Sat 11th September 2010; 15:00, Emirates Stadium
Another Drog Day Afternoon For Arsenal Gives Doomers More Fodder
ByI’ll confess, I was in two minds about how to approach my reflection of yesterday’s game against Chelsea. I wasn’t actually as disappointed as I was last weekend after the loss to Man United – the reason being that I felt the team in general played much better than we did last week.
The statistic that counts though, is the one on the scoreboard so it’s still hard to swallow the defeat. Even my wife who is an ardent Chelsea fan berated Arsenal for going missing at the far post in the 8th minute gifting Drogba an open net. He was never going to miss from there.
I also thought of talking about the fact that I’d prefer that Andrey Arshavin shuts up and stops talking willy nilly to the media. He should focus on converting the guilt edged chances he has on the pitch for that is what he’s paid to do.
Most of all, I also thought of venting my anger at Manuel Almunia for ball watching as Drogba’s free kick cannoned off the woodwork. His ”Oh my God!” face as he stood there as a spectator for some reason really really pissed me off.
Instead, I caught up with a movie I’ve always wanted to watch since it was released but I hadn’t had the chance. It was The Taking Of Pelham 123.
Great movie except for the stupid girlfriend of one of the hostages (George I think it was) insisting on the webcam that he tells her “I love you”, even though he risked an encounter with the business end of a machine gun. What an idiot of a girlfriend.
It was then that I thought of a Stone Cold Friday post that I wrote in early December 2009 following the first defeat to Chelsea. I think it was during a scene in the movie with a ridiculous traffic jam on a bridge that made me think of a dodgy Stamford bridge.
When I re-read the December post that I called Unite and Win, Divide and Fail, it occurred to me that the post is actually very relevant right here and right now.
I figured my gripe and disappointment isn’t with the team – it’s actually with our doom and gloom merchants. I can live with the teams short-comings so long as they show visible improvement and fight hard when the chips are down.
In my book, the team performed much better than they did against Man United, and I’ll take that for now and I look forward to a more positive result against Liverpool on Wednesday.
As for the doomers, I’d do an injustice to my December post (originally published on ACLF) by not publishing it here in its entirety. Enjoy:
If I were an analyst working for an industrial espionage outfit commissioned to carry out a destructive interference programme on Arsenal, I’d be looking forward to filing my November report with the dubious committee set up to oversee the capitulation of the club. The committee sits late every Friday night guided by the silhouette of a hangman and his noose perched above their heads.
The executive summary of my report would go something like this:
The past fortnight has been a watershed for our Arsenal destruction programme. Contrary to our initial belief that this team will capitulate by mid February, I am pleased to confirm that we are seeing the signs of their demise much faster than we expected.
Our campaign to spread poison and conspiracy theories about how the team can never hack it and why Arsenal receives an extraordinary proportion of injuries during international breaks is well on target. We have received a boost from two unexpected sources.
Firstly, 11 months ago we recruited a sleeper agent in the suburbs of Belgrade. An unlicensed quack masquerading as a miracle healer of sorts, our handlers ensured she had a dodgy tax record to support plausible deniability.
Our Belgrade asset was called to action a few weeks ago. She did an effective job in providing false hope to their talisman and the entire gooner nation. By the time they realised what the deal was, their chap was pretty much confirmed as out cold for the season, a situation that has clearly unsettled them.
The second and the most important catalyst to the destruction of Arsenal are the forces within. We always felt that the work their manager had done over the years stood on very firm ground. Our media allies and pundits have ensured that our anti-Arsenal message continues unabated. We needed their support to sow the seeds of doubt amongst their weak and fickle glory hunting fans; to convince them that they can never win something unless they buy players with inflated price tags.
In the last 2 or 3 weeks, this group of fair-weather plastic fans has unleashed a venomous tirade as they spit fire and brimstone on the internet and airwaves. The voices of reason of the realistic and level minded supporters will soon be drowned out if we maintain the current pace of interference.
Some of these fickle Arsenal fans don’t even realise what they have. The club is one of the best managed elite clubs in world football who are financially solvent and only have a mortgage for their magnificent stadium as debt owed. They don’t realise they have one of the best managers in the world who has the courage and vision to set a path and a future for the club that will stand them in good stead for decades to come. They don’t realise that they have a great talented squad that just needs a tweak or two to click into place.
