Newcastle 0 – Arsenal 1
I am just happy we pulled this one out as this was just another frustrating game to watch (anyone else really hate Tiote?)… absolute rubbish in the first half. Hard fought: yes. Showing signs of weakness: yes. Fantastic to see Giroud flick one in: absolutely. This match was going to be difficult through and through with a visit to SJP but you never got the feeling that Arsenal wanted more than a tie. Newcastle have being playing well with a number of quality wins in the year already and they really seemed to put forth more effort in this one. I can afford to be disappointed though as this Arsenal team is different than in years past (proven by our run among the top and endless hope of silverware). Now on to the bits and pieces of this match…
First half: frustrating to watch, boring, a bit sloppy in the passing and lack of creative runs. Am I setting a high standard? You bet. This team has played extremely well at times and going out I expect that each week. All things aside though, we did lack some of our seriously creative cogs as Rambo AND Ozil were out of this one (a bit worried when I saw the lineup with no Ozil especially). Did we create the best chances in this half? Absolutely.
However, I got so tired of watching our lads get pushed off the ball I decided to pull some stats.
Jack Wilshere: 5′ 7″
Santi Cazorla: 5′ 5″
Theo Walcott: 5′ 9″
Tomas Rosicky: 5′ 10″
Mathieu Flamini: 5′ 10″
Now, I am not saying you have to be big to be good but you have to have presence on the ball and enough strength to keep others from flat out muscling you off the damn thing we you are in the middle of an attack. Aside from our back line, our big “bruiser” out there is Olivier (also known as our striker). Flamini has been a great workhorse this year and plays a man twice his size. But watching our creative cogs in this game get pushed off the ball by bigger Newcastle lads was frustrating. Jack is a fine player but I have never understood the extreme hype with him. If he isn’t a straight CAM then I am not sure a man his size will always be able to hold up on the ball when we need him to (anyone else getting tired of seeing him shoved off the ball while he is on his knees holding his hands up?). Maybe I lack the English bias with him or something but I could care less where our boys come from so long as they can flat out play and dominate the game from their position. Now, that which I proclaim of Jack could be said of Santi but it is obvious that man plays the CAM role and his dipping and darting creativity is much welcomed (and better than Jack’s play). Thus, when paired together I always get a bit nervous that our attack will break down when facing a more stout opposing midfield…
Second half: not much difference in the second half. We created the best chances and you just had the feeling that if either team was going to score it was going to come via a set piece or some other dipshit move on Scheseznsys’ part (Yes, I know I spelled his name wrong. When you make boneheaded moves like he does then he doesn’t deserve his name spelled correctly). Sure enough, thank the good Lord we won a decent set piece with Giroud doing what he does best by flicking (glancing really) one into the net. Fantastic placement by Theo and even better movement by the OG. Really happy to see him get back into scoring (so is my fantasy starting lineup). After our goal you just knew things would immediately turn conservative as if Arsene were managing that lesser team (or maybe he is just genius as usual and I have no fucking idea what I am talking about-probably true). Which brings me to my next frustration…
Prevent defense: In american football, when the team leading in the fourth doesn’t have the ball, and time is running out, coaches tend to put in prevent defense. For those of you that don’t follow, prevent defense is supposed to prevent the big play (again, supposedly) but generally allows the team with the ball to keep getting first down after first down (which is what most often happens, at least when I watch). This is extremely frustrating in college football where the clock stops after each first down. Now, I am sure there is the possibility that law of averages says this is good but damn if it doesn’t make for a nerve racking ending that usual ends with my team losing because they employed that fucking mentality.
