Well that was a bit boring wasn’t it?
1-0, but we’ll take those points very gratefully, thank you. It wasn’t pretty to watch. We seemed to celebrate TA6’s return to the Emirates by agreeing not to threaten the Portsmouth goal at all, and occasionally gifting them the odd half chance.
The first half, particularly, was stultefyingly dull – aside from Crouch hitting the post and Adebayor managing not to score after rounding James there was nothing to talk about, except how useless Ade and Bendtner were together. We had lots of the ball, and seemed more comfortable at the back than recently, but seemed equally unable to do anything about it after that.
In the second half we were a bit brighter, after Nasri moved inside and pushed the Great Dane out wide, first on the left and then on the right after Carl came on, and Adebayor ought to have scored again when given about twenty minutes on the edge of the six yard box.
Still, they defended neatly (Campbell in particular looking like a player who’d get a game at the Emirates), and we were rarely threatened at our end, and there can’t be too many unhappy with the scoreline, none more so than LeGal, who came up with another of his timely headers to provide the only goal (from a very useful Denilson cross – perhaps he should do more set pieces…). Good for him, and good for the team too to have a reconfident LeGal.
When I got home Phil Thompson was wittering away about us buying a striker in January after Wenger seemed to thaw slightly on the transfer issue. It’s clearly not in his interests to announce he’s definitely looking to buy, but at the same time he admitted we look ‘a bit thin’. Watch this space, I say. But a striker? Hmm. I don’t think so. There was forlorn chanting for Robin van Persie during the second half, but I think that was more out of frustration with Bendtner than anything else (who was rubbish, and who can’t play with Ade at all). With a fit Eduardo (and Theo and Carl as backup options) I don’t see any need for any more strikers.
No, like the proverbial 24 year old virgin, what we need is a bit of penetration. Not from strikers, but from people unafraid (and competent enough) to get past the man. Against lesser teams it’s less obvious, but Portsmouth were well-organised enough to show us up when we were passing around each other. Nasri was prepared to have a go, and Diaby too in his defence, and so was Carl when he came on. Cesc can do it with passing and movement, and Theo can do it with runs, but it’s where Denilson, Song and Eboue, not to mention Bentdner and Ade, look a bit vulnerable.
More tomorrow, but I’m happy with the result. We haven’t lost for a while now, and that can only be good…
Tags: 1-0, Arsenal, Portsmouth, Tony Adams
December 28th, 2008 at 8:16 pm
Arsene says he is looking for players in January . Lets hope he will make some deals even if they little bit pricey. Two players are needed DM & AM, three would be great (third player could be GK or CD). With Dudu coming back i don’t think we need a striker.
http://www.skysports.com/video/clips/0,23791,12602_4713877,00.html?ssvTab=1&ssvSelectedTab=12599&ssvBasket=12602&ssvPage=1
December 28th, 2008 at 9:29 pm
I was very much encouraged by the play of the squad in the last ten minutes of the match. This team has rarely looked that comfortable in the closing stages, but today they made smart decisions and were much more comfortable in possession.
December 29th, 2008 at 3:20 pm
I’m puzzled as to why RVP was on the bench and the hapless Bendtner played 90 minutes. Mind you Bendtner was all over the pitch but ultimately did not very much. I don’t want to call him a hack but at the very least he cannot cut it at Arsenal. Vela provided a much needed spark that Bendtner could not. I was waiting 90+ minutes for Wenger to take of Eboue and Bendtner and call up RVP and Vela and go 4-3-3 because Pompey clearly had no intentions of wanting to score with a 4-5-1 formation. Defense was solid and shows that we do have a world class backline but they don’t show up every week. Creativity has become lacking with Cesc on the injury list and Wenger has to buy 2-3 players with some credentials in January and not some 20M Arshavin whose entire career is based on 3 weeks of Euros and a UEFA Cup. Maybe I’ve gotten used to Wenger’s slick style of play but I cannot watch another game that looked like George Graham was at the helm. On that note we also seem to be turning over alot of the play. Our passing this season is the worst I’ve ever seen it with phantom passes to nowhere and direct passes to the opposition. We need to step up our game with new faces and improvement s to existing ones if we expect to be in the CL next season and be considered title contenders again.