By Myles Palmer
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PATRICK VIEIRA looked 90% fit in the 3-0 win over Wolves, when Henry scored twice.
Gilberto had flu, so Parlour came in.
The big question was whether Cygan would keep his place against Southampton. James Beattie had terrorised him in the 3-2 win in November 2002, so Keown might have been brought back.
Or Lauren could have been restored at right back.
But Arsene picked the same eleven and Pires scored the only goal from Henry’s pass.
Toure started the move with a throw to Henry, who headed on to Bergkamp, whose return pass was less than perfect.
But Henry won the ball and spurted forward and played Pires in for a killer shot close to Niemi’s body.
Perfect pass, deadly finish : 35 minutes.
Sadly, Dennis had one of those nights when nothing worked. Every pass, every flick, went wrong.
And Freddie was well below his best.
Parlour was good and Pires was very good.
THE FACT that Toure is still at right back might be a clue to Arsene’s thinking about the boy wonder’s long-term future.
If a manager thinks holistically, and thinks long-term, there comes a point where he wants his team to be strong on the right side as well as strong on the left side.
If we watch closely what Arsene does with Toure, we may get clues about his team-building intentions.
Regular readers will know that I did NOT want to see Toure moved from centreback.
Obviously, Arsenal need two Kolo Toures.
For now, we have every reason to believe that the manager is happy with Toure at right back.
And we know that Toure is a smashing lad who is willing to play anywhere the manager asks him to play.
Unfortunately, he does not link well with Ljungberg, who is a misfit on the right touchline.
Freddie only comes alive in the middle or in the box.
FRANKLY, ARSENAL won as comfortably at St Mary’s as Man United had won at Middlesbrough the day before.
Vieira, playing one-twos and cruising away from opponents with his inimitable gear change, looked near his best.
When Pat gets the ball with three men round him, and flicks it over their heads, and glides away, you know he is himself again. And you think, “We will need that in February”
Arsenal should have killed the game in the second half. A second goal would have made the points safe.
But the second goal didn’t come, partly because this Arsenal attack has nobody who can score from Toure’s crosses.
They do not play that way. That way is the Manchester United way.
Scholes and van Nistelrooy could score a lot of goals from Toure’s crosses.
Arsenal could develop that, of course. They could work on it.
But if Toure is switching back to centreback, there would be no point.
BOTTOM LINE for the top two?
Two 1-0s, two walkovers.
A COMPARISON of Arsenal’s two title seasons with the current season is illuminating.
Let’s look at the first half of each season.
After 19 games in the 1998 season, Arsenal had only 33 points.
After 19 games in 2002, they had 36 points.
After 19 games of 2003-4, Arsenal have 45 points.
In 1998 they lost four games and drew six.
In 2002 they lost three games and drew six.
Now they are unbeaten, with 6 draws.
Man United are one point above Arsenal, after three defeats.
What does that tell us?
That this Arsenal team has improved and achieved the consistency that all managers crave.
It also tells us that the Premiership is a piss-poor league compared to 1998 and 2002.
But we knew that anyway.
SORRY that I forgot to wish all our readers a Merry Xmas.
We know that the Arsenal diaspora is global, but not all ANR readers are Christian.
If you were celebrating, hope you had lots of hugs and kisses and handshakes.
Couple of friends complained that Xmas night was a bit flat and they fancy doing something different next year.
My Xmas night was…. horizontal.
But I still love it with just the four of us. Open presents about 10 and eat turkey at 2 and then sit up on my bed,with a glass of ginger wine, reading a good book.
That’s all I do on Xmas Day and I never worry that somebody else is having better time.
This year the kids gave me a hardback called Nobody’s Perfect, which I thought was all Film reviews.
But pages 363 to 523 are Book reviews, and pages 527 to 720 are Profiles.
The New Yorker’s Anthony Lane is my kind of guy, a hip Englishman with a good sense of humour.
Writing about Pulp Fiction, he says that the director is a chronic fetishist.
He notes that, “Tarantino functions in a moral vacuum where the brutality is mostly verbal, where sticks and stones can break my bones, but words can REALLY hurt me.”
On The Talented Mr Ripley he says, “The Italy of the novel felt rocky and crumbling, and you didn’t want to be there while Ripley was around; the Italy of the film laps at you like warm waves, and you never want to leave.”
Like me, he enjoyed George Clooney with Jennifer Lopez.
“Out of Sight is the first Elmore Leonard movie that reaches to the difficult core of its hero: Jack grins with the criminal’s disdain for what he perceives as regular life, but he also simmers with a suspicion that only regularity- a job, no jail,his own car – would have laid the groundwork for such luxuries as love.”
He doesn’t reckon Lock, Stock is a proper movie.
“Rather, think of it as a carefully constructed entertainment for people who really, really like beer commercials.”
31st December 2003.