Friday 30 December 2011

Lacklustre Arsenal drop vital points at the Emirates

Arsenal 1-1 Wolves

Arsenal needlessly surrendered two points against Wolves as their lacklustre display left the Emirates crowd extremely frustrated. In similar fashion to the away win against Aston Villa, the Gunners lacked urgency once they had taken an early lead. However, while the poor performance at Villa Park was glossed over with a late winning goal, there was to be no such reprieve on this occasion.
Against Wolves, Gervinho gave the Gunners the lead in the eight minute of the game with a fine, flowing move as Arsenal hit the opposition on the counter attack. Djourou robbed Matt Jarvis of possession and fed Rosicky who strove forward before turning on the half way line and passing the ball to Benayoun, whose excellent through ball sent Gervinho, who had made a perfectly timed run, through on goal to shimmy past the goalkeeper and fire Arsenal ahead. The early goal against a team whose game plan would have been to simply frustrate the Gunners in an attempt to leave the Emirates with a point, should have led to the proverbial opening of the floodgates. However Arsenal did not press forward in search of the crucial second goal which would have effectively killed the game off. Rather they sat back and simply passed the ball along the back line time and time again and although Wolves did not appear to possess the necessary fire power to threaten the Gunners defence, a one goal lead is always extremely vulnerable.

And so it proved in the 38th minute as Steven Fletcher equalised for the visitors. A Wolves corner could only be headed out to the edge of the penalty area to Stephen Hunt, whose shot was deflected into the path of Fletcher to nod past Szczesny. Wolves now had something to hold on to and would not relinquish it easily. In the second half Arsenal pressed forward in an attempt to regain the lead, but were denied time and again by Wayne Hennessey. He saved well from a Mertesacker header, a Van Persie effort from point blank range as well as tipping over the Dutchman’s powerful free kick. Even when Wolves were reduced to ten men, the Gunners could not press home their advantage, with Wenger making the strange decision to bring on the ineffectual Chamakh instead of Oxlade-Chamberlain.

When the opposition are down to ten men, they will crowd the middle of the pitch and so it is essential to make the pitch as wide as possible and switch the ball from side to side to stretch their defensive lines. The introduction of Oxlade-Chamberlain, with his wonderful pace, would have terrified the Wolves defence and provided the required width. However Chamakh’s presence only served to force Arsenal to attack through the middle and so essentially played into the hands of the opposition, who were continually allowed to waste time by the utterly useless and spineless referee Stuart Attwell.

However Arsenal only have themselves to blame. The previous day they had witnessed Chelsea, Manchester City and Liverpool all lose points, but failed to take advantage themselves. They took the early lead but did not capitalise on this and were ultimately made to pay for their casual approach to the game following Gervinho’s opener. The poor result was then further compounded in the evening as Tottenham’s win over Norwich led to the opening of a five point lead over the Gunners with a game in hand. With performances like this, Arsenal will find it extremely difficult to catch their North London rivals.

Thursday 22 December 2011

Back to winning ways

Aston Villa 1-2 Arsenal

Arsenal bounced back from defeat against Manchester City with a hard fought victory over Aston Villa last night. Arsene Wenger made two changes to the team defeated at the Etihad Stadium, with Emmanuel Frimpong replacing the suspended Song and Francis Coquelin deployed at right-back in place of the injured Djourou.

Villa had the better of the early exchanges and Szczesny had to produce a fine reflex save to deny Gabby Agbonlahor from giving the hosts the lead with a free header, while Coquelin was struggling to contain the trickery of Charles N’Zogbia and received an early yellow card for his troubles. The game changed in the 17th minute however as Theo Walcott’s skilful turn on the edge of the box caused Ciaran Clark to panic and pull back the Arsenal forward inside the penalty area, giving the referee no option but to award a penalty. Robin Van Persie powerfully drilled his penalty past Guzan to give Arsenal the lead and equal Thierry Henry’s record of scoring 34 league goals in a calendar year. Although Villa continued to look dangerous on the attack, the Gunners now had a foothold in the game and could have further increased their lead as Walcott was sent clear through on goal only to see his attempt to chip the onrushing Guzan blocked by the American goalkeeper. Van Persie then played the ball through to Aaron Ramsey whose shot sailed harmlessly over the bar.

