Match Reports
ESPNSoccernet: Captain Cesc Fabregas came off the bench to inspire the Gunners to a 3-0 win over Aston Villa which hauls them back into the Premier League title race.
Telegraph: Arsenal confirmed their status as genuine contenders for the Premier League title with an emphatic 3-0 win over Aston Villa at the Emirates this afternoon that narrows the gap to Chelsea to just four points.
Goodplaya: Arsenal season’s best, report from the ground.
Match Video
The Arsenalist has 2/3 of Arsenal’s goals up already and promises more, if he can get away from his newborn.
Man of the Match
Has there ever been a man of the match go to a player who came on as a sub in the 57th minute, scored 2 goals (one one of which has to be up for goal of the season), and then was subbed off himself at the 84th minute? A 27 minute man of the match?
I can’t think of one before but that’s exactly how I’m calling it because what Cesc did was nothing less than magical. It’s been a long standing moan of Goonahs that Cesc doesn’t score, he doesn’t do well on free kicks, and Arsenal in general don’t score from direct free kicks promising positions. 2 games in a row now Arsenal have put that, if not all the way to bed then certainly tucked it in for a long nap. After two consecutive matches where Arsenal score on a direct free kick I doubt the Journo’s will be breaking out those chestnuts for a while and that is down, partially, to what Cesc did today.
But it was the second goal which was both a moment of beauty and pain. Against Tottenham Cesc showed that he’s gained power and today against Villa he showed a touch of pace as he burst through the middle, was slotted in by … and slotted home past the onrushing Friedel. There would be no celebration from the captain however, as it looked like the strain of running full speed re-injured his hamstring. Fingers crossed that the injury is minor.
Cesc now has 9 goals and 10 assists in League play and has absolutely announced himself as one of, if not the, best midfielder in the world. £40m Barcelona? You’re having a laugh, try more like £80m.
The Good
Diaby missed man of the match, his second in a row, by just a hair. Hardly putting a foot wrong all day, his thrust forward and defensive acumen in the middle of the park was absolutely critical. In the first 4 minutes it was only the rust of Eduardo which robbed him of an assist and Arsenal of a cracking good start.
After that, the Villa machine tried to grind Arsenal’s midfield down but Diaby and Song just kept plying their trade and kept Arsenal in the match until a magical moment from substitute Cesc could break the game open. But make no mistake Diaby and Song kept us in that game and if we had more on form front men in Arshavin and Eduardo those two could easily have won the game for us in the first half.
Even more critically, Arsenal claimed three points from a team which had made a habit of collecting top four scalps this season, beating Man U, Liverpool, and Chelsea and on a 7 match unbeaten run and a 4 match win streak. Honestly, I thought Villa looked very dangerous and confident of their game plan in the first half. They are a well drilled team who know that they can take their opponents on at any time and endeavor to grind a team down. On every missed opportunity they didn’t get down, rather winking at each other and showing that they were confident of breaking this Arsenal’s defense.
But it wouldn’t happen. Arsenal now haven’t conceded a home goal in any competition since Chelsea came to town. 3 consecutive home clean sheets, 270 minutes without a goal at the Emirates, and a stalwart performance by the whole back 4. Even Almunia looked ok at times!
The Bad
Fingers crossed that Cesc didn’t tear his hamstring. Arsenal’s next three games are away to Pompey (the 30th), away to West Ham (the 3rd), and home to Bolton (the 6th) for our game in hand. After that there’s an Everton match on the 9th and then a week off before we travel away to Bolton on the 17th of January. I almost wonder if Cesc won’t find himself on a bit of a break for three weeks in order to get that hammy all the way rested up.
As it stands, Diaby is a hell of a stand in though after that we are looking a bit thin; Denilson was removed for a back injury, Cesc came off with the strain, and Song goes away for the ACN. That leaves Arsenal with just Diaby, the 19 year old Rambo, Nasri and the mostly unused Merida. I suppose we could see a midfield of Diaby, Rambo and Nasri but even the boss is saying that he might buy a midfielder. Which was virtually unthinkable when you consider we started the season with Cesc, Song, Diaby, Nasri, Rosicky, Denilson, Ramsey, Wilshere, Arshavin, Eboue, and Merida. Which doesn’t count the players like Walcott and Vela who have played in wing positions in the past.
