A very good evening to all of you. What a joyous evening that is.
As you may have guessed, Arsenal came out victorious in a North London derby today. Just an hour ago, actually. But first things first.
Arsene Wenger made three changes from the squad that have beaten Fenerbahce five days ago. Rosicky for injured Podolski, Gibbs for Monreal and Koscielny for Sagna. I have to say I was a bit surprised by the manager's decision to start Jenks over Sagna. My perplexity was increased still, when I saw Chadli (I think) running riot on our right flank during the entire first half. Maybe it was down to the fact, that Walcott wasn't providing any cover for our young right-back. He did play closer to Jenkinson during the second period, which ensured all Spurs' attacks broke down swiftly down that flank.
We started lively enough, with Cazorla having taken two freekicks from dangerous positions inside six minutes. The first one saw Lloris go full-stretch to stop the ball from drifting in into the top corner, while with second one Cazorla tried a low shot, which would have seen us go in front, had the Spaniard not missed the target by a couple of inches.
After that, Tottenham dominated the next 15 minutes, but never came close to scoring. The only half-decent effort came from Townsend, whose low shot from outside the penalty area was brilliantly palmed away by Szczesny.
The game exploded into life in the 23rd minute. Ramsey withstood some pressure in midfield, passed the ball to Rosicky, who fed onrushing Walcott. The Englishman's pass found Giroud, who, with a sublime touch, sent the ball home from close range. 4 goals in 5 games. I'm in love.
Walcott then fired a low shot, which was palmed away by Lloris. Ramsey fired over a couple of minutes later.
Tottenham piled on the pressure, but nothing came out of it. The only thing of note happened a few minutes from half-time, when Whilshere left the field to be replaced by Flamini. It seemed that Jack sustained an injury of some kind, but the manager later confirmed it was nothing serious. Good to hear.
The second half was more lively than the first. Tottenham still had a lion's share of possession, but nothing came out of it. The only thing of danger was their freekick, which saw Szczesny pull off a brilliant save. The ensuing scramble in the box had nothing to show for it for Tottenham.
We, on the other hand, had two pretty good chances to kill the game off. First came, when Giroud's deflected long shot nearly found the bottom corner. Another one saw Giroud breaking down the right flank, outsmart two defenders and cut in a pass for Walcott. Theo's initial effort was again saved by Lloris, but it was Monreal's rebound (who came on for Rosicky shortly before that) that presented real danger. His mistimed his shot, however, and wasn't able to pull off a proper shot, otherwise, we would have 2-0 up.
The manager also threw Sagna on for Walcott in the latter stages to ensure we hang on to the three points. Which we did, to the fans' immense delight and Boas' fury.
After the game, the manager said:
Speaking about Lloris, he really was Spurs' best player, pulling off a number of saves and also playing last defender's role quite brilliantly, when required to.
I also think, I have to give credit, not only to our team as whole, which had a controlled and lively performance, but to a couple of individuals.
I've already mentioned, how happy I am with what I see from Giroud, so I won't go into detail here. Cazorla was again outstanding, finding his way out of a lot of tight situations and digging in defensively. Ramsey's energy is also a thing of beauty, considering, that he played every second of every game. tried hard, again. There were a couple of strokes of brilliance from the Welshman, when he teared his way through much bigger opponents. What a lad.
Walcott again failed to score, but it wasn't for the lack of trying. Every shot he pulled off was on target and it was only Lloris' outstanding performance, which saw Walcott come up blank. He did provide his first assist, however, and time and again cut Spurs' defence open with his runs.
Finally, Flamini. Truth be told, I didn't see him doing anything of note, but then, he's a defensive midfielder. The fact that I can't say much about his performance, shows he didn't make any mistakes. And when you're deployed as, basically, a fifth defender, that's saying something.
After the game, the manager was heavily quizzed on transfers and said, he'll most likely spring a couple of surprises tomorrow, bringing in "super quality players". Let's hope, that's the case.
Back tomorrow with a (preliminary) assessment of our transfer window. In the meantime, enjoy the three points
As you may have guessed, Arsenal came out victorious in a North London derby today. Just an hour ago, actually. But first things first.
