Imagine if you will a plucky African fullback that heard some rumor that a terribly-misinformed Dunga was in the stands to see him start a game, to see if he's good enough for selection for the upcoming Brazil-Ireland friendly at the Emirates. Surely such an absurd rumor was floating around the Arsenal squad with some credence, perhaps because of a bit of a language barrier. That is because, for this match, Emmanuel Eboue thought it appropriate to slap on his Samba shoes and try out for the Selecao.
And the winning goal that Happy Feet engineered perfectly summed up the game. In the 27th minute, Fabregas lashes a pass to my man of the match, waiting in an advanced position on the wing. His first touch is unorthodox and bounces off his marker, but he gets right back onto it and dashes into a shocking swath of space in the middle. He drives right into the box, dribbling only with his right foot, finds himself boxed in by two defenders at the six-yard box, but drives in a low ball through the half-foot of space between the two across the goal. And, as scandalous fortune would have it, not a single defender had their eyes on our striker, Bendtner, who had sneaked in for the simplest of tap-ins.
Arsenal's did not string together a vintage performance. You get the sense that what worked out would not have worked against superior opposition. However, Sunderland was so abjectly inferior in offense and defense that Arsenal, thoroughly warmed up by recent battles in the Champion's League and against the other Big Four teams, looked calmly dominant.
We should not be too harsh on Arsenal for producing far more than they did in such a game, because the players in the starting XI--Almunia, Happy Feet, Vermaelen, Sylvestre, Clichy, Song, Ramsey, Fabregas, Nasri, Walcott, Bendtner--have had relatively few opportunities to play with one another. Irregularities were all over the field--between the Sylvestre-Vermaelen defensive tandem (though arguably complimentary on paper), and the inclusion of an Aaron Ramsey that has not played terribly much lately, and the starting of Bendtner as the leader of the line with the jury still out for him, and of course, the starting of one Theo Walcott. Miscommunication was very evident at times, and so individual brilliance from the likes of Happy Feet told the story of the game at the end of the day.
Once again, defensive deficiencies that sometimes verged on the ridiculous really should have made this more of a nail-biter. On a second watch, I realized that Sunderland's most successful tactic was the goal kick. Long balls from Craig Gordon bounced fortuitously in Arsenal's half and often ended up in the final third for Vermaelen and Sylvestre to compete for under heavy pressure. That's right--goal kicks. Whether the ball bounced to Song, Ramsey, Vermaelen, Sylvestre, or any other player, those innocuous long-balls put my heart in my throat again and again, and that remains to be unacceptable.
Sylvestre's selection after a rather strong performance from Sol Campbell in my opinion might have been more costly. While not having the worst of games as Arsenal's resident donkey, and even having served up a lovely, Marquez-style long-ball to Walcott in attack, Sylvestre especially made some uncomfortable errors in distribution and defense that could have given the offense ground to make up. In one moment, in the 39th, Ramsey lost the ball very easily in Arsenal's half, and a simple through-ball to Kenwyne Jones cut through our center-back tandem like butter, Sylvestre having failed to track an obvious run. Luckily, Jones missed his sitter, and Arsenal continued to lead. Poor touches by Ramsey such as the one at the heart of this highlight gifted dangerous possession to Sunderland too many times--and uncharacteristically poor touches and passes by Alex Song accomplished the same. Happy Feet, as impressive as he often was in the final third, looked as vulnerable and/or anonymous on the defensive game as he typically is. And again, the unified tracking-back of all players that characterizes the best defenses was not apparent--but granted, we did not have many opportunities to witness it. At the end of the day, it was one hundred poor giveaways by Sunderland that kept Almunia's clean sheet, rather than a true defensive shut-out.
That said, many positives can be said about the defense. Vermaelen had a somewhat shaky start, but played a characteristically solid game, with an emerging feature of his game--good long-balls to the offense--factoring into his overall evaluation. It was his coming out-of-position to make a great tackle that started the first goal--incidentally, Vermaelen had come out of position to save Eboue's bacon, and so Happy Feet was allowed to remain too-far-upfield to create the goal. Good defensive headers, excellent positioning and reactions, and admirable improvisation with his defensive partner were the hallmarks of his game. Clichy had a similarly shaky start, and his bad habit of inadequate clearances still haunted him, but on much fewer occasions than in recent games. Indeed, most of the mistakes I have seen him make in recent games either did not emerge against Sunderland or did so once or twice. He is just beginning to find his way on offense, with lots of good distribution, so I think it is safe to say that Clichy is returning to normal. Song did not play very well on offense, and his positioning was not quite as stalwart as it normally is, but he played as reliably as ever in a supporting role on defense with his chasing, pressure, and aggression. Almunia, without having to make a genuine save, did all the simple things correctly, except for one ill-advised coming-out to fortuitously ricochet the ball off of Darren Bent for a goal-kick (and relief).
