Brazilians Prove to be Brilliant

Brazilians Prove to be Brilliant in an Important Win for the Gunners

by Joel Martin

We needed a win and we got a win, it was as simple as that.

The first half looked like more of the same. We played extremely well, dominated play and created chances but could not finish. Both Baptista and Fabregas could have scored more than once before the whistle, but we still went in to the break 0-0.

It took a moment of absolute brilliance from Gael Clichy, of all people, to get us our first goal. The left back took off and beat Andre Bikey (who had a mile of a head start on him) to a ball and tore into the box. Bikey fouled and Gilberto converted the penalty. Just after that, we broke out on a counter-attack off a corner. Denilson found his Brazilian compatriot, Julio Baptista, who beat Murty and slotted the ball in Hahneman’s near post. It was a good goal, and I hope Baptista can score more.

That being said, his touch and his tempo needs to improve. He looks like he is not on the same wavelength as the rest of the team, and he slows us down when he plays. I still do not see him staying, even though he scored a goal.

Walcott looked alright up top, it was a very encouraging game for him. Denilson was great, Fabregas could have used that goal for his own confidence’s sake, we need him to add a couple goals for us from the midfield. Hleb was good, and Ljungberg was frustrating. He just can not beat anyone anymore, its almost sad. He’ll have to change his game to have any chance at playing first team football for us in the future. Diaby subbed in and did well, Aliadiere subbed in and proved yet again that although he tries harder than anyone on the team, he’s not quite a player of Arsenal-caliber. He’ll be gone soon.

The back four played well. The Reading goal from the corner kick at the end really only happened because Senderos did not quite reach his marker before the kick was taken. He was only just subbing in and never got a chance to front his man before the corner was taken. And although the ball eventually did deflect of Senderos and then Fabregas into the goal, the only reason it took the deflection was Senderos’ original position in the first place.

Anyway, in the end the game was not the rout I would have liked to see going in to our showdown with PSV Wednesday, but a win is a win. Hopefully Henry can play, but the return of Adebayor, Toure, and Eboue will be very nice. We need all three, especially Adebayor, to create more chances, we’ll need all we can get with Rosicky, Van Persie and possibly Henry gone. Their return will also provide solidity in the back, and could be the key to our survival in the Champions League—if we can pull it off.

Posted by Joel at 06:45 0 comments Links to this post

Labels: Match Reviews