Alex Mcleish’s half time team talk certainly roused the home side in the second half, as they persistently pressed Arsenal high up the pitch and battled energetically in midfield, forcing the Gunners to relinquish possession with ease. Villa’s equaliser arrived as a result of their high pressing game. A long clearance by Guzan was flicked on by Agbonlahor into the path of Vermaelen, who headed the ball towards Mertesacker. However the Belgian, who did not have his best game in an Arsenal shirt, sold his German team mate short, allowing Albrighton to steal the ball and calmly steer his shot past Szczesny for the 20,000th Premier League goal. Villa were now in the ascendancy and Arsenal were barely holding on, reflected in the possession statistic, which at one point showed Villa as having 69% possession. Wenger reacted by replacing the strength of Frimpong with the mercurial Rosicky. The change had an immediate impact as the Gunners were able to retain possession and build attacks, which more often than not were repelled by the immense Richard Dunne. In the 80th minute Arshavin and Benayoun were introduced as Arsenal went in search of the winner. Needless to say the Russian had little impact on the match, but Benayoun’s close control and incisiveness added further impetus to the Gunners attack. In the 87th minute the Arsenal pressure finally told as Benayoun nodded in Van Persie’s corner to take all three points back to the Emirates.



Benayoun celebrates Arsenal's winner

The Gunners just had to see out the final few minutes of the match and were assisted by Alan Hutton’s stupidity. The Tottenham reject first lost his temper and picked up a yellow card following a clear foul on Van Persie (who had earlier inexplicably received a yellow card himself for simulation, after being brought down in the penalty area, which should have led to the award of a second penalty for Arsenal). Barely two minutes later, Hutton’s ridiculous lunge at Vermaelen led to his second yellow card, allowing the Gunners to maintain possession until the referee blew the final whistle.

Although Arsenal's performance was far from their best, the fact they still managed to win the game, following Sunday’s disappointing result, was highly impressive. After a shaky start Coquelin grew into the game and may just be the solution to the right-back problem, while Benayoun surely deserves more playing time after an impressive cameo appearance. Hopefully we can build on this result in the next two home games against Wolves and QPR.

Tuesday 20 December 2011

Gunners so close but yet so far

Manchester City 1-0 Arsenal

Arsenal ultimately lost to Manchester City on Sunday, but can be extremely proud of their performance, away from home to the world’s richest club and arguably best team in the league. Let’s not forget, this is the same team who earlier in the season, destroyed both Tottenham and Manchester United, at White Hart Lane and Old Trafford respectively. 

The Gunners arrived at the Etihad stadium without any recognised full-backs and therefore a reshuffled defence, which Manchester City sought to expose right from the start. They laid siege on the Arsenal back line, attacking with power and pace in the search for an early goal. Wojciech Szczesny came to the Gunners’ rescue, superbly denying Mario Balotelli from point blank range, following Mertesacker’s poor attempt at a clearance and then saving well from Sergio Aguero. The Argentine’s poor finish when clean through on goal had earlier also let the Gunners off the hook. However following this initial spell of intense pressure, Arsenal began to get their passing game going and were also a threat going forward. Joe Hart was extremely fortunate to see Gervinho’s shot squirm underneath him and just wide of the post. Then from the resultant corner, Van Persie laid the ball into the path of Aaron Ramsey, on the edge of the box, whose shot was destined for the bottom corner of the goal, but was well saved by Hart.

Arsenal were admirably matching City stride for stride, but then just before half time Johan Djourou pulled up with a groin injury from which he would not recover. Two minutes into the second half he was replaced by Ignasi Miguel resulting in a complete reshuffle of the entire defence. Vermaelen switched from left-back to centre-half alongside Mertesacker, while Koscielny moved from centre-half to right-back, allowing Miguel to fill in at left-back. This major reshuffle clearly led to confusion as the backline no longer defended as one, at times Mertesacker would step up in an attempt to catch the opposition offside, while Vermaelen would sit back, effectively playing the opposition on-side and vice versa. It was this confusion which led to Manchester City’s winning goal. Koscielny was nowhere to be seen as Nasri played the ball forward, into the space vacated by the emergency right-back, to Balotelli. The Italian international was met by Alex Song on the edge of the box, however rather than ushering Balotelli towards the touchline Song allowed him to move inside far too easily and he duly unleashed a powerful low shot towards goal which Szczesny could only parry into the path of Aguero. The Argentine could not connect cleanly with the ball however due to Vermaelen’s attempted clearance, which unfortunately fell straight to David Silva to fire into an empty net.

Silva scores for Manchester City

The rest of the second half was a wonderful advert for the Premier League as both teams attacked in search of another goal. Arsenal were cruelly denied the equaliser they richly deserved as in the dying minutes of the match Thomas Vermaelen went desperately close with two powerful efforts from outside the box. The first was well saved by Hart while the second sailed painstakingly wide of the far post. Arsenal had played fantastically well but ultimately lost due to their lack of squad depth. Although most teams would struggle to cope with injuries to four full backs, there can be no excuse for the lack of attacking options on the substitute’s bench.


