Frustration and disappointment. And that?s just with the season prior to yesterday. As for yesterday, another classic example of going to the mountain top (albeit in Madrid) and then plummeting the depths of the bogy, windy, damp North-West of England. Inept and tepid in the first half; more aggressive but misdirected in the second. I suppose it was somewhat predictable; inevitable even. Given the results thus far and history being a pretty fair indicator of the future we should have seen it coming. And we should also be able to see how the rest of the season plays out. And remember as distressed as everyone was with the defense, our injuries at left back, Sol and the goals we?ve let in, it?s been our lack of scoring that has hurt us this year.
We now have a boilerplate list of reasons (and excuses). PV4, the stadium (please feel free to insert the usual list etc). Ignoring the first half (maybe Reyes was contemplating the fine tapas in Madrid) I fear the second half was a more telling example of our tactical dilemma. Namely, the Ray Wilkins-like tendency to default to the lateral pass; that infamous momentum killer of any forward move combined with the search for that perfect pass through a crowed box. With the genius of DB10 on the pitch, TH14 would receive neat and incisive balls from the middle of the park. RP and PV4 on their day could also provide that final pass. But yesterday what we saw was TH14 locked and surrounded on the edge of the area, Adebayor very Kanu-like with touches but no scoring instinct boxed out and the ball being played across the pitch. The game was scrunched into that final third of the Blackburn end but with no ability to cut through the crowd.
When we did try to cut through it was Cesc trying to conjure up that oh-so-perfect pass. Against teams like Blackburn (insert Bolton, Everton etc) we play this one touch ?perfect? football crammed into very narrow spaces looking for that delicate flicked pass to open up the packed penalty area. It?s so tightly packed, so crammed with bodies. At times it looked like Times Square on New Years Eve; there was no way through and very little entertainment.
Now this is not something so new to us, but in previous years this approach would be joined with the thrustful, quick forward passing breakaways. Yesterday it was belabored with Th14 looking as out of sorts as we?ve ever seen. Continual death-like looks at Reyes in the first half and general discontent in the 2nd. No real link up with Adebayor; no understanding. This team needs that sprint forward to create real opportunities. How TH14 misses someone who can exploit his abilities. As much as anything else it?s his frustration that could well drive (or fly him) to Barcelona.
So as long as they try and take the long and winding road to goal we will (lacking a DB10 or rejuvenated FJ) flounder on the edges of the box.
Or maybe we can arrange to play Middlesborough each week (at home of course).
14 Responses to “The Long and Winding Road”
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February 26th, 2006 at 3:22 pm
We got the match late up here in the frozen north of Canada ? brrrr. That meant that it was 9:00 pm EST before I saw the end of the match and knew the sad outcome. I stayed away from computers yesterday so I wouldn?t stumble across the score; I want to game to be fresh as I watched it. Sadly, it wasn?t as fresh as I hoped and things started getting stale quick. By the games end I felt that my world was a wash in a quagmire of mediocrity to be so beaten by those Rover thugs. They did beat us; we didn?t loose it as they soundly beat us.
I didn?t want to come on line today, as I thought it would be all doom and gloom as Gunner fans try to understand or commiserate the loss. I can?t read the post game match report today as I?m just to afraid of how it will manipulate my day. I was so depressed by the score line that I didn?t need more petrol to fuel the fire of my despair (as a fan). I also don?t want an increase in my Celexa voltage (script) as I?m already at top strength now.
So here I am.
What have I learned from all these terrible away losses this year?
?There are no absolutes in pain and misery - it can always get worse!?
Kissing the crest - even if mine is salt stained today.
Up the arse ? even if mines a bit sore from the kicking it received.
Keep the faith ? no one can take that away.
February 26th, 2006 at 9:31 pm
One of my friends who is a Man Utd fan said this : ” How can you guys BEAT REAL away from home, then come back to England and lose against who … Blackburn, well I know that they beat us, but you guys just defeated REAL . I think Arsenal players did not want to play, they just gave up after they were down 1-0. They only tried in the last 10 minutes … why ” He said ” I miss those day when Man U and Arsenal were winning almost every game, its so depressing to see you so calm and not excited about Arsenal”
My question is this: I could understand beating Real and losing against Chelsea… I can understand tying with Man Utd, or losing a game against Bolton once, but losing so many games and 1-0 without even trying to come back is very depressing …
I am sure we have the quality of players to bear Blackburn, Everton, Newcastle, …. But we are missing the hunger for winning, its not a joke, we cant afford not being in the CL or even if we made it by winning the CL, we still need to be top over Spurs.
