There probably won’t be a longer write-up of this game as there’s really incredibly little to say. I don’t know what we’ll talk about in the Arsecast Extra on Monday. Probably whether we’d rather be a goat or a hammer. Tune in to find out.
]]>Before you say it, itâ€s not Chelsea. They might lead the league table, but friends behind enemy lines assure me theyâ€ve played well just once since Christmas. The January signing intended to reinvigorate their tiring team, Juan Cuadrado, is currently looking like the worldâ€s most expensive Gervinho impersonator. They should just have bought this lovely curtain set:
The game against Jose Mourinhoâ€s men is beginning to feel like our cup final (apart from the actual cup final, of course, which remains very much a possibility). Itâ€s a one-off opportunity to lay down a marker for next season, but more than that itâ€s an opportunity to make this season infinitely more memorable. You canâ€t win a trophy every year, but you can ensure you leave behind several glorious results enabling you to lord it over your rivals.
Arsenal finally seem to have got the hang of that, with victories over both Manchester clubs and now Liverpool in 2015. Beating the Anfield side isnâ€t particularly new, but the emphatic nature of this victory is. Arsenal approached this game with confidence rather than trepidation. Thatâ€s a delicious novelty.
I really hope they can do the same against Chelsea. The fact that Arsene Wenger has never beaten Mourinho is both bizarre and embarrassing, and this seems like an ideal opportunity to put it right.
Weâ€re undeniably on a roll. The numbers prove it: weâ€ve won seven on the spin, Olivier Giroud has 10 in 10, and weâ€ve just put four past Liverpool.
It canâ€t be coincidence that the upturn in form has coincided with having a full contingent of outfield players for the first time in years. Shad Forsythe has taken some amusing stick this season, but perhaps weâ€re finally be seeing the benefit of his inaugural year at the club.
This is now the strongest Arsenal squad in years. Itâ€s not perfect, but there is depth in every department. The fact that Mikel Arteta, Mathieu Debuchy, Jack Wilshere and Abou Diaby all made a successful return to training during the international break yet were not needed for the bench tells you something about the variety of options at the managerâ€s disposal. Calum Chambers, who was entirely fit, was not even named in the matchday squad.
Of course, all this positivity comes laced with regret. After leading the league for so long last season and ending the wait for silverware, this should have been the year to mount a serious title-challenge. Unfortunately, our quest for the trophy was over before Autumn was out. Sadly, the emergence of Francis Coquelin and acquisition of Gabriel – both obviously required back in August – came too late to challenge Chelsea.
Iâ€m proud that Arsenal are 2015â€s best team, but enormously frustrated that they wonâ€t be 2015â€s champions. It was there for the taking.
]]>Anyway, have a watch of the video. I’m off on an international break of my own to Morocco. There’s an Arsecast Extra here for you too with chat on Newcastle, Walcott, Welbeck and more.
]]>With West Ham without three of their first choice back-four, Giroudâ€s powerful hold-up play and deft touch was simply too much for them to handle. Arsenal also benefited from another virtuoso display from Mesut Ozil, who is certainly in the midst of his best run of form since joining from Real Madrid. After the match, Arsene Wenger told Arsenal.com rather emphatically that “Ozil has now adaptedâ€. He took his time, but recent evidence suggests he will prove to be worth the wait.
With Manchester City losing at Burnley later in the day, Arsenal are now just one point off second place.
After the game, the boss was asked if we are now part of the title race:
Not at the moment but we just have to keep going. Weâ€ve won eight of the last nine and we are stronger today than we were at the start of the season. We dropped off in this league because we won one of six at the start of the season. Today we are a different team. We suffered a lot from the post-World Cup fixtures. Players came back and they werenâ€t ready to play.
Heâ€s right: Arsenal canâ€t win the title this season because of the disastrous way in which they began the campaign.
With the Gunners now ensconced in third place and looking ahead to an FA Cup semi-final, itâ€s easy to forget what a tumultuous start to the season it was.
Wenger refers to one win in six, but that record is actually across all competitions. In the Premier League, we won just two of our opening eight games.
Thatâ€s dire. Had Arsenal managed to convert draws with Leicester, Everton, and Hull in to wins, weâ€d currently sit joint-top of the Premier League. Yes, Chelsea would have games in hand, but theyâ€d also have a daunting trip to the Emirates Stadium to come.
The reasons we failed to find our gear are well-documented. There were new players to integrate, injuries to account for and a World Cup hangover to endure.
