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Arsène predicted that it would take about ten games but I disagree. If you fall in love with the place instantly, as many of us have, you get an instant buzz, a huge and instant sense of pride and an immediate expectation of good things to come. Ashburton Grove is awesome and it already feels like it's ours, it needs a bit more doing to it but the ‘Arsenalisation' of our new home had progressed since Bergkamp's testimonial. Granted it will probably also lift the opposition to play in such a stunning stadium but how good must it feel to step out onto that pitch in a home shirt?
Stepping out on the pitch today was a predictable Arsenal's team, given the absence of two cerebrally-challenged, want-away Chavacticos and a load of injuries, so the team pretty well picked itself. Injury-wise we had Senderos, Clichy, Diaby, Rosicky, and Lauren all missing. Reyes had an alleged groin strain but I'll refrain from any comments about him being a wanker. So we had Hleb on the right and a rushed back from injury Freddie on the left in the starting eleven, with Justin Hoyte taking up the left back mantle.
Villa kicked off but Arsenal attacked from the start and Villa countered mainly through Agbonlahor who certainly had pace. Eboue had an angled shot well saved and Adebayor came close with a header that went for another corner. We looked pretty cool, calm and collected; we dominated the play but didn't threaten their goal too much. Cesc showed his class, Gilberto covered well but conceded possession a couple of times and Freddie was lively. Angel chipped wide from an offside position and then had a shot that went miles over.
McCann is still the filthy git he was in previous seasons and racked up more free kicks than anyone else on the pitch; Poll however was obviously unable to count them. After about twenty minutes Villa had eleven men behind the ball and that's pretty well how it stayed for the rest of the match. We were winning a lot of corners but not carving the openings. Henry went close from a brilliant through ball but the flag was up. Gilberto had a shot deflected for our fifth corner. A twenty-pass move from Arsenal lacked the killer ball and when Poll tripped over Cesc it lacked the desired serious injury. Henry turned his man and shot over. Freddie had a decent shot from range that Sorensen had to parry before collecting.
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The second half was all Arsenal and the corners continued to come following an endless stream of Arsenal pressure. Eboue was injured and an obvious handball was missed in the same move. Cesc went down on the edge of their box as we kept on pressing. Then against the run of play Barry won their first corner and Mellberg scored from it with a header by beating two markers to the ball. Jens had come to meet it but failed to get to it with an attempted punch. 0-1 Villa totally against the run of play.
Gilberto had a limp shot. McCann left his foot in yet again as the Villa fans found their voice. Adebayor in one attacking skirmish managed to round the keeper but it was taken off his foot for a corner. There were no end of times when you thought we must score, but didn't. There were also no end of times when you thought for feck's sake shoot and we didn't. It was always one pass too many in or around an overcrowded box. When Villa cleared there was no-one forward. We continued to win corners and Eboue had an angled shot saved. Our right back probably had more shots than anyone else in red and white!
With 25 minutes to go Van Persie replaced Adebayor as Villa hung on with eleven men back. McCann (again) fouled Freddie and Henry fired the free kick over. McCann (yet again) fouled Freddie and there was still no card for the filthy git but Kolo was deservedly carded for a foul on Angle that was no worse than any of McCann's. Villa defended, Villa wasted time. Kolo went on a charge but Eboue's cross was poor. With 17 minutes to go Walcott replaced a tiring Freddie. There was a fine Gilberto saving tackle and a decent run from Walcott who showed his fantastic pace. Eboue had an angle shot saved and his follow up shot unluckily crashed against the bar. A big handball shout was ignored. McCann cleared off the line, it was all Arsenal, but all too often there were four more passes instead of the one shot that was needed. Not every goal has to be a perfect one.
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Hendrie's first foul won him a yellow card, which was a joke given the foul count racked up by the animal McCann, but then Poll is a joke. Another Gilberto shot. Angel fouled Cesc and should have been carded, but he didn't get his yellow until he kicked the ball away ‘You only need two more'. A Henry cross went close. Time wasting substitutions and a dive by Djemba-Djemba followed.
Four minutes added time and still we passed the ball and the buck instead of shooting. Henry tried one but shot wide, Villa kept men back, the Gooners' frustration increased and we'd blown two points in our opening game at Ashburton. Our domination was pretty well total as a 20-1 corner count would confirm, but you can't win a raffle if you don't buy a ticket and you can't score goals if you don't shoot. The Arsenal fans in 60,023 crowd had seen some decent play, some tedious defending but ultimately they went home frustrated by the lack of shots on goal.
One more thought. I can't help thinking that Carlsberg missed a great opportunity at Ashburton, as we now have possibly the best stadium in the world.