Arsenal 3-0 Wigan: Total Domination
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Two moments in Arsenal’s 3-0 win over Wigan at the Emirates summed up the 90 minutes perfectly. The first happened in the 65th minute: Wigan were coming forward on the right side and a wonderful cross was played in to Franco Di Santo who rose well and just managed to put his header wide of the post. The second moment happened five minutes later when Wigan’s captain Gary Caldwell, who had been battling Cesc all game, tackled the Arsenal captain from behind in the box and by taking his legs earned a red card and gave away an Arsenal penalty. Robin van Persie was on a hat trick and so stepped up to take the penalty, let out a deep breath, charged forward, and skied the ball over the goal.
Such was Arsenal’s dominance against Wigan yesterday that it took 65 minutes before Wigan could get their first shot. Whenever Wigan had the ball, Arsenal took it back from them. Wilshere patrolled the midfield and was a perfect 7/7 in his tackles and what he didn’t tackle away from Wigan, Song stole from them with his team leading 6 interceptions. On the rare occasion that Wigan built enough to get the ball out of the midfield Koscielny and Djourou were there to tackle the ball away only losing one tackle each in 90 minutes. Even in the air, Djourou only lost one aerial duel and that happened on the attacking end.
It was an outstanding team defensive performance with every player working hard and covering for each other. Wenger has been criticized for his supposed tactical inflexibility but in the four games since Arsenal last played Wigan and allowed them to steal a point from us he has made subtle yet important changes. The first is that he dropped Arshavin to the bench and promoted Nasri to take his place on the left side of the front three. Nasri’s workrate has taken a ton of pressure off Clichy and the left back is looking like the Clichy of old. When Nasri doesn’t play on that side, he moves Song over to the left of the midfield three to help cover.
This change to the left side along with a solidified a first-team lineup of Djourou, Koscielny, Clichy, Jack, Song, Cesc, Theo, Nasri, and van Persie has produced a four game run of clean sheet in the Premier League. Sagna is also going to be in that lineup and that leaves just one position with question marks over it: keeper. Arsene Wenger can be overly loyal at times and so the question is has Szczesny done enough to earn the starting spot? He is very vocal and commands his area in a way that makes everyone feel stronger in defense. Szczesny’s only weakness are his distribution and clearances but it’s something he’s working on in training. He was 15/19 in distribution against Wigan and the pattern shows that they are keeping it short and simple until he can get his legs under him.
A dominant team defensive display from Arsenal denied Wigan any real chances and in the end, limited the Latics to just 3 total shots and 0 shots on goal. I haven’t looked at the numbers yet, but that has to be a season low for opponent’s shots against Arsenal, well, except Manchester City maybe. Did ManCiti even bring the ball into our half?
On the other end of the pitch the reason that the missed penalty summed up the game so perfectly is that here was Robin van Persie sitting on a hat trick and he blazes the penalty over the top. Arsenal ended the game with 24 shots, 10 on goal and despite some of the most dazzling football I have ever seen, only managed to score 3 goals. In a sense, that shows how hard it is for any team to score a goal but this Arsenal side seems to have a real devil of a time some games. Credit to Ali Al Habsi who had a monster of a game, especially in the first half and I hate to sound like I’m whining after a 3-0 win, but Theo’s squandering of the one-on-one with Al Habsi when Arsenal were 1-0 up, really had me worried that we were going to end the game with some shitty 1-1 draw after they nicked some ridiculous goal. I suppose it’s a conditioned response at this point, a sort of Pavlov’s Gooner if you will.
Arsenal hit posts, squandered one-on-ones, had shots brilliantly saved and missed a penalty, and yet, still won 3-0 and Robin still got his first every Premier League hat-trick. That’s how dominant this team was over 90 minutes.
Looking forward, Arsenal are picking up steam at the perfect time of the season. Wenger put it this way:
We feel stronger and stronger in every single game. It is interesting the chance we have in front of us because we have an interesting game, the way we play is for me fantastic to watch. Let’s just keep going.