The question: why are our players not hungry or motivated enough to play well against Blackburn when we are down by one, is it Wenger?s fault, or a player?s fault ( who ??), is it the Captain?s ?
Somebody answer me, cause I am really feeling so down with recent run !!!
February 26th, 2006 at 10:36 pm
A lot of what happens on the field has to do with directions and motivation from the captain. Henry is a more withdrawn character compared to Adams and Vieira. Adams will shout for the whole day if he needs to. Vieira will not hesitate to reprimand a player for losing the ball cheaply. Henry does not do much except maybe stare at Reyes. If Henry stays next season, Wenger should convince him to relinguish the captain’s armband and focus on scoring. I say give the armband to Toure or Lehmann. At least we will get a more vocal captain on the pitch.
February 26th, 2006 at 11:36 pm
STOP THIS CRAP!
Its not Henry.
No f’n way.
Its utter non-sense.
Its the MANAGER who didn’t get the players to support the best striker in the world.
Henry is ONE MAN. He can’t do it all by himself.
No support, no service.
STOP BASHING HENRY.
Find another scapegoat.
February 27th, 2006 at 1:11 am
i keep hearing that when gilberto has a quiet game and goes un-noticed (the silent wall) we play well, why are we settling for a midfielder who is at his best when he has a quiet game? the reality about senderos is this…he is too slow!! quality teams with quality strikers all possess pace, they target senderos and continually get goal side on him, being able to clear a ball that lands on your head isnt enough. for me, djourou is the option.. he may be young (like senderos) but is clearly more composed on the pitch. he is strong on the ball and rarely caught out of position. and can someone please show the lads some footage of people scoring from outside the 18 yard box, so they know it is possible and maybe persuade them to crack a few.. frustrating to see wenger persist with players that dont make the grade.. i hoped after a bad start to the season we would progress, but we have clearly taken a few steps back.. 10 losses is un heard of for the arsenal!! and unexceptable!
February 27th, 2006 at 1:21 am
It is the Captains. I am convinced, and have become more so every week, that the biggest problem we have this year is Henry. Now…before everyone gets mad, let me point out that I love Henry. I love him so much it was one of the first words my twins were able to say. But here’s why I say Henry is the problem:
1. When he has a shitty game, everyone has a shitty game. It’s just a fact. When Patty was on the pitch, Henry could check out and the rest of the team would pick it up because Patty would push them, but now that Henry is Captain, and it is his job to pick the team up, nothing happens. When the cloud decends on Henry, which it has done too much this year, the game is over.
2. Over the past four years we have been a team of scorers, but this year we are a team of one scorer (unless van Persie is healthy). Where did all the goals go? Why isn’t Freddie scoring? Why isn’t Pires scoring? Why not Reyes or Hleb? Because everyone is passing to Henry rather than taking the shot. I don’t know how many chances the aforementioned have had, clear chances from outside the box, and they try to make force a threw ball onto 14’s feet, or make some nifty little pass that gets cut off by the defense. Again, the fault is Henry’s. The attitude that said “i’ll take the penalties now (after admitting that it was his screw up), is at the root of the problem. We were invincible because we played like a team. Now we play for Henry, and that sucks.
The answer? Let Henry go. This season is shot anyway. Let him go and give our youth have a real chance. Let Adebayor link up with van Persie. let Reyes and Hleb and Freddie take some shots. Let Flamini and Gilberto and Diaby trade off in midfield. Just let Henry go and let us get back to winning…I beg you Arsene.
February 27th, 2006 at 1:24 am
It’s hardly crap. All you need to do is watch a game to see Henry’s a problem. I agree, though, that Arsene is a problem too, but not in the way you say. Wenger’s mistake was making Henry captain. Henry has the players to support him, he just can’t focus on scoring cause he’s farting around with crappy Captaining.
