Robin sets record straight against the Sheep in Wolves clothing….

As we move in to the business end of this season, we can no longer consider any match as “easy”. With only four points separating United and us, with Man City, Spuddies and Chelsea all within six points of us, any more slipups can seriously dent our league title ambitions, while opening the door for any of the three teams (or Liverpool) who are not as far behind us as we would wish…United won the lunchtime kickoff Manchester derby, so by the time 3 pm UK time rolled around, we were seven points in arrears and REALLY could not afford to bottle this one…

It would seem from the team selection at least, that Arsene sees the situation in much a similar light. With the first leg of the Champions League tie versus Barcelona coming up on Wednesday, I half expected Arsene to rotate at least a little bit. I think it is to his enormous credit that he did not, considering how close things are at the top and how little margin for error any of the top six teams have at this moment.

So this starting eleven took the pitch this afternoon: Szczesny, Clichy, JD, Kos, Sagna, Jack, Song, Cesc, Theo, Robin, and Arshavin.
Almunia, Eboue, Squillaci, Gibbs, Denilson, Bendtner and Chamakh comprised our bench…

We put Wolves under pressure from the off. Jack earned an early free kick which Robin blazed over, but we did not have to wait too long for the opener. With a quarter of an hour gone, Cesc made inroads down the right, and with the Wolves defense backing off, he crossed to Robin, who fired an instinctive volley just out of the diving Hennessey’s grasp and in off the inside of the right-hand post. That was Robins first goal ever against Wolves, the only PL club he has not scored against is Blackpool.

That should have cued the floodgates opening but Arshavin wasted our next opportunity, failing to connect cleanly when well positioned. This was followed by a ten minute period when Wolves enjoyed a decent spell of possession and forced a few corners; they had seven on the day, almost twice as many as we did, but they didn’t force Szczesny to make a single save. The latter weakly punched one corner away and a Wolves player headed another over the bar.

Around the half-hour mark we floored the accelerator and really should have extended our lead. Jack’s nice pass put Arshavin in on goal; as Hennessey positioned himself to block, the former passed to Theo, who’s snap shot forced an excellent one-handed save from Hennessey. The rebound fell to Cesc who fired in a shot that beat the Wolves keeper, but struck Steadman’s heel just short of the line and rebounded away. Theo then sprung Arshavin, who shot tamely at Hennessey – the linesman’s flag was up, so it would not have counted.

As the match reached the 40 minute mark, Steve McManaman, commentating for the ESPN team, made much ado about nothing, by insisting Wolves should have had a penalty when Hammill threw himself to the deck while tussling with JD just inside the edge of the penalty area. As the solitary minute of first half stoppage time wound down, Song fed Robin, who forced another excellent save from Hennessey. We had quite a dominant first half, but just a solitary goal to show for it.

We began the second half in similar fashion, and Jack quickly released Theo, who absolutely should have scored but shot wastefully wide. Regardless, a second goal appeared to be coming, and it duly arrived ten minutes in. Cesc’s long pass released Theo and while Robin was a couple of yards offside as the ball made its way towards the former, he simply checked his run, and was well onside when Theo squared the ball for him to finish emphatically past Hennessey.

Seven minutes later, McCarthy made an attacking sub, bringing Ebanks-Blake on for Milijas, and Foley for on-loan Spuddie O’Hara (who received a rousing send-off from the Ems faithful). Arsenal continued to create chances, even with Wolves now having two forwards.

With the job more or less done, Arsene made a double swap on 72 minutes, with Nik coming on for Robin and Chamakh for Arshavin, and the final sub five minutes later, with Denilson on for Jack. All three subs were sensible and well-timed, with the two forwards providing strength and height in case Wolves applied late pressure. McCarthy made his final change with ten minutes remaining, with the fresher Fletcher replacing Doyle, who as the lone striker for most of the match, running himself in to the ground with very little service. Wolves did apply most of the pressure from this point, as most of the play was in the Arsenal half. Despite dominating the ball, they had no clear-cut chances. Szczesny had to claim one ball that seemed to spend an eternity in the air, and tipped another over the bar. Otherwise, we held on quite comfortably and got the job done.

