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.

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.

Acceptance

Denial
Anger
Bargaining
Depression
Acceptance

These are the five stages of death. Regardless of ywhat religion, race or country you are from, these are generally the stages one goes through when faced with death. Surprisingly enough, these very stages have typified the mood among Arsenal fans throughout summer.

We approach now what is perhaps the most defining week in the Wenger era. We find ourselves faced with so many questions - questions that must be answered after the 0-2 loss against Liverpool. Before I get into the game, I have a confession to make = I could not watch the game, although I did catch the MOTD highlights. The rest of my knowledge is a result of compulsively checking for Twitter updates every 10 seconds.

The big, big news before the match was that Samir Nasri was going to start. There was just one change to my line-up, which had been predicted before team news, and that makes me proud!

We defended brilliantly and played our hearts out, that much is clear and undebatable. The atmosphere in the stadium, amid the intense showers, was something else, I'm told. Then the inevitable happened. We lost Koscielny to back spasms. That makes it three out of three games we have had to make a forced substitution. Our confidence took a hit, and Liverpool started dominating possession. We did not give up. Miquel was assured, Frimpong and Vermalean immense. Theo and Arshavin were having an off day. Now considering the fact that we have 10 players playing on the wings at any given time, losing our two real ones to an “off day” dented our already dismal creativity.

It must be said that Nasri played his part in the chances we DID manage to create, a mazy run the pick of the lot. We found out what we were letting go off. Still, he is no Fabregas. The fans played their part too, and he was largely cheered on. Not sure I would have been able to do the same though! Ramsey, Nasri’s creative partner in central midfielder, was having a poor game himself, and did little to help Samir out.

For me, the turning points, not in the match, but in my thinking, were the 8th minute Frimpong yellow, and the Koscielny injury (Squillaci’s absence on the bench was very telling too). Those, to me, exemplify the problem at Arsenal. We have a brilliant player in Frimpong, but one who is obviously inexperienced. He was making his League debut against a team like Liverpool! And of course, our players are falling to injuries like toothpicks. Surely there is something wrong with the way we train? We have world class facilities, and the satellite tracking system introduced this season in training was supposed to help prevent injuries – whatever happened to that!

Looking at our line-up, who really gave us a chance? Yes, Frimpong was lion hearted in his efforts, and Miquel played the best he could, but the attack was nothing short of toothless, and there can be no excuses there.