Watching the El Classico taught me two things: one, that the Arsenal curse is still going strong, ruining the careers of players who dare to leave the club without the consent of Ser Wenger, much like the fate of brothers of the black who dare to leave the night's watch after taking the oath (Mandatory song of ice and fire reference). Two, that I can write this edition of Why this goalaveri di with a conscience clearer than last time, for RVP's volley remains the goal of the week (unlike Song's dribble and cross effort which appeared quite unimpressive after I saw Messi's throughball through the pupil of the retina of the eye of the tiniest needle in the haystack that was made while the sun was shining) despite the four goals in el classico; a game where Valdez's fail, Sanchez's cannot get boringer goal, Xavi's Lampardesque deflection and the accursed Fabregas's header (yes, airborne porcine is a possibility now) provided the goals.
Watching Arsenal-Everton at the stadium taught me two things as well. I seem to be learning things about the world two at a time. One, when teams come and park their fleet of newly purchased buses, lorries, trailers and assorted long vehicles Arsenal suffer. All their passing comes to nought, the midfield without a certain Cesc Fabregas quickly becomes bereft of ideas especially so when Walcott's pace is nullified by a equally pacy/experienced fullback and they struggle to find any penetration. Only two things (that number again) can rescue the team at this stage. One point one, some luck, a fluke, a favour from lady luck (not that kind of favour). Or one point two, a get me out of jail free card. Two, that card is Robin Van Persie. <end of serial number tree>
Barcelona had Messi last night to do that for them. We had RVP. Everton forgot to leave the coach they took from Merseyside to London outside the Emirates and brought it onto the field parallel parking it in front of the goal. Arsenal's early forays came from the pace of Walcott who once or twice caught Baines a bit slow footed and delivered good final balls into the danger area. But poor finishing meant Arsenal were 0-0 at halftime despite many decent chances. This gave Everton a chance to consolidate and park their buses even harder and they brought on a coach sized centreback to replace their striker. Arsenal huffed and puffed but there was no end product. And that's when RVP decided to make it to this edition of WTGD.
The goal was simple and just class. Song collected the ball, looked up, saw RVP's run and lobbed the ball over Everton's defence onto the magic left foot of RVP who slotted it past Tim Howard effortlessly. Watching the replays you realise how incredibly wonderful the volley was! It was just brilliant. RVP's shot so perfectly meeting the ball in mid-air, sweetly propelling it onto a physics defying trajectory curving away from the goalkeeper till the very last before nestling in the far corner of the goal. That left foot of his needs to be embalmed with spices, covered in white strips of cloth and placed in a left foot shaped pyramid and preserved for eternity. With a dead cat too perhaps.
Song has become some sort of a poor man's poorer cousin's impecunious child's leper friend's penniless Xavi. With the ball at this feet, Song is constantly looking for space, often trying to slide the ball in neat straight lines between rows of defenders with the right weight to beat the defender but not so much as to take it away from a red and white shirt. Needless to say, this throughball putting meets with utter failure 7 times out of 10 (hence the long poverty chain) but when it works it works very well. Before yesterday's perfectly floated ball he did put a perfect pass beating three defenders onto the path of a rushing Walcott a couple of games back. This attempt to pass more penetratingly is a good addition to his game. With Ramsey and Arteta not having the natural talent to match the now cursed Cesc, any help in the creative department from Song is a welcome bonus and he seems to be doing that rather well without compromising his defensive duties. As a person who was recently shown how to spot dark clouds when silver linings shine strongly, I can only mutter to myself that Song along with RVP is one of the players who hasn't signed a contract extension and has only one year to go at the end of next season. Mutter mutter.
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