Written by Mean Lean on Monday, 08 November 2010 17:44

I have so much to say, so many emotions and thoughts swimming around my head after another Arsenal defeat at the Emirates on Sunday afternoon.

I have gone from anger and upset to frustration and hope. Hope that we can turn our slump around, it was a slump that has jumped out at us from pretty much nowhere. I have my own views as to why we are going through yet another November slump.

Much of the post match reaction has been about how the players do not care, how they are continuing to show complacency and I cannot sign up to that way of thinking, at least not yesterday. It was certainly the case at Shakhtar Donetsk a few days ago but I am not so sure that the same problem remained over the weekend.

In my pre match preview I said that I would change my predicted line up to a team that I would like to see playing instead of one that I thought Wenger would play, well I certainly got my wish. Probably the strongest squad we have had at our disposal for a number of years. Our first eleven had plenty of creativity and combinations, speed, incisive passing and goal scoring. If the worst came to the worst we had a bench full of international quality who could make a difference for most teams in world football.

Instead we were witnessing a team who looked as if they had been thrown together, clueless in the final third, lacking imagination and invention. Why was this? How could a team who had previously scored goals for fun at the Emirates look so lacklustre?

Personally I believe it is down to the rotation of the squad. Given the way our team is built and structured, we require momentum, rhythm and confidence. We play a different brand of football to most, especially in the Premier League and our way of playing means that everything has to be correct for the Arsenal machine to run smoothly.

The Carling Cup, the Champions League and International football has meant plenty of rotation, plenty of resting thus turning off the engine of momentum. We are a momentum side who when purring are irresistible and very difficult to stop, when our players have a break then we come back cold, stuttery and out of sorts.

In my mind it is why we come back so poorly after International football whilst others seem to take it in their strides.

At the start of the season the players who played had the whole of pre season training plus the pre season games and after gaining some match sharpness at Anfield we scored 6 against Blackpool, beat Blackburn away, 4 against Bolton and then another 6 against Braga in the Champions League. Those same players had played through pre season and had played continuously.

In October-November we have players who haven't played 2-3 games in a row or players just coming back from injury and this disrupts the whole team especially when it is more than one player.

Cesc Fabregas started the season at Ewood park and was below par but was carried by the rest of his team mates who had played since the start of the season. Yesterday Sagna, Koscielny, Cesc and Song all did not start in the Ukraine, if they had and had played well then I am sure that it would have been a different performance.

It is no surprise that a strong Arsenal team blasted five past Shakhtar at the Emirates then played fantastically well against Manchester City scoring three more only to make mass changes for the Carling Cup, then once the first teamers came back in we struggled to find our game against West Ham at home.

This was not the first time. A couple of seasons ago a youthful vibrant Carling Cup team destroyed Sheffield United at the Emirates then the first team came back a few days later to produce dross against Hull City. I am sure I could find some more examples if I think long enough.

Arsene Wenger cannot play his strongest side in every game, that would be impossible but a balance needs to be found.

It would be all to easy to point the blaming finger in the direction of Lukasz Fabianski who should have done better when attempting to collect the ball at the head of Carroll but the defending was far worse than Fabianski's error. Chamakh was detailed to pick up the forward but let him go Carroll was unmarked at the far post and shouldn't have been. It would be easy to forget his recent run of form and his contribution to saving us points at Manchester City for one.

Fabianski would always be a target if a mistake came his way, especially if it lead to a goal. I am sure Pepe Reina and Van der sar could sympathise with our Pole after dropping their own clangers against us and West Brom respectively. Goalkeepers make errors, it is how they respond and how few they make once they have had a run of  games which Fabianski has finally had, so only time will tell, if he reverts back to the frequent error prone keeper of the past.

Credit must go to the visitors who were very calm in their execution of their game plan. They passed the ball very well and worked hard to stop us playing but the idea that they were head and shoulders above us is ludicrous. A team that has one attempt on goal isn't all of a sudden Barcelona but that one attempt was all they needed in the end.

I remember watching Tiote in Holland when we faced FC Twente a few years ago and he looked a good player along with Eljero Elia. He did a Michael Essien job on us, or more accurately Cesc Fabregas. Cesc was already below his usual level but the work from Tiote made it harder for our captain to grab the game by the scruff of the neck.