On the basis of chances created, 2-0 certainly flattered Wolves but they worked hard the entire match and usually denied us space and time in and around their penalty. On another afternoon, I think I would have been a tad frustrated at the amount of times we gave the ball away; I think a lot of it was due to the congestion Wolves caused in their half. This came at the cost of an attacking threat, however, as they were more or less toothless the entire way. While my reference to sheep in wolves clothing (title) is tongue-in-cheek, they certainly did not show any of the fangs (or attacking instinct) normally associated with Wolves.

Post-match, McCarthy said his side was “murdered”. While I will agree they were dominated, they still made our players work hard for the win and kept the score down to a respectable number. The loss drops them back to the bottom of the table; even from that lowly position, they just ended Man United’s unbeaten run last weekend, and have wins over Liverpool, Man City, and Chelsea already this season. That string of results clearly shows they are capable of beating the best in our league, so going 2-0 against them with a 4-0 aggregate scoreline is good work, in my opinion.

As it was, there was good work from the players in red (and the one in teal) all over the pitch this afternoon. I think our defensive work was particularly good – Wolves had plenty of possession, and spent a decent amount of time in our half. Yet when they tried to attack, Song was usually there to break things up. If they got beyond him, JD or Kos calmly cleared the ball; there was one first-half sequence where a Wolves player (Jarvis, I think) had the ball to the left of the penalty area, and was trying to make inroads. JD stuck with him, moved him closer to the touch-line, and then casually picked his pocket not too far from our corner flag, and moved the ball ahead for us to start an attack.

Robin scored both goals, but Arshavin and Theo both put in some good supporting work, making dangerous runs and creating chances. I would have liked each of them to score at least a goal, but that wasn’t to be.

Perhaps just as important was that we emerged with no significant injuries. The closest was a second half uh-oh moment when Robin and Zubar clashed going for a ball. The latter’s studs appeared a bit high, connecting heavily with the former’s shin. Robin was on the deck for a few minutes, and I was immediately concerned that he would not be able to continue – and quite possibly worse. He limped to the sideline, but was able to go on, and appeared ok. As it was, Arsene prudently brought him off with about 20 minutes to. I had no problem with the incident – it appeared to me that both players were going for the ball and it was an incidental collision at worst.

Overall, I thought the match was played in good spirit – the only booking was for Zubar shortly before the interval. There was one period in the first half where referee Foy got a little too fussy for me, stopping play to award us a free kick when we had already started building an attack but overall, I have little to complain about his work today. Certainly he and his crew were head and shoulders above the previous two we had seen…

Who’s up next then?

Oh yes, it’s FC Barcelona, a team that will pose an entirely different set of problems but we’ll be ready.

Written by Oliver

155 thoughts on “Robin sets record straight against the Sheep in Wolves clothing….

  1. rico says:

    Morning…

    Top write up again oliver, we should have scored more but if all the misses are to come good on wednesday then it will be worth it….

    Just how good was Jack yesterday and Capello plays him in the holding role, does that nam know anything about footie….

  2. rico says:

    Kyle Bartley made his debut for Rangers yesterday in midfield, the Rangers fans have nothing but praise for him as does Walter Smith…….

  3. LB says:

    Stnning performance. Arsenal are looking good and we have an almost full squad for a change. Shows what we missed the last couple of years. JD is amazing, I can’t believe his development. Credit to AW for putting this team together. And next year we will have Miyaichi(hopefully), Lansbury, Frimpong, JET and Wellington (hopefully). Amazing.

  4. rico says:

    Hi LB and Bartley…. some fantastic football was played yesterday by us, shame we couldn’t get the goal tally to justify it..

    I thought MM was really honest in his i/v after, wish our boss could learn from him for his post match comments sometimes….

  5. LB says:

    Rico, I know what you mean about our boss. But I’m such an AW fan, I get blinded sometimes. Anyway, I just want to revel in the moment. Bring on Barca!!!

