It was another torrid game for Arsenal last night. Neutrals have always applauded Arsenal for their swash-buckling play and “great attractive football”. I always knew better about my beloved team and in the presence of a Man Utd fan and a Cricketeer yesterday, these preconceived notions are starting to be dispelled by even the neutral supporters of the beautiful game.
Unlike previous years, I have to say our defence has been looking pretty sharp and solid so far this season; and they were again for most of the match in spite of a slightly shaky start and another injury to an important member of our backline.
Young Ignasi Miquel, our 19 year old Reserve team captain, came on for his Premier League debut in place of the injured Koscielny and acquitted himself well. The same could have been said of 19 year old right back, Carl Jenkinson who was bereft of any support from Theo and was left to fend against the cultured left foot of Stewart Downing alone too often.
Sagna, despite looking a little out of place on the left was hardly troubled and Vermaelen was exceptional in the heart of defence, timing his tackles brilliantly and leaping higher than Andy Carroll, the human battering ram.
Our keeper was class, as usual. The last (and oft forgotten) member of the defense, the defensive midfielder has very often polarized opinion in the Arsenal team. Alex Song, great in that role, has been culpable for overplaying and abandoning his responsibilities altogether last season, culminating in an exposed defence last year. Last night gave debut to the talented but inexperienced Frimpong for this position.
Yann and I were very impressed with his aggressive tackling, tireless running and never give up attitude. He was much quicker to pass and ironically had his engine set at a higher gear than his much more attacking colleagues. He stood out immensely for us. However, the greatest of ironies was he had the ineptitude to pick up 2 yellow cards and a sending off. The defensive lynchpin has been the architect of the team’s downfall once again. Different story, same outcome.
Now on to the final third of the pitch. Theo was absolutely woeful. Worst player on the field. Often caught out of position, he exposed the right wing and had poor Carl Jenkinson fend off Downing (and sometimes Jose Enrique too) alone for most of the match. On the counter attack, he insisted being in the MOST crowded areas as possible instead of finding space for the midfield to pass to. In possession, he gave the ball away most of the time and was only capable of a couple of half decent crosses let alone a shot on goal.
Aaron Ramsey was working hard but hardly affected the game with his passing. You can’t expect too much from a 20 year old although we know what he’s capable of.
Arshavin, was again, polarizing opinion. The positive was that he looked more invigorated than he was last season. He tracked back to help out win the ball on more occasions than Theo, winning some decent 50-50s and looked more hard working than before. However, this was still far from vintage Arshavin and was not up to his lofty standards.
He had many moments where his passing was lazy and did not find its intended targets. You can see that he had pretty decent ideas but the execution was lacking that extra bit of urgency. The same can be said for when he was in possession. Too slow to pass and having too many touches on the ball, he gave away possession too easily and often slowed down the match.
Partnered with an awkward Sagna who was playing at left back for the first time, things didn’t look good. Why he wasn’t given a chance to play in the middle in the second half to try affect things, was beyond me.
Samir Nasri looked like he had a point to prove with his rumours of going to Man City flying about. He was assured in his passing, movement and dribbling; one moment seeing him embark on a dazzling run from his penalty box to the opponent’s. Brilliant as he was, Nasri was also guilty of overplaying at times when the ball needed to move upfield faster. Case in point when he turned a goal scoring opportunity into a goal kick for Pool.
Alas, Robin van Persie. A class player, he was bereft of service and there was only so much he could have done solo against 2 quality centre backs and at times, against the whole 4 man defence himself. Left footed he may be, but not everyone can boast Messi’s talents.
Yes we were unlucky to concede and our defenders deserved a better result but we were not deserving of a win. We win and lose as a team and we need every component to be working well, not just 1 department.
The fans and media alike have been clamouring for Arsene to splash the cash but I for one think that the root of the problem goes far deeper than just not spending on proven talent and losing Cesc.