Intriguingly, Chelsea had plenty of players at the World Cup but started like a house on fire. The other day I read some criticism of Jose Mourinho, suggesting their recent struggles are due to the fact that some of their players were overplayed in the first half of the season. Perhaps so, but when Chelsea eventually stumble over the finish line as champions, it will largely be down to the spectacular way in which they began the season. They built a lead that is likely to prove insurmountable.
Why were they able to start so much quicker? I guess in part due to the availability of key players through their spine — by contrast, the absence of Laurent Koscielny and Olivier Giroud clearly destabilised this Arsenal team. Whatâ€s more, we started the season with three world cup winners in the squad. Who knows to what extent their motivation and focus was disturbed by lifting footballâ€s most famous prize?
Anyway, the fact weâ€re even having this (admittedly somewhat one-sided) conversation is pretty remarkable given how bleak things looked after the November defeat against Stoke. I put much of the optimistic mood down to the win at Old Trafford. Had we lost, weâ€d be out of the domestic cups and staring glumly down the barrel of a Champions League exit.
Now, weâ€re dreaming of second place and an unlikely comeback in Monaco. Thanks to the Cup, the glass is half-full.
]]>For me, United is the definitive big game. Perhaps itâ€s because I grew up amid the red-hot rivalry of the late 90s. United were so dominant in that era, and those clashes were always infused with tension, drama and spite. Even taking in to account neighbours Tottenham and Chelsea, there isnâ€t a game in the fixture-list that inspires more nerves or animosity. Old habits die hard, and old hatreds endure.
I saw someone compare Monday nightâ€s game to Ali vs. Frazier in 1975: two former greats, evenly matched but now hurting each other all too easily. Itâ€s a nice line, but one that doesnâ€t reflect the trajectory of the two sides. While United do appear to be a team in decline, there are some signs that Arsenal might be on the way up.
There are indications that Arsene Wengerâ€s men are beginning to conquer their crippling stage-fright. After all, Monday nightâ€s win comes just a couple of months after another landmark victory at the Etihad.
Itâ€s not been a complete reversal of fortunes. Defeats against Tottenham and Monaco show there is still plenty of room for improvement. However, itâ€s undoubtedly progress: last season, Arsenal would probably have lost all four of those games.
In the wake of such a significant win, thereâ€s a tendency to assume that our problems are now permanently behind us. “Thatâ€s itâ€, we think. “Now weâ€ll win every big game and be title contenders once againâ€.
Iâ€m not sure itâ€s that simple. Weâ€re turning the corner, but it’ll take more than a single step. Itâ€s generally agreed that our problems are psychological as well as strategic. Improvements in the latter are soothing the former: each big win has tactical and therapeutic benefits. For the first time in a long time, it feels as if we might be learning something.
Weâ€re not yet where we need to be. As the Monaco game showed, Arsenal are far from over the big-game jitters. However, we are certainly making positive progress.
On Danny Welbeck…
From the minute the possibility of Danny Welbeck moving to Arsenal was mooted, I fantasised about his scoring the winner at Old Trafford. He must have done so too, and that probably goes some way to explaining his joyous celebration on Monday night. He certainly had a point to prove to the manager who jettisoned him after a matter of months in Manchester.
As Welbeckâ€s shot hit the net, Louis Van Gaalâ€s flat face glowed red with embarrassment, leaving him looking like a cartoon thumb throbbing after being hit with a mallet.
Even if Welbeck never does anything hugely significant in an Arsenal shirt again, heâ€ll be remembered for this night. This, if you like, was his ‘Arshavin momentâ€.
However, Iâ€m hopeful that thereâ€s a lot more to come from the Englishman. That goal effectively closed one chapter in his career, but should mark the true beginning of a bright new one.
ps. If you haven’t yet, do check out the Arsecast Extra for more luxurious basking.
]]>As anticipated, Arsene Wenger dropped Per Mertesacker for Gabriel. However, what was arguably more intriguing about his team selection was the players who retained his trust. Ospina and Olivier Giroud, both disappointing in midweek, kept their spots.
In Giroudâ€s case, that wasnâ€t a huge surprise. Arsene has a longstanding admiration for the striker, who has established himself as the clubâ€s undisputed first-choice centre-forward at the club.
Ospina is a different case. Although he has been a regular in the team since January, Arsene has never publicly declared him the new “No. 1â€. There has been a lingering suspicion that the manager was simply waiting for Ospinaâ€s first substandard display to reintroduce Szczesny.
The Monaco debacle made this an easy time to justify a change, yet Wenger stuck with the Colombian. Thatâ€s a significant show of faith. It begs the question: if the boss didnâ€t see fit to change after Monaco, does that suggest Ospina is likely to retain his place until May? And if so, what does that mean for Szczesnyâ€s future?