Impatient for success, our friends in the media have drummed it into their heads that they are weak and useless, that there is no place for beautiful football in the game as we want it. Former Arsenal players in particular have been doing a brilliant job at confusing and annoying with their public utterances of our messages.
With the events of the last two weeks, particularly their losses to Sunderland and Chelsea, there is a danger that they will regroup and get reinforcements. It is not in our interest if they succeed in this and we must continue to run interference for the rest of the campaign if we are to achieve our goal of keeping them divided and bringing them down at the end of the season.
They have a very intelligent manager and intelligent players who have the desire to be champions. The players know that they aren’t there yet; that they have to iron out a few defensive issues and build up their mental strength and character.
Every competent observer we talk to convinces us that this team will only get better as the season goes on. Luckily they are getting their customary dip in form that every team has at this point. Our fear is that they will peak at just about the right time to grab all the honours and I can’t stress enough why we cannot let this happen.
They have a good number of bloggers who unwittingly do our job for us. You should seriously take the time to read the blogs of such negative anti-Arsenalists who call themselves fans and slate their own team left right and centre. Most fans around the world would trade an arm and a leg for their team to play the Arsenal brand of football, but some of these folks are so spoilt they don’t even realise the joy that their football team brings to true footballing fans around the world.
I’m confident that the media and pundits will continue with our strategic anti-Arsenal diatribe as the season goes on. Our hope is that their fans will follow this nonsense instead of getting right behind their team and becoming the 12th man if you will.
One of our worst nightmares is if the Arsenal crowd ever gets behind the team at their stadium in particular. A strong crowd that gives belief to this team up till the 96th minute of any game, in combination with a team this talented and this motivated will be explosive. You can see why we cannot let that happen.
Luckily for us, strategic interference has convinced the fans who attend match days that it’s not worth staying for the whole match. Their lack of belief in the team will hopefully start trickling down to the team itself and the players will realise that they have fake fans who are only interested when they bang 8 goals in without reply.
In conclusion, I must say that if we continue with our path, we will certainly be on our way to making the Arsenal the most lucrative proposition for an enticing hostile takeover. It is not in our interest to let all the ingredients of success come to fruition at this club despite the fact that success is nigh for them.
Our worst fear is that it’s only a matter of time before the team gets the benefits of constant defensive drilling and discipline, and that the supporters get behind their team and push them over the winning line.
We just have to make sure we divide and rule this club because the only obstacle to our intentions is that the team and the fans unite as one to unleash their magic on us.
…And by the way, I watched the whole game with the volume turned down to avoid the commentary or the pre and post match diatribe. It’s liberating, you should try it.
I felt somewhat the same as you Darius. I took the loss very well considering my standard in taking Arsenal’s losses. My first thought though was “now the morons will have a celebration”.
And it is you know. Everytime we lose or “draw” they’d say “I told you so”.
But I stopped caring about what they think and say because I will never give Arsenal up for anything despite the dry spell or moaning haters.
And we did well last night, apart from Clichy’s stupid defending yet again when he gifted drogba free space while running around in front of Vermaelen like a player who doesn’t know what he should do. He’s a player who is clearly out if form and should be rested like Almunia.
About Almunia. I know how you feel Darius when he stood still and gave up on that drogba’s free kick. I trust Wenger’s judgement but to me it’s so clear now that Almunia had finished being a proper GK for us. I feel sad for him but it’s true.
The problem I think is from within. It’s down to the players and the fans to make it right. We don’t have to believe we will, we just have to believe that we CAN.
PS: Diaby is becoming a consistent performer now despite constant bashing in the past of how he’s not fit to wear the shirt or something. Also, Cesc and Arshavin need to lead by example starting on Wednesday.
Two quick thoughts.
1. What’s wrong with Clichy? What was he doing going on a walkabout during a corner?
2. The margins were so small in this game yet everyone would have youu believe we were absolutely mullered. Chelsea took 2 of their 3 chances, Arsenal fluffed all of their 4 chances.
Clichy was dogshite
Did we ever think we were going to miss Kieran Gibbs?
