Written by Mean Lean on Monday, 23 January 2012 06:55
Manchester United were the better team overall and they deserved their victory and once again we showed that without our full backs our game is not effective enough. We have managed to get away with it in certain home games like QPR and Leeds United but against a better side we struggled to enforce our game on the opposition.
As I suspected, Johan Djourou was targeted by Nani and he struggled to deal with him all throughout the first 45 minutes. His half time withdrawal was down to a hamstring strain according to Arsene but something is niggling at the back of my mind that Arsene is just protecting his player and his withdrawl was down to his weakness on the day. I could be wrong but that is how it seemed.
It is not Djourou's fault, he is not a full back, not built like a full back and does not have any of the strengths required to play that position in big games. He came to the club as a defensive midfielder and was moved back as a central defender. Thomas Vermaelen on the opposite site is more mobile, quicker and can defend well as a left back but he is not a player that helps our game going forward in that position.
Only three players contributed positively to our first half, they were Laurent Koscielny, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Tomas Rosicky. That isn't enough to dominate and beat Manchester United.
Manchester United were forcing the issue but could not find the breakthrough until the stroke of half time. Giggs had all the time in the world to deliver his cross onto the head of Valencia at the far post. You would think that a player like Bacary Sagna would have been running alongside Giggs and would have either made a clean challenge or blocked his cross.
Youngster Nico Yennaris had replaced Johan Djourou for the second half and he once again looked assured. Manchester United caused us far less problems on that side of the pitch during the second half. I have said this before but there is an argument for selecting youth over experience if that youth allows you to keep a more natural shape. Yennaris may not be experienced in big games or even Premier League games but at least he has experience of playing at right full back. He is also quick enough to keep up with Nani which Djourou was not.
Theo Walcott and Aaron Ramsey are off their games right now. Especially Walcott who found making simple passes difficult, he lost the ball when he attempted a dribble and he just simply did not cause the opposition any problems.
Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain looks the real deal going forward, he could have helped Djourou more defensively at times but going forward he was our brightest player. He set up Walcott in the first half and also fashioned a chance for Ramsey who shot over from inside the box.
Robin van Persie had a Mertesacker moment when Smalling had slipped over and Rosicky raced through on goal, he unselfishly squared for van Persie who steadied himself on his stronger left foot and blazed wide with the goal gaping. We have had a habit of missing easy chances over the last few months and that side of our game has to improve. It seems ridiculous criticising van Persie for missing chances but even the great man has failed to convert some simple chances of late.
United could have killed off this end to end battle when Welbeck raced past Mertesacker and squeezed in his shot past Szczesny but the big German got back and cleared off the line in the nick of time.
The game was end to end as Manchester United looked to finish the match while Arsenal were pushing to level. We found the equaliser with twenty minutes to go. Laurent Koscielny who I now regard as the best natural defender at the club, won a tackle inside his penalty box like only he can. Clean, deadly and efficiently. His pass found Tomas Rosicky in space and he floated a cross-field pass into the stride of the impressive Oxlade-Chamberlain who cut inside and played a perfectly timed reverse pass into the stride of van Persie and the Dutchman's first time strike into the corner of the net was what we have come to expect from the best striker in the league.
1-1 and we had improved our game, it was yet another chance to step up and go and win the game, or at least it should have been as it should have been when we scored at Fulham and Swansea of late.
Three minutes later came one of the major talking points of the game. From an outside view it seems astonishing that Arsene would replace our best attacking threat on the night, especially as he had a hand in the goal. What we do not have is the facts. Too many people are jumping down the managers throat without knowing his reasons.
Chamberlain had apparently already signaled to the bench to be replaced as he had suffered from sickness over the weekend. Apparently this had also been confirmed by a journalist from the BBC who was close to the bench.
Simply put, I cannot imagine why Arsene would remove his biggest offensive threat if he felt he didn't need to. Arsene has made a name for himself by giving young players a chance and when they perform, he sticks by them. The issue was more that the player coming on was Andrey Arshavin. If Manchester United were causing problems on the flanks then Yossi Benayoun would have been a better replacement defensively but given the swing in the game after the goal, perhaps Arsene wanted to give himself the best chance of winning the game and he see's Arshavin as a more offensive match winner than Benayoun who he classes more as a midfielder.
Fans are entilted to express themselves but the booing would not have helped the team in the slightest and would have been music to the ears of the Manchester United players. Eden Hazard was spotted at the Emirates having used tickets from his former team mate Gervinho. Do you think booing and heckling from the home support would have convinced Hazard that the Emirates was a crowd he would love to play at every other week?
That said, without knowing the reasons for the Chamberlain switch, I was frustrated that we had lost our biggest offensive player while Theo Walcott who was poor stayed on the pitch.
I am already looking forward to watching Chamberlain and Wilshere in the same side, two young gifted footballers who will be on each others wave lengths but we will only see the best of that for next season.
Seven minutes later, Antonio Valencia left Andrey Arshavin for dead and his cut back found Danny Welbeck to fire the away side back ahead. Andrey Arshavin was not convincing enough defensively when it mattered and we paid for it. Park came on for his Premier League debut but we could not create another clear cut chance and the game was over.
Unfortunately for us, the same problems remain. We lack natural full backs, we are lacking goals from everyone apart from the captain. If either Aaron Ramsey or Theo Walcott had stepped up and performed like they can then perhaps we could have taken something from the game but as it was, we didn't have enough to trouble them.
Bacary Sagna, Kieran Gibbs and Mikel Arteta should all be joining the squad soon and that will be huge. If the returning players can hit the ground running then we can make up the points on Chelsea.
Down but not yet out.
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) and I suppose it entitles us to voice our frustrations and helplessness when the team is not doing well but I personally do not find it constructive for boos to take place DURING the match when you need YOUR players to be full of confidence...I shant debate the substitution as it is well documented and we can agree that it didnt quite work...mistakes happen and the Manager is quite guilty in trying to restore confidence in a player (who clearly needs it along with more game time) who seems to be too far gone in his performance for recovery (some might say) but it is his decision and he is held accountable ...and thats that..let's move on...
But seriously, all your questions you ask have obvious and basic solutions. Easily fixed, but AW is too obstinate to act, or even take advice.......
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