Chelsea 2-0 Arsenal
Improved performance? Yes, but with the same defensive clangers and the same lack of striking options as ever. All too familiar, all too avoidable.
The bottom line for me is this side is not currently good enough to challenge for the title. Against Chelsea and Man Utd, we are consistently coming up short.
Whilst against most sides we can still score enough goals to give us a good chance of winning despite our porous defence, against the best sides we let in more than we are able to score.
All the possession in the world means nothing if you do not do enough with it and defend poorly. After just eight minutes we went AWOL and let in a soft goal. It was truly shambolic stuff and yet, who’s really surprised? We’ve been defending like that all season. All of the top three have scored 60 goals, yet Arsenal have conceded a third more – 30 rather than 20. Therein lies one of the reasons why we are nine points behind.
Arshavin should then have equalised with one of the two decent chances we had, before we were undone again, this time on the counter. 2-0 down, and no Kanu to save us.
Up front, our one fit striker Bendtner was not fit enough to start, so Arshavin once again led the line. He had one decent chance as mentioned, but really, he shouldn’t be there. He’s only there for lack of options.
Which does beg the question – again – why did Wenger not buy a striker this January? Was there really not a single striker available who could have given us something for four months?
Still, there were positives. It was a much more spirited performance, much more committed. You can’t fault them for that. And on an individual level, It was good to see Diaby back. I think he’s growing as a player and adds a lot to the team when fit.
Right, I need to leave it at that. No more time to dwell.
Onto Wednesday…
Eek, a whole week since the last post.
Which means I’m bouncing straight from a dismal post-mortem straight into this preview. I’d like to say my outlook has changed and I’m bursting with confidence. I’m certainly more sanguine than I was on Monday morning.
It’s been a funny week, coloured at the end by Wenger saying some odd stuff. There was mention of us nearly signing someone on deadline day. What was the point of that? He might as well have told me I’d nearly won the lottery.
Then he said it would be no disaster to finish third. Well, I suppose it wouldn’t to a point. Disaster is when you sell all your best players, have four owners in one year, no cash, a winding-up order. But is third the limit of our ambitions? Ultimately, it may be an achievement but history will not judge us on how many times we come third. It’ll judge us on trophies.
So anyway, onto today. The stats are here for you all to chew over, but the bottom line is it’s going to be hugely tricky for Arsenal. Chelsea will sense – as Wenger does – that we are lacking “that fraction of belief” after Sunday.
It certainly seems true that, for whatever reason, we are not the strongest side psychologically. Small setbacks can become big ones. Lots of our players are confidence players – fantastic on form, average when out of sorts. Why else would Wenger feel obliged to so frequently come out in public to reinforce the quality, belief and togetherness of his players if it wasn’t at least in part to convince them of it themselves?
The good news is we can do it. We were the last team to defeat them at Stamford Bridge in the league. We can do it again if the players come out all guns blazing, harrying, fighting, believing.
Which is why the first ten minutes will be instructive. If we come out and take them on from the first moment – rather than taking a half to warm to the game as we have done on other occasions this season – then we can do it.
It really is make or break if you ask me. Nine points behind would simply be too much at this stage of the season to overturn. It would be hard enough if it was just one team ahead of us, but there are two, both of whom have hit form.
More Sunday reading here if you can bear it: Manuel Almunia’s nerves add extra edge to Arsenal’s visit to Chelsea and Wenger worries that his side have lost belief.
Though you might want to avoid those if you’re of a nervous disposition.
Come on you reds!
Tags: almunia, belief, confidence, wenger
Arsenal 1-3 Manchester Utd
So that’s that then – another less than gentle reminder that despite all the pre-match bullishness of Wenger and some of the squad, when push comes to shove the current crop are little more than pretenders.
Yesterday’s defeat was as lop-sided as the Chelsea game was, and equally as painful.
P8 W0 D1 L7
That’s the stat I put out on Twitter – I got it slightly wrong as it happens but the point is made whichever way you cook it. It refers to the last eight games against the top two. Goal difference of F5 A18 is perhaps even more painful to consider.
You know, had we lost all those games by a single goal having played well enough, you’d have been within your rights to shrug your shoulders at the bad luck of it all. But of those seven defeats, only one – the hapless 2-1 loss at Old Trafford this season, when we played very well but for two crazy errors – has felt like bad luck. In all the others, we have been seen off with either relative or consummate ease.
