A Little Bump

As Mike Dean blew his whistle after fervently checking his watch again and again to make sure we didn’t have a second over the allotted four minutes, there was a sense of disappointment. 1-1 against a Fulham side who have really not proven themselves to be anything more than a low-mid table club this season, no offence, is not something anyone was expecting given the kind of run we’re on. There were some whispers of a drubbing too.

Well, this game was anything but. From the start, we looked sluggish, never quite running after the ball or showing that extra bit of energy to win it back. Of course, this was a direct consequence of the match on Wednesday against Dortmund, where we produced a brilliant performance to beat the in form German champions. The players were understandably tired, and only two from the eleven that played midweek were rested – Koscielny and Gervinho. I didn’t really mind that, since rotating too much would disrupt the rhythm of the team. But then, this is what you get if you have a solid, first choice starting eleven. You can’t expect them to play two matches in a week at full strength. That is where one notices the importance of having a deep squad, and rotating the team well enough.

To be honest, we don’t have the quality to do that often. One never knows what kind of mood Arshavin is in (we took that gamble today, and it failed. He was terrible), we have players who are good, but lack that extra bit of spark that has always differentiated the average footballer from an Arsenal player. I’m not naming names, but do we have a set of team who can do the job at Norwich away, and another set who can beat the German champions three days later? No.

And maybe we can’t have two complete sets with the disparity in the kind of money available to City or United and to us. But we can certainly afford to bring in quality reinforcements – ammunition we will need when we lose Le Forehead and Chamakh in January. What happens if we lose Song or van Persie to injury? There are things that I probably shouldn’t ask, but nevertheless someone needs to. Backup for Song is Frompong or Coquelin, and for van Persie is Chamakh or Park. The more experienced Chamakh will be gone in January for everybody’s favorite tournament – the ACN.

Now that I’m on a roll, let me finish my criticism. I assure you I have enough positives to make up! We had the worst start we’ve had in 50 odd years, and there was no reason for us to have that kind of start. I say that because the start is obviously linked to the summer, and we had the worst summer in some time, when it could so easily have been different.

We dragged ourselves down to such a point that we needed an incredible run to get back on track, and we set about doing just that. This unbeaten run, which now extends to 10 games, has been great, but it shouldn’t have been necessary.

Going into this game, we had some serious momentum with us. The key was to continue moving forward – keeping up with all the other teams fighting for those 3^rd and 4^th spots.

Being physically drained out didn’t help – there were a couple of sloppy passes that weren’t sharp enough, and we had to grow into the game. Santos was the pick of the players for me – he has learnt to curtail his forward runs, and is defensively a lot more available now than he was in previous games. I noticed this last game too, where he was still caught forward sometimes, but improved on his defensive duties. Good to see him doing that after receiving so much criticism for not tracking back.

Fulham were trying to slow the game down, and were successful – our best attacks came after winning the ball in deep midfield and playing quickly down the flanks. Walcott was particularly impressive, and he continues his hot streak. Arshavin, on the other hand, was shocking. He wasn’t very interested in the game, and his work rate remains abysmal. He had had ample rest before the game, and should really have been up for it. Instead, he fell in with his teammates and looked as though he had just finished playing a full 90 minutes yesterday. Poor. One wonders how long Wenger will keep him in the squad – a January exit does seem likely at this point, although with Gervinho gone we will need him to perform in that time.

We looked comfortable in possession, but the lack of pace killed us. We couldn’t speed the game up, and were closed down well by a very organized Fulham side. The goal seemed against the run of play, but it was that kind of game. Schwarzer was playing a blinder, and Thomas Vermaelen, while trying to hack the ball clear, only succeeded in rolling it past the diving Szczesny.

This woke te players up a little bit and we started to attack with more intent. The boss made very offensive changes, and ones that tactically made sense to me. Fulham weren’t going to attack a lot, and when they did it would be on the break. So the slow Mertesacker was replaced with Diaby, and Arshavin made way for Chamakh, while Gervinho came in for Ramsey. We shifted to something of a 4-4-2.

