So the season hasn't really got off on the best foot has it?
Thus far I would say we've dropped 5 'bad' points, the 2 from the 0-0 Newcastle game and the obvious 3 from Blackburn at the weekend. Personally, I expected to get beat by Liverpool & Man Utd due to the various injuries and bans we had accumulated so early in the season.
That's not to say the performances weren't below par in those games (bar Frimpong in the Liverpool game, where, despite his dismissal, he was MOM).
The draw with Newcastle was all too obvious once Gervinho had got himself sent-off, but overall that was a game we dominated and should have got 3 points from, but to come away with a point from St. James' isn't the worse result in the world.
Blackburn was, well, a mess. Right up there with Wigan away 2 years ago. Should have been 3-1 up at half-time (but wasn't due to Gervinho being greedy), to being 3-2 down 10 mins after the restart. It was all rather absurd.
There are 2 ways to look at it, and I think you need to do both to really see how the game unfolded:
1) We battered them in the first half, but showed our usual generosity when it came to our finishing, and the lack of concentration that has blighted us for the last 5 years to allow them to score from nothing. The goal itself I wasn't that bothered about as it was a classic "this defence has never played together before" goal, neither Santos or Koscielny got their bearing right and Yakubu scored a very good goal. We responded to that by scoring ourselves, showing some of the "character" that Wenger refers to so often. Overall a happy 1st period.
The 2nd half was a tail REALLY bad luck. Firstly a foul was given for a perfectly legal tackle by Arshavin, from which a poorly taken freekick somehow missed the first man and hit a surprised Song who couldn't get out of the way leaving Szczesny stranded. The 3rd goal was offside, how the linesman missed that is beyond belief, but it's one of those errors similar to the Arshavin 'offside' goal against Sunderland last year. The 4th was another own-goal, and Koscielny did everything right except kick the ball away from goal.
2) We were dreadful in the 2nd half. After a encouraging first half that contained the stereotypical opposition goal from their first attempt on target, in a game they were being dominated in, we completely fell apart. Confidence drained from the team after their 2nd goal, you could see their heads drop. The experienced players we had just brought to the club, didn't show any of their experience to help battle through and get the 3 points. Our passing was atrocious though out, and the manner in which we made 'tackles' was appalling. Why did Djourou go to ground 40 yards from goal? How, once he had decided to go to ground, did he contrive to not only miss the man, but the fucking ball too? His decline since the Carling Cup final has be dramatic and is still clearly in full flow.
It really did seem that once Sagna went off you knew that we'd end up losing, without Mr. Consistency back there we fall to pieces. Hoilett is a good player with lots or pace and tricks, but even with a dead leg, Sagna gave him nothing; when Djourou came on he had been given a yellow card within 2 mins for fouling Hoilett.
I don't solely blame Djourou, but fucking hell he's playing shit right now.
So that's how I view the match, all-in-all a complete fuck up after he dominated the opposition and laughable that after scoring our 3rd we created 3 more golden opportunities to win the game.It leaves us in a mess that needs to be rectified sharpish.
Yes the players have to take a HUGE amount of criticism for the collapse on Saturday but I think the manager has to take his share to. I blame Wenger for picking the wrong team and making the wrong subs. When you're stuck in a rut (which we are) you always play your strongest team, regardless. Why did he elect to give a debut to Santos? Why not play Gibbs who knows what Blackburn are all about and give the defence that little bit extra familiarity it needs away from home? Also, why play Arshavin away from home? Absolutely pointless. We saw how dangerous Walcott was when he came on, and he's our top scorer this year, a truly bizarre decision.
The other decision I don't understand was bringing on Djourou for Sagna. Does it not make more sense to bring on another full-back (even though Gibbs would have be playing on the wrong side), as they are more positionally aware in their role, than a centre-back?
Fucking bizarre.
So that brings me back to the 'feel good factor' of the club, and that's the Carling Cup a chance to see the kids and the players on the fringes. Playing Shrewsbury 'should' allow the players to play with a bit more freedom, and see us win comfortably. That said this is Arsenal and we never do things easy.....
Hopefully we see Ryo and "The-Ox" tonight and we'll get our first glimpse at Park Chu-Young. There's also hope that our now bang-in-form striker Marouane Chamakh will continue his hot-streak of 1 premier league in 2011.
Hopefully the kids bring in a breath of fresh air and sweep away (most of) the negative stuff surrounding the club at present. We desperately need it.
More soon(ish)
Up The Arsenal
No comments:
Post a Comment