Arsenal play six of our next seven games at home and in this run can put one hand on each of four trophies but they are going to have to rotate some. The Carling Cup replay on Tuesday, the FA Cup match against Huddersfield on Saturday, League matches against Everton, Newcastle, Wolves, and Stoke, and of course, the granddaddy of them all, the Champions League tie against Barcelona. That’s the month of football Arsenal have in front of them and if this team can play as well as they did yesterday against Wigan, no one can stop them.
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[New Post] Arsenal 3-0 Wigan: Total Domination – via #twitoaster http://www.7amkickoff.com/2011/arsenal-3…
Right now I’m only worried about the Ispwich game, because quite frankly, this is the best chance we have at winning a title this season.
After that, I would say the next best possibility is the EPL title, and then, if we manage to win the first leg against Barcelona I would think about something more concerning the CL.
The FA cup is still the Twilight Zone for me, a very long way to go, so I would really go with the “second” string against Copperfield or Hasselhof, or whatever they are called.
But the most important thing would be a clean sheet against the Tractor boys, and hopefully a 2:0 win against them, because I suspect they are going to park not only the bus in front of the goal, but the Ipswich Museum as well. If they somehow manage to nick a goal, I suspect it may be difficult to score 3, because unlike Leeds, they were really shut down in that first game.
@Teampossible, Huddersfield, they were Herbert Chapman’s first successful football team and won the League three consecutive years in the 20′s
@Tim, I know, I was only joking:)
Still, with all due respect, they should not represent a serious obstacle, although we were probably saying the same thing before the Ipswich game as well.
I’ll be curious to see if one of our best prospects, Benik Afobe, will be able to play against the mothership. He’s on loan to Huddersfield I believe.
I mentioned it earlier, but curious to hear peoples’ thoughts on Caldwell’s penalty. Honestly, I don’t think he made contact with Fabregas’ leg. Didn’t matter yesterday, but I’ve watched it 20+ times this morning and it still looks iffy. From the ref’s standpoint, at full speed and in the moment of a match, I can see where one would call the penalty. With the benefit of review, I don’t think Caldwell did much there. Anyway…
…Cesc’s best moment yesterday was his sublime pass in to RvP for the second goal. Amazing. That’s the kind of thing that makes everyone focus on the goal and goal scorer, only to have to go back to the replay and double check who made the pass. Yep, Cesc. Awesome.
Speaking of Cesc, I was at home last night a bit under the weather, watching the tape of Barcelona/Racing last night. The second half, I think, Barca controlled it 98% of the time. What an incredibly boring second half watching them pass it around like practice. When they didn’t have the ball, they were running and pressing aggressively to get the ball back. Is it just that Barcelona is the best conditioned team on earth, allowing for them to run and press the entire match while also saving enough energy to pass it around and make incredible runs? La Liga is a joke w/ those two teams up top. Why should they even have a league if they’re going to allow such domination? cnnsi.com has a good series of articles right now on the subject of La Liga’s two-team dominance. Why can’t one of the rich Middle Eastern countries buy up Atletico instead of Manchester United (which is being talked about getting bought by Qatar)? I fear this future of football having 5 teams buy every single last halfway decent player on the planet.
@ArseChicago, Caldwell wiped him out. Pulled his arm and took his legs. Stonewall penalty. The only thing interesting about that penalty is the hypocritical moaning of Martinez:
“In England that is cheating, in South America, Spain, Italy, it is being clever. There was contact, but it was soft.”
Softer than the N’Zogbia dive you fucktard?
@”Teampossible”- Do I feel a tinge of cynicism, apprehension, doubt, etc in your comment?
I believe the team has a chance on all 4 trophies this season. Why not? They are still in all competitions UNTIL they are not.
No, you do not “manage” to beat Barcelona, you beat them. No, Ipswich do not “manage” to nick a goal, the defense stops them. Have some belief in your team. I dont ever see a team like Ipswich scoring 3 goals on Arsenal. Remember, we are the only team that have not conceded a goal in the PL this year!
Arsenal fans always live on knife edge, sheesh.
@Byo, I also don’t ever see a team like Ipswich score 3 goals on Arsenal, however unfortunately I have seen a team like WBA score 3 goals on Arsenal. So, cynicism – no, apprehension – a little, doubt – of course.
I am far from convinced that we would win all 4 trophies this season, as much as I would love to. I would be more than happy to just win the CC cup, and if we “manage” to win the EPL, I would be feeling f***** fantastic.
