Back from the brink

Arsenal 3-2 Aston Villa

Arsenal’s impressive second half comeback against Aston Villa sent the Gunners through to the fifth round of the FA Cup and may just have galvanised their season. The response to going two-nil down on the stroke of half time showed that this team does possess the heart, passion and fight demanded by the Arsenal faithful.

It was a real Jekyll and Hyde performance as in the first half Arsenal could not convert their ample possession into goal scoring opportunities. The Gunners’ attacking play was often slow and cumbersome, as they moved the ball from side to side without any real penetration. As a result, it was far too easy for Villa to sit back and defend, restricting Arsenal to tame and feeble long range attempts. The only real highlight of the first half was the performance of Oxlade-Chamberlain. His supreme confidence was plain for all to see, his first touch was sublime and his direct, incisive runs were a joy to behold. The most impressive aspect of Chamberlain’s performance however was his desire to fulfil his defensive duties, with one particular thunderous challenge drawing great applause from the stands.

Although Arsenal seemed in control of the game as Villa offered little in attack, the hesitancy of Fabianski in goal along with yet another patched up defence meant the Gunners were essentially always under threat. This was highlighted perfectly in the 33^rd minute as Villa took the lead with their very first corner of the game. The Arsenal players fell asleep as Villa took a short corner, allowing Robbie Keane time to turn and cross the ball for Richard Dunne to rise above the Gunner’s defence and head the visitor’s into the lead. Worse was to come just before half time as Darren Bent doubled their lead following a swift Villa counter attack. As the half time whistle sounded and boos echoed around the Emirates Stadium once more, there seemed no way back for Arsenal.

No one will ever know what was said at half-time, but whatever it was it worked a treat. The response from the players was simply exceptional. Arsenal’s play was now vibrant and energetic as they passed the ball quickly and chased and harried Villa whenever they lost possession. As a result the Gunners were now getting in behind the Villa backline, forcing them to panic and make mistakes. Mertesacker could have reduced the deficit straight away, from a Van Persie corner, but Stephen Ireland’s goal line clearance prevented the German from opening his Gunner’s account. Shortly after this Aaron Ramsey was hacked down, when through on goal, by Dunne who was lucky to remain on the pitch as the referee awarded a penalty. Up stepped Van Persie to reduce the arrears to one goal.  Two minutes later and Arsenal were level. Theo Walcott’s mazy run on the right flank took him past several Villa players and into the box where his prodded shot hit the advancing Shay Given and ran through to Alan Hutton, whose rash attempted clearance hit Walcott and flew into the back of the net. The Gunners were now clearly in the ascendancy and pressed home their superiority five minutes later thanks to another Van Persie penalty.

Van Persie scores the first of his two penalties

Laurent Koscielny’s powerful run from centre back, down the left flank and into the penalty area was only halted when he was upended by Darren Bent, leaving the referee with no option but to award a second penalty, which Van Persie despatched expertly, sending Given the wrong way again to equal Dennis Bergkamp’s record of 120 goals for the club. It was a fantastic comeback by the Gunners, all accomplished within the space of seven glorious minutes. From this point on Arsenal took their foot off the pedal and controlled the game until the final whistle, when the half time boos were replaced with rapturous applause. The players had shown tremendous character, spirit and sheer determination to win this game. A win which will hopefully lead to increased belief and an improvement in performances and results.

Arsene knows???

Arsenal 1-2 Manchester United

As Arsenal fans walked out of the Emirates stadium yesterday, all were shaking their heads as for the first time in fifteen years they seriously queried Arsene Wenger’s position at the club. The greatest manager in Arsenal’s history had only himself to blame as his poor decisions cost Arsenal dear at home to Manchester United. Never have I witnessed the home crowd turn so vociferously against the manager. As the boos that echoed around the Emirates at the substitution of the excellent Oxlade-Chamberlain were quickly followed by chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing.” There was a distinct feeling that this was a watershed moment, the straw that broke the camel’s back.

