Two steps back?

Southampton 1-1 Arsenal

Following yesterday’s dire performance against Southampton, many football pundits have described how frustrating events at the Emirates must be for all Arsenal fans, with the Gunners recent performances being a case of one step forward and two steps back.

However, pragmatic Gunners supporters would not have been too excited by the 7-3 result against Newcastle. If truth be told, that score line owed as much to the fact the Magpies tired in the last 20 minutes as it did to Arsenal’s attacking play. Here lies the problem with the Gunners season so far. It appears that every time Arsenal secure a victory there is, more often than not, a “but.” Arsenal beat Tottenham 5-2 but Adebayor was sent off in the first half. Arsenal beat West Brom 2-0 but that was as a result of two poor refereeing decisions. Arsenal beat Reading 5-2 but they played right into the Gunners hands and so on and so forth.

The truth of the matter is that Arsene Wenger’s side have struggled whenever they have faced a side that presses the ball. This is not a new tactic which the Gunners are facing for the first time this season, yet they appear simply incapable of overcoming it. Whenever the opposition has employed these tactics, the Gunners quickly run out of ideas, lose possession far too easily and fail to create goal scoring opportunities.

Against Southampton, the entire Arsenal team were simply abysmal. Bacary Sagna time and time again made simple mistakes, one of which led to the hosts taking the lead, as the Frenchman’s pathetic attempt at a clearance fell to Gaston Ramirez and the Uruguayan fired home. Further up the field, Arsenal’s midfield just did not work as a cohesive unit. Mikel Arteta is not a player who can dominate a midfield with his sheer physical presence and therefore the fact the Gunners midfield was completely overrun highlighted once more that Wenger needs to sign an out and out defensive midfielder. Santi Cazorla’s passing was poor as was Wilshere’s at times, while Podolski and Oxlade-Chamberlain were largely anonymous. Theo Walcott, deployed up front once more, could not provide Arsenal with any real presence in the final third and Arsenal’s front three just did not create enough movement, leaving the midfield with no options. Consequently the Gunners only had three shots on goal, with only one of those being on target.

The Gunners fortuitous equaliser arrived courtesy of Guly Do Prado, who inadvertently diverted Walcott’s free kick past Artur Boruc. But not even this slice of luck could galvanise Arsenal, with their performance deserving less than the point they secured.

If Wenger does not address the glaring issues which are affecting his side, then the Gunners will simply fall further and further behind in the race for fourth place. Yesterday, Wenger decided to introduce Gervinho to spark Arsenal into life, but the Ivorian only managed to fall over on several occasions. Aaron Ramsey and Giroud were also introduced from the bench, but neither were able to positively influence proceedings, further highlighting the lack of squad depth at the Emirates.

We can only hope that this was one bad performance too many and Wenger has finally seen the error of his ways. The manager indicated after the game that he will be active in the January transfer window. The immediate improvement of this squad is essential, as this is one of the worst teams to ever wear the red and white shirt.