I admire your enthusiasm, but the higher the expectations, the bigger the disappointment. So, let’s just agree on winning the Carling Cup first, and then we’ll discuss the other three titles:)
Cheers.
The Tractor Boys are more than likely to park the Buttermarket in front of their goal at the Emirates!!! It used to be very Olde English, the Buttermarket, NOT the Emirates!
Without the Verminator ИМХО или IMHO, The Arsenal cannot GO for 4 trophies THIS season. We need “Admiral” Abramovitch to agree to spend some of his misbegotten wealth, to strengthen The Pensioners (very apt at the moment) to join The Arsenal, ManMoneyBags, at least to derail ManIOU.
Barça are not unbeatable, they were knocked out of the Spanish Cup the other evening. The Carling Cup Final may be at least ONE game too many in February, so the FA Cup team selection could suffer!
@Notoverthehill, Actually, Barca were not knocked out since they won the first leg at home with 5:0. A betting friend of mine said he heard it through the grapevine that they would lose this game, and so they did, with Messi doing a Persie with his penalty kick and killing a Spanish pigeon flying over.
However, I agree that with only 3 recognized CBs, it would be almost impossible to fight on 4 fronts at the same time. Или не?
@Notoverthehill, Absolutely not!! We should have nothing to do with the Russian gangsters money.
We have adequate funds for player purchases earned through gate money, marketing & player sales
This is The Arsenal way!!
For me the best Cesc moment was him kicking back from behind to Caldwell, then grabbing his head. Put him totally off the match.
Tim, well put. There isn’t a team as tame as Wigan last week, not even Blackpool who lost 6-0 at the Emirates.
To their credit, they did not play dirty and tried to injure our players.
I hope Wenger does not rotate next Tuesday’s game against Ipswich until the game is won. Not going to Wembley is unacceptable. Get an early 2 goals and sap their fighting spirit!
Then perhaps we can rotate in the other home games.
What worries me though is that Ipswich may play dirty. Which referee are we going to have? Getting early goals are important to take away their excuses to play dirty….
The Barca team is no supermen. We have seen how their energy level drops in the second half in last season’s game at the Emirates when we came back from 2-0 down to 2-2. They could look energetic in La Liga because once the game is won, they can pass the ball around in their own half and just past the half way line for 30 times and no opponent players will press them, no fans will boo them. It saves energy to always play half the game like a practice match.
Can any team in the EPL play like this? Firstly, the opponent players won’t allow you to–they will feel humiliated and kick you. Secondly, the fans won’t allow you to–they think it is cheating (their money). They come to be entertained, if a team passes the ball sideaways, back and forth for 2-3 minutes, how do you think the fans will react?
That is why playing Barca type of football can be difficult in EPL; and why Arsenal should be doubly praised for trying to play like we did over these years.
As I have said yesterday if all games are like that against Wigan, we don’t need 4 CB or even a GK…haha!
@Teampossible”- I do not have expectations when it comes to sports. I have seen Barcelona get beat by Hercules this season; The Netherlands lose in the WC SF(even though they had the best team-The Cruyff team); Socrates’ Brazil lose in the SF to Italy; the galacticos not win every match they played; etc.-that’s why they play the games.
And as a gooner for just about 3 decades, I have been through the hills and the valleys with the team.
I don’t have to be convinced that Arsenal will win every competition this season, but they have a chance as long as they are in. And the will be no let-down will last until the next match, if they do not-my happiness does not ride on the outcomes of sport events! So my optimism is based on still being in the hunt.
Cheers.
I agree that the CC is close as we are in the SF. And I will confess that watching Arsenal play is one of the things that quickens my heart rate, and will do that on Tuesday against Ipswich. Again, you do not “manage” to win,you just do based on talent, effort, and maybe some luck.
@Byo, I’m not a native English speaker, so maybe using the phrase “manage to win” sound a little different to me than it does to you. I say “manage” because like you said, it takes talent, effort and luck, so it’s not like every game is a win.
However, I agree with you. As long as we are in, we can win it.
Excuse my bad edit. I meant the let-down will last until the next match.
