Two-goal Robin van Persie grabbed the headlines as Arsenal cruised to a 3-0 victory over Newcastle
Newcastle were nowhere near as lively as expected. In fact, they were a shambles. Without the pace of Obafemi Martins they had no threat over the top. So Gallas and Toure pushed up and Michel Owen was stranded on the halfway line, utterly impotent, peripheral to the point of invisibility. Guthrie has no engine, Ameobi is an irrelevance, and centreback Taylor goes AWOL at key moments
Early on, two penalty shouts. At the time, in the stadium, I thought the first one was a penalty and the second wasn’t. Seen from a high angle in the Upper Tier, Coloccini brought Van Persie down in the box. Not given. Then the Adebayor cross that hit the arm of N’Zogbia looked like one of those handballs where a ref would NOT point to the spot. However, having not given the tackle, Rob Styles gave the handball, and Van Persie slammed in the penalty for 1-0 in 18 minutes.
In 41, on the goal for 2-0, Eboue got an assist. He backheeled the ball to Van Persie to wallop in from six yards. Later on the Dutchman was injured as he fired a rocket shot that hit the underside and flew away to the far side of the pitch.
Denilson grafted hard and deserved to score the third in 59.
Carlos Vela came on and fitted smoothly into Arsenal’s ensemble play.
You might say : So he should fit in! He trains with these guys every day. Even allowing for the fact that the contest was over, Vela had to make decisions and he did that very well. Every run, every turn, every pass, every flick, had a purpose -Vela looked the business. He looked pure class. He looked like a Latin Bostik-boots who could became Arsenal’s biggest star. This Mexican might shift merchandise. He might sell a lot of shirts.
Overall, Arsenal got their confidence back after a 4-0 win against FC Twente and got even more confidence after scoring in 21 minutes.
They’d played flowing football from the kick-off and Kevin Keegan was never going to be the tactician to stop them the way Roy Hodgson did at Fulham last week.
When you play the big Four away, you go for damage limitation. And when you play a possession team like Arsenal, you should get the ball and keep it. Don’t play kick-and-rush. Because if Arsenal are denied the ball, they can’t establish the rhythm which is vital to the way they play.
But Newcastle could not keep the ball at all. They had the ball for a few seconds, then lost it. Arsenal pushed up and kept Michael Owen on the halfway line, where he is no threat to anybody, as he has lost his pace.
The Setanta stats gave Arsenal 73% possession after 60 minutes.That is borderline. It’s against the law to have more than 74% possession.
Steve McClaren allowed Wenger to play his game and lost 4-0 and Kevin Keegan allowed Wenger to play his game and lost 3-0. Roy Hodgson didn’t allow Wenger to play his game and beat him 1-0.
Verdict: Robin Bang! Bang! Persie scored two goals and went off injured and Carlos Vela came on and fitted into their ensemble style beautifully.
He passed sweetly and inventively. When Adebayor and van Persie so often slow the attack down, Vela speeds it up. They play a collective game and he can fit into that naturally by doing the things that he would want to do, whatever team he was in.
He came on for half an hour, so it was a long cameo. I thought it was a sensational cameo. But is was an exhibition cameo. He made his Premiership debut for Arsenal at a time when there was no pressure, a time when Newcastle were in tatters, and he was having fun. But he wasn’t showboating at all.
I have no idea whether Carlos Vela is lightweight. I’ve seen him play for 30 minutes and I’ve no idea what he will do in Arsenal’s next 40 games. All I’m saying is that I liked what I saw. I really, really liked what I saw.
Before the Newcastle game started, I asked my friend a question.
Myles : “Do you think Arsenal will win anything this season?”
Geoff : “No, and I don’t know anybody who does.”
When Modric joined Spurs, he moved into the same apartment building as his friend Eduardo. When Vela came back from loan in Spain, he moved into the same apartment building as his Mexican pal Dos Santos, who had just joined Spurs from Barcelona. And Aaron Ramsey of Arsenal has moved into the same building as Chris Gunter of Spurs. Those two both played for Cardiff.
On Sunday, Chelsea could only draw 1-1 with Spurs.
And Liverpool didn’t have a shot on target in a 0-0 at Aston Villa, apart from a Xabi Alonso 50-yarder.
Luckily, a thunderstorm caused us to lose the satellite signal during that dismal war of attrition.
The instinctive Shaun Wright-Phillips, born to play in a sky blue shirt, scored twice at Sunderland in Man City’s 3-0 win.
Then came the shock news from Fabio Capello. He’s picked Jimmy Bullard for the England squad and left out superstar Michael Owen.
Bullard played very well for Fulham against Arsenal last week. Owen played badly at Arsenal last Saturday.
Theo Walcott is one of four strikers chosen. That baffles me as much as the choice of Bullard. He picks four strikers for his first World Cup qualifying games against Andorra and Croatia : Rooney, Defoe, Heskey and Walcott.
But he doesn’t pick Crouch or Agbonlahor or Shaun-Wright Phillips ?