Match Reaction: Hull City vs Arsenal
By Karl M. Tinsley
MY 3 STARS
1. NICKLAS BENDTNER: Anytime you score a 93rd-minute goal to pinch all 3 pts late in the season…in a match we absolutely had to have…then you deserve Man of the Match honours.
Showed a good nose for goal and a quick jump in his legs with the way he was the first to react to that greasy rebound spilled by Myhill, leaving him “Johnny on the Spot”. Congrats to Bendtner for bouncing back with goals after his horror show against Burnley 1 week ago and the withering abuse he has taken.
2. ANDREY ARSHAVIN: His first goal showed again the “Russian Schemers” sick ball control and two footed dribbles as he forced his way between and past the two Hull City defenders. Arshavin is flat out lethal with either foot and as a result can turn any defender on the planet inside out.
Love how he gets his shot off with pace from strange angles and timing that often catch the ‘keeper flat-footed. He is still wasting his fair share of opportunities…but lets hope it is just some lingering rust from his recent injury down-time. Bottom line he’s been scoring and setting up goals in the 3 matches since he came back from injury. Hoping he maintains and improves his form in the coming 2 months. We need him.
3. THEO WALCOTT: Used his fresh legs and pace to break down the left flank of the Hull City defence and open up quality chances for himself. His introduction into the match saw him contribute immediately as he used his pace to break free on the right flank and then serve up a delicious cut-back ball that Nasri touched on to Arshavin who skied his effort wide.
Walcott then teamed up with Arshavin to gift the Danish Striker another good opportunity on the net that unfortunately went begging. Later, Theo had a decent opportunity on the net when he received a lovely cut-back ball from Arshavin but unfortunately he wasn’t ablt to properly connect and dribbled his shot wide.
HONOURABLE MENTION:
THOMAS VERMAELEN: He controlled the centre of the pitch effectively and did a good job of getting back quickly when Hull managed to launch counter-attacks. Wasn’t at fault on the first Hull City goal when he cleverly stepped up to play the Dutchmen offside but the correct call was ignored by the linesman in favour of giving Hull City a way back into the match.
BACARY SAGNA: Had a good showing up and down the right wing and was also getting his crosses in and over but with much more snap and bend to them. Hull City didn’t offer much in the way of attack but Bacary was able to thwart any dangerous attempts on net.
LEMON(S):
SOL CAMPBELL: His clumsy tackle on Hull City’s Vennegoor of Hesselink in our 18 yard box gifted the Hull forward the opportunity to sell the contact and win the P.K. . The ensuing P.K. was stroked home by Bullard. Sol avoided the goat horns when we were able to grab all 3 points courtesy of a greasy rebound late in the match.
Sol didn’t have a terrible match…but he needs to be more delicate with his marking and tackling inside our 18 yard box…yesterday he was able to escape costing us a win…but next match he may not be so lucky.
FINAL THOUGHTS:
Most definitely NOT a fun or offensive minded effort yesterday. But it was interesting to see the club dig deep and manufacture a late goal that we so very desperately needed. For many years now The Arsenal have had an immediate dip in form after a positive night in European football. Last night was no exception to that pattern.
But thanks to Denilson and Bendtner we were able to work togther and gain a positive solution deep into injury time. Hopefully we can get Cesc Fabregas, Tomas Rosicky and Arshavin working on the same page in the next few days. We will need to do better over the next 8 matches to ensure that we can finish the season strong, to the tune of 7 wins and 1 draw. Stranger things have happened and I feel confident that we can do it.
Until the next match,
GUNS IN GUNS OUT
Karlos
FOLLOW ON:
The comment about Sol is absolute rubbish and clearly from someone that has played little football. Firstly the Hull player was offside. Sol had to run from behind the player to put in some form of tackle. From that angle and contact wan envitable and the Hull player made the most of it. If you played the game you would appreciate the difficulty of that particular situation. If anyone had a bad game is was Denilson. Please be reasonable and knowledgable with you articles.
i disagree,denilson didnt have a bad game…infact his momemt of courage and brilliance to take the shot gave us our 3 points…i agree sol shouldnt be criticised though..
denilson did have some faults…all of us criticised him before the game but” If you played the game you would appreciate the difficulty of that particular situation.”or rather position he has filled up that cdm role…thats not his natural role,sorry mate,think u got it wrong there!
agree with above, shit article
Hey Karl.
It seems every time u write a thought,people totally disagree.
I think u’r 100% wrong about Sol.
