Arsene Wenger warned his players before
the game that this was not going to be a rollover win at home against Hull
City. One only wishes the players had heeded that call a little more. The
Gunners dominated possession throughout, but allowed Hull to score on their
only two chances of the game, settling for a draw that should have been three
points. Arsenal started brightly and controlled the game, creating several half
chances, the most obvious falling to Jack Wilshere, who again failed to connect
when in on goal (a troubling habit for a player who should put the ball in the
net more often, including a chance to equalize against Chelsea a fortnight
ago). But a bit of magic from Alexis Sanchez opened the scoring soon after, as
he got past two defenders and then shot the ball hard across the crease and in
on 13 minutes.
But as has become a rather destructive
habit this term, the Gunners shut off at a key moment and allowed Diame to
dribble past three defenders, push Flamini aside and score to equalize on 17
minutes. To be fair, it shouldn’t have been a goal, as Diame clearly fouled
Flamini on his way to chipping over Szczesny, but he shouldn’t have had the
chance, with three defenders there to block him or at least get a tackle in.
With the score equalized, Arsenal looked a little shell shocked, and though
they continued to dominate possession, were sloppy around the box and unable to
capitalize any further on 68 possession and 14 shots (5 on target) in the first
half.
As the second half began, most fans still
presumed the Gunners would come to life and win the game. And then the
unthinkable happened. Mertesacker fell asleep on a floating cross from
Huddlestone and allowed striker Hernandez to slip in front of him and send a
strong header past a diving Szczesny. The team found themselves down 2-1 on two
chances around relative dominance of the game. Arsenal then went about chasing
an equalizer, and came close on a few occasions, but the sloppiness around the
box continued to plague them, with Ox the most culpable, losing the ball
somewhere around 15 times in the game (or more; I lost count) through heavy
touches, bad passes and some even worse shots. Hull began time wasting,
angering supporters, and Ramsey was sent on for Flamini with 26 minutes to play
(after missing several weeks with a hamstring injury) before Joel Campbell came
on for Wilshere six minutes later (the Englishman had a relatively good game,
though he failed to connect on his best chance to score and went off with a
twisted knee that could see him added to the list of casualties that is giving
Stalingrad a run for its money).
Arsenal appeared to wake up soon after and
began attacking Hull with greater vigor and creativity, particularly in the
last ten minutes of regulation. Nothing came of the attacks until the 91st
minute, when a lovely pass from Sanchez let in Welbeck, who finished coolly
across goal with his left foot. And so Arsenal saved a point again, as they did
against Everton and * so far this term, though it again feels more like two
points dropped. Some thoughts on the game …
1. Defensive Frailty is Back!
It’s getting harder to remember those halcyon days of 2013 when Arsenal shipped
the fewest goals and had the most points in the league (unfortunately, you get
no title for a calendar year haul, only questions of why the two seasons that
sandwiched that year started and then ended so meekly). The reality is this
isn’t all the players fault – they are pushed too far up the pitch, don’t have
the midfield cover they need and are backed by a goalkeeper that seems to let
in far too many savable goals. If the Gunners don’t solve this problem soon,
they will have a very hard time securing a top four spot.
2. The
Power of Two: Since their clean sheet win over Man City
in the Community Shield, they have had only three clean sheets in all
competitions (two against Besiktas and one over Aston Villa). They have shipped
two goals in 6 games and 1 goal in 3. Even in their dominating win over Galatasaray
they still gave up a goal, on the rather silly red card-inducing penalty given
up by Sz. The big problem for Arsenal appears to be giving away points this
season. Sure they came back to beat Crystal in the opener after falling behind
1-0 (with an extra time strike from Ramsey), drew 2-2 with Everton after being
behind 2-0, scored in the 74th to draw with Tottenham and came back
for the draw with an extra time goal today. But they should have gotten maximum
points out of many of those games and the list of blown leads is extremely
troubling: they led today before giving up two goals, were beating City 2-1
late before giving up the equalizer (they came back from a goal down to take
the lead there), led Southampton in the Capital One Cup before shipping two
goals and exiting the competition, gave up an equalizer to Leicester two
minutes after scoring in a disappointing away draw in August, and lost their
two biggest games of the season so far 2-0 (to Dortmund and then Chelsea).