  6. rico says:

    LB, i’m a fan of his too but he isn’t faultless, by a long way 😉

    Howdy Erick, i’m starting to think maybe we have a chance against them but then i come back to the real world 😉

  7. LB says:

    I feel so handicapped because I live in faraway South Africa. I wish I could go to the Emirates on Wednesday. But you can’t have it all. I have all year round sunshine and great beaches and beautiful women. So, hey, what’s the Emirates!!!!

  8. K-TR7 says:

    Jacky boy is a delight at the moment.when he receives the ball he rarely passes sideways,he goes forward.he has brought directness that is associated with the mancs to our play.adding theo and nasri who is very direct nowadays we have a pretty good team.

  9. Steve Palmer says:

    Morning all.
    Good read as usual Oliver,
    We must start putting our chances away, all season we have missed so many chances, granted Robin got a couple to win us the game in style, but every body is guilty of it, weak shots fluffs and corner flag hitting, for top players is definitly a no no. against teams like Wolves, and we only score two out of perhaps a dozen chances is piss poor. Barcelona will not afford us many chances and the ones we get we must take. Having said all that a good win.

  10. JonJon says:

    morning
    good write up..
    i thought we made it harder for ourselves with our woeful finishing (theo)..we cant let barca off that easy
    but it was a magnificant display…
    rvp is truly world class and jd is something else…hes the swiss rio ferdinand..
    and jack??? just gets better and better..

  11. JonJon says:

    barca were average last night..maybe saving themselves for us??
    but if they play like that at the grove we’ll have em

  12. LB says:

    JD is something else. How did he get that way. We must send some of the others way for a season and feed them the same shit.

  13. Erick says:

    LB you are not alone am a Kenyan, the Emirates is like a dream but thanks to the HH and the social media am always at the Emirates lol

  14. Will says:

    As i keep saying Steve, we need a clinical striker. One when when through on goal, will not look for another pass but batter the ball past the keeper.

  15. rico says:

    morning KT, jj, steve and Will

    You all seem very confident we will win…..

    Erick – i saw Villas cheeky little chip…. He’ll have to good to get one over Chesney at 6′ 5″ 😉

  16. JonJon says:

    ktr we do have a good team..
    in the years gone by weve rarely had so many quality players..
    apart from rvp and cesc none of the team were ‘world class’ or top quality..just decent
    now we have
    sagna-world class
    jd-world class
    song-world class
    jack-wonderkid
    nasri-world class
    cecs- world class
    rvp-world class

    we have so many players now in the ‘bracket’ and the best thing is they are all young
    we are set to go

  17. rico says:

    i think it was not only theo who was woeful in front of goal, cesc, aa, rvp, theo… they all had quite easy chances, if only in one game they could all take those chances…

    could that game be on wednesday, would be handy 😉

  18. JonJon says:

    rico
    barca had xavi, iniesta, villa, messi, etc etc etc in the team i think the only player he rested was pedro..
    barca were full strength pretty much
    ktr???

  19. K-TR7 says:

    I remember jacky boy’s goal against stoke reserves in 08 in Eduardo’s comeback game.wish jack would do that more as based on that goal he has all the technique in the world.C’MON jack.score a screamer on wednesday.

  20. JonJon says:

    i think jack will start to shoot more now…
    everyone else is in the goals and he is new to the team so it seems he is happy to set all the others up but as he realises more and more hes become an integral part he will shoot..

  21. Steve Palmer says:

    Sure Barca, wasn’t at their best, but a trip to the Emirates lifts everybody, i expect Barca to be at their best, the eyes of the world will be glued to this fixture. and i expect them to leave with their tails between their legs, win this one and the confidence will go sky high, and we will be on our way. Barca would have watched the video of this game, and looked at ways to exploit us. We need to be stronger in the defensive midfield in my opinion, we need to keep our shape and let the guys up front do their jobs. Barca will break quick and we need to break them down quickly. Good positioning is the key concentration and backing one another up all the time, we have the players they just have to keep working for the full 90

  22. The BearMan says:

    Very business like performance, as each player wanted to impress for the Wednesday game. Even Arshavin managed to use up all that energy he preserved for himself in previous matches and put in a decent performance.

