Arsenal 3-0 Newcastle – 30/08/08 – (Premier League) 31 August, 2008

We really have reacted well since the Fulham game. Last weekend at Craven Cottage what a reality check, we were shown up and something needed to be done; and something has been done. The team has reacted, come together and started playing football again.

Twente in the week was good, but I didn’t know how much we could judge that as they hardly gave us a game. However yesterday we faced Newcastle and we completely played them off the park. Literally, it should’ve been about 7-0 or 8-0. We missed a lot of sitters and if you’re going to be critical then you could say we should’ve converted our chances. However I can forgive that seeing as we were 3-0 up.

Toure got his starting place back and it was a striker partnership of Adebayor and Robin van Persie. Emmanuel “You’ve only come to see” Eboue started at right midfield, Walcott was rested and on the bench.

We started with a bang. The manager had obviously told the players to go out in top gear and try surprise Newcastle. Within a minute we had a decent penalty shout turned down. Had it not been so early in the game I think the referee might’ve thought twice and given it.

No matter, because after 18 minutes he did point in the direction of the penalty spot after N’Zogbia handled in the area. Before that we missed two chances, one absolute sitter was skied over the bar by William Gallas and Kolo Toure had a brilliant long-range drive expertly tipped round the post.

So the penalty was given and Robin van Persie stepped up to get his account for the season up and running. Given went the right way but van Persie put enough power in it to sneak it inside the right post. 1-0 to The Arsenal after 20 minutes but it could’ve been more.

We didn’t slow down after we took the lead though, we kept on the pressure and we were looking for goals. I like the way that the Arsenal.com match report described it:

It was more than one-way traffic. It was like a motorway heading directly at Newcastle’s goal.

van Persie had a free kick tipped over the bar a few minutes later in the half. His shot was heading just under the bar with pace in the far corner but it was a good save.

After 38 minutes Newcastle had their best (and arguably only) chance of the game. Jonas Gutierrez broke away with the ball down the right and Ameobi and Owen in support in the middle. They caught us out and the low cross went in to back post for Owen who was unmarked. He completely miss-kicked it and it trickled wide. Although we’d battered them all half Newcastle should’ve really drawn level there.

We never should’ve allowed them that chance though and I bet Wenger was furious that we could’ve been level at 1-1 rather than being two or three goals in the lead.

A few minutes later Adebayor broke through one-on-one with the ‘keeper and opened his body to shoot. I thought, ‘this is a goal’ but he just passed it the wrong side of the post. Really unlucky, would’ve been a nice goal but he should be scoring those. There were no ‘boos’ for Ade yesterday, which I was pleased to hear. In fact, his song rang round the stadium which was good, whether you wanted to join in or not it felt good to be getting behind him.

It was nearly half time but we still had our foot on the accelerator, and four minutes before the break van Persie got his second. Eboue started and made the move; he gave it wide right to Adebayor allowing himself to cut inside. Ade took it down the pitch and squared it to Eboue inside the box. He got the ball caught under his feet a little but he still managed to pull-off the back-heel, which went straight into the path of the on-rushing van Persie who smashed it in high with his right foot. A really good goal…well done Eboue!

2-0 up at half time and cruising like Tom Cruise cruising on a cruise liner. Yeah.

Newcastle came out in the second half much better. I can imagine Kevin Keegan wasn’t too happy with his side’s performance, in the first half they were just lying down and letting us trample all over them but they came out with a better attitude in the second half and early into the restart Nicky Butt hit the bar with a header.

Just because Newcastle got slightly better, it didn’t mean that we had got any worse, and after an hour we’d made it 3-0. It was a beautiful and intricate goal that ended in Denilson getting his first League goal for the club. Nasri started the move off and Adebayor saw Denilson’s clever little run and slid a ball through; this, all going on in a very busy area.

Those circumstances happened quite a few times: Busy boxes, clever little passes, but every time we passed it around too much and in the end lost the ball. When we scored the first goal there were only a few touches before the goal was scored, when we had these chances later in the game we were knocking it around for ages. It would’ve been incredibly, incredibly frustrating if we were still at 0-0 when this was all going on. Typical Arsenal trying to pass it into the net, being 3-0 up I could excuse it but it really should’ve been more.

A couple of minutes after the goal we had the ball in the box again and van Persie had it right on the byline to the left of the goal, he lost the chance to pass so had a cheeky shot. From that angle it was almost impossible but he did really well and crashed it against the bar. However the defender trying to block the shot timed his challenge late and ended up stamping on Robin’s foot.

Robin went down and looked in some discomfort. He was replaced immediately by Carlos Vela and I think everyone in the stadium looked on at Robin walked down the tunnel holding one boot in his hand. It’s a sight we’ve seen many times before and I for one feared that he was injured again. Arsene said after the game that he would have a scan on a possible broken ankle. Well today the news broke that he’s going to be ok and that he’ll travel with the Holland squad this international period. Don’t think I’ve ever been so glad to hear that one of our players will be playing for their country!

Robin had a brilliant game and it was just typical for it to be ended by injury. Thankfully he’s ok but it’s just becoming really tiring watching him going down on the floor and just thinking, ‘oh that’s it he’s injured’.

Before the end Clichy had a decent long-range chance well saved. I would’ve gone fucking mental if he scored. Toure got a head onto a cross but somehow Given managed to save from about 2 yards out. Complete luck, there’s no way you react to a header when it’s that close and with good power.

Walcott (on for Eboue after 72mins) had a really good chance to make it two in two when Adebayor gave him the opportunity to shoot on goal. It was at a slight angle but it was a really good chance.

In the end it finished 3-0, but it really should’ve been about seven. We were that good, Newcastle just didn’t have a chance.

We’re officially back on track and with Chelsea and Liverpool drawing today and United not playing this weekend we’re one point off the top of the table.

It was a really good team performance, I could pick out names but I don’t want to take anything away from the team as a whole. Wenger spoke about the team as a whole in his post-match interview. I will say one thing though, Samir Nasri looks like a really good signing.

Well that’s it for a couple of weeks then, next up it’s Blackburn away on the 13th September, but for now we look forward to a long and boring international break. Speak to you soon, thanks for reading.