With Arsenal once again having to field centre-backs in both full-back positions, Manchester United sought to exploit this weakness from the very start, switching the ball to the wings as quickly as possible to expose Arsenal’s lack of cover in these areas. Although Vermaelen was clearly not comfortable at left-back and struggled at times against Valencia, it was the continued lack of cover on the right side of defence which was most worrying. Manchester United continually enjoyed time and space in this position as Djourou was constantly faced with the prospect of trying to defend against two opposition players. He was extremely tentative and slow to close down when confronted with Nani’s pace, who easily had the beating of the Swiss defender. Throughout the first half it was clear that United would most likely score from an attack down the right side of the Arsenal defence. 60,000 people at the Emirates could see that something needed to be done to prevent this, but Wenger just sat on the bench, refusing to make the necessary change. Then just before half-time, the inevitable happened. Ryan Giggs was given all the time and space in the world, as Djourou failed to close him down quickly enough, allowing the Welshman to cross into the Arsenal box for Valencia to simply head past Szczesny.

At half time Wenger finally made a change in an attempt to solve Arsenal’s defensive problems. Why he had to wait for his side to concede before taking off Djourou and replacing him with Nico Yennaris is beyond me. With the start of the second half Arsenal also began to get into the game. Where in the first half they had been pinned back by United and struggled to get out of their own half, the Gunners were now applying pressure to the United defence. Thomas Rosicky pounced on a slip by Chris Smalling and raced into the United penalty area, laid the ball square to Van Persie who seemed destined to score, but somehow hit his shot wide. Nevertheless Arsenal were back in the game, creating several chances, with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain at the heart of the Gunner’s attacking play. On his full Premier League debut the man signed from Southampton in the summer was simply excellent. Every time he received the ball, he made direct, incisive runs and quite frankly made Patrice Evra look distinctly average. It was no surprise that he set up Arsenal’s equaliser. Receiving the ball on the wing, he cut inside before sliding a wonderful, perfectly weighted pass to Van Persie, who in turn applied an exquisite finish to level the game.

At this point the Arsenal fans could smell victory. United were on the ropes and Oxlade-Chamberlain was on fire. This feeling soon disintegrated into utter disbelief however with Wenger’s inexplicable decision to replace Arsenal’s most potent attacking threat with the utterly useless Arshavin. Walcott as usual had been practically invisible, but had somehow managed to stay on the pitch! Even Robin Van Persie was seen to shout “No” to the bench as Arsenal seemingly surrendered the momentum they had built up from the start of the second half. The fact that Arshavin was directly at fault for United’s winner did not help either. The Russian’s poor attempt at a tackle resulted in him easily being beaten by Valencia on the wing, who then cut the ball back for Welbeck to shoot past a static Arsenal backline and secure all three points.

In the press conference after the game Wenger refused to be drawn into why he had taken off Oxlade-Chamberlain saying he had made thousands of substitutions in his long career. However he looked like a man who no longer has the answers. Arsenal’s defending was yet again woeful at times as they remain utterly clueless when the opposition are in possession. This has been the case for the past five or six years and still shows no signs of improving. The club which he had taken to such dizzy heights during his early tenure is going backwards and the most worrying aspect is the fact Wenger does not seem capable of halting the slide. Year after year he has allowed our best players to leave and brought in average replacements who are clearly not good enough for this club. Make no mistake, the club we love is in serious trouble and Wenger should be made accountable. There are those who suggest he should be given time to rectify the situation. This was true three or four seasons ago, when he was in-fact provided this luxury; but nothing has changed. The time has sadly arrived for Arsene Wenger to step aside. This club needs a new manager with fresh ideas, or else we will be stuck in terminal decline.   

Woeful Arsenal lose again

Swansea 3-2 Arsenal

Arsenal lost their second Premiership game in a row thanks to another utterly woeful display from the Gunners. When the fulltime whistle sounded, not one of the players in red and white could hold their heads up high as each and every one of them had disgraced themselves and the shirt.

And yet it had all started so well, when with only four minutes on the clock, Arshavin slid Van Persie through for the Dutchman to apply an excellent finish to give the Gunners the lead. Arsenal were actually playing rather well in this early period, pressing the opposition high up the field and restricting Swansea’s passing game. However this would all change with the award of a penalty for a phantom foul by Aaron Ramsey on Nathan Dyer. Up stepped Scott Sinclair to guide the ball past Szczesny and restore parity. From this point on, Swansea never looked back. They simply wrestled control of the game from Arsenal and refused to relinquish it. Having said this, Arsenal still created the best chances of the first half and could even have re-taken the lead immediately from the restart as Ramsey rounded Vorm but saw his shot cleared off the line, bounce off a Swansea defender and straight into the arms of the Swansea goalkeeper. A few minutes later Van Persie was sent through on goal but on this occasion could only direct his shot straight at the goalkeeper.