I think Wenger should actually let Silvestre play left back and simply just defend. If he can, he can go marauding and and down the flanks, but his primary job is to defend.
I think folks should now appreciate that Armand Traore actually did a stellar job under the circumstances.
All our recent goals have come from Clichy’s cide. Once is a mistake, twice a coincidence, but over 3 times – that’s just bang out of order.
I agree that Chelsea again were more efficient – but if we converted our chances, there’s no reason for all and sundry to moan about the fact that we don’t have strikers. Arshavin in particular has been notorious for missing sitters that you’d expect a player of his calibre to bury.
And that Almunia ball watching incident seriously pissed me off so badly that I just don’t want to talk about it…LOL!
Walcott btw, shouldn’t have started. He was missing for most of the time he was on the pitch and it just felt like we played with 10 men.
But generally, I’m OK with yesterday’s loss for the simple reason that the team in general applied themselves well.
Arshavin, Rosicky and Fabregas are due a big game and they owe the fans.
Diaby and Song should get more and more games together in that midfield – it was their first match together with Cesc after a long time and I believe that Song,Diaby and Cesc are our best midfield trio right now.
Pull their socks up better though the players did, both the Chelsea goals were consequences of criminally poor defending. Not the kind of stuff that one expects from a team that aspires to honours. Tragically, this isn’t an isolated instance of such wretchedness either.
I stand by my suspicions, voiced many times here, that Almunia isn’t the man for our ambitions, and while Clichy is rusty, that we, generally, are poorly coached in the defensive aspects of the game. Look back over the last few seasons and the one defining characteristic of this team has been defensive ineptitude. Factor in the injuries and the resulting fallow spells up front, our claims of aspiring for the title turn out to be cruelly delusional.
No matter; ManU and Chelsea have proved excellent cold showers. I back Wenger, on the back of these, to honestly admit his own, and his team’s, inadequacies, and to redress them.
Carlo Ancelotti laid down a nice check list after the game yesterday: “When you speak about a match, you can’t speak only about possession of the ball. No. You have to control the attack and the defence.”
We could do worse than start with that list and work at it item by item.
You express a lot of my sentiments with your post today, Darius.
It was again a matter of conceding 2 very preventable goals, as last week, that masked an otherwise very creditable performance.
It is small but serious errors that are costing us.
Clichy is coming back from a long term injury but even so it is hard to fathom why he is looking so inadequate, almost since that dreadful error against Tottenham. Maybe it is wrong to specifically blame him for not covering the near post but someone should have got there. For the second he got himself in no-man’s land but lacked cover, poor team defending again. After that we defended, on the whole very well indeed & Clichy had a good second half.
I think I suggested Sylvestre as a purely defensive LB as well, Darius.
Either that or play Eboue ahead of the LB.
I feel that you are a little hard on Almunia & Walcott, who both put in markedly improved shows, not great but certainly better.
From what AW has said it very much looks like Almunia has had a crisis of confidence, which has made him a markedly lesser ‘keeper than last season, when there were few better. At 32, not old for a ‘keeper, can he get that confidence back? Unless he does for the remainder of the season then we cannot risk him for the next.
What we have now is a must win game on Wednesday or we are looking downwards at preserving a top 4 finish, with 3rd being a major requirement to avoid CL qualifiers.
I really feel that if we can play as well as yesterday for the rest of the season, a big big if, then we will come very very close.
Saloner
We are not far apart today but I don’t think any of us know how good the the defensive coaching is or not. The difficulty we have is one of balancing the side, with each individual taking responsibility.
Against Everton, Stoke & now Chelsea we have been caught cold from early set pieces. Why? Sometimes it just happens but I am sure that the coaching staff will have worked on it.
After conceding the 2 goals, we proved that we can defend, so perhaps it is still a mentality problem. Sometimes these things click into place, maturity & stability plus a little bit of luck. In 2002/03 we conceded 42 PL goals but in 2003/04 only 26.
That’s how it is & why we should enjoy our not perfect but pretty good Arsenal side, by past standards, that has a wonderful opportunity of maturing into one of the very best……bringing us back to Darius’ important point about the doomers (not aimed at you Saloner).
Saloner.
