Tomas Rosicky has been at the club for the last few years but yesterday we saw the return of the little Mozart. He was orchestrating the play from start to finish. Everything went through him and the Czech Republic captain looked exactly that, an international class player

Match Review – Arsenal 6 Blackpool 0 – Premier League

You would have to look as far back as the 4th October 2009 for the last time Arsenal hit the back of the net six times in the Premier League. Blackburn Rovers were taken apart by the majestic Cesc Fabregas and the artistry of Robin Van Persie. Yesterday both of our best attacking players were sat on the bench, still chasing peak fitness and sharpness.

It is no coincidence that Theo Walcott and Tomas Rosicky were the two players who stole the show. Both players have had more than their fair share of critics, especially after last season. Theo Walcott was apparently never going to improve and show end product, whilst Rosicky was past it and ready to be wheeled out for the dustbin men in the morning.

The difference this time round is that both players have had a rest during the summer, both players came in on the first day of training and have regained full fitness, the matches they have played since Barnet have sharpened them up for the start of this Premier league season. Last season it was the complete opposite for both players. Walcott missed the pre season due to injury, he tried to catch up with his colleagues through the months but had set back after set back. Rosicky missed the first six games of last season whilst his body struggled to cope with the demands of regular football again after being out of the game for so long.

My pre match question was how can Arsene leave out either Jack Wilshere or the Liverpool game changer Tomas Rosicky. He didn’t have to make that choice because Song slotted back into defence as Wenger was reluctant to include Johan Djourou who I guess is still recovering from his injury that put him out of the Liverpool game.

Diaby continued to anchor alongside Rosicky who replaced the injured Samir Nasri and Jack Wilshere in the middle of midfield. Chamakh continued to spear head the attack with Arshavin and Walcott either side of him.

The first 10 minutes was interesting, Blackpool played without fear and they played some very good football. Obviously boosted by last weekends spanking of Wigan they passed the ball confidently, playing little give and goes around the Arsenal penalty area and were not afraid to play themselves out of danger in their own half. Blackpool may shock a few teams this year.

Theo Walcott has looked sharp since pre season, his movement has been fantastic, his touch, dribbling and link up play has taken a step up from last season. Walcott opened the scoring with a well placed shot across the goalkeeper into the far corner, a finish that we have now come to expect from Walcott. The move before it was pure quality, pure Arsenal.

One touch, quick and forward passing into feet. The link up between Arshavin and Rosicky was the best part of the move. Arshavin played a pass into Rosicky, he continued his run towards the penalty box. Rosicky’s turn and outside of the foot threaded pass in between three Blackpool players was perfectly weighted and Arshavin’s job to find Walcott was made easier by the weight of Rosicky’s pass.

Blackpool did not drop their heads and could have been level three minutes later. Gary Taylor-Fletcher headed wide whilst in a good position at the back post.

From then on, Theo Walcott really grew into the game. Theo Walcott is not a tricky winger who is going to pull out a range of tricks but on his day he is a turbo slalom skier who skates in and out of defenders at untouchable pace. He is zig zagging more consistently instead of straight lines which is making him more unpredictable and difficult to stop.

Walcott set up Arshavin who had a shot saved and then minutes later a glorious spinning turn inside his man and drive into the space allowed Theo a run at the Blackpool defence once more, he showed imagination when he looked toward Sagna on the right whilst reversing his pass to Chamakh in the middle sending three Blackpool players running the wrong way.

Chamakh should have put the chance away but he was quickly closed down and he could only manage to drag his shot wide of the far post. It would be one of those days for Chamakh but his overall contribution was once again top notch.

Walcott had another run just before the half hour mark, after a sumptuous first time pass from Rosicky who I will get on to in a moment.
Walcott had enough of squaring to others and decided to go alone, his smashed strike flew over the bar but to be honest his options in the middle wouldn’t have been easy to find.

Tomas Rosicky has been at the club for the last few years but yesterday we saw the return of the little Mozart. He was orchestrating the play from start to finish. Everything went through him and the Czech Republic captain looked exactly that, an international class player. He changed the game at Anfield and was arguably the best player on the pitch yesterday afternoon. Samir Nasri’s injury couldn’t have come at a worse time for Nasri but Rosicky could well be the silver lining.

It was Rosicky’s inch perfect pass through to Chamakh that drew the foul, penalty and red card moments later. As Chamakh is not Walcott, the pace of the pass had to be spot on which it was. It was unfortunate that the Blackpool player had to be dismissed as the foul may have started just outside of the penalty area but being last man, the referee had no choice.

With our first two penalty takers off the pitch, it was down to Andrey Arshavin to convert the advantage from the spot. Arshavin’s penalty was clinical and cooly placed into the corner for 2-0.

Walcott and Chamakh had switched positions which once again shows the flexibility of this Arsenal side. Chamakh found Wilshere and Jack’s fed the ball into Walcott inside the penalty area. Unlike many an Arsenal player, Theo’s only thought was turn and shoot. It reminded me of many Ian Wright goals of old. Make a half yard and drill low past the keeper who is still steadying himself for the shot.

