By William McMenemy.
It was a beautiful day for football yesterday and Arsenal delivered it with a fine display at the Emirates. A lot of nice flowing football was executed by the Arsenal and we saw the third option up front that has gone under the radar and that is Gervinho.
He had a very good game yesterday barring a dodgy 10 minute period. He works the flanks exceptionally well and proves that old point: You get chances playing up front for Arsenal. His first was well taken, a powerful strike at the near post which Davis had no chance with. A lot of has been said about Gervinho and how well his pre-season went. Hopefully he can start showing some consistency.
More praise is needed for our two full-backs who in my opinion both had their best games in an Arsenal shirt. It was textbook from them both, combining penetrative attacking with resolute defending. Both own goals were a result of Gibbs and Jenkinson combined well with the Ox. I think Gibbs has all but cemented himself as the first choice left-back. As for Jenkinson, he is certainly providing Sagna with a bit of competition.
Podolski and Cazorla have both wonderfully settled in. Some of their link up play was superb, neat little passes and I believe they both played in Gibbs for his two ‘assists’ if I’m not mistaken. Podolski’s free kick was fantastic. The placement wasn’t all that great (it was quite central) but the power on it meant the ball was already past Davis before he could get his hand out. It was a top strike.
Cazorla has undoubtedly been the signing of the summer for us. He’s inevitably going to get compared with Fabregas but what I like about him over Fabregas is his dribbling ability. He’s definitely superior in that department over Fabregas and I think it brings a different element to our attacks. He’s apparently created 18 goal scoring chances for teammates so far this season. That’s fantastic.
Finally, I must give Ramsey a bit of credit. I called for him to start but it was Coquelin instead (who had a solid if unspectacular game). When he did come on, he looked confident, composed and his work for Gervinho’s second was fantastic. I really do believe he’ll flourish playing a bit deeper as opposed to the ‘hole’ position.
So onwards with a bit of optimism which one senses is swelling around the Grove.
COYG
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