Stoke 1-3 Arsenal, or, Let's Do It For Aaron

What was shaping up to be a horrorshow that would define the season ended up being a display of resolute strength that just might be this season's proudest moment.

Two years ago, almost to the day, Martin Taylor broke Eduardo's ankle and sent him into more than a year of misery and perhaps half-a-career of unfulfilled potential. The enduring image of that game was Gallas' famous sulk on the pitch, and by the end of those 90 minutes, Arsenal had managed only a 2-2 draw.

When Ryan Shawcross hacked Aaron Ramsey's leg in half shortly past the hour mark, every Arsenal player remembered that fateful day. Vermaelen looked the closest to breaking down, and kneeled to the ground. Then, Clichy came over to him, put his hand on his shoulder, said something short, and Vermaelen stood straight up. Clichy remembered what happened afterward.

Over the last half hour, Arsenal put itself back together into a semblance of a team, and broke the deadlock and the tragedy by banging in two goals. And then, Fabregas called his team into a huddle. I don't know what he said in that huddle, but for the first time, I felt like I was watching the actions of a real captain, presiding over a team that would fight for their colors and their teammates.

Beyond any doubt, I've never felt more proud of the Arsenal. They went through what no team should have to go through for the third time in three years, but this time, they ground out a vengeful win. For everyone that calls Arsenal a team of boys playing a man's game, I give you the image of the match, and a team that will fulfill its manager's oft-criticized expectations. I give you a team that, with Chelsea's juicy home loss, just might win the Premier League title.

Wenger showed that he would not mess around with the Anti-Arsenal in their house when he issued his strongest available lineup that seemed to say, "If Eboue can't defend, I'll let him attack": Almunia, Sagna, Campbell, Vermaelen, Clichy, Song, Ramsey, Fabregas, Eboue, Nasri, and Bendtner.

Make no mistake, as strong as Wenger could have made it, no way was this side going to come out with any kind of rhythm with all the new pairings all over the field. The Britannia cranked up the volume instantaneously, and we played Stoke's game for quite some time. Goal-kicks and throw-ins came bouncing ominously into our box, and the boys were not clearing the ball adequately, as usual. Players like Ramsey and Alex Song, who has been in a teensy-bit of a slump lately, were losing their battles, Bendtner was giving the ball up too easily, Eboue had trouble finding his place, and Fabregas and Nasri just could not buy more than one or two touches.

It was no surprise when Stoke opened the scoring in the eighth minute from, of course, a Rory Delap long throw-in. Song conceded the throw in with an unfortunate bit of footwork on our end of the left wing, and it came in like a beach ball, got flicked on with a pedestrian Bendtner nearby (with Ramsey and Sagna also at the scene of the crime), to be simply headed in by one Tony Pugh, who is just about as famous as his name sounds. It was his first league goal, and his first league start, and, the way he was playing throughout the rest of the game, perhaps the last in both categories. Still, he got his moment of fame, thanks mostly to Emmanuel Eboue, who daftly hopped away from goal when the gut reaction of a quality defender would have been to cover the open man at the far post. Even when Wenger puts him into an offensive role, he just cannot seem to go a game without making a laughably visible defensive mistake.

Besides, the worst was over for Arsenal, who have quite the penchant for coming back when things seemingly could not get worse (while when it continues to get worse). The defense began to calm things down, thanks especially to a near-perfect Gael Clichy. Dan Roebuck is the one, I believe, who commented on ArsenalTV that he is "one of the best one-on-one defenders" he had ever seen. Clichy announced his definitive return with absolutely flawless positioning, the fastest feet in the west, and confident attacking passes and movement. Indeed, in his best stretches, he was our most dangerous player on the left. Campbell's bravery and overall screaming at his teammates--for instance when he commanded his defense to move further from Arsenal's box on a set-piece--made me smile again, and he is becoming my most favorite unsustainable player.

Still, an attacking rhythm was very slow in developing. Fabregas, playing the attacking threat once again, mixed a few one-touches to teammates on the run to one-touches to no one. That was when he got the ball, but when he abandoned deep play, it was difficult enough to bring the ball forward. Song had to play the general, and though his positioning and aggression picked up minute after minute, his passes were very inconsistent. Alongside him was Ramsey, looking quite harried and generally lacking in confidence on the ball, with back-pass after back-pass. Eboue had some cute flicks in the middle and on the right, but nothing that amounted to anything, and Bendtner proved once again that he has a great eye for the right player to give the ball to, while also proving that he does not really know when to give it to that player, as he tried to force a ton of passes that were easily intercepted.

