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Wigan 0 – 1 Arsenal: Arsenal’s true leader makes it a merrier Christmas

684 comments December 23rd, 2012

Wigan 0 – 1 Arsenal (Arteta 60)
Match Report | Highlights | Arsene’s reaction

Mikel Arteta has scored some incredibly important goals for Arsenal…
Last season there was the dramatic winner against Man City, and in this campaign alone he’s proved the difference against QPR, West Brom and Wigan, collecting an invaluable nine points along the way.  It’s a record that cements his status as the true leader of this Arsenal team.  Thomas Vermaelen may wear the armband, but when it comes to taking responsibility on the pitch, there is no-one more commanding than Arteta.

Bacary Sagna showed his class, again…
Midway through the first half there was a little moment when Sagna, stuck on the touchline and under pressure from two Wigan players, played a left-footed curling pass between the two onrushing players, across the field, and in to the path of Thomas Vermaelen.  That is impressive enough.  What I haven’t mentioned yet is that as he did this, Sagna was falling over.  It was an incredible show of balance, strength, athleticism and technique.  And, critically, something I’m not sure Carl Jenkinson will ever be able to do.  Bacary Sagna is one of the best right-backs in the world.  It’s essential the club do everything they can to keep him.

Oxlade-Chamberlain should be starting regularly now…
He was our most dangerous attacking threat against Wigan, but a better reason to be playing him is that he represents a huge part of the future of this club.  The other options on that right flank do not represent long-term options: Gervinho is a player whose talent seems to be on the wane; Theo Walcott still looks destined to walk away on a Bosman; and Aaron Ramsey will surely settle as a central midfielder rather than auxiliary wide-man.  The Ox needs game-time to improve, and now he’s showing signs of a return to form, there’s no reason not to give it to him.

Wojciech Szczesny made a couple of crucial saves…
…that suggest he is returning to his best.  It’s clear that being dropped by Poland during EURO 2012 affected his confidence, and the injuries he was carrying in the first half of the year also undermined him.  Now, after a prolonged rest, he looks a better and more mature ‘keeper.  His save from Arouna Kone was the difference between this being one point and three.

The table is outrageously tight…
Yesterday’s results mean that we are now level on 30 points with Everton, Tottenham, and West Brom.  Chelsea sit just one point behind, but have two games in hand.  Despite their impressive form this season, I still expect the Baggies to fall away, meaning the Champions League spots will go to two from the remaining foursome.

The fact we sit in third certainly puts a shinier perspective on things.  Three league wins in a row gives us some semblance of momentum, and our remaining fixture of the year (Newcastle at home) looks eminently winnable.  The New Year will enable us to draw a line under an uncomfortable 2012, and also hopefully under our tentative transfer policy. If Arsene’s New Year’s Resolution is to loosen the purse strings, it could make for a brighter, shinier 2013.

Arsenal 2 – 0 WBA: Divers are already retrospectively punished

704 comments December 9th, 2012

Match Report | Highlights | Arsene’s reaction

Divers are already retrospectively punished…
Yes, Santi dived.  Yes, it was ugly.  And no, I don’t want it happening again.  That said, you won’t hear me lambasting him for it.  There are two reasons: the first is that we’re so desperate for points at the moment that I’ll take them however we can get them.  The second is that, unlike the majority of pundits, I don’t find diving to be the great corrupting evil of our game.  In fact, I’d far sooner see a player dive than commit a dangerous two-footed tackle.  It seems an odd quirk of our culture and its latent obsession with a neanderthal interpretation of masculinity that we’re more accepting of physical violence than a bit of cunning.  Fundamentally, I believe players are entitled to leap out of the way of a tackle.  There is no obligation to take the hit and get hurt.

That, I suspect, is exactly what Cazorla was attempting: to anticipate contact and exaggerate it to guarantee the decision.  Rather embarrassingly for him, the contact never came, and his subsequent leap and tumble can only ever be called a dive.  In an ideal world, the ref spots it and hands Cazorla a yellow card.  Unfortunately, the referee in this case was having a ninety minutes littered with incompetence, and made a poor decision.  You have to feel for West Brom, but few clubs are whiter-than-white here.  The Baggies themselves tried to win a penalty after a laughable dive from Markus Rosenberg.

