Arsenal Comeback Hams
In League play, Arsenal have conceded the first goal just 12 times this season.
Their record in those matches is 2-4-6.
Both wins were against West Ham.
Both wins were 3-1.
Podolski has 6 League goals this season.
3 of those goals have come in these two fixtures.
In all competitions, Podolski has 10 goals for Arsenal this season on 34 shots, that’s a goal every 3.4 shots but he only averages 1.7 shots per game.
Yaya Toure has scored a goal every 2.9 shots this season, though he has 10 goals from penalties (6) and free kicks (4).
100% chance that you’ll hear that Podolski is a “clinical finisher” today.
Ramsey to Ramsey
Aaron Ramsey went off injured in the Boxing Day away match against the Hammers.
Before Ramsey was injured Arsenal’s record was 12-3-3.
After Ramsey was injured Arsenal’s record was 8-4-4.
Ramsey only played 20 minutes today but he created 2 shots for his teammates, got an assist, took 2 shots for himself, and even had a tackle (high up the pitch as well). He only misplaced two passes today, both were probing passes in to forwards.
Ramsey got his first assist in almost 4 months today!
Giroud converting in Prime positions
As Arsenal Column pointed out, Olivier Giroud has converted just 18% of his shots from prime positions. Colin Trainor and I count prime positions differently and using my much narrower definition of prime as just including the 6 yard box and a narrow strip up to the penalty spot, Giroud has converted 8 goals in 36 chances. That’s a 22% conversion rate and a slight bump up from the 18% mentioned in Arsenal Column’s piece. By my count, Arsenal’s overall conversion rate from prime positions is almost 28%.
Giroud scored today and it was a stunning goal of eye-watering beauty. He only took 4 shots and 3 were in prime positions. Yet there is a sense that perhaps Giroud could and should be finishing better. That sense is born out of watching him miss a big chance again today one-on-one with the keeper he tried a little flick instead of just shooting at the goal and Adrian was able to save. In fact Giroud has missed more of those big chances than any other forward this season, 16 of them by my count. He missed 19 of them last season as well and was rather quietly critiqued by several stats bloggers and in the papers for his poor finishing from good positions.
It remains to be seen if Giroud can turn this around and start finishing those good chances in front of goal. Maybe he’ll be like Ramsey and once he starts scoring he’ll just never stop? Or maybe we will all just accept Giroud for what he is and move on?
Cazorla Man of the Match (Plus some Kallstrom stats)
Cazorla led Arsenal in passes in the final 1/3 with 27/31.
He led Arsenal with 3 key passes.
He created a goal for Podolski.
He led Arsenal with 3/4 dribbles (tied with Demel and Diame with 3 successful dribbles).
He led Arsenal with 2/3 through balls.
He was 2/2 in tackles, both covering for forwards on both sides of the pitch.
He had 2 interceptions.
Kallstrom led Arsenal in passes 70/84 (tied with Arteta 70/75)
He had 9 ball recoveries, second best on Arsenal
He led Arsenal with 5/7 tackles.
He also led Arsenal with 3 fouls (same as Koscielny).
Box Score
@7amkickoff
To come from behind and win is exactly what we need for the final run of the season
C’mon u Gunners!
That’s what she said 😀
Our midfield until today was simply the calm before the Kallstrom
Cazorla, the little magician!!!
Giroud > Henry
psych
Podolski is the west ham killer, Anyone got any stats?
He has 26 goals for Arsenal.
5 of those goals have been scored in 9 Champions League apps
4 goals in five FA Cup apps
17 of those goals came in 49 Premier League matches
In those 49 matches he has only scored 2 goals against top 6 teams.
12 of his 17 goals were scored in home matches
In fact, 18 of his 26 goals have been scored in home games.
He’s only scored in 6 of his 30 away appearances.
He has scored in 15 of his 34 home appearances
Cazorla played like a man who meant everything in his recent nterview. 10/10
I think Giroud deserves credit not only for his very well taken goal, but also for the way he closed down the spammer player in the corner in the build up to Podolski’s first.
Despite the ‘sitter’ that he missed, I thought he had a good game.
It was also a good pass to Ramsey for the third.
Hehe, We got to see both sides of Giroud today from the OH MY GOD YOU USELESS EXCUSE FOR A STRIKER! MY FUCKING GRANDMOTHER COULD HAVE SCORED THAT CHANCE! Till the OH MY GOD! GIROOOOOUD YOU LEGEND! WHAT A STUNNING GOAL! HOLY SHIT!
Lets hope for more of the latter in the closing stages of this season. COYG!
1 – Podolski broken finger that didn’t matter….
HEHEHE!
any idea how many times TR7 gave the ball away today? I’m just back from the stadium and would love to know.He looked dead on his feet to me today….please?
not having a go by the way, just glad ramsey is back and Thomas can have a couple of games off.