    The Bear is happy to see the togetherness in the squad, and wonder if Mr.Webber would manage to earn himself the title of Genius from fans, including me when this season is over?????

  23. rico says:

    2010 v Barca…..

    Manuel Almunia
    Bacary Sagna
    William Gallas
    Thomas Vermaelen
    Gael Clichy
    Alex Song
    Cesc Fabregas
    Samir Nasri
    Abou Diaby
    Andrey Arshavin
    Nicklas Bendtner

    Substitutes

    Lukasz Fabianski
    Emmanuel Eboue
    Sol Campbell
    Tomas Rosicky
    Denilson
    Eduardo
    Theo Walcott

  24. rico says:

    So no Nasri(poss), TV or Sagna for this fixture

    But,

    We will have from the start

    A firing RvP
    A very different Walcott
    Wilshere
    JD
    Kos
    Chesney
    A Fit Cesc
    A much improved Song

  25. Steve Palmer says:

    Naz will be in definitly, he was on the bench yesterday and probably would have come on if needed, all the players you have stated rico has improved, granted Sagna will be missed and i am not a great admirer of Eboue but i think we have enough if they all play well.

  26. Will says:

    I think you are right guys, beat Barca and we go on to big things. Beating Barca would set up the CC win, win the CC and we are up for the league.

    If we keep our heads (and learn to shoot away from the keeper), we can win at least two trophies.

  27. JonJon says:

    we are set to go this season rico
    the team has come together
    progress has been made this season the team is ready and set to go…this season looks on but if not..we’ll clear up next season..

  28. rico says:

    Is it just the home leg Sagna is missing for? Eboue doesn’t not fill me with any confidence especially against a team like Barca – he needs to stay on his feet, and no cheating as these Euro refs won’t tolorate it….

  29. rico says:

    I’m keeping my feet on the ground Will, there is a long way to go before I start cheering.

    I really worry about what wednesday could do to us mentally should we not perform…. Thats not me being a pessamist, its being a realist….

  30. rico says:

    jj/KT, the team is definately stronger than the side that faced barca last season, but so is barca…. they now have David Villa 🙁

  31. rico says:

    wilshere – now he could really cause barca some serious problems …

    Will, i take it you mean pace to get back 😉

  32. Joaquim Moreira says:

    No bookings!!!! two penalties? One in Arsenal area and another one in wolves area over Arsavin? My opinion:no. Barça was tired yesterday but wednesday will be a different match. In Arsenal I trust !

  33. JonJon says:

    i understand JM
    neither were pens
    JD on the wolves player and AA in the wolves box

    will…i understand that we have games where we go to pot but to come on telly and say spurs are better defensivley when the gd shows they are not is fucking daft..
    pure redknapp love in..
    they were also saying arry is the only man in the league that can have a massive squad and keep them all happy..oh really..so what happened with bent and keane..
    and pavlova???

  34. JonJon says:

    will
    we got there in the end..thats why i always ask mate cos maths (as well as english) aint my strong point either… 😉
    shreks shin is getting all the attention
    this morning they were taking messages on ssn about what was the greatest over head they ever seen..
    i text
    the best i ever seen was pele in escape to victory, he didnt shin it and he had broken ribs..
    i dont think they aired it.. 😉

  35. johnwolf says:

    I hope and prey Barca knock the cockiness out of you jumped up has been glory hunting c&*^s, cocky cockneys, all mouth, wind, and p&*s, walcott can run just about has fast as the ars-enal fans – cowards.
    Arsenal are just a team of illegal shirt lifting b&*%$£%s like ALL Landeners – MAN U for the championship, Ars-enal to win SFA.