There is outcry about the lack of retrospective punishment for divers.  I’m not sure I agree.  One need only have watched the second half to see the FA’s unspoken judiciary system in place.  Cazorla dribbled between four tackles, before being clearly fouled on the edge of the box: no free-kick.  This punishment can last longer than just one game – simply ask Gareth Bale, who has been booked twice recently for ‘dives’ when any other player would have won a free-kick.  In this age of television replays, the reputation earned becomes the punishment.  Santi will be lucky to win another penalty this season.

This was a much better Arsenal display…
We ought to have scored at least four goals, and looked relatively comfortable at the back too.  The midfield of Cazorla, Wilshere and Arteta looked so much better for a rest, and the latter showed just what a ballsy character he is with two no-nonsense penalties.  The English pair of Wilshere and Oxlade-Chamberlain had their best games of the season.  I’m sure I’m not alone in hoping that Chamberlain can put together a run of form to allay some of the concerns about Theo Walcott’s inevitable departure.

I occasionally wonder just what the other players make of Gervinho…
The Ivorian had one of his better games on Saturday.  He was energetic, hard-working and covered huge areas of the pitch.  However, his decision-making, final ball and finishing will always leave a lot to be desired.  In fact, the most reliable thing about Gervinho is that I will be complaining about him after the game.  When he missed from six yards out, Lukas Podolski, who was warming up on the sidelines, held his face in his hands for a good five seconds.  Little did he know he’d trump Gervinho with an even more outrageous miss after coming on as a substitute.

Olivier Giroud needs a goal again…
The Frenchman was desperate to take the second penalty, and not at all happy about Mikel Arteta asserting his authority and taking the kick himself.  When Arteta scored, Giroud turned and trudged back to the centre-circle as the rest of the team celebrated.  It was a little stroppy, and the mark of a player who is starting to feel the pressure again after failing to score in his last five appearances.

Arsenal are now just two points off fourth spot…
…whilst Chelsea’s mini blip means we’re only five points off third.  We’re in the fortunate position of being in direct competition with teams which are as flawed as our own.  If we can get it together, Champions League qualification is still very much within our grasp.

That said, it was painful seeing RVP clinch the Manchester derby…
That’s what football ought to be about.  Those glorious moments when you pinch victory in a table-topping clash thanks to your star player.  We had a player like that.  We sold him.  Still, look at that bank balance.  Lovely.

Arsenal 3 – 3 Fulham: Giroud’s excellence clouded by defensive incompetence

1,129 comments November 10th, 2012

Match Report | Highlights | Arsene’s reaction

This game should have been all about Olivier Giroud.
I said before the game I fancied the Frenchman to score – I should have put some money on it.  He scored two fantastic headers, taking his tally to six goals from his last seven starts.  It’s worth remembering that this performance came against the titanic Brede Hangeland.  Giroud competed with the Norwegian tirelessly and this ought to have been the day that he announced himself to the Premier League with a brace in a vital Arsenal win.  Of course, as it was, the defence had other ideas and Giroud is relegated from the headlines.

Some will say he spurned a final chance to make it his day by not volunteering to take the stoppage-time penalty.  It was interesting to note his body language – as soon as the kick was awarded, he started doing a ‘calm down’ gesture with his hands.  Perhaps he sensed the game was far from won.  Having missed his last kick, perhaps he also felt the added pressure of a possible hatrick meant he wasn’t best placed to take it.  After all, he’d looked far more lethal in the air than with his feet, and he couldn’t exactly head a penalty.  Anyhow, Mikel Arteta seemed pretty keen, taking the ball of Santi Cazorla – the only man to initially volunteer.

Was this Mikel Arteta’s first bad game for Arsenal?
After the Spaniard conceded the penalty, I pondered whether that was the first major mistake he’d made in an Arsenal shirt.  He was obviously keen to amend matters with the spot-kick, but unfortunately didn’t manage it.  When you look at Arteta’s performances since signing for the club, it’s hard to hold him too responsible.  This wasn’t his best game, but you can never question his commitment.

The missed penalty is a red herring.
Like Jack Wilshere’s sending off last week, or indeed Santi Cazorla’s goal, the penalty miss should not detract from the true story of the game: that Arsenal squandered a 2-0 lead for the second time in five days.  Scoring three goals at home should be enough to win any game – especially one in which you’ve led by two clear goals.  As it was, we allowed Fulham time to play, and they duly punished us.

