Gunners down 10-man Hoops

Arsenal 1-0 QPR

 

 

Arsenal secured all three points at the Emirates stadium on Saturday with a performance which unfortunately did little to enthral the home crowd. It was a display in keeping with the Gunners recent showings against Norwich and Schalke, in which they struggled to create significant chances, despite enjoying the lion’s share of possession.  In fact Arsenal only began to rain shots on the QPR goal in the last 10 minutes of the game, following Stephane Mbia’s needless sending off.

In similar fashion to the Champions League encounter against Schalke, Arsene Wenger decided to start the game with Aaron Ramsey on the right wing, a decision which once again led to the Gunners attack becoming narrow and predictable as the Welshman does not have the pace required to take on the opposition’s left back and pass him on the outside. As a result, Ramsey’s only options when he receives the ball in this position are to either cut inside, into the congested heart of the midfield or to turn back and ultimately slow down the pace of the attack, allowing the opposition time to regroup. While many take their frustrations out on Ramsey, the fact he is being asked to operate in a position for which he does not possess the necessary skills required, is not his fault. Another player who seems unable to perform in his selected position, Andre Santos, also surprisingly began the game. Yet again, the Brazilian’s positional play was simply awful, with QPR launching the majority of their attacks down his side of the field. How long will Wenger continue to persevere with Santos before he finally realises and accepts that the man signed from Fenerbahce is not equipped to play at left back

Two other notable decisions by the manager saw the return to the starting line up of long term absentees Bacary Sagna and Jack Wilshere, who performed as though they had never been away. Sagna’s powerful forward runs in support of the attack have been missed and one such run and cross almost resulted in Ramsey opening the scoring, however the Welshman’s looped header hit the top of the crossbar. Wilshere though, played particularly well, spraying passes to his teammates, refusing to pull out of challenges and more than willing to take on responsibility and carry the ball forward with several surging forward runs. These runs are exactly what is needed when the opposition’s sole aim is to sit back and restrict the space between their defence and midfield. Every time Wilshere ran at them, QPR appeared to panic, resulting in space opening up where before there had been none. One such forward run by the Englishman, in the first half, saw a neat one-two with Santi Cazorla and resulted in a shot on goal, which Julio Cesar initially spilt but quickly recovered. However, having been out for 14 months, it would be too much to ask of Wilshere to return to the first team and immediately take on the responsibility of being the team’s number one attacking influence.

Since the start of the season, that role has been undertaken by Cazorla, yet in the last three games, it has become clear that Arsenal’s opposition have sought to suffocate the Spaniard, significantly reducing the time and space afforded to him when he receives the ball. The Gunners have struggled to overcome this tactic as with only a few games of the new season gone; the team has already become over reliant on Cazorla’s creative spark. Everything goes through him and so if the opposition can restrict his influence on the game, they greatly reduce Arsenal’s effectiveness. The return of Wilshere should change this dynamic in the middle of the park and in time the Gunners will become a stronger more potent unit as the Englishman assumes more responsibility for Arsenal’s attacking play. But again we cannot expect this to happen immediately. In fact, although Cazorla was not able to greatly influence the game, he was still presented with the best opportunity of the match. With time quickly running out, Oliver Giroud failed to connect with Theo Wlacott’s cross, but the ball fell straight to the feet of Cazorla, on the penalty spot, with plenty of time and space. The crowd took one collective deep breath, ready to explode in celebration, but the Spaniard somehow got underneath the ball and skied his shot well over the bar.

Ultimately as a direct result of both Wenger and Mark Hughes’ tactical decisions, the home side’s performance on Saturday was very much in keeping with their recent dire displays. Once again they dominated possession, but it was difficult to see where a goal was going to come from as the Gunners struggled to create the numerous chances their domination usually yields. In fact it was with only 13 minutes left that Arsenal began to lay siege on the QPR goal, thanks to the width offered by the introduction of Walcott, Gervinho and Arshavin (who replaced the injured Ivorian) and even then, the outstanding Julio Cesar was almost equal to everything the home side could throw at him. The Brazilian goalkeeper made several astonishing saves, leaping to his left to deny Per Mertesacker and later to his right to claw the ball away when a QPR clearance deflected off Nedum Onuoha and seemed destined to end up in the back of the net. 

Finally, with only 6 minutes remaining, Arsenal managed to break the deadlock, thanks to Mikel Arteta. Andrei Arshavin’s cross was met with a powerful header by Giroud, but that man, Cesar, was equal to it, yet again pulling off a magnificent save, the rebound falling to Arteta who could only head the ball against the crossbar before poking the subsequent rebound into the empty net.

Arteta pokes home to give Arsenal the lead

 

There was great relief inside the stadium and Arsenal could have doubled their lead but Cesar made two excellent saves from Ramsey and Cazorla to keep his side in the game before QPR almost snatched a point with two late chances of their own. First Esteban Granero was picked out by Adel Tarabt’s chipped ball over the top of the Arsenal defence, but could only steer his shot wide, before Jamie Mackie was allowed to dribble past three Arsenal defenders and into box, yet his shot was too close to Mannone when Mackie really should have scored.

The sound of the final whistle was understandably greeted with huge relief. Arsenal hadn’t produced a performance worthy of all three points but had managed to secure the win nonetheless. Although this victory should go a long way to restoring the confidence which the two defeats against Norwich and Schalke clearly knocked, the Gunners were supremely grateful for Mbia’s moment of madness. It was only once the Cameroonian had been given his marching orders, that Arsenal began to create chances at will and even then, they nearly threw it all away at the end thanks to woeful defending which should have been punished. The players must build on this result and significantly improve their performance next time out, away to Manchester United.