So for Wenger to suggest the problem is mental is perhaps not so very far from the truth. Against Chelsea and Man Utd, we’ve got the fear. And particularly at home.
At least, it might explain on one level just how rotten we were yesterday. And boy, were we rotten.
I’m not going to bother going through all our weaknesses player by player, because this blog post is late in coming and it’s been well covered elsewhere. I do concur with the criticism that has come to three in particular though – not that many covered themselves in glory. Clichy’s form has melted away, Denilson has been flattering to deceive for far too long (culminating in a truly horrible performance yesterday) and Almunia looks utterly shot.
Maybe much can be put down to problems of the mind, but really, should it be Wenger’s job to have to cajole a performance out of some of these players? Individual errors continue to cost us, and yet I can’t see any evidence of them going away. Wenger, of course, must take some of the blame for that too. Some of his players are just not performing, or are doing so in frustrating fits and starts.
So looking forward, what can be done? In the short-term, a change of personnel would help. Almunia and Denilson should be dropped. Clichy would probably suffer the same fate but for a lack of credible alternatives. Besides, I do think he deserves more time to pick his game up.
And up front, we need to stick B-52 on and hope to god he’s fit enough. There’s a man who – if nothing else – does not want for self-confidence. He offers us something we are clearly lacking – a tall front man who can hold the ball up.
Wenger could and should have addressed some of our weaknesses in the transfer window but, not surprisingly, he has chosen not to. That’s another baffling one but at least he’s in good company – the market has been massively subdued.
In fact, rather than strengthening the squad in January, we actually find ourselves a squad member shorter thanks to the departures of Senderos and Wilshere. So we’re stuck with what we have.
The previous time we were thumped, we did pick ourselves up and go on a decent run that – briefly – took us top. It feels like a long time ago now.
At this stage it feels a tall order but with Arsenal, you never know. It would certainly be nice to put a positive dent into those bleak stats on Sunday.
Good result, bad result, two points lost or one gained – we just don’t know yet. I would wager that a draw at Villa is a good result, but ask me again after the next three games and we’ll know more. We were hardly going to go there and waltz it.
The main sensation I had from last night though was that we didn’t play that well. We didn’t lose but we hardly set the pulse racing. That feeling fans can get of an unstoppable head of steam building up – of a team on the verge of take-off – well my own view is we’re still a way off that.
What it does mean though – and don’t tell the marketing men at Sky in case they milk it – is that Sunday’s set-to is undeniably hugely significant. Winning it might put the wind into our sails. Losing it might knock us into the doldrums.
I know Vermaelen and Eduardo succumbed to Arsenal Fever – the former fortunately not breaking a bone – but there is at least some comfort in the knowledge that we’ve got fewer players out now than we’ve had out for a while. Nasri, Song, Eboue, Walcott, Rosicky, Bendtner, Clichy, Sagna, Fabregas – all have had recent injuries of varying severity, or have been away, and all are now back.
I said back at the beginning of the month that to not strengthen the squad at a point where we find ourselves in a healthy league position would be almost criminal. It’s a young squad with some extremely talented players and potential oozing out its pores but there’s surely not a soul on this planet who believes Arsenal could not be strengthened.
So I 100% agree with those who say that buying could only benefit us. How could it not? Look what spending £10m on Vermaelen did. The market, it’s clear, is hugely subdued, so I’m not expecting miracles. But I do still think we might swoop (for that is the only suitable verb to use across all media outlets as Jan 31st edges closer) for someone. It’s not due to some magical intuition or insider knowledge.
It can probably be put down as being nothing more than the eternal optimism of the average football fan.
PS – Comments are totally kaput since I upgraded to the most recent version of WordPress. They’ve disappeared. Can’t post new ones. I have no idea why so if you can help on that front, or know someone who can, I’d appreciate any advice going. You can mail me at eastlower AT googlemail.com or DM me on @eastlower on Twitter. Ta!
Update: Comments are back. Thanks to all who responded to my desperate plea and in particular @arseblog, @jim_aboutaball and @govindraj
Stoke City 3-1 Arsenal
I said yesterday that Wenger had little choice but to gamble in today’s FA Cup game. Gamble he did – and he lost.
As expected, he chose a mixture of youth and experience. In the young corner were Emmanuel-Thomas (first team debut), Coquelin (a lick of Milk Cup only) and Eastmond (one Premier League start).
