SUNDAY was good.
But Sunday showed us that Arsenal only have one striker.
Most Gooners worry about that.
Manchester City was an all-action battle and we all enjoyed it.
Both keepers played well and the best team won, very narrowly and luckily. Manchester City got away with a handball by Micah Richards and a linesman flagged a Robin van Persie equaliser that wasn\’t offside.
Against that, Zabaleta hit the post after intercepting a Koscielny pass to Walcott.
Arsenal gave a good collective performance in a terrific game played at a high tempo. Wenger\’s remodelled side is now solid and workmanlike but they rarely looked like scoring at the Etihad Stadium.
Szczesny will become the finest goalkeeper in the Premier League.
He made good saves from Balotelli and Aguero. But when Balotelli found acres of space on the left, he brushed past Song and Mertesacker froze to give the big Italian time for a thunderous shot, which Szczesny parried.
The electric Aguero headed the loose ball across the goal for David Silva to head in from one yard. That\’s how sharp Aguero is. That’s what you pay for. Aguero is a great reflex player who definitely saw Silva and headed the ball to him.
That David Silva goal in 53 minutes was enough to maintain Man City\’s 100% home record.
Arsenal\’s problems stem from all their full backs being injured and right back Djourou was also injured during the game.
Koscielny, Song and Arteta had very good games.
Gervinho was busy and eye-catching but there was no end product. When the opportunity came to take on Kolo Toure, a man old enough to be his father, Gervinho bottled it by slowing down.
Walcott, switching wings, was as bad on either flank. New contract? I don\’t think so. Do a Clichy with him. Try to sell Theo for decent money.
Overall, the game was a compelling contest that deserved top billing on the day. Gary Neville said it was the best game he\’s seen this season. Graeme Souness said the same.
But the bottom line is that a one-striker team won\’t finish Top Four.
If the second best striker at London’s biggest club is Vermaelen, then Arsenal have the wrong squad.
Sunday had started by looking like a day with too much football on TV.
With four live games, I thought I would be footballed out by 4pm but that didn’t happen because the other games only lasted 25 minutes.
BARCELONA walked it in Yokohama, Man United should have scored six in Shepherds Bush, and Liverpool only needed two early goals at Villa Park. All three were non-events.
Fresh from his 600th game against Real Madrid last week, the incomparable Xavi showed Santos how to play football in the ridiculously-named Club World Cup.
Fabregas immediately took on and beat Ganso on the left and hit a cross to the near post, then Messi had a shot parried by keeper Rafael Cabral to Alcantara, who scuffed the rebound wide.
Then, in 17, Messi scored from a Xavi pass.
The move was Alves to Messi to Fabregas to Messi to Xavi to Messi. He scooted into the six yard box and, with the keeper advancing, Messi flicked his shot over him. When defender Rodrigo tried an overhead kick off the line, he ended up in the back of the net with the ball.
The replay showed this : Fabregas flicked the ball very hard towards Xavi at head height and the maestro reacted sharply, lifted his leg as fast as a karate champion, killed the ball, and flicked it through for Messi to score. It was genius. But all in a day’s work for these guys. It’s always fun to watch Iniesta making clever runs to NOT get the ball, opening spaces for others.
Soon after the first goal the indefatigably dynamic Dani Alves cut the ball back to Xavi, whose control and finish were sensational. That made it 2-0 after 24 minutes and the game was over.
The Brazilians couldn\’t live with Barcelona. The faces of the Santos players looked shocked, puzzled, despairing. The carpet had been ripped from beneath their feet and they hit the deck with a nasty bump.
Fabregas got a tap-in for 3-0 in 45 after Cabral saved an Alcantara header and Messi made it 4-0.
Really great teams beat everybody, everywhere. Wembley, Madrid, Yokohama, everywhere.
QPR 0 MAN UTD 2 was another mismatch.
But Chicharito is back. He came on as a sub. The cameras at Loftus Road are so close to the action, you feel as if you’re on the pitch.
When Valencia crossed after 52 seconds, Rooney headed in for 1-0.
Phil Jones will never pass like Pat Crerand but will improve as a No4. They\’ve made Jones’s impetuosity an asset but his finishing needs to become as good as the Rooney passes that play him in.
It was only 1-0 at half-time and I put on a CD of super-mellow romantic songs sung by Johnny Hartmann, the only singer ever to record with the John Coltrane quartet, while Jan decorated the Christmas tree with little silk animals she bought in Hong Kong and cheap baubles from Woolworth\’s.
LUIS SUAREZ hit the frame of the goal twice after Bellamy and Skrtel had scored early goals at Villa Park. Liverpool\’s shape and teamwork impressed me in their 2-0 victory
BRAD FRIEDEL was excellent in Tottenham\’s 1-0 win over Sunderland.
MARTIN KEOWN saw the first half of Saturday\’s Wigan-Chelsea game the same way I did.
Chelsea were playing lazily, with Jogba invisible. In home games, Jogba now walks and jogs. In away games, he walks and stands still.
When Ivanovic blocked a shot with his left elbow, rather than let the ball hit his body, ref Martin Atkinson, five yards away, somehow waved play on, so it was 0-0 at half-time.
Keown said, “Chelsea look nonchalant, Drogba was the worst culprit…It\’s definitely a penalty, he moves his arm towards the ball.â€
There was a serious lack of running by Chelsea, so Villas-Boas decided to bring on Kalou for midfielder Romeo. Against the lowest-scoring team in the PL, he could afford to do that and switch Mata into the hole just behind Jogba.
Then, suddenly, amid all the tedium, Ashley Cole hit a crossfield pass to Sturridge, who pulled the ball down with his left foot and smacked it into the far corner with his right, so it was 0-1 in 59 minutes.
But Chelsea weren’t good enough to close out the game.
Facing a tame shot from sub Rodallega, Petr Cech, incredibly, spilled it to give Jordi Gomez a tap-in for 1-1.
Sadly, The Killing finished on Saturday night and I discussed the climax with my best friend Doug last night.
“What did you think when Stange fired four bullets into the greatest detective since Sherlock Holmes?”
“I thought she was wearing a bullet-proof vest,” he said.
“No, you didn’t! Has she ever worn a bullet-proof vest in a previous episode?”
“No, but she’s not stupid. And I knew there is a Series 3.”