League Cup humiliation!

Bradford City 1-1 Arsenal

(Pens 3-2)

Having just witnessed his side being unceremoniously dumped out of the Capital One Cup by League Two Bradford City yesterday, Arsene Wenger proclaimed that his players need not be embarrassed by the defeat as they had given their all to win the game. Yet the Gunners starting eleven was not the usual League Cup second string, which Arsenal fans have become accustomed to during Wenger’s reign, it was in fact very close to the strongest possible line up the manager could have selected. This was a team boasting 399 international appearances between them, surely had they given their all in the pursuit of victory they would have been able to overcome a side which cost a collective £7,500 to assemble, playing three divisions below them?

Wenger will publicly continue to back his team, but privately he must accept that major changes are required to get this club back to where it belongs. Yesterday’s game simply further highlighted this side’s numerous deficiencies. Arsenal’s defensive unit were abysmal. Per Mertesacker was continually out jumped and outmuscled by James Hanson, while Thomas Vermaelen just could not get to grips with Nahki Wells, who troubled the Belgian time and time again. In fact the performances of both central defenders were equally pathetic. With Vermaelen unable to handle the attacking threat of Wells, he resorted to giving away several needless free kicks, one of which led to Bradford taking the lead. Gary Jones’ free kick was flicked on towards the back post where Gary Thompson’s exquisite volley saw the ball fly into the roof of the net instigating scenes of wild celebration.   

Arsenal’s midfield five were just as bad as the Gunners defensive unit. There was no movement, no creativity and no fight either. Aaron Ramsey on the right hand side did not provide the team with any width and gave the ball away on numerous occasions, while Lukas Podolski on the opposite flank was largely anonymous. Francis Coquelin was the only midfielder in the first half who showed any tenacity and was unlucky to see his low shot come back off the post following a jinking forward run. Meanwhile Jack Wilshere was also guilty of giving the ball away far too often in the first half and only came into the game in the last fifteen minutes of normal time as the home side began to tire. In extra time, the Englishman had an opportunity to win the game, bursting through into the box, but took far too long to get his shot away, deciding to go past another defender and the chance was lost. Further forward, Santi Cazorla just could not get himself into the game either, as Bradford held a high line, suffocating the space in which he normally operates and from where he can influence the game. However, as with Wilshere, as the game wore on the Spaniard did begin to find some space and was able to test the Bradford goalkeeper with a few long range efforts before seeing a powerful shot hit the crossbar in extra time.

The fact that Bradford had decided to play such a high defensive line should in theory have played right into the hands of Gervinho, who was deployed as the lone man upfront. The Ivorian should have been able to use his searing pace; playing off the shoulder of the last defender, to exploit the huge space in behind the Bradford defence, but not once did he do this. In fact, with Gervinho up front, Arsenal had absolutely no presence in this area of the field and so had no one upon which to build their attacks. In contrast, every time Bradford played the ball up field, Janson would flick it on for Wells to chase, causing Arsenal problems. In addition, Gervinho does not possess the killer instinct to be an out and out striker, a worrying trait which was witnessed once again in the first half as he failed to make adequate contact with the ball and managed to miss an open goal. It was no surprise therefore that midway through the second half Gervinho was moved out wide and Chamakh replaced him upfront. Yet the Moroccan’s presence did not instigate the change that Wenger would have hoped for as he also offered absolutely no movement whatsoever and so the midfield were never offered any angles to make forward passes.

As has been evident in the majority of Arsenal’s performances this season, their passing game was extremely slow, ponderous and lethargic. Throughout the game, umpteen passes were exchanged between the Gunners defenders, with Mertesacker in particular enjoying a great deal of possession. However, you could count the number of times the German played the ball forward, rather than back or square, on one hand. The result of this was that while Arsenal did have plenty of possession, they mainly did nothing with it, simply moving the ball from side to side but going nowhere. After what would seem like an age, the ball would finally be played forward into the midfield, only for it to more often than not be played right back to the defence for the infuriatingly frustrating sequence to begin once more.

This trait has been witnessed time and time again this season and yet Wenger has seemingly refused to address it. Defending against a team who continually play in front of you is extremely easy. Movement is paramount to create chances, as incisive forward runs off the ball, will force the opposition out of position, generating more space for the midfield to support the attack as well as offering more angles to play the ball forward. But the Gunners just do not do this anymore. Once an Arsenal player has passed the ball, he does not move. He just stands statuesque and as a result the attack, overcome by monotonous futile passing, eventually fizzles out. It hurts me to say it, but watching Arsenal play this season has been extremely boring at times.

As the game wore on, the Gunners did become more and more threatening and with only three minutes remaining, Vermaelen headed home Cazorla’s cross to send the game into extra time. With Bradford’s players shattered, the ensuing 30 minutes were dominated by Arsenal, but once again they could not convert possession into genuine goal scoring opportunities. The Gunners mainly attempted to get the ball out wide before crossing it into the box. A tactic which was most surprising due to the fact that Arsenal would more often than not, only have one player in the box. This coupled with the fact that players such as Sagna and Oxlade-Chamberlain could only produce woeful crosses all night long, meant that the Gunners simply wasted their possession.

Consequently the inevitable lottery of a penalty shootout arrived and Arsenal’s performance here mirrored that of the previous 120 minutes. Cazorla, Chamakh and Vermaelen all missed from 12 yards while Szczesny could only save two Bradford penalties and so the home side progressed. It was exactly what they deserved for a night of pure dedication, hard work and determination. Arsenal’s so called international stars could learn a thing or two from their Capital One Cup conquerors.