Well, that was a bit better, wasn't it?
After what seems, and in fact was, months of tepid league matches with barely a goal in sight we were finally able to conjure up an extremely decent performance yesterday.
Whether it was due to the opposition or not is probably a moot point; they were certainly no worse than some of the other teams we've struggled to score against this season, although i have additional thoughts on Sam allardyce to follow in a seperate article.
What seemed to make the difference was an early goal, and attacking impetus and energy from the get-go, instead of from the middle of the second half.
Why? Better players are playing, and the performances of a few others have improved. Quite simple, really.
Song, who I was relatively scathing about a few weeks ago, was absolutely superb, looking, dare i say it, vieira-esque at moments as he broke up play and distributed the ball. For me, he looks a far more convincing future foil to Fabregas than Denilson who, whilst good yesterday, doesn't quite have the strength or defensive ability necessary for the modern holding player.
Song would have been MotM if not for the star of the show: Mr. Arshavin. What a breath of fresh air he's been. From the first time I saw him play, it was obvious that he was a world-class player, a cut above the level some of our other players have been producing of late. With Theo and Nasri at his side, Bendtner in front of him, and Song feeding him, he was sensational yesterday, not least with a truly superb individual goal. It's been a while since i've seen a goal at the emirates which has left me awe-inspired but that one definitely did.
His passing is excellent, he's not afraid to shoot (he's definitely no Hleb), and he's not afraid of the physical side of the game. He's a player who won not just Russian but European competitions with Zenit and propelled an otherwise fairly average russian side to the semi-finals of the European Championships. If ever there was a player who looked capable of winning us silverware it's him, and I sensed that the crowd felt that yesterday at the game.
Large sections of the crowd, however, also made their negative thoughts known about bendtner yesterday in a very disappointing manner. Here's a player who never hid during the game, who's build up play was excellent and, as far as I'm concerned, was vital to us winning the game as convincingly as we did. He's also, in my opinion, a far better all-round player than Adebayor, despite his current lack of finishing prowess.
I was equivocal about the Eboue booing because my problems with Ebou go far beyond his ability - they are to do with his cheating, selfishness and self-destructiveness. I simply think he cannot be trusted on the pitch and had only himself to blame for the crowd's negative reaction. I also don't think he really understands why he was booed because he's too stupid to realise how embarrassing his antics have been to supporters of the club. The fact he clearly thought that he can take a penalty when we're 3-0 up in the 90th minute to make amends with the fans shows that the has no idea why so many of us were angry with him in the first place.
Bendtner, on the other hand, is still extremely young and has the right attitude, overall. Booing and cursing him will not improve his performances and I was glad that some of the crowd tried to counter the negativity with 'super nick' chants, in which I joined in.
There's been a lot of negativity at the Grove of late; let's hope not just arshavin, but also the fans, can do their bit to counter it.
Til later.
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26 comments:
I'm glad you appreciated Bendtner's efforts but I have to say that I think Denilson's a better player than Song. They're both great young players to be honest (so is Diaby actually) but Denilson's proved over the season that he can handle the highest level while Song's only started to really play well recently. In fact even in Song's best game for us all season (bar probably Burnley last weekend) Denilson still had better stats with his passing, tackle success and interceptions.
The thing I didn't like about Song was that he was slow on the ball and his passing wasn't great but he's proven that he is capable of playing at a faster pace, but I still think Denilson is the better player.
he is 20 years old, first of all..and he scored as many goals as certain Dimitar Berbatov..
bendtner is turning into a joke match after match he's missing sitters and 1 on 1's he plays a couple of good passes but overall he's not looking good
Sometimes our fans are totally ridiculous and the 1st comment on the board just shows how pathetic we can be. Ok Bendtner missed chances, and yes as a striker it is imperative that you get the goal in the back of the net, but his link up play yesterday was excellent, he always wanted the ball, unlike some other players and he's only 21. He's got all the attributes to be a top class striker, if he can work on his one on ones then he could be a real special player for the club. Thats if he stays around long enough with the pathetic attitudes of some of our fans.
