Arsenal 2 - 0 Manchester City (Happy days continue)

Arsenal 2 - 0 Manchester City (Happy days continue)

Postby singaporegooner » Sun Apr 05, 2009 3:17 am

Arsenal 2 – 0 Manchester City (Return of the Goal Machine)

The buildup to the game was largely on the return of the captain Cesc Fabregas, after a long 3 ½ mths layoff since the Liverpool game. But it was another returning player who stole all the headlines.

After the international break, Van Persie, Nasri, Diaby and Bendtner all returned with varying degrees of injury. Only the Dane recovered sufficiently to earn a place on the bench. 3 players returned from injuries, Fabregas, Adebayor and Walcott.

The team started as follows, Almunia, Sagna, Toure, Gallas, Clichy, Song, Denilson, Fabregas, Arshavin, Walcott and Adebayor.

The game started brightly, with the visitors having the first chance, with Bellamy forcing his way into the box via the left channel. Denilson cleared the danger, only as far as De Jong, who tested Almunia with a low shot, which was comfortably saved by the Spaniard-soon-to-be-English. The visitors have signaled their intention to come and attack.

Arsenal’s first clear chance fell to Adebayor in the 8th minutire, who made no mistake. Robinho fouled Sagna near the touchline, and Fabregas floated in a delicious freekick into the box. Comical defending by City saw 2 defenders challenging for the same ball, which eventually came to Adebayor. He didn’t even have to leap of the ground, just guiding the ball past Given with his head. 1 nil to the Arsenal. Adebayor is back after a hamstring layoff, and he didn’t look rusty at all.

Possession and chances were coming the way of the home side, with Toure, Denilson, Fabregas and Adebayor all having chances to double the lead, only for Given to come to the rescue.

The half wore on and City had 2 enforced changes, Bridge and Kompany leaving the field with injuries, with Fernandes and Elano coming on.
With the introduction of Elano, there was more attacking purpose to the visitors, but the next goal would come to the home team.

Shortly after the 2nd half kickoff, Fabregas once again provided the ammunition for Adebayor to fire us ahead. An angled scoop pass over the defence saw Dunne desperately trying to flick the ball away from Adebayor, but he might have done it if he had a giraffe’s neck. The ball fell perfectly for the big striker in the box, rounding a stranded Given before sliding the ball into an empty net. 2 nil to the home side.

The return of Fabregas and Adebayor had provided the firepower and ammunition, but Walcott was doing fine as well. Darting runs down the right proved difficult for the defence, and a few long range efforts might have ended up in the net if they were more accurate. But the result was seldom in doubt, especially after Adebeyor’s second.

Substitutions saw Adebayor, Fabregas and Walcott leave the field to rapturous applause, on came Bendtner, Eboue and Ramsey.

By now, the home side were creating chances with almost every attempt. Gallas and Toure charged up field, with the former flashing a cross shot and the latter firing in a long range effort.

There was to be no 3rd goal, but it was a massively satisfying result and performance, especially the successful return of the 3 we have missed so long.

Happy days continue, next up, Villareal. :arsenal3:
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Re: Arsenal 2 - 0 Manchester City (Happy days continue)

Postby meridamullet » Sun Apr 05, 2009 7:01 am

Thanks SG
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Re: Arsenal 2 - 0 Manchester City (Happy days continue)

Postby BennisBergkamp » Sun Apr 05, 2009 12:04 pm

Someone should do player ratings.

I'd go with:
Almunia - 7. Clean sheet, made one or two good saves, but not a huge amount to do.
Sagna - 7. Solid, but needs to work on his crossing still.
Gallas - 7. Some good attacking play, but I didn't like the way we opened up at the back a couple times.
Toure - 8. Looked like his old self.
Clichy - 7. Quiet by his standards. Similar crossing to Sagna. But solid.
Arshavin - 8. Sparkled as usual.
Denilson - 8.5. Though he was excellent; broke up play more than once, and has stopped giving the ball away so much.
Cesc - 9. Cescual and sexual.
Walcott - 7. Wonderfully direct, but muscled/fouled/injured out of the game.
Song - 8. Continuing to improve.
Adebayor - 9. Ran back 40 yards to break up an attack at one point. Rarely offside :shock: . And took his goals brilliantly.
Subs
Eboue - 8. His marauding runs make me happy. Needs to learn to shoot still though.
Bendtner - 6. Pretty quiet, and shanked his best chance horribly. Game had settled by the time he'd come on, really.
Ramsay - 7. Not on for long, but looked sharp.

What do you guys think?
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Re: Arsenal 2 - 0 Manchester City (Happy days continue)

Postby Git » Sun Apr 05, 2009 12:21 pm

I'd agree with those mate.

Great report SG.
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Re: Arsenal 2 - 0 Manchester City (Happy days continue)

Postby singaporegooner » Sun Apr 05, 2009 12:29 pm

Not a bad by BB.
Wonder if it warrants a dedicated thread for it?
Any mods interested to take up the idea?
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Re: Arsenal 2 - 0 Manchester City (Happy days continue)

Postby singaporegooner » Sun Apr 05, 2009 12:33 pm

Git wrote:I'd agree with those mate.