Arsene Wenger made three changes from the squad that have beaten Fenerbahce five days ago. Rosicky for injured Podolski, Gibbs for Monreal and Koscielny for Sagna. I have to say I was a bit surprised by the manager's decision to start Jenks over Sagna. My perplexity was increased still, when I saw Chadli (I think) running riot on our right flank during the entire first half. Maybe it was down to the fact, that Walcott wasn't providing any cover for our young right-back. He did play closer to Jenkinson during the second period, which ensured all Spurs' attacks broke down swiftly down that flank.
We started lively enough, with Cazorla having taken two freekicks from dangerous positions inside six minutes. The first one saw Lloris go full-stretch to stop the ball from drifting in into the top corner, while with second one Cazorla tried a low shot, which would have seen us go in front, had the Spaniard not missed the target by a couple of inches.
After that, Tottenham dominated the next 15 minutes, but never came close to scoring. The only half-decent effort came from Townsend, whose low shot from outside the penalty area was brilliantly palmed away by Szczesny.
The game exploded into life in the 23rd minute. Ramsey withstood some pressure in midfield, passed the ball to Rosicky, who fed onrushing Walcott. The Englishman's pass found Giroud, who, with a sublime touch, sent the ball home from close range. 4 goals in 5 games. I'm in love.
Walcott then fired a low shot, which was palmed away by Lloris. Ramsey fired over a couple of minutes later.
Tottenham piled on the pressure, but nothing came out of it. The only thing of note happened a few minutes from half-time, when Whilshere left the field to be replaced by Flamini. It seemed that Jack sustained an injury of some kind, but the manager later confirmed it was nothing serious. Good to hear.
The second half was more lively than the first. Tottenham still had a lion's share of possession, but nothing came out of it. The only thing of danger was their freekick, which saw Szczesny pull off a brilliant save. The ensuing scramble in the box had nothing to show for it for Tottenham.
We, on the other hand, had two pretty good chances to kill the game off. First came, when Giroud's deflected long shot nearly found the bottom corner. Another one saw Giroud breaking down the right flank, outsmart two defenders and cut in a pass for Walcott. Theo's initial effort was again saved by Lloris, but it was Monreal's rebound (who came on for Rosicky shortly before that) that presented real danger. His mistimed his shot, however, and wasn't able to pull off a proper shot, otherwise, we would have 2-0 up.
The manager also threw Sagna on for Walcott in the latter stages to ensure we hang on to the three points. Which we did, to the fans' immense delight and Boas' fury.
After the game, the manager said:
It was a very important game for us. It was our fourth game in two weeks and I knew in the last 20 minutes we could suffer a bit physically. But overall it was a convincing win in a very intense game. It was a bit uneven technically, we had moments where we lost some balls that we don't usually [lose], but in the end we hung on. There were aspects to our game that people are not used to seeing from us - that means commitment, desire, defending. Their keeper was their best player, and that shows we had the chances to win really comfortably.Concerning our rarely-seen defensive stability, we know we could do that. We've shown exactly the same kind of commitment and desire during the run-in, so no surprises here.
Speaking about Lloris, he really was Spurs' best player, pulling off a number of saves and also playing last defender's role quite brilliantly, when required to.
I also think, I have to give credit, not only to our team as whole, which had a controlled and lively performance, but to a couple of individuals.
I've already mentioned, how happy I am with what I see from Giroud, so I won't go into detail here. Cazorla was again outstanding, finding his way out of a lot of tight situations and digging in defensively. Ramsey's energy is also a thing of beauty, considering, that he played every second of every game. tried hard, again. There were a couple of strokes of brilliance from the Welshman, when he teared his way through much bigger opponents. What a lad.
Walcott again failed to score, but it wasn't for the lack of trying. Every shot he pulled off was on target and it was only Lloris' outstanding performance, which saw Walcott come up blank. He did provide his first assist, however, and time and again cut Spurs' defence open with his runs.
Finally, Flamini. Truth be told, I didn't see him doing anything of note, but then, he's a defensive midfielder. The fact that I can't say much about his performance, shows he didn't make any mistakes. And when you're deployed as, basically, a fifth defender, that's saying something.
After the game, the manager was heavily quizzed on transfers and said, he'll most likely spring a couple of surprises tomorrow, bringing in "super quality players". Let's hope, that's the case.
Back tomorrow with a (preliminary) assessment of our transfer window. In the meantime, enjoy the three points
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