Written by DrakeGoona on Thursday, 30 December 2010 10:43
It was a harsh reality that after our first win against Chelsea in more than 5 attempts, there was absolutely no time to bask in the glory of what was a fantastic result and performance. We were on the road to face a Wigan who had embarrassed us in the same fixture last season, knowing nothing more than a win would provide evidence to the claims that we had turned a corner and become genuine title contenders.
Evidence to the contrary came to light almost as soon as Lee Probert had blown the whistle for kick off. Arsene Wenger’s wholesale changes, eight in all, may have had some of you questioning his tactical aptitude, but I remained confident, asserting firstly that the eight replacements would never let their colleagues’ efforts against Chelsea be devalued and secondly, that they all had a point to prove after being selected in what was essentially an Arsenal ‘B’ team.
Wigan (as if they were the only ones who listened to Theo’s post-match interview on Monday) pressed us high from the get go, while we looked shaky and constantly forfeited possession in silly areas of the pitch. In the 18th minute this cost us as N’Zogbia cut inside Eboue from the right, tapped the ball past Koscielny and took a tumble on the edge of the area after minimal contact which Probert deemed to be inside the box and awarded a penalty. In real time I had no arguments, but having seen the replay the contact was indisputably outside the area. A well taken penalty by Ben Watson made it 1-0 to the home side.
We were looking for a response and for the next 20 minutes it didn’t come. An injury to the unlucky Diaby who up to that point had looked like our best player in possession meant that Wilshere would get his second run out in 2 days and his introduction seemed to settle the team somewhat. With the game bereft of chances for either side it looked like we would be heading into the break a goal down. Out of nowhere a Chamakh chip to Bendtner presented him with a tough opportunity which he took cleanly on the bounce, the ball popped up after a good save and Arshavin, whom thus far had been at his wasteful best, acrobatically volleyed the ball across goal and into the back of the net to make it 1-1. Fortunate though it seemed, it was soon even better news as a revitalized Arshavin won the ball in the centre circle, brought it forward and played it through to Bendtner who turned two encroaching defenders well and made no mistake side-footing it past the keeper low and hard to put us 2-1 up at the break.
At half-time my thoughts had not been that we would have to press on and score a third to kill the game off because, despite our defensive frailties this season, our away form had been such that we had often seen games out with a single goal advantage (Everton, Blackburn etc).
The second half began the same way the first had ended. Not much goal mouth action of note from either side, a Chamakh header from a corner went wide but it did not seem so vitally important to be putting these chances away because our grip on the game had tightened and Wigan had lost the attacking verve they had begun the game with. In the 70th minute we had carved Wigan open with a great passing move that ended with Wilshere playing a great lofted ball through to the onrushing Arshavin who, in my opinion, should have done better with the finish. He created room for himself with a great run and first touch but seemed to lose concentration with his shot, which Al Habsi did well to stand firm and deny.
Next came a moment borne out of pure frustration from Wigan’s most potent attacking threat on the night, N’Zogbia. After having just been involved in Wigan’s best chance of the half, taking a through ball down perfectly into our box (only to be denied by a fantastic save by Fabianski), N’Zogbia lost the ball in a tackle to Wilshere and decided it best to get his own back by pushing his head into Jack’s face. I hesitate to call it a full-blown head-butt because there wasn’t much in it, but any retaliation like that and you are going to rightfully see red. Petulant, and downright stupid and a moment that I was looking forward to writing about as the point of no return for Wigan; Down to ten men, and facing a now composed Arsenal side with a quarter of an hour to play. But this seemed to effect the players negatively as they seemed to take their foot off the gas. A corner conceded with 81 minutes on the clock, an awkward ball knocked in – a little too deep for Fabianski to risk going for it, caught Sagna by surprise too - the ball was headed back across the goal and Squillaci, the wrong side of the man he was marking, had little choice but to force the ball into his own net. 2-2, just great. I immediately regretted the posts to my twitter page laughing at Zigic’s ‘hand’ in Lee Bowyer’s last minute equalizer the night before - I should know better. This would become all the more poetically hurtful as Samir Nasri (who was brought on with Theo as a last throw of the dice by Wenger) saw his freekick blocked by the hand of a defender in the Wigan wall, in the box no less, nothing given.
The fulltime whistle was blown and with it came the all too familiar feeling of missed opportunity that has plagued our season. Wenger says the team who finds the best consistency will win the championship and you can’t help but agree with him. Unfortunately, given our current form we seem to be amongst the most inconsistent of the teams challenging for honours. I’ve tried to let the poor refereeing decisions slide, in actual fact there were two game changing errors made by the man in black last night, however it hardly seems like a poignant complaint having seen an officiating error lead to United dropping two points the night before. So too have I tried to keep the blame away from Wenger (the more fickle demographic of our fans have probably already changed their Wenger tune from ‘genius’ to ‘mug’ within 48 hours), however with 8 changes to the side you can’t help but admit that although it was a statement of his belief in the strength of our squad, it was a risk by the manager and evidently a gamble that didn’t pay off.
Where does this leave us now? Well, we have another potential banana-skin on the weekend against a Birmingham side that are solid at home, having drawn with the league leaders midweek. After that it’s a massive game against Citeh at home. We are 2 points behind Citeh with a game in hand and 3 behind league leaders United who have a game in hand over us. So altogether, last night’s result is hardly the end of the world, just majorly frustrating after such a good win on Monday.
Fabianski – 6 - Not much to do but other than the equalizer did well when called upon
Sagna – 8- Our best player on the night, mopping up after sloppy defending by the others, ironic that he was one of the unchanged players.
Squillaci – 4 - Looked out of his depth against an almost toothless Wigan side.
Koscielny – 6 – Got better and better as the game went on, made some crucial interceptions.
Eboue – 5 – Looked sluggish, tried too many flicks in areas that experienced fullbacks should know better.
Denilson – 6- Did what he does, anchored the midfield, played the simple balls, tidy but didn’t penetrate.
Rosicky – 5 - Ineffectual as Cesc’s replacement today
Arshavin – 5 – …and would be less if he hadn’t scored! Pass completion and work rate were poor as ever. Step up Andrei!
Bendtner – 5 – Same as Arshavin, got a goal but was so disappointing in possession, maybe lack of match fitness in his case.
Chamakh – 6 – Worked hard as always, but needs to have more of an eye for goal, not something I should be saying of our striker.
Wilshere (sub) – 7 – Worked hard, stabilized the team with his presence, set up some good chances and never hid.
Diaby/Theo/Nasri – N/A -
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