It was always bound to
happen. Since the opening day loss to Aston Villa, Arsenal has been unbeaten in
all competitions, with only one draw in that run. They entered the game at the
Emirates last night with the opportunity to all but secure their entry into the
knockout stage of the Champion’s League. Instead they ceded a late goal to the world-class
Polish striker Lewandowski, losing 2-1. Coupled with the Napoli victory over
Marseille, it made our route through the group of death that much more
difficult. Realistically, we will probably need to grab at least a point on the
road against Napoli or Dortmund and win at home against Marseille. This is not
an impossible task, but life could have been much easier, even with a draw. On
the other hand, victory at Napoli is certainly a possibility and we must push
for a point against Dortmund in the return fixture. Some thoughts on the game …
1.
Tactics: Dortmund
overran us in midfield through much of the game, pushing up and challenging us
at every opportunity (even in the back). Over the course of the game, Dortmund
covered 117,887 metres versus 1006,281 for Arsenal. This strategy worked for
opponents last season, until our impressive end of the season run, and the
wingers’ return will be anticipated with great relish. With Ox, Pod and Walcott
all out, we lacked width, allowing Dortmund to clog the middle and press across
the pitch. It did provide opportunities on the wings, but Wilshere and Rosicky
were too apt to cut in and, with the exception of the rather fortuitous
equalizer right before halftime, Sagna’s crossing was abysmal.
2.
Wilshere: I hate
to beat dead horse, but it’s my tendency. Wilshere has been rather average this
season, forgoing the two goals in the past two games. In this match, he gave
the ball away constantly, either through bad passes (65% completion rate), poor
crosses, or simply dribbling into two and three defenders. Don’t get me wrong,
he is a very talented young player with major potential, but he has to work on
two things – his positional discipline and his thinking on the pitch. Wilshere
just makes poor decisions far too often and goes to the ground even more than
Bale or Ronaldo, though with much less effect. The fact that we are generally
better without him was brought into clear focus the moment he was replaced by
Cazorla, who was inches away from giving Arsenal the lead, hitting the top of
the post after a nice layoff from Ozil. Arsenal actually dominated the later
stages of the match and were unlucky not to take the lead, before a second
defensive lapse cost them a point.
3.
Flamini: the
original derision that Wenger received for picking Flamini up on a free, after
he left back in 2008, has long since faded as the defensive mid has shored up
our defense and eliminated one of our biggest problems (being outmuscled from
the back). His absence last night was sorely felt, as we couldn’t control the
middle of the pitch and were too often disorganized at the back (particularly
on the two goals). The question that might come up in the next window, or next
summer, is whether we should sign another quality DM to backup Flamini, as
Arteta is not as strong in that role and seems to slow down our attack far too
often.
4.
Don’t Read Too
Much into This One: Arsenal lost to a team that was a late goal away from extra
time with Bayern in the Champion’s League final a few months back. But for a
weak start and loss of focus in the end, we still would have gotten at least a
point (with a rare mistake by Ramsey the reason for the first goal). Once
Wilshere came off, Arsenal came alive, and were a better final pass away from
taking the lead. The next few weeks will go a long way toward determining
whether this is the beginning of the fade, or a stumble along the path to a
fine season. The match against a manager-less Crystal Palace should restore our
winning ways before a key Capital One Cup showdown with Chelsea Tuesday. After
that, we will have to again show our away chops against Dortmund and then
Napoli along with matches against Man United and Liverpool. By December 1, we
can start to consider where the Gunners truly stand at the moment.
COYG!
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