Arsenal and the beauty of Wengerball

Arsenal’s Mesut Özil celebrates scoring the first goal during the UEFA Champions League Group F match between Arsenal FC and SSC Napoli at Emirates Stadium.

Not since that February night in 2011, when Arsenal beat Barcelona 2-1 in the first leg of the pre-quarter finals of the Champions League, has there been such a scintillating performance from the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium on the grandest of stages.

Judging from their displays in the last few seasons, Arsenal are not supposed to dominate like this on a consistent basis. But that is exactly what Arsène Wenger’s boys, nay, not boys, men have done and given Wenger the perfect anniversary gift as he completed 17 long years in charge of Arsenal Football Club.

Let’s not take anything away from this win. Napoli are second in the Serie A table and in top form this season under new boss Rafa Benitez. They defeated last year’s finalists Borussia Dortmund on match day 1. But even he had no answer for the devastating brand of football from an Arsenal team that has been on the rise since March of last season.

In the past 21 matches, the Gunners have drawn two, lost one and won an astounding 18 games. That one loss was on the opening day of the Premier League when Christian Benteke and Aston Villa managed to notch a 1-3 win much to the outrage of Arsenal fans who were literally pleading for Wenger to spend some money from the fabled war chest and sign some quality players. It was a controversial game with Villa benefiting from some dodgy calls from the referee and a chorus of boos and jeers from the home fans accompanied the final whistle.

No one is jeering now. That game against Villa was just a minor blip and would in all probability end up as a footnote in history. As Wenger delivered and got the clamouring fans to eat some humble pie with the record breaking signing of Mesut Özil and the free signing of Mathieu Flamini, one cannot but marvel at his confidence and strategy in the transfer market. He already had a winning team. He just needed the right ingredients to make a title winning squad.

And that is exactly what Arsenal are looking like now – title contenders. Sitting pretty on top of the table in the Premier League and the ‘Group of Death’ in the Champions League, Wenger’s acumen and taste for beautiful football is finally starting to deliver. And even he could not hide his delight when Özil scored his first goal in a red-and-white shirt that sent the home crowd into a state of absolute delirium.

It was a goal created by one of Wenger’s new stars this season, the much improved Aaron Ramsey. Giroud held the ball by the touchline, Ramsey lost his marker and skipped past him on the flank as Giroud released him with a clever flick. And as he made a run towards the box, Tomas Rosicky sold Napoli a dummy with an urgent run towards goal, dragging the entire Napoli defence with him. Ramsey just had to look up and see Özil, free as a bird, making his way towards the box. A simple cutback pass was finished off by the left foot of Özil in the most emphatic fashion with Pepe Reina standing no chance!

The whole move took a few seconds, and it took a few moments for fans to realize that Arsenal had scored. It was that quick! Even Wenger could not hide his delight at the beauty of the goal and was off his seat in a flash, celebrating with a big smile etched on his face. And even before Napoli could recover, Giroud added a second with some neat movement and interplay with Özil.

Wenger’s star signing had already helped finish off Napoli in the first 14 minutes of the game. Giroud too, who had struggled at the beginning of last season, was having a ball, winning aerial duels all over the pitch and bringing midfielders into play and stretching Napoli’s defence as much as possible.

Arsenal’s French striker Olivier Giroud skips past SSC Napoli’s Uruguayan defender Miguel Britos.

Although Arsenal did drop their intensity a bit in the second half (playing with the handbrake on, as Wenger would say later), what will please Wenger and assistant manager Steve Bould is the fact that they managed to keep a clean sheet. Arsenal’s last clean sheet was exactly a month ago, in the North London Derby. And one of the main reasons Szczesny was barely troubled was because Arsenal deployed two experienced deep-lying midfielders – Mikel Arteta and Flamini.

Flamini has restored the steel that has been missing in Arsenal’s midfield for years. As he sat back and absorbed the pressure while simultaneously marking Marek Hamšík out of the game. Arteta, as always, proved to be the emergency exit for the defensive back line and initiated attack after attack by spraying the ball all around the field. Rosicky, a bit rust after his comeback from injury, and Ramsey were deployed out of position on the flanks to pressurize Napoli’s wing play and keep the defenders on their toes with their constant runs into the box.

The defence were mere spectators in the first half. Goran Pandev, Lorenzo Insigne and Gokhan Inler struggled to create any sort of impact as Mertesacker and Koscielny had a relatively easy night. Napoli had only one shot on target, a very tame shot which was collected easily by Szczesny. The frustrated Italian team had to resort to shots from outside the box, none of which were on target.

It was one of those nights where everything clicked for the Gunners, with all eleven players having a good game. What is even more pleasing to see is that they accomplished this with players like Jack Wilshere on the bench (who came on as a substitute later on) and Santi Cazorla, Theo Walcott and Lukas Podolski out injured. The injured trio were responsible for scoring 49 goals last season. When they are back in the squad, it gives Arsène Wenger a big headache when it comes to team selection. But it will be a bittersweet feeling having so much quality on the bench to call upon.

But for now, Wenger can celebrate. His detractors have gone into hiding and Arsenal’s critics are being scoffed at (hello, Michael Owen). Bigger tests lie ahead for this cohesive group of footballers, and they’ll be happy to have a man like Wenger lead the charge. They wouldn’t have it any other way. Especially with Arsène Wenger’s name being chanted so vociferously from the terraces of Emirates Stadium once again.

Wengerball is here to stay.