Arsenal 1 – 0 QPR: A Beautiful Ugly Win.

Mikel Arteta celebrates the winning goal!

Preamble

If you were hoping for a classic Arsenal slick performance you might be disappointed in yesterday’s performance against QPR but there is no doubt that was just what the doctor ordered. Before the game it was obvious we couldn’t just switch into top gear and play the Arsenal way we all love to watch. I mean, after the inexplicably dismal performances against Norwich and Schalke 04 it will be unrealistic to expect the team to kick into form and start playing ­tiki-taka. This Arsenal team – of recent – is a streaky team, we rely on runs and once confidence is built we really get going: But the downside to that is that once the run is stopped it really goes south. When it rains…you get the point.

The first surprise in the starting lineup was the inclusion of Jack Wilshere, I’m sure most gooners including Jack himself assumed he will be coming off the bench somewhere later in the game but the boss has other plans for the young Englishman. Wenger even held off telling Jack he would be playing till 10:30 am yesterday, he said:

“I told him he was playing at 10.30am today. Sometimes I think it is better when you don’t have much time to think about it when you have been out for a long time.”

The other surprise was the return of Sagna, I was skeptical at first with the manager’s decision to bench the improved and consistent Jenkinson but after watching the first ten minutes I realized I’d forgotten how good Sagna is. He offers more going forward than Carl at the moment but I’m sure Carl will improve that part of his game as he gains more experience as Sagna’s understudy. Sagna was his usual solid self and he even put in some really good crosses into the box – which was surprising because I thought that was the only weakness in his game: Not getting putting in more good crosses into the box.

Starting Lineup

Giroud started as the main striker, flanked by Podolski and Ramsey. Wilshere was in the midfield with Arteta and Santi Controller, and Sagna was with Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Santos and Mannone at the back.

Struggle

We struggled to break them down and the game was just dreary, I think I remember @Orbinho of Opta tweeting we had 65% possession at half time but we couldn’t really make much of that. Wilshere was the only bright spot in the game in my opinion, always looking to push forward and create things. The best moment I remember in the first half was when he glided past a couple of QPR players and tested Julio Cesar who spilled the ball but was quick to gather the ball and prevent the danger from an onrushing Arsenal player about to pounce on the rebound.

Jack is Back

Jack doing what he does

He completed 67 minutes and had a man of the match performance. Here are his stats – from @7amkickoff: Shots – 1, Shots on goal – 1, Passes – 44/47, Shots created – 1, Forward passes – 19/21, Backward passes – 13/14, Square passes – 12/12, Dribbles – 4/5. He had the highest pass completion of 94%, the highest in the game. For someone who has been out for over 14 months, that is pretty decent!

ETC

The second half was brighter and we were more active and decisive in movement, huffing and puffing to no avail. At this point I have to say this: I really wish Wenger would make his changes sooner than the pointless wait for his usual 70^th minute, it was obvious Ramsey wasn’t offering much on the right wing and we needed pace. Jack was eventually subbed off around the 67^th minute for Walcott, while Gervinho replaced Podolski after that. WHY CAN’T PODOLSKI COMPLETE 90 MINUTES?

We had some chances, and more but Cesar made some series of good saves to keep his team in the game. Gervinho got injured and had to be stretchered off, looks like a long term injury problem. Fingers crossed. Arshavin came on for him and was involved in the goal, his clever dinked cross from the left was met by Giroud, which led to a scramble and Arteta somehow found a way to get the ball at the back of the net for the goal. Cue Tarzan-like scream in m living room. It was ugly, but at this point I will take ugly rather than pretty and empty.

We had a couple of iffy moments after that as QPR pushed for the equalizer, we weren’t convincing at the back at all. Arsene had something to say about that:

“You could see that as soon as we scored we just wanted to protect the result and we were 11 against 10. If the team is full of confidence maybe we give a chance away, but we would continue to flow forward. But here we just wanted to protect the result – it shows you how quickly the confidence goes from the team.”

Let me say something quick about Santos here: He doesn’t look like the fittest player and his positional sense a bit more desired but after going through the game stats (via @7amkickoff ’s excellent column on arseblognews: by the numbers) I realized that Santos had the highest number of interceptions, and he was our busiest defender because Mark Hughes clearly instructed his right wingers to attack what everyone thinks to be our weak point. I don’t think Santos is as bad as people make him to be, with more games he will ‘catch up’ and with more positional discipline and understanding with Podolski, I believe he can fill in effectively for the injury prone Gibbs.

That’s all for now, guys. It’s good to be back writing for WaZoBia Gooners; if you are interested in contributing, feel free to contact us.

Up The Arse!

@HexyDre