First things first,
it's always a great pleasure to beat a team managed by Thugster in Chief, Sam
Allardyce. No matter how poorly regarded Arsene Wenger might be by sections of
Arsenal supporters, he is still streets ahead in the popularity stakes in
relation to the low esteem in which Allardyce is held by the majority of West Ham
supporters. Brought up on teams that, from the mid-1950’s looked to continental
Europe for inspiration, training generations of young footballers that passing
the ball on the floor was the only
way to play the game, West Ham fans must be spitting blood having to pay to
watch the football this troglodyte turns out. He’s lucky that the porn baron
and knicker seller that he reports to are equally dismissive of West Ham’s
traditions. Surely if the Cearns family were still in charge, he’d be facing
the exit door? More likely, he’d never have been hired in the first place. Sam
if your own supporters boo you when you lose it’s not good, but when they boo
you after you’ve won?
The game itself was
predictable. When Arsenal score first in a game it’s a case of okay! When
Arsenal concede first, it’s a case of oh no! Characteristically, we were far
too open in the first 20 minutes and hadn’t set up to counter West Ham’s (very
obvious) tactic of using their wide men with an inevitable diagonal cross to
Andy Carroll, who fortunately for Arsenal, looked every inch the cart-horse he
has become. Surely this isn’t the same player who scored against us in a
Newcastle shirt three and a half years ago and who led the line brilliantly
that day? Kim Kallstrom looks like a player, he reads the game and it was interesting
that it was he who used his positioning to alter the shape of the midfield, as
opposed to the established players, Arteta and Rosicky. I’m a big Tomas Rosicky
supporter but he let himself down last night, specifically when he gave the
ball away very carelessly and then reacted by kicking out and getting booked –
stupid.
I’m starting to get the
impression that we have become a “mood team”. Consider the performance of Santi
Cazorla. I’m with Charlie Nicholas on this; he has gone missing from whole
matches and rarely delivers the quality he threatens to. Last night, in the 24th
minute, he collects the ball, with a delightful change of feet, loses two markers
and slips the ball into the area for the non-existent Giroud (more of him
later) to run onto. Santi, now in a stare of high gudgeon, decides that he will
actually turn in a shift which eventually results in a great through ball to
Podolski for the equaliser. Fortunately for us, the “mood” improved in the
second half when Arsenal scored early enough to remember that they are a far
better team than West Ham and decided to give them a football lesson. What
would have happened if the score at half time had been 1-0 to West Ham?
What Cazorla’s performance also underlines is that it’s not
just the manager who is desperate to play in the Champions League.
We have four league
games left and an FA Cup Final, surely the manager has to swallow the
inevitable and play Podolski. He is unlikely to track back and is one
dimensional, but when that one dimension comprises making good runs into the
box with a hammer of a left foot able to smash the ball past the best goal
keepers – play him. Giroud on the other hand is increasingly looking like a
stodgy version of Mark Viduka – just not good enough, play him too and then
sell him in the summer. Good to see Aaron Ramsey having such a positive impact on the game however, his header for Podolski's second was superb.
On the topic of
signings, I thought that the best player on the night was Matt Jarvis. He’s exactly
the type of player that our polymath manager would never consider signing – far
too conventionally English premiership. He looked very sharp, ran the line very
well, worked hard and crossed the ball brilliantly.
Finally, I’d like to
comment on the Hillsborough Commemoration Service yesterday. It was nicely
done, very Liverpool and I can’t be the only football supporter who is
wondering how many more layers of depth and quality does Roberto Martinez have?
By Ian Byrne
Follow me
@RightAtTheEnd, I’ll follow you back.
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