Arsenal’s young guns sand bagged at Middle Eastlands
By6 yellow cards, a hefty £25,000 fine for crimes against association football (well, the statutory fine for 5 yellow cards in a game might as well be called that), as well as a suspension for the match against Stoke for Alex Song. That was our haul last night.
There was of course the small matter of Lukasz Fabianski having to pick the ball from the back of his onion bag 3 times. And don’t forget the comical spat between Wenger and Hughes, when the Arsenal manager took exception of Hughes’ pretence that he was show boating his skills with the ball, yet he craftily tried to move the ball a few yards in front of where the throw should have been taken – and that’s the story I’m sticking to.
It was hard to predict this game as it depended on which Abu Dhabi City team turned up. When I saw our team sheet I was fairly comfortable that the Arsenal team could get something out of the game, but equally, I wasn’t going to be disappointed if they didn’t – and just looked forward to enjoying the game.
The experience that Vela, Wilshere, Merida, Ramsey, Eastmond, Watt, Traore and Fabianski would get from the run out was going to be a good test. It was somewhat dispiriting to note that the goals we conceded were a result (perhaps of omission more than anything) of the experienced players in the team.
Neither Eboue nor Song closed down Tevez hard enough and the Argentine welcomed their invitation to smuggle the ball into the top corner of the net. Fabianski, or any keeper for that matter, didn’t have any chance in hell to deal with that shot. Silvestre gave Wright-Phillips too much respect and too much room to take a shot on goal – and he did strike it sweetly.
I was very encouraged though, by the Arsenal’s team spirit right to the end of the game with Merida cracking the cross bar for good measure. Money-bye-ego also proved that he had for sure reverted to type with a very anonymous performance. I remember a Man City supporter lamenting on radio after their draw with Liverpool suggesting that Adebayor only plays well against Arsenal otherwise he’s just a lazy git. The novelty is clearly running out for the fans.
The young boys must be disappointed, but it was always going to be a tough match with City fielding pretty much their strongest team. They have one more excursion in this high pressure environment of being thrown into deep ends when they visit the Karaiskakis Stadium in Greece for a small matter of settling Group H of this year’s CL round robin stage.
There’s no honours to play for, but Olympiakos will be playing for pride at home and that makes them a very difficult proposition. Difficult is good though, difficult is very good. The European stage accorded to the young guns is invaluable experience and they have the licence to express themselves without undue pressure.
The youngsters also know that there’ll soon be a host of lower league premiership and championship managers queuing outside Wenger’s office at London Colney with completed Fl1Z forms requesting our otherwise to be unemployed youngsters for loan spells for their clubs.
With a tough league game against Liverpool on Sunday week at Anfield, an unnecessary expedition to Greece for most of the first team is ill advised. The team meanwhile, have the small matter of hosting Stoke City this Saturday, and we will be without our defensive midfield lynch pin Alex Song.
It’s funny that just a few months ago, folks were suggesting that we could do without Song and he wasn’t good enough. Well, he has a 10 day break before he has to produce the performance of a championship chasing team at Anfield. Before that of course, it’s pointless talking about championships if we don’t get past Stoke on Saturday. One game at a time they say.
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Tue 13th September 2011; 19:45, Dortmund
Good point you raise re: Song.
As is inevitable with a youngster, he has grown into his role and I think Wenger’s belief in the lad was well placed. Anyone who watched the last ACN Championships could literally see him come of age. He was, in my book, the best player of that tournament.
With a solid dose of defensive coaching, and one or two shrewd purchases over this winter window, he, and that back four, I think, can take on any and all comers. I really think we are short-charging the talent on hand by not drilling them sufficiently.
Some of the passing involving Ramsey, Wilshere, and even Vela was a delight to watch. I was hoping for a goal for Vela. Could just be the tonic needed to kick start the lad; and we need him over this winter.
Emmanuel Adebayor doesn’t have the hunger to establish him among the greats. I think he’ll prove to be an itinerant, and wasted, talent that never stayed anywhere long enough to do anything of substance. I mean, if you can’t find your feet under such an indulgent talent groomer as Wenger, odds are you are going to run afoul of most managers sooner rather than later. Pity.
What has become of Johann Djourou? He seems to have been out for ages now.
Totally agree with your take on this Darius.
I guess Eboue & Song volunteered for this match, in order to meet up with their mates Kolo & Ade. Maybe they didn’t even mind Song picking up the booking because if he got it against Stoke he would be out for L’pool. However 3 points against Stoke is worth exactly the same as against anyone else.
We were still in it until the 3rd goal but tired in the last 25mins or so, as one would expect.
No doubt there will be a lot of rage from the anti support but we competed well against a team that should have expected to comfortably beat a mixture of our 2nd/3rd 11. City obviously deserved to win but I didn’t quite see the ‘swagger’ that Hughes did. Troare did ok considering SWP must be the hardest wide right player to come up against. Silvestre also was exposed a lot but did well overall, I would say that SWP’s goal was individual brilliance rather than defender error there.
Good experience & harsh lesson for the lads but well worth it.
