Tough Loss for Arsenal

The 2-1 loss to Chelsea on Saturday reminded of many of the disappointments over the past few seasons. Arsenal looked good at times but had two major defensive lapses and missed far too many goal scoring opportunities. They had 17 shots in total, but only put one in the back of the net. And Giroud missed his second chance to become an Arsenal hero, missing a late goalscoring opportunity. One has to think that if we still had RvP, we might have won our first two and at least gotten a draw against Chelsea. That's at least five dropped points. Arsenal is probably not in crisis yet, as many pundits are already arguing, but it is disappointing to consider that we lost four points in the first two games because of our inability to score, dropped two points at Man City when we had a great opportunity to win and lost three to Chelsea with Koscielny playing terribly  (at home). Sure he's just back from injury and is faster than Mertesacker, but this seemed a bad game to get him back in the fold. The Gunners now find themselves in seventh place, a full 7 points behind Chelsea. Diaby will be out for at least three weeks and Giroud seems far too wasteful in front of the net (after finally scoring his first and only goal in the Carling/Capital One Cup earlier last week). 

Looking at the game, however, one could again find a lot to make fans hopeful. Chelsea only had three shots on goal and the two that went in were based on defensive errors. The Gunners again controlled the middle for large parts of the match and created opportunity after opportunity. Gervinho appears to be coming into scoring form, a necessity with the departure of RvP. Diaby looked decent until his premature departure and Jenkinson again played well. But we must become more clinical in front of goal. As I said previously, Giroud should have scored after dribbling around Cech. Cazorla lost a goal on a great Cech save, but needs to become a little more clinical himself (as he missed a couple strong opportunities). Gibbs made a nice turn but should have shot and Podolski largely disappeared in the first half before being subbed out toward the end. We we lost the ball in the middle a little too much, had too many errant passes and gave up some unnecessary free kicks (and maybe a penalty that wasn't called). But we have a winnable list of fixtures coming up and need to start taking maximum points to get back in the top four and take momentum into the game against Man United (and congrats to hated Tottenham for their first win at Old Trafford since 1989). 

P.S. The collapse by the U.S. today in the Ryder Cup (up 10-6 after the first two days -- and 10-4 at one point) might be the greatest choke in the history of sports, but also included a spectacular display of clutch golf from the Europeans. A historic day, 13 years after the 1999 comeback by the Americans -- which I remember watching at a bar in Barcelona with a bunch of Spaniards -- reaffirmed something that maybe isn't that surprising: the best individuals in the world will often lose to the best team. And the U.S. seems more naturally individualistic than Europe. Ironically, it was European individuals today that retained the cup in impressive fashion (though with a better team spirit, I sense).