Who do you think this is? Guardian was told it was Song. That's not right...
Other images via Daily Mail.
Other images via Daily Mail.
Arsenal 3: van Persie 30 (pen), Walcott 73, Nasri 77
Partizan Belgrade 1: Cleo 52
Well, that was close.
There were 21 minutes this afternoon where I was absolutely terrified of seeing Arsenal in the Europa League really soon. I was pretty much a Braga goal away from total heart failure. Then, the Gunners made a substitution I thought was a quarter of an hour late, it paid off, and Arsenal secured qualification... and a date with a German side or a Spanish giant in the Round of 16. But the process in getting there, well, it was unpleasant.
There were 21 minutes this afternoon where I was absolutely terrified of seeing Arsenal in the Europa League really soon. I was pretty much a Braga goal away from total heart failure. Then, the Gunners made a substitution I thought was a quarter of an hour late, it paid off, and Arsenal secured qualification... and a date with a German side or a Spanish giant in the Round of 16. But the process in getting there, well, it was unpleasant.
Arsenal made three changes to the side that started against Fulham at the weekend. Laurent Koscielny was able to start despite picking up a concussion, so that was not one of the three changes. Kieran Gibbs started at left back in the place of Gael Clichy, Denilson started in the place of Jack Wilshere in midfield, and Robin van Persie started up front alongside Marouane Chamakh, in place of Tomas Rosicky.
This meant Arsenal would again, not play their standard 4-2-3-1, considering the RvP/Chamakh pairing; this is really more of a 4-2-2-2 with the usual holding midfielders playing back, Nasri and Arshavin playing along the wings, and the strikers up front. Of course, it's probably just easier to call it a 4-4-2. Then again, chatting with fellow Hipster Gooner contributor Jack Palmer during the match, he suggested that the formation is more easily described as "Leaky-Shaky-Melange."
There was talk in the lead-up to the match about how important it was for Arsenal to start on the front foot. Given how Arsenal can get nervous at home this season, scoring the first goal and moving forward from there was crucial. The boys in red and white were content trying to pick the lock to score their first goal during the first quarter of an hour, but they were met with much resistance; Partizan was completely content with getting as many players as they possibly could behind the ball. Combine this with Jack Wilshere on the bench, Samir Nasri out wide, and Andrei Arshavin having the beginning of an abysmal game, Arsenal was not getting much done creatively. There are times when I love Arsenal's tippy-tappy, pick the lock style, but at the start of a match like today, you've just gotta bang the God damned door down.
The match turned slightly for the worse in the 17th minute when continuously unlucky Kieran Gibbs got his boot caught in the ground, causing him to turn on his ankle. He was stretchered off, then popped back up and came back out onto the pitch for about ten minutes and limped about before being taken off for Emmanuel Eboue. It's really a shame that Gibbs can't seem to go more than two or three games without picking up an injury, this time, without any contact whatsoever. This was a freak accident and hopefully it does not mean a long time on the sidelines for the young Englishman, as I much like Gael Clichy being pushed for his playing time.
Of course, with Clichy not on the bench (out with illness), Eboue was forced to play left back, a position he does not normally play. Even when Gibbs went off with injury at Newcastle in the Carling Cup, Eboue came on and played right back while Bacary Sagna slipped over to the left to cover. The injury led to a lull in concentration from the Gunners, their touches were a bit sloppier (not to say they weren't a little poor even before that) and for about ten minutes, partially while Gibbs was still on limping, Partizan looked threatening on the break. With the way Arsenal's back four have fared lately, anything was possible, but the home side came out of that period unscathed. Partizan tried to exploit Gibbs's injury while he was still on, but could not muster a chance on goal.
