FA Cup Fourth Round
Arsenal 3 – 0 Newcastle United

1 – 0 Adebayor (51)
2 – 0 Adebayor (84)
3 – 0 Butt o.g. (89)

An almost perfect antidote to the drubbing received in midweek; a comfortable win and a clean sheet. The margin of the scoreline accurately reflects the difference between the two sides. Newcastle’s performance reinforces the paucity of the talent within their squad but also that in his absence from the game, Keegan has learnt little about defending, charges of tactical naïveté are hard to ignore when your side comes out with the intention of trying to outpass a team that is widely regarded as the best at that aspect of the game, in the country.

It was not all one-way traffic and might have been different had Clichy not cleared off the line or Taylor headed over from close range when the scores were level. If Tottenham had scored with every shot on target, Newcastle would probably be goalless even if they were still playing now, with Arsenal having showered and gone home.

Adebayor’s riposte to those like Rob Shepherd in this morning’s News of the World, who believe he should be facing a six match ban. Eduardo was pivotal in both; unlucky to see his effort rebound from the base of the post for the first and lucky the referee took a lenient view of his bodycheck for the second. In both instances, Adebayor had much to do. Opening the scoring in the fifty-first minute, he dug the ball out from a two limp challenges to bury it with a fierce drive into the corner. For the second, he took a taxi drivers route to goal, circuitous and around all manner of obstacles en route to finally slot the ball home, despite Taylor’s efforts to stop the inevitable. A Nicky Butt own goal sealed the win from Fabregas’ well flighted freekick, wrapping up safe passage to the fifth round.

The Togolese international provided a good example of his misunderstood contribution to the team yesterday. He worked tirelessly for the team in the first half and those efforts got their reward. Partnered with Walcott until Rosicky’s injury and then Eduardo, he summed up everything that was missing in the first destructive hour at White Hart Lane; effort. The team showed something like half a dozen changes to the starting line-up on that off-night but there might have been a complete change for the improvement in the performance level. Gallas defended conscientiously whilst restoring Hoyte to the full back slot provided him with the platform upon which to show his abilities as a squad player. On the other side, Clichy provided much needed experience and was unlucky not to break the deadlock in the first half with a fierce shot that was well saved by Given. Indeed, the visitor’s goalkeeper kept them in the game with his habitual sterling performance in the opening forty-five minutes only to be undone in the second by his colleagues being overwhelmed further up the pitch.

Walcott improved his performance, tantalising us with more glimpses of what the final product may hold in store but Arsene is somewhat vindicated with putting the player on the wing at the moment, even if yesterday occurred through Rosicky’s withdrawal. In the centre of the park, Flamini provided energy that this team requires to function effectively.

In terms of a team performance, it was the strongest for a while by Arsenal. The finishing was there to match the approach work. The ‘wake-up call’ received might well have been ‘brutal’ as Arsene described it but it was effective. Tuesday’s Premier League match will be an interesting encounter for Newcastle cannot approach it in the same manner otherwise a larger margin of defeat might well ensue.

In the post-match Press Conference, Arsene went on the attack over the media coverage

Both of them apologised because they didn’t give the best of image and because they shocked your virgin view of the game. It is funny because this is a country where you play rugby and everybody finds something where they may have hit each other and suddenly “Oh they might have touched him” and we are all shocked. I’m sorry you were shocked, I was not

Denied their chance to have official backing for their excoriation of Adebayor, the Sunday’s will not be denied their chance to go on the offensive. Chief amongst those is the pompous ass at the Mail on Sunday, Patrick Collins,

Truly, if Wenger wasn’t a genius, you could sometimes mistake him for a rather silly man

A million dead sheep were left quaking in their boots at the sharpness of Collins tongue.

Jens Lehmann appears to have regained his public focus which is good to see, particularly as the media are looking for malcontents to eke out more from the club. In the programme he commented,

If I still see a chance to get in the team, why should I give up? The pressure comes into play from this point of the season and I know that experience can be very valuable, we all have a role to play. I think that I still have a chance to win things here - I would not have had this chance somewhere else. I had to consider a lot of issues. First of all, I like it here, I like the club, I like the fans, I like the team and the way we are playing football…Then there is the fact that I am a competitor.

He also mentioned the personal reasons for wanting to stay but from the clubs point of view, he is a good ‘deputy’ to have in case of injury or loss of form.

‘til Tomorrow.

Your response: