Manchester City 1 Arsenal 0
It isn’t often nowadays that I agree with Arsene’s summary of a match but his judgement on the Man City performance was spot on – encouraging, but we needed points as well as encouragement.
The key difference between the two sides was our inability to convert good opportunities into chances.
Too often Gervinho and Ramsey would make a bad choice or fail to execute after making the right decision, leaving Van Persie lacking ammo. From recollection he only had one real chance while Aguero had several – if we could have carved out the same number perhaps we would have got a point or more.
In fairness to Man City I thought they defended well and Kompany and Zabaleta, in particular, locked down their left side and allowed Walcott virtually no room for manoeuvre.
The immediate impact, which again Wenger admitted, is that any faint hope of a title challenge is all but mathematically snuffed out with the defeat.
But there is no reason why the team can’t still draw strength from the performance. Despite fielding a defence which required yet another rejig after Djourou became the latest injury casualty, we hung on in there against a side that has been blowing away other opponents.
At times we almost stretched to snapping point as we chased an equaliser a little too desperately but overall we showed more resilience than we have in other big away games in recent years. It is something we have shown consistently now for a few months – perhaps coaching and organisational changes have been made and are having an effect, though we shouldn’t overlook how big a factor a fit Thomas Vermaelen is.
Anyway, now any dreams of the title are over, the target is clear – fourth place and a Champions League place. We need to start another run of wins quickly, hopefully with the trip to Villa tonight. The absence of the suspended Song, coupled with a depleted defence, makes it tricky but we can’t afford to let the mini-revival go to waste.
Wednesday, 21 December 2011
Sunday, 18 December 2011
Can Arsenal continue to surprise / Podolski and Reus
Our run of form in the past few weeks has been reminiscent of a championship-chasing team. Focused, defensively sound and potent in attack when we need to be, we’ve been churning out the league victories with satisfying regularity.
Today, in Man City, we face the best team we’ve come across all season and it will be an acid test for what we should hope for in the rest of the campaign.
Part of me knows this remodelled Arsenal has not faced a team of this quality during our mini resurgence and it could provide a harsh reality check. Part me of me also knows that we are weakened by Santos’ absence and the likely re-shuffling of defenders it will cause.
And yet part of me also has a belief that the maturity now being shown by the team and the desire to keep winning – together with the body blow that Man City took in losing for the first time – may be enough to spring a surprise. There’s been a definite change in the team compared to the gloom I was expecting us to descend into after the Man U, Blackburn and Spurs defeats.
Winning this match would suddenly make a title challenge an outside possibility, closing the gap to top spot to just six points. I can’t convince myself we have enough quality in depth to maintain our form until May but a victory would feel like a salvage job of some of the points thrown away at the start of the season, before our transfer deadline deals were made.
Overhauling Man City would involve turning their blip of the Chelsea defeat into a wobble and watching it grow into a crisis. With the array of talent they possess and their Invincibles-like one-touch passing style, they look certain to claim the title otherwise. At least we don’t have to worry about ensuring the unbeaten record of the Invincibles’ will remain unique in the history books for another year.
All a defeat today would cost us is ground in the race for fourth – you can’t imagine there being any lasting mental damage from losing to the title favourites – and confirm that is the height of our ambitions for the remaining 22 games (at least five losses before Christmas is not the record of champions-elect).
A win followed by a decent Christmas and some January reinforcements would make life much more interesting, though.
Podolski is not the German we need
Talking of the January sales, I was glad Wenger gave short shrift to the possibility of a move for Lukas Podolski when he was asked about it on Friday. Podolski has never really impressed consistently and reminds me of a less skilful Jose Antonio Reyes – very quick and with a powerful shot but lacking in guile and craft. We’ve already got one left foot cannon up front and we don’t need another (unless Van Persie doesn’t sign that contract…).
The Bundesliga striker I’d prefer is Marko Reus of Borussia Moenchengladbach. It is usual for the best of the lesser German clubs to be picked up by Bayern Munich but we’ve been linked with him quietly and from what I’ve seen of him he would be a great addition to the front line. Small, quick, technical and adaptable, he represents the new type of player that is favoured in the modern 4-3-3 formation – not a striker, not a winger, not an ‘in the hole’ man, just an attacker who creates and scores.
If we really do want to make a title push a couple of players of his quality are required, regardless of the outcome today.
Today, in Man City, we face the best team we’ve come across all season and it will be an acid test for what we should hope for in the rest of the campaign.
