Gooner Talk

Long-throw specialist Rory Delap continued his domination of Barclays Premier League defences, setting up both goals as Arsenal’s season took another turn towards crisis with a 2-1 defeat at Stoke.

The Gunners were out fought and out played by a Stoke side with a bucket load of confidence after their previous win against Sunderland in midweek.

Stoke Starting XI

Sorensen
Griffin – Faye – Shawcross – Higginbotham
Faye – Olofinjana – Diao – Delap
Fuller – Sidibe

Arsenal Starting XI

Almunia
Sagna – Toure – Silvestre – Clichy
Denilson – Fabregas – Song – Diaby
Adebayor – Bendtner

First Half

Tony Pulis began the afternoon by making the one change anticipated, but replaced Tom Soares not with Michael Tonge as most might have predicted, but with Amdy Faye in what amounted to an obvious and understandable defensive ploy.

Faye lined up in the central midfield slot occupied all season by Olofinjana who, in turn, was shipped out to the right to complete a physically formidable-looking foursome across the middle of the pitch.

Arsenal showed four changes to the side starting Wednesday’s astonishing 4-4 draw at home to Spurs after Arsene Wenger took out his anger on today’s team selection.

That meant the likes of van Persie, Walcott and Samir Nasri all beginning the day on a rather talented and expensive bench, while Kolo Toure was re-instated at centre half for Arsenal’s indisposed skipper William Gallas.

Arsenal worked overtime to dispel rumours of dressing room unrest – in the wake of that Tottenham fiasco – by cuddling and all but kissing one another before kick-off in a rather gaudy show of affection.

The Gunners soon settled serenely into their renowned passing game, but their early shooting was somewhat awry as Cesc Fabregas dragged a 20-yarder well wide to much acclaim from the Boothen End behind the Stoke goal.

Stoke’s first serious incursion came in the 11th minute when Fuller held off a strong challenge before feeding Mama Sidibe and finding his return pass into the area a little under-hit.

It mattered not a few seconds later, however, as Stoke were in front in trademark circumstances after Delap unwound a corker of a throw from the right to leave Toure isolated against Fuller just in front of goal.

The ball sailed an inch or two over the defender to leave Fuller glancing easily and unopposed into the far corner for his fifth goal of the campaign.

Goal: Ricardo Fuller (11) – Stoke City 1-0 Arsenal

The inevitable crescendo followed as the home support saluted a familiar goal in deafening fashion.

The visitors were soon enjoying their customary possession, but it lacked the kind of penetration their hosts nearly produced when Ryan Shawcross lofted down the right for Fuller to slip one inside for Amdy Faye to cross just beyond Delap towards the far post.

There was certainly no criticising the feisty manner with which City were approaching proceedings inside the first 20 against opponents looking distinctly un-nerved.

Danny Higginbotham delivered two swirling balls into the box, both won by Shawcross, and from the second the visiting keeper missed his punch to leave Delap heading towards a temporarily vacated goal, but too weakly to defeat Clichy on the Arsenal goal-line.

City were hunting in packs, very near, to suffocate any space the visitors were creating anywhere near the Stoke box as Pulis’s side gamely continued stifling Arsenal’s typically patient efforts.

And Shawcross maintained his highly-promising start by whipping the ball off Emmanuel Adebayor’s toes to concede a throw, but Stoke’s failure to truly clear their lines thereafter left the Arsenal striker dispossessing Amdy Faye before testing Thomas Sorensen low to his left from distance.

The second-loudest cheer of the afternoon thus far then greeted Abou Diaby’s horribly wayward drive from even further afield after Stoke were happy to let him take aim.

Andy Griffin epitomised Stoke’s confidence by trying to take on Diaby down the City right shortly afterwards to win a free-kick from which Delap over-egged his delivery.

Arsenal weren’t the only ones playing decent football and it required a sliding tackle from Fabregas to thwart Sidibe’s attempts to prolong a promising crossfield move by the home side.

Possibly Arsenal’s most menacing move of the day so far came just after the half-hour when defence transformed quickly into attack before Delap’s superbly-timed intervention left Fabregas spilling possession under pressure on his blindside.

Fabregas had recovered his senses by the time he featured a minute later, however, to drill a brilliant long ball that would have spelt problems for City had Nicklas Bendtner controlled better with his chest and not shown too much of the ball to Sorensen.

Arsenal’s frustration then left Bendtner baring down with possible ill intent on Griffin inside the Stoke half, but the home skipper showed great skill and composure to embarrass the Swiss striker and all but leave him on his backside.

There was no stopping Griffin as he then took off down the right flank a minute later before lunging rather too heartily for Arsenal’s liking to leave referee Rob Styles having a quiet word.

