HAVING one of your own players sent-off is no good thing but it made this really fun to watch. And it also made for a great win that saw us dig in and show a pleasing mix of both style and substance as we faced a late Pompey onslaught.
I don’t know if Hoyte was injured or what. But there was no sign of him and Flamini filled in. Alex Hleb was passed fit to play and otherwise the side was as you would expect.
When I say it was a cheap goal that gave us the lead, I don’t mean it came about through shocking Pompey defending or a great slice of luck. Rather, it was a goal that came about simply by doing the simple things. Clichy closed his man, the ball ricoched off his foot into the path of Van Persie who knocked it past James and was promptly sent flying.
Referee points to the spot. Adebayor strolls up and wham bam thank you mam, we’re 1-0 up. At times in the last couple of years it has felt as if to fashion a goal has involved huge investments of skill, artistry, thought and execution. Now we were being equally rewarded simply for doing the easy things right.
And the second was exactly the same. Rosicky actually got some height on his corner, Gilberto actually attacked the ball and Cesc actually made sure he was in the box and on his toes. Pompey should probably have had men on the post. But the fact the ball fell to Cesc was no slice of luck. It was just the kind of fortune you will inevitably get if enough corners actually manage to a) get off the ground b) beat the first man.
At half-time things looked good. Admittedly, Van Persie and Adebayor still didn’t look entirely comfortable together, but both had made valuable individual contributions. In midfield Gilberto was at his wall like best, Cesc was probably enjoying his best form of the season, Hleb’s touch was all there and Rosicky was looking more involved than recently.
Within four minutes of the restart things changed when Senderos was red carded after bringing down Kanu on the edge of the box. The first thing to say is that if Kanu was offside (and I’ve only seen BBC replays that did not say one way or the other), then Senderos has been very hard done by and that would explain why he seemed behind his man.
If not, it was a bad moment for Senderos who was dismissed at Boro for almost exactly the same thing and got a second yellow at Fulham for a near identical foul. You can argue a young, raw Tony Adams might have picked up a few more reds than he did had the last man rule been in place when he started out. But Senderos’ current record is three reds from his last nine league starts and that, frankly, is shocking.
On the red card, I thought Kanu was moving in the direction of Kolo Toure, who appeared to be covering. Also, it’s hardly as if Kanu was about to pull the trigger because after all, of every human being ever to play football, nobody has enjoyed taking the scenic route to goal quite like Kanu.
You worried that with us not being the biggest of sides and Pompey being frankly quite a lot bigger, we could face a really stern test. But thankfully as the game became more stretched we were excellent at keeping the ball and spreading the play. And a third duly arrived when Pompey went to sleep at a free-kick down by the byline that Cesc took from nowhere near where the original foul was.
It was Pompey’s job to be alert and tell the ref to move it back (like we should have for PSV’s equaliser last year). But they didn’t and Cesc played it inside for Rosicky who fired a howitzer across goal. It was poor defending but it was also a bullet of a shot and the crucial thing was it was taken early, which always gives you a better chance of catching the keeper unawares.
Then within seconds Pompey had one back. Clichy was too easily beaten on the left, a delicious ball was swung in and Kanu basically fluked it in off some part of his body or other.
A 3-1 lead had never felt so nervy and before long Denilson had replaced the tiring but impressive Hleb and Diaby was on for RVP. Gilberto had gone to centre-back and you certainly couldn’t fault him for effort even if in truth he looked fairly shaky there.
But we were still attacking at pace and on the whole our touch was there yesterday. One magnificently worked move saw Clichy sling over a delightful cross (no really) that was somehow headed miles and miles wide when it was easier to score. My initial thought was to blame Baptista because even though I knew he’d left the club, he was the only Arsenal player I’ve ever seen who I thought could miss a chance like that.
In fact it was Diaby. Talking of Diaby, he is an odd one. On the ball he is phenomenal. His quick feet bamboozle and he uses his massive physical frame to protect the ball. But off it, he is a completely different player. He strolled around, jockeying the Pompey players with far less energy than team-mates who had been on all game. There is the occasional tackle but not half as much as there should be.
And it’s frustrating. Because the guy could be really very, very good. But I can’t see how he will ever be that as anything other than a tough tackling midfielder.
In the end we hung on fairly comfortably and the players got a deserved ovation at the final whistle. It had been really refreshing, barnstorming stuff and for once there was no doubting Arsene’s talk of spirit etc. We really showed it and certain players put in massive performances.
The defence ensured that what we still lack in organisation was made up for by exceptional work-rate. Flamini and Clichy in particular were still motoring around like nutters well into stoppage time. In midfield Cesc had been excellent, combining the beautiful stuff with the hard work.
Hleb had done very well given his illness and I thought Rosicky had a stormer. Both players showed that while through the middle may be their ideal position, they can both be very effective from the wings. Rosicky never stopped running and never stopped working. It made life a lot easier when we went down to ten men.
You don’t need me to say the first segment of the season has been a good one. I just hope there are no surprises in this week’s dotting of Is and crossing of Ts on Arsene’s contract.
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