Eccentric refereeing again. Tevez 5/6 poor fouls in 1st few minutes- nothing, Troare 1st foul in the book. Same with Eastmond. He then books literally every foul in the last few minutes, although the Silvestre 1 could not be argued with. Song I thought just held his ground as in the 1st half.
Djourou is more or less out for the season, Salona.
Saloner: “I really think we are short-charging the talent on hand by not drilling them sufficiently.”
Precisely how I feel.
Saloner.
I was interested in Song after Wenger opted to keep him following his trial and send away others in his cohort. Perhaps my interest was because I was aware of his uncle who played for Liverpool at one point.
Song has grown from strength to strength and it’s my view that in a year or two, he will be the most valuable defensive midfielder in the world.
As for Adebayor, you’re right in that he’s picking up traits of being a journeyman who leaves debris along the way as he moves from club to club. He was fairly ineffective yesterday and actually very underwhelming.
Some of our passing through the game was exquisite to say the least and Ramsey, Merida and Little Jack Willy are gaining a notoriety in that midfield you know. I particularly like the way our team absorbed the pressure from City in the first 20 mins and eventually came out to play finishing the first half stronger than City. Those are good signs of footballing intelligence especially when playing away from home.
I think that Vela and Eduardo will do much much better once they’ve scored the first few goals. For strikers, goals begets confidence and it’ll only be a matter of time. I think it’s quite unrealistic to expect that either of them will hit the ground running considering the starts and stops they’ve had – there’s no doubt about their quality though, but some patience is required. I however feel that the longer their goal drought goes, the more pressure they’ll put on themselves – and they really need to lighten up a bit and enjoy themselves….play with a smile if you will.
Even RVP had doubters (including himself) in his first few games, but he came through.
Joe and Saloner
On the issue of short changing the youngsters – I’ve said time and time again, that I believe we have the personnel to make the changes needed.
The discipline aspects of the game e.g. knowing when to change tactically to reign in our attacking instincts, knowing when and how to call it a day and shut up shop to secure the lead or draw in hand as opposed to exposing ourselves by going for more, and developing the mental fortitude to fight to the end – all these need to be worked on and will come in time.
For most people having issue with this is that we don’t seem to have learnt from previous lessons – but I don’t think it’s that straight forward. Just to use an example, the %age of goals that have come in through set pieces shows that teams have no alternative but to hit us this way because they find it harder to play through us. We’ve shut this door but opened a window of sorts and need to keep that in check – but there are other examples that show both good discipline and work that needs doing.
I absolutely don’t mind constructive criticism of Wenger and the team for tactical and avoidable blunders – but I have issue with firstly, the extreme opposite of this which is slagging the team off unjustifiably, and secondly not realising the impact of our role as supporters on match day. The indifference of fans in the stadium actually transmits very heavily to players and the opposition knows this.
Flint:
There maybe is a method to the madness of Song cutting his losses for the Stoke game. I don’t think that it’s a bad thing if he misses it, as it will give some game time to those who’ll stand in while he’s away on duty for Cameroon. Stoke is not going to be an easy match though and we shouldn’t expect to coast it. I think the team knows what they have to do and it’ll be good to see them doing it without Song.
The refereeing was kind of cynical – but I think we need to always factor this in. I say we should always aim to put the game beyond the reach of any match official as it’s pointless sometimes bemoaning the performance of the ref. I agree with you though that last night it looked like Foy was being paid to unleash yellow’s on our players.
Darius, you wrote: “I think it’s quite unrealistic to expect that either of them will hit the ground running considering the starts and stops they’ve had”
Specially when it is as the focal point of a front three to boot. It does take a bit to get used to that role.
As for tactical discipline coming with time, I hope it is not too much time at this stage. Defence is a science and it needs specific teaching and training. Yes we have the talent on hand; time to polish it to perfection.
As for Johann Djourou: Thanks for the update Flint. I fear for the lad. I hope his injuries to date are just happenstance. It’d be cruel for such a talent to have his career aborted.
“all these need to be worked on and will come in time.”
That’s my point Darius – I don’t think they have been worked on. I think AW just expects players to work it out for themselves. There’s no discipline being drilled. Nowhere is this more evident than in our continuing susceptibility to high balls and crosses from either set pieces or general play. AW is an innately positive man – and non confrontational by nature. As such the defenders are highly technical but not aggressive/confrontational enough to defend properly.
I do not slag AW off. Anyone who wears the Jersey gets my full support even if I have certain reservations about some players. And I happen to think AW is the best manager in the world. His brand of football, vision and youth development is breathtaking. But he’s his own worst enemy at times. This team is still leaking as much goals as it was last season. Where’s the defensive improvement? I see improvements by switching to a formation that suits our attacking nature – but defensively we still concede truly shocking goals at times. And what happens if either Vermy or Gallas get injured? The focus at the moment is on RVP – but at least we have some attacking options. Our defensive options of either switching Song to CB or bringing in Silvestre – I find deeply worrying. We take far too many chances with a squad of technical players that are prone to being injured. Injury can no longer be an excuse and ditto for bad referees. Good squads deal with these obstacles.
Saloner: “Defence is a science and it needs specific teaching and training.”
Couldn’t agree more.
Why was Keown let go after coaching the defense all the way to the CL final?
Was he replaced?
Do we even have a defensive coach?