In a game like yesterday’s, chances are going to be few and far between and I think ewehave to balance the arguments between our inability to score and our inability to defend goals that we really should be defending.
The relationship is symbiotic in that if our attack does it’s job and takes the chances (however few) then they take the pressure off the defenders, and this also works in reverse.
What you say Flint about personal responsibilities for players makes a lot of sense. It’s hard enough implementing a game plan without the action of one individual throwing a monkey wrench into the whole game plan.
Saying that, I really did feel that the performance was an improvement from the game against Man United, despite the moments of madness.
Flint, I really did feel that either Bendtner or Rosicky could have provided a bigger threat up front than Walcott did and that perhaps this wasnt the match for him to knuckle down and regain his form. The way Eboue played, he could have done much better than Theo in providing thrust and running at the defense with better dribbling ability.
With Almunia, it was more the fact that he was a spectator during that free kick than anything that really got my goat. For a dead ball situation like that it has to be safety first – no excuses.
I appreciate that we tried harder yesterday than we did againat ManIOU but for me the real improvement came when Eboue and Rosciky joined the game.
Eboue’s runs were far more effective than anything Sagna had achieved i the whole game.
Wenger seems to be reluctant to make changes to the team even if things are not going well for us.
For example, against ManIOU where there was clearly an issue down the left- hand side he did nothing to address it – why not bring on Traore at LM to support Clichy?
Jar.
When we played Bolton and Lee was giving Traore grief down that side, Wenger made a purely tactical move and brought in Clichy to sit in front of Traore and protect him better.
Most everybody assumed that Clichy will replace Traore but it was a tactical move.
So you do wonder why Wenger is coy to call in the calvary even at half time or before half time if things aren’t working. He’s shown that he can do it before.
Jar and Darius, I second the views regarding Eboue and Rosicky.
Flint, it is true we, me foremost, don’t “know” if the defence is being coached inadequately. It is just a nagging suspicion I can’t seem to get rid of. The performance of our defence through that season all the way until the CL finals bode very well for the future. We seemed, at the time, to have underpinned our attacking flair with a solid defence. Every season since, we seem to be struggling, if we aren’t regressing, from that excellent start.
My disappointment stems from a very simple fact: Leave aside beating the “big” sides, if these lads, for starters, hold their own and earn a few draws against them, I think it’ll do their confidence a world of good. As often happens, those two moments of madness cost us precious confidence, leave alone three points. Just be solid and slug the 90 minutes out. Don’t hand the opposition the luxury of a 2 goal lead on a platter. Yes, yesterday, and over quite a few of the prior defeats against the “biggies”, the margin has been slim; but I don’t know if that fact is protection against fractured morale consequent to repeated defeats.
Anyway, these boys clawed an 11 point deficit back when they were written off. Time to set about doing the same again, or atleast give Chelsea and ManU a relentless chase through the rest of the season.
Saloner.
During the 06 Champions league cup run, the difference was that Martin Keown was doing his badges and had some work placement arrangement with Arsenal. He was working day to day with the Arsenal defense of mainly Eboue, Senderos, Toure and Flamini as a make shift left back for most part.
That defense went just over 1000 minutes without conceding a goal in the champions league.
Warms my heart just to read that statistic.
I’ll say this, these defeats against ManU and Chelsea are, in my view, just what Arsene needed to go back to the drawing board and rearrange the jigsaw better. I’d be very surprised if decisive action isn’t already underway. Does, or should, it involve Keown I can’t say, though I’d personally be delighted that one with a direct link to that famed defensive heritage is on the job.
We’ll see.
I already think something is being done. Granted, the mistakes of leaving ourselves open to counter attacks were done – but my sense is that the goals were a direct result of the actions of (or inaction) of a single individual. You can’t legislate for that and in all honesty, once the players have crossed the white line, there’s little the manager can do and it’s up to the players.
One thing Wenger did last season though after the defeat to Man City in early November was to rein in Arsenal’s attacking instincts and to play safety first. The result was 21 games unbeaten and that was without key players like Fabregas, Rosicky et al.
This team still has a chance to win the title but it depends on 2 factors.