Tim Krul in the Newcastle goal made up for his Carling Cup own goal with a breathtaking stop to deny Samir Nasri following a Cesc Fabregas cut back. How he saw that shot through a crowd of bodies remains a mystery to me.

Theo Walcott lashed a snapshot against the bar from a difficult angle. The second time in two games at the Emirates where Walcott has been halted by the woodwork.

I was disappointed that Theo did not use his second greatest strength enough during the game. His off the ball movement had disappeared, instead choosing to hug the right touchline. He might have been asked to do that to stretch the pitch, I do not know but when Newcastle players are playing deep and he is up against a quick full back then Theo's options are somewhat limited.

He was swapping with Chamakh during times in the game, taking up central positions but Newcastle players had him marked. Theo is at his most dangerous when he makes timed diagonal runs from right to center with the likes of Cesc or Wilshere on the ball easing it inside a center back and full back. I cannot remember one attempted pass to one of his runs. Those runs have helped Theo score so many goals already this season.

I can understand why Wenger kept Cesc on the pitch even though he was well below his usual high standards. Wenger knows that one moment of vision or timing of run into the box could lead to a goal but it just did not happen. I have never seen Cesc give the ball away so frequently before.

I thought Jack Wilshere was having a better game than the captain and would have liked to have seen Wilshere play as the creative forward in the second half. His dribbling with the ball would have opened up the well organised Newcastle defence, Theo could have found more room to operate with Wilshere gliding past Tiote and exchanging passes with Van Persie.

Our game very much ended when Wilshere and Nasri came off. Our football was already below our required level with our two most creative players on the day, on the pitch but when they went off we had no chance. Watching our players lumping it long into the box was beyond frustrating. I would rather we played our game and failed to penetrate than lump the ball onto the head of Coloccini and Williamson.

Koscielny was sent off late in the game for a tangle of legs with substitute Nile Ranger. It was an unfortunate sending off from the position of the pitch and the type of challenge. It was more a coming together than anything else but I can understand the decision. Nile Ranger is very quick and would have been through, he would have got to Fabianski before Squillaci could have gotten to Ranger.

The late Emirates goal that we are so used to didn't even look like arriving. It hadn't even left the last train station. The final whistle blew and a second home defeat of the season was very much a reality.

Conclusion

Are we good enough to win the league? Without wanting to sound like Arsene Wenger, I am convinced that we are. In our current form we are also likely to finish fourth or fifth. It all depends on what Arsenal we see over the next few months. The Arsenal of yesterday, West Brom, West Ham or even Birmingham are not good enough to prize the title away from Chelsea but an Arsenal team purring full of Cesc, Van Persie, Nasri, Arshavin, Vermaelen, Koscielny, Sagna, Denilson, Song, Walcott and co all having steered clear of injury and with 10 games together are capable of going 10-15 games undefeated.

In 1997/98 we lost at Highbury to Blackburn Rovers and then went on an unbeaten run, the core of the side remained fit and we got caught on the wind of momentum. I see no reason why this squad cannot do the same but before any of that we have to find our game again. We have to find that sharpness that swept Braga aside, the steel that dug out a result at Ewood Park and the Eastlands.

Liverpool and Fernando Torres kept the distance between Arsenal and Chelsea the same as it was before this weekend. Mathematically nothing has changed between the two sides apart from one extra game being played and one extra goal difference in our favour.

Chelsea lost to Liverpool and Manchester City, Chelsea thumped West Brom. Who had beaten us. We gained a point at Anfield which basically tells us that everyone can beat everyone else. Our rivals are not unstoppable. Manchester United were outplayed in periods against Wolves at Old Trafford and were lucky to have found an injury time winner from Park.

The good news is that we have no injury excuses, we have our players available and the rest are on their way. But time is ticking, form and consistency is needed and is needed fast. Our domestic season could fall away by Christmas if we fail to win some very tricky games coming up Wolves away on Wednesday, Everton away on the 14th November followed by the North London derby on the 20th November. Make no mistake if we do not improve from yesterdays showing then we could easily be facing 5 straight defeats in all competitions.

The training ground from now until Wolves could well decide our future.