  36. Steve Palmer says:

    Hi guys,
    Just read a piece by the big ear crisp ponce, apparently we dont have a chance against Barca on Wednesday night, we also dont have a player in our team that would get in their team, he said he just cant wait for Wednesday so he can watch them. By the way, he never said anything about our little win yesterday. This kind of reporting makes me sick, one minute these arseholes are saying that The Premier League is the best in the world, and as were in second place in that league and soon to take over the top spot, makes what these cretins say nonsense. I have no doubt this will be a tough game and we shall have to be at our best, but win or lose we will still be more proffesional than a crisp eating pratt

  37. rico says:

    jj, thats funny 🙂

    Maths, english, history and geography were my dreadful subjects and i was no good at french either 😉

  38. rico says:

    We never have a Sunday paper here as its a waste of money but today as i popped into the supermarket i thought i’d have a treat as the day is so miserable… always like a bit of gos so got the NOTW, that article by Lineker is dreadful, cant you just tell his an ex-spud!!

  39. JonJon says:

    anyone remember this..if they think shreks goal was the bestest ever in the wholest widest world…then they have short memories

  40. K-TR7 says:

    Theo has 7 goals and 6 assists in the league in 10 starts and 7 sub appearances.however he hasn’t contributed a goal/assist as a sub.he also has 3 goals in the cup competitions and 1 in the CL.Contribution wise (goals/assist per minutes) he is 2nd to only rvp in the entire league.

  41. Steve Palmer says:

    School days brings back memroies, back in those days French and biology was a fairly new lesson for us and seeing how i was in a class of disruptive students we ended up in the school gardens gardening, probably why i ended up filling three prams up and supportin a team of Frenchmen.

  42. agirlagunner says:

    Boo!! Shame our match reporter isn’t here to discuss his piece. 🙂

    The bias against Arsenal is astounding. I sometimes watch our games on mute since I can’t stand the commentators.

  43. Steve Palmer says:

    Every body hates us Will,But we wont go away, and when we do good, they play it down. but this could turn out to be the year, that they can’t ignore us, and we can stick our finger up.

  44. agirlagunner says:

    Well, rico, your faith in Theo now seems well-founded. I’d like to think Theo’s turnaround as one that sets a good precedent for Clichy. 😉

  45. rico says:

    I shan’t be buying one again Will….

    Hi agag, it is a shame about oliver not being able to be here, guess he’s a busy man 🙁

    Re Theo, i do chuckle now he’s got better and i also believe Clichy is much better of late, maybe thats all to do with JD and Kos building a good pairing and sagna being on fire, he seems more assured 🙂

  46. JonJon says:

    johnwolf
    forgive me if im wrong but
    you are owned by foreigners
    your best defender is a foreigner
    your best striker is a foreigner

    and in the last england match you had how many players??
    and we had how many??

    and rooney ‘the bestest, ive scored 5 goals all season pele’..shinned it sunshine…

    we’ll pass you in march..

  47. JonJon says:

    im the rowdy one will
    i like it when the oppo fans come on..
    i usually do it somewhere else as this site has ladies on it and it can get a bit tasty but generally where theres a row up on the blogs…i’ll be there 😉

  48. agirlagunner says:

    Thanks, KT. Good to hear about Clichy. 🙂 Even without my Clichy-tinted glasses, he’s seems to me to be one of the most hard-working in our team. I just love that about him. 🙂

    johnwolf provides you no challenge, JJ …

  49. Steve Palmer says:

    No wonder that arsehole wants us out they couldnt beat Wolves what chance they got, Never mind they will have to wait till next year before they play Barca, that is if Barca and the manx qualify

  50. K-TR7 says:

    JJ I also respect the ladies too much here but there was a barca/spud who i took to the cleaners once i think at Avenell R as i had enough of his insults.if someone tries that here they’ll get de jong-ed.

  51. JonJon says:

    i was thinking that ktr..
    but i dont know when the game is re scheduled for.

    lol AGAG ..hes just lucky WATH isnt here…

  52. K-TR7 says:

    Agag in our barca clashes last year clichy played his heart out.he is the only player whose head did not drop despite the circumstances.he was like a lion especially at the Camp nou.i’ll always love him for that.