Then, in the space of about five minutes, Fabregas turned on and took hold of the game. A great dummy that let the ball run to Bendtner in the box was followed by a dangerous give-and-go with Nasri, and that was followed by a picture-perfect cross-field ball to Bendtner. Then, he ended a spell of 50-50 balls bouncing around in the air with the simplest of difficult controlling touches, burst into the box, and slid the ball into Sagna for a dangerous cross. Then, he chested down a throw-in, looked up, and put in one of the most perfect crosses you will see for a very, very difficult headed goal from Bendtner, who, after having a moment of ball-watching during Stoke's goal, used his height correctly and placed the ball ever-so-nicely into the top corner of the far side.

Then, Fabregas turned right off, resuming his too-confident, too-cheap giveaways. But his moment of brilliance gave the team a spark. Ramsey entered the game, with sprightly box-to-box tackles and distribution. Song spent the rest of the half forcing the ball toward the vacuum that was Clichy, and Arsenal was getting the ball back as quickly as ever. The ball began to move from right to left, to left to right, and despite some shaky moments in the center of the defense (that's to be expected, though, right?), by the half, Arsenal was certainly on top.

And until Ramsey's injury, Arsenal played at its very best, and it just might have started with the improvement in the play of Ramsey himself. A bit more confidence from him allowed better distribution, and he became that vital link between defense and attack. Mainly, though, it was Fabregas, who put on a vintage display for almost half an hour, with threatening through ball after threatening through ball, and the great low, sliding passes that shifted Stoke's defense all over the place around the box, the kind of passes only Fabregas can make. Well, to be fair, Nasri seemed to think, "I like yo' style!", and entered Nasrigas mode, doubling the threat at times. With Song and Clichy doing their thing, constantly getting the ball back, these players had nothing but reps.

Bendtner got the hang of using his height throughout the game, as Stoke got a taste of their own medicine. His leaping body took defenders out of the game that would have prevented some bouncing balls from causing a lot of the anxiety that Arsenal defenders were (and are) constantly pulling their hair out over. However, Bendtner's touch was clunky and awful, and only deteriorated throughout the game. A penalty left unseen on Ramsey, a laser of a pass from Nasri that Fabregas is probably still hitting himself for not running onto, and several ruined first touches from Bendtner left four or five goals on the doorstep before...it happened.

I will not dwell on Shawcross' tackle. It was not the worst of tackles, in a genuinely 50-50 situation, but it was the leg-breaker of a young and inexperienced player. He seems to have a reputation for dangerous tackles (previous victims: Emmanuel Adebayor and Francis Jeffers), but it honestly did not seem all that malicious, and his reaction was almost as horrifying as the injury itself. But what I cannot stand for is all the various arguments (such as this peach) that it is all indirectly Wenger's fault. One commenter I read once put it best: it is like saying that a sexy woman should be blamed if she is raped because if she either a) dresses sexy, b) didn't show enough experience to avoid it, or c) both. It is absolutely absurd what some people say to argue against what Wenger has to say. Watch that Adebayor video and listen to what the commentator says: Shawcross is "no respecter of reputations"? Really?

Beyond that I have nothing to say. Arsenal is no stranger to injuries, even ones this consequential, and if the rest of this match proved anything, it is that they will chug on.

Chug on they did. Arsenal was shocked, they lost virtually all their rhythm. Rosicky had replaced Ramsey, but though he did a good bit of running around, he had little impact on the game--nobody really could put break through the shock permeating the atmosphere. Stoke, on the other hand, lost literally all their rhythm, and Arsenal had no trouble keeping the ball for most of the remainder of the game. Some good substitutions had little impact on play in general, but arguably made the team more cohesive. Walcott had virtually no touches on the ball throughout his 20 minutes on the field, but Eboue played mostly like a wrench-in-the-gears in his 75 minutes, and though he had some trademark-cheeky give-and-go attempts that re-established Happy Feet's status as Arsenal's lovable wild card, I don't think any of them got off, and he looked quite out-of-place when he was often in the middle of the field. Nasri, who played a relatively quiet game in spite of some dazzling moments, made way for Eduardo in the 84th to help the remaining midfielders, especially Song, find more and more space on the outside of the box.

Most of all, it was sheer mettle that helped Arsenal grind out the win. They had no rhythm, only a desire to grab the goal. They should have had it, when some good distribution from left to right ended with an innocent lob from Song into Eduardo, whose head must certainly have been cloudy when he missed badly on his first touch. Unfortunately, Eduardo showed that he cannot meet a cardinal requirement in the Premier League--willingness to take a hit. I just wonder if he has the heart for risking a tackle anymore. But alas, a shot from Bendtner met a Stoke player's hand (was he looking for it) at the stroke of the 90th minute, and the ref had to give it. Once again, Fabregas chose the side that Sorensen dived to, but put it away, and ran off to celebrate. And for the first time in awhile, the whole team celebrated, as Fabregas smacked his ankle in disdain.

