Newcastle United 0 - 1 Arsenal: Half-way Champions

Do we get a trophy for this?

There's no finer way to ending the year than to win a big game and return to the top of the table, and Arsenal certainly had to work for that today. It was a tough game and we weren't at our best going forward, but we've managed to come away with a win.

Newcastle set-up the way we expected them to. Their strategy was plain from the beginning; to keep it tight, to harry us when we have the ball and then counter through the pace of Remy and Sissoko. It's something that's worked for them against the big sides this season, but where they fell short today was that their passing wasn't good enough. When our attacks broke down, they often gave the ball back to us, and they spent a good portion of the first half penned in their own half. Their best moments came down our left, where Debuchy's runs were often left untracked, either by Gibbs or Cazorla.

As an attacking force ourselves, we encountered the familiar problem of being unable to create much when faced against an organised defence. Our passing in deep areas and midfield was fine, but towards the final third we lacked the necessary incision. Sagna's crossing, which has been very good of late, was poor, while Wilshere, Rosicky and Cazorla couldn't find that through pass. It's fair to say that Newcastle defended a bit better than, say, West Ham did on Boxing Day, but you could see we missed Ramsey and Ozil and the decisiveness they can bring in the final third.

The second half played out much the same way. There was plenty of endeavour from both sides but neither were creating chances. In this sort of situation, what you really need is either a bit of individual brilliance or a good set-piece, and we produced the latter. Walcott's delivery was excellent, and Giroud managed to get a glancing touch to give us the lead; a goal that he really, really needed.

Interestingly enough, we were very reactive after that. Gibbs was subbed off for some reason, and Flamini went into left back while Arteta slotted in alongside Wilshere. I wondered if this was a response to Ben Arfa coming on, with his tendency to come inside onto his left foot. It's more likely that Gibbs wasn't completely fit, but it's an interesting thought. We had a chance to double the lead, but a goal line clearance and Giroud missing prevented that from happening. Szczesny then thought it'd be funny to kick the ball at Remy, which almost resulted in an equaliser. Then, with ten minutes to go, we decided to go with the old "what we have, we hold" strategy, took off Walcott for Jenkinson and went with a back five.

Wenger does do this every now and then, but it was surprising that he chose to do so at that point, and that he opted to keep his midfielders on instead of using Walcott's pace on the counter. This was, perhaps, a response to Ameobi coming on and Newcastle playing more aerial balls. Whenever Ameobi or any Newcastle player won the first header, there were plenty of Arsenal defenders around to pick up any loose balls. This also meant that we had plenty of numbers in the box to deal with crosses, though I don't think we dealt with balls into the box in the most efficient way possible today, since a lot of our clearances lack distance.

Still, we saw things out and bar that Szczesny brain fart we didn't concede any clear cut opportunities. It's a reflection of how much Wenger wanted those points when he's settling for a 1-0 lead with 10 minutes to go, and he had every reason to be confident in our ability to see the game out. Backs against the wall defending seems to suit us for some reason.

It's a big win for many reasons. Newcastle were one of the form sides of the league, next to Man City, and had already beaten United, Spurs and Chelsea this season, so it was always going to be a very difficult fixture. With City's win yesterday, a win was necessary to put us back on top of the table, and we came up with the goods. The team, as a whole, has responded well to the City defeat, with seven points from the next available nine, and only one goal conceded in that time.

Next up is Cardiff at home on New Year's Day, which, given what's going on with them and their form at the moment, seems like a good time to play them. We can celebrate being top of the league after 19 games, but the games keep on coming and we need to keep on plugging away.

I think we'll see some rotation in the coming few days, though with Ramsey and Ozil now injured, we won't to rotate as much as we like. I think we'll the likes of Monreal, Jenkinson, and Bendtner get a run out against Cardiff, while we can play our strongest possible team against Spurs in the FA Cup since we've got another nine day break between that game and our next league game away to Villa. This ridiculously hectic Christmas period is almost over, thankfully.

So now we're in a great position and we're back to winning ways. Here's hoping for a good January, and maybe a new signing or two to bolster the squad and increase our chances in sustaining our title challenge.

Rough match to watch; passing was a little off throughout a lot of the game. Newcastle pressed well and were organized defensively. I wish that Poldi could have been given 10-20 minutes at the end rather than Bendtner coming on in the 85th.

At the same time I was not as worried during the match as I might have been had the same thing taken place during previous seasons. When Szczesny tried to clear the ball and it hit Remy (was it Remy?) in the face, you feel like that would have been a calamitous goal back in 2011 or so. But not now. Even in these frustrating subpar matches, these days, things aren't necessarily so bad.

I also loved how when Flamini went down with Debuchy in the penalty box, he was gesturing "no penalty" as soon as he hit the ground.   

Three points away at a top 8 team. Halfway champs. Giroud ending his dry spell. Not bad.

ozil's movement was missed today, thats for sure

https://24.media.tumblr.com/2daf456fbefbebe9f9835fadc70e216c/tumblr_mykqq40VdJ1rhhlcoo1_500.png

Finally this man can keep his head high(although his overall performance again left alot to desire)

but Solid 3 pts exactly how we should do it in these situations 3rd game in 7 days with injuries restricting our hands

still none of our regular mid 3 and ofcourse wasnt going to be as smooth then

As bad as it was to watch the match at times, I thought our defending at times was brilliant. We didn't let them create a single clear cut chance all game. Their best chance came from a Szczesnly Yo|o moment.

