Another Monday morning and off to work for many faced with the negative banter that an Arsenal defeat brings. But worse, not just any defeat the Spuds have turned us over, years of disingenuous crowing at our North London neighbours is coming home to roost today. All that “I can’t wait to get to work” of previous years, doesn’t work so well today does it?
To make it worse we Gooners have that sick feeling that all is not fair in our footballworld, another improbable killer goal hit from outside the area just like the efforts in recent years by Bentley and Rose. How many first team appearances have those two made since, did they ever score again?
Having pulled back from another refereeing disaster, when he missed in the build up to the first goal a blatant hand ball that my cat would have spotted and she has been dead 5 years, bless her. You would have thought that was enough, but no, not this day not after all the pain we have inflicted on the spuds at their manor in years gone by. What self-respecting Gooner doesn’t know that we have won the league more times at the lane than the Lilywhites themselves? So take your victory you spuds, enjoy it doubly, knowing but not admitting that it was a mickey mouse win. Give us back our stick, whilst smirking at the thought that we have lost our most experienced and effective defender with a broken leg.
So is it the end of the world? Nah, never, we face a tough season yes, injuries as ever drag us down, I wonder how long before some joker on a blog blames the medical team for Sagna’s injury. We have been here before, tough seasons are nothing new. What is new is the blog world and its outpourings of guilt, bile and criticism. Well let’s have it today and then recognise yesterday for what it was, a brave if less than perfect performance by a team in turmoil from injury and change.
They say that “those who the gods wish to destroy they first make mad”, well it’s up to you fans, if you want to destroy our great club keep on being mad at players and staff. On the other hand if you wish to carry us through and back to greater heights, do what us older fans have done with generations of past Arsenal teams support them through their suffering, accept it isn’t our year, but it is our team and look forward to the circle turning, Lady luck smiling on us and better days ahead.
Match report
A defeat at the hands of those shag-eared canker-blossoms from down the road always hurts.
It’s even worse when the defeat is LITERALLY at their hands (or, rather, their arm in this case).
And there was an outpouring of understandable negativity in the Arsenal Arsenal comments last night.
The aim of this match report is to offer a bit of perspective and to look for the positives out of what was, in the end, a disappointing day.
Overall it was a fairly even game between two decent teams. I would say we shaded it and deserved at least a point, probably all three.
The Spuds started brightly and gave us a few scares, but after the first 10 minutes we took complete control of midfield and looked the better side.
Gervinho had a great chance to put us ahead but shanked a low shot just past the post – what’s happened to his pre-season form, when he was banging them in for fun?
People will slag him off, but he was always willing to take on the defenders and regularly got past them, even if his ensuing use of the ball was less than perfect. Maybe he needs to polish that great domed forehead a bit more to blind the opposition.
Song, after a dodgy few minutes, settled in to his defensive duties really well, but his passing was off-key, frustratingly leading to us losing hard-earned possession without making the scumbags work for it.
Ramsey was busy, but his passing was also well off and several times in the final third he took the wrong option, killing promising attacking moves. I wrote a piece supporting Aaron last week, but he did not cover himself in glory in the NLD.
Just before Van-der-Cheat scored the opener we were looking very comfortable and I was beginning to relax. Silly me.
A quick counter-attack, a pass out to the left of the box from the otherwise ineffectual Adebarndoor and Van-der-Cheat clearly brought the ball down with his left arm before passing it into the net.
Such is our luck with decisions these days that neither the lino nor the ref spotted it, although I felt our closest defenders (mainly the BFG) could have done more in making vociferous appeals for handball.
Half time 0-1.
The start of the second half was delayed because of a problem with one of the goal nets. Apparently Harry got a job lot from a bloke down the market.
For the first few minutes of the second half we again looked shaky, but then Song made a powerful run from the back, got to the by-line like a winger and put in a good cross. Aaron Ramsey was on hand to skillfully divert the ball into the roof of the net.