1. Chelsea and Man United dropping points (and I’m damn sure they will)
2. Arsenal winning all the remaining 13 games (which is a tall order in itself, but a possible one to fulfill)
Our first priority is that of worrying about our game and making sure we do the bread and butter things. We can’t worry about other teams dropping points for if they drop points and we still don’t win our games, then there’s absolutely no advantage.
Hi Darius,
As always a great perspective and I love the new look StonecoldArsenal. I agree with many of the other post. Being an Arsenal supporter of current times requires tremendous amount of virtue and patience. For I still believe in Wengerball and trust that the manager to get the team back up again, might not be this season, but will happen soon.
I will understand those calling for a shore up of our defense and that is fair, but if that in anyway compromises the way Arsenal play then I am all against it. I feel that our play is based more on attack and great interplay. At times I feel the football played by the Gunners is far ahead of the English game, and that could also explain the hatred petted towards Arsenal by the English media contingent. Defeats are sad, and when you have a manure brother-in-law…well you catch my drift. Our defeats are made even more sad by the advent of 03/04 invincible season. We conquered and felt we should conquer unhindered from then onwards. The chelsea loss wasn’t so hard to digest as you’ve already mentioned, but if I feel the way I do, then it must really be tough for our boys. This is the time when they need our support the most.
Something that I have picked up over the last few games is the way TW14, seems to get really outraged, throw arms up in the air seemingly in disgust when not receiving the pass. Understandably he would have been in a great position and maybe a better option. But that should no stop other players themselves taking a shot at goal.
The problems
Wanted to say “The problems we have are nothing that can’t be solved in-house”
Simba my friend.
I don’t know whether to feel sorry for you about your Manure brother in law or suggest that you have it easy considering that I’m married to a Chelsea fanatic. It all makes the world go round me thinks.
Unfortunately for many these days, patience is a virtue that was long kicked into the long grass and not many people draw from the definition of being a supporter or a fanatic.
The team has issues to sort out but like you say, they’re issues that can be sorted out in-house.
I think a lot of the pressure Walcott has is because of expectations of him at the World cup. He has only made 5 starts for Arsenal in 13 appearances this season. What is odd or ironic about Walcott’s case, is that he defied Wenger’s wishes and over played for both the England national team and the Under 21 England side in the summer.
Apparently, the intention was that he gets game time and regains his sharpness in readiness for a pre-world cup season. Unfortunately, this has all backfired because his injury spells originate from his over playing in the summer – something that Wenger actually warned about.
The media are not going to give him a break and the constant pressure of “will he or won’t he” will eat into his psyche.
I think that Walcott will play much better when he’s relaxed and he’s got a smile on his face.
..and by the way, thanks for the kind words about the new look. Don’t forget to sign up for the new Stone Cold newsletter.
Agreed on the whole issue about Walcott. It seems he lets that pressure get way too deep into his psyche, I don’t doubt his talent one bit. But he has as much responsibility in managing his career as anyone out there. One should take pride in representing their country, but not by risking so much and at such a young age.
Some balance has to be struck between club and country football. Paul Scholes’ case (I know its a bad example at the mo, but bear with me), is quite interesting to me, opting to play club football might have seemed odd at the time but seems to have had a positive effect on his career and club. I am not suggest players should retire from internationals, but perhaps our players should take heed and refuse some call-ups as when Diaby was clearly injured but still accepted a call-up by France during the November break.
Le Professor clearly saw the Walcott issue arising. Those hacks who slated Wenger about the whole Theeeeeeo saga, where are they now? Didn’t the one called Stuart Pearce have a little dig at Wenger too (if I’m not mistaken).
Theeeeeo is at an age where those around him play huge part in how he develops mentally. I am sure, given a bit more time, the right guidance and a bit less pressure, Theeeeo will come right, cos after all, the force is with him.
I do agree with you guys that Chelski was not the right game for Walcott to use as a confidence booster, but to me, it was Wenger showing Theeeo that he boss still has faith in him and to prove his doubters wrong.
I think the same goes a@ LB with Clicky. Wenger put him up for some tough games to show his faith in Clicky, granted that it hasn’t turned out so well, but still, these players can’t complain that they were not given the chance to prove themselves.
C’mon you Reds, against…erm the reds. We can do this!!