Another woeful display from
Arshavin on sunday
Wenger decided to replace the ineffectual Walcott with Arshavin on Sunday, however the Russian only served to nullify the team’s attacking threat through poor control, wayward passing and pathetic shots. Why the manager continues to persevere with him is completely beyond me. Another underperforming player, Chamakh, was also introduced towards the end of the match and although some may argue he was not given enough time to make his mark on the game, I would argue he hasn’t managed to do this once in the past year. When a match isn’t going our way, there is simply no one on the substitute’s bench who Arsenal can turn to, to change the game. Yet Wenger has already suggested he will not spend in the January transfer window and rejected speculation linking him with a move for Podolski. If he hadn’t rejected this speculation outright, maybe those underperforming may have upped their game for fear of dropping further down the pecking order. However Wenger seems content with the persistent mediocrity from certain individuals and so it would appear we will have to see out another season with players who are clearly not good enough for this team, and we expect Robin Van Persie to sign a new contract? Don’t make me laugh!   

Monday 12 December 2011

Gunners celebrate landmark with wonder goal

Arsenal 1-0 Everton
Robin Van Persie helped Arsenal celebrate its 125th year anniversary with a wonderful goal worthy of gracing any occasion. It was also fitting that such a goal was scored with several Arsenal legends watching on from the stands as the Gunners continued their fine league form with a hard fought victory against a determined Everton side.
There was a carnival atmosphere before the match as Arsenal legends such as Charlie George, Bob Wilson, George Graham, Lee Dixon, Ian Wright, Robert Pires and Thierry Henry were introduced to the crowd and formed a guard of honour as both sets of players entered the field, while the North Bank held up red and white cards spelling out the number 125. The man who founded Arsenal Football Club all those years ago, David Danskin, was represented by his great grandchildren who carried the match ball to the centre circle and referee Howard Webb tossed a six pence coin to determine who would kick-off (each member of that very first Arsenal side contributed one six pence for the club to buy its very first football).
Arsenal played well in the first half, with Theo Walcott and Gervinho using their electrifying pace to get in behind Everton’s high defensive line. However they just could not get the ball past Tim Howard. Aaron Ramsey was sent clear through on goal, but his first touch was not great and sent him wide of the goal, forcing him to skilfully turn and swivel before unleashing an excellent curling shot which sailed just over the bar. Walcott then ran through on goal and unselfishly laid the ball square but a mix up between Gervinho and Ramsey resulted in another missed opportunity, while Gervinho also raced through, only to see his shot saved by Howard. If the Ivory Coast international can improve his composure in front of goal, he will be a truly exceptional player.
Arsenal were left to rue those missed chances as they found it increasingly difficult to create goal-scoring opportunities in the second half. Everton defended well, with two solid lines of defence and signalled their intention to take home a point by replacing Louis Saha with defender Sylvain Distin, mid-way through the second half, effectively playing without a striker. It was clearly going to take something special to break down this Everton rear guard action. Step forward Robin Van Persie. In the 70th minute, Alex Song sent forward a lovely floated pass to the Dutchman, who duly volleyed the ball into the bottom right hand corner of the goal. It was a goal oozing with technical brilliance, a moment of sheer inspiration, applauded by Thierry Henry from the stands, and one that when seen again in slow motion simply took your breath away. No wonder Szczesny kissed Van Persie’s left foot at the end of the match!!
Arsenal saw out the last twenty minutes of the game, to secure an impressive victory against a team I consider one of the toughest to defeat in the Premier League. The back four, although experiencing some nervous moments, played well considering Vermaelen and Djourou were playing out of position, however they will face a more stringent test against Manchester City’s attack next Sunday. The midfield battled well and the front three, especially in the first half, linked well together and looked very dangerous. The Gunners’ impressive run of form has now taken them up to fourth in the league, if they can maintain this position over the festive period, we will be in a very strong position come the New Year.  

Wednesday 7 December 2011

Greek Farce

Olympiacos 3-1 Arsenal

Arsenal’s dire performance against Olympiacos last night can only be described as a comedy of errors. As Arsene Wenger justifiably made nine changes to the team that had beaten Wigan 4-0 at the weekend, the Gunners’ starting eleven contained several fringe players such as Oxlade-Chamberlain, Arshavin and Chamakh. In similar circumstances to the Carling Cup quarter final a week earlier, this was an opportunity for these players to impress the manager in an attempt to force their way into the first team. However unlike the excellent display against Manchester City, not one player rose to the occasion last night.

After a promising start to the game with chances falling to Chamakh and Arshavin, Arsenal simply deteriorated into a team who were incapable of maintaining possession. Every time the defence attempted to pass the ball forward to a midfield player, possession was lost and Arsenal were under pressure again. Considering the midfield contained the experienced Arshavin and Benayoun it was particularly disappointing that neither took control of the situation, allowing the game to simply pass them by. In the 16th minute the Olympiacos pressure finally told.  A forward pass by the Greek side was not cut out, following a distinct lack of communication between the hapless Squillaci and Djourou, allowing Rafik Djebbour to calmly round Fabianski and slot the ball home. The decision to play Djourou at right back spectacularly back fired as he was absolutely woeful, with one newspaper this morning awarding him a score of three out of ten for his performance. The Swiss international was caught out of position on numerous occasions and had clearly been identified as a weak link with Olympiacos mounting most of their attacks from his side.  Even Thomas Vermaelen did not perform to his usual high standards, at one point selling Fabianski short with a back pass forcing the Polish goalkeeper to rush out and clear the ball.