Fabianski (6)
Sagna (7)
Koscielny (7)
Squillaci (7)
Clichy (7)
Song (7)
Wilshere (6.5)
Cesc (5.5)
Walcott (5.5)
Chamakh (5.5)
Nasri (6.5)

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Comments (23)

• 08-Nov-2010 18:21 | | Iron Man
  

  "How he saw that shot through a crowd of bodies remains a mystery to me."
  
  - And a mystery to the rest of us who have long forgotten what a decent goalkeeper is supposed to do.
  
  Another error from Flappy but it's what we've come to expect so I'm not even disappointed.

• 08-Nov-2010 18:27 | | MeanLean
  

  Apart from his failure to bail out his defence and win the ball, do you agree that he has been one of our better player since he has come in to the team in place of Almunia?

• 08-Nov-2010 18:38 | | Ahura Mazda  - Spoint brats mostly
  

  No longer a popular scapegoat, but Fabianski cost us a point. He didn't have much to do, but one of the few times he had to do something, he bungled it. He may be a good keeper, but he is physically to small against teams like nufc. I cannot see Szczesny not getting to that ball ahead or over Carroll. Arsene sticking with the tried and (un)trusted keepers starting to smack of stubborness more than anything else. Well, enough about the 1 point lost. 2 more points were lost (yes we should have got 3) further up the field. Nufc were always likely to score, and we should then have needed to score 2 or more. We didn't do this because primarily we lacked urgency and heart. Just to annoy anyone who bothers to read this far - watch Sp*rs vs Inter to see what urgency and heart looks like. Our boys just look like they are too spoilt to really get down and scrap. The less said about Cesc's performance the better. Having you heart of your midfield misfiring so badly makes everything else harder. That aspect at least I am confident will improve.

• 08-Nov-2010 18:48 | | Iron Man
  

  No. Ok, In the Man City game he performed exceptionally well but aside from that he has done nothing out of the ordinary since he has come in that you wouldn't expect any bog-standard keeper to do. I don't think he deserves praise for successfully doing the basics expected of a goalkeeper at this level.

• 08-Nov-2010 18:54 | | nicky
  

  A well-reasoned article, full of pros and cons on the frustrating and enduring entity that is Arsenal. Matches we should lose, we win and vice versa. It has always been like that and it will probably never change.
  To be a supporter of Arsenal is NOT for the faint-hearted.

• 08-Nov-2010 19:06 | | Matador  - Geordie from London
  

  One thing I haven't found much of on the internet is praise for your defensive performance. Your back four handled Carroll, Ameobi, Gutierrez and Nolan superbly and we didn't really get a proper chance on goal. I know those aren't exactly superstar names but we score a lot of goals and that is the first time a lot of those have been kept so quiet. Especially Carroll, who largely had the better of Vidic at Old Trafford. Those four are an unorthodox mixture of power, pace, technical ability, good movement and strikers instinct in the box. Very hard to defend against in my (biased) opinion. They are integral to our attack and I genuinely believe you nullified them superbly.
  
  Yes, going forward you were below par, but at the end of the day you only lost the game because of an individual error. That won't be the last time a keeper loses out to Carroll in an aerial battle.

• 08-Nov-2010 19:11 | | MeanLean
  

  I think he has made plenty of good saves in his time in goal and not just the Man City saves. Certainly done plenty more positive things than errors.
  
  Who would you play in goal if given the choice?

• 08-Nov-2010 19:15 | | Tooner
  

  Hey lads/lasses,
  don't be too disappointed, & there's no need to eke out scapegoats.
  We brought a great game plan, showed no fear, got the ball in the net & bossed your usually excellent midfield. Shit happens sometimes.
  Sometimes even the Toon get their collective act together.
  We played well & (i reckon) deserved our decadely win at your yard.
  Tiote is awesome, as you've pointed out, thanx for that, as it's seems the 'pundits' don't even know he exists yet.
  You lot are really pretty gracious in defeat & us lot love your brand of football. Respect!
  AW played a decent team v us(reserves) at SJP in the CC, got the win.
  Saved a better team for Shaktar & lost, played a real team v us at yours & lost. CH played reserves v you at ours & lost, proper team v the scum last week & you this week. We won our important games, you lost yours. It's weird i know, but i think AW got his priorities wrong this time. CH got his right.
  Anyhoo,
  you'll come good, you have the best team, playing the best football, just stick with AW, no one is better, though CH is coming up on the outside.
  If it can't be us, which it can't, for now, then let it be you.
  Don't be too hard on Fab, Carroll is a beast.
  I just think your lads weren't ready for us playing well & it showed.
  Go & take the league from manusa or the chavs.
  We're better than the 'know nowt' pundits give us credit for, so what's new, they don't seem to like you lot either.
  There's no accounting for taste, hey?
  Good write up BTW, keep it going, keep y'peckers up & push on.
  Tooner...PEACE!