Give the kid a break; people like you get on my nerves. I bet your one of those that boo players!!!!
Disappointing that the blogger feels obliged to justify the absurd past over-criticism of Eboue by slagging him off even when he plays well. Get over it, he's here to stay like it or not. Surely whatever perceived attitude problems he may have had have been outweighed by the positive way he's responded to the booing he got. He's not my favourite player, but he's a decent member of the squad and he's certainly not Eddie McGoldrick...
I don't think Eboue has responded to the criticism at all. I don't think he's changed one bit - as his sending off at Spurs showed.
i agree bendtner is a better overall player than ade just needs to work on his finishing but he's still learning.
Bendtner is our joint top scorer, he scored two in our last premiership game. His finishing stank yesterday but he kept on going and didn't hide. How many other 20/21 year olds have 11 goals for their club.
30% of the Emirates crowd are an embarassment; they turn up late, piss off for a pint 5 mins before half time and return 5 mins late, they then leave 10 mins before the end. When they do occupy their seat they spend their time slagging off players. It's time they either start supporting the team or do us all a favour and stay at home
Some real crap on this blog about Nicky B,yes he had a bad day at the office yesterday, but I'd still rather have Nicky B for the energy and whole hearted performances he puts in everytime he pulls on the shirt unlike a certian big headed Adebayor who's a total knob and not commited to the team and thinks he's better than he is.
Eboue hates get over it he scored twice yesterday and had the guts to put the ball on the spot, stupid i think not!
Song has just started to get his confidence and realy believe that he has a right to play for the Arsenal he can only get better.
Arshvin, Nasri, Theo, Cesc, Rosicky, Vella, Eduardo, when all these guys starting playing together watch us go.
People should lay off Nicky B,he can be frustrating watching but the guy cares a lot about the club.In several articles In different danish newspapers he praises the club and continues saying he wants to stay beyond his current contract and that Arsenal is the perfect football club for him.Yes,it can be frustrating watching him but he will eventually find that purple patch,remember how frustrated we all were with Anelka,he turned out pretty decent didnt he.
I was there yesterday and Bendtner wasn't booed at all.
? Don't know where all this is coming from he was actually given a round of applause when he left the pitch (Not in a bad way)
booo players doesn't help.
It's the old school supporters in their 40's that moan at Eboue & Bentdner, the ones that have been going for 30+ years and travelled around the county and Europe and spent their hard earned cash. These newbie idiots supporting trash like Eboue and Bentdner need to get real!
How happy I am with the team now. So much improvement in recent weeks, simply amazing. Surely we've had our bad games in our upward progress, the Roma away for example, but we are moving forward on a frantic speed.
Nick was good yesterday. If he had scored from two of those chances (which he might have done if certain idiots wouldn't be giving the young lad a hard time), people would be raving about our new superstar with 4 goals in 2 games. His link up play was great and he got into great chances. Some of his movements were great to watch and often cleverly running into spaces and making room for himself. It was interesting to see how well he linked up with Walcott yesterday. He put him through for the first goal, put him through for the best chance of the game and amazingly headed the ball across goal where Walcott should have been more aggressive and force the ball into the net. Had he buried 2 of those chances, a 9 on SkySports would have followed.
Eboue has been so good recently. I don't want him starting if all our bundles of talent in wide areas but he can be a very good rotation player. He has been a revelation and really hasn't put a foot wrong since the Spuds game. If it wasn't for his cheating and whining, he would be a fans favorite.
Song is another revelation. MoM against Spuds, again against Burnley and perhaps the foundation for our victory yesterday. If he can keep on going like this he will stay in the team when April and Cesc come along. He is much better defensively than Denilson and Diaby (worst tackler in the league, Paul Scholes and Wilson Palacios are better). I am looking forward to the Cesc-Song partnership with Nasri right in front of them. It will be a joy to watch.