Part of me knows this remodelled Arsenal has not faced a team of this quality during our mini resurgence and it could provide a harsh reality check. Part me of me also knows that we are weakened by Santos’ absence and the likely re-shuffling of defenders it will cause.
And yet part of me also has a belief that the maturity now being shown by the team and the desire to keep winning – together with the body blow that Man City took in losing for the first time – may be enough to spring a surprise. There’s been a definite change in the team compared to the gloom I was expecting us to descend into after the Man U, Blackburn and Spurs defeats.
Winning this match would suddenly make a title challenge an outside possibility, closing the gap to top spot to just six points. I can’t convince myself we have enough quality in depth to maintain our form until May but a victory would feel like a salvage job of some of the points thrown away at the start of the season, before our transfer deadline deals were made.
Overhauling Man City would involve turning their blip of the Chelsea defeat into a wobble and watching it grow into a crisis. With the array of talent they possess and their Invincibles-like one-touch passing style, they look certain to claim the title otherwise. At least we don’t have to worry about ensuring the unbeaten record of the Invincibles’ will remain unique in the history books for another year.
All a defeat today would cost us is ground in the race for fourth – you can’t imagine there being any lasting mental damage from losing to the title favourites – and confirm that is the height of our ambitions for the remaining 22 games (at least five losses before Christmas is not the record of champions-elect).
A win followed by a decent Christmas and some January reinforcements would make life much more interesting, though.
Podolski is not the German we need
Talking of the January sales, I was glad Wenger gave short shrift to the possibility of a move for Lukas Podolski when he was asked about it on Friday. Podolski has never really impressed consistently and reminds me of a less skilful Jose Antonio Reyes – very quick and with a powerful shot but lacking in guile and craft. We’ve already got one left foot cannon up front and we don’t need another (unless Van Persie doesn’t sign that contract…).
The Bundesliga striker I’d prefer is Marko Reus of Borussia Moenchengladbach. It is usual for the best of the lesser German clubs to be picked up by Bayern Munich but we’ve been linked with him quietly and from what I’ve seen of him he would be a great addition to the front line. Small, quick, technical and adaptable, he represents the new type of player that is favoured in the modern 4-3-3 formation – not a striker, not a winger, not an ‘in the hole’ man, just an attacker who creates and scores.
If we really do want to make a title push a couple of players of his quality are required, regardless of the outcome today.
Thursday, 8 December 2011
All aboard for a European tour, 2005/06-style
Overnight, our chances of achieving something in Europe have risen markedly. With the surprise departure of Man U from the Champions League, as well as the more expected loss of Man City, two teams who were more than capable of knocking us out have left the competition.
All right, I know I shouldn’t get carried away since the two favourites, Barcelona and Real Madrid, look to be head and shoulders above the rest. Were we to face either of them over two legs I couldn’t predict anything for us except more disappointment.
But with a kind draw and a continued improvement in defence, we look capable of repeating our run to the final in 2005/06, hopefully this time going one step better.
The similarities can be seen in our league performance so far – after 14 games back then we had struggled to adjust to the loss of our captain and collected 26 points, winning eight and losing four, the same as today.
The main difference between the two campaigns was that we had a much meaner defence back then.
But over the last few matches the current unit has looked increasingly solid. Whether it can replicate the string of clean sheets that led us to Paris is doubtful but with the Manchester representatives now plying their trade on Channel 5 on a Thursday night I’m a lot more confident.
All right, I know I shouldn’t get carried away since the two favourites, Barcelona and Real Madrid, look to be head and shoulders above the rest. Were we to face either of them over two legs I couldn’t predict anything for us except more disappointment.
But with a kind draw and a continued improvement in defence, we look capable of repeating our run to the final in 2005/06, hopefully this time going one step better.
The similarities can be seen in our league performance so far – after 14 games back then we had struggled to adjust to the loss of our captain and collected 26 points, winning eight and losing four, the same as today.
The main difference between the two campaigns was that we had a much meaner defence back then.
But over the last few matches the current unit has looked increasingly solid. Whether it can replicate the string of clean sheets that led us to Paris is doubtful but with the Manchester representatives now plying their trade on Channel 5 on a Thursday night I’m a lot more confident.
Wednesday, 30 November 2011
Some Q&As on the season so far
It’s been a busy few weeks meaning I’ve not had chance to commit my thoughts on the Arse to the blog recently so I’m taking stock and summarising how I see things four months in to the season.
