Arsenal do the Hokey-Cokey with the title race
4 comments October 6th, 2008
Sunderland 1 – 1 Arsenal (Leadbitter 85, Fabregas 90+2); Highlights courtesy of 101greatgoals
Look at that picture. Cesc Fabregas beating four Sunderland men to the ball to power in a last gasp equaliser. Proof, if it were ever required, that aerial challenges are as much about ‘wanting it’ as height, heading ability, or experience. Given how frequently we concede or fail to score from set-pieces, there’s plenty we could learn from young Cesc’s example.
The side are obviously lacking confidence. Otherwise you wouldn’t go to Sunderland with one up top having put four past Porto in midweek. As arseblogger astutely points out, we just don’t have the personnel for the 4-5-1 system we employed. Without Flamini or Gilberto, we lack a natural holding midfielder. Many have touted Song for the role, but on Saturday he played in a more advanced role than Denilson. It was a bizarre set-up, compounded by the fact that it forced Cesc to play in a more advanced ‘number 10’ role. This immediately limits his ability to dictate the pace of the game. Spain occasionally get away with playing him there, but behind him they have the playmaking skills of Xavi to rely on. We have Song. That’s no disrespect to Song, but we really are missing Flamini. The Frenchman is currently playing second fiddle to Rino Gattuso at Milan. Despite that, I still suspect we miss him far more than he misses us – the money probably eases his pain.
Out wide, Robin van Persie is a disaster. I have seen him play well as a left-winger only once – in an away game against Reading. He has a real lack of pace, which renders him unable to go outside his man. His quality is undoubted – his whipped corner produced our goal – but he is by no means a wide-man. On the left flank, I’d rather see Eboue start than Van Persie. Indeed, just why Samir Nasri returned to the bench is beyond me.
That said, a draw is not a disastrous result. And however late our equaliser came, it wasn’t a lucky escape. Losing would have represented the most extraordinary bad luck, especially after suffering defeat at the hands of two wonder goals just a week earlier. And as for us being ‘in’ or ‘out’ of the title race at this insanely early stage… well, it’s just nonsense. The BBC’s live-text service exemplifies just how jerky and knee-orientated these reactions are:
1644: GOAL Sunderland 1-0 Arsenal
Title over for Arsenal and it’s another unbelievable hit they’ve gone down to.1650: “This probably wont be posted for obvious reasons. ‘Title over for Arsenal’? Are you for real? After seven games… get a grip.”
Sean, London, via text on 81111Three defeats in seven games, to Fulham, Hull and Sunderland? Yeah, it’s title over mate. Sorry.
1651: GOAL Sunderland 1-1 Arsenal
OK, so maybe they are still in the title race.
Idiotic, really. At this stage it’s still very much ‘a game at a time’.
For anyone who is starting to worry about the health of the squad:
Fear not. The Messiah is here.
ps. The site just died. I don’t know why. Hmmmm.