Arsenal v. West Bromwich

Arsenal v West Bromwich

Nov. 5, 2011

Arsenal still comes in with a near must win situation. This will continue for probably all league games for a while. They are still a good 6 points behind 4th place Newcastle. There is only a quarter of the season gone, but the way Newcastle is playing 6 points could get to 9 or 12 points real quickly if Arsenal doesn’t win these early games. There is absolutely no chance of contending with the league title and that is after Arsenal has won the last 4 league games. Manchester City looks gross and Man United is there normal consistent self. Even at this point, the only target is 4th place. 

Wenger proves this by sporting a topnotch starting eleven. Mertesacker is the only regular who has been given a break, but it is arguable whether he has deserved to be in the best 11 anyway. Jenkinson will also be starting as right back, but with Sagna done, Djourou, who sucks, is the only other real right back, so starting the young Dane is not unexpected. Van Persie will be starting up front, centering Walcott on the right and Gervinho on the left, so their lineup is a the true starting 11. 

At this point, a bona fide starting eleven for Arsenal should mean a win over someone like West Brom and the Gunners showed off this confidence from the get go. W.B.A. could foil Arsenal drives, but they could only take possession for about 5 seconds before the Gunners retook the ball. The first real chance for Arsenal came at the 22 minute mark, but it came with a goal. Ramsey made a great feed to a streaking Walcott, who had broken away from the defense. The shot was hit right at the keeper, but it was forceful enough to create a rebound that was gobbled up by Van Persie. The casual nature of the goal would highlight the disparity between the two teams. In the first half Szczesny only touched the ball to catch weak crosses or long balls that had gone too long. The greatest threat mustered by West Brom was in the 35th minute when a forward got possession of the ball and looked to be pulling back to shoot, but Vermaelen muscled him off the ball. Vermaelen then showed his worth on the offensive end in the 38th minute. Song sent a feed to the area of Van Persie. Van Persie, realizing that he could not get a shot off, sent the ball back into the danger zone, 20 feet in front of the center of the goal, and Vermaelen instinctively pushed up to slam the open shot in the net. 2-0 Arsenal. I for one am absolutely pumped Vermaelen is back and this goal is a major example of what a leader he is on the pitch. He has been dominant as usual in the back, but he has an uncanny sense of when to become aggressive on the offensive end. During this play Van Persie knew that someone should be in position in front of the net to eat up any rebounds or crosses, but Vermaelen had noticed from his sweeper position as the last man back, that no one was in that spot so he pushed up. Every defenseman for Arsenal, with the exemption of Mertesacker, is able to push up and add to the attack, this is part of the Arsenal way of play. However, many like Jenkinson, Santos, or Koscielny, often join the attack, but negate their defensive responsibilities in the process. In contrast, Vermaelen never seems to attack without knowing he is covered on the back end. He pushes up when he knows he can create a legitimate chance and he often can. Many defenders are defenders because they don’t have the skill or the feel to be on the attack all the time. Mertesacker is a perfect example of this. He is too tall and clumsy to be a feasible attacker, but not Vermaelen. Vermaelen is an exceptional defender and that, by itself, is the sole reason he is a defender. He has the skill, the speed and the wherewithal to be a striker, he is just better at defending. This shows up every time he comes forward, he just seems confident for the last man back. 

The second half was Arsenal controlled, but one could tell they had stepped off the gas pedal. Outside of a few 5 minute spurts, the Gunners were content to just hold on to the ball. In all they had only 3 really good chances, but West Brom had one curving shot that hit the crossbar, but other than that they didn’t even get into the 18 meter box. Ramsey, who had a solid game throughout, had a great shot that went just wide to the right. The youngster showed great class in positioning himself in order to receive and make space for the open shot, but he really should have hit the target. In the 65th minute, after making a good push for at least 5 minutes, Song took a strike from 20 yards that was just a bit strong, as it sailed right over the crossbar. 

Both chances showed great poise from the young players, but not the finishing touch of a more experienced player. In the 75th minute, we got to see such a finishing touch as the 29 year old Spaniard confidently stroked in the third and final goal of the game. Arteta had taken a feed from Van Persie that was very similar to the one he gave to Vermaelen for goal. He pushed the ball up the right side, but didn’t have an angle for a shot, so he kicked it back in front of the net, hoping for someone to be there. This time Arteta was waiting and one touched a beautiful shot into the lower left hand corner. It was a shot smooth and calm. There are others that would have messed up but Arteta put it right where the keeper couldn’t get it. 

Arsenal did not look dominant over the clearly inferior West Brom, but they did what they had to do to win. They made sure that they were solid in the backend so as to not have to catch up to an opponent that will surely just bring back all 11 players to defense if given a lead. They knew that a mediocre attack would get the job done and it did. They put consistent pressure, albeit weak pressure, but eventually they broke through. This is not to give too much credit to Arsenal for beating an inferior opponent, but this was not the case at the beginning of the season. It shows that their defense and poise have much improved from the first month.