Arsenal Loads – Loads But Not As Many Newcastle United
1 – 0 Walcott (20)
1 – 1 Ba (43)
2 – 1 Oxlade-Chamberlain (50)
2 – 2 Marveaux (59)
3 – 2 Podolski (64)
3 – 3 Ba (69)
4 – 3 Walcott (73)
5 – 3 Giroud (86)
6 – 3 Giroud (88)
7 – 3 Walcott (90)
You have to go back to 1948 to find Arsenal in such rampant form, Middlesbrough (7-0) and Grimsby Town (8-0) were thrashed in the space of five weeks. Travel to 1934 for the last time that Arsenal scored a brace of quicker high-scoring wins as Wolves and Leicester succumbed 7-0 and 8-0 respectively in a pre-Christmas fortnight, Liverpool having conceded eight at Higbury at the start of that season. There is still some way to go before topping 1932-33 when – common theme emerging – Leicester (8-2), Wolves (7-1), Sheffield United (9-2) and Blackburn (8-0) all tumbled inside fourteen weeks whilst 1930-31 saw Blackpool (7-1), Grimsby Town (9-1) and, yes, Leicester (7-2), defeated in a six week spell. If we get past Swansea and draw Leicester in the FA Cup fourth round, I might just be in the bookies.
Despite the emphatic scoreline, this was not vintage Arsenal. I suppose it was this season’s vintage to some extent. Three times Arsenal were pegged back but pulled away with two apiece from Walcott and Giroud in the final seventeen minutes. Demba Ba probably passed his audition to be Theo Walcott’s replacement, a pair as Newcastle sought parity won’t have done his claims for an Arsenal transfer any harm. To my mind, if Ba arrives, it means Walcott will leave. The England international was dismissively non-commital post-match about his future, contemptuous of the media or Arsenal? Or both?
Whatever his mood or intentions, the hat-trick kept Walcott centre stage. Had Olivier Giroud grabbed his maiden Arsenal treble, you wonder if the fuss over Walcott would have been as big. Probably, the English media has such little native talent to be joyous over. The Frenchman showed the alternative he offers, a cracking header from an inviting cross followed by a well-drilled finish both indicated a settled player, confident in his surroundings.
It might have been different. Arsenal’s defensive display was lacking, in confidence, in concentration. Newcastle might have taken the lead before Walcott broke the deadlock in the twentieth minute, Ba headed over when unmarked. It countered Oxlade-Chamberlain’s miss in the opening minute. The goal when it came rolled back the years, the curved run, the wide position, the curled shot. Two years ago, that opportunity could have gone either way but it is a sign of Walcott’s growing maturity that you expect him to score these chances now. A miss whilst not unthinkable, would have been surprising. It might have been two before half-time but for Krul’s save from the same player.
But Newcastle were level as the referee’s lips pursed on the Acme Thunderer. Szczesny had stopped an equaliser from Tiote but Sagna was not enjoying his evening, the distinctly average Obertan giving him a torrid night, drawing a silly foul. Arsenal were punished as Ba’s freekick connected with Jack Wilshere to send it into the net. There was nothing to indicate how events were going to unfurl.
Arsenal resumed scoring quickly after the interval. It might have been sooner but for Kieran Gibbs blinkered vision, spurning the opportunity to create for waiting teammates, instead failing from close range himself. Oxlade-Chamberlain slid an accurate shot across Krul following Cazorla’s perfect cross-field pass to restore Arsenal’s lead. It didn’t last as Obertan outpaced Sagna to create space, his deflected cross was tapped in by the unmarked Marveaux. It was poor defending on both flanks, Gibbs culpable for losing sight of his opponent.
Wilshere was a dynamic force in Arsenal’s midfield, none more so than when he laid crazy paving through the Newcastle defence to stand up a delightful cross into the Newcastle six yard area, Coloccini headed against his own bar and Podolski nodded home from centimetres out. Again, noses in front, Arsenal need cool heads to close the game out. Again, Newcastle equalised, Ba once more offering Wenger indigestion from his food for thought.
And then the visitors collapsed. Arsenal went up a gear with Walcott and Giroud taking over. The Englishman auditioned for next year’s Strictly Come Dancing with a pirouette of which Darcy Bussell would have approved, to hammer home Arsenal’s fourth. It was awful defending that afforded him so much space but that is Pardew’s problem. With Giroud arriving, Walcott moved to the flanks and delivered a perfect cross that was met with the perfect header. Next goal wins indeed.
