More frustration. More pain.

ARSENAL 1 – MANCHESTER UNITED 2

So the frustration mounts; the pain grows. Arsenal’s third league game of 2012 ends in a similar fashion to the previous two. Defeat.

Before the game there was an air of added confidence amongst most Gooners. Our best defender Thomas Vermaelen passed a late fitness test to start at left back. And Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain was finally given his first Premier League start, a moment of excitement for the wider football supporting community, let alone those from the red half of North London.

The game started well for Arsenal. The Ox was the bright spark, getting into some good positions, and we dictated possession well for the first ten minutes including a couple of long range efforts, but nothing that really tested Anders Lindegaard in the Man United goal. Then, everything seemed to go flat on our end, and United slowly began to take control of the match.

United’s main threat was coming down their left hand side. Nani utterly embarrassed Johan Djourou in the first half, leading to the Swiss’ substitution at half time, for youngster Nico Yennaris (which was a great decision, by the way). Before that happened, however, we found ourselves 1-0 down.

Ryan Giggs was allowed acres of space on the left, and his cross was met by Antonio Valencia who rose high to head the ball past a helpless Wojciech Szczesny. If truth be told, you could point the finger at a number of our players. Djourou, for not getting tight and allowing Giggs to cross the ball so easily. Vermaelen, for not being strong enough in the air against Valencia. Walcott and The Ox, for not tracking back and supporting Djourou, leaving him isolated.

Or, you could just admit that United were the better team in the first half, and they deserved their lead.

Much like the first, the second half started brightly for Arsenal. Robin van Persie really should have levelled the score, shooting wide from a few yards out after Tomas Rosicky pounced on a Chris Smalling slip. Aaron Ramsey fired a decent strike narrowly over the bar after decent build up play.

The Ox remained the greatest threat for Arsenal going forward, and with 20 minutes to go, he surged forward and provided a through ball that van Persie then drilled into the bottom right corner. It was the sort of counter attack that made Arsenal the best attacking side in Europe back around 2004/05. Laurent Koscielny started the move by dispossessing Rafael inside the Arsenal box. He then released The Ox, and van Persie finished the move off, atoning for his earlier miss.

At the time, we were on top and probably the more likely side to go on and win the game. But despite the renewed hope, the atmosphere inside the Emirates Stadium quickly turned, surrounding Arsene Wenger’s decision to take off The Ox, and bring on the misfiring Andrei Arshavin.

Now, let’s get one thing clear. No one either watching the game at home, or inside the stadium knew what state The Ox was in. No one knew if he had a slight knock, if he wasn’t fit enough to last 90 minutes, or what. But at the time, the decision was met by resounding boos around the stadium. The Ox was by far our most promising player going forward. Coming off was between him, and Walcott, and based on the previous 75 minutes alone, the boss got it wrong.

RVP particularly didn’t take too kindly to it; visibly looked disappointed, probably both because it was The Ox going off, and Arshavin coming on… If our skipper was annoyed about Arshavin’s entrance, he would have been further infuriated by his laziness that ultimately led to Man United’s winner.

With little under ten minutes to go, the Russian failed to get close to Valencia on the right hand side, allowed him to cut inside with ease and the ball eventually fell to Danny Welbeck, who fired home to restore United’s lead.

Chu Young Park was thrown on with five minutes to go, Per Mertesacker moved into the centre forward position, and Arsenal’s frustration grew with both van Persie and Rosicky getting yellow cards. Despite an increase in pressure, we didn’t really create a final chance with which to equalise again.

2-1 it finished. More boos rung around the ground at full time…

ANALYSIS

For the second week running, we’ve been outplayed and beaten by the better side. The only difference is this week there was no refereeing decision that contributed to the defeat. But let’s start with the positives…

I thought Per Mertesacker was excellent at the back. Really dominated, especially in the first half, where he made a number of interceptions, clearances, and generally looked assured and in control. Laurent Koscielny was as solid as ever, and Thomas Vermaelen’s return wasn’t complete, but effective (for the most part) against an inform Valencia. He’ll be much better during his next outing.

Our midfield was where we lost the game. None of our lot had bad games. Tomas Rosicky was probably the better of the three, and spearheaded several promising drives forward. Aaron Ramsey also had decent moments, and both were linking up well with our front three. Alex Song has been guilty of misplaced passes as of late, but his error count was far less today than of recent games.

