They Might Be Giants: Arsenal 4 – Portsmouth 1, Match Review

Q: What’s 5’6″ and 25 years old?

A: The average height and age of Arsenal’s front line that played at Fratton park yesterday.

So what does that mean? So far, not a lot. Actually in spite of its size deficiencies up front and without a bona-fide striker Arsenal have scored a whopping 15 goals in 6 games (2-0 v Stoke, 2-1 v Pool, 1-1 v Burnley, 3-0 Hull, 3-0 v Villa, and 4-1 v Pompey). They’ve once again gone to scoring more than any team in the league and have scored 51 goals quicker than any team ever has (with a game in hand mind you).  More importantly Arsenal sit only 4 points off the lead set by Chelsea and 2 points behind Manchester United. With the game in hand to be played on 6 January Arsenal could find themselves in 2nd by 1 point and behind Chelsea by only 1 point.

All this comes because of a string of consistent play from the Gunners. That run was culminated on their last game of the New Year when they completely outplayed and outclassed Avram Grant’s Portsmouth side.

Portsmouth started out the match like you pretty much would’ve expected, quickly and with purpose. As much as the Gunners needed 3 points to stay close on the title hunt, Pompey needed the 3 points to stave off relegation. And while Arsenal had most of the play its was the home side that had the first good chance of the match. Pressing up on the counter-attack, Piquionne sped up the right side beating most of the Arsenal defenders back. Unfortunately for him his angle was off and Manuel Almunia had an easy save on the shot.

From their on in it was all Arsenal. Typical to their play, they held the ball with a 70% – 30% possession statistic at one point. Also typical to Arsenal they looked quite threatening but had yet to convert one of their opportunities. That was until  Moekoena brought Aaron Ramsey down just outside the top of the Pompey penalty box. For the third time in as many games, Arsenal were presented with another chance to open the scoring and like the previous two matches Arsenal would not be denied.

Not the face!!!!

With the wall set one of the Pompey players pulled out of the wall to help protect one side of the goal mouth. It was in that opening that Eduardo shot the ball to see it careen off of Kaboul’s knee and fly into the net. Going into the Hull match Arsenal hadn’t scored a goal from a free kick since late 2007. They’ve now managed 3 in their last 3 – all of them to open up the scoring of the match.

Eduardo, who need the goal scoring booth was credited with the goal because as I understand it, his shot was on target. Whether or not Begovic would’ve saved it is irrelevant, if the shot is on target during a deflection than it will be credited to the kicker and not counted as a goal.

Pompey had the chance to try and equalize as they pushed forward but the Arsenal defense effectively shut down any chances Portsmouth had. The back four since the Chelsea drubbing have been a model of consistency, from their positioning, their play on set pieces and their overall presence have been huge. This is coming mostly from the centre of the field with the play of Gallas and Vermaelen. Gallas looks like he is back to his intimidating self and Vermaelen is our new muscle who is playing with an edge. Together they are probably the only cente back pairing of the contenders that has managed to play every league match together. And while they didn’t know each other at the beginning of the season, it seems they enjoy playing along each other and it has helped each of them in their play. Throw in great play by Sagna and lately by Armond Traore and the back four aren’t as much a concern as they would have tought to be.

Manuel Almunia on the other hand, still seems shaky and punches too many balls he should be catching.  But it was another solid game for the Spaniard. There was only two real blunders I saw, a mis played punch (he missed) and a feed to an Arsenal defender that was far too close to a Pompey attacker that had he been a player of quality he could’ve gotten on the ball =and surely beaten Manny.

But I digress.

Arsenal would go on to have 4 different players score. They wouldn’t need Cesc Fabregas to jump start their play – from the get go they were on. The second goal was as much a testament to their skill as it is to the respect Portsmouth defense gave them. With Eduardo controlling the ball around the Pompey box, none of the defenders closed him to cut off his space – why who knows – but Eduardo was able to wait for Ramsey and Nasri to join in and then he let the ball go to Ramsey who flicked it on to Nasri who created his own space and cleanly beat Bergovic with a shot to the wide post and out of the ‘keepers’s reach.

