Gunners draw at Villa

Aston Villa 0-0 Arsenal

Arsenal’s inconsistency resurfaced on Saturday with a drab performance in the 0-0 draw against Aston Villa. Having beaten Tottenham and qualified for the last 16 of the Champions League, Arsenal were expected to take great confidence and motivation into their next fixtures, but unfortunately this was not the case at Villa Park.

In the post-match press conference, Arsene Wenger identified fatigue as a key element to the below par performance he had just witnessed from his side. However, Kieran Gibbs and Carl Jenkinson both began the game in the full back positions having not played a part in the recent fixtures, Aaron Ramsey, who was a late substitute against both Spurs and Montpellier, also began the game in midfield as did Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, himself a late substitute against Tottenham and a starter against Montpellier. Therefore, the manager could not really use the element of tiredness as an excuse, he did freshen up the starting eleven and had he been so concerned about the level of fatigue amongst his first team players, he could have also rested Arteta and played Coquelin and started with Gervinho instead of Podolski.

The Gunners main problem against Aston Villa was the dearth of creativity from the midfield and the lack of hunger and desire from the Arsenal players to make forward runs past Olivier Giroud. This is essential in making the 4-3-3 formation work to your advantage. By making forward runs you automatically drag the opposition’s midfield and defence out of position and create more angles and options for your teammates to play the ball forward. On the few occasions this did happen, the away side did appear dangerous but unfortunately these instances were few and far between. With the lack of support from his midfield, Giroud, in his role as the lone striker, became extremely isolated and although he didn’t have his best game in an Arsenal shirt, whenever he did win the ball, Arsenal were not able to retain possession and gain a foothold in the final third.

As a result, the Arsenal attack was painfully slow and laboured. With no real attacking options, Wenger’s side unsurprisingly ended the game with a solitary shot on target. Ramsey was once again the main culprit for this cumbersome approach to the game. The Welshman simply requires far too much time in possession before deciding what he will do next with the ball. More often than not, his passing is erratic and his shooting ability is also poor. When played out of position, on the wing, Ramsey has a valid excuse for his inadequate performances, but on Saturday no such explanation would suffice as he was played in the centre of midfield. Ramsey’s woeful displays in an Arsenal shirt have become far too common and the only surprise on Saturday was the fact he somehow managed to stay on the field for the entire 90 minutes.

Another problem for the Gunners is the fact that several teams have identified Mertesacker as the weak link in the Arsenal defence when it comes to passing the ball out from the back. On several occasions on Saturday, Christian Benteke would push up onto Laurent Koscielny, leaving Mertesacker with plenty of time and space to pass the ball forward. As the German does not possess Koscielny’s capability to surge forward with the ball, or the passing range to pick out a teammate with a pin point cross field pass, thus enabling the Gunners to get in behind the opposition defence, the transition between the Arsenal defence and midfield becomes extremely predictable and therefore easy to read. This provides the opposition with the confidence to apply pressure on the midfield when the ball is played forward and in turn frequently forces the Arsenal midfielder who has received possession to have to play the ball back, culminating in the slow processional approach witnessed on Saturday.

The Gunners were only able to create mostly half chances, Koscielny missing the best of these towards the end of the first half when failing to turn in Giroud’s low cross, the ball having been played slightly behind him. While Arsenal could consider themselves unlucky not to have converted such a chance, the Gunners would later have Mertesacker to thank for an excellent last ditch tackle on Agbonlahor, with the Englishman bearing down on goal and then Szczesny for a fantastic save, as he managed to tip Brett Holman’s powerful long range strike onto the bar.

All in all, Arsenal could not really complain about the result. Wenger’s side did not do enough to win the game and the Frenchman’s decision to bring on Coquelin in place of Giroud towards the end, seemed to suggest that he too was rather content with a draw. Chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing” were heard from the away end as the substitution was taking place and Wenger appeared riled after the game when asked to explain the reasons behind the substitution. While the manager does not have the funds to compete with the likes of Manchester City and Chelsea, he is responsible for the quality of the players who have arrived at the Emirates in recent seasons and must surely have admitted to himself that his current squad is simply not good enough to compete at a high enough standard throughout an entire campaign. In previous years, in similar circumstances to those at Villa Park on Saturday, Wenger would have thrown on another skilful striker towards the end in an attempt to win the game. Yet he now looks at the bench and all he can see staring back at him is mediocrity.