February 27th, 2006 at 3:49 am
I hardly agree with the Henry perspective…
have you noticed that henry is always tryin to make a run behind the defence carefully watching for the offside trap and at the same time waiting for that quality ball over the top 4 him to chase that never gets through…henry is always quick to show his frustration…
this in not entirely his fault as he is surrounded by a huge lot of youngstars that are not exactly quality.their anticipation of situations is rather slow, they r unable to think fast…take senderos for example who has made it a habit of misstiming the bounce of the ball and due to his inability to sprint we’ll always be exposed in that field…fabregas is weak and slow…this guy has the best passing in the team and could b the figure that exploits henry’s talents but his reaction is the worst i’ve seen as well as his shooting abilities…can’t blame the kid coz he is still developing and so this being said, this lot of senderos, fabregas, eboue shld be excused and Arsene should seek out better players. Then thez mister mature and midfield general gilberto….
Pathetic….I’ve never admired this fella and i never quite understood wat wenger saw in this guy at the time he aquired him…he lacks any true brazilian qualities i even doubt his nationality…the guy can’t pass..he isn’t good at shooting..or even tackling which is his assumed duty…
many say that he does his job well which is shielding the defence but that’s incorrect…gilberto isn’t fast, neither is he strong nor technically gifted so what good is he..
good defensive midfielders have atleast one of these qualities…take makelele for example…this guy is a rock..he’s strong, and has good anticipation of his surroundings….i always c gilberto moving in a clumsy manner unaware of the incoming opponent at his back only to realise that he’s lost the ball or by the time he realises he can only make some useless pass that leads to the same out come as the latter. Senderos is too clumsy 4 arsenal standards..just another cygan..even worse.
arsenal just needs to be refreshed….better players..the only player at the moment that can make it into any first team is henry and maybe ashley cole…there are a good number of players all over take Pedretti in france for example..way better at play making than any player that we have in our midfield…then why didn’t we get guti at the time…or try someone like cambiasso..there r so many players good at battling with an enormous workrate compared to the pansies we have..fabregas should be dropped to the bench..he’s still young and gilberto should be sold or dropped…NO..infact he sholud be sold…we can’t afford sticking with the less talented..senderos dropped…i know fabregas is great but the central midfield is too delicate for his development…and no debate about gilberto…
February 27th, 2006 at 7:48 am
SHUT IT.
you don’t understand football or sports if you want to let Henry leave the Arsenal.
Two 5’s don’t make a 10 in sports.
Superstars don’t just come along every day… and you can’t just get 2 average players to = the production of 1 great player.
February 27th, 2006 at 9:07 am
this was never supposed to be about Th14. it’s not about one player. it’s about our overall tactics. the point was to stir up comments on the overall team dynamics and interplay not to start bashing the self same player that shone so brightly during the week. Ah how fickle we are.
February 27th, 2006 at 10:04 am
I think Henry should stay as our Star, should stay as our highest goal scorer, he should stay … But I think the captain band should be given to someone else, So TH14 would be only banging goals …
I think that Arsenal need to lift the morals with more players with the same belnd of Henry and Cole … We should give the Captain band to Ashly Cole !!!!
Please get back to Healthy … we need you … We need RVP tooo … God this season is just driving my weekends to sadness ! …
I wish I can hear a guarntee that we will finish in a CL spot …then I will sit down and wait for the world cup !!!!
February 27th, 2006 at 10:44 am
This may be a question for the ages to which we never get a definitive answer, but if I was to sum it up quickly:
At first, the vets couldn’t be arsed to fight for second again, and now they really can’t be arsed to fight for fourth with Spurs. This hurts the entire side, and the kids are too young to do it by themselves.
The blame is widespread therein.
February 27th, 2006 at 11:34 am
Nicely put.
February 27th, 2006 at 7:29 pm
somehow i knew this would turn into a pissing contest. hilarious that you tell me i don’t understand football or sports. there’s no point in even discussing this, but i’ll throw out a couple of winning sides who ditched their superstar and went on to win the big one. one is from football and the other is from hockey, just to prove i know both.
michael owen is dropped and sent to real madrid, and guess what? liverpool win the champs league.
wayne gretzky is sold to the los angeles kings and guess what? the oilers win the stanley cup.
sometimes getting rid of the big boys is the right thing to do. and anyone who knows sports knows that. what a jackass!