Tag Archives: Yaya Sanogo

Chamakh and Sanogo, er, mostly Chamakh, lead the line…

Chamakh. Sanogo. Two one-time Gunners, two towering presences along the front line. One brings the hair; t’other, the chaos. Together, they could terrorize the Arsenal defense, and—oh. Sanogo can’t play against Arsenal? More’s the pity. Then again, he’s hardly found time on the pitch, begging certain questions about the purpose of the loan. More to the point, though, Palace’s attack hardly depended on ol’ Yaya in the first place (or Chamakh, for that matter). So who are we up against?

Under new manager Alan Pardew, Palace have made some strong improvements to a squad that was flirting with relegation. Having taken 10 points from 15, they’ve climbed to 13^th on the table, still just five points from the drop-zone but enough to draw level with last season’s high-flying Everton side. The Eagles will be boosted by the potential return from Asian Cup duty of Mile Jedinak, who, alongside Jason Puncheon, could make life difficult for us. What they each might lack for pace they make up for in physicality, and we’ll have to keep an eye on the disruptions they can cause. Waiting in the wings to pounce on second-balls will be the pacier Frazier Campbell and Wilfried Zaha. At the other end, new signing Papa Soaré could debut at left-back in a defensive unit that has tightened up consirably in recent weeks. Their 4-4-1-1 formation will dare us to break them down while threatening to counter with clearances ahead to Chamakh and from him ahead to Campbell, Puncheon, or Zaha.

At our end, there’s a temptation to look past this one to the Wednesday clash with AS Monaco, but a chance to climb to third in the Prem should not be overlooked. Should Soaré debut, this could induce a bit of drool from Walcott, wh0 might fancy his chances against someone unaccustomed to that kind of pace. With Cazorla doing well from a more-withdrawn role, Özil should return to the centre of the pitch in order to pull the strings and send the through-balls. The first time we saw Walcott, Özil, and Alexis together, against Leicester, it didn’t quite click, whether that was due to first-time jitters, Alexis’s lingering injury, or other factors. This time through, though, it’s hard to resist the sensation that the trio will show us at least a glimpse of what’s possible when that combination of pace, vision, and drive come together. When just one of them is in form, he’s difficult to stop. Add a second one to the mix, and few squads can stop them. All three? Let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet…

LAST 3:

Arsenal 2-1 Palace (16.08.2014)

Arsenal 2-0 Palace (02.02.2014)

Crystal Palace 0-2 Arsenal (26.10.2013)

FACTFILE:

Arsenal have scored at least two goals in 9 of our last 11 Prem matches.

Arsenal have not lost away to Crystal Palace since 10 November 1979—a string of eleven matches.

The two clubs first clashed on 1 November 1969, a 1-5 win for Arsenal.

INJURIES:

Arteta, Diaby, Debuchy, and Oxlade-Chamberlain are still out, and Ramsey faces a late fitness test. Wilshere may make the bench for the first time since his injury back in November.

POSSIBLE STARTING XI:

Ospina; Monreal, Gabriel, Mertesacker, Bellerin; Coquelin, Cazorla; Alexis, Özil, Walcott; Giroud.

PREDICTION:
Despite the improved form Palace have shown under Pardew, Arsenal will want this one far-more than the Eagles do.

SCORELINE:
Palace 1-3 Arsenal

Full disclosure: this match preview first appeared at Goonersphere.

Nuts to Costa, Suarez, or Messi. We have Yaya.

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Pick up the prayer-books. The fat lady has sung. The case closed. We can put this one to bed. And so on. In little more than 24 minutees, Yaya Sanogo has put to an emphatic end any debate over who will be the Prem’s top striker. Heck, at the rate he’s set, he’ll be Europe’s top striker. There is simply no way to overstate or exaggerate the lad’s quality or potential after that display against Benfica; plain and simple, the only conclusion to be drawn is that it proves once and for all that our striker-needs have been filled, and the only real question is how many league goals will Sanogo get. Thirty seems modest. Forty feels a minimum. Fifty? Perhaps more of a dare.

Let’s stop there. What we saw was a jaw-dropping spectacle, no doubt, but it’s not one from which we can draw many conclusions. It seemed at times as if Benfica were literally outmanned. Each goal—four from Sanogo plus one more from Campbell—offered thrilling glimpses of what could be if our youthful, callow players make good on our hopes for them (include Bellerin and Chambers for good measure…).
Stealing the headlines, of course, was Sanogo, but in the long run, it’s anyone’s guess who among them will emerge as a star.

Sanogo opened his account with a goal in the 26th minute that looked at first like a parody of scoring a goal, bundling home a pass from Ramsey that found him just about four yards from goal. It looked clumsy and ungainly, and it seemed to mock Sanogo more than glorify him. A closer look reveals that he did put a decent touch on the ball, flicking it in rather cleverly and then getting tripped by the keeper.
Campbell’s goal in the 40th minute offered much more of the highlight-worthy quality one might hope for, as Bellerin picked him out with a brilliant cross, one that Campbell volleyed home sharply from just inside the 18, skipping it back across and in, making up for a few sitters he would miss in an otherwise clever performance. However, it was all Sanogo from there. In the 45th minute, he found himself absolutely wide open at the top of the six to slot home from Campbell, a classic poacher’s goal as he skulked around, flirting with being offsides, waiting for the ball to find him. Whether this counts as positional awareness or cherry-picking remains to be seen…

