Go Jack

By Boris Mellor
October 17 2010

Manchester United and Chelsea both dropped points, and for once Arsenal took advantage. I suspect if Arsenal had been away, or against a better team than Birmingham, that would not have been the case. However, the top three always struggle after international week so it is not unique to Arsenal.

Arsenal made hard work of beating Birmingham, but it was a well deserved victory, if not an ugly one at times. A couple of Brummie mates were at the game and obviously have far lower standards than we do. One text me during the game to say it was a good game. By that I think he meant that Birmingham were surviving our, at the time, toothless attack. The other thought they were worth a draw.

However, Arsenal had twice as many shots as Birmingham, and 58% possession, so I don’t see that the bluenoses deserved anything. There is controversy over Chamakh’s penalty claim; I was at that end and wasn’t sure myself. Match of the Day carefully dissected it and decided it was a penalty, soft, but a penalty nonetheless. I love the moral outrage of teams that have done the same or worse to us. Birmingham’s last minute penalty a few years back was even less justified. What goes around comes around.

Masters of the Crab

Arsenal huffed and puffed for the first 20 minutes, most of it crab football, and produced a few shots that lacked conviction. I turned to the bloke next to me and said I can see where this is going, Birmingham are going to score. And so they did, a great header for which no blame can be attached to Fabianski. I couldn’t, at this stage, see Arsenal equalising, so it was good thing that Chamakh knows how to win a pen.

I felt quite relaxed as Nasri stepped up, and he didn’t let me down, another great penalty, the keeper got nowhere near it. Arsenal had got out of jail. It had been a poor first half, and for much of it Birmingham’s ten men behind the ball frustrated Arsenal. Some of the crowd half heartedly booed Hleb, most ignored him, and no one in the crowd welcomed him back. The only incisive player in the first half was Jack, but at times he was too deep, why not play him ahead of the witless Diaby?

On 47 minutes Chamakh scored an excellent goal from an incisive pass from Wilshere. Though we were not to know it that was the end of the game in any meaningful sense. Sure it got bad tempered and niggly and the referee didn’t help, but 2-1 it would stay. Birmingham are better at frustrating than creating, hence it is now seven matches since they won away.

The only incident of any importance after that was Jack’s sending off, a few years ago it might have been a yellow, but in this climate it was a not unreasonable red. As some Birmingham players and fans tried to claim the moral high ground the stadium came to life, EDUARDO EDUARDO, EDUARDO EDUARDO boomed out from the whole crowd.

Jack great but Fab still missed

Birmingham’s plan to frustrate Arsenal nearly succeeded but for Jack’s silky skills, but it is too much weight on a young boys shoulders to have to carry a team, which includes so many want wits when faced with a blocked penalty area. He cannot replace Fabregas just yet, for he lacks the Spaniard’s goal scoring skills at this level. Fabregas goals are all important when RvP is not available, and he was leading scorer last season. 

Chamakh is progressing well, but without Wilshere he would not have scored. We will have to hope that Fabregas is available whilst Jack spends his three match ban. I don’t have a lot of hope for this team if neither is playing. It’s now four points out of the last 12; can this team make it seven out of 15 next week? Manchester City away will be a far sterner test than Birmingham at home.