Wednesday, September 22, 2010

Spurs 1-4 Arsenal: Are you watching, Tottenham?

Lansbury is really pumped about scoring against Spurs. (Tom Jenkins, The Guardian)

I've only been an Arsenal fan for a few years, but in those years I've grown to love the club dearly. As a person living on the far side of the Atlantic, and a person who didn't grow up with the club, it's taken a lot of effort to learn all about Arsenal - the history, the traditions, and all that.

It has taken no effort to hate Tottenham Hotspur.

I really don't know why. I don't know whether it's the players, or the manager (let's be real, 'Arry is pretty hateable), or the fans. Probably all of the above. It's just something that's come so naturally to me that it's almost disturbing. Naturally, I blame Spurs for this personal deficiency. See how easy it is?

So even when Arsenal play Spurs in a largely meaningless Carling Cup game (because honestly, nobody cares about the Carling Cup) I get amped up. It would appear that I'm not the only one, because Arsene Wenger - from on high in the director's box while serving his one-match ban for not just hauling off and punching a referee on Saturday - fielded a not-terrible team, which is unusual. There were only three overlapping starters from the Sunderland match, but players like Eboué, Gibbs, Denilson, and Rosicky starting and most of the first team on the bench, you could tell the match was actually being taken seriously. Even though Fabianski was in goal.

More stuff

The first half was extraordinarily one-sided. The scoreline wasn't, with Arsenal up only 1-0, but they had control of the ball for what seemed like about 90% of play. Spurs were getting passed into oblivion, but Arsenal couldn't finish but once; a great ball in the box from Jack Wilshere was bombed in by Henri Lansbury, both of whom are younger than I am. It was a game in which missed opportunities could have come back to haunt the Gunners, and it almost did.

Just after the half, Robbie Keane received a ball over the top in the box, and slid it past a diving Fabianski, who was honestly just there for decoration. It was a fine play, but would have been better had Keane not been criminally offside. The call wasn't made, the goal stood, and the score was leveled. (This was compounded by the fact that Arsenal left-back Kieran Gibbs had a chance fraudulently taken away for offside before the half, by the same linesman no less.)

The score remained unchanged through full-time, setting the stage for a barrage in extra time. Twice Arsenal were awarded penalties: once for a foul on Samir Nasri and again for one on Marouane Chamakh. Rosicky's penalty miss Saturday (along with many, many other things) cost two points, but Nasri wasn't as wasteful. He took both shots, and Spurs keeper Stipe Pletikosa guessed wrong both times. Andrei Arshavin finished the scoring with a solid shot, and Arsenal coasted to the finish.

Hopefully Gibbs won't end up being the biggest story. Reports after the game are saying that he may have a broken bone in his foot, which is similar to the injury that put him out for three months last year. It would be a major setback for a player who has looked better than first-teamer Gael Clichy so far this year, so hopefully it will not be as bad as is feared. More on that will probably be available today, so we'll see.

Here are some stats, courtesy of Orbinho...Spurs come first then Arsenal, as usual in football.
Goals: 1-4
Shots: 12-24
On target: 4-7
Possession: 36%-64%
Passing accuracy: 77%-84%
Fouls: 23-14
Duels won: 47%-53%

Man of the Match: I'm going to go with Koscielny, but that's primarily due to my slowly-developing mancrush on him. He's shown himself to be a supreme badass since coming over to the Gunners, and I didn't get to shower him with praise after the Sunderland match. Second star is Jack Wilshere, who's developed into a bit of a mini-Cesc. I'll give third star to Nasri for not missing any penalties, unlike freaking Rosicky (whose name is not pronounced the way it looks like it should be, if you're wondering).