The Clean Sheet Doesn’t Paper over the Cracks

I should start out with a brief apology to my regular readers and a great thanks to those who kept commenting on older stories when there were no new posts. Your enthusiasm for the blog keeps me trying to get it done in the midst of an unbelievable work load in real life. So, thank you guys. Now on to the business…

Following a week off from Arsenal Station, I gladly returned to the football world on Saturday morning. The day could not have started better as Everton, my favorite non-Arsenal club to watch this season, denied United points. I don’t think anyone expected Wolves to get anything from Chelsea but the after the Everton victory the stage was set.

It was a classic “Arsenal v. Bottom-Half Side” kind of match. We dominated possession for much of the match, spurned a few golden chances, could’ve conceded at least twice from over the top counterattacks, and held a 1-goal lead until the dying minutes. Sound familiar? It should. The only thing missing was a glaring goalkeeping error.

In a match which we dominated the run of play, we could have easily lost 3-2 had Sunderland had even the slightest inclination to finish their best chances. That said, we did seem to get back to creating scoring chances in a way we haven’t over the four weeks due to improved movement and passing.

Stranegly, I thought Theo had struggled for much of the match and was left hugely frustrated with his performance. But, after watching the MotD highlights, you can see that he did put in a few half-decent balls. But surely not enough for the amount of chances he had.

To be in the box on the right with no one near him and to put his cross into the front row behind the goal, numerous times, is an exercise in frustration for the supporters watching. Still, with the little amount of football he’s played in the last six months, it was inevitably going to be a long road back. At least he was able to use his pace to consistently get into threatening positions.

On the plus side, I thought Nasri and Eboue looked great, especially on the ball. No one in the side makes threatening runs at defenders more consistently than Eboue. Yet, he frustratingly lacks the final ball like Walcott. I also thought Ramsey looked good… much better with Cesc and Song than Denilson. The youngster had a few giveaways in midfield from holding the ball but overall he had a few scoring chances and distributed the ball well.

A clean sheet and all three points still cannot paper over the defensive cracks. Silvestre is still as much of a disaster in central defense as he was in the FA Cup loss to Chelsea last year. Even though Sol is mobilely-challenged as well, he at least thinks like  CB and is able to compensate somewhat. The struggles for our full-backs continue and you have to begin wondering whether Clichy or Sagna will ever get back to the form they had in 2007-08 when both were the best in their league at their respective positions.

And finally… the keeper. While Almunia was relatively error-free on Saturday, I think everyone knows we need a true, quality keeper. Almunia isn’t going to get any better as his confidence seems to have been permanently unsettled and Fabianski is still a few years away, AT LEAST, from being a real #1 option for a title-contending side.

With the money we still have and better players available, I believe Arsene will be making some key moves this summer. But, until then, we just have to pray that the attack can get back to their scoring ways thereby neutralizing the opposition’s best scoring threat, our own keeper.

Steve Bruce questioned the penalty insinuating that Arsenal were getting a penalty that Sunderland would not have. He doesn’t seem to realize that this season it is the other way around. Cesc’s penalty was only the second penalty kick we’d been awarded ALL SEASON!!! 27 MATCHES!!! If anything, the bias has been against us all season-long and we have been the victims of “missed” or ignored penalty calls all season. Anyway, now we need to get some momentum before the return leg of the Porto Champion’s League tie and this was a decent start.

ARSENE WENGER POST-MATCH INTERVIEW

Ted Harwood Remembers the 2000s

Our regular contributor, Ted Harwood, gets his chance to muse on the decade past.

When I think back on the last decade of Arsenal football, I couldn’t imagine supporting any other team.  Two Premier League titles, three times runners-up; three FA cups, once runners-up; one Champions League final, never out of the top four in England…the list of the past ten years is superb, a list that only a handful of clubs worldwide could boast.

I will never forget the 2000s as my introduction to club football, my introduction to something more than occasional snippets on obscure cable channels and the World Cup every four years.  I feel quite fortunate to have been introduced to Arsenal, of all clubs, so that I had a beacon of light in my otherwise dismal sporting landscape.