So, when that goal slid in and Gibbs/Walcott came off and Arteta/Jenks came on (also as evidenced by our extremely deep line and 5 wide) I just knew this was our “prevent” defense. Fucking nail bitting. The more frustrating part? There were probably 2 or 3 counter attacks that would have suited Theo perfectly had he still been on. Instead, we had to go through chance after chance of Newcastle almost equalizing (I know that they didn’t but that doesn’t mean it was necessarily the right choice). Against a better team, and our most recent history these past few years, and we all know that some nitwit slides a goal in to equalize. Thankfully, that didn’t happen here and we grabbed our 3 to stay atop the league. I’m not dogging shoring up our D but playing a line that deep when teams that are good throw everything at you is just asking for a mistake to happen. It happens all the time in football and in this case I think we stole one from Newcastle (but hey, all the good teams do in the end right?).
All things aside, I complain but that is because I am not sure what to make of this “run” at the top. Remember, my memory only goes so far back as to enjoy the constant run of top 4 finishes. I am still getting used to this idea that as a supporter of Arsenal the top spot is actually where we belong. Damn if it doesn’t feel great.
Theo Walcott of Arsenal FC (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
See, the ball is HUGE compared to Theo…
Arsenal 3 – Man City 6
Sloppy passing. Missing players. Fatigue. It could have been worse. Much worse. But you can’t be mad at the players for this one. A game that featured two top teams lived up to it in the first half but after fatigue crept in, followed by a lack of attacking options, it was no surprise to see our boys fall to the Sheik’s money squad. Yes, I could complain (and I will, don’t worry) but this game was destined to see us drop a point or two (yeah… three). We started out ok and looked to hold on after closing a bit of the early gap but that is all we could manage as City just held us at our own game (there is something to be said about their home record this year).
From the get go you could tell this was not going to be Arsenal’s game. The pep we normally played with was absent; the attacking mindset, lock down D, crafty passes (oh there were still a few as we do have some serious quality in the square regardless of our exhaustion). And we limp away from this one too.
Kols is out with a cut (hopefully not too serious). Sagna was back in but Gibbs was out in place of Monreal (I think this had a larger impact than most would admit). Giroud was left on attacking island as we struggled to manage any sort of rhythm or possession game. The lack of crispness to our passing just wreaked of jelly legs as the game saw us provide one bad pass after another. Just when one could hope we would start the counter we did nothing more than gift the ball back into City’s midfield attackers. I give City some credit, but Arsenal did themselves no favors with this one and I have to cry foul on Arsene’s early season “rotation”. Ozil needs a rest, Rambo could use a real breather and Giroud can’t get much more overworked. With the midfield depth we allegedly have it is a wonder that we haven’t run ourselves into the ground with the lineups we have put out there.
The lone bright spot in the game was none other than Theo. His double was pure quality (even if he didn’t quite put that one away with authority) and you have to be excited that he should be playing in his true winger role (as opposed to the constant placement of a midfielder up top). Additionally, Gnabry gave some late game pace that has me thinking a young Theo without the ego (sheesh, that rhymed… I must be reading too many children’s books). In any event, Theo’s pace, coupled with Ozil’s vision should be something to behold in the next few weeks as Theo stakes his claim to a starting role again. You just have to hope we continue to cycle through the right combination of MFs to support it all.
I know this isn’t much a re-hash of the game so much as a what can we take from it and move forward post. Maybe I was just pissed about giving up so many goals. Maybe I was frustrated to see Kols go out with a gash. Or could it be I am getting nervous about our fixture list and dwindling lead on the points chase? Yeah…
At any rate, I have to say I just want to see the following at some point: Poldi Giroud Theo – Rambo Ozil Flamini – Gibbs BFG Kols Sagna… I could easily be just as happy with swapping Poldi and Flamini with Cazorla and Arteta (which is a strong possibility with Santi) but Flammini’s tenacity has been an awesome display this season (an enforcer of sorts). Poldi coming back is really going to be nice as are really starting to miss another striking option to Giroud (although a much different style). All in all, you just have to write this one off. We lost fair and square. Didn’t deserve to win and we need to move on and take all the points we can from games we should absolutely win. This isn’t a race so much as a marathon and we still have a long way to go… COYG!
AmericanArse 