Written by Mean Lean
on
Friday, 07 January 2011 10:42
I have a mixture of emotions as I write this on Friday morning. My emotions would have been purely of depression and frustration had I found the time to pen down my thoughts directly after the game.
Firstly, I like many have been fuming with the tactics deployed my Roberto Mancini, I find it incredible that a team valued so highly would come to a rival team and defend for 90 minutes. It is incredible yet unsurprising. I attempted to watch Manchester City 'entertain' Manchester United earlier in the season and gave up well before the final whistle. The new rich boys on the block played in front of their supporters and played for a 0-0 which they got.
As an Arsenal supporter, there is no point getting hot under the collar with our opponents. It will take them another £300 million + to compete with us on a purely football level. My only frustration left is our first 15 minutes. We did more than enough to have beaten them this season and next season all within that 15-20 minute spell.
Jack Wilshere has had a superb first season in the top flight for Arsenal, he has had a maturity far beyond his years and the last thing I would want to do is criticise him, yet within two minutes of the referee's whistle we should have been a goal to the good. Many people have criticised his decision to pass rather than shoot but I think he made the right decision. With a team mate square of you with an empty net in front of him, it would have been a bigger risk to have tried to beat Joe Hart from the angle. I am sure 99 times out of 100 at London Colny, Jack would have rolled that pass perfectly to Van Persie to tap in. Wilshere panicked and instead of feeding the ball to the Dutchman, he sent the ball over blindly in the general direction of Van Persie and the far post.
Our team of creative genius' continued to pass triangles around the bamboozled City side and hit the post three times even if Walcott's strike was from an offside position.
When it is goalless and we play well, create chances and not score, I always get the sense of regret as if we missed the chance to change the game. Will we finish the next chance to erase the previous miss? I found myself not enjoying the latter stages of the first half, harping back to Wilshere's over hit pass and Cesc's shot cannoning off the post.
Manchester City produced a better defensive performance in the second half and we could not move the ball as quickly as we did in the first 45 minutes, no doubt that the amount of games that we have played has caught up with us.
Amongst all the frustration of drawing two games that we should have won over the last couple of weeks, Wednesday's game told me plenty about Arsenal at this moment in time.
I think we are currently the best team in the league. While our two draws against Wigan and Man City will not confirm my belief via the form guide, our performances with the same eleven players against Chelsea, Birmingham and Manchester City has more than reinforced my feelings that with our strongest players available we have a squad bigger and better than the rest of the Premier League.
I thought we had many players on top of their game and some of those players are going through a purple patch at the right time. Johan Djourou was immense when called upon and showed great concentration even if most of the ball was at the other end of the pitch. His partner Laurent Koscielny continues to compliment the Swiss perfectly. His battle with Tevez was one of my pre match thoughts and it was exciting.
I get bemused when I read opinions that he is in the same boat as Pascal Cygan, Igor Stepanovs and co. Alongside the correct partner (which doesn't seem to be Squillaci) he is the perfect foil. A tenacious, reader of the game with a cobra like tackle.
Alex Song was absolutely world class in the middle of midfield. Alex Song has often been dismissed as not good enough and the calls for 'the Yaya Toure's of this world' have often reverberated around the bloggesphere. Yet if an Alien from Mars won a ticket to the Emirates and he had to pick out the midfielder that cost £27 million and the one that cost £1.1 million then the likely mistake would have been understandable.
I will give him another season or two maximum before he is labelled as the best defensive minded midfielder in English football.
Robin Van Persie, similar to his Birmingham performance played very well and linked with his midfielders superbly but his shooting boots are still locked away. The more he plays, the closer the goals will come. If Van Persie was 10% sharper then we would have taken those three points.
It is that factor that leaves me feeling confident and excited. We have a number of players on top of their game at the moment, whilst the likes of Van Persie, Walcott, Diaby, Ramsey, Rosicky, Chamakh etc are yet to reach top form or get back to their early season strong form. With the cup games coming up, it gives Arsene a chance to play the fit squad members who only need games to step up a gear and hopefully after the West Ham game we could have a full squad of players on top of their game.
What on earth happened to Bacary Sagna? He lost his usual ice cool. Sagna has been stamped on by Lee Bowyer and has barely batted an eyelid. My guess is that Argentinean, Pablo Zabaleta said something that Bacary did not take too kindly to.
I suppose if there was a time to be suspended for three games then now would be the time. He misses the FA Cup game against Leeds and the Carling Cup clash against Ipswich. Two games that he would have been resting for in the first place. The only game of importance will be the West Ham away game and Eboue should be able to fill in for that game without any problems.
Manchester United are in pole position and history may tell you that they often push on in the second half of the season, currently they are not showing the quality that they have had in previous seasons. They have to play some very difficult fixtures from now until the end of the season.
The margin for Arsenal error is now limited, and we will almost certainly have to go on a good run without defeat, if we are to squeeze back the gap at the top.
This side, in this shape are more than capable of going on a winning run lets hope the inevitable rest given to the first team members will allow them to kick on again when the return.
Fabianski (7)
Sagna (7.5) - Sent off
Koscielny (7.5)
Djourou (7)
Clichy (7.5)
Song (8)
Wilshere (7)
Cesc (7,5)
Walcott (7)
Van Persie (7)
Nasri (7)
Please note that ratings are only my interpretations of the game and that others will have differing opinions
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