A lot of the early part of the decade is lost in obscurity for me, the limited availability of live matches in the USA making it more difficult to follow every move as compared to now, but thanks to the Youtube revolution and the proliferation of Arsenal DVDs, Americans such as myself can catch perhaps a small glimpse of the moments otherwise lost to history.  Still, so many discrete moments in the past decade float up in memory: Bergkamp vs. Newcastle, Vieira leading the fightback vs. Leicester City to seal the greatest top flight season in English history, and lifting the trophy at Highbury.

With the availability of full-on television coverage here, the memories only grew.  I have wonderful thoughts of the run through the Champions League knockouts in 2006, a bittersweet memory for many supporters, but let’s be clear: we beat Real Madrid in their house, we beat Juventus 2-0 over two legs, and we shrugged off the robust Villareal, keeping clean sheets the whole way.  We all watched as Fabregas lead the charge at the San Siro in 2008.  Despite the draw, the 4-4 barnburner at Anfield this spring looms large in recent memory.

One of my favorite Saturday mornings was in early October 2007 when I woke up at 6 AM, biked four miles in the frost to my friend’s house, where our collective screams when Cesc buried a hammer at White Hart Lane woke up her bemused and smiling roommate.  There have been so many goals…Henry at Madrid, Ray Parlour in the FA Cup final, Arshavin at Blackburn, Cesc this year versus the spuds.

Despite these goals’ importance, my favorite goal remains the RVP volley at Charlton…Eboue galloping down the right and swinging in a cross with a ticket to nowhere, that’s never…OH MY GOODNESS…van Persie, out of the edge of the tv screen, catching a volley in midair, four feet off the floor, and absolutely crushing it under the bar.  There have been more meaningful goals, but that one remains my favorite simply because my mouth was open in sheer disbelief, and then, laughter.

The only thing missing from the decade is perhaps some perspective.  This is a team that has hauled in trophy after trophy, has a record that all but one domestic team would envy, and yet to listen to some folks, it’s not enough.  I see football as an aesthetic and humanistic undertaking, and there is absolutely no finer team that typifies athleticism, struggle, triumph, and hope for the 2010s than Arsenal.  Up the Gunners!

The Perfect Gift for Wenger’s 60th Birthday

See below, as always, for match highlights and a post-match interview with Arsene Wenger.

Another multi-goal margin of victory. Another “more than two goals” tally. Another soft goal conceded. Arsenal have seemingly picked up  where they left off before the international break. Birmingham’s visit to North London proved to be an entertaining match that is open to interpretation.

Goonerholic, rightly, stressed the grittiness of the victory. This is the type of match which, in late 2007-08 and 2008-09, we would’ve been likely to concede a second goal and end up walking away having given away two points. However, and it’s a testament to the growing maturity of the side, I never really feared that we would give away an equalizer, even as we continued to push forward without qualification.

That may be just one supporter’s growing confidence in the side, but I suspect many of you felt the same way I did. Of course, there will be many who have become a bit jaded over the last couple of years that would’ve still expected such disaster but I suspect that even they are beginning to soften their pessimism.

On the other hand, this was a match which Arsenal dominated as well. We had 19 goal attempts to Birmingham’s 3 and shots on goal were 11-2. We completely dominated play until the 39th minute when Bowyer drew one back for Birmingham with their first shot on goal.

Was Mannone at fault for the goal or was he impeded? Both, I would say. The replay angle from behind the goal certainly looks like Bowyer impeded Mannone’s arms. But, at the same time, Mannone needs to be more decisive and go get the ball. His challenge should have been strong enough to withstand the minimal contact offered by Larsson.

When asked whether or not Almunia would be starting in goal on Tuesday, having recovered from the longest chest infection known to man, Arsene said, “I don’t know.” Mannone is not ready to hold down the number one spot but it appears that Wenger’s confidence in Almunia has taken a hit and I would like to see a healthy Fabianski get a run of games and a genuine chance to lay claim to the spot.

Meanwhile, Theo Walcott’s injury nightmare continues after a crunching tackle from Ridgewell. Ridgewell got the ball first but his trailing leg just demolished Walcott who fell awkwardly over the Birmingham player bent over his back. Walcott now is almost certain to miss Tuesday’s Champions League fixture at Alkmaar. He will be scanned today to determine whether his knee is just bruised or whether there is a problem with his ligament, in which case he could be out for a few weeks.

