View from the North Bank: Arsenal 3 Shrewsbury 1
Last night’s Carling Cup win provided a welcome distraction from recent Premier League woes with the opportunity to see yet more of Arsenal’s future.
There’s never any doubting the talent that is either produced by the Arsenal Academy or bought and nurtured by Arsene Wenger, but not all of them fulfil early promise. It’s always obvious when you see class for the first time though and we’ve witnessed many young debutants make an immediate impact: An unheard of, lanky frenchman, signed from AC Milan, coming on as sub against Sheffield Wednesday; Fabregas against Doncaster as a baby-faced 16-year-old; Wilshere’s first outings in 2008. And last night.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain stole the show. Such strength and explosive pace for a youngster, with a low sense of gravity, a decisive Footballing brain, ability to put consistent crosses into danger areas and a sledgehammer shot. This boy will feature heavily in Arsenal’s first team this season, despite the depth we have in wide areas; Walcott, Gervinho, Arshavin, Benayoun, Santos, Rosicky. They’ll be watching over their shoulders.
Shrewsbury brought an impressive travelling support with them and did them proud with a spirited performance. Graham Turner’s men played a neat passing game and broke with pace. They also defended resolutely.
They took an early lead, with Djourou indecisive, leaving the cross for Fabianski who didn’t come. Djourou’s early season form is a huge concern – he lacks the ability to sense danger and is too nice for a centre back. Ignasi Miquel impressed again last night and is now knocking on the door to partner Per Mertesacker in Vermaelen’s absence and Koscielny’s ineptitude.
Another impressive performer last night was Francis Coquelin. The young Frenchman – loaned to Lorient last season in Ligue 1 – has all the attributes to make a fine box-to-box midfielder. Touch, passing range, anticipation, awareness, athleticism, skill. Whether he has the temperament and mentality required to succeed where others have failed (Denilson) remains to be seen.
Park Chu-Young made a nervy start but grew in confidence, flashing a shot just past the far post. His movement was excellent. Unlike Chamakh’s. The young Korean couple sat near me screamed with excitement every time Park got involved. Impressive, if a little over-the-top, fanfare!
The atmosphere was subdued at times but also very positive towards the team, even at one-nil down. Chants of ‘Arsene give us a wave’ were met with huge cheers as Le Boss duly obliged. The support for Wenger was there, and rightly so. The way he has kept our club competitive over the past few seasons since the oligarch’s came to town should be commended.
He just needs to sort that defence out.
Keep the faith.
Great article. Excellent analysis. This man has given us over 14 years of pure joy and spendid football and all of a sudden, one season of miss step, his head is on the chopping block. Is this English or shear human nature. “In Arsene We Trust!”
Coquelin is outstanding. Always thought he was very Flamini-esque. I’d already say he’s got a far better mentality than someone like Denilson. He’s incredibly tenacious and determined. Got a great future with us whether that be as a box-to-box player or as a pure defensive midfielder.
Alex Ox is a stunning talent he really is.
I actually thought Coquelin was the outstanding performer for us last night- consistently excellent for the 90 minutes. But the Ox did produce some real moments of brilliance, particularly second half.
Just quickly, i do think the blog in general is a bit harsh on Koscielny. I agree that he has had some dodgy moments, but he’s also showed what a quality player he can be. Was excellent against Barca and Chelsea last year.