RSSArsenal 3 Prague 0: Boring doesn’t mean bad - match report and player ratings
No complaints at all.
7
Came in and looked assured at the back and as good going forward as we have seen him. Undoubtedly behind Sagna but a perfectly good reserve.
7
Captain on the night, the defence looked assured before the break and a little less so after. But in fairness we have conceded just two goals in five games and really neither were the defence’s fault.
7
No horrible moments and was rarely troubled by an insipid Sparta.
7
Not quite his usual self, being caught out positionally occasionally. But if you’re going to have a bit of a stinker one night, this was the time to have it.
6
Was it the quality of the opposition or the return of the Brazilian? Either way, our midfield looked far sturdier.
7
The usual Vieiraesque turns and runs before the break. Also made significantattempts to play the enforcer, even if it comes nowhere near as naturally to him as it did to Vieira. Faded after the break.
7
Confident running throughout, even if it lacked the abandon we know Theo is capable of at his best. It’s not just a case of finding the fitness again, he is also looking for the confidence that makes taking someone on the most natural thing in the world. It’s coming. Good ball for the opener.
7.5
Good finish and solid enough without doing a hell of a lot else of note.
7
His general play was fine (particularly given he was getting used to playing with a type of striker very different to what he is used to). He is, however, a player who will always be judged on his goals and his dead-ball feats. When they come off he is the star, when they don’t, he is a mere mortal.
6.5
A right busy-body and deserved his goal. Very different to what we have had before and in some ways Jeffers like. But there also seems to be more to his general play and a better attitude to go with it too.
7
As ever, an excellent sub.
7
As I said in the report, seems to be getting some harsh criticism. Not his best appearance, but he did set up the third goal.
6.5
Did better than he usually does at left midfield, which surprised me if truth be told.
7 From Goodplaya at the Emirates
JUST because last night was incredibly dull at times, it doesn’t make a 5-0 aggregate beating of Sparta Prague a bad result.
We were calm and measured in the face of hostility in the first leg and always in control in the second leg. Last night’s ease of victory, and the early opening goal in particular, may have been completely out of keeping with the new norm of dramatic late comebacks, but the fact is you can’t have it both ways.
The team selection at least made interesting reading. Hoyte came in at right-back, Senderos was fit to partner Kolo, allowing Gilberto and Diaby to replace Cesc and Flamini in midfield. Walcott came in for Hleb and Eduardo for Adebayor.
Our start was crisp and professional. Everyone seemed to know their roles and everyone looked comfortable in them. And our early dominance was rewarded with a fine goal on seven minutes. Hoyte showed just how much he has improved on the ball in the last year. He linked up with Walcott, who sped to the byline and then pulled across a ball that was both pacey and accurate. It was met by Tom Rosicky who swept it home in top David Platt style.
The rest of the half was fairly dull truth be told, but at least we were doing the simple things right. Diaby was on the whole putting himself about, Senderos looked assured, Walcott was clearing at least some of the mental cob-webs that seem to have built up and Eduardo was full of running. A rare error came from the slightly below par Gael Clichy, who allowed his man to get completely the wrong side of him. The resulting shot flew inches wide.
It was no more interesting after the break, except Sparta began to have more of the play and we started to muck around. I haven’t read Arsene’s quotes but I imagine when asked about the start of the second half he said something like:
“I feel that physically and mentally our levels dropped a bit. But still, we were professional.”
And that pretty much sums it up. You never felt as if Sparta were about to spring an upset but you still got frustrated with frequent dawdling all round the pitch.
Besides being a fairly decent player, Cesc Fabregas is an exceptional substitute so it was no surprise that when he replaced the (understandably) tiring Diaby, things picked up. The other change was Adebayor for RVP. Now Adebayor is an interesting one. I know he was poor on Saturday but I was still shocked by the number of people who seem to have suddenly turned against him.
From being a deserving cult-hero, some are now seeing him like they did Kevin Campbell in 1994 and I think that’s rather unfair frankly.
Anyway, the last ten minutes came and once again Arsenal made a mockery of those who insist on leaving early. It’s funny, because so often you can’t see these goals coming in the sense of turning to your mate and saying: “We’re going to score in a minute”, but at the same time they seem to arrive with such regularity that not even Fergie could feign surprise if we did what we did to them last season this season.
It was the lively Eduardo who burst down the left, beat his man and pulled the ball back for Cesc. He took a touch and then hit it early from around 16 yards, Frank Lampard stylee. And sure enough, if flew in Lampard style - a thumping finish but had it been your own keeper you might have asked a few questions. The value of taking it early I guess.