There has also been a lot of talk lately about Alex Song's positioning and in the post-match interviews over the weekend, Arsene Wenger confirmed that it was his decision to tell Song to push up a little more than in the past. However, it was Song's forward positioning that led to the chance that led to Arsenal's first goal, though in a roundabout way. Song came up with the ball at the right corner of the penalty area, then slipped a pass through to Robin van Persie. As the Dutchman tried to turn back toward goal, he was tripped by Radosav Petrovic, and the Italian referee pointed to the spot. At the first angle, I thought it was a dive, but that's because Petrovic's tripping leg was obscured. Good call and van Persie did not miss, seizing the opportunity to bury his first goal of the season. Arsenal led 1-0 at the half, though it was not convincing, and it was by no means entertaining.
We've seen Arsenal so many times this year take the lead into halftime, then capitulate early in the second half. It happened against Spurs, it happened at Villa, and it happened again today. And oh boy, was it a shambolic goal. Arsenal started the second half looking for their second goal (and the first 45 seconds of the second half were more exciting than any of the 45 minutes of the first), but in the 52nd, Cleo took the ball 25 yards out, with no Arsenal defenders in front of him, save Sebastian Squillaci. Cleo took a shot, it caromed off Squillaci's foot and popped high in the air, leaving Lukasz Fabianski absolutely no chance. Suddenly, it was 1-1. Suddenly, the doubt was creeping in again. And suddenly, a Braga goal could've meant the Europa League in the coming months.
If you were nervous from the start of this match, like I was, then the next 21 minutes must have been absolutely terrifying. Chance after chance after chance went begging. At the hour mark, I questioned where Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere could have been hiding. The change of pace had to happen and Andrei Arshavin's disastrous game was dragging Arsenal down. There was no creativity; Samir Nasri was playing as hard as ever but could not find a finish. Robin van Persie and Marouane Chamakh looked uncomfortable together combining up front. Something had to change...
The change finally came in the 66th minute as Arshavin was removed for Walcott. A nifty little one-two between he and Alex Song drew a foul as Walcott was body checked to the ground just outside of the box. RvP took the kick, it swerved beautifully, but Vladimir Stojkovic made a top class save and tipped it over the bar.
But seven minutes after coming on, Theo Walcott had a winner for Arsenal. A Sagna cross was blocked down, but cleared only as far as Theo, who chested it down and one-timed a shot across the face of the goal and into the net. And the panic was averted.
Then, Arsenal got a third just four minutes later to make the scoreline a little prettier (considering the effort today was, on the whole, abysmal.) Nicklas Bendtner, who had just come on for Chamakh, played another nifty one-two with Song (maybe he's not such a rogue striker after all,) Song found Nasri at the top of the box and he pounded a strike into the net to make things a little more comfortable.
The end of the match would not be without a little more bad news for Arsenal. With a Partizan striker through on goal and the possibility of a very nervy finish, Bacary Sagna, the last defender, tripped him just ahead of the box, and took a red card for the team. The resulting suspension in the Round of 16 is worrysome, but Sagna made a choice to ensure that Arsenal would be through and not make things more difficult in the final five minutes should Partizan have scored. Mind you, he did not know at the time that Shakhtar led by two and qualification was all but guaranteed.
In the end, this was probably not a good build up to a huge tilt with Manchester United at Old Trafford on Monday and I would love it if I could write a recap where I don't feel the urge to use the word "nervy" in every paragraph. Today we learned: 1) Chamakh and van Persie don't work together yet, 2) we need a creative player in the middle at all times (choose between Fabregas, Nasri, Rosicky, or Wilshere), 3) something has got to be done about this home form problem, and 4) we're off to either Germany or Spain in the next round.
Hipster Gooner Man of the Match: Theo Walcott
There was talk in the lead-up to the match about how important it was for Arsenal to start on the front foot. Given how Arsenal can get nervous at home this season, scoring the first goal and moving forward from there was crucial. The boys in red and white were content trying to pick the lock to score their first goal during the first quarter of an hour, but they were met with much resistance; Partizan was completely content with getting as many players as they possibly could behind the ball. Combine this with Jack Wilshere on the bench, Samir Nasri out wide, and Andrei Arshavin having the beginning of an abysmal game, Arsenal was not getting much done creatively. There are times when I love Arsenal's tippy-tappy, pick the lock style, but at the start of a match like today, you've just gotta bang the God damned door down.