The changes worked, and we were pushing hard for the equalizer, with Gervinho being the chief architect of a many a dangerous move. We got our goal, and deservedly so. It came from a Walcott ball that was nodded past Scwarzer by none other than Thomas Vermaelen. We had eight minutes to win it, and the players knew how important it was to do so.

We built attack after attack and there was no doubting the commitment. However, this was how it should have been from the start, not just in the last ten minutes. There was too little time for another goal, and Mike Dean was almost too keen to blow the final whistle.

A word on the referee – it was a horrible game from him. Some of the calls were unbelievable. Tackles that should’ve been called for a foul, and fouls that were great tackles. On top of that, he wanted complete control on the pitch – anyone who appealed to him in the slightest got a warning, or in some cases a yellow card. No surprise, then, that we haven’t won any of the last ten games he has refereed in.

While previous Arsenal sides might have come out and won by maybe two or even three goals, that is just not how this side works. As Wenger put it, this side is less cavalier than the others. We are a solid team who play good football, but nothing too fancy. I have nothing against that.

We need some solidity, and we have that now. It is not too long ago when I would be sitting in my chair, my heart exploding as we struggle to hold on to a 2-0 lead with 10 minutes to go. Now I feel much more confident – in fact I believed that one goal was all we needed today to win, until of course they scored and we needed two!

This Arsenal side has something of a calmness and composure that the sides of the last few seasons did not. Even when we were a goal down, we did not stop believing – we had the belief to keep creating chances and did not panic. I think that is something that Arteta has been instrumental in bringing, along with the return of Vermaelen and the brilliance of Szczesny. We are also a lot more direct, and the over reliance on wing play that was so visible at the start of this season has been toned down.

This point could, maybe should have been three. But it is easy to see the team last season going a goal down and giving up. And I feel we should get used to these “narrow” victories that really flatter the opposition and don’t do justice to the domination we enjoy.

I’m fine with that as long as we keep on winning. It might not be as exciting, but it is certainly more mature. What do I think this side needs? I feel we need an exciting midfielder, and a talented forward to support van Persie. Mario Gotze and Alexandre Pato. Time to stop dreaming, isn’t it?

Anyway, what was important today was to keep the momentum going – we didn’t quite do that, but at least we didn’t completely stop. Now after the little business of the Carling Cup on Tuesday against City, where I expect the boss to let the reserves have a go at it, we resume our campaign for the Champions League places.

Up the Arsenal!

Of Chants, Voodoo, and Curses

Arsene Wenger, at some point in his career at Arsenal, made a deal with the devil. Maybe it was at the 2005 FA Cup Final, maybe the 2006 Champions League final. If it was the latter, however, it didn’t turn out well for us at all. We are so out of favor with the Fortune Gods, it is unbelievable. If losing the match on Sunday wasn’t bad enough, we lost Bacary Sagna for at least three months with a broken fibula. Of course, when our medical team say three months, they really mean he’ll be racing Wilshere for a come back. Ok, maybe not, but you get the point.

I feel happy for Wilshere though – he’s just had a baby, and at least will get time to spend with his little boy. All I hope is that he returns to doing what he does best – no, not unprotected sex – before Archie Wilshere joins the Arsenal academy.

Well, enough dilly dallying – straight to the game now. We were being written off before it even started, with Spurs the favorites to win for the first time in a long, long time. The other talked about point was how we would deal with Adebayor. By we, I mean both the players, and the fans. While the former did their best in keeping him relatively quiet on the pitch, the latter were, quite honestly, disgusting in their attempts to bring the man down. More on that later.

There are so many issues with the club and the team to be addressed that a small, concise summary of the game will have to suffice for the moment. We dominated possession early on and dictated play, although were unbelievably sloppy in possession at times, and made a habit of giving the ball away in dangerous areas. Our defense was stretched quite often (surprise, surprise), but we were saved more than once by the brilliance of Wojciech Szczesny. That guy has been massive for us throughout the disaster that is this season. However, he could do nothing against our defense, which was intent on conceding a goal.

