Newcastle United vs Arsenal Match Report

Optimism with a bit of trepidation

I was definitely looking forward to the boys having their first foray into the new season. I wanted to see if there would be sulking for not having Two Players We Will Not Name….or some fight.
With the nonsense of the closed season dragging on I and many others may have nearly lost the will to live. The new season should offer some respite and the imminent closure of the transfer window should settle us down. Would the lads be focused? I felt like today was a Newcastle 1-3 Arsenal kind of day. My head said I wasn’t sure what to expect. Notice I say nothing about Newcastle as they shouldn’t matter. The opposition is a barrier to be overcome and a decent performance should get us there.

Listening to Arsene before the match, I think he feels the players are letting him down either with their performances or their commitment. I would not be surprised if he stubbornly tells them step up and back me or get me the sack (the so called fans at the match today are doing a good job of that by themselves – don’t get me started!).

Painfully, I had Robbie Savage and Kevin Keegan to keep me company on ESPN for the match. My twitter Gooner peeps kept me warm today and helped me to keep my new telly intact for the duration of the match. Just.

Same old Arsenal? Not really….

The game started slowly and picked up as the first half went on. A nice move in the second minute culminated in Gervinho putting the ball across the box through the eye of a needle, few more passes and Rosicky shooting wide. Newcastle went up the other end but were ineffectual. The passing was OK and Arsenal showed the most intent. This didn’t mean Newcastle sat back. They just got snuffed out in the final third.

Gervinho was showing great endeavor and running at people as was his reputation. This got me thinking we had a raw talent on our hands that could come good. He was getting into good positions and switching sides with Arshavin a bit. More of that unpredictability in future please!

Vermaelen worked well
alongside Koscielny

Now the rest of the first half was interesting to me. I saw an Arsenal that was solid. I saw some urgency. I saw a bit of fight. Balls over the top from Newcastle we’re well defended especially by Vermaelen and Koscielny. When things looked a bit dangerous Song came back to help and we didn’t have the usual prolonged buildup of fear when the opposition is coming at us. Even set pieces were well dealt with. There was one momentary scare when Gutierrez ghosted into the box and lashed a shot past the post but that was it really for the whole game. I can’t remember Szczesny having a real save to make.

Some tasty tackles went in from Rosicky and Song but more fairly Song was the only one to see yellow. We we’re getting in their faces a bit and I liked it. We need some of that in the team to get through these kinds of games.

Gervinho was the best part of the half. The Newcastle defenders didn’t like him running at them and he got past them with ease time and time again. However this was put in context where we got into good positions and time and time again failed to put in a shot on target. Just one shot on target in the whole half. Ho hum. Some things haven’t changed.

More of the same in the second half I’m afraid. We had so many chances to put the game to bed but sadly that wasn’t the story of the second half.

So first there’s the yellow card for Gibbs. Maybe he was a bit late but it was a bit harsh on the boy. Rosicky then took Gutierrez down a little late but escaped a yellow. We then got a lucky free kick on the side of the 18 yard box from which RVP went close. At one point Song put RVP clean through with a cutting pass but it was too heavy and ran away to the keeper. There were other chances but hey that’s not that interesting.

Around the 60^th minute Song took exception to the attention he was getting from That Boy Barton and he might have given him a bit of ankle acupuncture with his left boot. The ungrateful little sod then went and berated the 4^th official who was a virtual mute due to his comms batteries running out. Haha.

Welcome to the Premier League, Gervinho

And then things went to hell in a hand cart. Gervinho in the box gets clipped by a defender and goes down a little easily but it was a clear penalty. The referee didn’t want to give it and turned to run back to the centre. In the meantime That Boy Barton used Gervinho’s shirt to bring him to his feet – such a helpful chappie - and berated him for diving! A melee ensued in Gervinho quite rightly slapped Barton.

What happened next was incredible. Barton is down like a sack of potatoes holding his face. Standard fare for footballers these days. Barton’s mate Steven Taylor who was run ragged by Gervinho gestured to the ref twice “elbow, elbow!” The ref made the decision to give our new boy a red card. Welcome to the Prem Gervinho!

This was compounded by Barton saying to RVP clearly “He punched me!” So was it a slap, punch or elbow? By the end of the game I wished it was all three. Repeatedly. I made sure to let That Boy Barton know I sympathized with him for having no father and asking after his dog of a mother.

Verdict

Arsenal ended the game with 5 yellows and 1 red. Dirty Arsenal? Hardly but I hope the boys learn the art of edge without the cynical. I was happy to see Gervinho and Frimpong on the pitch. Szczesny was immense as was Vermaelen. Rosicky is returning to his previous powers. Song worked hard but couldn’t control the game and was lucky to stay on the pitch. Ramsey was off his game and couldn’t impact the result much.

The biggest positive was a clean sheet and the boys having fight and closing down well when they didn’t have the ball.

As for the decisions: Gervinho penalty? – Definitely! Gervinho red? – should not have happened but correct since he slapped the reprobate. If the ref had seen the initial stages of the incident, he would have stopped it in the initial stages and given Barton a yellow. That incident was poorly officiated IMO.

I am appalled by the subset of away fans that spent the time having a go at Wenger. Today was a day to show the Geordies we were behind our boys as much as they were behind theirs. Especially with the good performance they showed. Wrong time and wrong place Gooners.

Let’s go in to Tuesday’s game with some optimism and give the boys a great reception at the Emirates. Get behind them all game because one way or another they will be the ones to take us back into the Champions League.

By Jon Romano.

Follow him on Twitter - @jonbromano