High Five (again) | Give Walcott What He Wants

Familiarity has been a common theme in my blogs recently, more so from a slightly negative perspective. But there will be no such negativity this time, as the latest batch of déjà vu saw us revisit a memorable day in February as The Arsenal once again saw off claims of a power shift to come from behind to batter Sp*rs in the North London derby, by five goals to two.

The first 20 minutes were centred on returning airhead Emmanuel Adebayor, who was rather amusingly ignored pre-match by Bacary Sagna, before he then put the visitors 1-0 up after ten minutes after some suspect defensive play from our back line. He was then deliciously sent off for a horrific “tackle” on Santi Cazorla, and due to his uncontrollable idiocy, Sp*rs had to play the remaining 70+ minutes with ten men.

This seemed to switch Arsenal into gear, having spent almost all of the first quarter on the back foot, and it was from a rather unlikely source that we found ourselves level on the 25 minute mark. Theo Walcott’s cross was met by the towering Per Mertesacker, who rose highest (hardly surprising) to head home superbly in a similar no-shit fashion that saw Sagna get us up and running in February’s edition of ‘hit Sp*rs for five at the Emirates’.

We've got a Big Fucking German!

Everything clicked after this, and two more goals prior to half time saw us in a seemingly unassailable lead. Lukas Podolski’s scrappy shot bundled home to give us the advantage via a mouth-watering deflection off another returning rectobite William Gallas, before Olivier Giroud got amongst the action with a neat finish despite being borderline assaulted by Jan Vertonghen, after Cazorla made the most of a great advantage played by the excellent Howard Webb.

All we had to do in the second half was keep the momentum going and not give Webb a reason to make the match up ten verses ten, and the game appeared to be over after Cazorla got his well earned goal on the hour mark. It was about as route one as Arsenal can get. Wojciech Szczesny’s goal kick was flicked on by Giroud, gathered by Walcott who released Podolski, whose inch perfect cross was smashed home first time by Cazorla. Goal of the game for me, and it should have been from there that we went on to really put T*ttenham to the sword with the idea of six or seven not totally far-fetched.

Cazorla celebrating his goal.

The players had other ideas though, and clearly had a genius master plan to re-enact the famous February result. Fine by me in hindsight, but after Gareth of Nazareth made it 4-2 with 20 minutes to go, the home crowd dipped into that familiar sense of insecurity, and painful memories began to emerge of a previous comeback that saw us balls up a 4-2 lead at home. It wouldn’t be Arsenal if there wasn’t a slight sense of drama, right?!

All for nothing though, as substitute Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (who apparently is seething over only being offered £45k a week, despite having three years left on his contract – nice one Matt Law) broke clear after some delirious defensive passing from the Spuds, to tee up Walcott who deserved his goal playing the final minutes in the centre forward position.

5-2 it finished, and another glorious reminder that North London is still, and always will be, red.

I swear I've seen this before...

Cazorla rightly earned the Man of the Match plaudits, and it was great to see the little Spanish magician back to his best pulling strings in midfield, alongside a fired up Jack Wilshere who is getting better and better with each returning game. Mikel Arteta had a much more assured performance than last week against Fulham, and I was surprised Sp*rs didn’t press him as much as other clubs have in recent weeks to great effect.

Szczesny’s return in goal was refreshing, and despite conceding two goals he wasn’t called upon too much to keep Sp*rs out (although he really needs to work on his distribution), as it was more the visitors incessant wastefulness and poor decision making that cost them in the final third, than the goalkeeping heroics we had to deal with as Hugo Lloris pulled off a string of fantastic saves to stop the game heading towards the clichéd ‘cricket score’.

We made fewer errors at the back too, despite the opening goal that was exceptionally avoidable. And even Andre Santos made a positive cameo without any heart in mouth moments. Happy days.

It was all about the offence though, and as previously mentioned it was another exceptional performance from young Theo Walcott whose game is going from strength to strength right now. His potential has always been obvious, but what has let him down in the past has been his poor decision-making, clumsiness with the ball at his feet, and lack of end product. Well, there has been none of that this season. With nine goals and seven assists so far this season (having started largely from the bench), he’s Arsenal’s most potent attacking threat and has already built up an impressive understanding with Giroud that the Frenchman admits is ever improving.

