A marker has been laid, Premiership better watch out!
As the idiom goes, a swallow does not make a summer. One really impressive result especially in the first game won’t determine tangible success. But if we are quick to castigate our own, we must damn well praise them when we do well and boy did we do well.
Now if I am being honest, I have seen crispier, sexier football played by Arsenal. I remember the days when opposition players were almost pleading for Arsenal to stop making them look silly. And yet we had very little or nothing to show for it. Yesterday was an illustration of clinical finishing amidst admittedly some very lacklustre defending from Everton.
You can blame Lescott but he certainly wasn’t to blame for the first 3 goals. Everton underestimated us big time, and we punished them for this. Arsenal’s inefficiency aerially was questioned before the game and answered emphatically. Everton’s threat was comfortably negated and 2 of our goals came from headers. Arsenal didn’t attempt many long distance shots. 2 of our goals were long distance. We know this won’t happen every game but it is encouraging to see how and where Arsene has focused on improving the team.
Reinforcements need not be just in personnel, it had to be in how we approached the game. And to crush the team that finished in 5th place albeit a team that missed the elegance of Arteta, the goals of Yakubu and the determined Jagielka, is if I didn’t say it already, impressive!
To put our result into perspective, and bear in mind I’m only assessing the first game, the team that gave us jitters for a lot of last season, Villa were stunned by Martinez’s Wigan who had 58% control of possession. That reflects their dominance in an away game, showed fluency in possession and it must be said it is a surprise result even if Villa’s form at home was not of sterling quality last year.
What about the teams that finished above Arsenal? Out of the three, without doubt Liverpool put a sorry performance. They lost 2-1 but it could have been a lot worse considering Spurs had 11 shots on target. And this was largely before a sustained but ineffective and unsuccessful seige from Liverpool at Spurs’ defence. Liverpool looked devoid of ideas and it is no-coincidence that this happened in the absence of Alonso. I think his departure will hit them hard and I doubt his replacement Aquilani will adjust to the Premiership straight away.
Man Utd looked liked a team that lacked Ronaldo’s spark. They had 17 shots on target but yet they managed one goal. That is pretty poor by anyone’s standards but by Utd’s standards it is a nightmare which they might not recover from until next season. For them a firing Owen is an urgent must. Defensively they looked shaky; they missed Ferdinand and Vidic, an obvious comment but it highlights how patient we must be when our defence is a combination of Silvestre/Song/Djourou.
Chelsea were the best of teams that finished in the top 3 last season; they had an incredible 14 shots on target and 12 off target against Hull. The tigers had 50% possession but they only had 6 shots towards goal. They nearly sneaked a draw but for Drogba’s freak second goal. This result along with the others show why playing at home will be much tougher because fans expectations are higher. Of course the players realise this and try to do well but sometimes the right result will delay in coming or not come at all.
Defensively the Blues looked solid and perhaps the most solid out of all the teams. That said, our central partnership of Gallas and Vermalaen was mighty impressive, the latter seemed like a man eager to impress. I hate to compare but If i had to he was Senderos but calmer, as demonstrated with his good distribution of the ball.
What about Man city? Their success at Ewood was a surprise and I bet many Gooners were wondering how that man scored so quickly in his debut game. Well if you remember folks he had a similar start with us at Birmingham and then we know what happened. City as a team gelled quicker than expected, but the scoreline doesn’t reflect the balance of the game. On another day they will not achieve a result like that easily. And as long as they have Dunne in defence, you know they will screw up defensively and we all know Barry was in Denilson’s pocket when we played at Villa park last year.
Arsene was quick to take off Fabregas and given the important Champions League game it wasn’t shocking. And it is nice to bring on players like Ramsey and Eduardo in an environment where they can focus on enjoying the game as opposed to trying to eke out a result at any cost. Let us enjoy the game and worry about that other part later. We had a quality team that we should be proud of!