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| Robin van Persie puts Arsenal ahead from the spot. |
Of course, with Clichy not on the bench (out with illness), Eboue was forced to play left back, a position he does not normally play. Even when Gibbs went off with injury at Newcastle in the Carling Cup, Eboue came on and played right back while Bacary Sagna slipped over to the left to cover. The injury led to a lull in concentration from the Gunners, their touches were a bit sloppier (not to say they weren't a little poor even before that) and for about ten minutes, partially while Gibbs was still on limping, Partizan looked threatening on the break. With the way Arsenal's back four have fared lately, anything was possible, but the home side came out of that period unscathed. Partizan tried to exploit Gibbs's injury while he was still on, but could not muster a chance on goal.
There has also been a lot of talk lately about Alex Song's positioning and in the post-match interviews over the weekend, Arsene Wenger confirmed that it was his decision to tell Song to push up a little more than in the past. However, it was Song's forward positioning that led to the chance that led to Arsenal's first goal, though in a roundabout way. Song came up with the ball at the right corner of the penalty area, then slipped a pass through to Robin van Persie. As the Dutchman tried to turn back toward goal, he was tripped by Radosav Petrovic, and the Italian referee pointed to the spot. At the first angle, I thought it was a dive, but that's because Petrovic's tripping leg was obscured. Good call and van Persie did not miss, seizing the opportunity to bury his first goal of the season. Arsenal led 1-0 at the half, though it was not convincing, and it was by no means entertaining.
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| "Here we go again..." |
If you were nervous from the start of this match, like I was, then the next 21 minutes must have been absolutely terrifying. Chance after chance after chance went begging. At the hour mark, I questioned where Theo Walcott and Jack Wilshere could have been hiding. The change of pace had to happen and Andrei Arshavin's disastrous game was dragging Arsenal down. There was no creativity; Samir Nasri was playing as hard as ever but could not find a finish. Robin van Persie and Marouane Chamakh looked uncomfortable together combining up front. Something had to change...
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| Theo Walcott sends Arsenal through. |
But seven minutes after coming on, Theo Walcott had a winner for Arsenal. A Sagna cross was blocked down, but cleared only as far as Theo, who chested it down and one-timed a shot across the face of the goal and into the net. And the panic was averted.
Then, Arsenal got a third just four minutes later to make the scoreline a little prettier (considering the effort today was, on the whole, abysmal.) Nicklas Bendtner, who had just come on for Chamakh, played another nifty one-two with Song (maybe he's not such a rogue striker after all,) Song found Nasri at the top of the box and he pounded a strike into the net to make things a little more comfortable.
The end of the match would not be without a little more bad news for Arsenal. With a Partizan striker through on goal and the possibility of a very nervy finish, Bacary Sagna, the last defender, tripped him just ahead of the box, and took a red card for the team. The resulting suspension in the Round of 16 is worrysome, but Sagna made a choice to ensure that Arsenal would be through and not make things more difficult in the final five minutes should Partizan have scored. Mind you, he did not know at the time that Shakhtar led by two and qualification was all but guaranteed.
In the end, this was probably not a good build up to a huge tilt with Manchester United at Old Trafford on Monday and I would love it if I could write a recap where I don't feel the urge to use the word "nervy" in every paragraph. Today we learned: 1) Chamakh and van Persie don't work together yet, 2) we need a creative player in the middle at all times (choose between Fabregas, Nasri, Rosicky, or Wilshere), 3) something has got to be done about this home form problem, and 4) we're off to either Germany or Spain in the next round.
Hipster Gooner Man of the Match: Theo Walcott