1 game Kallstrom has played, knee jerk reactions everywhere probably the same lot who after one goal and missing a couple other sitters, Giroud will fire us to title next season! Have a seat first.
Both wins against West Ham this season AND the last season were comeback wins. They scored first in all four games, we won them all 3-1, 5-1, 3-1, 3-1. Interesting.
One does sometimes suspect theres a script..
Podolski scored in 3 of those matches as well!
Wow Andrew, two days ago calling podolski “average,” and now he pulls this performance and shows the club why he has such an stellar international goal talley.
Bruce will be waiting and tell his players to keep tight to the gunners.
% cup finals left. If the gunners keep the tempo,4th could be reached.
I expect Everton to lose/draw from now on. They have been on a roll lately
and it’s about time thye experienced some setback. What I fear is the goal
difference and other std of measure.
The gunners will lose compared to Everton who have a better record against
top 3.
They lost to Pulis’ Pal-arse. That makes top 4 slightly easier. Hopefully since they lost to a team with Chamakh they will go into an endless spiral of losses.
You missed one stat:
– Sam Allardyce led all players with fat-mouthed cuntiness, trying to get Kallstrom sent off.
Yeah! What was that? Silly!
“Ey Ref! That’s a fuckin red! Ref! Ey Aurrggg!”
Is it just me or is it pure joy watching Ramsey control the ball? I was so happy just to see him run with it again. What he did with it once he had it was just a nice bonus.
5 more cup finals we have to play. 5 of those we will win.
We should accept Giroud for what he is: an occasionally very good, occasionally frustrating striker who would be an excellent No.2 for the club. He feasts on smaller teams and, despite fluffing chances, fits right in when not totally knackered. All the stick he gets is ridiculous. Not his fault he’s not Suarez, has no reliable backup, has been totally overworked this season, etc.
Poldi, Poldi, Poldi
That sledgehammer left could knock the ‘breasts’ off of your ugly sister.
Random question, totally off topic from the article but I didn’t know where else to ask. I was 4 in 1989 and I have to admit I know very little about the tragedy that befell Liverpool fans. I understand that 96 people lost their lives in a terrible accident. Was there a cover up? Or a misallocation of blame? I’m not at all trying to be disrespectful, just honestly trying to understand the entire situation.
Yes to cover-up and yes to subsequent misallocation of blame. The Sun in particular were guilty of trying to get people to believe the 96 had died because of their own fault.
The Wikipedia article on Hillsborough is actually pretty thorough, and tragic though it is, it makes for interesting reading. Scandalous behaviour by the press and police.
There is a documentary on the tragedy which tells the whole story. It’s on NBC’s 30 for 30 and will surely be repeated.
Not to be that guy, but ESPN does 30 for 30. Bet that doc will be on a lot on the channels, plus On Demand.
They’re just milking it at this stage.
The wikipedia article has a lot of good information too
Our Ramsey is some player isn’t he…those stats are amazing for a 20 minute cameo. Especially after nearly 4 months out!
Great win last night I thought, with some really good performances from a number of players that have come in for some stick of late. I think the problem in recent weeks has been one caused by the system and preferred style of play being fractured by injuries to too many key players. This has made players like Giroud and Arteta not being able to perform in their preferred roles, and has put undue pressure on them to almost fulfil the role of other, different players. Really hope that Everton drop points tonight, what bothers me when I think about… Read more »
Kim kallstrom. Put in a good shift today, converted a penalty in the FA cup semi. Could be the difference between ending the season with a trophy and 4th place or Europa league and a decade without.
LANS
I think we like to play abit of mind games with west ham… i mean the last 4 games against them, they scored first and then we score and then they get thrashed and pod scores 1 or 2 goals against weird and cool 🙂 !COYG!
The gunners played exactly what was expected of them last nite. I just hope they continue to make us happy and give us back that bragging right. Still hoping
for a favourable finish.
Talent is simply awe-inspiring. And Ramsey has it in loads.
For the 3rd goal, Giroud pssed to Ramsey because Ramsey got into a good position, raised his two hands and DEMANDED for the ball.
He already knew what to do and the head cushion to weigh the ball to sit perfectly for Podolski’s LEFT leg while fast enough to beat 4 surrounding defendersimply BLOWS my mind.
We missed you, son.
Does Lukas Podolski’s performance last night feel a bit like the Arsenal win over Wigan? I want to celebrate because it was a good performance, but I am frustrated as hell he hasn’t played like that all season!
Poldi looked like a man that was playing pissed off and that was great. I really don’t know why we can’t play him as a striker. He is a clinical finisher.
Why can’t Podolski be a striker?
I am going to cheer on Crystal Palace. Chamakh for a brace – what are the odds?
5 finals…5 wins..COyG