Newcastle 0 - 0 Arsenal Review and Score Card.

I said that I’d take a draw from this fixture, from how we played and that we finished the game with ten men. I’m glad we walked away with a point. This match will be remembered more for its side shows rather than the game itself. Not that it had that much on offer,it was a rather boring game to be honest. We dominated possession as always but lacked the ideas and directness to convert our possession into goals. 

Going into the game, all eyes including mine were on the defence, I must say they outdid themselves on this occasion. We defended absolutely well, especially on set pieces which is great to see. The Veriminator and the Kosher were rock solid..Dancing rasta (Sagna) and Gibbo were also not bad though they were caught out once or twice..nothing alarming. Then the tall pole never put a finger wrong the whole match..he was exquisite. It’s good to finally have a decent goalkeeper. With these performances you feel le prof will be abit reluctant to buy a defender. Though we do need one more, It’s only one game after all. 

The worrying part was mainly our creative end of the midfield and the attack. Rosicky though he had a decent outing was not as creative as I’d have wished. Rambo also had an ish ish game, a couple of misplaced passes lost possession quite a number of times too. The little Russian assassin did pull out some clever moments (Yes the chip) here and there but I expected him to have a larger impact on the game. Gervinho was dangerous down both wings, but his final ball was wanting most of the time. I like the fact that we have started using the wing interchange..Gervinho, Arshavin and Rosicky at times worked well together. Vanpersie, well he was wasteful and looked rusty let’s hope it was just this once. In this department I felt that we lacked in creativity and sharpness, Rambo and Rosicky were abit slow on the ball when I felt that they needed to be a tad bit quicker. Let’s face it, this is exactly what Nasri and Cesc offered us. One their day they were our creative engine.

Now to the incidents,first I’d like to hail Song for his foresight. He stamped on that Barton prick for his yet to come antics. That being said, Song deserved to be sent off for the stamp as it was rather a stupid thing to do at the time. He still might get red carded in retrospect by the F.A, this would mean that we face Liverpool and United without him and Gervinho a very tricky situation as Wilshere is still out. Then to the mother of them all, a story of reacting to contact, no matter how small it is. There was contact when Gervinho hit the ground from the challenge albeit very minimal, not enough to bring him down but it was there, meaning it was a penalty. Then the nut job that is Barton felt he had to air his grievances the best way a he knew how to, dragging Gervinho to his feet warranted a sending off, no question. At this point any man would have reacted the same way as Gervinho, though with varying degrees of force. Being a sharp man, he used an open palm and taped Barton’s face and yes the tap means there was contact thus Joe reacted to the contact and what a reaction it was!! The Ref here has no option but to send off both of them, but what does he do? Books Barton and sends Gervinho to the showers. I think Barton plays his role quite well,he gets under our players' skin with great ease,two players sent off in two games against us.On a side note,I couldn’t help but imagine if this was Manure and Gervinho was let’s say Nani. Barton would have been banned for months and Manure given a penalty. Two if possible,the first for the tackle and the other for Joey Barton, oh well..to be a gooner! I don’t think that we’ll appeal this one, and if we do it will be a very long shot.

Here are some quotes from le prof on the game..

"I thought we had a solid performance and were in control. Newcastle had last season’s 4-4 more in their mind more than we did. They organised not to concede goals, defended well and it was very difficult for us because we played a team who was highly focused to defend.
"We missed something, the regret is that we missed something in the final third and in the speed of our passing. But, overall, we had a good performance. I can’t remember giving Newcastle a chance at goal and, away from home, you have to give credit to our team for that.

We try to play football and, if you watched today, you will see that. Overall, I feel we have been very harshly punished today. We try to play and sometimes we overreact. We have to take control of that. If we have an area to improve on, then that is it. We will learn from that today."

The score card :

1. Woijciech Szczesny (A-) – As I mentioned earlier, he never put a finger wrong. Though he was not called up that much, he commanded his area superbly. Came out for crosses perfectly, he is like a breath of fresh air out there.
2. Bacary Sagna (B+) – Was solid, though he looked rusty going forward and his crossing was not all that good. Was caught out once by Obertan but got back well. Was one of the few that tried a shot from outside the 18’ though it went into Orbit the idea was good.
3. Thomas Vermaelen: (A-) – He was rock solid back there, was impressed by the way he handled the aerial balls against Demba Ba. He stood his ground after Orbetan’s back heel to close down the striker denying him a clear shot.
4. Laurent Koscielny (A-) – Was also impressed by his aerial prescence and his awareness, made a few vital interceptions and tackles. Great to see him forming a partnership with the Verminator
5. Kierran Gibbs (B+) – He did outdo himself out there, performed better than I had expected, though he sometimes got carried away and was caught out of position once or twice. He can also do better from his crosses.
6. Alexander Song (B+) – He broke down their play oftenly, using his strength to bully the Newcastle defence. How many times did he shield that ball off them? Quite a number. He covered the back four well tracking back every time.
7. Aaron Ramsey (B) – An ish ish game from the Welsh captain, not bad but not good either. Not the best passing, also his urgency on the ball was wanting. Though you have to admire his work rate.
8. Tomas Rosicky (B) – Another one with a great work rate, and just like Rambo he had an average game. He needs to have a bigger impact on the game as he is our chief creative mind out there.
9. Andrey Arshavin (B+) – Was abit more involved but like his counterparts did not have that much of a game either. Another one who should take up more responsibility now. Liked the rotation with him the Little Mozart and Gervinho.
10. Gervinho (B+) – Was terrifying every time he charged down the wings, but his final ball let him down. Great in 1 on 1 situations. Also has a great work rate, he should shoot abit more though.
11. Robin Van Persie (B) – Was wasteful in a number of situations, took a lot more time than he usually does to shoot especially in the penalty area. But shot really early towards the end of the game, when he should have taken a few more touches. Another one who had an ish ish game.
12. Theo Walcott (B) - Injected some pace into our attack, got into decent positions and had a shot in too. (One of the few). He still is running straight at defenders, he should learn a trick or two.
13. Emmanuel Frimpong and Johan Djorou – Not much to rate from the two, as they were to hold on to the point when we were down to ten men. Glad to see Frimpong though, he should give Song a run for his money.

With that, ladies and Gentlemen…

KWISHA!!