Giroud buried the sixth and the race was on for the hat-trick. Walcott grabbed it, weaving into the Newcastle area, clipped to win a penalty, quickly regaining his feet to play to the whistle, draw Krul and spin the ball over the hapless Dutchman. Lucky seven indeed.
It’s hard on Arsène. The manager has made it clear that he wants Walcott to sign and the club find themselves chastised for not doing the deal sooner. Team Walcott‘s decision to walk away from talks last season is being forgotten as people are exceedingly quick to blame the club for the crisis. Yes, they should offer more money but as I stated yesterday, Walcott should be willing to accept a performance-related deal if he wants to learn his trade in the first team. Personally, I don’t think he will sign a new deal but that is me from the outside looking in. However, I think Arsenal need to make it clear to him that their priority will be a new striker this window and if that happens, Walcott will not be playing again this season. Tough love.
Of as much concern will have been the full back displays. The defence seemed unsettled by the absence of Mertesacker but that cannot have been the sole reason for the scatty positioning all evening by Sagna and Gibbs. Rarely have they both been so off-form, even rarer that it was in the same match. Gibbs miss brings to mind his reaction at Anfield when Giroud was given stick for shooting when the youngster was in a better position; has he learned from that? Tunnel vision suggests not readily enough.
It was a Jekyll and Hyde performance but there is a danger of over-analysing the faults. Let’s be honest, if you can’t enjoy scoring seven at home, you won’t enjoy much football at all. So, it’s a case of taking the positives overboard and noting the negatives. Southampton can wait as the result is savoured.
’til Tomorrow.
I agree with that too, shotta.
That’s not the whole issue though.
We al do.
theo would have made it anywhere shotta. infact if anything wenger has hindered his development by refusing to play him any where but wide right for so long.
…or even ‘all’
tom soares, ex palace. now at bury
telling everyone that hes a tinpot footballer but hes not a liar..
and good luck to his mate zaha who will boss it at arsenal??
paraprasing obviously..
Shotta,
You’re in the majority. Most fans will support Arsene until he’s no longer here.
I agree with JonJon at 11:16 pm. Moments ago I just slagged him. Now I feel dirty. But I must give the devil his due.
The midfield can often get bogged down in their own half playing it safe and it is horrible to watch. So unWengerlike. JJ is right when he says:
“Arsene knows he has to play 433 to score goals but it leaves us vunerable in the middle becuase we have no authority figure there.”
He gambled on Diaby being that physical presence and it looked as if it would pay off especially in that game vs Liverpool. But after Diaby broke down, the midfield tends to bunker down in numbers playing safe passes and inviting teams to come unto them for the counter-attack.
But there are signs of improvement. Jack is integrating himself and is become more confident and taking more initiative, driving forward and snapping into tackles. Arteta as usual is playing deeper, closer to the defenders. But despite all the praises for Santi, he is not the playmaker I envisioned. His influence is not consistently felt.
Yes I agree, the midfield needs some work.
Shotta @ 10:54
“As for AW, George, seems he won’t be backed in a corner”
That’s a big part of the problem. The boss won’t admit won’t make changes or adapt. He has gone from someone who was innovative early in his arsenal career to someone who hesitates to do anything that isn’t programmed. That is a big part of the issue that CBOB mentions in his post. Lack of flexibility is great when you have the right formula and everything is working as you hoped the way it did early in his reign but it has hurt us since then.
This blog has gone to the dogs. Ffs. Funny how Ateeb has turned into such a doomer. I remember when he used to talk sense. MikeSA takes the cake though. He does the jaded jilted lover blogger thing really well. What ever happened to Poliziano btw?
Regardless of whose to blame if he is able to leave, and putting to one side that he has just 6 months left on his current contract – how much is Theo Walcott currently worth in today’s market?
Torres £50m
Carrol £35m
Na$ri £24 – with just one year left on contract
Downing £20m
Darren Bent £18/24m
Steven Fletcher £12/14m
Sturridge £12m
All the above are attacking players that have been transferred from one PL team to another. Now, even considering Liverpool, Chelsea and Citeh’s profligate tendencies, the above numbers still serve as an indicator of the value that a forward, who is perceived to be a top player at the time, possesses: whether or not their subsequent performances have substantiated the respective fees is somewhat irrelevant.
It matters not a jot what Theo’s contribution has been over the past years; we need to recognise that he has fast become a very valuable asset, an asset that we should either retain in our possession by spending a proportion of the amount that a replacement would cost on his wages, or be prepared to have to spend big on a genuine replacement.