A brace for Theo and Arsenal 3-0 up and pretty much out of sight, especially with the visitors down to ten men. It was going to be a case of how many.

Nothing changed after the break, it only took the mighty Gunners four minutes to continue the scoring. Bacary Sagna motored down the right chasing after yet another probing Rosicky pass. Sagna made the right decision to cut the ball back to Diaby who made up a lot of ground to get into that position and the graceful Frenchman stroked in the fourth and his first of the season.

I was impressed with Jack Wilshere’s work rate and the amount of times he won the ball. He has been wreckless in previous games but he seemed to put a lid on his rash tackles yesterday, instead opting for whipping the ball away from the opposition’s toes. He rotated with Diaby to sit deep or go forward, none of the midfielders sat and stayed, they all interchanged and it worked very well.

Theo saved his best till last. His now trademark darting run infield from the right was found by Diaby. Walcott drove into the box, cut inside on his left foot and drilled the ball into the corner for his first hat-trick for Arsenal.

Great pass from Diaby, four Theo touches later and the ball was bobbling around in the Blackpool bottom corner. The shot was great, the touches inside the box were sharp but the run made the goal. Without the run, Theo would not have had the chance. Even when not playing at his best, he gives the team that outlet that is simply not there when he is not available.

In a team with so many inventive passers, Theo Walcott will score goals from the right wing because of the quality of his movement along with his speed. If Theo goes from strength to strength then it will be a big year for him this season. Like I have said many times previous. He may not be the most talented player in the world but if he fulfils his potential then he will certainly be one of the most effective players in this country at least.

Chamakh was having a bit of a Bendtner vs Burnley game in front of goal. He had a side footed effort saved at the end of the first half following a Clichy cross, but his open goal miss from a curving Arshavin cross was easier to score than miss. He would get his goal in the end and a typical Chamakh goal it was too. Cesc and Van Persie had been introduced to the game, coming on for Diaby and Arshavin.

The goal began following some magical skill from substitute Carlos Vela who had replaced Walcott. Vela back healed the ball nonchalantly over the head of the Blackpool player, ran onto it flicked the ball over another, flicked it inside onto his right away from another challenge but as he entered the penalty area he was facing the keeper on his weaker side and his shot was blocked away for a corner kick.

Let us not jump the gun on Carlos Vela, another player who looks to be benefiting from the pre season. He has had plenty of what I feel is unfair critisism. A young player from foreign shores who has never had a run of games to gain the needed consistency. When you look at the greats in our recent past, the likes of Dennis Bergkamp, Robert Pires and Thierry Henry all needed games to adjust to life at Arsenal. Vela is no different from those and from most players, especially young players. The talent is obviously in his locker, he has plenty of room for improvememt but there is absolutely no need to write him off before he has been given a chance.

Vela is verstile and very quick, his atttributes will be very helpful as the months and years go on.

When we signed Chamakh, this was a routine and combination that I thought of back then. I watched videos of Gourcuff swinging in corners to Chamakh in the penalty area and thought that Van Persie could do the exact same thing. In their first game together Chamakh met Van Persie’s in swinging corner and planted a firm header past the sprawling keeper who may have done better.

Hopefully we will witness many more Chamakh headers from a Van Persie assist. It was a goal that the new boy deserved for his work to win the ball back and his contribution to our build up play. Chamakh was involved in most that happened around our box but he just did not have his shooting boots on.

Cesc looked pretty sharp and showed his quality whenever he had the ball at his feet. He also rotated with the other midfielders. He sat at first then pushed on leaving Wilshere to hold the fort. Van Persie still looks a little short on fitness but the signs are very good. I like many I’m sure, cringed when Van Persie stayed down in discomfort, luckily he managed to run off the problem. Interesting to note that it was Chamakh who went wide when Robin came on. I didn’t imagine that it would be Robin to move into a new position after his superb showing whilst on the pitch last season.

Even though our opposition was Blackpool, I thought some of our movement with Cesc, Van Persie and Rosicky was fantastic. Plenty of teams would have struggled to have coped with us yesterday.

Some breif observations. It was great to see the old clock back where it belongs. Bacary Sagna is quicker than I thought he was. He dashed after Marlon Harewood in the first half giving the forward a massive head start and caught up and cleared the danger. He hardly looked out of breath.

Manuel Almunia had pretty much nothing to do which was partly down to the work from the team to deny the opposition chances. Song may not be positionally perfect at center half but he is a classy ox of a player who will barge into you, win the ball and then dummy you three times before finding the right pass. Arshavin ran more than he has done for a while and was involved in many of our moves.

All in all a good afternoon for the confidence, the goals were flowing and the hard work is still on show. Long may that continue.

Almunia (7)
Sagna (7.5)
Song (7)
Vermaelen (7)
Clichy (7)
Diaby (7)
Wilshere (7)
Rosicky (8)
Walcott (8.5)
Chamakh (7)
Arshavin (7)

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Please note that ratings are only my interpretations of the game and that others will have differing opinions