There were about 20,000 empty seats on Saturday.
More than ever before.
Seats sold but not taken up on a cold day?
Cazorla scored two vital goals.
The first one settled nerves after two home defeats.
His second won the game on a day when Everton lost 2-1 at Norwich.
Arsenal 2 Aston Villa 1
That was the good news.
The bad news that was there were 20,000 empty seats.
Cazorla\’s first effort in six minutes was an attempted near-post pass to Giroud with his left foot.
When the ball came back to Cazorla, he smashed it through the legs of two defenders and past keeper Brad Guzan.
1-0 at half –time.
Second half, when Arsenal took a corner that was cleared, Andy Weimann hoofed the ball down the middle of the field, and then chased his own rugby punt, Carl Jenkinson\’s lame header went to N\’Zogbia and Weimann strode forward unchallenged to smash a 25-yard shot through Szczesny.
The Pole should have saved that shot.
But his confidence is shredded because there no defensive organisation and he\’s never sure what’s happening in front of him.
I can\’t imagine Szczesny becoming a good goalkeeper while he’s playing for Wenger. He needs to train the way Petr Cech trains and play behind a team that knows how to protect him professionally.
Alan Hansen said, “Benteke, by his standards, was absolutely average.â€
Arsenal just edged it.
Just sneaked home against a cheap young team that\’s struggling third from bottom of the table.
Cazorla now has 11 Premier League goals in his first season. He\’s delivered. Hasn\’t been great in every game but he\’s delivered. If Arsenal had more players who delivered there would be a lot more to write about.
After 23 minutes at QPR, Rafael scored a thunderous goal for Man United after Julio Cesar knocked out a shot from Van Persie.
That shot was young and spectacular and uninhibited and very Brazilian.
In his 999th game for United and Wales, Ryan Giggs scored in 80 to give the new champions a 2-0 win.
In Manchester, Joe Hart brought Lampard down in 50 but then saved his penalty.
Then the twisty-inventive David Silva found Yaya Toure, who bamboozled John Obi Mikel with his first touch and took two more before slotting sweetly beyond the reach of Cech and inside the post for 1-0 to Citeh. Yaya’s shot nicked off the leg of Cahill and looped firmly over Cech’s glove.
Sub Carlos Tevez rifled home a superb shot from just outside the D for 2-0.
All Rafa Benitez ever did at Liverpool was worry about the other team and that\’s why Chelsea were pants on Sunday. When he\’s 2-1 down, he\’ll bring on a defender.
He\’s the opposite of Wenger, who is annoying in a totally different way. Wenger just says : We\’re the stars, let them mark us.
Clearly, you need a mixture of marking and flair and you have to remember that fluency comes from partnerships. You have to be good without the ball as well as with the ball.
Arsenal\’s subs don\’t look emotionally involved. They looked like miserable prisoners.
When Manchester United score a goal their whole bench erupts.
Every player jumps up laughing and punching the air and embracing each other. Every goal scored, or conceded, means something to them. If Arsenal can\’t match that kind of commitment, if it\’s just a job rather than a mission, they\’ll be also-rans from now till the year 2525 and beyond.
Body language tells you far more than words.
Myles\’s mantras include: Never listen to what footballers say. Look more closely at what they do – and what they don\’t do.
Arsenal are one point behind Tottenham and two behind Chelsea and 21 behind Man United.
West Ham v Spurs is tonight and Spurs have won three of their last five at Upton Park.
The Hammers have recently lost to Aston Villa, Fulham, Arsenal and Sunderland.
Can West Ham can contain Gareth Bale, who can score breakaway goals, free-kicks and headers?
Stuart J adds : the bench
He may not be able to head the ball but at least he celebrated like a gooner.
But, as you mentioned, the rest of the bench looked like they’d rather be at home.