Then the crowd were sent home happy when Denilson (who had replaced Rosicky) dilly-dallied in true Arsenal style with Adebayor before eventually sending in a cross that Eduardo kind of skewered home with an outstretched foot. There looked a hint of offside about it a la Rosicky against Wigan last season (except without the chip factory on shoulder Paul Jewell standing on the touchline), but it was deserved reward for Eduardo’s industrious performance.
He and RVP (or any of our forward pairings for that matter), still look a million miles away from Henry and Bergkamp at their best. But the point is that in Henry and Bergkamp you had two of the most sublime touches ever to grace these shores. Neither RVP or Eduardo or any of our strikers will ever be better at being Henry and Bergkamp than Henry and Bergkamp were. But that does not mean you can’t be just as effective.
Some of you will be annoyed I’ve given so many 7s in the playa ratings. I’m afraid it is deliberate. This was a solid, professional performance where almost everyone did their job well without being spectacular. To say anything else would be to over analyse.
30 August 2007 at 8:59 am
How Can U Compare Eduardo To That Stupid Big Ear’d Jeffers
30 August 2007 at 9:01 am
Denilson came on at RM. Eduardo went out to the left. Sorry to pick you up on that.
30 August 2007 at 9:06 am
from last nite’s performance, adebayor/dudu is more effective than van persie/dudu, agree?
30 August 2007 at 9:13 am
I might get slated for this but to be honest i am really not impressed with RVP at all and i think Adebayor and Eduardo would be a much better partnership up front and RVP with all his talents gives away too many silly fee kicks and isn’t a team player…. he’s too greedy.
Walcott really impressed me last night and what i difference Gilberto makes to the squad
30 August 2007 at 9:14 am
tim’s dead right, denilson played on the right of midfield. how could u overlook that?
30 August 2007 at 9:17 am
Senderos played dreadfully… he lost the ball on several occasions when not even under pressure… his positioning was terrible for a player with no pace and spends too much time watching players and not enough time watching the ball
30 August 2007 at 9:18 am
I think that Arsene needs to play either Adebayor or Bendtner alongside Eduardo or Van Persie, as the the latter two don’t seem particularly suited to playing with their back to goal & holding the ball up long enough to bring other Arsenal players into play.
30 August 2007 at 9:19 am
Stop calling him Dudu. You’ll make me cry.
30 August 2007 at 9:26 am
It would be nice to see Wenger play Eduardo on the left, RVP on the right and Walcott in the centre; with Rosicky or Helb as the support. Hmmm…. this will surely mess up the opposition.
30 August 2007 at 9:35 am
For me Jay is right about questioning RVP - if you watch RVP you will see his control is actually iffy - in fact he fumbles the ball most of the time. Once he has control than he has a wicked shot or cross. In fact how we don’t score goals from his corners baffles me.
The other problem I have with RVP is the fact that we haven’t found a way of getting him in the game enough.
Rating of 7.5 for Walcott was generous to say the least and for me was no more than a 5.0 and he continues to be a massive disappointment. Exactly what is it that is good at? - please don’t say pace because it cannot be that I hope.
30 August 2007 at 9:40 am
RvPs performance last night was excellent. There is so much more to his game than scoring fantastic goals. His passing was spot on, the best pass was across field 30 yards through two defenders perfectly weighted to the right wing. His support for mid field, defensively hunting down their wingers to provide cover for Tomas and Theo was exemplary. He cleared several corners.Most of all though the crosses for freekicks and corners were deadly and should bear fruit as the season goes on. In addition he still manages shots on goal and times his runs well. As a team in the last third the timing is still a bit off but it is getting there. He was an excellent team player last night and there is so much to his game as he matures.
30 August 2007 at 10:06 am
i believe Arsene said the aim of the game yesterday was to maintain possession so we can’t really read much into the activities of the attackers,that said, Bendtner or Adebayor has to take 1 slot in the forward-line.
30 August 2007 at 10:12 am
It’s hard to judge the performance of players when the game was over in the first few minutes. It had the feel of a training ground match. I thought the defence was solid and much more confident than in the past few weeks. Almunia is starting to own that position. Walcott is still slightly intimidated by the situation and doesn’t trust his own ability. He spends a little too much time thinking about what he should do next rather than simply doing what comes naturally. The only slightly worrying aspect of the game was that Eduardo and RvP do not seem to provide the attacking outlet for the midfield that we have seen in past Arsenal teams. There was very little movement up front. When Ade came on the whole dynamics of the attach changed. He provided movement and focus around which the other players could work. He seemed to great more space for others which Rvp and Eduardo together didn’t. The partnership looks like Ade + a.n.other. But I am not convinced he will get enough goals in a season for us to really contend.