At the other end of the spectrum were Silvestre and Campbell, with the rest – young but in some cases very experienced – making up the XI.
Was it a line-up that was ever going to trouble a physical and experienced team like Stoke? It’s easy to be dismissive in retrospect, but when I saw the line-up I thought we stood a chance if we played to our potential.
Therein lies the rub, though. We never did play to our potential. I accept that the game was fairly even until Stoke’s second, but apart from Denilson’s deflected equaliser, I cannot think of a single time when we made Sorensen earn his money.
Yes, Stoke played very well. Collectively, we could not cope. But too many of our players were off colour too. At the back, Fabianski was dreadful. On today’s performance, it’s easy to see how Almunia – hardly a Spanish Gordon Banks himself – remains unchallenged between the sticks. He punched rather than caught, stuttered on his line; he looked as if he’d won a competition to keep goal. The rest of the defence struggled, with the exception of Sol Campbell who performed admirably given how little football he has played recently. Traore was all over the place, Coquelin got better after a nervy start and Silvestre – well I suppose he tried hard.
In the midfield, I thought Eastmond did OK. In fact, all three rookies – Emmanuel-Thomas, Coquelin, Eastmond – did OK given the circumstances.
We were especially toothless up front though. I am – and remain – a big fan of Theo Walcott but on today’s performance he shouldn’t be worrying about his England place, he should be worrying about getting into the Arsenal side. He was embarrassingly ineffectual. I know it’s not his ideal kind of game and I know he’s been injured to the point of distraction, but he looked lost today. Carlos Vela had a rotten day too. Emmanuel-Thomas intrigues me though. His first touch wasn’t great and as debuts go, it was a tough one, but there’s definitely something there – power, desire, a different tack to the usual Arsenal striker (and he’s not even a striker). I’d like to see more of him.
The triple substitution made little difference.
So overall, it was never going to be a team that could walk the tie without each player playing to his maximum. The performance never arrived. We deserved to lose.
What to make of it? It’s a huge lost opportunity if you ask me. It’s all very well saying we can concentrate on the league and the European Cup, but they’re the hardest ones of all to win.
After the game, Wenger touched again on his reasons for playing the team he played. “Sagna, Vermaelen and Clichy will all be back for Aston Villa and they could have missed it if they had played today” he said.
Perhaps so. Maybe the circumstances – huge injury list and four high-octane games looming – demanded it.
Still out the cup though. Big gamble. Big loss.
Tags: campbell, coquelin, eastmond, emmanuel-thomas, fa cup, wenger, youth
“I want to pick a team which is strong enough to win the game, without ignoring we are under immense physical demands in every single game right now and the fact some players need to have a breather.”
It was always pretty clear to me that the almost permanent hindrance of having anywhere between four and eleven players out injured would mean compromise at some point. Tomorrow could be that compromise, with the probability of it being a very young side given the responsibility to get us through the fourth round of the cup at Stoke.
The Arsenal medical team have scratched their heads, Wenger’s suggested it could be a vicious cycle of rushing players back because we need them, only to see them crocked again because they weren’t ready, but whatever the answer is, the fact is we cannot realistically expect to challenge for the title, the Champions League and the FA Cup when each weekend another one or two players pick up injuries. To challenge for all three with a full squad would be a tall enough order. To do with a long list of crocks is an impossibility.
Take right back as an example. Barry Sagna desperately needs to rest his sore shoulder, but with Eboue in Africa and Gilbert on loan, there is literally nobody else. So with one eye on four league humdingers ahead, and the other eye on Sagna’s fitness, it’s going to be Eastmond or Coquelin.
So clearly, Wenger is damned if he does and damned if he doesn’t.
Wenger has no choice but to gamble. If he played a youthful side with a full squad twiddling its thumbs at home, I’d struggle with that.
But under the circumstances – no van Persie, no Bendtner, no Diaby, no Ramsey, no Nasri, no Sagna, no Merida, no Gibbs, no Djourou, no Song, no Eboue – it’s hard to be too critical.
More thoughts tomorrow.
Good things, as they say, come to those who wait.
I sat watching Sky Sports on 1st January expecting a flurry of new players to change hands within moments, and here we are some three weeks later with a 35-year-old prodigal-ish son having returned but not much else. This transfer window thus far has been a poker game, with few people yet prepared to declare their cards. Looks like we need to be patient and put on our flak jackets for a 31st January blowout.