The fact that his contract situation remains unsolved is a grave concern to everyone associated with the club. At 23 years old, it’s a fair assessment that he has his best years ahead of him, but the longer this saga drags on the likelier it appears that they will be realised elsewhere.

Theo Walcott - Sign Da Ting

Over the summer I said keeping Walcott was of more importance than the van Persie drama, and called for Arsene Wenger to give the Englishman what he wants. If that was a dubious claim then, well it certainly isn’t now. It goes back to that old depressing ‘market value’ debate, and Arsenal’s reluctance to pay our top stars what they are worth, whilst the likes of Wenger and Ivan Gazidis earn the top wages as Manager and CEO in the division. It will be criminal if Walcott is allowed to leave because the club refuse to offer him the extra £20k a week he desires. After all the investment, faith and patience that has been shown in him, not forgetting that he also ticks an important ‘home grown’ box, losing him would be the biggest blow to this club in recent years. He’d go to a rival, and he’d punish us. Of that there is no doubt. So give him what he wants, sign him up long term, and build an attack around the talent he possesses, and understanding he’s gaining with both Giroud and Podolski.

As Walcott frequently reminds us, it’s up to his agent and the club to find common ground. With any luck they will, but in the meantime let’s hope Theo can keep this fine form up, and the team can build on this impressive display.

It was the 5-2 last season that inspired us into a run of form that saw us win seven out of eight games, and something similar now would propel us up the League and possibly back into a competitive position, whilst also ensuring our progression in Europe. Every fixture in the next month and a half is on paper very winnable, and whilst obviously it would be too much to expect 11 wins from 11 given the wacky League we operate in, a decent run would put us in great shape for the New Year.

After a rough few weeks it’s good to be back to winning ways and be able to write about something positive, and even better when it’s at the expense of the mob from up the road. The mood is buzzing, and rightfully so. Credit must go to the Manager and team for the way in which they bounced back, and also to the fans who provided an energetic atmosphere that no doubt played its part.

People will point to the red card as the ‘defining moment’, and say how it changed the game, but you can only play what’s in front of you. Andre Villas-Boas can say whatever he wants about how Sp*rs ‘controlled the game’ (I know, right?), but there’s only one fact that matters, and that’s the full time score line.

Arsenal 5 Sp*rs 2. Again. And I’m all up for keeping this as a biannual occasion.

Follow me on twitter: @mattlittlechild

Over and over and over again - we're miles off the pace

This is all a bit familiar, really.

Domestic troubles including a defeat at a League struggler, coupled with European woes against beatable sides. Another poor performance from the Board at the Arsenal AGM and most recently, further humiliation at Old Trafford against our old rivals Manchester United. Yep, we’ve been here before and it isn’t pretty.

Whilst Saturday’s 2-1 defeat against United might look like a close encounter on paper, in reality it was anything but as the home side ran us ragged with goals from you know who and Patrice Evra, which in the end was all they needed to take the points.

The stats all speak for themselves, and when you get your first shot on target in stoppage time you know it hasn’t been a good day in the office at all. Santi Cazorla’s last gasp strike then gave the fantastic travelling supporters something to cheer about, but it was all too little too late. And in the cold light of day, something we absolutely didn’t deserve as the team were well short of the standard we expect from Arsenal Football Club.

Another very poor performance from TV5.

So where did it all go wrong? Why did a team featuring fuckwits like Tom Cleverley so utterly and easily outplay us? Serious questions need to be asked of this side we have right now, and in particular the Manager who is persisting on sticking with a tried and tested formation that is so predictable, and just not working.

Now tactics aren’t my thing, so I’m not going to sit here and write endlessly about what a professional football manager should be doing. I’m not qualified for that, and I’m fairly confident you won’t be either. But still, it doesn’t take much to realise when something’s not working. Especially when a two-man central midfield featuring the aforementioned fuckwit has a field day against a midfield trio including two International footballers, and another of the same level with exceptionally good hair.