Gabriel had a decent game…
I think thereâ€s a danger that assessment of his performance falls victim to hyperbole. He made a couple of outstanding tackles, but those eye-catching contributions were balanced out by some glaring errors.
His decision to let the ball bounce in the first half, allowing Romelu Lukaku to steal in and run at David Ospina, was particularly bizarre. There was also a wildly misplaced pass and a couple of mistimed jumps for headers. Perhaps nerves were a factor for a guy making his first start in the Premier League.
Thereâ€s a lot to like about Gabriel, but he looks very much like a player still adapting to the demands of a new league. Koscielny suffered from plenty of teething problems; Mertesacker too. It may be next season before the begin to see the best of the Brazilian. His adaptation will certainly be accelerated if he retains his place ahead of the jaded German.
Theo Walcott must be worried…
If he canâ€t get off the bench in a game like this, when the manager has made a definitive decision to rotate his squad, heâ€s in trouble.
For weeks debate has raged about which of he or Danny Welbeck is more deserving of a first-team place. That dichotomy was a disservice to Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, who was one of few bright spots in the first half of the campaign.
It now feels as if both Welbeck and Chamberlain are more prominent in Wengerâ€s thoughts. Some have suggested a connection with Walcottâ€s contract situation — when he stalled on a new deal in the Autumn of 2012, Walcott was excluded from the XI until form and fitness forced Wengerâ€s hand.
However, I believe itâ€s more to do with Walcottâ€s lack of defensive contribution. Speaking before the Everton match, Wenger said:
“Offensively we have lots of solutions. We have to find a team balance. It is more about team balance than any individual.
When you have the ball in the modern game you have to attack, when you don’t have the ball you have to defend. All the players who can’t do that, cannot play.”
Until Walcottâ€s all-round contribution improves, it seems he will be confined to the sidelines.
]]>Wenger stood at the head of the media lounge. He didnâ€t respond, but nor did he depart, so the voice went on. What, it asked, was the most disappointing aspect of Arsenalâ€s performance?
You didnâ€t have to be fluent to understand Wengerâ€s answer: “notre naïvetéâ€.
Naive is a word that has become synonymous with Arsenal. As a bit of a test, I ran it through the search engine on my own blog. Here are the most recent uses:
“We all know that Arsene Wenger isnâ€t going anywhere until 2017. With that in mind, we have no choice but to demand more from the players. They canâ€t hide behind his diminishing reputation. They might not like it, but this is their mess too. Itâ€s never just one thing, and Wengerâ€s tactical naivety does not fully excuse theirs.â€
Then:
“However, neither of those can match the humiliation of losing 6-0 at Chelsea. The tactical naivety Arsenal showed in that game is what makes me a little concerned about the length of Arsene Wengerâ€s new deal.â€
Then:
“Wenger was comprehensively outmanoeuvered by Roberto Martinez at Goodison Park. In a game in which a point would have been a good result for Arsenal, itâ€s tempting to call Wengerâ€s tactics naive. However, considering how long heâ€s been in the game, one has to revert to an altogether more damning adjective: negligent.â€
I gave up at that point. Not even I am so morbid as to dig deeper in to the mire.
However, you might see what Iâ€m getting at. Naivety ought to be a temporary thing. Itâ€s a state of being characterised by a lack of experience or sophistication. That should get better. It should be fixable. And yet here we are, approaching the end of a decade of defensive guilelessness. Weâ€re a team caught in arrested development.
Google “how to stop being naive†and itâ€ll tell you the process can be accelerated by having your heart broken. Well, that one doesnâ€t seem to have worked for us. The painful lessons keep on coming, and we keep on ignoring them.
What happened against Monaco approached the absurd. Going 2-0 down was bad enough, but to concede a third having dragged ourselves back in to the game was madness. The craziest part is that I wasnâ€t even surprised. How many times have we seen Arsenal carelessly chase goals, only to be sucker-punched?
This latest horror show arrives days after we came inches from surrendering a 2-0 lead in the final few minutes at Crystal Palace. The further away it gets, the more that Manchester City win feels like an anomalous result against an out-of-sorts side.
Arsenal will re-qualify for the Champions League, but last night was a reminder of why itâ€s unlikely to get significantly better than that any time soon. You can look at our annual top four finish as a remarkable piece of consistency. Alternatively, you can see it as a staggering lack of progression — evidence that the teams of the second half of Arseneâ€s reign have been chronically hampered by an unworldliness the manager seems powerless to fix. Weâ€re good, but unless something changes weâ€ll never be good enough.
Itâ€s all very well for Arsene to accuse his players of naivety, but he is the man charged with educating this squad. If naivety is the problem, better coaching is surely the cure.
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