An Absolute Thunder Bastard!

Tottenham 0 - 1 Arsenal
Match Stats

Coming into Sundays North London derby match I was a bit anxious, especially since Arsenal have not won at White Heart Shame since 2007.  I figured with Spuds having an abysmal week culminating in that terrible home lost to Benfica.  A loss in which the Benfica coach pulled a Theo and flaunted the scoreline to the Spuds bench causing Tottenham's psycho coach to flip out for the 2nd time this week.   I thought coming into Sunday's derby match Tottenham would invoke the good ole siege mentality ploy.  You know the one "it's us against the world" or "it's us against are crazy manager, who called us all a bunch of gutless punks, after an unlucky loss to Chelsea."  I thought surely after a two hour players only meeting/shouting session Tottenham would come into today's game fired up, desperate to put last week behind them against their bitter rivals.  And to be honest, Spuds put in a lot of effort and competed admirably, but it wasn't to be for Spuds, and Arsenal had enough class to get all 3 points.

The Good - Rosicky's goal was fantastic.  It was an absolute Thunder Bastard, shot like an arrow into the upper left corner.  The goal came from and errant pass in midfield by Sandro, and to make things worst, while trying to win back the ball, he was out muscled by guess who, thats right you guess it, The OX, who continued up the pitch and found Rosicky out wide who in return passed it back to OX.  The pass by Rosicky to OX had a little too much pace, but OX did well to control the pace of the pass with a little flick to right of the defender, and thats when it fell perfectly to an on coming Rosicky who just flat out kicked the hell the ball.  It was the perfect way start (72 seconds) to a very tense North London derby.  Rosicky not only scored the winning goal, but he also ran his socks off for the team and had an all around solid match.  It is no surprise that when he finally came off the pitch, Arsenal really struggled to pass and keep the ball, and Spuds really controlled possession and pinned Arsenal back.  I could not be happier for Rosicky, a player who's been through a lot, with all those years injured.  Rosicky has shown the type of class, resiliency, loyalty, and most important the honesty to stay at the club and "pay back" the club for sticking by him all those years injured with the kind of wonderful displays of quality and enthusiasm that we all witnessed in Sundays derby.

Per and Koscielny were solid and brave all match, their performance could not have come at a better time.  When these two get it right, boy do they get it right, they perfectly compliment each other.  Everything Per lacks as a footballer Koscielny has and vice versa.  The way Per "lets" Koscielny cover for him is genius, and every time one of those desperate Spuds crosses came into the box, Per was there to head the ball to safety. Koscielny battled with a bearded African twice his size (Adebayor) all game, and every time he had to make a last ditch tackle he pulled it off.  Arsenal's defense was under a lot pressure today, but these two showed the type of commitment and teamwork needed for Arsenal's title challenge.

The Bad - The Ox, first let me start out by saying, Ox had a wonderful game..  BUT LETS BE HONEST, Ox missed two wonderful chances in the first half that could have made my Sunday afternoon a little less stressful.  I'll give Ox a break on the 2nd chance although he really should be hitting the target, but the 1st chance was inexcusable. On the first chance Ox had so many choices, he could have passed to Podolski, he could have chipped the keeper early, or he could have just shot on target, but instead he choose to do his best Gervinho impersonation, and leave all Arsenal fans perplexed has to what in the hell was he thinking.  Ox is a young exciting versatile player, and I accept the fact that composure comes with maturity, and when Ox fully matures, Arsenal are going to have one hell of player.

The Ugly -Almunia, I mean Szczesny in goal looked rusty and indecisive.  You could actually see the wheels turning in his head, to come or not come that was the question, and he got the answer wrong on a couple of very nervy occasions during  a very difficult stretch in the game.  The way Fabianski's been playing the manager really has to think about going with the hot hands, not because Szczesny is terrible or anything like that, but because Fabianski is in better form.  Some might say I'm over reacting, but those blunders could have really cost us the game and the title challenge.  If the manager chooses which keepers to start, based on the last two  matches they've played, then you would think Wenger would choose Fabianski.  Young keepers have those stretch of matches where inconsistency and poor decision making start to creep in.  Lets hope this isn't one of those stretches, but if it is, Arsenal have a proven backup keeper who has shown he can step in and fell the void, at least until he gets hurt( I kid I kid).

Final Thought - Last year when Arsenal went to Germany and defeated Bayern, it really laid the ground work for Arsenal's season to get on track.  After that win in Germany against the future CL cup winners, Arsenal went on one of the best run in's I can remember.  The run in was so unforgettable because of the way the team won games.  Arsenal didn't win those games with that swashbuckling, free flowing, lots of goal scoring style.  Arsenal won  those games the old fashion way, with solid defense and timely goals.  I cant remember exactly off hand how many 1 nil victories Arsenal won during that stretch, but I bet it was a lot, and Sunday's derby match really reminded of what this squad is capable of defensively.  As Arsenal supporters lets all hope that this years return from Germany sets the wheels in motion for another brilliant run in to the season.

Peace Out,
Blanco