Fabianski suffered an injury shortly after this and was replaced by Vito Mannone, whose calamitous error for Olympiacos’ second made Arsenal fans all the more appreciative of Szczesny. As the Italian goalkeeper came rushing out of the area to head clear a through ball, his clearance fell straight to David Fuster, who clipped the ball back towards the Arsenal goal. The retreating Mannone did not realise he was now back inside his penalty area and so rather than catch the ball, he attempted to kick it clear, completely missing the ball, leaving it to slowly trickle into the goal.

There was absolutely no improvement in the second half from Arsenal, as they continued to concede possession cheaply, with Chamakh and the entire midfield again failing to impose themselves on the game. The only surprise was the fact Olympiacos failed to capitalise on the error strewn performance of the Gunners’ defence. While Andre Santos further compounded Arsenal’s misery as he suffered what has been described by Wenger as a bad ankle injury, effectively leaving Arsenal without any fit full backs. However in the 57th minute Yossi Benayoun’s wonderful volley reduced the arrears and gave the Gunners hope that they could salvage something from this game. Yet Olympiacos finished the game off in the last minute as Olof Melberg’s header came back off the post and into the path of Modesto to fire into the empty net.

Although the result was essentially insignificant for the Gunners as they had already qualified as group winners, Arsenal’s second string did themselves absolutely no favours with this insipid performance.   

Monday 5 December 2011

Arsenal ease past Wigan

Wigan 0-4 Arsenal

Arsenal produced a dominant display against Wigan Athletic, scoring four goals without reply, to take home all three points. The performance was one akin to Arsenal of old as they passed the ball at will while the wonderful interplay and understanding that is developing between the front three of Walcott, Van Persie and Gervinho is extremely promising.


Vermaelen heads home Arsenal's second
Yet Arsenal did not have it all their own way from the start as Wigan began the game strongly, pressing high up the pitch and placing the Arsenal full backs under pressure. As a result the Gunners struggled at first to establish their passing game. It was a match that maybe earlier in the season Arsenal would not have won and had Jordi Gomez’s early shot not been blocked by Andre Santos it may well have been a different story. However what impressed me most was the fact the players remained calm, slowly but surely began to assert their authority and as the first half wore on Wigan began to find it more and more difficult to maintain possession and get out of their own half. In the 28th minute the increasing pressure told as Vermaelen carried the ball out from defence, fed Mikel Arteta who strode forward and unleashed a long range shot which Ali Al Habsi should have saved, but instead let slip through both hands and into the net to put Arsenal in front. One minute later the Gunners doubled their lead from a Robin Van Persie corner and never looked back. The Dutchman’s fine delivery headed in at the back post by Thomas Vermaelen.
The second half began in similar fashion to the first, with Wigan starting brightly but quickly fading away as Arsenal began to dominate once more. Aaron Ramsey was denied a clear penalty, by the hapless Mark Clattenburg, when the Welshman was pulled back in the area before Gervinho put the result beyond any doubt. Van Persie’s wonderful close control in the Wigan box, created just enough space for him to unleash a powerful shot on goal, which Al Habsi could only parry into the path of Gervinho, who applied the simplest of finishes. With Arsenal having scored three goals the only surprise was the omission of a certain Dutchman from the score sheet. He would not be denied. In the 78th minute Theo Walcott was sent clear, his pace and strength enabling him to get past his marker, before laying the ball back for Van Persie to seal a comfortable and stylish win for the Gunners.

Walcott and Van Persie celebrate Arsenal's fourth goal against Wigan
It was no surprise that Arsenal’s front three were heavily involved in the last two goals on Saturday. They are slowly becoming one of the most potent attacks in the Premier League. Walcott and Gervinho have phenomenal pace and regularly look to get in behind the opposition’s backline, forcing them to play deeper and so creating more space for the Gunners’ midfield. Up front Van Persie is clearly in the form of his life and feels he can score at any given moment. Significantly all three are extremely versatile and continually alternate their positions throughout the match, posing the opposition defence with various problems and the Arsenal attack with numerous options. They are also becoming familiar with each other’s game and so when in possession, instinctively know where the others will be, increasing the speed and effectiveness of the attack. Hopefully all three can remain fit as we enter the notoriously busy Christmas schedule as they are essential to Arsenal’s excellent recent run of results.