Always a decent team in August, Arsenal got another good result when they won 2-1 at Blackburn on Saturday.
Amazingly, the centrebacks allowed Big Sam’s first two Route 1 balls to bounce.
Then Arsenal went ahead after 20 minutes after a nice two-touch passing move : Fabregas forward to Song, whose pass to Arshavin was close to a hospital ball but the Russian jabbed it forward to Van Persie, who found Walcott’s run and Theo took one touch and scored with a low shot across Paul Robinson. An uninhibited strike, a chance very well taken .
Walcott, Drogba, Malouda and Andy Carroll of Newcastle now have four league goals each.
But Arsenal only led for seven minutes.
When big centreback Samba brought the ball forward, Van Persie chased him and Song went ball-hunting instead of dropping back to fill holes. The covering defender didn’t cover. Remarkably, Sagna only jogged back, as if he assumed Blackburn were incapable of scoring an equaliser. Or did he think it was a friendly?
Samba’s pass released El Hadji Diouf on the left with Sagna and Song out of the game, and Diouf brushed off exposed new boy Koscielny, arrowed into the penalty area, and played a killer pass into the six-yard box.
Clichy, one of the great ball-watchers of modern football, allowed Mame Biram Diouf to run inside him and score a simple goal.
Clichy is a muppet. He should either anticipate the cross and clear it, or look behind him and check where his man was. He did neither. He froze. His indecision was final. But not fatal.
Sagna redeemed himself after 52 by breaking well and crossing for Fabregas to strike a shot which hit Walcott on the arse and broke to Arshavin, who made a tricky finish look straightforward.
Robin van Persie’s injury was just silly. What he did was sloppy, flaky, vague and unprofessional. Either tackle and brace your leg, or don’t bother. He carelessly hung his leg out and the guy kicked him and hurt his ankle and put him out for two weeks.
Chamakh had been dropped but came on for the injured RVP in 34. That tells us that either that Wenger didn’t want to start Chamakh in an away game against rugged opponents, or that he’s going to play 4-3-3 all season and choose between those two strikers if both are fit.
A Fernando Torres volley beat West Brom at Anfield.
The goal came just after one was almost scored by Gonzalo Jara at the other end. Reina threw the ball down the left flank to Kuyt, who played a one-two with Torres, and then chipped it back into the D, where Torres was unmarked. The striker hit a right-foot volley which bounced twice before going inside the near post.
After 66 minutes, 1-0 to Liverpool.
Did any big club really want Torres after his pitiful World Cup? Or did Liverpool pay him a fat sweetener to stick around?
Man City’s Joe Hart is arguably the best keeper in the EPL right now but he’s playing for a negative manager who could get the bullet. Even Joe couldn’t stop the Darren Bent penalty which beat Citeh at the Stadium of Light.
After 94 minutes, 1-0 to Sunderland,
The thing that stood out in Spain was the quality of Barcelona’s goals and the authority of their team play, their confident swagger.
Messi’s opener at Racing Santander was a preposterous dink over the advancing keeper inside three minutes : business as usual. When the keeper punched a cross out, Iniesta glided to his right and hit a side-foot volley with uncanny accuracy. Then Dani Alves swung over a dipping cross and David Villa scored with a standing header which bulleted into the opposite corner for 3-0.
The third goal said : That’s what a £34 million striker can do !
The performance said : We are still the best.
Mallorca v Real Madrid was the first La Liga game for Jose Mourinho, who has won 17 trophies since he started coaching in 2001.
Last season I liked the collective organisation and tenacity of Mallorca.
As the first half went on, I wondered whether this Real Madrid team would turn out to be Porto with galacticos.
Seeming to divide the pitch into strict zones, Madrid were spiky at the back and front as well as midfield. They hack at your space, they’re like magpies who peck, strut and steal. When it comes to territory, they’re abrasive. Sadly, this style wastes the passing range of Xabi Alonso, the finest half-back of the last five years.
As the game went on, every tackle was tight, every one-on-one with both goalkeepers was tight, and striker Higuain was having such a bad game that you thought : he’s too obvious, everything he does is too obvious.
We won’t really see Jose Mourinho’s Real Madrid until October-November and when we do they’ll be very hard to beat. There could be lots of goals but in big games they’ll shut up shop at 2-0. Not all their opponents will defend as well as Mallorca did here.