Arsenal has extremely talented players. We’ve all seen the best of them, we’ve seen them destroying teams with their superior abilities. If they weren’t good, our opposition wouldn’t have come in looking to buy Cesc, Nasri or even Adebayor. Hell, even Denilson managed to secure a move to reputable Brazilian team, Sao Paolo.
Before pushing the panic button and splashing the cash, one must ask, has this team done enough to say “we’ve been operating at 100% and we need more players of the same kind to take us to the next level”. The answer is no - this team has been operating at 50% of their abilities for the past few trophy-less seasons.
We can’t blame it on “a lack of big names” and “lack of talent”. We’ve seen the team performing awfully and losing matches they shouldn’t even when we had Henry AND Cesc playing in the team. We played awful in the league with those 2 in our squad and managed to clinch 4th place only on the last match day, partly in favour to a suspicious case of food poisoning to Spurs who were in pole position to covet the last Champions League spot.
This general malaise goes far beyond talent. Sure I’d like Juan Mata, Drogba, Suarez and Chris Samba to join Arsenal. But as in any team dynamics, a group more than a sum of the parts of its individuals. You can have a group of talented people but if not directed and organized properly, things will not move well for the team.
Is van Persie not better than Berbatov? Is Anderson better than Wilshere? How about Sagna against Pool’s Martin Kelly? All debatable but I would say their talents would at least fall in the same bracket. And you can’t definitely say that De Gea has performed better than Szczesny thus far. Yet, United are way ahead of Arsenal in their performances.
Who is to say that buying Juan Mata will guarantee success to the team this season?
A good portion of the blame will have to lie in Arsene himself for his rigid strategies which do not bring the best out of his team.
Carlos Vela and even the much maligned Bendtner have been played out of position on the flanks. In fact, they would look like a decent partnership as they do have complementing abilities. Arshavin looks much better in the attacking midfield role/support striker role in the centre yet he plays on the left. van Persie also looks to be at his best in that deeper central role but his exceptional talent has allowed him to score goals in spite of the tactical handicap. Alex Song has been allowed to attack and leave Wilshere to defend. How does that make sense?
It seems like a case of putting square pegs in round holes to me. When the going gets tough and the fluency is greatly affected, shouldn’t we look to reshuffle the formations to fit the playing staff? Many a time I have cast a jealous eye to our rivals - United, Liverpool and Chelsea.
They have managers with enough guile to switch tactics to suit and balance their team vs the opposition. I can’t say I’m a big fan of Sam Allardyce but he has shown that strategies are key to optimizing and harnessing the combined ability of individuals. His teams always punch above their weight while Arsene’s always under-achieve.
United have been able to switch to 4-5-1, 4-3-3 and even revert back recently to the traditional 4-4-2 to accommodate the talents of Hernandez. Wouldn’t Vela love to be playing in a 4-4-2 next to Chamakh or RvP.
The other problem is a big lack of urgency in our play. With one man up front, it is even more imperative that we move the ball quickly as the lead forward will have to play vs 2 men. Yet, they decide to take too many touches on the ball resulting in lost possession, missed opportunities or/and the opposition setting up their defence in time to block all our advances. This dilly dallying in their play can never be good for Arsenal.
Barca hardly has a lead striker yet they all move too fast for defences to keep up with, striking before anyone can spot them. Not to mention that their defensive plan, their fast pressure game, is also a very good tactic to win the ball back before their opponents can advance.
It’s frustrating when you see our opponents play with such purpose, verve and speed. Under Dalglish, Pool have been very swift, direct and purposeful in attack with their win over United last season had me sitting up and paying attention. United and Chelsea too move like a well oiled machine in attack.
Watching Malouda and Suarez play, you can’t say Nasri or Arshavin are any less technically competent. But are Arsenal’s players any more effective in their modus operandi? I’m afraid not.
Sure, go ahead and buy Juan Mata. Hell, throw in Benzema and Jadson. Would it guarantee success? No it won’t. It will no doubt give us a glimmer of hope, renewed spirits and a chance for the players to show more hunger in view of competition.
However, I’m more afraid that we would just be building on a bad plan, papering over rigid strategies and having more square pegs in our hands.