Dimitar Berbatov and Bryan Ruiz were excellent.
Clubs like Chelsea, Liverpool, Tottenham, and indeed Arsenal should be asking themselves how this pair managed to end up at Fulham.  I don’t mean any disrespect to the Cottagers, but both plainly have the talent to be playing at a much higher level.

Our midfield were a mess.
Forgive me, but I don’t understand why a holding midfielder, Francis Coquelin, frequently found himself in a more advanced position than the more creative Mikel Arteta.   Also, I am conscious this may be heresy, but I’m not sure about the validity of keeping Santi Cazorla in the central three.  He drops in to wide areas to look for space, which means that the two left behind occasionally look a little isolated.  In the unlikely instance that everyone is fit and available, I’d like to see Arteta, Diaby and Wilshere in the middle with Cazorla drifting in from one of the wide positions.

The ‘Steve Bould effect’ myth has been destroyed.
After Arsenal kept a clean sheet in the first three games of the season, I said this:

“I’d like to go on record and say I think our defensive excellence has been somewhat overstated in the early part of this season.  Just as us conceding ten in the first three games of last season was anomalous, the three clean sheets could be a similar statistical oddity.  It will take a longer run of consistency before I declare that Steve Bould has replaced the current back four with clones of our well-drilled mid-90s heroes.”

I wish I had been wrong.   After today’s game, Arsenal no longer hold the statistic title of meanest defence in the league, and it’s easy to see why.

The “Steve Bould has fixed everything” narrative was a myth created by people who wanted to use it as stick to beat Arsene Wenger with.  And as for the ‘zonal marking’ on the corner from which Berbatov scored, I have to confess I simply can’t see the logic in leaving opposition players to make untracked, unmarked runs and attack the ball.

With Spurs at City tomorrow, this weekend ought to have been a time to put us in a powerful position ahead of next week’s North London derby.  Instead, that game is looking very crunchy indeed.

Arsenal 1 – 0 QPR: Accentuating the positives

1,023 comments October 29th, 2012

Arsenal 1 – 0 QPR (Arteta 84)
Match Report | Highlights | Arsene’s reaction

Arsenal got the result they desperately needed…
After the drudgery of the last two games, I didn’t expect a flowing feast of football.  This was about securing three vital points – points that would leave us just seven adrift of league leaders Chelsea by the end of the weekend.

Mark Hughes was unhappy…
…and that is always a good thing.  I can’t stand Hughes, who seems to me to be one of the most over-rated managers in the country.  The way the media bleated about his thoroughly deserved sacking at City was pathetic, and I am enjoying seeing his expensively-assembled QPR side struggle too.  He was right to be annoyed: Mikel Arteta’s scrambled winner was plainly offside.  If I were Hughes, however, I’d be directing my ire at one of my own players: Stephane Mbia. Until he got himself sent off, QPR looked relatively comfortable.  Once they were down to ten men, however, the tide turned – although keeper Julio Cesar did his best to hold us at bay with a string of extraordinary saves.  Cesar looks like a very smart signing.  Mbia, it seems, may not be the brightest.

Jack Wilshere was every bit as good as I expected him to be…
I’d love to sit here and say, “I’d forgotten how good he was”, or “I did’t expect him to be quite so good quite so quickly”.  I’d be lying.  I did.

Jack Wilshere is very special.  Arsenal have lots of promising young players.  Wilshere is on a different level to all of those.  Arsene gets it right when he says:

“He is special. People who understand football understand that he is a good player. He has that typical thing where he can turn and take the ball forward, which is very difficult for a midfielder. He still lacks a little bit of ability to get away from people, but he will get that.”

Seeing him on the pitch gave everyone a huge lift, and it’s clear from watching Jack’s post-match interview just how much it meant to him.  The next few weeks will be crucial; he’ll be hoping to continue to play progressively longer whilst avoiding any set backs.  He’ll sit out the midweek Capital One Cup tie with Reading, but after such an impressive return surely he’ll have to start at Old Trafford?

Bacary Sagna is the best right-back in England…
There was a lot of talk about how it was “harsh” to leave out Carl Jenkinson.  I can’t help but feel that’s informed in part by sentimentality and our love for Carl as one of our own.  Don’t get me wrong: his improvement has been dramatic.  Bacary Sagna, however, is probably the best right-back in England, and one of the best in Europe.  As good as Carl has been, I’m staggered that I’ve read some fans saying that we might consider letting Sagna leave now we have Jenkinson in place.  With respect, that’s the sort of talk that leads to replacing Robin van Persie with Gervinho.  Sagna is one of the few truly top class performers we have.  Treasure him, and welcome him back.  Carl will still have plenty of opportunities over the course of the season.

