Wolves 0-2 Arsenal
A fine rearguard performance, bookended by two well-taken goals from Chamakh and notable for an exceptional goalkeeping performance from the enigmatic Lukasz Fabianski.
Watching Fabianski is not good for one’s general health, it seems. Recent performances have tended to be steps forward, albeit with a mini step backwards against Newcastle. Last night the lovable Pole laid the ghost of Carroll (not meant to be quite as eerie and sick as it sounds) by putting in a fantastic shift to deny Wolves time and again.
Pick of the bunch came right at the end, while there was still only a goal in it, when he parried away a powerful shot from Berra. When the final whistle blew Fabianski afforded himself a little roar of approval. He was a lion last night.
We couldn’t have started the game better, Chamakh heading in a lovely Sagna cross [correction – it was Song] before a minute was up, but when Arshavin (otherwise very good, I thought) missed a one-on-one, Wolves came back into it and though we had other chances to seal it sooner than we did – Fabregas missed a good one – much of the rest of the game was for marvelling both at Wolves’ dogged refusal to give in and at Arsenal’s for once solid back line. It was only our third clean sheet in 12 league games. Their rarity makes me enjoy them even more.
The inability to put the game to bed sooner did lead to a collective outbreak of heart palpitations on Twitter, with Sunderland and countless other late concessions in mind, but the late counter sealed it.
I must admit, I was impressed by the Wanderers and McCarthy’s exasperation at yet another defeat is understandable. They played very well.
Fabregas’s yellow card gave everyone another talking point. It might have been red on another day and with a different referee, but I think yellow was probably the right call. It was not a good tackle at all. Afterwards, Cesc sought out Ward and apologised, saying it was an accident. That took all the sting out of the situation but it’s interesting that we have now had two such incidents committed by our players this season – Wilshere and now Fabregas. Rightly or wrongly, it’s cannon fodder for critics of Wenger’s stance on bad tackles.
Apologising is a good start, learning from it a wise outcome.
Ovewall
After two very poor performances this was a pivotal test. Lose it and the knives would truly have been out. But we ground out a very good win, and off we go again into happyland. We’re well placed. Let’s keep going.
i believe Song made crossed the ball for the first goal
My mistake gaya – I have amended. Cheers!
If people ARE going to make a meal out of Cesc’s tackle and (fair enough) booking, then could those same people pay similar attention to the latest entry in the Karl Henry Compendium of Cloggings; a two-footed, studfs up lunge into arshavin’s shin which could easil;y have caused AA far more damage than it did, a fact immediately noted by the ref. Fair’s fair, after all.
I think that’s actually our fourth clean sheet in twelve games – Blackpool, Man City, West Ham and Wolves. What’s good is that three of those have come in the last four Premiership games, which shows some sign of defensive improvement in recent weeks despite our two recent losses.
Fair point Wenger Boys. Getting better at the back? Feels like a long slog sometimes.
Jezza – in true Wenger fashion I did not see the Henry tackle. Still not seen it.
yeah, is it only me, or do others feel something is wrong with Cesc? He’s just not been himself for weeks. Poor passes, shots astray, arguing incessantly with the referee, poor body language – all insignificant by themselves but cumulatively adding up to a big question mark….this is not a recent one game thing. Look back at the patterns and trends. Something is wrong. This is not the Cesc we know and love.
More than simply being frustrated at his unhealing hamstring?
you can say what eeeever u want to say.one fact wont change.at this point, he is just not that good goal keeper for arsenal.Csesny is the better one.Either Wenger shud buy a new goal keeper like reina or use cseseny.But Flapyhanddski is not that good goal keeper to be t the person to stand in guard of the goal of a team like Arsenal.What is wrong with every body.he shows one good performance and you r goin crazy over him.n you call teh mistake he made in newcastle a few steps back?that costed us three valuable points.this is not an elementary school competition.This is The English Premier League.Professional football.he is always making boyhood errors.wake up u retarded ppl.n send him out on loan or sth.
There were two worse tackles (by worse I mean leg breakers) on Arsenal players – Mijias on song when he deliberately stamped on his ankle and Henry on Arshavin where Arsh took his foot away because he saw it coming. Neither has been discussed in the press.
but you have to expect those kinds of things when you go to Wolves. The important thing is we didn’t pick up an injury and we got the three points.
I thought the Cesc one was a run of the mill yellow. I think a red would have been harsh especially in the context that the other two fouls receieved no card at all.
Daniel, Arsenal didn’t score on Sunday so it couldn’t have cost us 3 points. It cost us a 0-0, which is one point. last night he won us two points.
LUKASZ FABIANSKI= brilliant
Re Cesc’s apparent attempt to kill the Wolves player, I’m getting more than a little sick at Hansen and MOTD in general selectively choosing fouls to concenbtrate on. Let’s get it straight. Cesc’s one was a tad late and may well have had malice in it but he still contacted a guy on his shin, protected by a pad, with the receipients leg being off the ground. Really, it would have been very difficult for this to have turned into a serious injury or break.
Compare and contrast, if you will, with the approach taken to Robinbson of Bolton’s attempted leg breaker on Diaby which didn’t even rate showing or mention on MOTD that night. Studs up contact with a planted leg.
Before we all start blindly following whatever the TV and scum press say, can we please apply a reality filter to this stuff. This is just another attempt to besmirch the name of a foreign player as well as the club. Let’s see it for what it is before deciding to side with these idiots.
In fairness Daniel G, Fabianski’s mistake on Sunday didn’t cost us three points as we didn’t score at the other end. But it did cost us one point. Although you could say the defence that let Carroll get a free run didn’t help him much either.
I still get nervous watching him but in fairness he’s become a lot more commanding in recent weeks & looks much more a keeper. All keepers make errors from time to time (look at Van Der Sar the other week against West Brom). I agree though he needs to produce steady & secure performances for some time yet before I’ll be convinced but credit where credit’s due, that one mistake aside, he’s been much more than “adequate” this past month – he’s made some very good & vital saves & has been generally impressive.
All i ever hear from fellow Gooners, is how bad match of the day treat us, and what other managers have said, or how maliciouse our players are, all you have to remember is football is fixed no doubt about that,if they dont want you to win the league you wont, suspensions at certain times of the season,bad decisions, in important games can lose you the title we have had it all, down to ten men in the final of the champions league within a few minutes.
Ironicly it is normaly this time of year, bad results set in, i noticed that the other day, a couple of losses which computes to six points but the teams they want to win slipped up and couldnt put the chances away they should have, a lot of attention has been focused on us just recently and people will be watching and for Arsenal to lose three in a row is nearly unheard of, but i wouldnt be at all suprised to see us lose at Everton, by a dodgy decision, lets face it, did you think Koshelney’s tackle warrented a two match ban, Wilsheres mistimed tackle three match ban what a load of cheats.
Why keep a rule inplace that can be interpreted two ways “offside”only so it can be fiddled.Why do they fight against goaline technology but put another two extra officials on, so you dont have to go by video evidence.theres a lot of money in football, i dont know if its gambling why its fiddled, or politics but i do know its rife in other countries and i’m certain it is here.