By Nicholas Edwards
Let me paint you a picture. It’s 1:32pm on Saturday 20th November. I’m at home with a cold, unable to go to the pub to watch the game with my mates. Said mates are all Tottenham fans while I am the solitary Gooner. I have been looking forward to this day since the fixture list was announced and I’m watching the game in bed with a hot water bottle. The referee has just blown his whistle for half time and I pick up my phone, a grin plastered across my face, and call one of my friends. After a few seconds of taunting he simply replies “I’ll talk to you when it’s over”. Then he hangs up on me. I chuckle to myself and start planning my taunts for when I ring him back after the second half.
Oh what a difference a half makes!
The following forty five minutes were a horrific sight that I can only liken to a mental image of Sooty, Sweep and the gang being viciously molested by a rabid Doberman. As soon as the second half kicked off you could tell something was different, the only problem was that no one could put their finger on exactly what it was.
Three goals later I, and every Arsenal fan, couldn’t understand what had just occurred. Where did it all go wrong?
It would have been easier to swallow if I could have pointed to the problems that have blighted the Gunners over the past few seasons; horrific goalkeeping errors, simple defensive mistakes or a failure to capitalize on goal scoring opportunities. I couldn’t even blame injuries as, barring Thomas Vermealon, we had a fully fit squad (even Van Persie was fit!)
And this is the newest and most perplexing problem for Arsenal; we lost a game because we simply didn’t want it as bad as a Tottenham side that are showing themselves to be true contenders for the Champions League places. There has been much discussion about a switch in power in North London and Saturday at least gives credence to the claims of the whiter half.
So what does this mean for Arsenal? In terms of the title race it didn’t have too much significance as Chelsea once again showed us their vulnerable side by losing to Birmingham a week after the home defeat to Sunderland. Manchester United picked up a win that put them up to second but there is still only two points in it. More than anything Saturday was a missed opportunity. Arsenal could have been a point clear at the top of the table and kept the momentum going on some good results that we may have squandered in recent history.
The loss to Tottenham has all too quickly taken Arsenal back to that mind set and with three home losses already it is incredibly hard to see Faberegas and co having the consistency to win the league.
I thought it would have ended there. The article should have been finished and I should be sitting here now sipping a cup of hot chocolate smugly celebrating a thumping of Braga at the hands of Arsenal. I should be ready to put on a film and let the worries of the world of Arsenal float by as we are right back on track; back to winning ways.
But I’m not!
Instead I’m left sitting cross-legged in front of the TV gently rocking backwards and forwards in a semi comatose state asking the same question again: What the hell just happened?
One of the most boring games of football I have ever seen in my life quickly turned into another horror show as Braga scored twice to beat Arsenal 2-0. To make matters worse Shakhtar Donetsk won their game so Arsenal are now joint second in the group. To qualify we now need to beat Partizan Belgrade at home. This shouldn’t pose too much of a problem but then you’d think that maintaining a two goal lead at home wouldn’t be too much of a problem. Or, simply drawing to Braga wouldn’t be too much of a problem.
Oh well, do we still go into the Uefa cup if we finish third?
Sorry this will be a bit long but to get the point across it needs to be. List all the reasons people look at for our failures like a soft underbelly, outmuscled, not enough experience, mental fragility e.t.c. I believe we are now physical enough are not outmuscled and have enough experience. tthe mental side of it may have some relevance but i believe that is more due to putting more pressure on ourselves by throwing games and not taking chances. If we had beaten Spurs and Braga we would go to Villa Park without fear. Now there will be anxiety because 3 lost games on the trot is a problem and that can creep into the players games.
For me the biggest problem is tactical smartness in games and being smart enough to adapt tactics during the game as it changes. I think all other issues such as nervousness and poor confidence spring from this due to the unneccessary pressure we heap on ourselves by continually shooting ourselves in the foot.