We’ve also been waiting for some time for the pleasure of looking down from the summit of the league. Yes, I know we were top after a few games this season, but I’m not counting that. If we counted early season form, we’d be top every year courtesy of being alphabetically superior.
With perhaps the toughest string of games coming that I can recall, it would have all sorts of positive effects to enter that fearsome foursome/queasy quartet from the top of the league. Which is why an ordinarily mundane fixture against a side who a) are struggling and b) have never been the easiest on the eye has got a bit of a fizz about it.
We can worry about those four games later. For the time being, we just need to beat Bolton to keep the momentum up and the confidence high. We also need to work out how on earth our season has been scuppered – and yet not sunk – by our extraordinary run of injuries. I know I bang on about it, but the sheer number of crocks we’ve had this season seems more than mere coincidence. Evidently, it’s something the Arsenal hierarchy have been scratching their heads over too. As the boss said today:
“We have analysed absolutely everything. It is strange because the more injuries you get, you then seem to get even more because you always play the same players. Also, you rush some players back and then you have more chance to get them injured again.”
I can see what his argument is, but at the same time, it’s a bit mysterious how Gallas and Vermaelen, for example, have not missed any league games this season whereby others – Walcott, van Persie, Diaby, Nasri, Denilson etc – have been in and out like the tides. It’s hugely frustrating.
Onto tomorrow though, and after a few missed games over the festive period I’m gurning with excitement at the thought of getting back into the Arsenal saddle.
I’ll be there, irrespective of the state of my hamstrings, knees, shoulders, shinsplints and ankles. Arsenal players, take note.
Morning all. I did the classic thing of waking up in the middle of the night, and in the course of trying to get back to sleep thought of something particularly noteworthy to blog about this morning. Sure enough, when I woke up, I couldn’t remember a jot. I remember once being advised by someone to leave a notebook by the side of my bed so I could write down dreams, nightmares, blog ideas. But I never remember to do that either. It’s a vicious circle.
Anyway, one thing I did do this morning is look at the league table. Now, there’s no doubt we’re still in there and the top of the table has certainly not run away from us. But it’s noticeable that when the margins are so tight, even playing 24 hours after your rivals, as we are doing today, adds an extra pressure. Win today and on Wednesday and we all know we’ll be right up there. Lose or draw today and suddenly we’re back to being five or six points off the pace.
Which is why a couple of tepid performances can be very damaging. We were pretty awful against Everton and we can’t afford to do anything other than fly out the blocks this afternoon as a result.
It could be the classic banana skin. New managers have an uncanny ability to galvanise their new sides, even if that galvanisation only last a few games. Typically, today is Bolton’s first game under Owen Coyle.
Fortunately for us, we’ve got Fabregas back, and well enough though our third-choice left-back Armand Traore has done, I’d hustle Clichy back into the side if he’s as near as Wenger insists he is to being ready. Vermaelen has been an excellent addition to our defence, but as a unit we’re still shipping goals and Clichy’s return could tighten things up.
While we’ve had a fair few clean sheets at home, as you’d expect, it won’t surprise you to discover that away from home we’ve not kept a clean sheet in the league since 26th September, a 1-0 win at Fulham.
Yes, we still need a striker, but there are things we can do in the interim to help ourselves. Defending better, both individually, as a defensive unit and as a team is as good a place to start as any.
Football, I can report, still has the power to amaze.
After a sabbatical of 3½ years, Sol Campbell’s all set to sign for Arsenal until the end of the season. Amazing because he’s 35, amazing because he’s hardly the age profile of the classic Wenger signing, and amazing because despite having trained for months with the club, nobody really saw it coming.
There’s no doubt we need cover at centre back, with Gallas and Vermaelen having played 56 games between them already this season, but I must say I never expected Wenger to plump for Sol.
But in the cold light of day, the deal makes sense. The January transfer window is not always the best for value, and nor is it the best time to prize away decent defenders. On top of that, we’ve got to bear in mind that Gallas and Vermaelen remain our first choice pairing. So anybody who comes in would probably have to accept it will be as backup. He’s massively experienced. He’s free. It’s a smooth fit on that basis. Welcome back, Sol-man.