Wenger sent his players out early for the second half, which is usually an indication of the desire and hunger within the team to take control and win the game. On this occasion however, the Gunners’ second half display was atrocious as Swansea dominated from start to finish. The Arsenal players stood off their opponents allowing them to assert their exquisite passing game and with every attack Swansea looked more and more dangerous. The Gunners on the other hand could not string two passes together as Swansea rushed and harried their opponents into mistakes, easily winning back possession. It was one such example which led to the home side taking the lead for the first time. As Arsenal tried to play the ball out, Arshavin passed to Ramsey who lost possession far too easily. The ball then went forward to Dyer who had acres of space and time to steer the ball past Szczesny.

Yet there was no visible response from the Arsenal players to going a goal down, no urgency in their play, just inauspicious lethargy. The Gunners were shorn of ideas and appeared shocked at their own ineptitude. Not once did I see anyone of them screaming and shouting to the others in an attempt to wake them from their listless state. In the circumstance, it was to great surprise that completely against the run of play Arsenal somehow found themselves back on equal terms as a wonderful through ball from Djourou allowed Walcott to calmly dink the ball over the onrushing Vorm and into the back of the net. But within the space of a few seconds Swansea re-took the lead, as Danny Graham raced clear of Koscielny, Szczesny at first rushed out of goal, hesitated and then back tracked. Graham took advantage of this indecision to fire the ball into the bottom left hand corner and deservedly win the game for Swansea. The Arsenal goalkeeper’s error for the second Premiership game in a row, proving costly. The Gunners passed up several chances to score an equaliser, but in truth they did not deserve anything from this game.

Unfortunately Arsenal have become a mere shadow of the team they once were. Long gone are the days of our wonderfully attractive passing game. When was the last time we played like Swansea did yesterday? Of course the absence of Jack Wilshere has been keenly felt but should a club of our stature really be so reliant on a 20 year old? The defence is also clearly suffering from a lack of stability, with constant changes forced upon the manager through the perpetual injuries to our fullbacks. However it is the attacking side of our game which worries me the most as our attacking players seem to seriously lack ideas when in possession. At times, watching Arsenal this season has simply been painful; fitting then that the next match is against Manchester United!

The king is back

Arsenal 1-0 Leeds

“It was written in the stars”, the words of Leeds manager Simon Grayson summed up last night’s events perfectly. The game which signalled the return of Arsenal’s greatest ever goal scorer could only end with Thierry Henry scoring the winning goal at the Emirates, it was just meant to be. While the noise upon his introduction from the substitute’s bench was phenomenal, the roar that greeted his goal was simply deafening.

The legendary Frenchman may have left Arsenal five years ago, but he always remained firmly in the hearts of the Arsenal faithful, and they in his. The tears Henry shed at the recent unveiling of his statue outside the stadium confirmed the mutual affection he shares with the club’s fans and his goal celebration emphasised just what this club means to him. Henry ran towards Arsene Wenger and hugged the manager before passionately beating his chest as the Emirates Stadium went wild. It was a truly magical moment which will live long in the memory.

The fact that Arsenal had not looked like scoring before Henry’s introduction must surely be of great concern to the manager. Early in the first half Arshavin was sent through on goal by Chamakh, following a mistake by the Leeds defence, but the Russian blazed his first time shot over the bar, when he had the time to take a touch first. While his confidence to take on such difficult shots may be admired, it is also a source of frustration when other options are available. For example in the second half Arshavin chose to attempt to volley a cross towards goal, from the edge of the box, when he had time and space to bring the ball down and create an opportunity for a colleague. Although Arsenal had all the possession, as Leeds sat back, the Gunners did not seem capable of breaking down the opposition’s stubborn defence and without a real presence upfront, created few opportunities.

