Come on you Laaaverly Reds

Welcome to the lovely reds. The first review to feature on this site is that of Arsenal vs Norwich and what a fantastic way to start. 

Arsenal started with great intensity from the whistle, controlling the opening quarter of the match with fluid passing between a midfield that welcomes back the irrepressible Santi Cazorla. The Spaniard looked back to his old self having had a poor cameo in his first match of the season against Aston Villa, giving the ball away for their second goal. This time however, Cazorla, Wilshere and Ozil looked as if they had been playing together for years, complemented by the golden bonce himself, the handsome gentleman Olivier Giroud. What happened in the eightenth minute will surely go down in Arsenal history as one of the greatest goals this team has ever produced, and should be a contender for goal of the season. I counted 6 one touch passes in the Norwich penalty area in a move started and finished by Jack Wilshere and involving Cazorla and Giroud, who showed particular nuance in the direction and weight of his touches. 

In the minutes that followed this goal however Arsenal appeared to lose their stranglehold on midfield, opting to sit deeper and invite pressure when they had previously looked to apply an intensive squeeze on the Canaries back four. This, coupled with the substitution of Mathieu Flamini after his suicidal attempt at a header resulted in some sustained pressure from Hughton's side which we soaked up well. Between the sheer impassability of the big f’ing German, the wiley cayote devilishness of the increasingly psychotic looking koscielny and the young gooner in goal we never really looked like conceding in the first half. 

The second half started with similar pressure and a more equal share of possession, something which we are not used to seeing when playing at home. However we managed to counter attack with typical speed to score a second goal, somewhat against the run of play when Giroud yet again turned provider for Ozil’s first ever headed goal in any league...anywhere. That just about sums up this superlative German, who since arriving has shown his willingness to work tirelessly in the pursuit of goals, running almost the full length of the pitch and still showing the composure and intelligence to guide the curling cross into the only space that would’ve beaten an otherwise well positioned Ruddy.

Norwich managed to pull one back when Mertesacker's poorish clearance found an onrushing Howson who took the chance well with a finely placed volley that beat Sir chez in the bottom corner. Arsenal teams of late would have shown weakness at this point and possibly even crumbled to concede a second, however our newfound attacking verve proved too great for an ever tiring Norwich who ultimately could not sustain their high pressure defense. Ramsey was soon peppering the Norwich goal with long range efforts, forcing good saves from Ruddy before unlocking the defense with a sublime piece of individual skill. To see the devastating effect of his incisive run take a look at the picture doing the rounds online showing a confounded Norwich defense yet to pick themselves off the floor whilst Ramsey and co. are celebrating. The performance was capped by yet another assist from Ramsey and a second goal for Ozil. Rosicky whipped in a clever ball to the back post and Ramsey had the awareness and clarity of mind to cut the ball back with his first touch, for ozil to slot in on the half volley. The sheer pace of the play caught Ruddy out of position leaving it impossible for him to scramble back across and make a block. Like the Wilshere goal, and as Wenger said in his post match interview,  when you play one touch in the box it is nearly impossible to defend.

In the end we showed that we could play with intensity for 90 minutes simply tiring Norwich into submission. We showed a solidity and a desire that we have seemed to lack in seasons past, when the Norwich goal would have been enough for us to crumble and concede a late second to drop those vital points. Now with the depth in our midfield, affording us the luxury to leave quality players like Ramsey and Rosicky on the bench we are able to renue our dominance on the pitch. Let’s hope Arsenal can find another gear in time for the matches that will surely define our season during what will be a tough November.