Let me start by saying that this was a VERY important win for us! Today's match made it 3 wins in a row counting the Champions league game and the team has finally put a few wins together. Confidence wise this is crucial for us, especially that we are winning without playing great football. Stoke has always been a tough team for us to play against. We again (as we usually do against them) defended horribly at their equalizer and it looked like it was going to be one of those frustrating games where we throw it away with bad defending and clueless attacking. But credit to the guys, we found a way to win. Van Persie was again the crucial piece of the puzzle even though we have to give credit to Gervinho for playing his best game of the season.
First half was not that great. We look better than Stoke for the most part of it but we didn't create that many clear chances. The goal that we scored was brilliant though. Great pass by Ramsey and very good finish by Gervinho. After the goal we looked in control until we made a mess in the back and got them back in the game. Stoke obviously has practiced the situation where they scored their goal so they deserve some credit for the it, but that was so typical and naive defending by us that it makes me sick. These are the type of goals we can't afford to concede if we want to be a top team. After that goal we looked confused and shaky in the back but luckily we didn't concede again.
Second half also looked like it will be a grind but after RVP came in and we scored, it changed the whole complexion of the game. Stoke had to press and create something and we caught them on the counter for 3-1. Still we weren't super exciting or anything like that but i will take a 3-1 win vs Stoke ANY day!Gervinho was the man of the match for me. Even though RVP scored the two goals and was obviously the spark we needed up front, Gervinho scored a great goal and had 2 assists - by far his best game of the season. I like the fact that he is trying to create more for others than trying to score everything himself. That's why we bought him: to create for others first and score second. Chamakh was bad, didn't do anything deserving a mention. He needs to do better when he is given an opportunity if he wants to play in this team. Walcott was not good either, he has to start using his qualities in a smarter way so he can be more effective. Right now he is not doing much, and he needs to get better. Ramsey had a good game. Gave phenomenal pass for Gervinho's goal, didn't do anything else that was from the same quality but had a solid game. Arteta was sub par again. He didn't have a bad game but he didn't have a great game either. I personally believe that if he will be playing 90 minutes every game, he needs to do better and have a bigger impact on games. Song was solid as usual, not one of his best games but a solid performance.
Except the shitty goal we gave away, the defense played pretty well. Koscielny had another good game and all my criticizing of him earlier in the season maybe has helped him to start playing better! Djourou was also very good as a right back, i hope he keeps it up because last year i had very good impressions from him until the end of the season when he started playing shitty and continued playing shitty the beginning of this season. Hopefully he is turning it around the same way as Koscielny and starting to play reliable football again. Mertesacker was at fault for allowing Crouch to get so easily to that ball and score but other than that he did alright. Santos was ok, didn't look as slow as usual. The big test for this defense will be next week vs Chelsea when we will find out if the defense is really starting to get better or it was just a few games of decent play in the back. If i have to be honest, i still don't think we are playing good enough in the back but i am hoping that we won't fuck up big time and we can get a result vs Chelsea.
Wenger still refuses to shuffle the starting line up. With the exception of resting RVP, the line up was pretty much the same. As i said last week, i would like him to start Benayoun a few times and some of the other youngsters. I thought Rosicky has been playing good and he should have played as well. Anyway, great result today, the team is slowly getting better. Vermaelen is apparently 10 days away from coming back, so things are starting to look a bit brighter after all. I still think it will be important for us to get a decent result at Chelsea so we can keep the momentum going. Let's Go Gunners!!!
p.s. I am quite happy that Man U took 6 pieces at home :))
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