Morning all.
Liverpool’s draw at Villa Park in the week gave us a little piece of hope, then West Ham turned up at The Emirates and killed that hope dead through Bowen.
Why do Arsenal do it to themselves? Last season it was against West Ham and Aston Villa at home that we were sloppy and ultimately, those two defeats were the difference between pushing on and being crowned league champions or not.
Yesterday, when we needed to beat a team sitting one place above the relegation places in order to put a little bit of pressure on Liverpool, we failed. Or bottled it, depending on how you see things.
Our usually reliable Brazilian thought ducking out of the way for a cross was a good idea. It wasn’t. Rice could have done better too, in fact the entire team could from the moment we lost possession in West Ham’s penalty area.
But hey, let’s not lump or the blame on Gabriel because the real issue this team has is in attack. We lacked everything you and I would probably like our attacking play to be. Speed, width, crisp and progressive passing along with clinical finishing.
Captain Martin Odegaard said after the game:
We’re really disappointed. It felt like we had a good chance today but the overall performance wasn’t good enough and that’s a big blow for everyone. We tried even with 10 men, we put a lot of pressure on them, but I think we lacked a bit of efficiency in the final third, the final pass, the final cross and we should have been sharper and better around the box.I think that’s what we missed today and also, we let them run a bit too easily a few times, so it’s a big blow and disappointing. We move on and we have to strike back in the next one straight away. It’s no time to feel sorry for ourselves, we have to keep going. There are still many games to be played, and we have to keep going. The main thing now is to win the next one and work from there.
12 games left to be precise which funny enough, equals 36 points which yes, is a lot to play for but yesterdays dull performance cost us three and I don’t for one minute expect there not to be another few lurking around the corner.
When asked about his team’s title prospects, Mikel Arteta said:
It’s not in our hands. I’m really, really annoyed with the things that are in our hands – which is the performance and the result. (We were) nowhere near the levels that we have to hit to have the opportunity to win a Premier league. I’m very much responsible for that, so I’m very, very angry.
Arsenal’s Adrian Clarke hinted in his match preview that Mikel Arteta’s team need to play against West Ham. Fast breaks he said and keep an eye on Wan-Bissaka he added. We did neither. Raheem Sterling is probably one of current quickest forwards yet unlike last weekend, he didn’t start. He didn’t have a chance to bamboozle himself or Wan-Bissaka with his footwork or speed.
Oh, and just because Mikel Merino scored two from the bench last weekend, it doesn’t mean he is going to be as effective from the start, especially up against two big central defenders in a back five.
Mikel Arteta refused to blame injuries for his teams woeful performance and we shouldn’t either. Of course we miss our walking wounded and the team is stronger with 2/3 of them in it but on a day when no one played particularly well, at least not from what I saw, I doubt even our injured would have made much of a difference. Arteta was/is angry with himself which is understandable but the players need to take some responsibility too because it’s they who make the decisions on the pitch.
Great teams know how to win when they’re playing badly but this group of players don’t in my opinion. Our situation isn’t helped by injuries, of course it’s not but it’s not helped by having a substitutes bench mostly occupied by defensive players. The club knew about our lack of creative/goal scoring options not only back in the summer but in January too but instead of doing something to change that, Arsenal did nothing.
The weird thing about yesterday’s performance though is that I don’t really feel angry about it, probably because a part of me expected it.
Catch up in the comments….
