Pompey 0 – 0 Arsenal: Crisis? What crisis?
1 comment December 27th, 2007
A draw at Portsmouth was good enough for Manchester United, and frankly it’s good enough for me too.
The behaviour of the majority of our fans, certainly in the jungle that is the Arsenal internet community, makes me laugh. Despite our incredible season thus far, they have been positively gagging to write us off. Last night, as Manchester United’s win at Blunderland took them top of the table, a large number took the opportunity to declare that the title race is over for us, and that United will now proceed to stroll to the the title whilst we sit in a pool of our own bitter tears.
Not likely. Thankfully, Arsene isn’t as fazed by the tiniest of blips as some. Being first or second might matter a huge deal in May. For now? It’s not particularly significant. There are 19 games to go. Man U will drop points, believe it or not. And so will we. And so will Chelsea, and so will Liverpool. We can’t pretend to fully percieve the state of the title race until, in all likelihood, late February.
As Arsene says:
“It is the 26th of December and we lost one game since the beginning of the championship. So we have problems? You convince me we are in crisis – if we do six months again and lose no games we will be champions.”
In other words: chill the fuck out some of you.
That said, we weren’t at our best last night. Since returning from injury, Fabregas and Hleb have not been firing as they were prior to the game at Aston Villa. That has resulted in our 4-4-1-1 formation suddenly starting to look a bit crubbish. Adebayor looks isolated and a little lost, Eboue wasteful and Cesc exhausted.
Even so we could still have won yesterday. Tomas Rosicky tested David James from range, and in the dying moments Gallas fired over from six yards and Rosicky pulled a shot wide after an excellent cut-back from impact sub Bendtner.
So a draw it was. It was the first time we’ve failed to score in a game this season, but then we were up against an excellent Portsmouth side, who specialise in clean sheets at home. With a fit Robin van Persie and an in-form Fabregas, we would’ve overcome them easily, but it wasn’t to be. You can’t win every game. Last season, we almost certainly would’ve lost, but another assured performance from Manuel Almunia made certain that wouldn’t happen.
Almunia’s form means that we are in the dying throes of Jens Lehmann’s time at Arsenal. A move to Wolfsburg grows ever more likely.
I hear that Luka Modric’s representatives have flown into London today to negotiate with Chelsea and Manchester City. I wonder if Arsene might rekindle his interest in a player who would provide us with another option in a slightly stagnating midfield.
Next up it’s Everton away on Saturday evening. Winning there would mean ten points from four games against Chelsea, Spurs, Portsmouth and Everton, which would be an excellent return. We’re perfectly capable of getting the job done, in both the short and long term. So just calm down.
