Both sides had a pre-season mainly affected by off-field matters. Barcelona’s chase of Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri’s desire for a Man City move has been Arsene Wenger‘s main concern, while Jose Enrique and Joey Barton’s use of social media to criticise Newcastle cast a long, cold shadow over Alan Pardew’s summer.
It was perhaps no surprise, then, that the one main talking point in a dour, goalless game was cloaked in controversy. With three of the aforementioned players uninvolved in yesterday evening‘s fixture, it was left to Barton to feature prominently in the proceedings, and he did not fail to deliver. Grabbing Gervinho from the ground then wildly overreacting to a slap from the Arsenal debutant, Barton’s role in the Ivorian’s dismissal will no doubt see him grab the headlines once again.
Player Report
A look at the stats of each defence highlights just what type of game this was. Centre halves Steven Taylor (7.6) and Laurent Koscielny (7.7) were the top-rated player from each side. The lowest rating from the home side’s back-four was 6.9, while Arsenal’s was 6.8. Compare this to each team’s two most attacking players- Demba Ba and Shola Ameobi averaged 6.1 and 5.8 respectively, while Robin Van Persie and Gervinho had a WhoScored.com rating of 6.1 and 5.7.
Laurent Koscielny (Man of the Match) was the stand-out performer in yesterday’s game. The Arsenal centre-half made 3 tackles, 4 interceptions and 7 clearances (with 6 effective) over the ninety minutes. His consistency right across all areas of stats helped him clinch Man of the Match- Koscielny had 1 shot and made 1 key pass for the Gunners. He also won 3 aerial duels and with a pass accuracy of 85%, earned a match rating of 7.74.
Yohan Cabaye (Best Tackler)put in a determined shift in his Newcastle debut. The summer signing from Lille made an incredible 7 tackles, three more than central midfield team mate Cheik Tiote and two more than Arsenal’s Alex Song. Cabaye, however, made no other defensive impact- he had zero interceptions or clearances, though also managed 1 shot and 1 successful dribble on his way to a WhoScored.com rating of 6.92.
Gervinho’s (Best Dribbler) trickery on the ball troubled Newcastle plenty. Starting on the right of Arsenal’s 4-2-3-1, he made 4 of his side’s 14 successful dribbles- the most of any player on the pitch and fired in 5 crosses for the visitors- joint-top for the game. Gervinho also made 1 key pass and was fouled on 2 occasions but the 76th minute red card in the fracas with Joey Barton saw his match rating drop to 5.68 as a result of his ill-discipline.
Thomas Rosicky (Best Passer) saw little game time last season, but injuries and the absence of others gave him a rare chance to excel. Playing alongside Alex Song in front of the Gunners’ back-four, Rosicky made a total of 72 passes, the most of any player - Aaron Ramsey was next best with 67. He made 1 key pass and managed a fantastic 89% pass accuracy, rarely giving the ball away. In possession, Rosicky also made 2 crosses and played 5 long balls, and recorded 3 successful dribbles, second only to Gervinho.
Robin Van Persie (Flop) was mostly anonymous. Eighteen goals in his final 17 games of 2010/11, three goals in pre-season, much was expected of him at St James’ Park- the Dutchman had bagged a double in this fixture last term. The Dutchman had 2 shots but failed to hit the target with either and was lowest of any Arsenal outfield player for touches (44) and passes (24). He lost possession a total of 5 times and although Van Persie made 5 crosses, none were successful, as he picked up a lowly 6.07 for his endeavours.
Player Positions
Though Gervinho (27) and Arshavin (23) were the Gunners two wide men, their central position here is due to the pair swapping flanks on occasion. Nevertheless, it’s pretty clear just how much more attacking threat Gervinho offers the Gunners. What’s intriguing here, though, is the position of Van Persie (10)- does Gervinho’s tendency to forage forward come at the expense of Van Persie’s attacking threat? The Dutchman is rarely as ineffective as he was yesterday, and dropped as deep as Rosicky (7), with Gervinho the furthest forward of any Arsenal player on many occasions.
Newcastle’s wide midfielder, Barton (7) and Jonas Gutierrez (18) were, on average, stationed on the half way line. It’s the same as Arsenal’s full-backs Bacary Sagna (3) and Kieran Gibs (28) and an indication of how much control Arsenal had of the match. Their front two, Demba Ba (19) and Shola Ameobi (23) are too similar in type and Ba is wasted playing the deeper of the two- it’s no surprise Alan Pardew has hinted at a 4-2-3-1 with Hatim Ben Arfa -when fit- likely to play behind a lone front man.
Attack Zones
With Gervinho stationed from a wide right starting position, it’s no surprise to see 38% of Arsenal’s attacks coming from the right flank. Gervinho and Sagna made 8 crosses between them, Arshavin and Gibbs 6, with 32% of attacks from left and 30% through the middle.
The average position of Sagna (above) may explain why Newcastle had more attacks down the left (35%). He was stationed wider than Gibbs on the opposite flank, and as Gutierrez tucked in more central, Newcastle had more success there than through the middle (31%) or right (33%).
Pass Types
Arsenal’s control of the match is shown by their 63% possession. Wenger’s side made 590 passes to Newcastle’s 360 and made more crosses, 22 to 20. What comes as a surprise is the number of long ball played- the Gunners edged this too, 57 to 55. Arsenal’s 500 short passes to their hosts’ 280 explains the superior pass accuracy, 84% compared to that of 70% from Pardew’s team.
Attempt Types
It was a game of little goalmouth action- in spite of their dominance, Arsenal had just 7 shots and Newcastle 6. Six of the visitors attempts came from open play and 1 from a set-piece. In comparison, Newcastle had 5 from open play and 1 from a set-piece. Only three shots were on target all game; Arsenal edging it 2 to 1.
Card Situations
The referees notebook saw plenty names last night- 8 yellows and 1 red, to be exact. Arsenal made 11 fouls over the course of the game but still picked up 5 cautions (Szczesny, Gibbs, Vermaelan, Rosicky and Song) with Song lucky not to be sent off for a clear stamp on Barton. Newcastle made a total of 10 fouls and 3 players -Barton, Tiote and Colocinni- all receiving yellows.