They did. It was Adebayor’s flighted through ball that found Voo doo Vaart, who used his shoulder/arm to bring the ball down and then struck the ball sweetly across goal to finish. Of course, the handball wasn’t given. To be frank, it was difficult for the ref to spot, although it escapes me what the assistant was doing at this point. Maybe he was busy looking up the complicated FIFA rulebook, wondering whether he was within his rights to call the foul, and whether technically it was handball in the first place.

Voo doo Vaart then celebrated with the fans, something that would technically earn him a yellow. At this point he was on one already, and a second would have led to him being sent off. So the goal technically resulted from a handball, and Rafael technically should have been sent off. But whoever in the world cares about technicalities, right? Yes, I concede the rule about the celebration is a stupid one, but it is all the same a rule, and Spurs were very lucky not to be down to ten men.

Winning

“Winning is not everything. It is the only thing.” Who was it that said that? A quick Google search reveals that it was Henry Russell Sanders, an American college football coach. How pertinent that statement is for our team right now. We are a club that is, quite frankly, in shambles. Everything – right from the management to the medical team, is in disarray. I said last time that I hoped we would hit rock bottom fast since the recovery can begin.

Well guess what? We just took a big, giant step towards doing that. Jack Wilshere, the one beacon of hope, the wonder boy who was to be back in six weeks, now needs to be operated on his ankle and will not be back before Christmas at the earliest. The whole situation has the terrible scent of a Vermaelen-esque injury about it. That makes two injuries this year that were misdiagnosed, with something very similar happening to young Benik Afobe. He too was expected to return from injury in a few weeks, but was later told that he would be out for a few months. There is obviously something wrong with the medical team, since our injury record is getting preposterous.

With Jack, the strategy was to wait a month and see if the ankle heals on its own. Well, it didn’t. So, either we consulted the wrong guys initially, or we just haven’t taken care of that ankle as we should have. I refuse to believe that what has happened is plain bad luck, since it has become a common occurrence these days. We had Vermaelen out for most of last year, and Diaby, Wilshere and Afobe look set to go down that same path. The club, in their statement regarding Wilshere's injury, took some pain to point out that the best doctors in the world had been consulted throughout, and it was pretty obvious that they were on the defensive there.

The issue of not hiring a defensive coach still baffles me. Arsene obviously does not like to spend a lot of time doing defensive training, and isn’t the most astute manager in the world when it comes to organizing defenses. Our backroom staff has been the same for years now – so much so that even the chef and the doorkeepers have kept their jobs throughout. I’m not saying that they should all be fired because they are incompetent. I do, however, get the feeling that there is something of a rot beginning to set in and that we need some fresh faces. Piromac and Pat Rice have been great assistants and are very dedicated to the club, but now might be the time to get in someone younger to join them.

In other news, Wenger has admitted that we will struggle to keep up to FOUR of our best players in the long term - van Persie, Song, Vermaelen and Walcott will all have just one year to go on their contracts in the summer, and we might have to sell them, just like a certain Samir Nasri.

"Our desire is there to convince them to stay", said Wenger. "We tried before and the financial gap on that front has become bigger for us.

I cannot say that if we go to our maximum wage that we are sure to sign a player."  

Surely that is enough for even the slowest and dumbest of people to see that our wage structure is flawed. I have commented on this before and quite frankly, have little more to add. Paying Diaby more than the Spuds pay Modric is just not good economics.

As to the match tomorrow, it is really very simple. We have to win. There is just no other option. Our position in the table is not flattering, to say the least, and it is shameful for a club of our standard. Four points in five games is an outrage. However, we must accept the position that we are in and come out all guns blazing against Bolton. I am sure that we will create chances once more. Our play against Blackburn was at least coherent in attack, and hopefully we see more of that here. The guys have had one more week to gel, to know each other, to work as a unit, and so we are that much closer to being a team. There is every reason to be optimistic, and yet I doubt I would be surprised if we drew. I am not even thinking about a loss, and I fear for the club if that does indeed turn out to be the case.

In the defense, it will be interesting to see who starts at left back – will Andre Santos be given his second start, or will Keiran Gibbs continue? Personally I think it will be Gibbs. Santos needs to work a little bit at tracking back and communication, but at the same time offers more of a threat going forward. Obviously, right now we need someone who can be solid on the left flank, and if Arshavin starts (unlikely, in my opinion), that someone just cannot be Santos.