Whenever RvP has a game like this, I have mixed emotions. Of course, I’m so happy to see him perform so well. But it’s also saddening to think of his injury record. Match fit and match sharp, is there a better striker in the League? Or the world? An injury free van Persie would have to be mentioned in the same company as Drogba, Villa, Torres, Tevez et al. Maybe even as good as Ballotelli! Ah well, I can dream.
As for Ipswich, to me this has to be the most important match of this season so far and maybe of several seasons. Down 1-nil in the second leg of the semifinal of a major trophy competition in which we are clear favorites to win. The best chance to take the monkey that is “Arsenal’s trophy drought” off their back. A chance for these players to repay the enormous faith Arsene has placed in them. I know Ipswich should be a walk in the park. But pressure does funny things to players and there will be enormous pressure on the team to win this semifinal.
Anything is possible in life and also in football. If you remove the emotion of being an Arsenal fan it would be very difficult for me to bet against Barca over 2 legs.
Our problem is that we play Barca ball and at this time in our development we haven’t achieved that standard. Chelsea or Manu would probably have a better chance because they could physically impose themselves, we aren’t built like that. That’s what Inter did to them last year.
I just hope we are competitive against Barca so we don’t lose our confidence and go crashing out of all the competitions. Unfortunately, because of our inconsistent play in the CL qualifiers we put ourselves in this position so must now bear the burden of the cross so to speak.
Would I love us to thrash the scum? YES. Would I bet on that happening? NO
Due to the Icelandic volcanic ash clouds, Barça travelled overland to Milan. It is a well known fact that a journey of such length may be interesting, but it is not good for anybody playing in an intensive football game. The loss in Milan could be explained by the lack of preparation for Barça? Full marks for Inter in putting their coach in front of their goal mouth!!
Is the Spanish King’s Cup played over 2 legs, I must check the rules!! Lol!!
Did anyone notice the vast amount of empty seats at the Emirates yesterday. Although the announced attendance was 59 +, it was obvious that 59 K were not attendance.
What would be the reason for that. Are fans just losing interest or are ticket prices taking a toll? Would be interested to get some insight from some season ticket holders.
@Caribkid,
lot of empty seat was actually the wigan side .Wigan has not really a huge following and even less away match.The huge chunk empty seat was the away supporter.
The 59 ooo + that the annoucer talk about was actually the number of seat sold, not the people here.Not the fault of Arsenal if people who bought ticket dont turn up
The majority of the empty seats were in the away corner which may lead to a misconception that the stadium was empty. Wigan has one of the Leagues lowest attendance rates both in overall attendance and percentage of stadium capacity.
Not only that but the town of Wigan is more of a Rugby town than football town.
If it weren’t for shared television revenue, I don’t think Wigan Athletic would exist.
Thanks guys, that explains a lot.
@Caribkid, I noticed the same and saw the section where the away fans typically are completely empty. But I did think throughout the stadium there were lots of free seats and especially in club level. The close ups on Beckham and his boy couldn’t hide that there were empty seats around him. And, like many in club level–Arsenal supporters and the many in club level who aren’t but are there for the spectacle–Beckham left at least 15 or 20 minutes early.
More than the need for a centre back, more than the need for absolute clinical finishing (RvP excepted – he truly has his mojo back)), more than anything else, the key to finally fulfilling our potential is continued good health. If this same starting XI play together, stay healthy and are rotated appropriately by The Boss all four competitions are more than just technical possibilities. We can beat anybody in the league and in the world with this squad including that Arsenal-on-steriods club in Catalunya.
Arsechicago, I know there have been frustrations that RvP can’t keep fit. But with a proper backup (Chamakh) and Arshavin on form, we managed to keep in touching distance of ManU despite Cesc being out recovering from the WC, injured and out of form for much of the Fall. Now that RvP is fit and firing, I think we ought to be thankful of keeping faith in him. If he can be managed properly to be fit and ready for the big league and CL games and avoids injury during the international break at the end of March, we should have a great chance to win this league.
My main concern is burning out Dj, especially, and Kos in the back line and Song in midfield. Squillaci is alright as a back up but his partnership with Kos tends to expose our defense more than the others, so I hope we don’t have to see this too often. Song is a keystone of the midfield now and moving him back to CB would unbalance us and force him into changing the very effective way he is playing now.