You’re always going to struggle if you continue to pick a central midfielder to play out wide, and again there was little to no threat coming from our right hand side with Aaron Ramsey starting there. I’m a big Ramsey fan, but his skills aren’t utilised in that position, and he’s been a passenger playing out there for the past few games. I know we’ve got injury problems in that area. That Theo Walcott hasn’t signed a new deal. But are we really so unadaptable that we can’t try something different, given the options available? Maybe try and surprise the opposition a bit?

Sir Alex Ferguson has perfected picking a side that can regularly put Arsenal to the sword, because he knows exactly how we’ll shape up and play. Because it’s the same way we do every other game. Tactically, Ferguson has got Wenger beat every single day of the week.

A disgruntled Wenger.

I saw someone tweet yesterday after the game that now it’s legitimate to ask serious questions of the Manager, and I agree. That’s not a ‘Wenger Out’ cry, but it’s clear that there are issues at the club on and off the field and we’re miles short of where we want to be. I love Wenger. There are no words to describe everything he has done for the club to put us where we are today, but sentiment alone shouldn’t be the reason to turn a blind eye to the growing lack of achievement we’re experiencing. Obviously there are complicated issues above him too, with the Board and Owner of the company, sorry, club operating in a manner that is reaping us with fine financial reward, but you don’t win anything for your bottom line being in the black.

In truth, we’re no match for Man United anymore. We’re not title contenders, nor are we a serious challenger for European glory either. That’s a stark realisation, and an unfortunate actuality of where we find ourselves at right now.

It’s amazing how quickly it’s all changed, too. After the Man Citeh game earlier this season, we were praised as having a squad capable of finally winning something. And now barely a month on, we’ve endured our worst start to the Premier League season under Wenger, and it’s another slog to see if the same squad can finish in the top four. It’s frustrating, because the foundations are there for us to have a real go at challenging. We’re just consistently inconsistent, and so tactically predictable it makes us there for the taking.

Back to yesterday, and it’s a struggle to think of any real positives that have come out of it. Per Mertesacker was the only player who actually had a good game in my opinion. But the left side of our defence is a total shambles, with Andre Santos all over the place, and there aren’t enough adjectives to describe how poor Thomas Vermaelen’s form is right now. Any other player would get dropped, and with last seasons stand out defender Laurent Koscielny watching from the bench, you have to hope that Wenger will have the balls to make the right call and drop the captain for the good of the side.

No arguments with Jack Wilshere’s red card, and any attempts to blame the referee (despite what an abundant twat that he is) are incredibly far fetched in my view. We were always going to concede a penalty, and given Wayne Rooney ballsed it up there’s no real need to get worked up by that I don’t think. Having already mentioned Ramsey, Lukas Podolski was equally as ineffective on the left without having a real excuse, and his form is beginning to become a bit of a worry too. Rooney nullified the threat from Mikel Arteta, which pretty much killed us, and with nothing coming from either flank it was tough to expect too much from Olivier Giroud, who did hit the post and at least worked the keeper in stoppage time (when he probably should’ve scored but fuck it).

Wilshere heads for his early bath, as Wenger looks on.

All in all, a pretty depressing day. And again we find ourselves in a position of needing to respond positively and quickly, with a big European game against Schalke midweek before hosting Fulham next weekend. A point in Germany wouldn’t be a poor result, so four points has to be the minimum from these two matches otherwise the pressure will mount further.

It’s certainly true that you don’t win anything in November, but you can definitely lose a hell of a lot and unless something changes we could find ourselves out of Europe and miles back in our chase for the third trophy (fourth place) before Christmas.

Whilst there’s no quick fix with our off the field issues, there needs to be one on it, and it’s over to the coaching staff and players to sort themselves out. It’s becoming pretty unhealthy to support Arsenal at present, and we can only hope there’s light at the end of the tunnel.

How long the tunnel is though, is another question.

Follow me on twitter: @mattlittlechild