Walking The Walk?

from the fort greene bunker

Barclays Premier League

Arsenal 3-0 West Brom 05 November 2011

Van Persie [22], Vermaelen [39], Arteta [74]

Our captain has been lauded for his impressive strike rate this season but he himself has admitted there is room for improvement when it comes to setting up goals for his teammates. That would be addressed with some interest, but not before he arrived in perfect time to put us ahead against West Brom.

The visitors defended gamely and limited space to the degree that we struggled to find any real threat in our attack, but at the first opportunity Ramsey played a wonderful pass between the back four, Walcott latched onto it, and the rebound from his shot was slammed home by Van Persie. Quick thinking and delightful execution from Rambo, who has steadily grown into the creative charge he has been given in midfield. Like a boss.

Theo might have felt aggrieved that he wasn’t allowed to finish it off himself, but he looked to be shunted away by a recovering defender. I feel aggrieved because his form of late has demolished my preemptive tactic for writing this blog---when all else fails, rant about Theo. Sorry Santos, all eyes on you now buddy.

Song, another popular whipping boy in some quarters, continued his newfound positional discipline, and again showed his passing nous with a great pick-out for the second goal. Jenkinson has received credit for his crossing but what has perhaps gone unnoticed is the variety of his distribution. Saturday he showed the instinct to give the early ball and it was such a cross after a failed corner that fell to Song, who played a great lofted pass to the back post. RVP tried to hit Gervinho at the near post with a chocolaty volley but it was slightly behind him. Vermaelen, who won a pair of headers after Jenks' initial cross, tracked the play and arrived at the back post to slam the ball behind the scrambling Foster for a well taken goal.

It was an impressive first half showing, not so much for the score line but for the way in which the Arsenal players set about the task of winning the ball back whenever possession was lost. Brom were well organized and compressed the pitch well, but there were moments when the red and white shirts were swarming two and three at a time, harassing their opponents and limiting them to hopeful punts forward. Maybe the loss against the Baggies here last year was in the back of their minds, or perhaps the somewhat subdued performance midweek was a reminder that maximum effort is required to continue our resurgence.  It was only West Brom some might scoff.

Regardless, when it comes to lessons learned, in the build-up to this match there was a welcome absence of talk and a refreshing presence of action after kickoff. To a man there was an obvious commitment on the pitch to get the job done against a lesser light of the PL having taken a major scalp last weekend. Particularly in the first half, the movement on both sides of the ball was exceptional and it was no surprise to see the return of the pass and move game that has been conspicuously missing this season.

On another day Vermaelen may have had a second after another lovely early cross from Jenkinson produced a corner. His snap header drifted about a foot past the far post and had it gone in RVP would have recorded a hat-trick of assists. In the end it would only be a pair but we certainly saved the best for last. If there was an element of fortune about our first half goals, even if they were inevitable, the third was classic Arsenal.

Patient build-up from the back four found Vermaelen near halfway and he split the midfield with a sharp through ball to Van Persie. He combined with Rosicky, in very fine form indeed, and with a quick pair of touches set up Arteta for an emphatic finish.  Four passes, two thirds of the pitch covered, and three nil to the Gunners.

At half time I’d have taken 2-0 and been quite content with the performance. Such are the throes of passion that this side can elicit, that after the third goal I was hopeful of a huge rout and was gagging for a fourth. What was more pleasing was the way in which the team made sure to close out the result. Vermaelen, at 3-0 up with about 10 minutes left, scrambled back after a rare misread by Koscielny and made a fantastic sliding block to deny Brom a late consolation.  

The Belgian was outstanding throughout and if a single player could be picked out from this wonderful team performance to be man of the match, he would have a very strong case to argue. But for me, that nod has to go to Wenger. I have to put up my hand and say that my faith has wavered this season, particularly at the NLD, but he has forged this team together in the fire of a truly miserable start, and we have come out of it in remarkable fashion. It’s a pity that there were so many empty seats in the stadium at the end of the match, because this team and the manager deserved the applause after this display.  There is still work to be done, especially in any potential absence of our unplayable leader. On evidence of this performance we look to be very much on the right track.


Follow @11cannons