Sunday afternoon proved that Arsenal and Manchester United are streets ahead of everybody else.
Both have superb teamwork and several match-winners. Both have managers who know how to build a side that can go the distance and win it.
That Arsenal-Man United battle, as it unfolds this winter and spring, will be more interesting than the over-hyped Grand Slam Sunday, which produced only two goals, both from corners, and left the table unchanged, except for the rude intrusion of Sven’s sky blue outfit from Eastlands.
What we saw at Anfield and the Emirates were two closely-fought battles with the superior team winning by a narrow margin.
I never really believed Chelsea or Liverpool could win, that’s why I wrote Arsenal, Man United won’t lose. I figured one would win, one would draw. On the day, both won 1-0.
None of the strikers did much. Adebayor could not get his passes in. Kuyt couldn’t. The strikers didn’t get space, didn’t get service. It was all too hectic, with too much pressure on the ball. So Gallas scored from a Cech mistake, and Tevez scored after a well-worked corner from Giggs to Rooney, whose shot he diverted in from two yards.
Its wasn’t a day for tricky wingers either. Kewell, Benayoun, Ronaldo, Joe Cole or SWP achieved zilch. Cole hit Wright-Phillips with one great crossfield pass, which he fizzed past the far post.Basically., it was a day for rugged halfbacks, for gutsy, ball-winning players like Mascherano and Flamini.
Chelsea’s best player was Mikel, Liverpool’s best player was Gerrard, United’s best was Hargreaves with Anderson also doing very well in the warzone.
Mikel is a skilful young bruiser who can play first time passes.
Hargreaves will be a core player for Capello.
Gerrard is goalscoring gladiator who can win the ball and run box to box.
Arsenal’s best players were Hleb, Gallas and Clichy.
Arsenal-Chelsea was a frantic contest that threatened, as early as the 25th minutes, to be a one-goal game. After 35, a malicious tackle by Eboue flattened John Terry, who limped off three minutes later to have an X-ray that revealed nothing broken.
In first half stoppage time (47) Gallas had a free header from five yards, connecting with a Fabregas corner which unaccountably floated over the gloves of Cech to the skipper, who has now scored in his last three home games.
Would that Gallas goal have been scored if John Terry was on the field? Did his absence make Cech nervous?
At Man City, SWP was best coming deep in a 4-4-2, making long runs from inside his own half, creating his own momentum. He’s not smart enough or precise enough to play in a 4-3-3, starting from a wide position further up the field. Shaun used to fly past people and score. Now, from four yards, he can’t hit a goal that’s eight yards wide.
In the last 20 minutes, as Chelsea pushed forward, Arsenal broke at pace half a dozen times but failed to slot a second goal. Sub van Persie replaced Eboue, who went off on a stretcher in 69 after Joe Cole took him out. Eboue had tackled Cole and was breaking away when Cole scythed him down. It was an obvious foul and everybody saw it and Cole knew that Alan Wiley would book him. Eboue got what looked like a knock, rather than an injury. But he didn’t get up and Gary Lewin put him on a stretcher
Van Persie made an immediate impact by doing all the things Adebayor had not been able to do, like getting a shot in, getting a pass in.
In 88, RVP hit Cech’s legs and the rebound went to Fabregas, who hit the keeper’s legs again. Still, it was exciting action as the game opened up, end-to-end stuff. As Alan Hansen said on MoD2, it was amazing that no goal was scored in those 20 minutes.
Almunia was competent. He made a good save from Mikel and two good saves from Shevchenko. So Alnmunia had a better game than Cech or the shaky Van Der Sar.
On this evidence, the stylish football that Roman Abramovich wants to see is some way off.
Chelsea once boasted dazzling interplay between Duff, Gudjohnsen and Robben, who played Lampard into shooting positions all day long. On Sunday they had no creativity because their format is not creative. Where was the flair gonna come from? No playmaker, no play. Just muscular method football. They had Mikel and Makelele, two anchormen, plus Lampard, a methodical midfielder who was, as Ruud Gulli said, invisible in this game. Where was he? Did he go off when Terry went off ?
Liverpool are now fifth.
Rafa Benitez is a chequebook manager who scares the living daylights out of Hicks and Gillett because he doesn’t realise you cant build a stadium and also spend £40m in every transfer window.
Secondly, he is an obsessive-compulsive control-freak who disregards the human dynamic in favour of the tactical dynamic. Nobody knows who is playing until he puts the team up an hour before the game.
Thirdly, he is too close to it. If he stood back for ten minutes he could see (1) that Harry Kewell will never get past Wes Brown in a month of Grand Slam Sundays and (2) that Liverpool should be attacking Man Utd’s only weakness, which is Evra’s lack of height. Crouch causes mayhem everywhere and would have murdered Man Utd at the far post. but he only got 20 minutes and (3) that Benayoun should be Liverpool’s Hleb. He should be used in a roving role instead of the clueless Kuyt. Rafa should make Benayoun his Hleb, linking the play and slipping balls through for Torres. But Rafa won’t do that because his habits are too conservative.
Overall, it’s nice to beat Chelsea for the first time since February 2004 and very nice to stay on top.
Arsenal’s next Prem game : Spurs at the Emirates.
Let’s take each game as it comes, let’s see how far we can go.
Spurs won 1-0 at Portsmouth with a late goal by Berbatov. Juande Ramos has given them discipline but they lack the muscle of Chelsea. Robbie Keane will be back and he can be better than Sheva was on Sunday. Van Persie, Hleb and Fabregas will give Spurs a lot of problems. And Arsenal’s super-speedy full backs give them an extra man all round the pitch. I don’t see how Spurs can cope with that.