Yes, a lot of people wanted Arsene to buy a holding midfielder, just for this exact happening, but a reasonable person would have to look at that cast of characters and see that Arsenal have at least three guys who can do the job after Song: Denilson, Diaby, and Ramsey. None of them are ideal, but they are reasonable backups.
Anyway, there will be plenty of time for transfer speculation over the next month and plenty of time for the “I told you so brigade” to complain that Wenger didn’t bolster the holding midfield role.
The Ugly
I had to watch the match on a dodgy stream and when that crapped out I turned to Arsenal TV Online’s weird live commentary combined with stills from the game. I’ll have to go down to Doyle’s here in a bit and watch the second half on tape delay since I missed a lot of the game when my feed crapped out.
Conclusions
Well, well, well… pretty much everyone predicted a 2-1 score and pretty much everyone was wrong. I had a feeling we’d keep a clean sheet and had I been in England (or in any country that wasn’t so hypocritical as to ban online gambling yet have an Indian casino on every corner) I’d have put a punt on the clean sheet and would even have backed that with a 0-0 score line.
I really felt like both defenses would be up for the game and for the first half they were. What I didn’t count on, and what I’ll count on from now on, was Cesc Fabregas putting this Arsenal team on his back and carrying them the final yard to secure all three points.
It’s really clear that while he’s not the most traditional captain, he doesn’t scream at his teammates or tell them where to be on the pitch, he is emerging as an inspirational leader to these boys. And why not? At 22 years old, he’s one of the most experienced warriors that this Arsenal team have. A great game, a great win, and Arsenal temporarily launch themselves into 2nd place, with a game in hand, and lead the league in goals scored having scored 47 in just 18 games.
It’ll be interesting to see how the pundits spin this, having written off Arsenal after the Chelsea loss and now with Arsenal just 5 points off the league leaders. I said all along that this was a two team race and that Arsenal would push Chelsea all the way for the title. Nearly half way thought the year, it’s looking like that prediction might just come true. And if we lift the trophy at the end of the year, it will be the sweetest I have ever had as a supporter. For it will announce this squad as no longer boys among men, no longer a project, but the finished article. On today’s performance, they are nearly there.
Cesc was absolutely brilliant. We were 9/10′s of the way there without him, but from the minute he stepped onto the pitch everything just seemed to click. I think the first free kick he attempted bears some examination as well. He nearly found the near-side corner from 35 (40?) yards out.
I wish that Eduardo looked better, but today should have been enough to get him fully fit.
And now for the strangest month of the year…
December 27th, 2009 at 11:57 am
@Dooley, Eduardo really looks a shadow at the moment, not happy at all, but I was happy to hear the crowd chanting his name rather than getting on his back.
Funny you mention we were 9/10ths of the way there before Fab as I thought so too, Denilson, while not having a cracker seemed to be playig gdecently and keeping the midfield movement fluid. Cesc came on though and it was like everything he touched turned to gold, Arshavin, Nasri and seemed to get a jolt.
It’s odd though that Diaby, who was playing out of his skin previous to the substitution, sort of disappeared when Fabregas came on, and as soon as Fab was off, he revved back to life.
December 27th, 2009 at 12:46 pm
@Shobo,
in the 4-3-3 Diaby and Cesc have both become extremely attacking players, last year it seemed like Cesc was trying to play a reserved almost Pirlo type role, but now he looks to shoot and get into the box.
Diaby can’t collect and charge is Cesc is planning on doing it. Nasri can play a cheeky sort of defensive forward (a la Kuyt), a central creative role, or even a winger (didn’t we sign him as a winger? yeah?) but Diaby doesn’t come with that versatility. It’s a real waste to have both of them on the pitch. On the other hand, if Cesc needs to rest for a few games I could see Diaby netting a couple times. He really has an eye for goal.
I kind of wonder if it ever gets to the point with us to where the players need to start taking responsibility for their own health and fitness…I mean, we’ve all had hamstring issues while playing, and you know what you can do and what you can’t, and if you go on a mean run at near top speed, you’re going to tweak whatever little bit of a niggle you have. Cesc should have known much better than to go on a full speed run for that ball, even though it was sublime, he has to know that it will lead to a recurrence. Know your limitations and play within them, then maybe you can get well a bit quicker. Surely Arsene says to him before he goes on, and before the game as well, that if he goes on to “take it easy” so to speak and ease back into it.
