Van Persie's the Man: Norwich Review

In form and on target again, Van Persie's the man right now for Arsenal. It was a nervy 2-1 victory over Norwich City today, but the important thing was that we came away with all three points. And yet again it was our captain, RVP, who was the one who led the charge and inspired the lads to victory this afternoon.

I can't say enough about him; Van Persie is world class and is surely right now one of, if not the best striker in Europe. I only worry what will happen should he get injured. He's becoming very much a Thierry Henry-like figure in the team right now. When the Invinvibles began to leave in the years following the unbeaten run Henry remained, became the captain and was of course always the top goalscorer. But after a while the whole team would rely on him to the point that they almost couldn't play without him. I worry that this might be beginning to happen with Van Persie.

For his second goal Alex Song had a great pass into Gervinho, but (luckily) passed to Robin, who put it away with aplomb. But It capped off what I noticed as a bit of a reliance on Van Persie. Maybe I'm just over-analysing it...after all, who wouldn't pass to the most in-form striker in Europe given the choice?

And thank goodness we have him. He was of course the man of the match for me, and he compensated for the poor defensive performance we put on. Sure, Mertesacker was at fault for the first goal, but his major mistake wasn't the only expression of a poor defense.

We were standing way too far off the Norwich players allowing them all the room in the world sometimes. Koscielny at right back did the best he could, but he looked uncomfortable. Andre Santos I liked; I like how attacking-minded he his and how he gets involved in the attack, but every once in a while it's required for a left-back to defend. Vermaelen was excellent, but he was the only highlight of an overall lacklustre defensive display. I only hope that we can somehow shore up the defense before the Manchester City tie in December. Playing the way we did today we'll get ripped apart by the excellent Man City attack.

Nevertheless the defensive problems are nothing new, and it didn't take too much away from the fact that the lads put in a determined performance today, showing a bit of grit despite the wastefulness at times in front of goal and the poor defending. Van Persie was excellent, our attacks cut through Norwich like butter, and we've got three more points than we did yesterday. It's just one more step towards the top four, and it's now five wins  in a row.

So fantastic win today really. Sure, there are things to be improved again, but I'll take the three points. Two months ago we probably would've dropped points here today, but now the squad seem much more determined and able to mount a challenge for the top few places in the league.

Now it's time to turn our sights to Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday. Till then,

Fab 4