Play switched upfield for Denilson to provide his first real contribution by letting fly with an awkward effort from way out that Sorensen watched all the way into his gloves.

Trouble brewed when Diao limped off following treatment and after conceding a free-kick which Arsenal again failed to exploit as the ball was worked for Toure to skew well off target from far afield.

Play roamed one way and then the other shortly before the break as Arsenal again turned defence quickly into attack, only for the out-of-sorts Adebayor to drill over from just outside the area and with Sorensen covering all the way anyway.

A late Delap throw at the other end was cleared as far as Abdoulaye Faye to try his luck rather ambitiously from over 25 yards, but you could hardly blame him after twice scoring against Arsenal in the past.

Second Half

The second period opened with the Gunners forcing Sorensen to fist clear an early corner, while Abdoulaye Faye and then Shawcross both headed away left-wing crosses as the visitors started ominously.

Play remained concentrated in the Stoke half for the first five minutes, but that stranglehold was very nearly broken in telling circumstances when Amdy Faye’s chipped through ball was only fractionally too strong for Fuller as he wound up for what would have been a free run on goal.

And only the linesman’s flag for a marginal offside foiled Fuller 90 seconds later after being unleashed from just inside the opposition half by Olofinjana’s perfectly-weighted through-ball.

The sight of both Adebayor and Bacary Sagna grounded and crying for treatment evoked little sympathy with the home crowd as the referee, to his credit, was remaining uncharacteristically conservative with his whistle thus far this afternoon.

No-one was too surprised to see Walcott stripping for action and replacing Sagna before the hour was up to try to improve his side’s fortunes.

The referee remained remarkably sensible in his officiating after choosing to tick off rather than book Griffin for a robust, but fair challenge that left the linesman flagging for a foul.

Arsenal came their closest yet from a 60th-minute corner which Fabregas whipped towards the near post for Toure to sneak in and volley narrowly over.

Walcott’s first contribution was to veer an intended right-wing cross behind the goal on the overlap, but his presence was nevertheless an alarm call being heard loud and clear in the home ranks.

Walcott then inspired Stoke’s first booking when his would-be charge down the right channel was impeded by Higginbotham’s illegal presence.

Delap’s first throw of the second half – from roughly the spot inspiring Wednesday’s winner against Sunderland – caused similar havoc this time as the ball broke to just outside the area for Diao to drive low and see Manuel Almunia tip round the base of his right-hand post.

There was no denying the greater gunfire coming from the visitors this half, particularly with sub Robin van Persie now at their disposal, but Stoke continued to defend with a fascinating combination of brute force and the kind of nimble footwork Abdoulaye Faye produced in brilliantly dealing with one Arsena incursion.

But it was Stoke doubling their lead in ever-familiar fashion when Delap’s left-wing throw caused bodies to flounder all over the place inside a riotous Arsenal area.

Shawcross won the initial header as the ball glanced behind the big defender and then, bizarrely, twice hit the chest of the stooping Olofinjana to send the ball bobbling past the bamboozled Almunia.

Goal: Seyi Olofinjana (73) – Stoke City 2-0 Arsenal

And the contest then took another dramatic and unforeseen twist in Stoke’s favour when van Persie got himself sent off in quite ridiculous circumstances.

Sorensen had comfortably taken a chest down from the immaculate Griffin when the Dutch striker pounded in and quite blatantly barged into the Danish keeper to knock him clean off his feet.

Never has Rob Styles been so vociferously cheered by Stoke supporters as when he then reached for the inevitable and deserved red card to intensify Arsenal’s increasingly-desperate plight.

The decibels finally retreated towards more humane levels as the realisation of a shock victory really began sinking in with barely 10 minutes remaining.

Fabregas flashed a header comfortably wide and Walcott over-hit a right-wing corner as Stoke, with Griffin and Shawcross especially prominent, defended their two-goal advantage in relative comfort and reassuring decisiveness.

The tackles flew in to the very last as Stoke totally disconcerted their much-vaunted opposition at every opportunity to shepherd home

Delap could not complain about the booking he received in the first of four minutes of injury time after clipping Walcott’s ankle to leave the England star being stretchered off, but with his shoulder in a sling after presumably falling awkwardly.

The points weren’t in the bag just yet, though, as the free-kick from the Walcott foul was rolled short for Clichy to unleash a shot that took two deflections en route to beating Sorensen in the 93rd minute.

Goal: Gael Clichy (90+4) – Stoke City 2-1 Arsenal

No wonder the whistles then rang out from an anxious home crowd imploring the final bell.

This entry was posted on Saturday, November 1st, 2008 at 6:34 pm and is filed under Match Report. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.