Aaron Ramsey had played a lofted pass onto the chest of Gervinho who had darted into the box but the goalkeeper nipped in and grabbed the ball from Gervinho before the ball could drop. That was the dress rehearsal before the live show just before the half hour mark. Aaron Ramsey who was looking sharp after his recent rest, clipped a lovely chipped pass into Gervinho who did very well to check his
Arsene clearly learnt from the German's error but shielding his back four and not allowing his team to be opened up by the counter attack. Alex Song, Mikel Arteta and Tomas Rosicky were Wenger's chosen trio to run the game in the middle of the pitch and instead of flooding forward in search of an opening goal, they hung back and protected their goal first and foremost, leaving the offensive part of
In recent years I have felt that van Persie has often put too much behind his freekicks, almost trying to burst the net and as a result he has lost control of many of his efforts, many of them flying over the crossbar. This time he chose the Thierry Henry school of freekicks, almost flicking the ball over the wall
Typically it was moments later where Tottenham opened the scoring. The defence had shifted towards their left. Alex Song went out to meet Adebayor while both Gibbs and Mertesacker drifted towards Defoe, Sagna usually so good at spotting danger did not react to van der Vaart pealing off at the back unattended. Mertesacker should have also left Gibbs to deal with Defoe. Once again our defence were
It is quite apparent that Chamberlain's 18 years means very little, just as it meant very little to Jack Wilshere. He already has the technique, he already has the intelligence. His mixture of pace and technical qualities means that he can impact pretty any level right now. All he needs now is the belief that he is the best on the pitch and experience, once he adds that then there is
Alex Song's performance was very interesting. Last week Alex Song strode forward, made an assist for Gervinho and created many more chances for others. He was at it again on Saturday afternoon. Mikel Arteta has played as a defensive midfielder for Everton in the past which gave the midfield a lovely fluid
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain played within himself during the first half combining with Jenkinson on the right, holding back when Jenkinson pushed foward and always looking to find space. At one point I was watching him off the ball and was amazed at the amount of times he is looking for space, always looking at where his opponents and team mates are. It seems as if he
Andre Santos was culpable for the Blackburn Rovers equaliser, playing Yakubu onside when his defensive team mates had pushed up. The impressive Hoilett flicked a pass into the path of Yakubu who nudged the ball very early past the advancing Szczesny. Holliet will play for a bigger club in a few
What I find very intriguing is the development of this new team. It looks as if we are doing things the other way round now. Wenger's teams of the past have always clicked offensively. The continuous short passing work on the training ground has been replicated on the pitch but the stability defensively
Arsene Wenger is right when he says, confidence goes quickly and is slow to build up. The team are refinding their feet and has to do so with new personnel as well as missing first team players. This Arsenal team are still stuck in first gear, there is plenty of internal scope to improve upon and that will come. The most important thing right now was to get points on the board and we got that, we also have a clean sheet to pin to the wall. Alex Song and Gervinho will add defensive and offensive quality