• 08-Nov-2010 19:30 | | Clive  - bring on Chesney
  

  His time has come.

• 08-Nov-2010 19:59 | | AlphabetRioa  - defeatism
  

  we will tolerate staged defeatism.
  
  The Capital London staggered on a day alphabet honored the northern rock, northern lights and northern depths.
  
  aya.

• 08-Nov-2010 20:23 | | west wing
  

  fair points - but without flexibility we cant win the league - you cant be a well oiled machine every game and we are far from that bar a few games now and then tbh - we only got the win at city because they had 10 men - our players cannot shoot - our crossing is non-league - we have no plan b when our slickness is not there - and its only gonna be there for 30% of a season tops - what about the rest???
  this is the premiership and every game is a battle - until we can deal with that we're not going to win it.
  IMO Wenger is getting soft - our championship winners of before would not have let a game go so softly - they used to be afraid of the managers reaction and wanted to avoid it at all costs - these guys do not have that same attitude - im sorry but i do not see a team of winners at our club - a few yes, but not enough.

• 08-Nov-2010 20:57 | | Man United Killa  - Leave Fabianski alone
  

  I am not a fan of Fabianski he has been superb lately.Even the best keepers make mistakes.I have always said this squad will NEVER EVER EVER even win a plastic cup-Simply because
  1. The team made up of a bunch of overrated players who wont take a shot at goal when it is obviously what they are supposed to do.that always comes back to bite us in the ass.they would rather pass-stupidly.
  2. Dont even have a winning mentality.All they care about is pretty football.Pretty football my a**.seems like negative football to me lately.Over playing the ball wont get us anywhere.
  3. As long as we dont bring in players who are capable of doing the job and we keep relying on players like Denilson,Eboue, Diaby,Chamakh,Clichy, and the inexperience of Wilshire,Walcott, and others we wont even win a piece of scrap metal.
  4. Players like Fabregas,Nasri,Arshavin,Vermaelen will find it hard to want to stay in the side as long as we dont show more ambition in the transfer market.
  I said it at the beginning of the season even when we were winning and I am saying it now,Fellow gooners,just enjoy the games and forget about the trophy,It aint gonna happen.this team is average..and more so rubbish most of the time these days.
  If you are haboring dreams of winning the leage,you need to wake up because pretty football (which we dont do effective anymore,anyways) is not winning football

• 08-Nov-2010 21:04 | | Man United Killa  - Chamakh is RUBBISH
  

  Chamakh is useless.what kind of striker does not take on a defence.He should learn a thing or two from Torres and Tevez....Diving c*nt.

• 08-Nov-2010 22:12 | | nicky
  

  re man united killa
  You are so right about the apparent refusal of so many of our players to SHOOT. In the first half against Newcastle, at least 3 times, I watched a number of close passes INSIDE their penalty area in the face of massed defenders. Nothing is more irritating when this happens and it is happening more and more frequently.

• 08-Nov-2010 22:56 | | Dubgun  - Spot on Tooner
  

  Couldn't agree more! The Toon Army played well against us Gooners. Deserved the game. But gooners defence was not as bad as some make out. Shit sure happens. Much impressed with the Toons.

• 09-Nov-2010 02:08 | | Iron Man
  

  I know it sounds like ridiculous reasoning but I would throw Chezza in. Simply because I've not seen anything from him to make me think he would make the kind of mistakes Flappy and Almunia do. With these two, I know a mistake is imminent nut with Chezza, I can live in a fantasy world where I believe he is never at fault for any goal ever. Until he proves otherwise, I'm inclined to believe that he is better than what we have.

• 09-Nov-2010 11:27 | | Eagleye
  

  Good summary which is breather from all the nonsense coming out of some gooners lips right now.
  