When AW had his first trophy winning year I remember that around December we weresome way behind the leaders and were shipping points. After this we went on a long unbeaten run to go top of the league. I recall an article explaining that the team had a sit down in December and the senior defenders said they didn’t feel they were getting enough protection from the midfield. It was taken on board and Petit and Vieira provided a better defensive shield and hey presto.
Currently when things go wrong it is because we tend to be caught out either by a counter-attack or a set piecedelivery into the box. In fact we must be the only team who are caught so easily on the counter when 2-0 up (spurs first goal). Normally the team chasing the game should be caught on the counter as we should have being doing to them in the 2nd half and as Chelsea and Utd have done to us so effectively in recent years.
We tend to play the same whether we are winning, drawing or losing and tend to fling all our midfielders forward in a charge of the light brigade way. Song was developing well as a defensive midfielder but now seems to fancy himself in an attacking role. The problem with this is that when we lose the ball there is a huge gap between midfield and defence for a team to exploit on the counter. Often we are having to chase back and then give silly fouls which means we face more set piece free kicks into the box than we need to and defenders are often pulled out of defence to go and meet the opposition players pouring through the huge gap in our midfield. Song is not the quickest so if he is behind the play he is in trouble and often fouls in this situation. If he was facing the play more as it was coming at him he would break up play without needless free kicks more effectively and allow the defenders to keep in a back 4 shape.
Look at Spurs first goal. They win back possession deep in their territory and launch a ball into the huge space we have left. The minute Defoe leaps and wins the header from a challenging Clichy who is now pulled out of his defensive position so we have lost shape. VDV picks it up and roles it into Bales path attacking down our left where Clichy should be covering. Look at when Defoe heads it and you will see Song trying to sprint back from more or less the outside of their penalty area. If he had been 10-15m in front of the defence he would have challenged for the knock on and with a superior height to Clichy and a better leap would have likely cleared itfrom Defoe and Clichy can then hold his position and we keep our defensive shape. If it was 0-0 you could excuse us for pushing players on a bit, but we were 2-0 up for christs sake. it is complete tactical naivety. I am not advocating sitting deep and inviting a team onto us but we knew that Redknapp would have a go and fancy that with Bale, VDV, Modric and Defoe he could get a couple. They would have had to push onto us and would have left space for us to exploit on the counter, and we could have picked them off for a 3rd and 4th and wrapped it up. Our front 3 played 90 mins each in the internationals while Walcott the quickest player in the EPL and finishing well currently had 45 and would have been fresh. Bring him on at 2-0 up for say Arshavin and tell him to play higher and more centrally and look to get on balls behind them. Chamakh actually had a couple of these but was not quick enough to exploit it. Walcott would have had 2-3 one on ones with the keeper that in the 2nd half. Why wait to throw him on when we are starting to look more desperate.
The biggest fault though is that at 2-0 Song and Denilson should be instructed to stay at all times 10-15m in front of the back 4 facing the opposition attack and keeping a shape. We still have Fab, Nasri, Walcott and Chamakh to attack as well as some width from the full-backs. It is not about being totally defensive and anti football but it about being tactically smart and recognising what your opponents are likely to do and change accordingly.
I feel Wenger does have a tactical brain but is refusing to pay any attention to it currently. Something has changed in him. 6 years ago he was pragmatic enough to recognise the importance of a powerful defensive screen and we used to get our noses in front and were brilliant at the counter-attack and would often get the 3rd and 4th this way. I think AW has an idea in his mind of a total attacking football utopia where all his players can get forward as they want to regardless of the score or opposition. I do not believe he is naive but I think he is so infatuated with having a successful team playing all out attack that he refuse to accept this is necessary like he used to where his past great teams all had this midfield defensive screening and shape when the game dictated it. It is like communism, it looks good on paper but can’t work in reality. The annoying thing is we mostly have the players to do it and it would only take a simple bit of coaching instructions to impart it to the team. I can only assume that the only reason for our DM’s bombing forward when we are 2-0 up against decent opposition is because the manager allows them to do what they want to. Until AW accepts that he has to be more pragmatic, as he has in the past, we will continue to let teams back into games that we have effectively all ready won.