Saturday, January 12, 2008

Arsenal 1 - Birmingham City 1 (Adebayor 22')

A Tale of Two Halves (Yet Again)

During the first half, our game had a fluency and rhythm that I haven't seen since the first half of the Villa Park game. The goal was all but inevitable - and it should have not been the first either.

However, once we conceded early in the second half, we lost every bit of composure (somewhat uncharacteristically, particularly at the Emirates) All the staples of a poor performance were there in full display - poor, unnecessarily rushed passing (particularly in the final third) and rash decision-making.

All in all, a rather youthful performance on a day when we could have used some well-aged clearheadedness.

...Finally, the player ratings:

Almunia 7
Clichy 7
Senderos 7
Gallas 6
Sagna 6 (Diaby 5)
Hleb 5
Flamini 6
Fabregas 5
Walcott 5 (Bendtner 6)
Eduardo 6
Adebayor 6

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