As 4 d Denilson hater above,why do u think Denilson had a poor game?Tackles?i say him win some fine tackles.Giving d ball away?Nasri,Diaby &Arshavin didnt do any better.
Besides,if it was Fab who took that shot,he would still be receiving praise 4 setting up the winner.come on,giv Den a break?
There’s some stats floating about about Denilson in the game where he had the 2nd most passes completed and the 2nd most tackles done, and he also got us the goal for Nicky B. Be a supporter and SUPPORT.
Sol’s gave away the penalty was largely due to the Hull player who made out the most during that given situation. Have to give credit to the cleverness of the Hull player while Sol need to be wiser in future. As for Denilson, he may not performed at the level best but still to me is decent.
Karlos,
Thanks for taking time to write the Match Reaction for our reading pleasure even though some may or may not disagree with your comments. Keep it coming..cheers!
Kidz – You always show class man.
We love it Karlos!. Provocative match reactions are what we want – something everyone agrees with would be boring.
rite…reading ur match reaction is a pleasure…from tat i can know how ur opinion through the match…keep it up man…u got support from us
I think my Lemon would have to go to Nasri. This was his chance to show his true class by continuing to build on some recent brilliant performances, but all he did was consistently give the ball away. He looked tired and out of sync.
Personally, Nasri is one of my favorite players on the squad but he just looked like he couldn’t deal with the pressure of being our playmaker in a tough and important game.
I’ve not lost faith, I still think he is absolute class, but this was just a disappointing performance in a game when he really could have stepped up. I fully expect him to be back to his best next week though. He always puts in a great performance at the Emirates
Don Cee…
The tackle WAS clumsy because he gave Hesselink the opportunity to draw the contact and sell it to the referee.
Whether it was offside (which it was) is moot because the flag never went up and a P.K. was awarded.
Running up the back of a player while trying to recover is NOT good technique. A slide tackle would have been a more deft approach.
The Hull goal had nothing to do with Denilson.
And I seem to recall a heavy swerving shot from the Brazilian that handcuffed Myhill and gave Bendtner the scoring chance to put us through to the 3 pts.
Psssssssssst…It is very hypocritical of you to lecture me about being reasonable and knowledgeable with my comments when you yourself fail on both accounts.
P.S. – the snotty and condescending tone doesn’t do you any favours either
guys, lets be honest and be informed football fans.if a player does an eXtra-ordinary thing that wins the game for us, should that be regarded the MOTM?….Denilson has not been having a good time of late. but today he showed some commitment even though he is still played at a wrong place DFM.but his moment of brilliance to take that shot to me makes him the match winner or what do you guys think?
Tsokan…
The whole premise of Match Reaction is to be the jumpiong off point for debate within the Gooner Camp that frequents Red London.
It is edgy and opinionated for that very reason…to stir debate.
People don’t have to agree with what I write and are more than welcome to offer their assessments.
The name calling and smack talk that people want to toss my way says more about the person posting than it does about my writings.
Kidz,Randy,Fabre…
Thanks for the shout-outs!
Like Randy said…it’d be boring if we all agreed about everything Arsenal.
The bottom line and the thing that unites us all is a desire for the club to win silverware and to continue playing the sexy football that has made our brand a legend.
3 points in the bag job done. Now for the Hammers and same again please but lets hope we don’t leave it untli the 96th min again.
I think switching formation to 4-4-2 might be good for the squad because we have so many midfielders! I read nasri doesn’t like playing on the flanks probably others feel the same ie rosicky. Cos 4-3-3 isn’t perfect it can leave us exposed against the best teams I hate to say but look at our record against the rent boys and miou this season
Interesting posts…
Didn’t see the game but I did see the highlights.
Arshavin – good goal, very cheeky in the box. Piss poor chance later though.
B52- what can you say. In the right place at the right time. Great game and I’m glad that he’s back.
Sol – Sol, Sol, Sol..can’t blame him for the foul, he did it, he’s clumsy. Bone crunching tackle, good to have someone like that in our back 4.
Looking at the schedule for the big three and we have the better run ins.
The way I see it, being generous and realistic I see it like this.
Arsenal – 20 points in last 8 games
Manure – 17 points in last 8 games
Chelski – 19 points in last 8 games
8 games left…come on you gunners!!!
haha..Phil Brown gets the sack at Hull….hopefully he stays away from the Premier League because his time wasting tactics make watching the game painful…Farewell Phil, Farewell Hull
Keep the healthy debate going guys,this is how it should be between us supporters.some good comments,and some not so good comments,i love it.Keep the faith,we are in with a great chance.