December 27th, 2009 at 11:58 am
@kevin, I’m sure in the heat of the moment, all he was thinking of was to get the goal, regardless of the consequences, it’s not like he had much time to think about what he was doing.
December 27th, 2009 at 12:36 pm
Cesc, Diaby, VM5 all superb today, arshavin had his worst game but I’m sure we all agree a very difficult fixture passed with flying colours. The cost of which will be known in a couple of days! Only downer today was jug ears having an easy run at hull. I agree with Wenger a sriker is needed in Jan and being cup-tied for the CL is irrelevant, just bring in some quality because the league is looking good! A very happy day.
I caught the highlights and it looked like a cracking game. It’s a shame I caught the flu from my roommate because I had set my alarm to wake me up to catch the game but it just didn’t happen.
Cesc is definitely the heartbeat of the team and if we are to push for the title we need him to be fit again. I still think Wenger needs to do something in January because Cesc cannot score every week – that’s a given. Eduardo wasted a perfectly good chance in he opening 5 minutes. He did all the hard work of turning his marker and put it right into Friedel’s arms. An in-form striker would have buried that 10 out of 10 times.
Cesc was the story of this game. Denilson actually looked pretty decent up to then, but the team clearly enjoyed the adrenaline boost from Fabregas. The other story of this game, for me, was the midfield, which contributed as much as anyone to keeping the clean sheet. Without going back and watching the game again, it’s hard to say if Villa’s midfield was just that shoddy in its passing or if we worked exceedingly hard to intercept every other pass from Villa. Clearly Villa was poor in midfield, but kudos nevertheless to Song and Diaby for sucking up the stray balls. Keep your fingers crossed on Cesc’s legs. Keep your fingers crossed that Arsene gets the boys to come out with a lot of intensity on Wednesday. No road game is easy. Just ask Liverpool who lost 2 nil at Pompey a few weeks back.
December 27th, 2009 at 12:00 pm
@ArseChicago, Agreed on the midfield, I don’t think we’ve seen that sort of zeal and determination to work for each other since the early games of the season against Everton, Portsmouth and Manu
A word on Vermaelen. I remember a while back one Arsenal blog saying they saw a potential future Arsenal captain in him, at the time I thought it was a bit early to judge his character as he’d just arrived, but what a performance to keep Gabby quiet all day. There was one particular instance where it looked like Agbonlahor was free on goal, but The Verminator matched him for pace and put his body on the line, fighting tooth and nail to make sure the Villa man couldn’t get it.
Crossing fingers Diaby’s found form, when he’s like this it’s impossible to get the ball from him. And how damn good is Cesc?
December 27th, 2009 at 12:48 pm
@Shobo,
answer: DAMN good.
Can Song Play next game, i think he got his 5th yellow this game
December 27th, 2009 at 2:29 pm
@said, It was actually Song’s 6th yellow. He served a 1 match suspension after the Man City game and missed the Stoke match.
Awesome performance from the midfield players who dominated villa. I was there and villa looked a threat, at least until a clever substitution. With hindsight it was an obvious substitution to make and boy did it work!
The crowd were a bit quiet and apprehensive and there were moments where I could hear the villa fans in the first half, which I shouldn’t given that I was sat at the top tier at the other end, directly behind the goal an was lucky to have a perfect view of all three goals. I hope this is diaby’s coming of age and that he finds consistency because he was dominant today. Nobody played badly today. Arshavin was marked out of the game by two big fellows but even that’s a positive given the space it afforded others. A great team performance. Cesk is just amazing! Great day to be a gooner!
December 27th, 2009 at 2:30 pm
@Cesky, It’s always good to hear from folks at the game, stop by any time and tell us what the crowd is like!
There were only a few good chants today towards the end. The first goal shut them up and we all started getting louder. I had been shouting and singing throughout I must add! But they got a few verses or ‘champions league, your having a laugh’ and ‘are u tottenham in disguise’ although to be fair almost everyone gets that after we score a couple! ‘arsene give us a wave’ got a small gesture from ‘arsene and a big cheer from the crowd! ‘There’s only one arsene wenger’ was sung a few times.
Best chant had to be a group behind me towards the end, singing to the time of the adebayor chant ‘stay in the ground, stay in the ground, if u support arsenal, stay in the ground’. There’s still a lot of people heading fr the exits with 5minutes or more to go, and it’s noticeable and can’t be nice for the players after a win to turn an applaud everyones backs as they head off! Still, there’s a fair few who stay to applaud!
