Strength and Honour
Apparently there was a football match played at the Reebok Stadium yesterday, I missed it because I’d gone to the Camden Jazz Cafe with my lovely lady for lunch and a bottle of wine. It was
super.
Oops, sorry. Wrong blog, that isn’t me at all.
There was a hint, however, of having to watch the football aafter it was broadcast due to the absolutely compelling Masters Final between Ronnie O’Sullivan and Mark Selby. I don’t know how Mark
Selby won it, but I think he deserved to, gutted for Ronnie though. Anyway, Jo realised that making me miss the football whilst she watched snooker was going to result in a very tetchy
RocktheCasbah, so common sense prevailed and, come 4pm, I was sitting in front of Sky Sports 1 in my lucky new retro shirt- 4 appearance, 4 victories. Coincidence? I think not. No, the the
winter renaissance of Arsenal Football Club is nothing to do with Arsène Wenger, a new found resillience and good football and everything to do with the yellow and blue shirt I wear whilst
sitting in front of the telly.
I was pretty shocked to see Craig Eastmond was making his first Premier League start in that holding role, but it’s good to see that Arsène is continuing his philosophy of giving the kids a go.
I wonder, though whether Eastmond would have featured had Samir Nasri’s absence through injury not neccesitated Tomas Rosicky’s deployment as part of the attacking trident. Or, for that matter,
had Aaron Ramsey not been injured. Whatever the reason, I think Eastmond- for a first start in the 100mph, helter skelter world they call the Premier League acquitted himself well. He may not
have given Armand Traore the protection he needed, but I don’t think anyone could have helped Traore yesterday, he was given the right runaround down our left. Especially early on.
We weathered that early storm, though and gradually began to exert control. The returning Cesc might have scored when flashing a shot from distance just wide, he should definitely have had a
penalty when Jaaskelainen came out for the ball and didn’t get it, instead taking Cesc’s legs. That came just minutes after he’d thwarted Eduardo in similar (though more legal fashion) after
some lovely Arsenal interplay. Phil Dowd’s failure to spot the foul on Cesc set the tone for a Bolton team resorting to thuggish type. When their targetting of Armand Traore’s lack of
positional sense bore no fruit, the only alternative seemed to be: Let’s kick Cesc.
They couldn’t get near him though as Rosicky and Diaby wove a spell into the penalty area, the ball coming to Cesc, who laid the ball off to Eduardo and, showing that new found calmness in
front of goal, drilled the return pass beyond Jaaskelainen and into the back of the net. Craig Eastmond came close to doubling the advantage soon after and just a couple of minutes
after that Cesc was unlucky to again be denied a penalty after a challenge from Zat Knight. That he had Matt Taylor unnecessarily kneeling on his neck and pulling his hair as he lay
prone on the floor was bad enough, but to get to his feet and be given a lecture by the referee beggared belief.
Cesc was then felled by a trip by Neighbours’ Paul Robinson which, this time, the ref actually saw and treated with a yellow card. As the fouls accumulated, Tomas Rosicky sent one of
Bolton’s better players, Klasnic, flying and then rolling, rolling, rolling with a pretty cynical trip. The Bolton mongs bayed for blood, but the ref wasn’t to be swayed and was happy
just to book our Tomas. Next time Bolton sing “Same old Arsenal, always cheating” they should be directed to the image of Klasnic rolling as if he’s been pushed down Primrose Hill.
The second half saw increased Bolton pressure and possession, but they still couldn’t break through an increasingly creaky Arsenal rearguard and changes were made. First Eastmond gave way to
Merida, and that seemed to settle us in posession, Eastmond had been caught dawdling on a few occasions, and then Gael Clichy made his return to first team action. But not for Traore, he
replaced Rosicky and slotted in in front of Traore, presumably to provide better defensive cover for his young compatriot. Gradually, the sting was drawn from Bolton but as long as the score
stayed 1-0, we could never be said to be home and hosed. As the game entered it’s final stage, Cesc broke with the ball, was fouled but managed to get it away, picking
up the ball again but much further forward, he drove into the penalty area, played a fractionally offside Eduardo in, his cross to the far post was missed by Arshavin, but collected by Merida
with one touch. His second was instant, unerring and gave Arsenal the two goal cushion with which they could comfortably close out a good, professional performance.
Afterwards, a modest Cesc collected the man of the match award, saying that his unbelievable goal tally was down to “luck”, before admitting that perhaps it was also down to, as Arsène Wenger
had suggested nbefore the game, more strength and composure in front of goal. To listen to this guy talk, and I love listening to Cesc- he always makes me smile, you forget he’s only 22. He has
a maturity that belies his youth and, you know, I doubted here whether giving him the captaincy was the right move, but it seems to me that he is thriving on the responsibility of leading this
team. Will he still be here next season? You know, I think he just might.
The boss was left to reflect on the kind of performance that if repeated with regularity will have even the hardest of observers believing that this Arsenal team has every chance of
honours. He even, quite graciously to my mind, chose to downplay the way Bolton had attempted to target Cesc, preferring to highlight the increased strength and personality in his team, epitomised by his captain. I wonder if the tune would
have been different had we lost, but we didn’t. So the manager can now look forward to Wednesday night’s second installment where a two goal victory would take us to the top of the table.
Football, eh? Bloody hell.