The third goal was just icing on the cake, as a corner taken short came to Rosicky in a ballsy mood. He took a good whack, and when Sorensen saved, Fabregas pounced onto the ball, and knocked it one-touch to Vermaelen, who looked like he had that goal on his mind the second the ball was passed to Rosicky.

What is a vintage performance? Is it the game in which Arsenal plays "vintage Arsenal", or is it the game that will be remembered? These were not stylish goals that you would pay $100 million dollars in wages for a team to score, but these were important goals, difficult goals to score. Those last two goals will probably be remembered longer than Barcelona's recent dizzying goal. This win was as memorable, replayable, vintage, as a win can get--as memorable as the picture we will remember it by. And with that enduring image of the team behaving like a team, overcoming the direst of adverse circumstances for at least the time-being, Arsenal pushes on. Two weeks ago, they were nine points off the title--now, they are three, and only two behind second place. Again, I cannot know what Fabregas said to his team, but I can guess: Let's win the title, for Aaron.

A Bipolar Round of the Premier League: Aaron Ramsey's Injury and the Return to the Title Race

Since I do not expect to have the analysis for the Stoke match up for a couple days, I thought it best to jump the gun a bit and talk about the two very, very different elephants in the room.

First, of course, is the horrific injury that Aaron Ramsey sustained when Ryan Shawcross, England National Team member and captain of Stoke, drove his foot through Aaron's right leg. I just do not know where to begin. I started watching too late to see Diaby's injury a few years ago, but when I heard that Arsenal has sustained three injuries of this extreme sort in five years, I could not believe it. The similarities between this incident and what happened to Eduardo two years ago where too substantial to ignore. How can this happen at all, to any team, especially to us as much as it has?

If I blame anyone, I blame the English football culture. I do not believe that there is some widespread conspiracy to take out Monsieur Wenger and his foreigners--but I am increasingly irritated by the villainization of our manager in the English press, and the attitude taken toward Arsenal's style by English columnists, bloggers, and commentators of all stripes. Granted, Wenger brings it on himself sometimes. You can support him all you like, but the man is undoubtedly arrogant, and when you combine that with his Frenchiness, it makes him prey for English writers when he does and says anything. When Porto beat Arsenal in the same round that Rooney and Manchester United took down AC Milan, Real Madrid lost a shocker to Lyon, and Bayern Munich beat Fiorentina in a game full of outrageous refereeing, the focus was naturally on Wenger and Arsenal, and almost all of it was negative. Whether it was Wenger complaining about the refereeing, his selection of Fabianski, or what have you, commentators wrote ten stories criticizing Arsenal for every positive piece written about their boy Rooney.

The most constant criticism of Arsenal is that they are not physical, and I tend to agree. But when this viewpoint is repeated again and again, when people increasingly hate arrogant, pass-and-move Arsenal soccer and glorify teams that play a robust "man's game", when "professional fouls" become not only an accepted tactic but something that fans and commentators applaud, somebody, somewhere, gets their legs broken in two places.

Aaron Ramsey, the most promising Welsh talent of this generation, will not play for the rest of the season. If Eduardo's case is accepted as the model, he may not even play next season, and when he does return, he will be half the player that we knew. His career has not been ruined, but it has been seriously compromised. This is the third Arsenal player whose future could have been much brighter if it was not for this muscular, English, anti-prissy-foreigners attitude, and that is not to mention the rest of the Arsenal squad, most of whom are rotating in and out of the squad, missing most of every season because of one injury or another. Already, I am reading about what a good lad Shawcross really is, and how Wenger is whining abstractly about how soccer should be played and how "our boy" should be punished too-harshly. The Premier League should be ashamed.

Most of all, I feel absolutely terrible for Aaron, and I am intentionally calling him Aaron now, because this may be the lowest point of not only his career, but his entire life. Arsenal.com is asking fans to submit short messages to Aaron, so I suggest that everyone please click and send out your sympathies. He was shaping up to be a wonderful young player, and if he can keep focused and positive, he will work all the harder in his recovery and in returning to the player that we will hopefully see one day in the future, in an Arsenal shirt.

And then there is the good news. Arsenal is back in the title race--two points off United, three off Chelsea, in part because of this.

Chelsea loses its first game at home this season. It is their first loss at home in fifteen months. Manchester City breaks a decade-long record of not scoring in Stamford Bridge by putting away four goals. Wayne Bridge does not shake John Terry's hand. Chelsea loses two men to red cards, Belletti and Ballack. Tevez scores a brace, and on his second, Bridge joins the celebration. Bridge is subbed out late in the game, and receives mixed applause from Chelsea fans. I speculate that Abramovic has just about had it with his team's players. THAT. IS. AWESOME.

This, of course, is not to underestimate Arsenal's contributions to get back into the title race, in a display away to Stoke to be really, really proud of. More on that soon.

Arsenal 2-0 Sunderland, or, Eboue Ownage

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.