Wenger wastes no time to make Sam sick

WLWH:L
By Boris Mellor
February 15 2007

Once again the pundits insisted that Arsenal had no chance, and I suspect quite a few Arsenal fans thought they had a point when they saw the team sheet. No Henry, no Fabregas, no Lehmann, and Gilberto playing at centre half.

 Bolton Wanderers 1

Meite 90

Arsenal 3

Adebayor 13, 120, Ljungberg 109

 

 But what the team lacked in established stars was made up for by the fact this was a stronger and more physical team. Allardyce had looked forward to bullying the diddy men in the midfield, but Diaby and Denilson have a physical presence, and can tackle well.

 

 In the preview Arsenal Times noted that “Arsenal are unbeaten for the whole of 2007, but are in strange form, recently it seems that the team cannot raise its tempo until the other team has scored.” 

 

Fortunately the team played with a high tempo from the very start, and the defence, led by the magnificent Gilberto had a feeling of steel about it. This time Arsenal didn’t wait until the opposition scored before getting stuck in, they were committed from the off, and with only 13 minutes gone Adebayor scored after some classic Arsenal passing. True there were a couple of deflections involved, but it was still a well worked goal.

 

For almost the whole of the first half the Gunners made Big Sam’s dire warnings and threats look nonsense, and it was great to hear the Bolton faithful whining at Arsenal’s firm but fair tackling. The 18 year old Denilson was not intimidated by Bolton at any time in the remarkable 120 minutes he stayed on the field.

 

Bolton nearly scored in the final minutes of the first half, but it would have been a gross injustice as Arsenal should have been at least 2-0 up by then.

 

Bolton had more of the action in the second half, but rarely troubled Almunia. Gilberto did a great job blocking everything that Bolton threw at Arsenal, and they did have quite a few throw ins. Am I the only one who notices that they let the ball go out when they could just as easily could keep it in play?

 

On 62 minutes Baptista was brought down as he ran clear through on goal. Gilberto now had the chance to finish Bolton off. On 63 minutes he skied it into row Z.

Bolton’s confidence grew, but still Arsenal’s defence refused to buckle. The Gunners even broke away for Adebayor to find an open goal but hit the bottom of the post. Three or four nil up would not have been unreasonable, but the iron law of missed chances imposed itself. Waste your chances and the opposition will score, with only seconds left Bolton got a Bolton type goal. With all eleven men up for a corner the ball ricocheted around the area like a pinball. And pinball wizards that they are Bolton scored. Actually Sam that’s an idea, perhaps pinball is more your game.

 

Groan, millions of Gunners could have wept, we should have won 4 or 5 nil, and here we were in extra time. One or two now thought the bogey had arrived. A good job Wenger and his boys are not so feint hearted. I must say I thought we looked least likely. No Rosicky, no Hleb, Denilson tiring and Freddy still looking rusty.

 

Cometh the hour Cometh the man

Or perhaps it was two men, with the midfield looking weak Aliadiere seized the ball and took on the Bolton defence all on his own. Suddenly the years lifted off Freddy, the old warriors rusty joints galvanised (like the pun. Ed) into action. He latched onto Ali’s pass and placed the ball well past the keeper. One of those Freddy shots that starts off as a chip then becomes a daisy cutter. It was wonderful.

 

Arsenal still had time for Baptista to miss a penalty, and for Baptista to assist Adebayor to his second goal. What spirit, what effort, what guts. I don’t remember Arsenal wasting time, unless scoring in the last minute counts.

 

Allardyce moaned about the ref, as did Bolton fans, but he only made one mistake and that was not sending off the Le Sulk for the second penalty.

 

Meanwhile Arsene ignored all of Sam’s pre match taunting, indeed he was magnanimous. He said Bolton  were a good team – see Sam he does give you credit. Mind you he went on to say that Arsenal were a great team. He also said that 3-1 flattered Bolton, and 8-1 would have been about it (I made that last sentence up).

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