The problem was, that they were simply over run by the Man United midfield. The United combo seemed far more energetic and organised, and their constant closing down methods really restricted our ability to get the ball forward quick enough to use Theo or The Ox’s pace. We did get into dangerous positions, just when it happened United had seven or eight men back, to our three or four in attack. It’s difficult to make chances, when you are so outnumbered.

The game also hinged on the fact that once again we were without any regular full backs. United had two very good attacking full backs on show, Rafael da Silva, and Man of the Match Patrice Evra. Both got forward exceptionally well, and supported Nani and Valencia in front of them at every opportunity. Arsenal once again had to play two centre backs in the full back positions. There’s no doubting that Djourou and Vermaelen are both decent and capable players, but they have no skill going forward (except for TV5’s odd venture into the unknown). They were today unable to offer The Ox and Walcott support, which made it very easy for United to defend against our pace men, and they could usually commit two players to each of them without leaving themselves exposed at the back.

This is why I’ve been saying for weeks that Bacary Sagna is the most important player returning for Arsenal. Not only is he the best right back in the League, he also brings the best out of Walcott, who uses Sagna’s darting runs forward to exploit space made by the uncertainty created in the defenders decision making. This has been seriously lacking from our game, given we have two centre backs at full back. And also why Theo has been so totally useless as of late, as he’s had no support from behind (there’s a joke there, but I won’t bother).

But back to today. A lot of people have quickly criticised Wenger for the substitution, saying that’s what has lost us the game, and what might cost us 4^th place. I’ll admit, I was baffled by the substitution, but there’s a reason why Arsene Wenger is manager of Arsenal, and I’m not. He knows his players better than I do, and he understands the game better than I do. OK, Arshavin is useless, and today’s episode might end in similar fashion to Emmanuel Eboue’s departure, after he conceded that 100^th minute penalty against Liverpool last season. But if you have someone who has run out of gas, or has a slight cramp, who else do you bring on, if not someone on the bench who plays the same position?

And yes, Arshavin was at fault for the winning goal, but who’s to say that United wouldn’t have won it anyway? They were the better side on the day, and deserved to win. There’s no need to play the blame game. Arshavin is as much as fault as Djourou or Vermaelen were for their first. Or what about RVP missing his sitter? I hate criticising our players, but it’s impossible to lay the blame purely on a substitution. A game of football lasts 90 minutes, and we had plenty of chances to score, and even win the game. But we didn’t. And what about our earlier substitution? Yennaris on for Djourou was a great change, and United weren’t half as dangerous down the left in the second half.

So where does it leave us? Still 5^th. A further point behind Chelsea in 4^th. People (myself included) keep looking ahead, and seeing it as an advantage that we have to host all the other big teams around us. But on today’s performance, you’d be forgiven for not being too optimistic about the visits of any of Man City, Sp*rs, Chelsea or Newcastle.

We’re only five points behind Chelsea, so 4^th place is still very doable. But if Chelsea weren’t having an equally shit season, we’d be really screwed. Sp*rs have some tricky fixtures, and I think we’re all now expecting them to slowly fall back and into a battle with Chelsea, and hopefully ourselves. But we need to win these bloody matches, and pick up points when those around us drop them. Which we just aren’t doing at the moment.

I don’t know what to suggest. I’m always extremely positive about The Arsenal, but I am beginning to run out of excuses. The injuries have killed us, quite frankly. It’s not an excuse, but it’s a huge factor. Take out four full backs and the best player of the previous season from any of the teams around us, and they’d all be struggling. No exceptions. The only positive, is that they are all coming back. And this time in a month, we should have a much stronger team. Hopefully in time for AC Milan and Sp*rs.

Before then, we just have to make do with what we have. Aston Villa in the FA Cup, Bolton and Blackburn are next, and they are all very winnable. We simply have to win those. Confidence is very fragile at the moment, and the team need our support more than ever. You can vent your frustration however you like behind a keyboard, but booing players or booing the team is unacceptable, and makes us all look pathetic. The players, manager and club deserves better than that.

Safe to say that 2012 has been complete bollocks so far. We lost to the Champions today, so all is not lost, and it isn’t as bad as result as the previous two (in the League). But today's result was even more painful, as we could have won it. Much like we could have beaten Sp*rs at Shite Hart Lane, or Citeh at the Etihad. We're having too many "could have won" games at the moment. That's where the frustration is from my point of view, instead of worrying about who Wenger is bringing on with 15 minutes to go.

But things can only get better, and I’ll end this blog with the same words I ended the last one with.

Arsenal Football Club – proud after victory, loyal after defeat.

Hopefully my next one will end on a more positive note…

Stay classy.