Charlton 1-2 Arsenal, A Volley At The Valley
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Not a spectacular performance but a win and 3 more points towards chasing Chelsea at the top. The win leaves us only 2 points behind Man Utd who dont play until later today and 5 points behind Chelsea with a game in hand.
Well we didnt start that well but still had the lions share of possesion. We created a few chances but as usual fell behind to a Bent goal that MAY have been offside, until now I still have not seen a camera-angle that can either say that Hasselbaink was on or offside. Anyway, we struck back 10 minutes later thanks to Van Persie after some good work on the right from Henry and Hleb. We definately went into the break looking the more likely to score in the second half.
After the break, there were a few chances for both teams before Eboue's fantastic cross/cut back for Van Persie who volleyed a ball 3 feet in the air, the ball rocketed into the top(well, almost) right corner. After that Arsenal relaxed a little more and everyone took a more defensive position, playing on the break as Charlton were now being forced to attack. Well, it didnt really work as Charlton were playing the long ball game, so counter attacking was useless. So, Arsenal cautiously attacked(thats the best way to put it I guess), apart from Henry's one-on-one miss and Van Persie's open goal miss we didnt really looked like we were going to get a third. Anyway, all of Van Persie's hardwork could have gone to waste if it wasnt for Lehmann stopping Reid's bullet shot from close range and Hasselbaink missing a free header.
Anyway, I sort of liked seeing us having a tough night out. You have to admit, Sheffield United and Porto didnt really give us a real game as both decided to park the bus in front of the goal. I happy though to say that Arsenal have found their way around the pass by Eboue's sudden ability to deliver world-class crosses(credit to him for working on it in training), and Henry's also sudden ability to head balls! Thats 3 games in a row now that Arsenalhave scored from crosses.
Well, the story of this match really is Robin van Persie, who just recently said that he feels this is his season to shine, and so far it looks like he is on his way to cementing his place in the Arsenal starting lineup. Something tell me though, that Wenger will pick Henry's partner depending on the opponents as Adebayor may be favoured against a more physical defence.
In Wenger we trust...to 10 more years of 'beautiful football'.
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posted by highbury1913 @ 7:54 pm | |
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