Arsenal 2 Fulham 1

By Myles Palmer

Arsenal 2 Fulham 1

Nasri 14, Kamara 30, Nasri 75

Samir Nasri's first goal was superb and his second was beyond superb.

When Aaron Hughes miskicked to Andrey Arshavin, he miskicked to the wrong guy.

With vision as sharp as his touch, the Russian poked the pass forward into the run of the Frenchman, who swerved inside the beanpole Norwegian, beat the Irishman, and smashed the ball past the Australian from eight yards.

Nasri had missed a difficult chance before that, racing onto Arshavin’s pass. Being very direct, Arshavin makes Nasri very direct. Fewer passes, more goals. I like it. Direct is good, sideways is OK but sometimes bad.

This team, this personnel, this way of playing 4-3-3 can be very fast and penetrating, with Song and the full backs joining in. Nasri had added power with fast, long runs into the box. But it's also precarious, fragile and risky, as Wenger now admits : If we lose the ball in the build-up, we're in trouble.

Nasri hadn’t done much in his first season because he had three injuries and his second season wasn’t what Gooners had hoped for either, since he was signed as one of the brightest young sparks in French football. I heard that the French national team doctor said Nasri was too cocky when he first came into the national squad and didn’t treat senior players with proper respect. More recently we heard that Gallas fell out with Nasri when he got onto France’s team bus and sat in the seat where Thierry Henry had been sitting for ten years. Gallas gave Nasri an almighty bollocking and the pair have barely spoken since that day. Allegedly.

Last season a lad at my gym, who lives in the same street as Nasri, said, “Too many parties after midnight at his house.”

Right now, Nasri is hot. He is stocky, strong, bold as a tiger. He’s scored 11 goals in his last 13 games and he attributes his great form to having the whole summer off.  A spiky, proud, calculating character, he was offended when Domenech left him out of the World Cup 30 and demanded an explanation from the manager.

As things worked out, he got lucky. In South Africa his mates astounded the world by refusing to train. If a football team refuses to train, it makes news. If it refuses to train during a World Cup, it makes history. Nasri was not part of that fiasco, so he got lucky. And he had a good rest. So he got lucky twice.

With a lot of footballers, form is fitness, form is freshness, form is appetite, the desire that comes from feeling strong and full of energy and ready to take on anybody. Standing still with the ball, faced by two defenders close to each other, Nasri knocks the ball between them and goes after it. That's not easy to do because you have to ride the bumps and keep the ball under control.

The goal that Arsenal conceded was typical Wenger.  

Good pressing forced Hangeland to kick the ball over Squillaci’s head for Kamara to chase. Back-pedalling, Squillaci headed the ball towards his own penalty area and it was an easy header away for Koscielny until Squillaci, trying to recover his mistake, headed Koscielny in the face just after Koscielny headed it to Zoltan Gera. Squillaci then fell to his knees as Koscielny turned away holding his head. Gera passed to Clint Dempsey and then moved wide of Sagna, looking for a return pass. But Dempsey played in Kamara for a one-on-one with the keeper. Fabianski came out, hesitated, came again and didn’t get close enough. The Pole had a chance to make a blinding save but he gave Kamara the half-second he needed to score a professional goal for 1-1.

Arsenal, playing a high line, wobbled after that crazy equaliser, giving Kamara a great chance to make it 2-1. He shot wide.

Maybe Wenger reckons he can win trophies without teaching defence. But, personally, I really don't believe he thinks he can win trophies without teaching defence. It’s just that it doesn’t interest him. Half of his real job doesn’t interest him, partly because he is very busy doing 15 other jobs as well as rehearsing his attacking moves to keep them fluent and productive. His main interests are signing young players and playing pretty football.

A couple of months ago I asked : What language do they defend in? Answer : French. His answer to that problem was to have four French-speaking defenders.

BUT STILL THEY CAN’T COMMUNICATE !

That Kamara goal should never happen. Yes, mistakes happen in football at all levels. Most goals come from mistakes. And any player, like any writer, can make mistakes. But that one was avoidable. Very few Premier League teams or Championship teams concede that goal. Centrebacks rarely take each other out. Only Arsenal would concede that goal on the day they go top of the league.

MORAL : If Koscielny shouts, Squillaci stops, Koscielny heads the ball much further  away - and it’s not a goal. It can’t be a collision or a goal if Koscielny shouts.

Fulham made it a close game. Arsenal didn’t play particularly well but they won it with a typical quick-passing move, started by Nasri in the centre circle. His forward pass found Arshavin, the ball was moved quickly to sub Van Persie, nudged into the run of Nasri, who wriggled between two defenders on the penalty spot, then went past Schwarzer, placing the ball wide of the post, then running past the post, and past the ball, to hook his shot home from a narrow angle with 15 minutes left. Virtuouso stuff.

Last Saturday morning, November 27,  I read a Wenger quote  : “For me, Squillaci, Koscielny and Djourou are great defenders." I laughed out loud. After one recent game Djourou was interviewed on TV and everything he said was pure Wenger - same doctrine, same phrases. It was HMV. It was uncanny. His Master’s Voice. Hilarious but sad. But the lad has started to play quite well. I still have doubts. We'll see in the next month or two.

Arsenal are top of the table because Man United's game was postponed. Blackpool don't have undersoil heating. Chelsea drew 1-1 with Everton.

Will Arsenal be Christmas champions?

We’ll find out soon : the next game is Manchester United at Old Trafford on Monday, December 13.

Dec 5, 2010