You have to love the English press:
"Chelsea 2 Hull 1: Drogba gets Carlo era off to the perfect start"
2-1 at home to Hull is a perfect start? Then 6-1 away to Everton surely deserves:
"Arsenal wins league on first day"
I wrote a comprehensive analysis at half time, but I don't think I will go that route with the usual long description of the match and a comprehensive player rating. Instead I am just going to point to the key points and keep it sweet.
I would like everyone to keep their feet on the ground and head below the clouds because while Everton started well, they fell apart. If Arsenal keeps this up consistently week in week out then it will be another story.
1) Song
Song was great today. He was tidy, strong, and covered a lot of ground. He held the ball well and broke up a lot of attacks. Maybe he is the reason Arsene refuses to buy a new holding midfield as he is looking better and better.
2) Vermaelen
Vermaelen gelled in quite well with our defence. He was disadvantaged from the start against Fellaini but kept him quiet most of the game. His positioning and tackles were a highlight and generally looked quite lively. Something he seems to possess is awareness and intelligence, which I am sure will make this Gallas-Vermaelen partnership that much better. Theres nothing like two intelligent players linking up, offensive or defensive.
3) Goals
So only 1 goal came from our striker today, and to be fair it probably should have gone to Arshavin.. This is a positive sign. While strikers score the bulk of the goals, when the whole team chips in, it suggests we are playing like a unit.
4) Set-pieces
The set-piece goals were very impressive considering how much we feared them. Everton did not get to enjoy this advantage over us and instead we were the ones popping in the headers. We shall see if Arsene has actually addressed this area.
5) Formation
This new formation is quite interesting. It is not quite like Barca's traditional 4-3-3 system, but you can definately draw some comparisons. Fabregas and Denilson are going more forward with Song in behind. Arshavin and Bendtner wide and coming in to link up with Van Persie while the full backs provided the much needed width. While this leaves us vulnerable at times, it is very fluid and once we are used to it could be very interesting.
6) Bendtner
I left Bendtner last because I feel this is an important point. This lad was critisized and villified quite a bit, and I am glad his confidence is growing and as are his skills. He played wonderful today and I and lots of other fans expect a great deal from him this season. The talking point here is that instead of Van Persie on the wide, Bendtner goes wide. This is interesting because Bendtner enjoys a lot of aerial advantage over the usual attacking and compact fullbacks. This provides an outlet for our long passes as he will hold on to the ball and link up with options from midfield or strikers or our full backs. A target winger if you will.
We travel to Celtic next week for our crucial qualifier. This has been a great start to our new season and I cannot wait for our team to answer their critics and prove all the pundits and media wrong.
Arsenal to win the title and fight it out with Barca/Real in the CL!
In other news, Ade(insert joke involving barns and a person considered sexually promiscuous) scored for Man City, Villa lost at home to Wigan, and Fulham and Sunderland both enjoyed 1-0 wins.
Until next time, keep it Arsenalive!
Travis
"Chelsea 2 Hull 1: Drogba gets Carlo era off to the perfect start"
2-1 at home to Hull is a perfect start? Then 6-1 away to Everton surely deserves:
"Arsenal wins league on first day"
I wrote a comprehensive analysis at half time, but I don't think I will go that route with the usual long description of the match and a comprehensive player rating. Instead I am just going to point to the key points and keep it sweet.
I would like everyone to keep their feet on the ground and head below the clouds because while Everton started well, they fell apart. If Arsenal keeps this up consistently week in week out then it will be another story.
1) Song
Song was great today. He was tidy, strong, and covered a lot of ground. He held the ball well and broke up a lot of attacks. Maybe he is the reason Arsene refuses to buy a new holding midfield as he is looking better and better.
2) Vermaelen
Vermaelen gelled in quite well with our defence. He was disadvantaged from the start against Fellaini but kept him quiet most of the game. His positioning and tackles were a highlight and generally looked quite lively. Something he seems to possess is awareness and intelligence, which I am sure will make this Gallas-Vermaelen partnership that much better. Theres nothing like two intelligent players linking up, offensive or defensive.
3) Goals
So only 1 goal came from our striker today, and to be fair it probably should have gone to Arshavin.. This is a positive sign. While strikers score the bulk of the goals, when the whole team chips in, it suggests we are playing like a unit.
4) Set-pieces
The set-piece goals were very impressive considering how much we feared them. Everton did not get to enjoy this advantage over us and instead we were the ones popping in the headers. We shall see if Arsene has actually addressed this area.
5) Formation
This new formation is quite interesting. It is not quite like Barca's traditional 4-3-3 system, but you can definately draw some comparisons. Fabregas and Denilson are going more forward with Song in behind. Arshavin and Bendtner wide and coming in to link up with Van Persie while the full backs provided the much needed width. While this leaves us vulnerable at times, it is very fluid and once we are used to it could be very interesting.
6) Bendtner
I left Bendtner last because I feel this is an important point. This lad was critisized and villified quite a bit, and I am glad his confidence is growing and as are his skills. He played wonderful today and I and lots of other fans expect a great deal from him this season. The talking point here is that instead of Van Persie on the wide, Bendtner goes wide. This is interesting because Bendtner enjoys a lot of aerial advantage over the usual attacking and compact fullbacks. This provides an outlet for our long passes as he will hold on to the ball and link up with options from midfield or strikers or our full backs. A target winger if you will.
We travel to Celtic next week for our crucial qualifier. This has been a great start to our new season and I cannot wait for our team to answer their critics and prove all the pundits and media wrong.
Arsenal to win the title and fight it out with Barca/Real in the CL!
In other news, Ade(insert joke involving barns and a person considered sexually promiscuous) scored for Man City, Villa lost at home to Wigan, and Fulham and Sunderland both enjoyed 1-0 wins.
Until next time, keep it Arsenalive!
Travis