Happy new year to u all and to gooners everywhere!
Wenger in his post match interview reiterated his intention to look for a striker. Can’t doubt that.
Mail Online’s Andy Townsend:http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1238790/Andy-Townsend-Gabby-Agbonlahor-gift-needs-help-Aston-Villa-team-mates.html?ITO=1490
I linked to this article because he points out some of Wenger’s strategy. Wenger’s teams are fit as butcher’s dogs because to play up tempo, you have to be. Wenger counts on passing other teams into the ground and as a by product, wearing them down. We haven’t scored this season in the 1st 15″ of games but we are hell on wheels in the 2nd half because the other guys wear down. Diaby’s goal was a result of AV being mentally and physically beat to shit.
I take issue w/ Townsend’s comment that Young was harshly booked. Dowd clearly indicated the card was for diving over Song’s leg to draw a dangerously positioned FK.
Chelsea have spiraled down since beating us and it will get worse. They will keep Drogba for their Fulham game but he was a passenger yesterday. He’s been flat since his own son called him out for flouncing all over the pitch. I guess his boy was getting some stick at school.
Ancelotti tried to rotate his squad against BC and it didn’t work out. Malouda in the hole is just plain stupid.
Man U’s 3-1 win is more a reflection of the limitations of Hull than man U superiority.
Liverpool needed a red card to Wolves to get their win.
I’m predicting that regardless (irregardless) of Fabregas’s status for Portsmouth, Ramsey will get the start.
“Arsene Wenger needs to buy new players and expensive ones too. Why? Because all the talented and inexpensive players are already with us at Arsenal.” Arshavin.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-1238790/Andy-Townsend-Gabby-Agbonlahor-gift-needs-help-Aston-Villa-team-mates.html
Someone mentioned it above, but my favorite moment of the game was Vermaelen sprinting stride for stride with the pacy Agbonlahor, beating him to the ball, then falling down (or getting knocked down), but refusing to let him have the ball, and eventually winning a free kick. He just was not going to let Agbonlahor get to that ball. Love that guy.
And what can you say about Diaby? Overshadowed by Cesc’s heroics, but another great performance. With RvP and Bendtner out and Eduardo struggling for form at the moment, if the rest of the midfield were fit and available, I would think about trying him as a striker. He’s got the size to be a target man and his finishing is very underrated.
But with Cesc due to possibly miss a few games and with Song going off to the African Nations, we’ll need him in the center of the park. Of course, as others mentioned, he seems to play his best when Cesc is out. This would certainly be a perfect time for him to break out.
The gist of what I’m getting from the media is similar to the Mail Online piece that it’s all about what AV doesn’t have (Fabregas/game changer) than we beat the pee out of the 4th place pretender.
Then I got a sniff on one site and then found the source of the sink in this piece: http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/148288/Roberto-Mancini-just-a-stopgap-at-Manchester-City-
Are the drugs Cook and Marwood taking even legal. The biggest problem in their scheme is the integrity they don’t have and to Wenger it is paramount. And when the drugs wear off, they need to ask themselves this question: why would Wenger turn down Real Madrid for Arsenal only to flee to Man City w/ Adebayor and Toure. Non-starter.
I am sad that I missed such a wonderfull game despite my son giving me a ticket. My daughter, sneaky cheek that she is, dumped my grandaughter on me while I had a quick nap before setting out for the game. When I suddenly woke up to find her, I didn’t know whether to be happy or sad. Anyway, I was condemned to watch the match on telly.
A great match that it was.
RE. the crowd/atmosphere….it started off quietly there was aprehension in the fans,and the villains cofidently made themselves heard,but you could see that AV although disicplined in their defending,didnt really have a lot to offer,except to soak up pressure and play counter attacking,which was bread and butter for the verminator and Co.
as the game wore on it seemed more likely “when” not “if” the goal would come,and the Arsenal fans were cranking up the volume,as the villains shrunk in nervous tension,we were knocking on the door and couldnt get in,until the moment that Cesc Fabulous appeared,and it was no noise from the aston boys,except a rendition of “we will not be moved” after they were already losing…so in the stands it started of tamely and grew louder until it was a cresendo of shouting,and cheering
December 28th, 2009 at 8:51 am
@RichieGooner, I love having folks who were at the game provide comments and insight. I’ve extended the invitation for you folks to write for the site and it still stands.