In such a topsy-turvy season – with Man Utd slipping up when the title was ‘won’, Blackburn and QPR being pulled back into the relegation mire when it looked like they were ‘safe’ – it was too much to ask that Arsenal won to open up an 8 point gap on Spurs. My last blog started with Arsenal moving in the right direction – what now for Arsenal?
Firstly, a word on Wigan
Wigan were fantastic. Absolutely fantastic. I have a massive amount of respect for Martinez. I was mocked last week by the Spurs fans in my office for suggesting that Martinez could replace Redknapp, but he has constantly outwitted the best teams in the league over the past few weeks with his 3-5-1-1 which becomes 5-4-1 when defending. How refreshing to see a manager trying new formations and systems rather than relying on 4-4-2, 4-5-1 etc!
Moses gave Sagna the run around all evening – I’ve never seen Sagna given such a tough game – whilst McArthur and McCarthy were everywhere in centre midfield. I hope Wigan stay up – though I must point out that I’ve gone away with Chelmsford City to holes like Maidenhead and taken more than 200 fans!
Complacency breeds complacency breed…
Arsenal have lost to Swansea, QPR, Wigan, Blackburn, Fulham and drawn with Wolves (Wolves!!!) this season. Enough said! Do Arsenal work on mental preparation?
Positions, schmositions
Arsenal started last night’s game like it was the 94th minute and were a goal down. Bombing forward with no regard for their positions, it was a shambles! I’m all for Arsenal playing attacking football but it has to be matched with responsibility.
Vermaelen was given an 8 in the player ratings – and I love him – but does he need to bomb forward at every attack? Yesterday’s game was a time for calm heads, a time for Arsenal to be solid, patient, and to take a 1-0, 2-0, 2-1 to secure the points – the performance that Man Utd have turned into an art – but our gung-ho style cost us dear yesterday.
There was no need to start the game at 150mph – particularly when it was so obvious that Wigan would look to pick us off on the counter attacks.
Underperforming players
The usual suspects underperformed yesterday – Walcott, Ramsey, Djourou, Santos, Gervinho. Walcott is such an incredibly frustrating player. Some games, he can look fantastic, whilst other times, such as last night, he can look lazy, disinterested, slow etc. His stat’s aren’t pretty – 0 successful ‘take ons’, 0 chances created, 22 successful passes, and 1 off target shot.
Ramsey is another incredibly frustrating player. I have his name on the back of my away shirt – I rate him – but he has gone backwards this year. He is too slow on the ball, too slow in general to be honest, with little attacking intent or forward motion. Apparently he made the most passes last night – but I fear rather than a little Cesc, we have a little Carrick!
Again, Gervinho – 8 successful passes, 0 chances created, and 1 off target shot. Not good enough. He looks lost, and again, very slow!
Formation Variation
This isn’t a criticism of Wenger per se – but surely I am not the only person to notice that we rarely, if ever, deviate from the 4-3-3/4-2-3-1 formation? Would it not hurt to have some variety in the way we play? Perhaps it would help Theo if he didn’t play so high up the pitch, so that when he got the ball he had space to run into. Ramsey could play just in front of the defence, so he can be the ‘quarterback’ if you like. Perhaps RVP could play deeper, off of Chamakh? Just some thoughts…
Conclusions
Did we learn anything new last night? We know the squad is good, but not great. We know that Wenger needs to change the team, and backroom staff in the summer (Martin Keown assistant manager? Yes please). We are still 5 points clear of Spurs, and it wouldn’t surprise me one bit if we beat Chelsea Saturday.
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