Arsenal Thrash Blackburn Despite Bouts of Inconsistency

Well that’s more like it. Arsenal beat Blackburn 6-2 in a thrilling match that shouldn’t be soon forgotten. Despite periods of inconsistency with appalling play the team played extremely well.

Blackburn went up 1-0 inside the first three minutes. This is a trend that is now to be expected. Toure was called for a foul inside the box that could certainly be argued both ways. Nonda, who scored both goals, slotted it home despite Lehmann’s best efforts. And again hopes were dashed early at the Emirates.

But fear not readers. Vice Captain (and now Captain) Gilberto equalized just 7 minutes later. For the rest of the first half we dominated play, and even went up 3-1 through goals from Hleb and Adebayor (penalty). Save for the penalty goal we suffered, we were pretty much dominating the match in the first half. It was a glorious period to be a gunner.

However, it didn’t last long. Coming out of the gates in the second we lost all semblance of good play. Passes were shoddy, turnovers were frequent, and possession was slim. Blackburn took one back in the 69th to everyone’s surprise, and the game was once again on. Blackburn had several chances that they could have capitalized on, but we somehow managed to keep them at bay despite some questionable defense.

I believe it was around the 72nd when Flamini came on that Arsenal started to shine again. Passes became more accurate, touches more deft, and we looked like the good old red and white again. It was no surprise then that three more goals poured in.

Robin Van Persie scored twice within three minutes, and then Flamini two minutes later. We stuck that knife deep into Blackburn, twisted it around real good, and then poured some salt in the wound. It was a lovely way to cap off the match. If there were any more of those early-leavers in this match then I hope they feel adequately depressed.

I wasn’t able to see all of this match live. I am currently back in Oklahoma City, where apparently a pub doesn’t exist that carries Setanta Sports (the network showing the match here in the states). I managed to find some live feed from a Japanese network though, but it was quite spotty.

There were two ten minute periods where I was only able to hear the commentary from ATVO. This was a blessing in disguise though, as the commentary on ATVO is directly from the stadium itself. The chanting and random shouts from the crowd are thus all the more prevalent, so it felt more like I was there.

Fabregas and Gilberto are really starting to work well together. Gilberto’s unsung antics in the back of the midfield continue to impress me, while Fabregas is starting to really develop his own style of play and dominance. He does well in setting up the flow of the attack and really controls the pace of the game. Rosicky looked really good until the start of the second half. I’m pretty impressed with how well he has settled in to the Arsenal style.

As I mentioned earlier the defense was a bit spotty. It will be quite nice to have the experience of Lauren back as I think that is where the real root of the problem is. Inexperience in the strikers or midfielders can always be masked by the opposition, or covered up by just yielding with a pass-back. Inexperience in the defense though will always result in goals being scored. This is just the nature of the beast, and like consistency with the rest of the squad, we as supporters should always be ready to see goals slip in.

Around the rest of the premiership, all of the rest of the teams that we needed to drop points did not. It’s disappointing when the the rest of the teams above and around us continue to win. We’ve got a lot of catching up to do and we are dependent upon other teams dropping points.

Lovely Christmas time means that we have matches back to back every week. On Tuesday we’re up against Watford away. This is another should-be-gimme match but I’m sure that the youngsters will make it thrilling like they always do.

Come on Arsenal!