  My biggest concern from Sunday was the fact Cesc looked so out of sorts. He is supposed to be our talisman, our Lionel Messi, our Christiano Ronaldo, Gerrard etc. He's the one that pulls the strings and gives us something from nothing. On sunday he didnt even manage to give us something at all. It really was worrying to watch. Chamakh also looked hugely ineffective but im not sure if this is just becuase the whole team played badly. All in all it was a bad bad week that we need to put behind us and now correct in the next 3 big games - Wolves, Everton (Both away) and Spurs.
  
  The other concern is that Hughton was able to do his research on Arsenal and find a way of containing us and that Wenger didnt seem to do the same research on Newcastle. Although he knew that Carrol was their dangerman why was Chamakh marking him for their goal? Surely every game needs a different approach and we cant just turn up expecting the "Arsenal way" to succeed every time.

• 09-Nov-2010 13:10 | | richie  - reprinting my comments from NC preview
  

  Sorry Guys I don't like jumping on the bandwagon but Fabski's mistake was school boyish. If he'd really come out and missed it I wouldn't be on his back but he didn't. He started to come hesitated then finally commited when he had little chance to claim it! Very disappointing! It was all he had to do in the 1st 45.
  
  Likewise our defense needs to hold their hands up coz everyone in football should've seen that goal coming from miles away. Surely someone amoungst our staff could have drilled our boys on what to expect, coz that was an early christmas caroll of a gift. Its Carolls bread & butter pudding he eats those up week in week out.
  No one really tracked him, and none of our boys offered Fabski protection. Shocking!!! I had hope that AW had been proven right yet again and Fabski had cut out the unforced error's and we didn't /don't need another GK but uncertainty is back with me now like a middle name. I wish I prayed coz I'd be praying Im wrong.
  
  Previously our mid & attack could normally be relied on to redress and level things. But with Cesc (our heart beat) misfiring no one stepped up to take his mantle Nas was off. Shava did little. JW & Song ineffective for whatever reason. Too late to right off our title chances? Possibly? but its fast approaching the point of no return already & we ain't halfway yet.

• 09-Nov-2010 13:34 | | richie  - Eagle Eye
  

  Your echoing my thoughts exactly!
  Why is it that other teams managers seem to be able to do tactical research on us and play either a containment game on us, or do what Chelski did last season play defensive and then hit us on the break.
  For whatever reason we seem not to be able to do the same on other teams.
  
  AW's legendary watching of loads of matches hasn't persuaded him to change or adapt our tactics; I mean how else was Newcastle gonna score against us? A set piece "balloverthetop" for caroll to latch on to seems obvious to everyone except Arsene and our defence. Why?
  I'm not paid to analyse these things but I knew their most probable method of scoring. Didn't you ML? Didn't the rest of you Gooners?
  If we play Stoke what are we expecting?

• 09-Nov-2010 13:40 | | MeanLean
  

  I would say that is a little unfair. Apart from that goal we dealt with Carroll very well I thought. We dealt with crosses, with high balls etc.
  
  Blackburn at the start of the season launched ball after ball into our box and everything was dealt with either by our keeper or by our new defenders.
  
  A goalkeeping error along with possibly bad marking once in the game undone us.
  
  The bigger worry in my eyes is our game is just not clicking going forward. Our game is based on quick passing and interchanging and for whatever reason it has stopped.
  
  If we can get that sorted then I have no worries about our defending at this stage.

• 09-Nov-2010 15:40 | | Man United Killa  - Cesc
  

  Cesc is tired of being surrounded by rubbish players...sooner or later he and the other 'real Arsenal caliber' players will leave.

• 09-Nov-2010 16:18 | | Tom Lee  - Koscielny's appeal
  

  Just to let you guys know, I have written an article on my blog about the disgrace that it Koscielny's extended ban and refused appeal.
  
  http://thelifeofanarsenalsupporter.blogspot.com
  
  

• 10-Nov-2010 15:08 | | richie
  

  I disagree ML we never looked confident or asured.
  Their game plan worked well on us and the on field players didn't seem able to change things up and Arsene substitutions changed nothing. We started the 2nd half with a bit more zip but...................
  When Cesc ain't firing we ain't firing.
  With so many creative players in our mists the above statement seems like madness but it true. Thats my worry. Over reliance on one players creative genious, its reminiscent of the Thierry H days. I thought Arsene acquiring Chamakh (like Ade bye buy before him) was to allow us to change up the play, less one dimensional.

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