And… exhale. The Gunners are in the Champions League! After being in contention with Manchester United for the Premier League through the latter half of last season’s campaign, Arsenal Football Club began facing one of the darkest times in the club’s recent history. The exodus of first-team players and the lack of signings has placed a bulls-eye on Arsene Wenger as a target for ridicule by the media, and even Arsenal fans (as evidenced by comments on this website). Even the most optimistic Arsenal supporter cannot deny the club is headed in the wrong direction. Thirteen points from the last thirteen games—the worst run at Arsenal in seventeen years and certainly the worst in the Wenger era.
The crisis had placed the club in the unenviable position of protecting a slim 1-0 lead in a high-stakes match against Udinese at the Stadio Friuli with the winner claiming a coveted Champions League spot. Essentially, this match was the last chance to salvage hope and right the ship for the upcoming season. Qualifying for the Champions League not only guarantees additional revenue (upwards of thirty million Euros last season) that has almost become expected during Wenger’s tenure but the ability to attract top-class talent (crucial given the club’s needs and inflated transfer budget). Sources have even stated Lille’s Eden Hazard has agreed upon a transfer to the Emirates conditional upon Champions League qualification.
Wenger uses a 4-2-3-1 to protect the advantage
Including outgoing transfers and injuries, Wenger’s selection headaches have been well-documented. And despite hope that Jack Wilshere would be fit, news of a relapse on his ankle injury and an additional setback of two to three weeks further exacerbated the situation. To protect the 1-0 advantage and control the midfield, Wenger deployed a more defensive-minded 4-2-3-1 with Alex Song and Emmanuel Frimpong (on the heels of his impressive performance at Liverpool) sitting in front of the defense. Interestingly, Wenger showed faith in Aaron Ramsey giving him the nod over both Arshavin and Rosicky as the central playmaker.
Gervinho, who is only suspended for Premier League matches, was a welcome inclusion to the squad and given freedom to swap wings with Walcott as captain Robin van Persie played as a lone striker. On the back of Koscielny’s injury over the weekend (no pun intended), Wenger was forced to call on Djorou to partner Vermaelen in central defense. 19-year old Jenkinson started on the right shifting Sagna to the less-preferred left back position.
A discussion of tactics aside, Arsenal had only one objective: get an away goal! By virtue of the 1-0 victory at the Emirates, Arsenal needed only one goal this match to force Udinese into essentially a three-goal deficit.
Rosicky finally delivers
Aaron Ramsey’s performance as the central midfielder was very underwhelming, but it is important to consider that the entire creative burden in midfield fell on his shoulders. Often times, as Arsenal approached the final third, players stood around waiting for a pass. Ramsey is a very solid midfielder whose play shows maturity far beyond his age, but Arsenal’s midfield was missing the vision of a player who is able to play a smart final ball or test the keeper from long-range to stretch the defense. In short, Arsenal built up play well but the decision-making in the final third of the pitch (particularly Walcott’s) ultimately caused the play to break down
At half-time, Wenger replaced Frimpong with Rosicky who immediately had an impact on the match. In the 56th minute, Rosicky put a shot on target, which Handanovic could only parry. The ball fell to Gervinho on the left wing who once again beat his defender and put in a low cross. There was only ever going to be one outcome as RVP slotted home the crucial away goal from six yards out. Symbolic of a new era, the new Arsenal signing found the new Arsenal captain to usher the Gunners one step closer to Champions League play.
A few minutes later, confusion ensued as the referee booked Vermaelen and awarded a penalty kick for presumably a handball in the box. No replays were shown but Vermaelen did little to appeal. Predictably, Di Natale stepped up to take the penalty kick. Di Natale fired towards the upper left corner but Szczesny pulled off a world-class save.
20 minutes from full-time, Sagna found Walcott down the left as Theo got behind the defense with his pace and slotted past Handanovic… putting Arsenal through to the Champions League.
Men of the Match
There were two men of the match who contributed to Arsenal’s efforts on opposite ends of the pitch. Szczesny’s efforts in both legs of the tie were nothing short of extraordinary. He has showed great athleticism and awareness but also a command of the 18-yard box that has been largely absent with Almunia and Fabianski. Szczesny’s world-class PK save against Di Natale is surely representative of a coming of age.
On the other end, Gervinho was often the key man at the beginning of many Arsenal chances. Over the weekend in the Liverpool fixture, Walcott and Arshavin were both in very poor form often losing the ball in possession and lacking the confidence to run at defenders. In this match, Walcott showed better presence but once again is oft-maligned decision-making in the final third let him down.
The difference between the quality of chances created against Liverpool over the weekend and today against Udinese was Gervinho. Gervinho collected the ball on a wing and had the confidence to either run into open space or take on a defender one on one. His tricky skills on the ball saw him consistently beat defenders and play great balls into the middle.
Forward
While arguably in the years past, the club has only been two to three signings away from truly competing for the Premier League and Champions League, the exodus of first-team talent this summer has left more holes than answers. Arsenal now have the promise of Champions League football and a sizeable transfer chest to recruit top talent.
The manner in which Arsenal’s transfers have been handled have left the club in the precarious situation of conducting a summer’s worth of business in one week. Nonetheless, Wenger and Gazidis need to be active and aggressive in the transfer market to even achieve last year’s standard-- let alone improve. It is more important than ever to support the club’s proceedings as they unfold. For the first season in a long time, we have a core group of players who we know want to be at Arsenal and are focused on winning with Arsenal rather then the amount of money in their pockets or their futures elsewhere. We have to move forward with them.
Follow Anand Saha @AySaha21
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