In the build-up to the game, the official Arsenal website implied Henry would start on the bench as Wenger had worked extremely hard to secure the services of Chamakh, for one more match before he joins the Moroccan national team for the African Nations Cup. After yet another largely anonymous performance I don’t know why Wenger bothered. Chamakh clearly lacks confidence on the ball and is easily dispossessed while his touch has completely deserted him. His lack of desire and attacking nous were simply further highlighted by Henry and the art of his movement. While Chamakh had virtually stood still for 70 minutes, Henry continually sought to stretch the Leeds defence with clever, incisive runs. He may not have received the ball every time, but his sheer movement gave the Leeds defenders something to think about. It was this movement that led to the winning goal.

With Alex Song in possession on the edge of the box, Henry moved off the shoulder of the last defender and created space for himself. Song’s through pass was perfectly weighted for Henry to control with his first touch and then move his body into position to calmly stroke the ball into the bottom far corner. It was a master class in creating space and converting when the opportunity presents itself. But there should not have been any surprise, in his previous spell at the club, Arsenal fans had witnessed this trademark finish on countless occasions; quite simply it was vintage Henry. The king is back.

Gunners made to pay for poor second half

Fulham 2-1 Arsenal

Arsenal naively threw away all three points at Craven Cottage, as they wasted the opportunity to cement their place in the top four. In the press conference after the game, Arsene Wenger  vainly tried to deflect attention from his side’s deficiencies with a series of complaints against the opposition and the referee, however Arsenal only have themselves to blame for a completely inadequate second half performance in which they allowed Fulham to completely dominate.

In the first half Arsenal’s display was very fluid as they created several opportunities to take an early lead. Gervinho fired high over the bar from Van Persie’s corner, when unmarked, before being upended inside the penalty area by former Gunner Philippe Senderos. Referee Lee Probert refused to award a penalty however, much to Wenger’s consternation. Yet although this was another clear penalty which had not been awarded to the Gunners, Wenger’s complaints at the final whistle that the decision had not been given, were unfounded as Arsenal still took the lead in the 21^st minute through Laurent Koscielny. Aaron Ramsey’s attempted cross was deflected into the penalty area for the unmarked Frenchman to head past David Stockdale in the Fulham goal. Minutes later the young English goalkeeper pulled off a great double save to deny both Ramsey and Song in quick succession. At this point, Arsenal were in complete control of the game, but could not find the decisive second goal which would have surely ended this contest. Theo Walcott and Gervinho were both culpable for missing several chances; their abject performances further highlighting Arsenal’s overreliance on Robin Van Persie. Time and time again when in promising positions, the two wide men passed up the opportunity to shoot, preferring to seek out Van Persie who was more often than not crowded out by Fulham’s defence. If Arsenal are to progress further, the rest of the squad must take on more responsibility and go for goal when the opportunity presents itself, or else they will become extremely predictable and easy to defend against.

As the Gunners could only take a one goal lead into the second half, despite their dominance, Fulham were still very much in this game. Martin Jol’s half-time team talk certainly roused his troops as they flew out of the blocks from the very start of the second half. Arsenal could not even manage to get out of their own half, as they came under wave after wave of Fulham attack. Such was the Cottager’s complete control that David Stockdale was rendered a virtual spectator. It is at times like these that I would expect a player such as Mikel Arteta or Ramsey to assert their authority in the middle of the park, put their foot on the ball, slow the pace of the game and enable Arsenal to maintain and gradually build possession to get back into the game. However neither player did this and so the Gunners were forced to defend desperately for the entire second half as with every passing minute, Fulham went closer and closer to scoring the equaliser. Fist Szczesny saved well from Brian Ruiz, before Clint Dempsey inexplicably headed wide of goal when Mertesacker ridiculously decided not to jump to challenge the American in the air.

Then with twelve minutes left Arsenal’s evening completely fell apart with the red card issued to Johan Djourou for a second bookable offence. I don’t believe the second yellow card, for a foul on Bobby Zamora, was actually a foul, but in all honesty, the Swiss international could have received the second yellow card earlier in the game following a clumsy foul on Kerim Frei. Wenger has since complained that once the first yellow had been issued Fulham players targeted the stand in right back in an attempt to get him sent off. Well, Fulham would have been extremely foolish not to apply pressure on a man playing out of position and already in the referee’s book, I’m sure Wenger would have done the same were he in that position. The Frenchman has also claimed that the sending off cost the Gunners the three points. Again, I’m afraid I cannot agree. It is not as though the game’s dynamic completely changed once Arsenal were reduced to ten men, Fulham were already in the ascendancy and had created several chances to equalise. In the 85^th minute Fulham got their just deserts, as Szczesny misjudged a corner, allowing Senderos to head the ball back towards goal for Sidwell to head home into the empty net. The Gunners had no response and in the 92^nd minute got exactly what they deserved for their inept second-half performance as the hapless Squillaci could only head Stephen Kelly’s cross straight to Zamora to fire a volley into the bottom right hand corner of the goal and send Craven Cottage wild.

