Progress Halted

ARSENAL 1 - FULHAM 1

Back to frustration then. Today’s result was hardly a disaster, more of a reminder that we still have a lot of work to do, and we can’t take anything for granted in the wide race that’s emerging for Champions League spots next year.

I’m always frustrated and annoyed when we drop points. In my mind, we are good enough to beat absolutely anyone. So it’s unsatisfying when we fail to pick up three points in the league, whether it’s away against the Champions, or at home to a newly promoted team. Or even at home against a solid mid table side like Fulham.

I actually like Fulham as a team, and as a club. And it was clear even before the game that they’d be difficult to break down. They produced a starting XI with far more attacking options than I thought they would, including all of Dempsey, Dembele, Ruiz and Zamora. A lot of who would get in most Premier League teams.

So it was unsurprising to see Fulham counter attack with purpose and ambition, and get into more than one area of concern for the Arsenal defence, even though there were only a couple of times that Szezesny was forced to make a save. It was very disciplined from Fulham, and from a neutral point of view you’d probably be fair to say that they deserved their point.

But I’m not a neutral. As a Gooner, my frustration was growing as the minutes passed.

Especially after Andrei Arshavin had an early goal disallowed (correctly) for offside, it showed that we looked like we meant business. That we had that clinical edge to our attack, which we’d been lacking in recent years.

But apparently not.

The only other real first half chances came through Aaron Ramsey, who was below par compared to his recent high level of performances. Ramsey forced an excellent save from the brilliant Mark Schwarzer, and then skied a Theo Walcott pull back high over the bar. Rambo has been incredible as of late; he wasn’t terrible today. In fact, he was making a lot of ground up on the left, where the lost and hopeless Arshavin should have been. But Ramsey’s passing was sometimes too ambitious, and slow. This won’t be damaging on his progress, but he needs to re-watch his game today, and learn from his mistakes. He’ll become a better player from it.

Schwarzer is no stranger to making incredible streaks of saves against us. He was at it again today, and forced a brilliant save from a Johan Djourou header off a corner, and that horrible feeling of it “not being our day” was growing in my mind. Even captain fantastic Robin van Persie seemed not at his best. Tired maybe. The one time he did beat Schwarzer in the Fulham goal saw a well positioned Chris Baird clear off the line. It just wasn’t going to go in, was it?

And then our worst fears were realised. Calamity in the back line struck, as Andre Santos dicked around clearing the ball, it fell back to Fulham in the middle of our half, and the ball was floated in, bounced around, and eventually rolled in to our net courtesy of a tragic attempted clearance by Thomas Vermaelen. Boom. 1-0 to Fulham, and silence amongst the home fans.

This prompted some intriguing substitutions from Arsene Wenger that perhaps should have happened earlier in the half, or even at half time itself. Gervinho replaced Ramsey, and Abou Diaby marked his Premier League return (to the surprise of myself) by replacing Per Mertesacker. Alex Song moved to CB, Diaby into midfield, Gervinho out wide, and I’ve no idea where Arshavin went. Until he got replaced eight minutes later by Marouane Chamakh. Desperate, right?

My immediate response was why, oh why, has Diaby, a player just returning from a series of injuries, very much lacking match practise or sharpness, been brought on when we are chasing the game? When someone like Yossi Benayoun remains on the bench? And push Song, arguably our best midfielder this year, back into defence? Diaby made some neat movements, but tried too many high balls into the box for my liking. And given Fulham’s defence, that was the worst possible tactic. I mean, we had 13 corners in the game, and only one actually ended with an attempt on goal.

Gervinho was the difference though. For all his faults in front of goal (and there are a lot, which I’m planning on doing a separate blog about), he is a dribbling master. He creates things out of nothing, and often requires two or even three defenders on him, freeing up space for others to exploit. He was excellent once he came on. Really upped the tempo, made some great breaks, and we actually looked like a team too.

And we eventually got the equaliser. Vermaelen making up for his unfortunate own goal, soared forward and headed home a cross by the ever impressive Walcott.

We had time to find a winner, but unfortunately it didn’t happen. Points shared, and time for reflection on what could have been.

Today wasn’t a disaster, but definitely a big missed opportunity. Man United were held at home, Chelsea are back to winning ways, Sp*rs keep marching on. Winning was as important as ever, to keep the run going, and keep the pressure up on those around us.

It’s always difficult going from the high intensity of the Champions League on a Wednesday, back to an important game in the Premier League on a Saturday. We’ve suffered in the past, and we’ve lost points again today. But it’s a problem for Wenger, who wants to always play our best team in both competitions.

Was it more important to get the win on Wednesday and top our Champions League group with a game to spare? Or win today, get the extra two points, and have to field a full strength team away at Olympiacos? Probably better as it is. We have plenty of time to make up the lost two points today, whereas if we needed a result in Athens and screwed it, we could have been in the same boat as last season. Drawn against Barcelona, or Real Madrid in the first round knock out. And faced with another swift exit in Europe’s premier competition.

One thing I would now beg to Wenger should I get the opportunity (probably not). Put out the Reserves against Man City on Tuesday night.

It’s clear that some of our key players are already struggling with fatigue, so it would be almost criminal to put a strong side out in the Mickey Mouse competition, against the best team in the country (at present).

Bollocks to the Carling Cup, give the kids some experience, and who knows, should they spring a surprise result and beat what will probably be a pretty strong Citeh team anyway (welcome back $amir), it would be hilarious. And give us a genuine shot at winning the trophy we should be defending this year.

So despite the initial disappointment at only drawing today, there’s no reason to panic because of it. More of our progress being halted, than anything else. We must also respect the opposition, and give them credit for their performance, which was admirable at the very least.

Our next league game is away at struggling Wigan, whilst Chelsea, Liverpool and Man United all have trickier away games at which they might drop points. It’s amazing how quickly a couple of dropped points can be forgotten, and replaced in this division.

We must stay strong, and believe. It’s the Arsenal way.