Glad that's off my chest. There was great anticipation for Saturday's game since Manchester City came in at the top of the table from three consecutive wins. The Sky Blues' resurgence is one of the great stories in football this year, what with a leadership team that includes deposed Thai strongman Thaksin Shinawatra and the much-abused dour Swede Sven Goran Eriksson as manager. It was my first chance so far to see Arsenal live on the tube. Scott showed up at my home at 8:30 am on the nose with bloody mary ingredients. The first one was so strong that I became a bit laughy, but my good humor failed after Bacary Sagna was injured 20 minutes into the game. Somehow Arsenal have made it to the third game of the season with an injury list that has denied us wing players and defenders. Eboue, Walcott, Gallas, Diaby, and Sagna out. Denilsson came in to play the right back position. Senderos was hurt in warm-up so Toure and Gilberto Silva played in the middle of the back with Flamini and Fab in front of them.
City looked quite confident at first, with Elano and Petrov combining in the middle of the field to create lightning counter chances and our makeshift central defense looking too far apart and a little uneasy. But Arsenal eventually settled into possession and by half-time controlled the pace of the game. Adebayor and Hleb were most directly responsible for asserting the Gunner Rhythm, holding balls and creating space to start play. But anytime we got into the last third of the field it felt just like last year, lots of missed passes and ineffectual shots. Micah Richards and Richard Dunne are twin towers of tackling toughness at the center of the City defense. They are the type of players you have to run at with the ball at your feet, because if they can draw a bead on you when you're not looking you'll end up on your ass. Dunne must have blocked ten shots over the course of the game. Still, I was confident at halftime that we had been unlucky. The goals would come.
That's what we said all last season. Sometimes they came and other times they didn't. The first fifteen minutes of the second half were frustrating. The Boss had clearly devised some strategy that involved playing direct balls to Adebayor with his back to goal, so he could knock them off to the sides and we could cross from the wings. It worked like a charm, except that when we crossed there was no one in the box to compete with Dunne and Richards, who were happily camped there, never having been drawn away in the first place. Adebayor is a wonderful player, but as Dirk Kuyt knows all too well, it's hard to justify a place on the field for a forward who doesn't score goals. Adebayor never once in the whole game ran at defenders with the ball at his feet. Hleb did, and though he still struggles to make space for his shot and often cuts back one too many times, he was our most dangerous player, earning a penalty from Richards on a run through the box.
V. Persie, who does not partner well with Adebayor, looked lost. He's always dangerous as a shooter. It was his penalty to take and I was yelling, "Roof it Dutchboy," at my television screen when he kicked it directly at Kasper Schmeichel, son of Peter. It was a horrible penalty and I had to listen to the announcers go on and on about Schmeicel's future as I felt Arsenal's slip away. Da Silva replaced Adebayor at 75 minutes. One of the main issues with out attacking play over the course of the game was the inability to find Fabregas. He was playing a bit higher up the field as a part of the Boss's strategy, and with Gilberto Silva anchored in the back, Flamini did not have the stature to control the middle and provide service. Rosicky comes and goes in games, isn't scoring goals or delivering crosses, and doesn't run with the ball often enough to tire the defense. My patience is running out with his full games of almost-goals. I think the Boss, like Fab, has to be tougher on everyone this year, and not accept soft performances.
Luckily for all of us, Fabregas has taken the responsibility on himself to win games. Apparently, Henry's shadow had held the youngster back from realizing his own stature, and now he feels like a giant among men. Hleb ran into the box and used his stop start move and cut back to the left foot. Fab ran through and Hleb weighted a ball into his path. Fab roofed it near side through Schmeichel, who looked scared as the shot screamed past his downy-covered cheek. 1-0 Arsenal. Hurray.
Only ten minutes left in the game. Song came in to help shut it down. We closed competently. That's 7 points from 3 fixtures, decent enough. But we still haven't opened up the goals that we must have to contend in any real way. Arsenal will not be able to rely on the clean sheets that got City where they are. Home stand against Sparta Prague on Wednesday with two away goals in hand will be a nice chance to give Da Silva a whole game, or try out Bendtner and let V. Persie and Adebayor know that goals are what counts.
Man City, for their part, looked like Bolton last year. A strong defense and tough tackling with some foreign counter-attacking flair. They should fare similarly over the course of the campaign, which is to say well but not in the top four by any means.
After the match there was some murmurs in the press about Hleb's play, mainly because Dunne blocked six of his shots in the box. Wenger responded appropriately, "Alex Hleb can play through the eye of a needle. Sometimes he misses passes because he tries to play through the needle and it can be a little bit annoying. But if you ask any Arsenal fan, they will tell you he is a good player."
Yes, Boss, you are right.
