Crappy New Year....

FULHAM 2 ARSENAL 1

If ever there was a game of two halves, this was it.

The first half was a fairly routine one for Arsenal. Created chances galore, dominated the possession, and Fulham didn’t look at all comfortable with our pace going forward.

Gervinho and Aaron Ramsey both had early chances to put us in front. The Ivorian especially should have done better when he volleyed a Robin van Persie corner wide from a couple of yards out.

Arsenal were then very unfortunate not to be awarded a penalty. Gervinho was definitely tripped by ex-Gooner Philippe Senderos inside the area, but referee Lee Probert decided against giving it.

Not to worry though. Just after the 20-minute mark, we were in front.

The ball fell to Ramsey, who’s cross was headed home by Laurent Koscielny. Not a spectacular goal by any means. But a goal all the same. 1-0 to The Arsenal, and we seemed in total control.

Shortly after that, it should have been two. Both Ramsey and Alex Song had shots inside the Fulham area that were very well saved by the impressive David Stockdale. Gervinho’s follow up from the by line found no one.

Fulham weren’t completely without their own chances to score in the first half though. Both Senderos and Bobby Zamora headed decent chances over the bar. But the main Fulham threat came from Bryan Ruiz.

Ruiz showed fantastic skill to dribble through the Arsenal midfield just after the half hour mark, and fired a left footed shot agonisingly wide. Wojciech Szczesny acted like he had it covered. I’m not so sure.

At half time there was only one team looking likely of winning. Fulham had chances, but we were very much on top. Song and Ramsey were dictating the midfield battle, Francis Coquelin was coping very well playing out of position at left back. Koscielny and Per Metersacker looked assured at the back, too. The half time message needed to be simple; keep your concentration, don’t drop your performance levels, and look to get an early second half goal to kill this game off.

Unfortunately, that message didn’t appear to get through.

From the start of the second half we looked a different side. It was Fulham who were dominating the position, and forcing the saves from Szczesny. As the half went on, Fulham went from strength to strength. And we got weaker and weaker as the minutes ticked over.

But the turning point happened with 13 minutes left to go.

Johan Djourou had been severely tested at right back for the entire game, and he was given his marching orders for his second yellow card. He had received his first booking earlier in the half for a foul on the decent Moussa Dembele. The second was for bringing down Zamora just outside the Arsenal area. Difficult to argue with the decision, quite frankly. Arsenal down to ten men with little over ten minutes remaining. The writing had been on the wall for a while. It was now being etched in permanent marker.

And it was with six minutes to go that Fulham had their equaliser. The ex-Arsenal pair of Senderos and Steve Sidwell combined after Szczesny made a meal of a corner, and Sidwell headed home from close range.

The winner then came deep into injury time. Clueless substitute Sebastian Squillaci headed the ball aimlessly across goal, and the it fell to Zamora, who drilled it home having being left unmarked on the far side of the area.

ANALYSIS

It was a devastating blow, after such an impressive first half. I’ve honestly no idea why it went so horribly wrong. Was it fatigue? Did the busy festive period finally get the better of us? Was it complacency after dominating the first half? Or was it just a resurgent Fulham, who forced us into desperation and panic?

Only the players and coaches will know. All I know is that we blew three points today, from a winning position we should never have been allowed to throw away.

I don’t want to blame anyone individually for losing us the game. Win as a team; lose as a team, and all that. But once again there were a couple of players who were off form, and wasteful. And not for the first time this season, it was our two wide men.

Theo Walcott hardly had a game to convince anyone he’s worthy of an improved £85k per week wage. He has shown this season that he is capable of great things, and there’s no doubting his talent. But he’s inconsistent, and his decision-making can be poor; as can his finishing. Chances were wasted from more than one position that Walcott got himself into today. He’ll have a lot better days, and he is still a very decent and important member of the squad in my mind. But he won’t remember today too fondly.

Gervinho was also wasteful, too. Missed two excellent chances in the game to score. Chances that even Marouane Chamakh would have probably buried. Probably… And when the two wingers are wasteful, you can’t really expect too much from your centre forward, can you?

Therefore, Robin van Persie had a very quiet game. Can’t even remember him having a real shot at goal. But in any walk of life, if you have suppliers that aren’t providing, there’s not a whole lot you can do.

Both Walcott and Gervinho were sacrificed in the second half, for Tomas Rosicky and Yossi Benayoun respectfully. Neither of who had any kind of impact on the game. If anything, their introductions made us more defensive, flat and lacking in attacking ideas.

But as I said before, it was the red card that really killed us. If this season has told us anything, it’s that being reduced to ten men makes a game almost not worth playing. Man United beat us 8-2 when we had ten men. United themselves then lost 6-1 to noisy neighbours Man City when they had ten men. Even earlier today, QPR had a 1-0 lead over turned once they had a player dismissed. As soon as you see red in this division, you’re in serious trouble. We paid the price for that today.

Had Djourou stayed on, we can probably assume that Fulham would have scored at least one anyway. They were excellent in the second half, deserved at least a point, and didn’t look like a side who were 15^th (at the time) in the Premier League. Players like Zamora, Dembele, Ruiz, and Clint Dempsey would get in most teams in the league. So it’s no wonder that some of the above have already been linked with moves to the likes of Chelsea, or even Sp*rs.

Fulham deserve credit for the way they played. Yes, we made it very easy for them in the second half and we should have killed them off long before they equalised. But they still had to score two against one of the inform sides in England. And they did.

So how do I summarise today’s proceedings? Bitterly disappointing, and almost like watching the Arsenal of Spring 2011 when we were in our end of season meltdown. After a good run of form, we’ve hit a setback. We’ll bounce back. And we can take comfort in knowing that we now have a two-week break until our next league game.

Let the first teamers rest, give some fringe players and youth a run against Leeds a week today, and nurture our crippled defenders back to fitness. Would also like to add a positive though, as I thought Coquelin had a great game. Up against it versus Ruiz, he handled himself well. And made some decent interventions. Questions about where he was whilst Zamora was smashing home the winner, but all in all a solid performance from the young Frenchman, given the circumstances.

Days like today happen for any club. I hope we learn from it, and don’t do it again. As it’s painful to take. But we’re still only one point off fourth place. It’s not all doom and gloom…

OPINIONS

@GaryEaston: Good 1st half but wasted a lot of chances. Should have been 2 or 3 up to give us some breathing room. 2nd half was terrible. No control of the midfield and invited pressure constantly. Inevitable we sould concede.

@tmpriest81: thought taking theo and gervinho off was a mistake, we lacked real pace without them and struggled to make a decent attack

@MTCooper1: team got complacent after a promising first half, ref didn't help with some decisions but overall fullback injuries cost us

@MilesCrallan: Chances not taken in the 1st half and tired legs in the 2nd half cost us the game again. Oh, and the ref needs a mention.

@Delji13: FC39 played v well and altho we lost, I don't agree with anyone that says we need to buy in Jan. Panic buying got us PM4!

@OrionAFC: Coquelin was out of position, yet played really well. Szcz was shaky at goals, Per poor. We suffered from over-confidence.

@PaulOBrien10: What about the fact that we took two wingers off for two central midfielders . Any thoughts on that . Lost our width

@Harishio: not down to the sendimg off at all...we were awesome 1st half but pls when will Walcott especially and Gervinho stand up. Theo was so poor, Van Persie didn't figure much but he can't do it every game. When we r on top we have to kill teams off.

@saif_1j: a little perspective is needed from all afc fans. severe injuries in defence but still 1 point behind 4th.

@seanchief: kos was immense once again. Him and T5000 will run the show. Coq had a good display. Disappointed with theo. Again.