Arsenal Draws 0-0 at Villa

For the third time this year, Arsenal ended a game 0-0. The only good news? A second clean sheet in a row. But what is clear this year is this team turns off far too often. They were lethargic for long stretches of the game, giving up possession, playing in the middle and back and lacking the sort of creativity that reaps goals. Even with the performance, three real opportunities emerged -- for Koscielny right before half time when he sent it over from 5 yards out and two for Ramsey, who fluffed both. One should have ended up in the back of goal, but it was another average performance from a player that just doesn't seem good enough to play for Arsenal any more. One feels bad for him after the double-leg break he suffered from a harsh Shawcross challenge, but time has to be running out for the youngster who is full of talent but just doesn't do enough on the pitch. He has a tendency to pass back or laterally or go on long runs that don't really go anywhere. He did exhibit some decent play at times, but doesn't do enough to create or score goals. It was also another average performance for the Ox, who has really dipped in form this season. He's young and I still think will come good, but doesn't do enough to get forward or get involved. Some takeaways from the game ...

1. Szczesny has reaffirmed himself as the #1: it was another solid game for the returning #1 who saved the game with a finger tip save into the top post. I like his distribution more than Mannone and he's not afraid to come out to stop attacks before they happen. 

2. Ramsey should not start: I assume Wilshire needed a break after several games since his comeback but it is clear that Ramsey is a step down that too often slows down the attack. I wonder if we should run out Eisfeld to see how he can do in the EPL after a number of good performances with the under-21s. It is also clear that we miss Diaby and that Arteta is being pushed back to do the defending too much, and that we lack his creativity in the final third. This brings me back to a point I have made repeatedly -- we need to bring in a solid defensive midfielder so we can push forward in games like this. 

3. We need another striker: Gervinho looked good early in the campaign, but he does not appear to be a game-changer off the bench like Walcott. Giroud has come good recently, though I thought he had an average game, with a few nice passes and holdups of the ball. Giroud was playing too far from goal far too often tonight and that seemed to hurt the Arsenal attack. We need someone we can bring in to provide late challenge to the opponents goal, like Henry did last season. If Chamakh isn't going to play, please get rid of him and find someone else. I like Walcott's form, but do think he is a better player on the wing meaning we have few real choices up front. Rumors of Llorente or Dzeko have quieted of late (though their is talk of Lopez). One hopes the new revenue stream and 30 million pounds in the bank are spent this winter on some offensive reinforcements.

4. Mertesacker is our defender of the year so far: after last season, when he was caught off far too often, Mertesacker's discipline and defensive positioning have been the brightest spot on a defense that often looks shaky and had a number of important blocks and interceptions again today. It was also good to see Gibbs back on the pitch, but like everyone on Arsenal except for Walcott and Arshavin (yes Arshavin), they need to do better with their crosses into the box.

5. We need to figure out how to beat negative tactics: all season, Arsenal has struggled against teams that play defensive football (Sunderland, Stoke, Norwich, etc.). When teams play open football, we score (and usually concede). But when teams sit back with two flanks of four and challenge us in the middle, we seem to quickly run out of ideas. This was true again today, as Aston Villa pressured the ball in the middle and back all day, limiting our possession in the final third. One problem all season has been getting the ball through this pressure, something we seemed better at last year (maybe we do miss Song). I would like to see Arteta, Mertesacker and others occassionally shoot the ball in the air down the wings to take advantage of our superior pace and for Ramsey, Arteta and Cazorla to try to get through balls in more often. Maybe we need a tactical shift on occasion but the main thing I noticed today was getting caught on the flanks in midfield and being too slow getting the ball forward when openings emerged. It was also clear that not enough bodies were getting in the box on a regular basis, limiting the threat when the ball ended up there. Cazorla had an average night as well and we have seen less of the link-up play with Pod that had us scoring goals earlier in the season. Clearly something has to be done to deal with this situation though, as we are not scoring consistently enough from game to game.

The real problem for Arsenal this year is consistency. We played two good games this week and headed into a match against a bottom dweller who have been playing decent football. Sure the pitch was wet and we might have been tired, but I think we should have gotten Wilshire on at some point to replace Ramsey and needed a little more effort and punch. This team just has a tendency to disappear for a half or even full game too often and this could lead them to fall out of the top four if they aren't careful. We have just dropped too many points to lesser opponents in Sunderland, Stoke, Fulham, Norwich and now Aston Villa (and almost drew against the awful QPR). The next few weeks are now key, starting with Everton, as we could easily slip to the middle of the table with a hard road back to the top. This is particularly true given the form of West Brom, who really are playing great football at the moment. Whether they can keep it up will be interesting to see (Everton have certainly leveled out after a great start to the campaign), but it would be nice to be putting more pressure on them in the run-up to our upcoming contest. Can we finally end the seven-year itch for silverware? Not if we keep playing like this.