The concern over the lack of scoring by the forwards a bit earlier in the season can now be seen for what it was… useless worrying and media fear-mongering. Robin van Persie’s goal showed him and his technique at its best. He has now scored once in each of Arsenal’s last four matches and even the concerns he voiced about the need to become more comfortable as the spearhead of the 4-3-3 should be assuaged.

The third goal, and the fifth against Blackburn two weeks ago, are perhaps the most encouraging for me. Both were lightning-fast counterattacking goals. The thing that I have felt that separated this Arsenal side from the Invincibles, and even the Wenger teams before that, was the counterattack. The Invincibles were, quite simply, the greatest counterattacking side I have ever seen. They broke with pace, precision, intelligence, and creativity regularly.

In the last few years, as the play has been completely directed through Fabregas, in a deeper position than this year, and our style has become more about intricate passing, we seemed to have lost the will or initiative to counterattack in that manner. That is why it is so encouraging to see these quality counterattacks from the current side. They seem more willing to get the ball up the pitch quickly. How much of this has to do with the formation or Fabregas’s more advanced position I am not sure, but who cares?

With the personnel we have in Arshavin and Walcott, we now have the capability to be devastating in counterattacking situations in a way we were not when we had Hleb and Rosicky on the wings. Arshavin is so dangerous in a one-on-one situation from a wide position, especially when he’s running at defenders. Their reluctance to close him down in those situations is due to a fear of being embarrassed when he blows right by them. So they give him space and he can either do what he did yesterday or what he did against Blackburn.

The third goal looked easy but what made it possible was everything Arshavin has done before. The 4 goals at Liverpool, the great debut goal, and all the other stunning moments in his brief Arsenal career. Because of those, he poses a threat to defenders that is not equaled by many, if any, in the league when he is on the ball. That is what made the third goal possible… defenders’ fear.

Since September 16th, Arsenal have played 7, won 7, scored 21 goals, scored 2 or more goals 6 times, and conceded only 5. Not too bad for an immature side that was in such crisis and unable to challenge for any trophies, according to the media, following the two Manchester defeats.

I should also mention the solid matches had by Alex Song and, even, Abou Diaby. Besides for his goal, Diaby put in one of his better off-the-ball performances. Song continues to grow on a weekly basis in the holding role and the better he gets, the better the team gets. The holding role has become almost necessary in modern football but it is definitely so for Arsenal. When Flamini played it well, the club was flying. Last year, with Song just learning the position, the side struggled. The team’s maturation is tied to the development and maturation of Song as a holding midfielder.

Those who question the depth of the side should have a look at our bench yesterday. Almunia, Sagna, Silvestre, Traore, Wilshere, Ramsey, and Arshavin, with Eduardo, Nasri, and Vela besides. Depth for this side is not a problem. As long as Senderos remains, we are only troubled depth-wise when we reach the number four center-back. And even that is only because of Djourou’s long-term injury. We are most certainly deeper than Liverpool, and I would dare to say that we are also deeper than United this season. Chelsea look to have depth but that will be put to the test come January and the African Cup of Nations.

So it’s on to Holland for our Matchday 3 of the Champions League Group Stage to face Ronald Koeman’s AZ Alkmaar. Underestimating this side would be a big mistake as they are the current champions of the Dutch Eredivisie. However, should we come away with maximum points from our first three group matches, our qualification for the knockout round is all but assured.

And the biggest benefit will be that when the fixture list gets hectic, with 8 games each in December and January, we will be able to afford to rest key players in the latter part of the Group Stage.

If we beat Alkmaar and Standard Liege at home in the next two matches, we would be able to rest players for what is the most difficult fixture of the Group Stage, Olympiacos away. This would greatly play to our benefit with Liverpool away in the league only four days later.

And, so, in the week of Arsene’s 60th birthday, he is given the gift of seeing this side, which he has created from scratch and nursed for years,despite massive criticism of both himself and the players, finally maturing and approaching something resembling their potential. We’ve waited a long time for this and I believe we are finally bearing witness to the coming-of-age of this seemingly forever-young side.

Arsene Wenger Post-match Interview