Andrey Arshavin made the telling contribution…
When substitute Gervinho was stretchered off, Andrey Arshavin was hurriedly called in to action without even being given a chance to properly stretch.  No matter: the Russian made a crucial contribution.  It was his dribble and cross that resulted in Olivier Giroud’s header at goal, eventually leading to Arteta nudging home the winner.  It showed Arshavin can still offer the odd match-winning moment.  Perhaps next time, at least, Arsene will send him out to warm up…

Theo should learn from Mikel Arteta

1,668 comments September 25th, 2012

Since the closure of the transfer window, it’s been all quiet on the Walcott front.  Events in the final week of the window followed a confusing trajectory.  At one point Walcott was issued an ultimatum – ‘Sign or be sold’ – only for Arsenal to relent and allow him to stay without reaching agreement on his contract.

As bizarre and unlikely as it seems, my understanding is that is played out pretty much like that.  On the Monday, Dick Law made a series of phone calls to enquire about the availability of other wingers from the continent – presumably as potential Walcott replacements.  Within 48 hours or so, Arsene Wenger was telling the assembled media that Walcott would stay.  In in the interim, the club obviously decided that the upheaval caused by a third major departure was not worth it.

At the time, Arsene said he expected Walcott to sign a new deal.  Of course he said that – anything else would be tantamount to admitting the player was on borrowed time.  But now, a month on, an agreement seems no closer.  Not only that, but Walcott has fallen out of the first-team and was met with a smattering of jeers on his last appearance at the Emirates.

Yesterday, he had his say. Speaking at the launch of the Football Association’s Just Play scheme, he said:

“I’ve been judged, with people saying it’s all about money. It’s never been that with me. Playing up front is important. It’s one of the main factors for me.”

It seems like a well-rehearsed line; he trotted it out to countless journalists yesterday, hence today’s headlines.  I’ve met Walcott – he is one of the most media-savvy footballers I’ve come across.  When you ask him a question, his eyes glaze over and he goes in to an automated, robotic response.  I’m sure there’s a sparkling personality in there, but media training and inherent conservatism have clouded it in the banale rhetoric of football.  For him to say something as arguably controversial as this, it had to be planned.

He went on:

“I signed as a striker. I’ve learnt my trade out on the wing. Hopefully, I’ll get to play up front in the next few games. It’s frustrating being on the bench, but it’s one of those things I have to deal with.”

You didn’t sign as a striker, Theo.  You signed as a sixteen year old.  At that age, William Gallas was a striker, and Kieran Gibbs a winger.  A players development between 16 and 23, Walcott’s current age, cannot be pre-determined.  It’s been seven years, and Walcott looks far more like a winger than a centre-forward now.

Theo’s supposed desire is also tactically naieve: Arsenal play 4-3-3.  That means three forwards.  He is a striker, just positioned in a wide area.  If it’s good enough for Lukas Podolski, it ought to be more than good enough for him.

And if this is really how he feels, then there’s something very childish about his attitude.  Theo hasn’t played upfront for almost a decade.  He doesn’t even really know what that experience is like at the top level.  But he knows what it represents.  He knows what it stands for and he wants, “like Thierry Henry”, to be the main man.

Theo could learn a thing or two from Mikel Arteta.  And by that, I don’t mean about styling his hair a glue-gun rather than a hairdryer.  After Sunday’s game against Man City, the Spaniard was asked about his new role as a holding midfielder. He said:

“It is a big transition but it is more a mental thing. The boss is convinced that is the best thing for the team and I am too, so let’s do it.”

This is a player who is more than capable of playing an attacking role, and yet has sacrificed that for the team.  And this is a guy who, unlike Walcott, does not have a long career stretching in front of him.  He’s on borrowed time in football terms, and yet is prepared to put the team first.

When you add it all up, this “big factor” of wanting to play through the middle doesn’t really seem to make any sense, does it?  And that’s when it becomes exposed for what it is: a cover story.  Another PR spin from ‘camp Walcott’ so that when he refuses to sign a new deal they can protest that it wasn’t about the money.  Perhaps I’m wrong and he will stay, but this looks to me a lot like he’s getting his excuses in early.

Don’t worry, Theo; you’re excused.  I suspect we’ll cope just fine without you.