Afternoon all,
The majority of us were relatively optimistic going into yesterday's game and rightly so. Our record at home against Fulham over the years has been pretty good. On Twitter I noticed a lot of people were predicting 3-0 and 4-0 scorelines etc. I was also expecting a win but at the same time I wasn't overly confident because of recent showings at the Grove. Fulham's frontline was down to it's bare bones with Kamara playing the lone role but we have a tendancy to make average strikers look very good indeed.
Arsene sprung no real surprises with his selection. Some felt Van Persie would be picked after the boss recently spoke about accomadating himself and Chamakh but the wait goes on for him to clinch his first Premier League start since August. There was still enough firepower on show to really hurt this Fulham side.
We began brightly, the usual periods of slick passing in and around the opponents box threatening to rip them open. The first real chance fell to Arshavin who had been booed by some idiots in the away stand who obviously think Adrian Durham has a brain. It was Wilshere's free-kick which the Cottagers failed to clear, it fell to the Russian who hit it on the volley but it was straight at Schwarzer. Arshavin looked up for it again as he ran at the Fulham defence giving them all sorts of problems, this time feeding Nasri who failed to make a proper connection with the ball before it rolled wide.
The inevitable breakthrough came a quarter of an hour in when the same two linked up again. This time Nasri who cut inside two defenders and lashed the ball into the top right hand corner. It was a moment of technical class from Sammy. I was literally druling and I think I've watched the replay well over 400 times now. The Frenchman was on his game and was torturing young Matthew Briggs at left-back who was eventually withdrawn. The chances continued to come our way as Song wasted a terrific opportunity to put us well in the driving seat. Soon after Chamakh connected well with Sagna's cross only to see his powerful header go straight at Schwarzer.
On the half-hour mark, what looked like a harmless long ball turned into a moment of needless drama. Squillaci and Koscielny clashed heads, the latter coming off the worst and did well to stand on his feet at the time. Fulham didn't put the ball out of play, nor the the referee blow the whistle as he should have because it was a head injury and they went on to score as Dempsey put through Kamara who finished. It was a situation that could have been so easily avoided but we couldn't afford to dwell on it. Once again failure to take our chances had come back to haunt us. This time there was no time for self pity. It was obvious Fulham were going to shut up shop now so a big test of character awaited us. Unfortunately Koscielny would take no further part and was replaced by Djourou. Not long after, we almost conceded again as Kamara raced onto another through ball Fabianski came out and made a hugely important save. We were nervy, clearly shell shocked by the equaliser and were gratful to hear teh half-time whistle.
We came out in the 2nd half with a bit more bite. Rosicky saw his volley flash just wide of the post. We drove forward in numbers, the players were determined to get an early goal to ease the nerves. My heart needed one too. Arshavin was the next to test Schwarzer as he dazzled past a few Fulham defenders only to see his snap shot blocked by the Australian's outstreched leg. At the other end we were far too nervous. Etuhu was left unmarked from a corner but sent his header well wide. The danger signs were there for us. Alex Song wasted another chance having done so well to chase down a ball that looked out of his reach but his eventual effort was blazed over the bar.
Fulham threatened to punish once more as Gera's acrobatic bicycle kick went narrowly wide. We neededa breath of fresh air and the boss responded by introducing Walcott and the expense of Wilshere. I had that horrible feeling that we could win this game but just as easily throw it away. Then came a moment of sheer briliance from who else but Samir Nasri. Substitute Van Persie layed it off to the Frenchman who dazzled past two defenders, rounded the keeper and shot on the turn from a tricky angle but as we found out against Spurs, he speicalizes in this area. 2-1 and I was ecstatic. There was a sense of overwhelming relief around the Emirates but we still had to see this one out. Etuhu could have easily equalised but he dragged his shot just wide of Fabianski's right hand post. This was followed up by a volley from Gera which was brilliantly saved from the Polish keeper. The five minutes of injury time were the longest of my life but we held on.
Whatever about the peformance, we got the job done. It wasn't as convincing as we would have liked but we saved ourselves a shitload of critisism and the players also saved themselves a right bollocking from the manager. The defending was far from acceptable. Against the lesser sides, we tend to switch off too often and could have been punished if it wasn't for a combination of wasted chances and some good saves from Fabianski. Song needs to be reminded that he is a holding midfielder. Surely he has already but he couldn't have got the message. The back four has practically no protection when he goes forward. I know Wilshere tries to hold but that he shouldn't have to constantly wonder where Alex has wandered off to all the time. I'm not saying he should sit in midfield for the entire game but pick better times to go forward and limit how many times he does it. Then we'll concede far less goals I'm sure.
As you all know, Koscielny went off in a stretch yesterday with concussion. I heard he's okay, suffered no damage but may need a while out just to get the head right. You need to be careful when dealing with the after-effects. I don't think we'll miss him too much, Djourou will come in and I've been overly satisfied with his performances this season. We should be able to manage.
Now for the player ratings:
Fabianski: 7 - Kept us in the game, good performance.
Sagna: 7 - Solid display.
Squillaci: 6 - Not at his best.
Koscielny: 6 - Was doing well until he had to go off.
Clichy: 7 - Not troubled, got forward well.
Song: 6 - Not himself, will have better days.
Wilshere: 6 - Struggled to have an impact.
Rosicky: 6 - Tried but didn't create as much as he would have liked.
Nasri: 9 - Fantastic, so many words to describe him but yesterday he was close enough to unplayable.
Arshavin: 7 - Always a threat, unlucky not to score.
Chamakh: 6 - Didn't get as much service as he would have liked but could have easily scored.
Subs:
Van Persie: 6 - Set up Nasri's second, getting back to his best.
Djourou: 7 - Another solid display, really pushing for a regular role now.
Walcott: 6 - Didn't have time to make an impact.
Yesterday was made even better as Chelsea could only manage a draw at home to Everton. The Blues are not in a good place at the moment. I always said that when they picked up a few injuries they would struggle. They don't have strenght in depth and this is the first real blip Ancelotti has experienced and he's struggling to get them back in shape. We play them in a few weeks and if we're on top, I'm confident we can take ful advantage. Let's take one game at a time though, we've got a massive game midweel followed by a crunch clash at Old Trafford.
There's not much else going on surounding the club. Wenger did briefly mention he could be loaning out a few players in January. I'm assuming that the likes of Emmanuel-Thomas and Vela will go out in search of first-team experience. The latter has come in for critisism in recent weeks with some suggesting he would be better suited to La Liga. I still have faith in him to produce, he just needs to get the head down and keep working hard. A good loan spell would do him the world of good.
I'm off to enjoy the rest of my Sunday. I hope to be back with a preview of the Partizan game.
Till next time.
No comments:
Post a Comment