Tuesday 3rd March 2009, Barclays Premiership, The Hawthorns, Kick-Off 7.45pm

 

Albion	1 - 3	Arsenal
Brunt 7	26,244	Bendtner 4, 44
		Toure 38
1	Half-Time Score	3
41%	Possession	59%
4	Shots On Target	8
4	Shots Off Target	8
3	Corners	4
19	Fouls Against	14
2	Offsides	1
4	Yellow Cards	0
0	Red Cards	0

Albion: Carson, Zuiverloon, Meite, Donk, Robinson, Morrison (Menseguez 72), Greening (c), Koren, Brunt (Teixeira 72), Moore, Fortune. Subs not used: Kiely, Hoefkens, Cech, Kim, Valero.

Koren 35 (foul), Brunt 43 (foul), Meite 66 (persistent infringement), Donk 81 (foul)

Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Toure (Diaby 46), Djourou, Clichy, Eboue (Ramsey 67), Song, Denilson, Nasri (Merida 83), Bendtner, Arshavin. Subs not used: Fabianski, van Persie, Vela, Gibbs.

Referee:  Steve Tanner (Avon)
Assistant Referees: Mo Matadar (Lancashire), Glenn Turner (Derbyshire)
Fourth Official: Anthony Taylor (Manchester)

Conditions: Heavy rain at first then clearing

ALBION TEAM NEWS: Jonas Olsson (knee injury) is still missing but captain Jonathan Greening starts for the first time in six weeks replacing Borja Valero who drops down to the bench. Recent signing Juan Carlos Menseguez joins Valero amongst the substitutes. Luke Moore starts in place of on-loan Arsenal starlet Jay Simpson who is unavailable due to Premier League regulations.

ARSENAL TEAM NEWS: Andrei Arshavin starts but Robin van Persie is dropped to the bench with Nicklas Bendtner coming in. Also dropped are Abou Diaby and Carlos Vela who are replaced in the starting line up by Alex Song and Emmanuel Eboue respectively. William Gallas is injured so Johan Djourou takes his place. Theo Walcott, Cesc Fabregas and Emmanuel Adebayor are all also missing through injury.

ARSENAL END GOAL DROUGHT BY GUNNING DOWN THE BAGGIES

With Arsenal not scoring a goal in their previous four games, a few observers thought the match might just be a little more competitive than expected, a notion that was put to bed within the first four minutes when Nicklas Bendtner ended the Gunners’ goal drought.

Two more goals for the Londoners before half time from Bendtner and Kolo Toure effectively sealed all three points despite a Chris Brunt reply. The second half certainly didn’t live up to the first although Arsenal continued to be the team with the more attempts at goal. Baggies’ boss Tony Mowbray was left contemplating a performance which needs to be addressed if his team is going to get anything from the next game - a trip south to play West Ham.

Man of the match, Bendtner, scored the first goal with Ryan Donk, unable to put a challenge in, allowing Bendtner all the time in the world to have a strike at goal. Mowbray’s temper would probably have been close to exploding as he watched his team produce mistake after mistake. His changing of players around hadn’t helped the cause either, perhaps overestimating the defence’s capabilities. Perhaps there’s too many young and inexperienced players in the back line - Donk, Gianni Zuiverloon and Leon Barnett can all defend on the day but performances will more than likely be inconsistent due to their age and lack of Premier League experience.

The confidence of the players has looked minimal in the last month and it wasn’t helped against Arsenal when a small section of Albion fans continued to boo and shout sarcastic remarks at their own team, instead of supporting them. However, Albion are not alone in having their own boo-boys, Emmanuel Eboube’s mistake for Brunt’s equaliser on seven minutes would probably have been greeted to a chorus of boos if it happened at the Emirates. In their recent match against Wigan Eboube had to be taken off after his confidence was destroyed after booing by the Arsenal fans. The amount of criticism aimed at players and club’s nowadays is perhaps a sign of the real supporters being replaced by the ‘prawn sandwich’ brigade wanting instant success no matter what.

In the 13th minute Bendtner could of put the Gunners back in front but blazed it over from 12 yards out. It was then Albion’s turn to look the better of the two teams with Luke Moore, who started due to unavailability of Jay Simpson, having two opportunities at the stage where the game was going from end to end. The first, a shot and turn that Manuel Almunia did well to save and the second a header which went narrowly over after a flick back by Marc-Antoine Fortune into the danger area.