Expect Ramsey to start alongside Song and Arteta in central midfield. I expect Wenger to field a fluid 4-3-3, with Walcott and Gervinho on the wings. What I would really like to see though is a more solid, structured 4-4-2. Walcott can finally play as striker, a role he has been begging and pining for, and the impressive Oxlade-Chamberlain can be handed a start as well. So here is my expected line up for tomorrow:

Chezza;

Sagna, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Gibbs;

Song, Ramsey, Arteta;

Walcott, van Persie, Gervinho.

And my desired line up:

Chezza;

Sagna, Koscielny, Mertesacker, Gibbs;

AOC, Song, Arteta, Gervinho;

Walcott, van Persie.

I do hope Wenger springs a surprise and fields the latter team! 

The only question now is a philosophical one – do we have what it takes to finally win? I honestly do think so. We have been supplied bad news after bad news, and things are fast approaching a breaking point. Bolton at home is the perfect opportunity to get things back under control, maybe even get the media on our side for a while. We could really use some positive coverage right now!

Bolton is a team I respect (although admittedly, they lack common sense – keeping Cahill was a big mistake in their financial circumstances), and I do wish for them to do well overall. Right now, however, it is about us. It is about finding the spirit of football again, about starting to enjoy our game again.

It is pure and simple. This game is about winning.

 

Regression

God said, “Let there be light”, and a flame flickered, wavered, and was conveniently put out. That has been the story this past week for Arsenal FC. When the new look squad took the field against Swansea, one could glimpse of sliver of hope begin to regenerate among fans. There was hope that the new signings would bed in and Arsenal would quickly regain the lost confidence after the infamous defeat at Old Trafford. They scraped what can only be called a lucky win, although it was always going to be difficult after what had happened in the last few days of the transfer window.

Their confidence restored a little, the players then headed to Borussia Dortmund for what was definitely the toughest game in the Champions League group stage. Dortmund were very impressive, but a goal from van Persie pegged them back, only for Perisic to steal a point in the last five minutes with a spectacular effort. Arsenal had defended like lions, and had only gone down to a wonder goal. That game did a lot towards regaining that lost confidence. It was a good away point and the team looked strong.

Going into the Blackburn game, there was a positive buzz about the team probably for the first time in months. All the new players (bar Park) had been given a run and there was genuine excitement surrounding the game. Arsenal would finally be able to play their own slick, passing game. Blackburn were a side that had little confidence going into this fixture – three losses and a draw isn’t a record that anyone can be proud of, and surely this was on their minds. One would have thought this was the perfect opportunity for Arsenal to pounce and further deepen the gloom at Ewood Park, while furthering their own rehabilitation.

Arsenal looked as though they were on course to do just that. In the first half, they had a massive 66% of possession, and the crowd were treated to some vintage flowing moves. Mikel Arteta contributed with his technical skills in central midfield, and Ramsay had a solid half as well, keeping it relatively simple. The attacking was very easy on the eye and finally one caught a glimpse of the Arsenal of old. The goal came as a result of an amazing through ball from Alex Song that Gervinho latched onto, swiveled, and shot right into the bottom left corner. It was a fantastic finish from an unlikely angle.

Arsenal were completely dominating in all parts of the field when Blackburn, out of nowhere, found an equalizer. The goal was typical of Arsenal too – new left back Andre Santos, handed his first start, was playing Yakubu onside (remember how Clichy used to play the exact same game), and Yakubu finished well before Szczesny could react. It must be said though that this was Santos’ first full game, and so communication was always going to be a problem. However, this was a problem in the Dortmund game as well, when countless through balls were threaded through the central defense. More on the defense later.

The goal, meanwhile, did little to stem the flow of the game. Arsenal still continued to attack and dominate play, and it was little surprise they scored the next goal.

Song was once again involved as he released Ramsay on the right, who spotted Mikel Arteta’s run into the box and cut back for him. The Spaniard scored with an emphatic finish, his first goal in the red and white. The first of many, I hope. We finished the half on a high, and this looked the perfect game to get our confidence back. Everyone had played their part, and we looked coherent in attack, a first this season. Everyone had set roles and the communication between midfield and attack was great. Things were on the up.