On Sky Sports News yesterday – which when still in the first rush of giddy excitement at the news, as it was salivating at the chops, raised the prospect of Sol forcing his way into Capello’s World Cup squad – Alan Smith pointed out that it’s not as if Wenger has gone in blind. Months of training will have told Wenger all he needs to know. Campbell looks fit. And he’s certainly in a good frame of mind if his interview is anything to go by:
“I cannot tell you how much I have missed playing…” he told ESPN, “it’s fantastic, great, marvellous… I’ve missed it and I’ve a gut feeling this is the right move. It’s no longer a hunger to get back – it’s turned into a craving. I am champing at the bit. I’m fresh, I’m raring to go. It’s unbelievable to be back at Arsenal.”
I have to say, after my initial amazement I’ve got a good buzz about this. I always rated Campbell and him having a second chance at the club is a great if improbable story. Any signing gets the place going, and this one definitely has – even if he’s not the long-term solution. That can wait until the summer.
He can sit in the café at Colney and reminisce with Gael Clichy about the Invincibles. More importantly, he can be a steady and experienced hand on the deck both on and off the pitch. Of course, he’s still got to cut it when he plays, and that will be an interesting one to see, but as a free short-term backup deal, I think it’s worth a punt.
It does also mean we will now surely see Senderos leave this window, possibly very soon. I have to say, I feel desperately sorry for Swiss Phil. He’s clearly no part of Wenger’s plans but he can probably thank Djourou’s injury for his extra six months rotting in Arsenal’s reserves. My own view is he is, was, a decent centre back with room to improve and his best years ahead of him, but there’s only so long you can hope a player will grow into his potential and Wenger has seen all he wants to now. He’s simply not been good enough to displace our first-choice pairing, but he wants and needs to play more games. It’s a catch-22. Best now to let him go – and he certainly wants that himself. Despite what must be a deeply frustrating time of things, he’s never moaned in the press or kicked up a storm. I hope he gets his move.
What else? There’s the surreal sight of Adebayor thinking he’s still an Arsenal player, talk of a new 17-year-old signing called Galinda and a pressing need for me to get up and go to work.
Better do that then.
Bye.
Arsenal 2-2 Everton
A point gained or two points dropped? Both; the former for us, and the latter for Everton.
Let’s face it, we were very lucky indeed, scraping a late draw on a day when nothing went right and few people covered themselves in glory. It was a bad day in the office, one to file away in the recesses of the mind. One to forget, and forget it we probably will unless it becomes one of those pivotal games that bookends the start of a great run (or heaven forbid, a bad one).
I know it’s easy to say with hindsight, but I had an uneasy feeling about this game all morning yesterday. Everton have emerged from their early season funk and it showed. They gave us a right fright. All we can hope for (now that we have played them home and away) is that they can maintain their improving form, because they’ve got some big games between now and late February, and we could do with them taking some points off our closest rivals.
Not that I’m really thinking of a title surge at this stage. I think, if anything, the fitful performance yesterday just reminded me – and a few others besides, I should imagine – that we remain something of an outside shot to win the league in May.
Despite some excellent recent form, and a very healthy league position, the bottom line is that there’s nowhere on the pitch we couldn’t improve. Between the sticks we have an increasingly skittish Almunia. Though he remains a good shot stopper – he prevented Vaughan from making it game over when we were 2-1 down – almost all other aspects of his game have gone to pot. He’s been dropped once this season, and I wouldn’t bet against it happening again. I appreciate the arguments against doing it – it’s pretty much a P45 – but his form is so poor it has to be considered.
In defence, we have a rookie left-back who has done well enough in Clichy’s and Gibbs’ absences but reminds us from time to time why he is our third choice left-back. The rest of our established back line is still motoring along, but needs to tighten up. We are always looking capable of conceding.
We’re missing important players in midfield in Fabregas and Song. We’re missing the pacy outlet that is Walcott. And of course, we’re missing Bendtner and van Persie, leaving us reliant on playing Arshavin out of position and Eduardo without a recognised strike partner.
Taken as a whole, and in that context, we are doing amazingly well at the moment, and it’s hardly a big surprise to see a blip such as yesterday against a very good and committed Everton side.
Of course, Wenger can work on the players he has, and he can hassle the physio to empty London Colney of crocks, but more importantly from a momentum point of view, he can work on bringing in new faces. At the beginning of the month I remember him saying he wanted to do any deals early; well here we are a third of the way through the window and there’s still nothing doing.
I’d frankly be amazed if nobody came in this month, and I was going to stick my neck out I’d say he’ll bring a maximum of two, and that those two would be a central defender and a striker.
As for who or when – over to you, boss.
