Early on, we seemed to have the ascendancy and had Arshavin been less selfish or more clinical, we could have been two goals up in the first 20 minutes. His two early misses cost us a lead. Had he squared the ball with his first chance or found the corner with his second, Utd would have been on the back foot and we would have had the opportunity to play the way we want to. Fair enough a bit of skill…ok an extravagant dribble by Nani saw him waltz his way past two defenders and float the ball towards Almunia from an acute angel on the edge of the area. I’m not too sure whether it was a chip shot or a cross that went wrong but even if Almunia hadn’t tipped it into his goal, J.S Park was waiting to score at the other end…unless of course like Ryan Giggs, he could have missed an open goal.
For the other two, Man Utd showed why they are one of the best teams on the counter attack. Methinks if we were more clinical in the box we could have scored instead of ending up two men short at the back leaving us open to two great goals from Rooney and J.S Park. They could have had more had Nani been more Ronaldo than well Nani. Despite his trickery, I still see why many Utd fans still have issues with him. On that Arsene Wenger had this to say;
“I would say they had other players who gave us some problems, not only Wayne Rooney. We gave them too much room everywhere and afterwards Rooney takes advantage of it. We conceded two goals which were ‘corner for us, goal for them’ – two goals, the second and third. I believe it was much more with our positioning and the intelligence of our positioning that we were wrong.”
In summary, I think if we had all our strikers playing as strikers, we could have converted more of our chances and have come away with at worst a high scoring draw. The introduction of Bendtner and Walcott saw us inject a bit of physique and pace into the game but as was the case yesterday, it was a bit too late for the changes to do any real damage to a Utd team that was already coasting to victory. I wonder if the boss ever considered playing Gallas in attack. As we sought to consolidate on Vermaelen’s consolation goal, he got into some really good positions and had he had more time or practice, he might have just had an opportunity to pull one more back for us.
Now that might sound absurd but he sure does have the basic credentials of the striker we so desperately need at the moment. Firstly, he know how to get forward and has a keen eye for goal, he’s got pace, is physical enough can head the ball well. He also has a pretty decent shot. With Sol Campbell back in the squad, it’s a gamble that is worth trying but is as unlikely to happen as is Bolton winning the Champions’ league next season. The boss is content with Gallas and Vermaelen as his permanent centre backs and will want to keep that going for as long as possible. Even though it worked for Samba at Blackburn, I’m pretty sure the boss won’t be making that move as he seems to be confident enough that Bendtner and the rest can lead the line.
While I think we could still do with one or two more bodies at the moment, I’m realistic that that isn’t happening because the manager has already said we are not on any business before this evening when the window closes, and having missed out on Chris Smalling to Utd, Sol Campbell seems to be our only signing as both Chamakh and Villa whom the boss has openly spoken about are unavailable at the moment. This is beginning to get interesting because the boss claims we are able to spend up to £30m on a single player. Now while we can get Chamakh for nothing in the summer should he decide to join us, only David Villa’s wages would prove a stumbling block as I’m told he earns more that Ashley Cole. With that in mind, our potential summer signings could be the making or breaking of the Arsenal of the future.
With Utd’s lingering debt, Chelsea’s possible transfer ban, the uncertainty over Liverpiool and the possibility of a bored Arab billionaire at City in the next few years should they fail to win a trophy, that £30m which we are reported to have does sound like it could push us right back in it. I’ve looked carefully and I don’t reckon Chelsea or Utd can get any stronger than they already are. Liverpool are well…inconsistent. Villa and Spurs are gradually improving but I reckon it’ll take them two or three more seasons to get themselves right in the mix of things if they continue to do things the way they do. City are on the rise and it is yet to be seen how much more exactly they need to do to become a top club. Arsenal on the other hand are just outside the elite but unlike the other teams, our weaknesses are not only glaring, but relatively easier to fix. In short words, we need a striker, another centre back and either a new goalkeeper or a promotion of Mannone or Scezeny to the starting eleven.
Speaking to the press after the game, the boss had this to say in summary about the match;
“It is difficult to take but easy to explain because we were poor offensively and defensively cohesion-wise. We delivered an off-the-mark performance completely and that is why we were well beaten today. We gave them always too much room, we were naive. I believe we have to stick together now, recover and produce a much better performance next Sunday [against Chelsea].”
As difficult as it is to say, I’ve pretty much called it a season for Arsenal, as far as the Premier league is concerned. I’m not writing off their chances yet again as many have done over the years but my thought is that we are nearly there. I know we’ve been singing this song for a number of years now but most of the time it has been sung mainly in hope. This time for me it’s clear that what we do need is an infusion and a shuffle of responsibilities and we just might challenge even stronger next year. With the way things are going, only a total collapse of our season will see us fall below third place which in itself is an improvement on the last 5 years and now comes with the bonus of automatic qualification for the group stages of the champions league.
We may have stagnated for a number of years, but finishing strongly in third means that we’ve done better than in previous years and in real terms, we’ve not only finished in a better position, but have demonstrated our ability to improve on our performance. I look forward to the summer where before, during and after the world cup, I expect Arsene to splash the cash like never seen before. I’ve never been an advocate of irresponsible spending like the chavs but the vibes I’m getting from the boss are ones that say “Ok! I know where the holes are and where we are light in bodies…I’m getting A,B and C in the summer.” We wait and see.
I close with news that Robin Van Persie may be back in the Arsenal colours as early as March. I wouldn’t hold my breath if I were you.
Till then…Victoria Concordia Crescit