And let’s make it clear, I don’t mean big by over paying for the sake of it, but I do mean big in terms of getting the right player – if they are genuinely good enough for The Arsenal then we need to pay accordingly. If there’s value to be had in Spain and the rest of the continent, fine, but let’s not kid ourselves into thinking we are not trying to replace someone of immense value, both in footballing, and monetary terms.
Market value? I’d say easily £20+ million (obviously far less in reality due to now only having 6 months left).
I hope we’re ready to spend that sort of an amount on his replacement/s, as that amount would cover some handsome wages for the next 5 years; although this is currently hard to imagine as we are led to believe that we are incapable of affording the wages that £20m+ players demand.
Loomer, I’d take your and others like George’s opinions more seriously if you had something intelligent to say instead of snide, childish comments like that.
Good point MGK. Trying to replace Theo with a young untried Championship player won’t be enough to compensate for Theo’s loss, much less progress toward challenging again next season. The very least we need to do is to bring in a comparably productive wide forward.
Plus, as Shotta has pointed out, echoing many (and implicitly criticizing AW, but he’s allowed to!) the midfield really needs some help. I’d only add to his remarks that a) Cazorla is in his first half season in the PL and shouldn’t be written off so soon and Rosicky can play the creative fulcrum now that he is fit and b) we are lacking a dynamic physical force, have not replaced Song and are depending in a 31 yr. old Arteta to play 60 games.
I don’t dispute that we haven’t been as creative as we need to be, but we also haven’t controlled possession the way we used to either. We’ve suffered physicality and pressure, been cautious or sluggishly incapable of Wengerball. It’s a bit of a puzzle as there are many good players, but some ingredients to the mix are missing.
@dukey at 11:23 pm
Such is your disillusionment with Wenger that absolutely nothing he does now is any good. I believe you are in a very small, perhaps tiny, minority on this one.
I am beginning to think Duke has the hots for young Theo.
I don’t understand it,hes nowhere near as cute as Andrei.
I can’t believe the criticism Carzola is getting here. To date he has been our best player and what a revelation he has been.
Of course he has had one or two games where he hasn’t been prominent but in hindsight looking at even the worst game he’s had he’s been better than most. If anything Santi has been more affected by the lack of movement by other midfield players and our failure to play tikki takka as per normal. So far only Mata perhaps is ahead of Carzola and only just. End of the season he will be the only arsenal player in the running for mvp.
What?
http://www.aclfarsenal.co.uk/?p=10304
A fond farewell to 2012.
LG
Yep, agree with you on this midfield-our own three amigos(Jack’s an amigo, o.k) are way too similar in style and physique.
We lack power and pace in the middle. Don’t get me wrong, they are all nippy over a few yards, which makes them all excellent of getting away from the opposition in order to continue playing the ball, but when we need to pressure the opposition attack and/or get a challenge in the help the boys at the back, we’re struggling to keep up with play.
For me, and I’ve heard others echo the same (Tom Watt for one-make of that what you will, but I like him), if all three are to play, then Santi could come wide, allowing a faster, more powerful, naturally combative type to come in alongside them.
The talent we have in the squad is fantastic, but we’ve been crying out for this type of player even when Song was still here, as he became our creative outlet in the middle. Like Jonny pointed out recently, many of us were debating the merit of bringing in M’Vila to sit in alongside Song, potentially rotating with Song and Diaby as the fixtures or game scenario demanded.
We no longer have Song, Diaby is injured(I know, he’s back in training) and M’vila never materialised.
I suggested Diame yesterday, as I’ve seen him and been really impressed and he’d only be 3.5million, but most feel he is not up to our standard.
Happy New year to you all!! Especially to Yogi and his family, without the, all we would be nothing. I have been posting my own personal brand of idiocy on here for a few years now and (amazingly) some of you still read it! But in fairness I do read your idiocy too, so all is fair and square on that end. I think I even made a valid point in Feb 2009, not sure which day but you can ask YW to find it for you.
3 points tomorrow and I will be very happy. I am in Baltimore for the game, an ‘Irish’ bar (vomit!!!) but a very oud and roudy bunch of Goonas no less.
Christ! It took me 9 minutes to type that but upon reading it, the first sentence sucks big donkey balls.
I suppose it is only appropriate to start off the New Year as I wish to end it. Illiterate and a bit(?) drunk but at peace with that
*
* Take it away Jonny
Oh and to start the New Year off with a bang, just a reminder of how bad the Daily Mail really is. Here is a link to an article they have which includes some videos. The first one is from some guy who used his cell phone to record it live on TV, seriously good journalism. Another clip has been rejected for copyright infringement.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2255266/Best-goal-2012-Zlatan-Ibrahimovic-Papiss-Cisse-Neymar-win.html