Plenty to say about Arsenal this week. If before the season started we were a little worried about what the season had in store for us, it would be fair to say we are in total crisis after only two weeks in.
Despite a lacklustre performance at Newcastle, followed by a very unconvincing display against Udinese, my hopes were still high walking into Emirates Stadium for the Liverpool game on Saturday. Little did I know that what I was about to see was one of the worst Arsenal performances I have EVER seen. It’s always easy to criticise your team when you lose, but, in truth, we were truly awful.
I watched the highlights afterwards, and saw that Match of the Day did not tell the full story. Nor did they give Liverpool a true telling of what happened on Saturday. We lost because we were terrible, not because Liverpool were excellent, as the highlights seemed to portray. The highlights somehow made us look OK.
What also surprised me is that Arsenal.com gave a rather optimistic view of the match, saying that we played really well with lots of commitment and it was ‘a performance of pride’. I guess they were using some sort of special writing technique so they couldn’t talk negatively of Arsenal. Whether they were or not, they clearly weren’t watching the same match.
What’s more, the referee didn’t help us either. After several terrible decisions going, unsurprisingly, Liverpool’s way, he failed to punish Andy Carroll for taking Koscielny out of the game, which swung the match into their favour. He infuriated the crowd even more when he penalised a perfectly legal (and somewhat rare) tackle from Carl Jenkinson. I tell you what, when it happens right in front of your very eyes and they get it wrong, it hurts so much more.
Speaking of Carl Jenkinson, he wasn’t the only one to play under par on Saturday. We only had two players on the pitch. Szczesny, as always, put in a valuable shift and saved us at times; we probably would have been 2 down before the break with someone else between the sticks. The other player is Thomas Vermaelen. He was immense, didn’t make a single mistake all afternoon. I’m convinced we would’ve won the title with him in our team last season. If only…
 |
| Immense: Thomas Vermaelen |
As for the rest of the squad, there was no desire, no hunger. We were playing at a painfully slow tempo and it was the most miserable mood I have witnessed at the Emirates – without the rain. When we did get going however, it was players like Vermaelen that were getting forward having a shot. Van Persie and Walcott hardly got a touch all day – we were that bad.
Ironically, and perhaps tragically, one other player that caught my eye was Samir Nasri. We didn’t realise he was playing as he wasn’t announced in the starting line-up (quite wise, I was preparing to boo) and it took a few eagle-eyed fans to notice we had our No8 on the field. After watching him, I will be sad to let him go. He showed glimpses of class that we were missing – and will miss once he goes – whether that be next week or next year.
Continuing from my ‘Arsenal’ post from last week, Wenger really needs to buck his ideas up. I’m Arsenal through and through and I’m 100% behind him ‘til the day he goes, but I’m just starting to lose my patience. We only have just over a week before the end of August and we need at least one defender and one midfielder – maybe even more after letting Eboue go for no good reason.
This is what he should do: Get Bendtner out of here, and as we can’t replace him with Mata, we’ll have to settle for someone like Eden Hazard. He should sell Nasri in a swap deal for Adam Johnson, buy Scott Dann and Per Mertesacker in defence and we should have a decent squad.
 |
| We need defenders ASAP! |
The post-Fabregas era has not got off to a good start. We need some leadership (in the form of new captain Robin Van Persie) and some support. The fans will be key to the success of the club and there are not enough doing their part properly. There is too much negativity surrounding the club and this needs to be sorted ASAP. If, this time next week, we are going to be on Channel 5 in September and in the bottom three, we are all to blame, not just the players.
Keep The Faith.
Comments
Post a Comment