The Arsenal offense controlled the game from start to finish, but individually, few players were at their best. Fabregas was the main man, of course, and on paper, he has more moments marked "excellent" and "brilliant" than anyone. Timely runs, great passes of all distances, and the occasional one-of-a-kind skill on the ball almost made it a wonderful performance from the captain, who earned and sunk the last-minute penalty that killed the game. On the other hand, one gets the sense that for all his involvement, he should have been involved even more, and only during a few passages is he really at the center of distribution, which brings into question his off-the-ball movement. This is not to mention multiple shocking giveaways and two eminently finishable counter-attacks that he let down with passes that would make you think he really choked under pressure. Some might say t would be harsh to say that the penalty was a bit generous and that he almost missed, but not me. Ramsey had a very similar game in a different respect. His quickness and aggression allowed him to pick off balls in the midfield and burst forward in attack, and several moments of great distribution and clever passing served his rating well, but multiple giveaways and poor shooting, as well as the missing runs into the box that marked his best games this season, made for a mediocre game from the young'n. The catch phrase for Bendtner is "great eyes", and his teamwork and distribution was nothing less than exemplary throughout the game--how about that cross-field cannonball from the middle to a streaking Eboue on the right? His height is becoming increasingly useful for balls in the air, whether on attack or in defending set-pieces. However, the man lumbers rather than runs too much of the time, and so his touch often lets him down. Like Clichy, however, he is rapidly improving, and at the moment I am tipping him to be next season's emerging star. Even with his bad touch, if he had reacted quicker to balls coming near him, he could have scored a hat-trick.
Then there was the fantastic Samir Nasri. With the quickest feet on the field, Nasri put on a clinic in ball-control, beating his man on the left again and again. Though his crosses are not quite there, perhaps that is a sign that he is better in the middle, because his distribution, through-balls, and one-touch passing in that area were nothing less than superb and should have been responded to better by the receiver. Fabregas could take a lesson from him in off-the-ball movement, as Nasri was part of everything good on attack. Increasingly, he is dropping back in defense when necessary, and pulled off a very good tackle at the beginning of the game. I hesitated very much before labeling Eboue man-of-the-match at the beginning of this post, because Nasri's game was far more complete.
Then again, Eboue was the difference, and justly deserved three or four assists, as well as all the flashiest highlights. He danced around the left side, overshadowing Theo Walcott with his cheeky, unorthodox dribbling that Sunderland just could not handle. Mind you--Theo played an improved game, collecting the most highlights of any game in recent memory, but when he does not receive an excellent pass from, say, Eboue to latch onto with his pace, his touch ensures that he loses every match-up between him and the left-fullback. In any case, poor decision-making (choosing never to hold up the play) and execution (woeful crosses) made sure that he did not get involved with any goals. Eboue did everything Walcott did wrong to exception. Indeed, he earned the right to move into the right-wing forward position when Walcott came off for Sagna, and that is really saying something. Something good. Or something bad--it depends on how you look at it, I suppose. All negatives about Walcott aside, Happy Feet truly earned his nickname in this match with a very exciting display that Arsenal fans, frankly, do not get enough of.
Rosicky, coming on for Nasri (to rest him because he was so good I should hope), put on a similar display to the man he replaced. Though his ball control was not as breathtaking, his should've-been-final balls were much more dangerous looking, and his quickness caused problems for a tired Sunderland defense. Sagna had about 15 minutes to run around, but with all the possession we were racking up, Sagna barely got a pass in edge-wise. Denilson came on right at the very end so that Eboue could get a round of applause, and that was all.
With giant-killing Everton defeating Manchester United, we should feel all the more comfortable with our relatively easy wrap-up to the league. Next comes Stoke, quickly becoming the anti-Arsenal and a team that we have a bone to pick with, at their fortress. A win there would give the team plenty of confidence to continue playing against teams that should be beaten. I will hopefully put that one up before knowing the Burnley result.
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