With the home team’s defence looking far from solid the question amongst the home support was ‘who would be the next defender to make an error?’ The answer came on 38 minutes after a free kick taken by the Russian star Arshavin. Zuiverloon, who doesn’t seem the same player that started the season so well, lost his concentration and his player and Toure scored with ease.

Six minutes later Bendtner added his second when a through ball by Toure found the Dane and with Albion’s defence allowing him way too much time Bendtner finished sublimely from 20 yards. I wish I could say the goal was conceded with no major errors from the defence but Abdoulaye Meite was clearly at fault wandering out of position and leaving his man.

The only defender that could be absolved from the blame on the night was Paul Robinson although his recent form is less than impressive. It seems his notorious reputation which has seen him booked and sent off incorrectly a number of times in the past has caused him to adhere to a less aggressive mentality which is a shame as it has definitely taken something away from his game. It really is getting to a point where it is not worth putting in challenges simply because one little mistake or mistimed tackle will see you sent off. The playacting and conning of referees by certain players also isn’t helping.

The second half was a training exercise for Arsenal with Scott Carson in the Albion goal making a number of fine saves. His shot-stopping ability probably outweighs the flaws in his game that have been visible at times this season. On 57 minutes Bendtner squandered his hat-trick chance when his effort hit the post and rebounded to safety whilst a Fortune shot that was tipped away by Almunia was the closest Albion came to a second goal.

AFTERTHOUGHTS

Positives: Jonas Olsson should soon be back to improve the defensive problems at the back; Jonathan Greening is getting fitter by the match; Luke Moore is putting in some decent performances and looks a totally different player to how he was at the start of the season; Juan Carlos Menseguez is getting time on the pitch.

Although Tony Mowbray has decided to go for an attacking style of play with a team full of skilful players it would be nice to see a strong, aggressive and brutal team that would get at the likes of Arsenal.The game looked like a training exercise for Londoners who weren’t pressured and weren’t stopped from playing their own style of fluent attacking football.

Even with the defensive problems at the back, we should of at least posed more of a threat up front but we didn't. The balance of the team is clearly wrong and I bet Mowbray wishes he could turn the clock back to the summer transfer window.

ALBION MAN OF THE MATCH: Chris Brunt
ARSENAL MAN OF THE MATCH: Nicklas Bendtner

PLAYER RATINGS OUT OF TEN

ALBION: Carson (8), Zuiverloon (5), Donk (5), Meite (5), Robinson (6), Brunt (7), Koren (6), Greening (6), Morrison (5), Moore (7), Fortune (6) Subs: Teixeira (6), Mensequez (6)

ARSENAL: Almunia (7), Sagna (6), Toure (8), Djourou (6), Clichy (6), Eboue (6), Song (6), Denilson (6), Nasri (7), Bendtner (9), Arshavin (8) Subs: Diaby (6), Ramsey (6), Merida (6)

Sam Bradley

Birmingham Mail:  IF I was a betting man I’d put good money on Tony Mowbray giving Match of the Day a miss tonight. Never mind listening to the so-called ‘sofa critics’, one wouldn’t be surprised if the Baggies boss dives behind the settee every time he sees footage of his team’s defending.

Express and Star: They’ve done it before and they’ll do it again. And again. And again. And again. Albion’s defenders have taken this season’s song from the terraces.

arsenalfcblog.com: Thank goodness for that. Arsenal’s scoreless run in the Premier League is finally over, broken in yesterday’s 3-1 win over West Brom.

Tony Mowbray: "We won't win matches if we defend like we did in the first half.

"The defending has got to improve. I take responsibility for the fact I bought all the players in, but the defenders are not stepping up.

"I am frustrated. We work on it - we don't just wash things away. I have changed the individuals, but the goals are still going in against us."

Arsene Wenger: "Bendtner is improving from month to month. He will be better every three, six months.

"He has shown tonight he has the talent to be an Arsenal player.

"That is the right way to mature. I liked his presence. I liked his determined attitude and the way he took people on. That shows he has improved."