3. Sanchez
a Great Signing: Alexis Sanchez is the sort of player who
may annoy you at times, trying to be too cute, losing the ball and missing his
passes. But his ability to get around defenders, spot out charging teammates
and finish chances is quickly showing him to be a dominant force in the EPL. In
10 appearances for the Gunners, he has scored 5 goals and added 3 assists (3
and 2 in the league in 6 starts and 7 total appearances). While he has not put
up the totals of Diego Costa, who plays through the middle obviously, or shown
the consistent quality of Angel di Maria, he is emerging as one of the best
signings of the summer and should help Arsenal as they struggle for the
“trophy” of fourth place yet again.
4. Wenger Aging Pains:
Wenger came out with a decent game plan, pressing Hull up and controlling the
ball, but he again played two high a line with Mertesacker and Monreal (in for
an injured Koscielny) and it aided Hull in scoring the first goal. Arsenal is
so prone to being beaten on the break again, it is like the team from a few season
back that had the most defensive mistakes leading to goals in the entire
league. Wenger seems unable or unwilling to make any dramatic tactical changes
any longer and really is hurting the team. While his errors are too numerous to
list here, let’s look at the biggest three this term: 1. Not buying a DM to
dominate the area in front of the back four and cover for the DBs, who go
forward together far too often, or the CBs who were playing closer than 40
yards from the Hull goal on several occassions. 2. Not playing Ozil through the middle
before he lost yet another player to injury. Ozil was dominant the two times he
was allowed to play in his natural #10 role, but was shuttled out to the wing
in each subsequent game. 3. Not buying more defensive cover to deal with the
injuries that were sure to crop up this term (Koscielny might have stopped both
Hull goals). Wenger is making it harder and harder to be a Gunner fan at
present and I will be hosting a party the moment he announces his retirement,
or move to Monaco (who apparently want him).
5. Casualties of War:
Arsenal changed their physio this summer to try to quell the long list of
injuries that seems to derail their season year after year. But instead of
stemming the trend, it appears to have gotten worse. Out at present are Giroud
(broken tibia), Debuchy (ankle), Gnarby (knee), Rosicky (calf), Sanogo
(hamstring, though that is probably good news), Arteta (calf), Walcott (knee,
though will be back very soon), Ozil (knee) and Koscielny (Achilles). Wilshere
might soon be added to the list again and Ramsey just got off it. I’m also not
sure what is happening with Diaby, though I assume he has 6 or 7 injuries and
they just decided not to list him on the site anymore. Some of these injuries
could not have been avoided, but rumour has it that Ozil felt pain in his knee
in the first half against Chelsea, but was allowed to continue and with a
record like this over so many years, training and treatment have to be
seriously questioned.
Overall, this team is an enigma at
present. One day Wilshere is terrible and Ox is great, the next the table is
turned. They dominate possession in almost every game they play, but are often
beaten on the counter (as they were today and against Chelsea two weeks ago).
They are pressing up and winning the ball at times, but then miss the pass that
could turn those strong defensive plays into goals. They tend to start and
finish strong in most games, but sometimes fall asleep in the middle, fail to
put teams away, or give up sloppy goals. And the result is, that they sit in
sixth place, 11 points behind league leader Chelsea after a mere 8 games, with
Swansea and Liverpool having the opportunity to push them down to eighth in the
next two days. They are out of the Capital One Cup and need to beat Anderlecht
twice to ensure they get out of their group in the UCL (though it looks as
though it might be in second place yet again). And they might need to come up
with a strategy to score three in every game if they are to turn the season
around, given their penchant for shipping two goals a game. Not shaping up as a
great season at all …
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