Loading ...Aug 16 2008
Arsenal Complacent, West Brom Sturdy in Debuts - Match
Arsenal opened the season with an unimpressive 1-0 victory over West Brom Albion today, holding the one goal lead for 86 minutes after Samir Nasri (right) scored almost immediately after making his Premier League debut.
The stories after the match hail Nasri’s contribution, another example of looking too hard at the score sheet, not enough at the play. It’s a habit a lot of us get into. You can’t watch every match. But most watched this one, which makes the praise being thrown at the young French star curious.
Nasri played well today, but it wasn’t a dominant match. The only player on the pitch who was close to dominant for Arsenal was Gael Clichy (right, second picture), who continues to make his case as to why he is the best left back in the world (and Raymond Domenech is a curious fellow for barely using his for France). Nasri’s fourth minute goal was the result of some sharp play up the left side from Clichy and Denilson. Clichy played a ball towards the touch line right of goal. Denilson beat West Brom to it, put a ball back to the trailing Nasri who had a very easy goal when West Brom’s center backs failed to read the play correctly.
For the rest of the match (save some flash in possession in towards the end), Nasri was indistinguishable from the rest of Arsenal’s club, a team that showed little desire to secure the match after being foiled in a deliberate attack through the initial twenty minutes. After West Brom weathered an opening onslaught, through which they looked utterly star-struck, Arsenal barely threatened. They were still ambitious in their play, but they rarely tested WBA netminder Scott Carson.
Much of Arsenal’s ineffectiveness could again be placed at the feet of Emmanuel Adebayor (right, third picture). The Togoan was not bad today. In fact, he was the defining aspect of a Gunner attack that constantly fed through balls between WBA right back and right-center. Adebayor exploited that slot, established a left-side attack that was bolstered by Clichy, but always seemed to do one, subtle miscue to prevent Arsenal from having a real opportunity. Often he was too conservative, making a meaningless pass instead of shooting. Other times he read the play wrong or gave away a good opportunity with a bad touch. For every nice piece of skill or athleticism he exhibited - and there were plenty of those - there was a touch that would remind you of last season and all the complaints Gunners’ backers held in April and May.
More than mere decision-making problems, Adebayor missed two chances that you would expect a striker of his stature to convert. Arsenal should have put more distance between them and Albion, and Adebayor is the main reason why they did not.
Arsenal was playing without Cesc Fabregas and elected not to start Robin van Persie or Kolo Touré, so Arsene Wenger was clearly confident in his side’s ability to get three points from the newly-promoted in their Emirates opener. Albion, however, showed why they look to avoid the drop. They were overwhelmed against an Arsenal team that exploited what was a porous back line, yet they still showed an ability to create opportunities that almost drew them even in the fiftieth minute. Work initiated by Ismael Miller led to Manuel Almunia being beaten before an Arsenal defender cleared the ball off the line.
Miller, in particular, should be able to score goals in this league. He showed an athleticism and persistence that will serve him well throughout the year, and while he tried some skills which will not work against the more seasoned defenders of the Premiership, he looks capable of adjusting. If Tony Mowbray will finally play he and Roman Bednar (who didn’t play until the last quarter of the match) together in a 4-4-2 (as opposed to the 4-3-3/4-5-1 they played today), they will be able to better exploit the half of the table against whom they can be expected to get points.
My highlight of the match was seeing Bacary Sagna (right, fourth picture) and Gael Clichy playing together again. Sagna missed the last two months of last season with an ankle injury. When he’s playing, Arsenal has the best pair of backs on the outside in the world. Because Arsenal elected to play up the left side more than the right, Sagna was not on the ball as much as Clichy, but in his opportunities, has was just as brilliant. A rifle left footed shot off a ball coming out of the West Brom area in the first half almost gave him his first goal since the match in which he was injured, but a Brom defender was able to get in front of the ball.
If William Gallas plays throughout the season as he did today, he, Clichy, and Sagna could least Arsenal to a much improved back line.
Note: This post will be edited for posting to American Soccer Reader.
Links
Nasri gives Arsenal winning start
Arsenal kick off new season with win over WBA
Arsenal 1-0 West Brom
Gallas pleased with opening win
Player Ratings: Arsenal 1-0 West Bromwich Albion
Arsenal fail to impress despite Nasri’s winning debut goal
Arsenal v West Brom stats&ratings
Arsenal win opening game of the season
Nifty Nasri sparks Gunners’ bid
Arsenal 1-0 West Brom
Arsenal kick off new season with win over West Brom
Nasri strike sinks battling Baggies
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