Newcastle 0 Arsenal 0 Premiership 13th August 2011 5.30pm evening kick off
Teams:
Newcastle United: Krul, R Taylor, Coloccini, S Taylor, Simpson, Barton Cabaye, Tiote, Gutierrez, Ba, Ameobi.
Arsenal: Szczesny, Gibbs, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Sagna, Song, Rosicky, Ramsey, Gervinho, Arshavin, Van Persie.
In the past 4 years, Arsene Wenger has spent £98.55m on players, received £110.59m - netting Arsenal £12.04m in player profit. Whether you think Arsenal are a selling club or not, you have to admire the commitment from Wenger to the board to deliver quality on the pitch and chairman proof figures off it. Fabregas and Nasri going has hit the top pre-season headlines. There is only this and the Man Utd signings that have really been of interest. My last point on Arsenal – superb to see Aaron Ramsey start the Gunners’ Premier League opener.
Newcastle hit the headlines for Twitter shenanigans as Joey Barton criticised Newcastle for being a selling club with Carroll, Nolan and Enrique all gone. Alan Pardew has suggested that Newcastle would be putting controls in place with players’ social media accounts particularly Twitter. Furthermore, Newcastle seem to be gradually splashing the Andy Carroll cash – 25 year old midfielder Yohan Cabaye has come in from French champions Lille for only £4m and there are apparently more on the way. I think the Magpies will do well in this new 2011-2012 football season and I also think it is ridiculous that he should be under pressure at this early point in a 5 year deal.
As you would imagine, both sides were straight at each other, following on from the 4-4 thriller 6 months ago. Arsenal countering with Newcastle probing with the wonderful Toon Army singing their hearts out. After the initial flurry of mad, headless chicken football, the pattern of one touch passing resumed with Wenger’s team illustrating that they are still the best team in the Premier League to watch. Gervinho displayed decent energy, two good feet and good balance on a couple of occasions. Arshavin also looked bright down the right hand side linking up nicely with Sagna. Vermaelen managed the Arsenal back 4 and the Newcastle top 2 effortlessly squeezing the home team up the pitch to quieten the Toon faithful.
Ex-Spurs legend made a good call a quarter of an hour in when commentating on ESPN when suggesting that a 4-5-1 re-shape for the home team might be the way forward as the Arsenal pass and move had made the Newcastle midfield dizzy and ineffective. Joey Barton made a couple of decent link up passes in this first quarter but it was all one way traffic with Arsenal fully bossing the show.
Van Persie had the first half chance in the 17th minute after some industrious wing play from Gervinho. Arsenal maintained possession for a spell after this, making the ball do the work and in doing so making the first run out for Newcastle a difficult one athletically.
Gutierrez then had Newcastle’s first chance as he powerfully volleyed within the 18 yard box going about 2 yards wide – a decent hit.
Alex Song got yellow carded in the 28th minute after putting himself about a little bit too much but as an athletic holding man I think Song is really starting to look the part.
Despite completely dominating the first half an hour, Newcastle did show resilience in defence and there were no real clean cut chances. Arsenal’s final ball could have been a little bit better but I would give the Newcastle defensive unit credit for good pressing and chasing.
Arsenal continued to walk through the Newcastle midfield but then walk into a strong Newcastle defence that they got no change out of. As Arsenal concocted their intricate passing moves on the edge of the ‘D’, Newcastle simply crowded them out with six men behind the ball. It certainly looked like Pardew’s strategy was the old park a bus method; and it worked. Newcastle United nursed out the last 10 mins, effectively numbing the Arsenal alchemy to go in at the break 0-0.
Theo Walcott’s introduction in the second half did create some inspiration for Van Persie and the other attacking Arsenal players. He chased down some ambitious through balls and had one half chance after a classic Arsenal passing move.
The second half proved to be a little dull – typical first day of the season stuff. Arsenal displayed great touch but struggled to pack the punch in the final third (and yes, they could have done with either Nasri or Fabregas). Their possession in the second half was slightly more fragmented as Newcastle got their angles right and stifled some of the triangles and creative passes.
Gervinho then sparked Joey Barton madness. A run into the box that seemed to end in a ‘creative fall’ by Gervinho was the catalyst for the old Premier League handbags between Barton and new boy Gervinho. Barton man handled Gervinho who seemed to slap Barton – Barton then hit the deck like a ton of bricks. Gervinho got a red card which I agreed with however Barton only saw yellow so Joey managed to con the referee successfully. Video evidence…discuss? J
Barton had a half chance in the 80th minute, how ironic that would have been. Walcott had a good header chance on the subsequent break but squandered the chance.
In the 94th minute, Rosicky was subbed for Ghanian international powerhouse Frimpong came on to protect the back four.
There wasn’t a great deal you could conclude from this match as is the case with many Premier League openers but Newcastle did a professional job of muting the Arsenal creativity, the game was marred by one unsavoury incident which Arsene Wenger did criticise after the match. There was an interesting Twitter tete a tete as Jack Wilshere suggested that Barton was in the wrong with the Newcastle midfielder defending his actions right back via the social media month Twitter.