30 August 2007 at 10:20 am
Adebayor does not have enough to his game yet to build a team around him. The tactician up front is RvP and the others will sing to his tune. The last two goals last night came after Sparta had been stretched every which way for 80 mins. Bring on fresh legs against a team which is becoming very tired from chasing possession for so long and goals will come. Very much a part of our game plan. All four stikers will contribute this year in all sorts of combinations depending upon the circumstances. We should make judgements later on the season when there have been enough match playing hours. But even then it is better to judge the team as whole rather than individual players, after all it is a team game.
30 August 2007 at 11:29 am
from what iv seen from RvP is that his lazy, his first touch is clumsy, he falls to easly on the ground, and his free kicks r if they dont hit the wall then row z. hasnt got the speed of henry or pires, and like someone said he aint a team player, mayb all the hype is gettin to his head,on the other hand, eduardo, adebayo an cese link up quite beatifuly, when the whole team looks for one man like we did with henry last few seasons then our game is over before we kick aball,with the whole team contributing from every angle like the old team of perkam henry pires veira then we will b a sucess
30 August 2007 at 11:30 am
In the first half, we were being dominated in the midfield. i think Diaby was losing possession unnecessarily, probably coz he has been dogged by injuries and yesterday was his first competitive match from the long layoff.Actually, i was really disappointed with that guy’s performance - blind passes and those ‘hospital passes’. hope he is going to improve and recover his form.
30 August 2007 at 11:48 am
that FABREGAS is just too much 4 me to wacht.wacott or what do u call him is another player 4 now
30 August 2007 at 12:23 pm
Oh dear no Ahmed. You are an ANR reader are’nt you?
30 August 2007 at 1:06 pm
David Dein press conference to say hes has sold his shares in arsenal to a russian “businessman” !
http://arseblog.com/columns/2007/08/30/is-david-dein-having-a-press-conference-this-afternoon/
30 August 2007 at 1:32 pm
No personally attack on Ade but please, he’s a striker bought to score goals for us but not to be holding balls, a preserve of midfielders. We want him to score for us and nothing else, his misses are just too much to be counternanced. If he can’t score 15 goals a season then we better look at Bendtner who I think will be better than Ade. For Clichy, he committed the same mistake against Salzburg during pre-season and also against Man City; may be lack of competition is making him relaxed. I still doubt Senderos, he looked unsure of himself and again committed a major mistake. There’s always one mistake in Sendy’s play. Other fans say he’s still improving but he should be more careful in our next two matches especially against Spurs notably Berbatov. GO ARSENAL.
30 August 2007 at 2:56 pm
I’m with Stevie Morrow, it was not a game you can make realistic evaluations on given that the match was over as a contest before the seats were warm. It was important to stay fresh for Sunday and not pick up silly injuries. That said, Walcott started well but faded later and generally struggled when defenders were tight on him. Cesc changed the game. Adebayor brought a bit of spark too. Phil did make one unforced error but on the whole looked solid enough. Almunia really has given Arsène a selection dilemma and surely Manuel should keep his place. Agree that Hoyte is no Sagna but I would not want to see him sold to Aston Villa. He gives us an option to rest players across the back 4 and is an honest pro.
30 August 2007 at 3:11 pm
Daily Mail says that Joe Cole is pissed-off at Morinho again…it must be for treating him like a small child, since that is how Morinho treats his players. It would be nice if he could come to a squad where the players are treated as adults and allowed to play…of course it isn’t going to happen. But it would me nice, wouldn’t it?
30 August 2007 at 11:03 pm
Oh, god. This is horrible news about the Russian. A friend of mine works for the PR company that they’ve hired, and rang me up to laugh and laugh and laugh. This seems to be a guy whose links to repression and ‘mysterious suicide’ are stomach-turning. The idea that Dein would sell to someone like this is hideous in the extreme.
30 August 2007 at 11:10 pm
we had chelski now we have ar$enov lol, seriously though what roman did for those across london, down at fulham is unique, and us gooners should not get to happy about this. becuase all bussines man what to make money in the long term, so this is bad news, whereas the rest of the board are arsenal fan.
30 August 2007 at 11:17 pm
heard from a source that they found oil under the emirates, firstly the russians send a person called none other than roman to look for oil at chelski. but didnt find it to hide suspicion he bought some players.
but for plan two they really belive they will hit the jackpot at the emirates get ready for SOME PUMPING, pump pump, pump away
lol
31 August 2007 at 12:42 pm
Goodplaya said:
“I haven’t read Arsene’s quotes but I imagine when asked about the start of the second half he said something like:
‘I feel that physically and mentally our levels dropped a bit. But still, we were professional.’”
Very funny stuff. I’ve got to work on my Arsene Wenger impersonations - always a laugh at parties.
4 February 2008 at 5:17 pm
paris hilton sex tape from Paris exposed video ooo…
Recently leaked footage of the new Paris Hilton sex tape…