I’m too depressed at the
moment to recount the destruction that took place at Stamford Bridge today, so
I’ll just say that Arsenal was down 1-0 after 5 minutes, 2-0 after 7 and down
to ten men and down 3-0 before 20 minutes had passed. And three more Chelsea
goals would follow to make it the biggest EPL victory of Mourinho’s career and
yet another loss for Wenger in the head to head between these two iconic
managers. And thus the Gunner circus that has shown up at Anfield and the
Ethiad already this season returned to London for an encore performance that
would even leave the happiest clown in tears.
Arsenal this season by the
numbers …
Record against top seven this
season: 3-4-3 (with 2 of the 3 early in season)
Goals per game vs. top seven:
.9
Goals conceded per game vs.
top seven: 1.9
Goals conceded on road vs. other
top 3: 17
Goals conceded in first 20
minutes of those games: 8
Errors Leading to goals in games
against top 3: at least 9
Record against Mourinho in
EPL: 0-3-5
Record against Mourinho in
other comps: 0-3-0
Overall record against
Mourinho: 0-6-5
Composite Score of 3 games
versus Chelsea this season: 0-8
Composite Score of 2 games
versus Man United: 0-1 (and 1 point)
Goals scored on road against
top 7: 5
Goals concede of road against
top 7: 18
1) Ox: I mentioned this last week after the
Tottenham game, but Ox still has a lot of maturing to do. In fact, it looks like
he might need more time on the wing before he can really take over in the
middle of the park. The bulging injury list is the reason he got the start in
this game, I assume, but his performance essentially gave the game away in the
first 10 minutes, first by giving the ball away for the first goal, then handling
the third, which appeared to be going wide leading to the penalty and ejection
of Gibbs (though it should have been him). After his assist for the goal
against Tottenham, he has been playing far too wildly, giving the ball up in
dangerous positions that too often lead to counters. Flamini also had an error
that led to a goal, but Ox needs to take much of the blame for letting the game
get away so quickly today. The other big problem was …
2) Giroud: since last summer, fans and critics
have been calling for Wenger to buy a second striker, and while he came close
on several occasions, including the flirtations with Higuian and Suarez and the
last second loss of Demba Ba last summer (as Mourinho didn’t want to strengthen
a “rival”), he never actually signed anyone. And so it was left to an overworked
Giroud, an underperforming wantaway Bendtner and a young Sanogo to carry the
load as Arsenal headed into the second half with their best chance to win the
title in a decade. As points started to be left on the pitch – against Southampton,
Liverpool, Man United and now Chelsea -- one can’t help but wonder what could
have been. Giroud has been playing with what appears to be really tired legs of
late. He had no shots on goal against Tottenham last weekend and missed a real
opportunity in the 4th minute that should have given the Gunners the
lead, after Rosicky had sent him through on goal, and might have led to a very
different result. But as is too often the case, he missed that opening and the
game went against the Gunners. How many of those missed opportunities over the
past two seasons would have been taken by a better striker? We’ll never know,
but too many points seem to disappear under his faltering shots and near
misses. Wenger will probably end up paying for his continued stubbornness with
another title to add to his three.
3) Wenger & the Big Game: Arsene Wenger hit
1,000 games as manager of Arsenal today and that is to be lauded. He oversaw
two doubles, a perfect season and 7 major trophies in all. He led the team
through the lean times after the move to the Emirates and has essentially
ensured their long term financial solvency as other top teams remain mired in
insane debt. He continues to impress by making the Champions League year after
year after year. But maybe the real leitmotif of the Wenger reign is the near
misses. There were trophies that they just missed in 1999, 2000, 200, 2008, and
2010 (among other opportunities that disappeared). There were the two European
Cups they lost in the finals (2000 to Gattasaray on penalties), with the
painful 2006 2-1 defeat to Barca putting the final nail in the Invincibles.
There was the Carling Cup late disaster against soon to be relegated
Birmingham, the second leg loss to Barca in 2011, numerous FA Cup losses to
United and Chelsea (once with a 1-0 lead they lost to two Drogba strikes), the
pathetic capitulations to Bradford and Blackburn last season in the Capital One
and FA Cups respectively, the rather paltry effort against Chelsea in the
Capital One Cup this season and awful first leg performances against Bayern the
past two seasons and AC Milan the season before (which they came a simply
finish from RVP from tying in regulation in the second leg). The reality is
that Wenger’s entire career at Arsenal has been defined by near misses and
almosts. Sure there are the titles, FA Cups and Invincibles. But nine years
without a trophy for a club as big as Arsenal is all but unforgiveable. And the
way the Gunners have played against their major competition this year, and in
the past several, has been downright appalling, as the numbers above show.
Arsenal should win the FA Cup this year to end the drought, one hopes, but they
need to find a way to win the big games if they are to take the next step and
actually compete for titles and Champions League glory. Is Wenger the man to
take us there? Real questions remain regarding the answer to that question …
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