Things are looking great for us at the moment. Now we just have to finish Hull and then Newcastle. At the same time, Liverpool will take care of Villa and they will be history. Then it's international break and Cesc will be back. Fourth place and a trophy this season, it's not as hopeless of a season as it looked few weeks back.
In all honesty no one booed him but anyone could understand the frustration when he hd so many chances to put us beyond reach! Hemust on his part learn to be overcocky which may bring on the desire to castigate him when he is not doing too well. Remember his spat with Adebayor at Spurs last season? But to say anyone booed him is far-fetched and beyond logic!! He is an Arsenal player and a very young one at that. Young enough actually to be my son hence it will be immoral and unforgivable for any true Arsenal fan to boo the boy. It perhaps is the very silly and younger fans like the first anonymous writer that will do such a thing. And I will tell them to go get a life or support another team as we do not want his likes at the Arsenal FC!!
people did boo. obviously you weren't at the game. people cheered and booed when he walked off. its disgusting to be honest. arsenal fans are way too critical of some players. yeah i agree bendtner was total rubbish but no need to boo....get behind him.
joke
Man of the match for Denilson. Absolutely fantastic. One of the best crafty little DM's out there. As subtle as you can ever be, but just as effective as Flamini or Gilberto. Well done.
I'm dissapointed with you lack of metioning walcott's performance. He ran around and played magnificently, enough of a challenge to have Sammy sub out 2 guys trying to find a way to cover theo.
Arshavin was excellent, no other way to state it. Bendtner looks good when he's in the middle, but absolutely lost when arsene puts him on the wing. I still Adebayor is overall better...he forces his way in and really fights with the defense's.
Denilson has been getting too much shit this season, i think he's performed quite well, not flamini-esque of last year, but well. I hope Song continues to play like he did, cause he looked wonderful.
Eboue should be stuck on the bench...he just can't show me enough composure to be on the pitch in midfield at least. He was great when he was playing right back, but sagna is better in that position
You're right, neill, walcott was excellent. Him and Arshavin made a world of defence to our attack.
Bendtner is still learning, booing will not help him develop. He is not shit. He was involved in some great moves. He drops to give midfielders an easy pass, gives a one-touch pass to a winger and moves forward looking for the ball again. Ade does not do this enough. This link play was great. How often do here teams wanting a striker who can hold up the ball, Bendtner can do this all day. He just needs to work on his finishing in high pressure situations... you only get that by playing games
Your comments on Eboue are ridiculous. You obviously dislike the player for much more than his football. Oh he dived in the champions league final and arsenal won a freekick from which they scored the goal that could have won them the cup....he is a devil!!!!!!!!! And why does no one talk about all the chances that Van persie misses but they are so quick to jump on Adebayor and bendtner. In Bendtners case its understandable but believe thiS, Ade is more clinical than van persie
van persie misses some, yes, perhaps more than ade, but RvP also creates chances for others and looks for more than a goal for himself. Bendtner and Ade tend to hold to ball for their own goal even if a pass would create an easier goal for someone else
Boy, you need to grow a bit, too. Had anyone else of any age or skin colour put in those 7 minutes, you would be messing yourself with the possibilities of it all. When someone cannot relax enough, or question his own views enough to enjoy and applaud, then, what more is there to say? This game may have been a fluke for Eboue, or it may have been the emergence on the African Pippo, but you can enjoy and applaud it either way.
It is your comment about the PK that shows your true colours. Do you really think the players decide who takes the kick? You are a laugh!
If you read Arsene Wenger's or Eboue's comments today, you would have seen that in this instance the players did decide who was going to take the penalty kick. Please try and be a little more informed before accusing me of having a baseless vendetta. Those two golas haven't changed anything in my opinion.
apparantly eboue signed a new deal today.
http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11095_5059717,00.html
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