At half time, though, something happened. Maybe they replaced the drinks with something else. As we took the pitch in the second half, we looked a different team. Back came the uncertainties that were so visible in the Dortmund game. We were still enjoying majority of the possession, but somehow seemed less confident on the ball.

Arshavin was in the mood to show off his defensive skills, and soon conceded a free kick outside the box on the right. The zonal marking we have deployed was in place. The ball came in and two players missed the subsequent header a little way off the near post. The second ball then hit the unsuspecting and surprised Alex Song, who had no time to react. The ball bounced off him into the net. 2-2 Blackburn. They had equalized once more. The goal was entirely down to rotten luck, and there was really little Song could have done about it.

Out we went in search of a goal again. Somewhere along that quest, we lost Bacary Sagna – probably one of the players of the season so far. He has been a rock defensively and that had been the case in this game as well. To replace him we had Johan Djourou, a player completely lacking in confidence, being played out of position as right back.

Crisis Club

It took great courage to summon the mental strength to haul my laptop up and actually get something written. The facts are in front of us, the arguments on both sides heard. Hell, we even saw a little preview of what the season is going to be like. This was an anomaly, you say? Well maybe, but a defeat is a defeat. It might be that we will never be humiliated in that way for a long, long time, but it will definitely surprise me if we got any points at all against the big boys. The one positive is in retrospect. Fans were screaming at the end of last season when things had not quite gone our way – we thought we couldn’t possibly be feeling any worse. Well, that position seems almost enviable now, since at least we had the summer to look forward to. Now we stand on the brink of a disastrous season. No, it does not look pretty.

Manchester United 8-2 Arsenal. Sunday, the 28th of August, ranks in my memory as the worst day in the Wenger era. And as to Manchester United’s performance, it wasn’t even a “gr-eight” one. They had two amazing finishes from Ashley Young, two great free kicks, a penalty, and some stereotypical Arsenal defending to help them achieve that. Arsenal on the other hand, played it safe – they did not want to attack, defend or link up play at all! Aaron Ramsay’s poor form in midfield continued as he was a mere passenger and rarely made a useful pass. Walcott and Arshavin, were, as in previous games, extremely ineffective. Andrei even got himself a yellow in the first half for good measure, and so had to be extremely cautious while tracking back for the rest of the match. Jenkinson at the back looked completely lost and allowed Young to get the better of him quite a few times. Koscielny wasn’t completely fit, and it showed. Djourou looked a shadow of what he was last season. Traore’s positional sense was as sharp as Clichy’s. Robin van Persie was out of it too, coming up with the most terrible penalty I have seen him take to date. That was probably the turning point of the entire match – we just said, “to hell with it” after that miss, and what followed was painfully unbelievable. All through, I kept hoping that I would get up from this nightmare only to see the match hadn’t quite begun yet.

Jenkinson, not surprisingly, ended up being yellow carded twice, and was sent off in the second half. Theo Walcott, that accomplished defender, finally played right back, a role he has been crying out for since he joined us. The younger version of Walcott, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain played in front of him on the right wing, and as I had mentioned in my preview, did get to make his debut.

What is stupefying about this match was that despite conceding the number of goals we did, Szczesny actually didn’t have a bad game (De Gea, on the other hand, did. That first goal had a charming Almunia air about it), and neither did Coquelin, the young defensive midfielder who, with this debut, was eased into life in the Premier League. Five of those eight goals came after Coquelin was subbed for Lansbury (another League debutant), and even before that, we were just too open. As Zonal Marking (amazing website that offer tactical analysis of selected matches) reports, our back four were pressing extremely high up the pitch trying to play the opposition offside, but that is not a good idea when you’re playing with no pressure on the ball. Even then, we did not press as a unit, and as mentioned earlier, Traore’s positional sense was amazing, and Jenkinson just did not know what to do with Young. So, he took the easy option and let him score. The first goal too showed how shockingly pathetic our defending was, with no one even looking at Welbeck when the return ball came in until it was too late.