It seems that only halftime could stop Sanogo at this point, for when play resumed, he almost immediately resumed scoring. His hat-trick actually required some work. In the 46th minute, Campbell’s cross in from the left forced Sanogo to run through two defenders, fend one off to get to the ball, control it with his first touch, and then, as he fell away from the ball, flick it past the charging keeper. It was a nice bit of work, almost-graceful. Of course, “almost” ends up the more-operative part of the phrase as Sanogo tripped himself and fell to his knees as he went over to celebrate with fans. Perhaps this was a message from the universe to mind his manners…

For his last goal, the coup de grace, he again poached, finishing off a rebound the keeper spilled from a decent shot in the 49th minute. By then, the hype-train was full and departing the station. It was a scintillating performance, one for the record books (he is now the Emirates Cup’s all-time leading scorer, for one). However, this may prove to be more flash-in-the-pan than coming-out party. I’d love to be wrong on that of course, as I do worry that it gives Arsène a bit more ammo to support the idea that we don’t need another striker. Sanogo’s eruption may have outshined some of his other, more-subtle contributions such as his passing and hold-up play, but it also masked some of his notable deficiencies. If his performance gave him confidence going forward, good. If it opens the flood-gates on his scoring abilities, grand.

I feel a bit churlish taking this position, as if we should simply bask in the glow of the performance. With that, I’ll stop before I act too much like a wet-blanket. It was glorious and giddy, and I’ll admit to squealing and leaping around foolishly with each goal. May there be many more to come!

Arsenal 5-1 Benfica Video Highlights: Sanogo did what?

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The scoreline flatters us a bit on the defensive end, as Benfica threatened frequently but could only capitalize once, denying Damian Martinez a clean sheet. Then again, we could have bagged a few more of our own but for some all-too-familiar misses. The game turned into the Yaya Sanogo show as the man not only opened his Arsenal account in the 26th minute but added three more goals, with Joel Campbell also getting his first Arsenal goal for good measure. This one was well and truly over by halftime when the scoreline was 3-0. Still, the final gives us a strong edge going into tomorrow’s match against Monaco. Three points for the win, plus five points for the goals, means we have eight points to three each for Monaco and Valencia, who tied 2-2 earlier in the day. We’ll take a closer look at things later. For now, sit back, relax, and enjoy the highlights!

If technical difficulties with the video do arise, I’ll see what I can do.

Calming ourselves on Campbell: not quite the conqueror we crave…

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Costa Rica are through to the quarterfinals, the first time ever in the country’s history, and have become darlings of the tournament. With a gutsy, gritty performance that saw them hold off Greece for sixty minutes despite being a man down, suffering a heart-breaking equalizer late in regulation, the Ticos recovered well enough to get to penalties and win, converting all five while keeper Keylor Navas saved Greece’s fourth attempt to clear the way for victory. For as thrilling a victory this is to Costa Ricans, I hope it’s not too churlish of me to suggest that, for Gooners, the takeaway is a bit less awe-inducing. I speak of course of Joel Campbell, who has come down to Earth a bit after opening the World Cup with a bang. This is not to say we should turn our backs on bringing him back, just that we should temper expectations around what he could do.

After his star-turn against Uruguay, the one in which he turned in a goal and an assist while earning MotM honors, he’s slowed a bit, turning in solid but but spectacular performances against Italy, England, and Greece. Part of this may reflect the increased defensive intensity of Italy and England compared to Uruguay, and his performance against Greece certainly reflects the increased pressure of being isolated as Costa Rica played a man down for so long. However, even with those factors in mind, it’s hard to say that Campbell has dazzled, not well enough at least to show that he offers the upgrade at striker that we seek. At best, he’d offer a valuable alternative, perhaps as an impact sub, if we’re chasing a goal. Then again, we’ve seen Sanogo play that role tolerably well.

Still, he does offer something that has been missing from our strikers in recent years: pace. Whereas watching Giroud or Sanogo lumber around has felt at times like rooting for a pregnant turtle to get up a hill, Campbell looks like he could match Ox or Walcott stride for stride. Seeing Campbell blaze past defenders has been one of the more thrilling elements of his game, even if it frequently isolated him from his teammates. Costa Rica’s 5-4-1 asks Campbell to do a lot of work on his own, holding up the ball until teammates can get forward, but he also seems more than happy to see how far up the pitch he can get. Sometimes, this can backfire, as it seemed to do against Greece when Duarte’s second yellow forced Costa Rica to play a man down for 30 minutes of regulation plus 30 of overtime. Still, discretion is the better part of valor, yet Campbell’s seven times dispossessed and eight turnovers suggest a player a bit too eager to get forward rather than wait for support. He’d be unlikely to outrun our midfield to the same extent, but there’s still a brashness there that feels reckless when defending a lead rather than chasing a goal.

Without dwelling too much on that one match, let’s remember that Campbell’s ascendancy has been the result of one other match, the one against Uruguay, and he’s otherwise been good but hardly remarkable. He had a decent season in Greece’s Super League, it’s true, but the hype that has grown around Campbell since the World Cup seems to forget or ignore that body of evidence while accentuating his performance against Uruguay. Like many players his age, he may be capable of occasionally incredible feats. However, he’s probably a year or more away from delivering those on a more-regular basis, often enough to elevate the ambitions of a club like Arsenal. Olympiakos ran away from the Super League, but Campbell wasn’t even its top-scorer. He’d be a nifty addition to the squad, sure, but he’s unlikely to compete with, supplant, or offer an upgrade on options we already have.

For that, we’ll likely have to dig into the transfer-kitty and actually use some of it, bidding for the likes of Benzema, Balotelli, or Sánchez. I think we all know Arsène well enough to be wary of pinning too many hopes on that. Still, with 1 July coming up, it’s possible we could see a signing or two holding up those new Puma-designed kits. I just hope Campbell isn’t the only one…

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