Mertesacker and Koscielny are easily the best CB pair in the league. The understanding and the individual talent they both have is remarkable.

Wilshere was outstanding in midfield. Won the most amount of tackles and his dribbling was excellent. Created our 2nd goal which we should have scored and he was really composed with his performance.

Rosicky played his heart out as usual. Cazorla was on and off. Not the best of passing today. Flamini was very good.

Good to see Giroud scoring a goal. Hope it continues.

Happy that we won and Giroud scored with his awesome hair. We didnt do much up front, neither did them so goal is decided by luck which we had ( phew Sir Chesny 2nd brainfart moment in a week)

WE are at the top   . When was the last time this happen ?

But , tbh if we keep missing players like that due to injuries it's gonna be a very tough 2nd part of the season.

Wrote up some thoughts. Pretty lengthy, but lots to talk about today. Thought today's game showed us just how important Wenger saw the three points today, since his tactics were unusually reactive and defensive. Not that I'm complaining. Winning ugly is much preferable to not winning at all.

Rosicky and Mertesacker were outstanding. We weren't nearly creative enough, but a win is a win. Very, very satisfied with the result.

Damn. Great win.

We really need to make it easier on ourselves though.

lts amazing to see how good Rosicky still is. His long ball accuracy is sooo good and his energy is amazing.

Giroud has some work to do.. His header is great. Hes so confident and talented with his head.. But his feet ffs...That rebound he missed.. l swear, lts like he's just gone through puberty or something, and because of the recent growth spurts he doesn't know how long his legs are and can't coordinate anything with them. We can't be missing the chances he gets. lf we want to win lts only a matter of time before that comes back to bite us

Apparently, we've not lost a single game that Mertesacker and Koscielny have played 90 minutes together since January 2012. 23 months in total.

Pretty amazing, really.

Its amazing how underrated the Mertescielny partnership is. They deserve more credit ffs. Average performance but we dug in there, showed good mental strenght and plenty of fight. Good to see Giroud scoring, hopefully this will give a bit more confidence.

El Gunner wrote:

GoonerJay29 wrote:Apparently, we've not lost a single game that Mertesacker and Koscielny have played 90 minutes together since January 2012. 23 months in total.

Pretty amazing, really.

Quite amazing!
And some people still don't rate them that highly.

     

decent game and a fantastic result..

about the team.. some rotation was anticipated as this is the 3rd game in 6 days and we have the next coming up after 2 days.. will be really disappointed if it is Ozils injury that forced this change.. Ramsey and Ozil has been on the verge and finally done.. now Giroud is also hanging on the edge.. still it was a good eleven and nice to see Rosicky back on his CAM position.. and in defense Vermelens illness spoiled his streak and Kos is back..

this was probably a even game when Newcastle proved how good they are.. the strategy was clear.. we were for our midfield interlinking game.. and Newcastle were inherently up for it with their strong physical squad.. Tiote and Anita packed the centre and we couldnt get behind their defense for most of the match despite some good attacking play from Rosicky and Wilshere.. Flamini-Wilshere double pivot was also not good enough to give us control over the game.. it was up and down which has been the problem when we play without Arteta.. whenever we lost the ball, they had a chance.. Debuchy and Sissoko were a trouble on the right.. and Newcastle were hoofing balls into the box everytime.. cant imagine how many cards were avoided.. how on earth Tiote was allowed to keep doing that ?
the width was lacking with Walcott playing between his RW and CF position in dreamworld.. and all our attacks were easily stopped while they had the better chances.. and nothing was changing in the 2nd half and was waiting for the subs to change something, probably Poldi to come in for Cazorla.. when we scored a setpiece goal ! Giroud had the chance to kill the game, but he wasted it.. then we went into defensive mode as early as 75mins.. not having a LB didnt help us, but we stood solid and came away with a hard earned 3 points..

Sczeny - 6.5
Sagna - 7
Metskr - 7
Koscielny - 6.5
Gibbs - 6
Flamini - 6
Wilshere -6.5
Walcott - 5.5
Rosicky - 7 MOTM
Cazorla - 5.5
Giroud - 6

Huge win, we had 2 tricky away games and won both. Was not happy with last 10-15m of the game, but glad we kept them away.

I know Giroud scored today but would be great resting him next game and give Bendtner a game.My MOTM is Rosicky… he never stopped running, love this guy. Give him and Sagna a contract now. Rosicky made his 200th game with Arsenal.  

Walcott off for Jenkinson?  

Was pretty stupid of Jenkinson

http://i.minus.com/idMZtA2b8oWfe.gif

Not sure what the hell was that,   Jenk was trying to was time but he gave it back to them right away.

Very happy with the win, obviously. Think Wenger did well to make it a backline of 5. Walcott's pace and width wasn't gonna help when we clearly didn't have the legs to counter and get back to defending, a wise call.

Cazorla's performance was very underwhelming though, I don't think he played many passes accurately in the final third, which he had lots of chances to do.

http://i.minus.com/ibtPFJIKAOkacT.gif

Bac

Sina wrote:http://i.minus.com/ibtPFJIKAOkacT.gif

Bac

wait.....all of them have the same boots!!!