Arsenal fell behind
to Tottenham in the 56th minute, when a strange Szczesny throw out to
Mertesacker led to an error by Flamini and a Spurs goal. But in the 74th
minute, Ox tied it up with a nice pass to the roof of the net from close in, after
some good work from Alexis Sanchez. The Gunners appeared poised to take the
game from here, but were unable to unlock a solid Tottenham defense and
ultimately settled for yet another draw, their fourth in the first six games of
the season. While Arsenal dominated possession and had 14 corners and several
free kicks, they did little with any of them and some fine saves from Hugo
Lloris ensured that Tottenham earned a well-deserved point. Three thoughts on
the game, all related to questions surrounding Arsene Wenger and whether the
Gunners will ever compete for the title while he is still in charge …
1. Tactics: Ozil again started away from his favored #10 spot, as
Wenger appeared to set the team up in a 4-1-4-1, with Sanchez on the bench. The
Gunners did dominate the game, but often found themselves rushing back to stop
counters that could easily have led to goals but for poor final balls from the
Spurs attackers. Ozil was solid with his passing, and Wilshere was bright at
times, but the Gunners had trouble creating any real scoring chances. Welbeck
looked largely isolated ahead of a game that was played more in the midfield.
It was an odd North London Derby overall, with Pochettino apparently convinced
that the only way to compete with a more technically gifted team was to
essentially “park the bus” and play on the counter. He is known for pushing his
players to press high up the pitch, but doesn’t seem to have the personnel to
do that at the moment. Instead the Spurs sat back for long spells of the game and
Arsenal had trouble finding the necessary space. When they did, Younes Kaboul
and Hugo Lloris combined to stop the threat on all but one occasion. The two
should probably share player of the match for their performances. But the
question becomes why Wenger didn’t replicate the formation from the Villa game,
where Ozil dominated and created many chances. Ozil looked bright throughout,
and had several crosses that could have led to goals. But he was better in the
second half surge, playing more centrally. Wenger needs to move him back and
trust in his best player.
2. Flamini Flaming Out: Arsenal brought in a new trainer, but appear to be
suffering through the same problem that has plagued them for years – too many
injuries undermining team chemistry and showing the lack of strength in depth
beyond the offensive side of the ball. Arteta went out early with a knock,
replaced by Flamini, whose error helped Tottenham score the opening goal. It
wasn’t his fault alone, but when a ball comes to you that close to goal, you
can’t dawdle on the ball, and he did just that. Flamini was a feel good story
last season, coming back to the club on a free and playing well as the Gunners
rose to lead the league for most of the first three quarters of the season. But
his form has dipped considerably, and Arteta seems slower as well. Neither can
dominate the defensive midfield at the moment and it thus restores the question
of why Wenger has failed to sign a world class DM for seven long years now.
Song did the job adequately in his final season, but was then sold and has
never been replaced. This is the kind of ineptitude by a manager that would
generally get them sacked, but Wenger now claims he will make Diaby into a DM,
even as the Frenchman can’t seem to put together more than two or three games
without another career-threatening injury. Will Wenger finally sign a player in
the winter? Probably, just in time to secure fourth place yet again.
3. Sanchez Benched: Alexis Sanchez has
been in good form over the past month or so, scoring the opener against
Leicester, the go ahead goal against Man City and the opener in the losing
effort Tuesday in the Capital One Cup against Southampton, where he scored a
sublime free kick. And yet he found himself on the bench, alongside Cazorla, at
the start of the game. Cazorla later came on for an injured Ramsey, who looks
set to miss a spell with a hamstring problem, and Sanchez came on for Wilshere
in the 62nd minute. From the moment he stepped on the pitch, the Gunner attack
seemed to come to life and they were level a little over ten minutes later,
largely because of his patience in the box. The Gunners kept threatening from
here, but were unable to get past a stalwart defensive effort from the Spurs.
One wonders if Sanchez had started and Ozil played in his preferred #10 from
the start, whether the Gunners could have secured all three points, as most
expected.
And
so Wenger and Arsenal seem poised to again struggle to win the “trophy” of
fourth place, to maybe squeak out of their group in the Champions League in
second place, before losing in the first knock out round and hopefully to make
a run in the FA Cup (since the Capital One Cup is already gone). Is this really
acceptable to fans? Wenger has finally opened the purse strings and brought in
some world class talent, in Sanchez and Ozil, surrounded by young players that
could really grow to that level themselves (Ramsey, Wilshere, Welbeck, Gibbs,
Ox and Chambers) and a back line that is relatively solid (Mertesacker and
Koscielny, and Debuchy when he returns). But his failure to make those two
final moves – for a DM and CB cover – has already cost them several points this
year. And it’s not like he didn’t know about these needs from the start of the
summer, particularly after he sanctioned the sale of Vermaelen. One wonders
whether it is obstinacy, senility or some combination therein – but I, for one,
cannot wait until the day he retires.
Looking
at the season so far, one could argue that the Gunners have shown character in
several games – coming back from 1-0 down to take all three points in their
opener, going from 1-0 down to take the lead against City, coming back from 2-0
down to draw even with Everton and scoring the equalizer today. On the other
hand, one could also look at the fact that they conceded an equalizer against
City that cost them two points, an equalizer against Leicester City that cost
them the same, two goals against Southampton after leading to exit the Capital
One Cup and failed to finish off teams that looked ready to wilt, in Everton
and Tottenham. The Gunners are still undefeated, but four draws in six games is
nothing to cause great cheer in North London. Next up is Chelsea, and the
Gunners really need to at least get a draw there if they want to stay relevant in
the title race. First up is Galatasaray on Wednesday though, a necessary win if
they are to get out of the group and restore some faith that they have not
taken a step backwards from last term. COYG!
No comments:
Post a Comment