Where would we be if we’d managed the summer transfers better?
The recent run of positive performances following the Spurs defeat showed that the last minute transfers of Mertesacker and Arteta, and to a lesser extent Santos, have improved the team. The maturity and ‘been there, survived that’ experience they bring to the side has definitely contributed to our wins.
It just reinforces how badly we handled the summer transfer window. As I said at the time, it made no sense to bring in players of their stature – good professionals who see joining Arsenal as a move up the ladder regardless of whether we’re in the Champions League or not – so late in the day. They would have come as the final whistle blew at the end of last season if we’d gone for them with as much conviction as we did Gervinho. And there is no sense that waiting so late saved us a couple of million.
Now we are counting the cost – I would have expected us to put up a far stronger showing in the Old Trafford massacre and the home defeat to Liverpool with those three available. And although they played against Blackburn, the stupid loss there may have been avoided if they’d had time to adapt. Those nine points could be very costly come May.
What happens when Van Persie gets injured?
In short, we slip down the table given the goal-scoring form of Gervinho and Chamakh. At the start of the season I said we were Robin reliant and he needed a ‘player of the season’ year if we were to achieve anything. So far he has delivered exactly that. He is being managed with kid gloves to keep him fit and we can only hope that remains the case. How that can continue up to and during the business end of the season is a mystery to me.
How much do we miss Wilshere?
Even more than I was expecting. Wenger could never have planned to lose Jack for so long – what looked like a pretty innocuous pre-season injury has turned into a five-month absence. With him we would have accrued more points, as simple as that. His reputation has grown as we have struggled without him and you sense he will thrive on that on his return.
What has happened to Arshavin?
Who knows but it’s sad to see him playing so poorly. Last season he began to be sloppy regularly – five yard passes going awry, poor decision-making – but now he just looks completely devoid of confidence and form. It must be pretty embarrassing for him to be continually coming on as a sub with 15 minutes to go and you get the feeling he will be looking to escape in January.
Can Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain play together?
Both have looked good on the wing and AOC looks like a natural playmaking midfielder, while Theo is more of an impact weapon. Theo has improved this year, providing a number of assists but ultimately you sense AOC will be the better player in that position. It’s a good problem but one that has a messy ending if it is a straight choice between the two as a starter. Remember Theo’s contract is up for negotiation in the summer as well.
Why was Yossi Benayoun captain last night?
A minor point, but picking a guy who has played nine games for the club (including six substitute appearances) and is currently on loan from one of our biggest rivals is ridiculous. Wenger has always treated the role of captaincy too lightly – or, to put it differently, he has always underestimated how beneficial picking the right captain could be – and Benayoun taking the armband against Man City reflects that.
Are we going to finish in the top four?
Despite the pretty gloomy tone to this assessment, we are only three points off fourth place and are level with Liverpool. The Scousers and Spurs both appear more dynamic in attack than us and Liverpool have Gerrard to come back while Spurs have weapons from all directions – Bale, Defoe, Adebayor, Lennon. But you wouldn’t bet against them both hitting sticky patches – the question will be whether we will be close enough to take advantage.
What about Europe?
The major plus point to the season so far is going one better than last year and securing top spot in the Champions League group. By avoiding Barcelona and Real Madrid (and Man U, of course) we’ve got a great chance of making the last 16. It will depend on who we draw but the increased assuredness we are playing with thanks to the older heads in the team suggests we might be well placed for making our best fist of Europe for four or five years.
Will Wenger be our manager come the summer?
If the question was ‘should Wenger be our manager’ I would answer with much more conviction: no. I think the time has come for a change regardless of whether we finish fourth or not. Our attacking football is not as free-flowing and exciting as it once was, our defence is still leaky and as many players are getting worse (or at least not getting markedly better) under his watch (Arshavin, Chamakh, Rosicky, Diaby, Squillaci etc) as are improving.
Whether he will be in post depends almost entirely on the fourth spot – make that and he’ll almost certainly still be there. If not, and especially if the challenge in the cups peters out again, I think he will feel his time is up and the board will agree with him. The decision will always be his and the directors will listen to him, as always.
Carlo Ancelotti is going out of his way to remind people of his passion for English football and his devotion to improving his language skills. He is waiting for a chance at, one imagines most realistically, Spurs, Liverpool or Arsenal. I can’t see any reason why having him at the helm would put us in a worse position.
