

If it is any consolation to Arsenal, they performed better with 10 men than they did last time, taking the game to their opponents and looking the more likely to score. Newcastle's best attempt of the last few minutes was a rising drive from Barton that flew well over, much to Wenger's relief. A late winner from Barton would have been just too much.

Source: Paul Wilson, The Guardian on 13 Aug 11

Gervinho completes his move to Arsenal

Arsenal Football Club is delighted to announce that Ivory Coast international forward Gervinho has finalised his switch to the Gunners, joining the Club on a long-term contract for an undisclosed fee.

Gervinho, 24, arrives at Arsenal from French side Lille, with the paperwork surrounding his move now approved. The Ivorian helped Lille to a Ligue 1 and Coupe de France double last season, scoring 18 goals in 49 games in all competitions.

The campaign capped a very successful two years for Gervinho, during which time he netted 36 times in his 93 appearances for Les Gogues. Before joining Lille, Gervinho enjoyed two seasons with Le Mans, also in Ligue 1.

On the international stage, Gervinho captained the Ivory Coast in the 2008 Olympics in Beijing and also represented his country at the 2010 World Cup, scoring twice in just three substitute appearances during qualification to the finals. To date, Gervinho has made 27 appearances in total for Les Eléphants, scoring six goals.

The forward, who came through the same Ivorian youth academy - ASEC Mimosas - as Emmanuel Eboue, before following in the right-back’s footsteps to join Belgian side KSK Beveren, will immediately join up with his new team mates for pre-season training.

Manager Arsène Wenger said: “Gervinho is a player that can play in a number of positions up front. He can play on the right, on the left and through the middle. He has qualities that I find very important, like his movement off the ball. He has the qualities we like technically. He is good one against one, he is strong and was the best provider in the French league with assists and he scored 15 goals. I think he is a very good addition to the squad.”

After completing his move to the Gunners, Gervinho said: “It’s a great feeling to be an Arsenal player. I’m very happy. I’ve always dreamed to play for this Club. I’ve achieved this dream now and I am so happy. It’s one of the most beautiful days of my life.

“I’m very happy to have the chance to work with Arsène Wenger. I came here because I believe that he can improve my game and help me reach another level, but the most important thing for me is that I bring a lot to the team for whom I’m playing.”
 
Source: Arsenal.com on 18 Jul 11