  53. JonJon says:

    i remember that ktr
    there was a couple of occasions we had the odd ‘randomer’ on there and they got pummelled..
    i think the ladies sat back and admired as we all flexed our muscles.. 😉

  54. rico says:

    i like a bit of banter as long as it doesn’t get personal or just plain nastiness without substance, any of that and as KT say ‘de jong-ed’ 😉

  55. JonJon says:

    speaking of row ups..
    wrighty7 hasnt been around for a while..he normally starts a good kick off..
    i did one the other week after the toffees game, and we were up til the early hours going hammer and tong with the blue side of liverpool.. 😉
    even avenell came out of hiding but no sign since..
    might do another if the spuds lose to milan and we beat barca.. 🙂 that’ll go down well..
    scott puffin on arsenal opinion did one on the spurs about a month ago and the row went on for two days..lol

  56. rico says:

    Rocastle, didn’t see you sneak on back there 🙂

    I’m not sure, thought the way he was bigging up the mancs he was a red nose fan….

  57. rico says:

    How far will this cheating lot go…..

    Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich is continuing his regeneration of the club following the £75million signing of Fernando Torres and David Luiz by trying to poach Arsenal’s chief scout Steve Rowley.

  58. JonJon says:

    hahahaha
    i read that earlier rico
    its double standards..how can a man who buys his players ready made then go after a scout who finds the best at a young age to be polished…

    theres no point chelsea buying young players, their academys the pits..you cant polish a turd 😉

  59. rico says:

    Bet the chavs are peep off now that Eriksen has come good, they turned him down at 15 years old saying he’d never make it….. That sums up how good their youth set up is, they cannot even spot a diamond to polish 😉

  60. K-TR7 says:

    JJ so true.Gael kakuta was supposed to be as good as messi but where is he now?mceachran has promise but they bought ramieres.we were screaming for a box to box cm,Aw kept the faith with jack and now we are enjoying see a player blossom after being with us from the age of 9.he could play in our first 11 for the next 15 years plus he is English.

  61. rico says:

    KT, i still believe we need ‘another’ song but now i think that will be frimpong or coquelin and thats why aw didn’t buy one…

  62. K-TR7 says:

    Apparently CR7 in the el classico asked pedro who he was.i find it hard to believe that ronaldo didn’t know pedro who is the only player in history to score in 6 different competitions in a year.he is also the only barca player to score in 6 consecutive laliga games.he is a hugely underrated and phenomenal player that id love to have in our side.i hope our players take him seriously as he is very lethal in the penalty area and is very quick.

  63. rico says:

    now i have seen and heard of pedro kt, he scored a couple of goals a few weeks ago, i thought he was pretty nifty…..

  64. K-TR7 says:

    Rico he is a bloody good player.barca wanted to release him but Guardiola was adamant that he’ll come good and he has.

  65. JonJon says:

    i wish they had released him..and we’d have got him 😉

    we do need another song…but like you say rico its only cos we have the players already at the club
    i think frimpong was lined up..
    frimpong rambo and lansbury to bolster that position next season

    maybe le boss sees coq o van at rb??

  66. rico says:

    jj, coq is playing in the midfield on loan, he’s doing really well, i think wenger asked for him to play in midfield in the loan agreement – he’s going to be a good little player…

  67. rico says:

    KT, agree, we were talking about that the other day, denilson’s days are numbered i think, frimpong, coquelin, lansbury will all push by him….. and probably next season..

    i still think we are in for a summer clear out…..

  68. rico says:

    remember that wolves game when diaby and rambo played – the midfield lost everything, we were shocking….

    diaby got injured, song came on and the two together ran the show, we won by 3 goals i think…

  69. rico says:

    Actually, that was a silly question, i think we all know eachothers answers by now, lets wait and see in the summer 😉

  70. Will says:

    For me,

    Almunia – I don’t think we need him any more
    Squil – Just not good enough at this level, get in a 27-30 year old top class defender who has seen it and done it…oh and that can head the ball.
    Denilson – With the amount we have in that position, we don’t need him and I think the guy is better suited to Spain.
    Nik B – Just give this idiot away, almost as bad as Martin Hayes.

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