Where would we be if we’d managed the summer transfers better?
The recent run of positive performances following the Spurs defeat showed that the last minute transfers of Mertesacker and Arteta, and to a lesser extent Santos, have improved the team. The maturity and ‘been there, survived that’ experience they bring to the side has definitely contributed to our wins.
It just reinforces how badly we handled the summer transfer window. As I said at the time, it made no sense to bring in players of their stature – good professionals who see joining Arsenal as a move up the ladder regardless of whether we’re in the Champions League or not – so late in the day. They would have come as the final whistle blew at the end of last season if we’d gone for them with as much conviction as we did Gervinho. And there is no sense that waiting so late saved us a couple of million.
Now we are counting the cost – I would have expected us to put up a far stronger showing in the Old Trafford massacre and the home defeat to Liverpool with those three available. And although they played against Blackburn, the stupid loss there may have been avoided if they’d had time to adapt. Those nine points could be very costly come May.
What happens when Van Persie gets injured?
In short, we slip down the table given the goal-scoring form of Gervinho and Chamakh. At the start of the season I said we were Robin reliant and he needed a ‘player of the season’ year if we were to achieve anything. So far he has delivered exactly that. He is being managed with kid gloves to keep him fit and we can only hope that remains the case. How that can continue up to and during the business end of the season is a mystery to me.
How much do we miss Wilshere?
Even more than I was expecting. Wenger could never have planned to lose Jack for so long – what looked like a pretty innocuous pre-season injury has turned into a five-month absence. With him we would have accrued more points, as simple as that. His reputation has grown as we have struggled without him and you sense he will thrive on that on his return.
What has happened to Arshavin?
Who knows but it’s sad to see him playing so poorly. Last season he began to be sloppy regularly – five yard passes going awry, poor decision-making – but now he just looks completely devoid of confidence and form. It must be pretty embarrassing for him to be continually coming on as a sub with 15 minutes to go and you get the feeling he will be looking to escape in January.
Can Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain play together?
Both have looked good on the wing and AOC looks like a natural playmaking midfielder, while Theo is more of an impact weapon. Theo has improved this year, providing a number of assists but ultimately you sense AOC will be the better player in that position. It’s a good problem but one that has a messy ending if it is a straight choice between the two as a starter. Remember Theo’s contract is up for negotiation in the summer as well.
Why was Yossi Benayoun captain last night?
A minor point, but picking a guy who has played nine games for the club (including six substitute appearances) and is currently on loan from one of our biggest rivals is ridiculous. Wenger has always treated the role of captaincy too lightly – or, to put it differently, he has always underestimated how beneficial picking the right captain could be – and Benayoun taking the armband against Man City reflects that.
Are we going to finish in the top four?
Despite the pretty gloomy tone to this assessment, we are only three points off fourth place and are level with Liverpool. The Scousers and Spurs both appear more dynamic in attack than us and Liverpool have Gerrard to come back while Spurs have weapons from all directions – Bale, Defoe, Adebayor, Lennon. But you wouldn’t bet against them both hitting sticky patches – the question will be whether we will be close enough to take advantage.
What about Europe?
The major plus point to the season so far is going one better than last year and securing top spot in the Champions League group. By avoiding Barcelona and Real Madrid (and Man U, of course) we’ve got a great chance of making the last 16. It will depend on who we draw but the increased assuredness we are playing with thanks to the older heads in the team suggests we might be well placed for making our best fist of Europe for four or five years.
Will Wenger be our manager come the summer?
If the question was ‘should Wenger be our manager’ I would answer with much more conviction: no. I think the time has come for a change regardless of whether we finish fourth or not. Our attacking football is not as free-flowing and exciting as it once was, our defence is still leaky and as many players are getting worse (or at least not getting markedly better) under his watch (Arshavin, Chamakh, Rosicky, Diaby, Squillaci etc) as are improving.
Whether he will be in post depends almost entirely on the fourth spot – make that and he’ll almost certainly still be there. If not, and especially if the challenge in the cups peters out again, I think he will feel his time is up and the board will agree with him. The decision will always be his and the directors will listen to him, as always.
Carlo Ancelotti is going out of his way to remind people of his passion for English football and his devotion to improving his language skills. He is waiting for a chance at, one imagines most realistically, Spurs, Liverpool or Arsenal. I can’t see any reason why having him at the helm would put us in a worse position.
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