UDINESE REVIEW.

A win is a win..so they say, and I agree. Not a typical Arsenal win but no less a win in any way. I’d rather win like this for the whole season really. This was a win based on team work and a whole load of discipline..defensive discipline.The fact that we held on to a lead, not just a lead, but a 1 goal lead for a whole 90 minutes is one that I am very happy with. There are those who will say that it was not such a quality attack force to begin with, to them I say that Udinese had the top scorer in the Serie A for the last two seasons in that attack force. Then remind them that last season Newcastle did not have the best of attack forces but they managed to crawl back from 4 goals down. It’s too early to get excited, I mean it’s only been two games but if our defence carries on with this form we might have great things to look forward to this season. 

Le prof decided to start with Walcott instead of Arshavin, to capitalise on the home advantage and inject a bit more pace to the side, an aspect that most Italians team don’t like that much. Also maybe to rest the Russian elf with the Liverpool game coming up. I couldn’t have asked for a better start to the game, a goal inside the first five minutes, I had expected us to go on from here and kill off the tie. The spirit and determination in the team was great, but we just couldn’t score another goal. The visitors turned up the pressure on us and looked more dangerous in most occasions during the game. I’ll attribute this to two things, one a rather shaky midfield and a non existant striker. We gave away possession on quite a number of occasions, pilling up the pressure on ourselves. 

Once or twice our defenders were caught out on a few occasions, Gibbs, Koscielny in the first half and Sagna, Jenkinson in the second from my recollection. The midfield was on a better level than it was at Newcastle but still not at the levels that we all expect, a notable improvement would be Rambo, he was the pick of this department for me. Song and Rosicky were all good as well, with Song doing well to cover the spaces. The attack was mainly a two man show, Gervinho continued to impress as did Walcott who was unfortunate not to get a brace. Gervinho would be better off if he tried to shoot with his left foot, on several occasions he cut in from the right but couldn’t shoot thus had to run into tight areas trying to tee up with the right foot.

Now to the flop of the match, Chamakh, he was awful. Could not keep possession, couldn’t make a complete pass, he was on a different wave length all together. But to be fair to the guy, it’s only one game. (His pre-season wasn’t all that either) I guess he is used to crosses coming into the area, which is clearly not how we prefer playing. I hope he does dust himself up and get on with it, he was quite impressive in the first half of last season. Where did that go?

We had a few additions to the ‘Arsenal hospital Fc’ (as a good friend puts it) with three players picking up knocks in the game (oh how surprising!), Gibbs and Djorou both doing their hamstrings. You have to feel for Djorou though, only 9 minutes in the game. Though he did make a great last ditch tackle on Di Natale within those minutes. That is three injuries in our defence so far, including Traore. If nothing else pushes the bean man to buy, I don’t know what will. With the Liverpool game coming up how do we line up? Do we push the Verminator to the left then bring in Squillaci, or we play Jenkinson at left back? Both are pretty risky situations, but I’ll opt for Jenkinson at LB, he’ll be out of position and you could see yesterday that he struggled. I’ll pick anyone right now over Squillaci. Rosicky is said to be also carrying a knock, fingers crossed.



Report Card.

1. Woijech Szceceny (A) – Again, the tall pole couldn’t put a finger wrong. He made spectacular saves, keeping out Di Natale and Armero. Can’t help imagine if it was Almunia between the posts. Contender for Man of the match.
2. Bacary Sagna (A-) – He was solid, kept his men at bay and defended almost faultlessly. Contender for man of the match.
3. Thomas Vermaelen (A-) – As expected, solid from the captain of the day. Made great tackles, aerial presence was spot on. Another Contender (don’t worry not everyone is!)
4. Laurent Koscielny (A-) – His contribution is most of the times overlooked. I feel yesterday he single handedly saved us on almost 4 separate occasions. He is growing on fast forward! Yes he is also a Contender.
5. Kierran Gibbs (B+) - He put in a decent 45 minutes before ‘Arsenal Hospital Fc’ came calling. Just to point out that he did his hamstring while sprinting to get back into position after an attack had broke down. (Though he did make the tackle that resulted in a corner for Udinese), see what being out of position can do to you?
6. Alexander Song (B+) – Provided great cover for the back four, especially when they charged forward. Although he should keep hold of the ball a bit better and control his forward runs, I feel.
7. Aaron Ramsey (A-) – Was much improved from Newcastle, better movement, urgency and ball distribution. More of the same and he could be the player that Cesc and I hope he will become. Yes a contender too.
8. Tomas Rosicky (B+) – Not as much of an impact as I would have liked. He can do better, maybe the Knock he was carrying restrained him.
9. Gervinho (A-) – Another great performance from the Ivorian. Like mentioned earlier just needs to take a shot more oftenly. Another contender for MoTM.
10. Theo Walcott (A-) – Gave us the goal, and threatened down the wings. He went silent though on some occasions. But a great performance over all.
11. Marouane Chamakh (D) - The only reason I am not giving him an E is well, he did try to shoot and he had some complete passes,right?
12. Carl Jenkinson – Not that much to rate, though he was called to play in an unfamiliar role and did well that being considered. Was caught out once, but recovered. He should get used to this role and fast, I see him playing there on Saturday.
13. Emmanuel Frimpong - A good run out, he needs to be a bit more cool headed with his tackles. Conceded two free kicks within the first minute of him coming in.
14. Johan Djorou – Sad for him, but did have a solid nine minutes. Wish him a quick recovery from ‘Arsenal Hospital Fc’ Gibbs too.
    
    
    
    From the above, my pick for man of the match is (drum roll) Bacary Sagna, was tested multiple times and was solid every time. He  did not give an inch out there!

It is half time in this tie, though we should be stronger in Italy, that is if we don’t have any more call ups to ‘Arsenal Hospital Fc.’

Wenger could face further punishment from UEFA for allegedly sending messages to the dugout. It will be another major fail if they do punish the bean man, as he would have sent messages any way from anywhere. I remember Mourinho being sent to the stands and using 

his phone to send messages to his assistant, I think it was at Chelsea and I did not hear any talk of ‘further punishment’ why is this any different?

With that, Ladies and Gentlemen…

KWISHA!!! 

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