Gunners made to pay for poor start again!

Chelsea 2-1 Arsenal

While witnessing Arsenal’s steady decline in recent seasons, many supporters have bemoaned the lack of significant spending during successive transfer windows as well as the circumstances which have left the club largely helpless in preventing top quality players from leaving year after year. However, while there has been a near constant upheaval in personnel, one of the most frustrating traits of Arsene Wenger’s sides has been ever present; the fact they never seem to learn from their mistakes.

 

It is impossible for a side to improve and develop, without looking back critically at their previous failings and seeking solutions for the future. Yet the coaching staff at Arsenal never seem to do this and so the same mistakes are simply repeated time and time again. Yesterday’s match against Chelsea was another prime example. In the previous league game at home to Manchester City, the Gunners were made to pay for an extremely slow start, with the match effectively over well before halftime. Wenger’s side did rally in the second half but just could not get themselves back in the game. Afterwards, the manager and the players were all quick to condemn their sluggish start against one of the league’s top sides, but unfortunately, nothing seems to have been done to prevent it from happening again.

 

Chelsea were effectively there for the taking yesterday. They came into this game having squandered a two goal lead against Southampton in midweek and with the home crowd becoming quickly restless and frustrated, Rafael Benitez’s side have been extremely poor at Stamford Bridge since he took over. Wenger surely would have stressed to his side just how important it was to keep things tight for the first 25 minutes of the game. The Gunners should have come out of the blocks enormously fired up, looking to win every tackle, being first to every second ball and exerting pressure on the home side. Had they done this, the atmosphere at Stamford Bridge would have quickly soured.

 

Unfortunately, Arsenal didn’t go into the game with all guns blazing. In a repeat of their performance against Manchester City, the Gunners were once again extremely timid in the first half. They were second to every ball, easily outmuscled and overrun in midfield and their defending was abysmal. Up front Olivier Giroud’s attempts to hold the ball up were pathetic. Despite his physical presence, every time a pass was played into Giroud, the ball simply bounced back and Arsenal lost possession. As a result, the Gunners had no “out ball” and so became effectively pinned back in their own half. The Frenchman also failed to display a striker’s ruthless streak, as he was played through on goal by Walcott in the first few minutes of the game, only to fail to even hit the target. Had Giroud converted that effort, the game may well have taken on a different complexion. Yet instead it was Chelsea who seized the initiative and took hold of the game by the scruff of the neck.

 

Seconds after Giroud had missed that golden opportunity; Francis Coquelin surged forward from midfield. As the young Frenchman attempted to pass the ball to Santi Cazorla, he was caught by Ramires. It was an obvious foul and the referee had a clear view of it but he strangely decided to waive play on instead. While the Gunners were right to feel aggrieved by this decision, it is still no excuse for the mistakes that followed. As a result of being fouled, Coquelin’s pass was played behind Cazorla and picked up by Azpilicueta. However rather than chasing back in an attempt to regain possession, Cazorla just stood still. This allowed Azpilicueta the space and time to surge forward before unleashing a perfect cross-field ball to Juan Mata, on the edge of the box. The Spaniard had found himself in acres of space due to Sagna being caught up field following the loss of possession and the fact that Per Mertesacker didn’t track back to cover his team mate. In fact as the attack was unfolding, the German didn’t even once look behind him and ended up covering a space which Vermaelen already had covered. Mata collected the pass, held off the challenge of Sagna before firing into the roof of the net to give Chelsea the lead in only the 6^th minute of the game.

 

The home side continued to apply the pressure and every time they attacked Chelsea looked extremely dangerous against Arsenal’s poor defence. In the 16^th minute the situation became even worse, as the home side doubled their lead. Ramires caught Diaby dawdling on the ball and easily dispossessed him, before exchanging passes with Oscar and falling over the advancing Szczesny to win his side a penalty. Although replays indicated it was a very soft penalty, having awarded the spot kick, the referee could have easily decided to send off the Arsenal goalkeeper too. On this occasion a yellow card was produced, but up stepped Frank Lampard to despatch the penalty and give Chelsea a two goal lead. It was a case of déjà vu for the Gunners, and again they only had themselves to blame.

 

The irony of Chelsea’s second goal is that it arrived in the sixteenth minute of the game. This has been the point in each match that Chelsea’s supporters have sung the name of Benitez’s predecessor, Roberto Di Matteo. However, in a clear indication of just how important a good solid start was for Arsenal, this chant was not heard at Stamford Bridge yesterday.

 

As soon as Lampard sent the home side two goals clear, the Gunners were all at sea. Chelsea had their tails up and Arsenal simply couldn’t get close to them as they sprayed the ball around the pitch with consummate ease, leaving their opponents to chase shadows. Bacary Sagna, whose form has been far from his best this season, was enduring an absolute nightmare, caught out of position time and time again. The midfield just couldn’t get into the game with Cazorla and Walcott largely anonymous and even Jack Wilshere, so instrumental against Swansea, struggling to exert any influence on proceedings. Such was their dominance; Chelsea should have been clear out of sight by half time.

 

Yet although they didn’t deserve it, Arsenal were still in the game and their second half performance was much improved. Suddenly the Gunners were pressing Chelsea, flying into tackles and displaying the hunger and desire which had been severely lacking in the first half. As a result, the visitors began to create chances, with both Walcott and Mertesacker going close early in the second period, before Giroud once again failed to connect properly with Gibbs’ cross and his tame effort was easily collected by Cech.

 

The Arsenal pressure told just before the hour mark as Cazorla’s pass sent Walcott through and the Englishman celebrated the signing of his new contract with a cool calm and composed finished to reduce the deficit. Unfortunately for the Gunners, Coquelin was injured in the build-up to the goal and had to be replaced by Ramsey. The Welshman’s presence was not what Arsenal needed as he invariably slows the game down and as a result the Gunners lost some of their high intensity in the middle of the park and Chelsea were allowed to slowly get back into the game.

With Arsenal needing a second push, the manager and supporters looked towards the bench for inspiration. Unfortunately, all they found there was Andrei Arshavin. A squad which Wenger has persistently claimed is strong enough seemingly cannot handle the absence of four players. Arteta, Podolski and Oxlade-Chamberlain are out injured, while Gervinho is at the African Nations Cup, leaving Arsenal without a striker or real attacking midfielder on the bench. Wenger had no option but to introduce Arshavin, but the Gunners may as well have been playing with 10 men.

 

Consequently Arsenal just ran out of steam. They could have easily been caught out on the break too as both Torres and Ba should have restored Chelsea’s two goal lead, but were thwarted by Szczesny and Vermaelen respectively. As the game entered into injury time the visitors had a succession of corners but each and every time, Cech came off his line and easily punched the ball away.

 

At the final whistle, as had happened seven days ago, the Gunners were once again forced to look back with great regret. Although many inside the club will attempt to hold up the second half display as an act of great spirit and character, in truth it only serves to highlight the cowardice which is indicative of this group of players. Rather than having the courage to have a real go at Chelsea from the start, they hid and froze with fear. Per Mertesacker last week admitted that the same had happened at home to Manchester City. In the post match press conference, even Wenger suggested that his side may not finish inside the top four this season. If the eternal optimist has lost faith, then we should all be worried!