Thomas Vermaelen: Goal machine! Absolutely incredible signing, this man has been. Top scorer, defensive wall. What more could one ask? Heck, he's been two signings in one so far. Much has been said of his lack of height - but who needs any extra inches, when he's got the jump he's got, and the power to go with it. I'd say apart from Bent Nick, he seems to be the one with the best header in the team.
Anyways, the game really was a stroll in the park, and we should've got quite a few more than 4. Luckily, the defence was never really tested, and it was good to have a nice confidence builder at the back after the nightmare in Liege. Good solid performances all around from most of the gang, though the standouts must be Vermaelen of course, and Eboue, who now seems to be the man. He was absolutely everywhere, running, dribbling - once he gets his final ball on to a higher level of consistency, he'll become a real monster. Let's keep our fingers crossed there.
As far as the game went, the first half was as one-sided as we've seen recently. But for a couple of poor finishes (e.g. when RVP got slightly confused in the middle of the box at the end of the first), we should really have been two or three up. But no matter. We've got Vermaelen where the likes of RVP, Eduardo et al had failed. What a finish. One of the few times he ventured forward, and how easy he made it look after a lay off from Eboue. RVP could take a leaf from his book, how he went with cultured finesse rather than power from the edge of the box. Yummy.
Once we had our second, it was basically game over. Eboue got a deserved but lucky goal deflecting Eduardo's shot, and Cesc tapped in a pretty fourth right at the death. Wonder if his muted celebrations hid an injury. Fingers crossed there too.
All in all, it was almost too easy. Especially defensively. At last, we've got a clean sheet, and ironic that it's come with Vito in goal. (We were kinda lucky to have had a goal rightly ruled off for offside too). Had a good point blank save, but little else to do. Needs to work on his clearances though. Had another one or two dodgy ones after Liege. Give the boy another work out against WBA on Tuesday, and he should be in good shape. Should at the very least give Fabianski some competition.
Some nice highlights:
As for the player ratings:
Vito 7 - Nice quiet day, one or two dodgy clearances, but he should get over his stage fright.
Sagna 7.5 - Beginning to look more dependable on the right (defensively at least) than Clichy on the left. Boundless energy as always.
Vermaelen 10 - Just perfect. Faultless at the back, and two perfect goals. Who needs a striker to replace you know who.
Billy 7.5 - Quietly dependable, and was the second part of the defensive wall with TV.
Clichy 7 - Better show than his last two, but still needs to work on his concentration at the back.
Eboue 8 - As I said, everywhere. Up, back, left, right, embodies the kind of enthusiasm that we've at times lacked (especially away from home). Give the man a Tiger.
Song 7 - Nothing spectacular, but seems to be settling in a "regular" as our defensive midfielder. One of the few times he ventured forward with a mazy run, could've scored a belter, but grazed the outsides of the post.
Cesc 7 - Not his usual orchestrating self, but at least it didn't matter on the day. We had Eboue today. Nice run and tap in for the final goal though.
Diaby 6- Rather anonymous actually. Always a frustrating performer. Needs to move up on consistency, and work on releasing the ball at the right time.
Eduardo 7- Not as incisive as he can be, but had a few key moments of brilliance. His first time volley onto the post from Clichy's cross, which eventually led to the Ed/Eb goal.
RVP 7 - Should've had himself on the scoreboard really. Once he gets his scoring boots on, who knows what's going to happen.
Funny how we've scored 17 goals thus far from 5 games - that's more than 3 per game on average, and breaking it down...5 have come from TV and Billy, 1 from RVP, 1 from Ed, and 0 from Bent Nick. I suppose this is what the boss means by Total Football.
More has been said re Adebaoyor, this time from Le Roi, Thierry:
"I never saw them behave badly so to react like they did at the weekend shows just how angry and upset they were.
"No matter what Adebayor's emotions were, he could have earned himself a lot of respect by not celebrating the goal.
"That would have shown real class and that to be honest is what most players choose to do when they score against their old clubs. I don't really understand why he didn't do that."
"Arsene (Wenger) puts a lot of investment in you when he sees talent and I don't think it would hurt for Adebayor to show him, the club and the fans a little respect."
OK then. I think that's it. Summarised and immortalised forever. Nothing more needs to be said. This from the man who seemed to take a liking to the man from Togo, what with their little jigs and all. As to Thierry's incomprehension, well, simple. He did what he did because he's...a/an...(_____________) fill in the blank.
Some pretty interesting games coming up this afternoon. I always like ties like Chelski-Spurs. No matter what happens, I'll be happy. 3 points for Chelski's shit. But that'd mean 0 for Spurs. 1 each would be best, but 3 points for Spurs would mean 0 for Chelski, which is always great. So let's see.
As for Man U - Citeh, my money's on a comfortable win for the red side of Manchester. Maybe 2-0. Wonder if Tevez will play, and if he does, and scores, wonder what he's gonna do re celebrations. Haha.
Was looking about, and found two things. First, a little Sunday bonus of a Guardian interview of Theo and his various loved ones. Hard to imagine how far he's come in what? Three years? Second, never thought about it, but Piers Morgan writes a quite entertaining weekly for the Daily Mirror. Given that he's an Arse, it makes for great, biased reading too. See this weekend's.
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