Looking Through The Eyes Of Toon Army - Arsenal’s Postmortem

We fought our way back into the game superbly after conceding another soft goal - albeit one that was brilliantly taken.

We are simply have seen the half-best of Newcastle United performance this season so far. There’s still room for improvement, especially on our back-four but surely we are much, much better than we are recently, even comparing to the winning team against Spurs, Everton and Hams.

For the first time this season we worked really hard to establish control in midfield, and after the equaliser actually had them on the ropes for a full 20 minute spell, during which they were largely happy to boot it anywhere in a very un-Arsenal fashion.

We had some real leaders out there tonight, particularly in Taylor, Butt, and Smith who were all terrific, and without really shining I thought Joey Barton was a big influence on the game.

For MOTM I would have to single out Alan Smith who ran himself into the ground, and caused Toure and Gallas all kinds of problems. The only slight disappointment is that him and Martins just weren’t able to get on the same wavelength. This is surely Smith’s best position, and I only hope Sam leaves him there.

Milner was bright, and had the beating of Sagna - he of the pathetic pantomine dive in a sick effort to get Smith sent off - but we weren’t really able to get enough of the ball him.

We still had a few wobbles defensively but salvaged several tricky situations with brave blocks. Taylor didn’t look 100% fit to me but stuck gamely to his task against a very difficult opponent in Adebayor.

Rozenahl seemed very nervy in the first half, but grew in confidence as the game wore one. The key to what turned out to be a decent defensive performance for me was our ability to establish some measure of control in midfield, and the service to Adabeyor faded badly after a bright opening spell.

The atmosphere was terrific, and for me the crowd’s positive reaction to conceding another early goal was instrumental in lifting the players - providing imo the perfect illustration of the effect our support can have on a game.

It seems the Toon Army has been been stung into action by recent criticism, and what a difference it makes. Smashing night, and hopefully the corner has been turned. The Geordies nation have given all they can to support the lads last night.

A verdict by Clarky

One Response to “Looking Through The Eyes Of Toon Army - Arsenal’s Postmortem”

1. Shaun on December 6th, 2007 3:50 am

   Decent result for your lads last night, had a feeling Arsenal would drop points.

   Nice site, found you on Entrecard, dropped my card off for you.

Leave a Reply