Great report SG.

:)
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Re: Arsenal 2 - 0 Manchester City (Happy days continue)

Postby TheSKAGooner » Sun Apr 05, 2009 12:44 pm

BennisBergkamp wrote:Someone should do player ratings.

I'd go with:
Almunia - 7. Clean sheet, made one or two good saves, but not a huge amount to do.
Sagna - 7. Solid, but needs to work on his crossing still.
Gallas - 7. Some good attacking play, but I didn't like the way we opened up at the back a couple times.
Toure - 8. Looked like his old self.
Clichy - 7. Quiet by his standards. Similar crossing to Sagna. But solid.
Arshavin - 8. Sparkled as usual.
Denilson - 8.5. Though he was excellent; broke up play more than once, and has stopped giving the ball away so much.
Cesc - 9. Cescual and sexual.
Walcott - 7. Wonderfully direct, but muscled/fouled/injured out of the game.
Song - 8. Continuing to improve.
Adebayor - 9. Ran back 40 yards to break up an attack at one point. Rarely offside :shock: . And took his goals brilliantly.
Subs
Eboue - 8. His marauding runs make me happy. Needs to learn to shoot still though.
Bendtner - 6. Pretty quiet, and shanked his best chance horribly. Game had settled by the time he'd come on, really.
Ramsay - 7. Not on for long, but looked sharp.

What do you guys think?



Good ratings. I quite agree, but would put Sagna at 7.5. He was well visible and spent time forward. Still, crossing could be better, as you said. Denilson was stellar. Wenger's praise of him earlier this season seems to have borne out over time. And Eboue is becoming a real swashbuckler! What's in that lads Cheerios? And you're spot on about Ade tracking back. It was beautiful to see and not at all present in the first half of the season from him.

Overall, I was impressed and highly so. Obviously Cesc & Ade starred. But the attack looked "dangerous" again and flowing, like it has only on a few occasions this season (for obvious reasons). Timing still needs a little work, but that's to be expected with the return of 3 players to the starting 11, and missing RVP. But that'll come over the next couple matches.

I like our strength going into the last of the season and FA/CL competitions. The hunger is there, the lads seem to be playing FOR one another again instead of just with one another. The back line has become quite solid, as needs must from our goal drought earlier in the season, and again, our attack could be truly frightening shortly.

The only head scratcher for AW is who to start now with everyone back (less Rosicky)!

Depending on our setup, we could see some interesting combos...depending on which match, as Shava is out for CL, either 4-4-2 or 4-3-3 and mixes at midfield with Shava/Cesc/Nasri/Theo/Eboue all figuring and Ade/RVP/Eduardo at the striker. Barring injury, I don't see Bendtner starting the rest of the season and I don't realistically see Rosicky being back for impact until the bitter end.

I wonder, if we had more time left in the season, would AW opt to start the "best XI" or the XI that play the best together as sometimes they are different. I think that's going to weigh heavily on him as he evaluates how to deal with contracts in the summer (although he's made quite clear he's NOT thinking about contracts now, which I am glad for). But seriously, we've an overabundance of attacking talent, and we'll have to figure out if keeping everyone there will be the correct move or to add by subtraction in 1-2 instances and who would the subtractions be? While it's a nice position to be in, I don't envy the decision process AW and the staff have to make.
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Re: Arsenal 2 - 0 Manchester City (Happy days continue)

Postby BennisBergkamp » Sun Apr 05, 2009 1:09 pm

I reckon we'll either see a Europe-style 4-5-1 on Tuesday:

Almunia

Sagna - Toure - Gallas - Clichy

Eboue - Song - Cesc - Denilson - Nasri

Adebayor

or a 4-4-2 with Song out and Bendtner playing up front with Ade. Nasri needs to get over that flu though, or bugger me if I know who we'll put out left.
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Re: Arsenal 2 - 0 Manchester City (Happy days continue)

Postby She_Gunner_Wales » Sun Apr 05, 2009 1:37 pm

Nice report SG. :clap:
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Re: Arsenal 2 - 0 Manchester City (Happy days continue)

Postby singaporegooner » Sun Apr 05, 2009 1:49 pm

I thought Eboue's playing with a bit of swagger nowadays.
Especially after his 2 goals recently, he's looking much more confident bringing the ball forward and having a go at the keeper.
hope he keeps up the performance
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Re: Arsenal 2 - 0 Manchester City (Happy days continue)

Postby Reverend Gooner » Tue Apr 07, 2009 12:04 pm

Great report mate

singaporegooner wrote:Not a bad by BB.
Wonder if it warrants a dedicated thread for it?
Any mods interested to take up the idea?


Keep an eye on the announcements thread
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Re: Arsenal 2 - 0 Manchester City (Happy days continue)

Postby Cheese » Wed Apr 08, 2009 9:36 am

Nice report SG :clap:
“What a great day for football, all we need is some green grass and a ball.”
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Re: Arsenal 2 - 0 Manchester City (Happy days continue)

Postby bergie4ever » Wed Apr 08, 2009 9:52 am

"Happy Days"... :think:

Please keep cool,we earned nothing yet!! :frogwink:
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