Despite the manager’s protestations after the game, the players need to seriously look at themselves in the mirror as this was simply not good enough. The likes of Walcott and Ramsey talk a good game, but need to step up to the plate and be counted when it really matters, while the overreliance on Van Persie is becoming a real hindrance which Wenger must address sooner rather than later.  

One-nil to the Arsenal

Arsenal 1-0 QPR

Robin Van Persie was the match winner yet again as Arsenal moved into the top four of the Premier League with a one-nil home win against Queens Park Rangers. Despite creating numerous opportunities, the one-nil score line was an apt result, given that defensive stalwart and true Arsenal legend, Tony Adams was watching on from the stands.

QPR created a few dangerous chances themselves in the early stages of the match, with Szczesny forced into a fine save from Shaun Wright-Philips. Arsenal soon began to take control of the game however, with Aaron Ramsey’s beautifully lofted forward ball met by a wonderful header from the back-pedalling Robin Van Persie. Unfortunately for the Dutchman his header flew just wide of the goal. This missed opportunity set the tone for the rest of the game as Arsenal and Van Persie in particular could not seem to find the back of the net. Johan Djourou burst forward from the right back position and fed Van Persie on the edge of the box. He swivelled and turned past the QPR defender but with Radek Cerny rushing out of his goal, Van Persie could only clip the ball high and wide. The Dutchman’s fantastic movement then allowed him to meet Vermaelen’s long ball with a powerful right-footed shot which sailed just over the bar and shortly after this Arsenal were denied a clear penalty when Laurent Koscielny’s shot struck Luke Young’s outstretched arm, but the referee refused to accede to the Arsenal players’ appeals. Just before half-time Arsenal were denied yet again as first Ramsey saw his shot headed off the line by Joey Barton and then Cerny saved well from Arteta.

The second half continued in the same vein, with Theo Walcott wasting the best chance of the game. Ramsey sent Walcott through from the halfway line, his speed taking the Englishman past QPR’s backline. However as he bore done on goal, Walcott’s touch deserted him and he could only fire weakly wide of the goal. Arsenal fans could be forgiven for feeling that this was going to be one of those days when the ball just would not go into the back of the net. However in the 60th minute those fears were allayed as Wright-Phillip’s loose ball fell straight to Arshavin, who in-turn played a perfect ball through to Van Persie to calmly slot the ball past Cerny and give Arsenal a deserved lead. Unlike the previous game against Wolves, the Gunners pressed forward in search of the second goal, but were denied again by a combination of poor finishing and misfortune. Gervinho inexplicably fired wide when it seemed easier to score and Rosicky’s goal bound effort deflected wide off a defender.

Van Persie fires past Cerny

Ultimately Arsenal held on to their one-nil lead and following Chelsea’s defeat by Aston Villa, the Gunners moved up to fourth position and within three points of Tottenham, after they drew away at Swansea. Considering the horrendous start to the season, we have done extremely well to find ourselves in this position going into the New Year. Unfortunately the curse of the full back position struck yet again as Thomas Vermaelen suffered a calf strain which looks set to keep him out for three weeks. Arsene Wenger must surely now look to sign a left back on loan in the January transfer window as we are extremely short in this position. With Thierry Henry’s two month loan deal due to be confirmed, Wenger has covered for the imminent loss of Gervinho and Chamakh to the African Nations Cup. However this is a short term solution to a long term problem and I would still like to see the manager sign a striker on a permanent deal as Chamakh is not good enough for this team and Park Chu Young is yet to start in the premier league. Hopefully these issues will be addressed and 2012 will see the Gunners fulfil their potential and seriously challenge for a trophy.