Nine Jimmy Rimmers – Arsenal and Football

Arsenal put on a powerful and stylish performance last night which maintains the momentum of the games against Spurs and Liverpool.  We came so close to pulling it off, but in the end it wasn’t quite enough to overcome the lapse at the San Siro.

Through the first half we could all believe in a miracle as we steadily got to three, playing with such pace and determination.  Thanks to the whole team pressing hard and fast whenever we lost the ball, we were able to play high up the pitch and dominate the game.

In the second half though we couldn’t keep it up.  The players began to tire and Milan worked harder to close the midfield gaps.  Oxlade-Chamberlain and then Walcott picked up injuries and the momentum faltered.  If only we could have had Arteta, Diaby, Ramsey or Wilshere at that point.

So we went out.  But step back from that, we blew this tie back in February, and celebrate the fact that we beat AC Milan 3:0.  Ibrahimovic, Robinho and co came with a four goal advantage and just clung on.

Spurs 5:2, Liverpool 2:1, AC Milan 3:0.  That’s a classy set of results.  Arsenal had lots of stars last night.  In fact Gervinho stood out for being just a bit normal!  Robin Van Persie gets all the coverage at the moment, and he is having the best season of his career, but there are other stars too.

This is the most influential season that Tomas Rosicky has had for Arsenal.  He won our man of the match poll again last night.  His tenacity and determination to get the ball moving forward make a big difference.  Ramsey has a bit more pace and the same intent, but at the moment Rosicky has the experience to be more effective with the ball.

Having Sagna back gives us more attacking options as well, whilst on the other side of the pitch Gibbs is growing up fast.  He has lapses, but he is still very young and shows massive potential.

Song was fantastic last night, continually closing down Milan players and winning the ball back.  He carries it forward too, gaining ground as well as possession.

In the end the fact that our bench lacked the four injured midfielders and a potent alternative forward meant that we didn’t have the right fresh legs to do it.  But what a fantastic effort.

It seems that Arsene Wenger may be in trouble today for criticizing the referee.  He was pretty hopeless.  Quite why he took so long to award the penalty is beyond me and everyone else.  He also missed a deliberate, cynical body check by Mexes that flattened Vermaelen.  No freekick or card and he even urged Vermaelen to go over and shake Mexes hand.

His most comically poor moment was a freekick that obviously hit Song in the wall and went out for what should have been a Milan corner.  But he awarded a goalkick and added insult by booking a Milan player for dissent.  I think that Arsene Wenger was probably complaining about Milan’s time wasting, but in truth we would have done the same.

The likes of Arsene Wenger, Jose Mourinho and Alex Ferguson are frequently in trouble for abusing referees.  They are all bad losers, but they wouldn’t be top managers if losing didn’t burn them so deeply.

Anyway, enough of the referee, well done Arsenal!

Four central defenders can work, but four full-backs fail

Arsenal kept a clean sheet on Saturday despite not having a single fit fullback available.  Admittedly Everton are not the biggest threat but Djourou, Mertesacker, Koscielny and Vermaelen still had a job to do.  Perhaps on these days of more athletic ‘total football’, central defenders have to be more mobile and more comfortable on the ball.  Of those four players, only Mertesacker would have struggled at full-back and back-up Ignasi Miquel has also filled in well playing out wide.

Does it work the other way though?

The answer from Newcastle certainly seems to be no, as their back line of fullbacks shipped four goals at Norwich.  With injuries to Stephen Taylor and Fabricio Coloccini, I think they’re going to struggle now.  There are only so many that Demba Ba can get at the other end.

It is possible to feel sorry for Spurs?

Well it is nearly Christmas and they were playing Stoke, so let’s be big-hearted over this!  Spurs were robbed of a win yesterday by some dreadful refereeing.   Tottenham players were twice prevented from leaping for crosses as Stoke defenders clung on to them.  Ryan Shawcross made a goal-line clearance with his elbow.  Crouch used his arm to control the ball before setting up Etherington’s first goal.  Adebayor was no-where near offside for his disallowed goal, the Assistant Referee suffered severe tunnel vision and ignored the Stoke player, returning to the pitch after sliding out, who put three Spurs a yard onside.

Chris Foy and his assistants have helped tighten things at the top I suppose, but crap refereeing turns games into stupid lottery. I didn’t include the red card in the list as the second yellow was definitely a foul and quite a few referees would have done the same.

Blackburn and Bolton are in trouble

To be truthful, that isn’t just a lesson of this weekend.  But whilst these showed that they are consistent in their lack of talent, Sunderland and Wigan showed that they have some answers if only they can make it work often enough.

Meanwhile…

David Moyes apparently took the chance of Arsenal’s Birthday Party to cheekily ask Thierry Henry if he fancied a spell at Everton.  I’m sure Thierry was gracious enough to give him a sympathetic smile in return.

The media have decided that Szczesny isn’t the only ready to kiss Van Persie’s feet and that he is Real Madrid’s top transfer target.  I guess that for as long as Van Persie is fit and scoring we’re going to have to put up with these stories constantly.  Hopefully Robin will tell the Special One to kiss some other part of his anatomy.