A rather strange game this. No goals for eons at the Emirates, then we get one after a minute or so. Arshavin forcing an OG off Oooooijer. So it was a positive start – not necessarily great stuff, but at least positive. Bent Nick had some great moves – but Sagna and Nasri looked understandably tired. (All through the first half, actually, Sagna was surprisingly the most tired and sloppy looking).
Then, in the space of a minute about half an hour through the first half, Nasri hits the bar with a brilliant free kick, and then forces a good save from Robinson. After that, though, was a progressively tired performance in the rest of the first half…we were lucky not to get punished from a couple of set pieces.
Start of the second: same ole from the weeks past. Walcott first with an awful finish, then Bent Nick with a pathetic attempt with an open goal in front of him. On the hour, super mazy run from Kolo – only for guess what…shit finish from Bent Nick. Two minutes later. Bent Nick again in best position six yards from goal. And guess what: shit decision, and the chance is lost. One minute later. One on one with Robinson. And guess what: Bent Nick again with shit finish. So forget about the idiot. Leave it to Arshavin with super super goal. One week it’s Eduardo, the next it’s Arshavin. Funniest thing was that with the narrowest of angles, instead of passing it to Bent Nick, he did the smarter thing and went for goal.
Fast forward. Minute 79. Super duper move from the rest of the team, leaves Bent Nick clear in front of goal. And guess what: Skies it over. Surprise surprise, gets substituted. So note from the coach to Bent Nick’s mum: 2 hours of practice with finishing after school every day. Thank god he never got to the penalties in Rome. To rub salt into Bent Nick’s wounds, guess who scores the third – Eboue. That’s how you finish, dude. Credit to Arshavin for being in the thick of it with the first shot parried by Robinson.
After that, it was Twilight Zone time, as Eboue adds a second (!!) – taking the penalty (!!) after Vela was fouled. What a queer queer game this was. Eboue…on for the last 8 or so minutes, and scores two. Now that he’s in the mood – what, three in his last two games – he should start working on his goals celebrations.
Several good points of note: first, Arshavin’s progressive improvement has finally hit goals, and he was perhaps one of the game’s more consistent performers over 90 minutes. Theo’s runs were also great watching, and oh how we’ve missed them. Still needs to work on his finishing, but his final passes were generally great. If not for Bent Nick’s profligacy…we'd have the 7 or so the attacking play deserved. On the other hand, we still did look dodgy at times in defence, with Sagna in particular not at his best. Kolo, though, put in a super show.
Anyway, we should be in good position for Hull in mid-week. RVP amongst others was rested, and should start there. Who knows, perhaps Eboue should start in place of Nasri, who must be absolutely knackered (I like that word). Diaby too perhaps. Let’s give Bent Nick a run out with the likes of Burgenland XI for a bit. Needs a few taps in.
1 comment:
Positive thing was that generally Bendtner was getting in the right positions. His workrate seemed to have increased.
Aside from his glaring misses, another problem about his performance was that he was hardly ever in the box to meet Theo's crosses. He should just position himself smack on the penalty box and get those headers. Leave the fancy build up play to the rest.
Vela's little combo with Arshavin towards the end was also quite shiok. Hopefully more of that to come.
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