When it came to passing, Ramsey’s radar appeared to have been borrowed from the Exxon Valdez, but he showed his ability to be in the box at the right time (a rare skill among Arsenal players in recent years) and will continue to score goals for us.
Following the goal we completely dominated the game for about 20 minutes and could have had a couple more, but our attacks were frustratingly breaking down at the vital moment.
Then Sagna landed badly after a challenge by the touchline and went off on a stretcher with what is being reported is a broken leg. Jenkinson came on but our rhythm was disturbed and when Twitchy took the Cheat off and replaced him with the more combative Sandro, the game fell back into the balance again.
The second Spud goal game from a wicked long shot by Walker – another Danny Rose moment. If I was Walker I’d be worried that I was about to disappear without trace, just like Rose. The ball swerved viciously just before reaching Szczesney, who I thought did well to get a hand to it.
But in the run-up our defence looked far more stretched than it should have been at 1-1 in a NLD away from home: the familiar feeling of us chasing the win when we might have been better off shutting up shop for the point.
After that we huffed and puffed but never really looked like scoring and, far too often, we gave the ball away when not under direct pressure – a result of either nerves or tiredness.
Some perennial issues about the defence were raised: why were we playing such a high line? I don’t know the answer to that, but it seemed to work in terms of reducing the amount of Spud attempts on goal. The defenders were talking to each other and the offside trap worked well on several occasions.
This was a much easier defeat to take than some of the recent capitulations (against the Spuds and others). We played some good football, we looked the better team for most of the game and everyone seemed to give their all. I just don’t get the comments made last night about our players not trying.
We are a team in transition, following the extremely late moves we made in the transfer window and the succession of injuries and suspensions that have blighted us ever since. Apparently we have used more players in our EPL games this year than any other team (27, to be exact).
Players are still learning to work together and the hardest part to get right in this respect is in the final third. But we showed enough to make me believe it will come good sooner rather than later.
I thought there were many encouraging signs and some very promising performances, notably from Szczesney, Gibbs, Song, Mertesacker and Coquelin.
If the referee or linesman had spotted the Cheat’s handball, if Szczesney had managed a slightly firmer touch on Walker’s shot, if Gervinho had buried his (relatively) easy chance we might well be celebrating a win.
All the pundits have no hesitation in counting the Spuds and Liverpool as serious contenders for fourth place. We have played both and have been better than both, despite the fact that we don’t have a single point to show for either game.
It’s fashionable to slate Arsenal right now, but we’re in better shape than our league position indicates.
Player Ratings
Szczesney: Made some top class saves and the second goal was a harder save than it looked. 7
Sagna: Did well to keep Bale quiet and was his usual dependable self until the unfortunate injury. 6
Mertesacker: Played well overall, even though the high line probably doesn’t suit him. Got a bit lost for the first goal. 6
Song: Had Adebarndoor in his pocket for most of the match. His passing was occasionally erratic. 6.5
Gibbs: Worked well up and down the line all day long. His best game for us this season, although a couple of times he found himself the wrong side of his man. 7
Ramsey: Hard working but his passing touch was off all game. An extra point for the goal though. 5.5
Arteta: Good game without overly imposing himself. He always has time, seldom loses the ball and was the oil in our midfield engine. 6
Coquelin: What a prospect this boy is. Tackling, passing and positional play were all very good. He faded, but is definitely ahead of Frimpong in his development. MoTM, 7.5
Walcott: Did what he could, including trying a few long shots, but things didn’t quite come off. 6
Gervinho: I like his willingness to take on defenders but his end product needs to improve. Should have opened the scoring for us. 6
Van Persie: Showed his class whenever he had the ball, but the understanding with our front three is not quite there yet. 7
Subs
Jenkinson: I thought he did well when he came on, although he was not able to contain Bale as well as Sagna had. 6
Benayoun: Hustled and bustled, but couldn’t make anything happen. 6
Arshavin: Didn’t have much time to change things. But he’s the sort of player you’d hope would pull out a moment of magic. Sadly, he’s all muggle and no wizard at the moment.
Written by dandan and match report by RockyLives
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