Arsenal 6-0 Blackpool: Theo Walcott Inspires Arsenal To Wonderful Win

Good morning, I said yesterday that I thought talk of Arsenal thrashing Blackpool would turn out to be incorrect.

Instead I was the one who was proved wrong, but I can't remember too many occasions when I've been happier to be wrong. Arsenal dominated the game from start to finish, with Theo Walcott terrorising the Blackpool defense, finishing with a hat trick—and he might have had more.

It was a great day all around.

The opening ceremony for the re-christened North Bank and Clock End was well done. It's nice to see Arsenal making such an effort to make Ashburton Grove feel like home.

In addition to the new stand names, the decorations have been added to the stadium concourses throughout the summer, and you can't turn around in there without seeing some sign of the club's long and proud history.

I think it's a job well done, and no matter what you may think of this "Arsenalisation" process, whether you like it or think it's a bit contrived, there's no disputing that the work is an improvement on the character-less concrete bowl that the stadium was before.

So onto the game then, and it's fair to say it was a demolition.

Arsenal dominated from the first minute to the last. Blackpool tried to keep up but as Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger said post-match, his team was just too quick and too sharp for them.

The first goal came about from a wonderful flowing move, of the kind Arsenal are renowned for, the ball ended up with Theo Walcott for a calm first-time finish past the goalkeeper. It was a just reward for an opening passage of play in which Arsenal had seized control.

For all that control though, Blackpool had a chance to tie it early. A cross into the area somehow found a Blackpool head with Gael Clichy thoroughly beaten to the ball, the resulting attempt really should have found the net, but Arsenal was let off the hook when the ball went wide.

It proved to be Blackpool's last meaningful threat.

Shortly afterwards it was 2-0 to Arsenal, following the decisive moment of the game.

With Maroune Chamakh, who had already missed one opportunity, the Blackpool centre-half challenged him with in a desperate tackle, bringing him down. The referee judged the foul to have been inside the penalty area and awarded the spot kick, and having done that was left no option but to send the Blackpool defender off.

My reaction at the time was that it was definitely a foul, definitely a penalty and definitely a red card.

With the benefit of having watched a TV replay, I still think it was a foul and a red card, though there is a good case for saying it was outside the penalty area.

Blackpool manager Ian Holloway said afterwards that the decision had ruined the game as a spectacle. But I don't see that the referee had a choice, and much as I have a lot respect for Blackpool and their manager I don't think the red card was the reason for their defeat.

Andrey Arshavin stepped up to bury the penalty, although the goalkeeper (who made at least two excellent saves that I can think of) got very close to it. Arsenal was up 2-0 then, and they were well on the way to a convincing victory.

There was one more goal before halftime. Jack Wilshere played it into Theo Walcott in the penalty area, who managed a superb shot on the turn to make it 3-0. There was a certain amount of Thierry Henry style in the finish, and that's not a bad player to emulate.

Often we see Arsenal take it down a few notches when they get an early lead, but there was no suggestion of that when the teams re-emerged for the second half.

Almost immediately, it seemed, it was 4-0. Abou Diaby producing a good quick finish after excellent work by Bacary Sagna on the right flank, and you began to get the feeling that Arsenal could score as many as they chose to.

Theo Walcott certainly wanted another and he got it a few minutes later. He received the ball in the box after a good burst of his famous pace, and then produced good close control to get himself in a scoring position, and then finished beautifully.

A fully deserved hat trick and a great day for the young man, who I think showed why he might be better deployed in the centre of attack rather than as a winger, which at the end of the day, is not his position.

There was a moment of theatre shortly after that as Cesc Fabregas (and Robin Van Persie) came off the bench to a rousing reception, as is only fitting. The transfer saga of the last few months is now ancient history as far as I'm concerned, and I'm looking forward to seeing Fabregas back to being his best for Arsenal.

Perhaps surprisingly, Arsenal stepped off the gas at that point.

Theo Walcott was taken off to a standing ovation, a just reward for an excellent afternoons work. The next 10-20 minutes passed without too much incident.

Marouane Chamakh rose to score an excellent header from Robin Van Persie's corner. An aerial threat is something of a novelty to Arsenal fans at the moment, but nevertheless the team certainly has one now in the form of Chamakh.

It was Arsenal's biggest win at Ashburton Grove and an excellent performance to go with it, a fitting welcome for the new Clock End and North Bank stands.

Theo Walcott drew a lot of the praise, and Arsene Wenger was quick to congratulate the young forward after the game, saying "He is more electric than he has been to date because he is sharp. I like today the fact he mixed well the final ball and the finishing. That is always a sign that the player is always more mature. Let's not forget that what he does is at a very high pace so it's not always easy to make the right decision but today I think he got many decisions in the final third right."

BBC televison analyst Alan Hansen was critical of Walcott, saying that when he has to do things quickly and instinctively he's excellent, but when he has time to think about what he's going to do he gets it wrong.

There is an element of truth in that, though I think to say Walcott doesn't have a "football brain" like Hansen did is going a bit far. He is improving in all areas of his game, including his decision making.

The Theo Walcott of today is a much better player than a year or two ago, and I think we can be excited about what he may go on to accomplish.

Arsenal produced an excellent performance yesterday.

There will be those that say "ah but it was only Blackpool" and other such things. To Arsenal fans who go down that route all I'll say is if you can't enjoy your team winning 6-0, then I fail to see when you're going to get any enjoyment out of being a football fan.

To the rest I would say that you can only beat the team you're put on the field with.

Blackpool looked like a team getting a reality check yesterday after the excellent things they've accomplished over the last several months. They struggled to cope with Arsenal in every area of the field, and ended up on the end of a real thrashing.

I hope they pick themselves up though, because they are a likeable club and I wouldn't mind seeing them stay up.

A final word for today, and it's on Blackpool's fans.

I thought they were absolutely first class yesterday. They never stopped singing, never stopped encouraging their team and even when their team was going four, five or six goals down they never stopped being a showcase of what real support for your team is.

There are more than a few Arsenal fans that could stand to learn a lesson from Blackpool fans. Yes, it was a big day out for them, yes they were probably expecting their team to get beaten, but it takes a real football fan to support a team the way Blackpool fans did yesterday, and I take my hat off to them.

Ok then, that's all for today. Thoughts on whatever transfer news and suchlike may be materialising tomorrow.