Enough can’t be said of the development of Aaron Ramsey. While he likely has some more time developing before he can become a regular on the field he shows repeatedly why Arsene was sokeen to get him two years ago. He had a couple errant passes in the beginning of the match but overall his play was workman like, cool and collected and you can see that he will in no time be able to run this Arsenal squad. His goal which essentially put the game away was almost Fabregas like in its ability to find the back of the net. And it was all his own doing. Winning the ball back from Portsmouth as they tried to hoof it out of their box, Ramsey swung around made some space and sent and absolute cracker of shot past the Pompey keeper. When he got the ball and with the space given – you knew – like you know when Fab has that kind of room – that the ball was going in. Like I said, I still believe the lad has some way to go but he is absolutely making the case for his play.

Portsmouth were able to draw the game to 3-1 on an opportunte goal from Belhadj. Opportune I say because the trajectory could’ve easily have carried it over the bar. But it was a result of the one mistake the Arsenal defense made all night as the left Belhadj in the centre of the box where he was able to put an unscathed foot on the ball. Frankly, as easy as it is to blame Almunia, there was nothing he could do.

Spank you very much

The final nail in the coffin was as clinical a header as you would see. Again, Portsmouth was woeful in clearing the ball in their zone and Arsenal won it back as Nasri intercepted an errant pass. Nasri was allowed to walk into the far right of the box where he lofted a ball that Alexnader Song lept sky high and directed the ball in the net with his head. It was a header as you are taught to do. It had direction, speed and eyes for the net. And it was all fitting that Song’s last league match for the next 3 weeks would result in a goal. He doesn’t score them often but he makes the most of the opportunities he has.  Song is a big reason Arsenal are going on this run.

Alot of the other players also deserve mention and again Abou Diaby put in another performance. His attacking nature was again evident and while he did not score he had a beautiful opportunity that was saved by an amazing reach by Bergovic. Thomas Vermaelen was his normal “hard” self going face to face with Hughes at one point and you just wanted him to deck him. Sagna was amazingly quick for the day and if he just doesn’t out and out beat people with speed better than any right back in the league, I don’t know who does. There were moments where he simply won balls that were closer to the opposition because his speed was so advantageous. And finally I have to say that Aarmond Traore will one day go back to the bench – which is unfortunate because frankly, he has been solid in every one of his starts.  He has pace and strength and when someone can go leg for leg with Gabby Abonglahor (against Villa) that says something. He made one or two bad passes but over all he was solid again. When Clichy and Gibbs return, Arsenal will have 3 solid left backs. Given the injury bug this team always has – thats not a bad thing.

I also want to mention the play of Andrei Arshavin. I don’t know whether to be frustrated with the lad or just accept that this is how he plays. It could be that when Arsenal buy a new striker or one miraculously heals he will be better back on his natural wing. But he is so uninvolved at times I just wonder if this is why Arsene didn’t by him during the summer of 2008 when his stock was so high. Personally, I would switch Eduardo back to the middle and put Arshavin on the wing. When that was done against Hull it changed the dynamic of the game and AA23 was able to penetrate deeper with the ability to take the shot or pass it on to Eduardo. That set more quality chances against Hull than the current formation is doing (AA23 central forward and Eduardo wing). Again who knows, but AA23 has been too quiet. But again maybe thats a good thing because others need to step up.

It was also nice to see the return of Rosicky – TR7 came on briefly for Dudu and had a quality shooting chance that missed the far upper corner by about 6 inches. Let’s hope he can stay healthy. He has an uncanny ability to make passes that just don’t seem there. The match also saw the brief appearance by Craig Eastmond. Many wonder why Wilshere didn’t feature and I think it has to do with the liklihood that he will be loaned out in January. I suspect that he will also play a role in the FA Cup squad as will Fran Merida.

All in all in it was a productive holiday season taking maximum points from all matches. In their last 6 matches they have taken a whopping 16 of 18 points and are clearly in the hunt for the title. There is a string of winnable matches coming up prior to a run of 4 matches at the end of January that see Arsenal play Villa, United, Chelsea and Liverpool. They should concentrate on taking maximum points up until that point and then with returning squad members and possible transfer window purchases coming in be in a good position for making the most of those four fixtures.

A final note – as I was writing this it was announced that Diaby has signed a new long-term deal. The exact details weren’t announced. Funny how that deal comes on the back of three solid performances and past the slew of extensions that were signed in November. With that signing, it seems Arsene has tied up most of his core players through at least 2014. Should they all manage to stay together for that time – it is quite possible that were are on the cusp of a dawn of Arsenal success. Still we have another half a season to play. Let’s see what we do here shall we before we dream of possibilities.