The Game
Early this week one of the topics which was being discussed in our comments section was to compare our start to the new campaign with last season’s. Before today it was more or less the same. Now, it’s worse.
Because if last season the wake up call arrived against Manchester City away from home, in a game we lost 4-2, well this year it came at the Emirates. And not against Chelsea or Manchester United mind you, but against a team which a little more than one month ago conceded SIX goals at Stamford Bridge.
Fair enough, maybe I didn’t expect such a heavy scoreline today because Roberto di Matteo did say how his players learned the lesson from the Chelsea game. But seriously, losing?
Let’s get this straight. We reached this game with a lot of positive news such as the big win against Tottenham, the Club announcing profits which apparently are being kept safe in the vault instead of using them to improve the squad and of course, Chelsea losing against Manchester City in what many thought was our golden opportunity to cut the gap at the top.
And what was the reply from our players? A pathetic, heartless performance – for a change – just to make sure to stay four points adrift of Chelsea.
We witnessed the first signs that our players were not approaching games with the right attitude against Sunderland. Believe it or not, both the Black Cats and the Baggies played better football with better passing technique and of course, showing more determination which many prefer to describe as “wanting it more”.
Arsene opted to start with Abou Diaby, a player back from injury who could barely run and Emmanuel Eboue, first on the right and then on the left, shocking on both wings. And if you believe using the “excuses note book” to go under the letter “F” and use fatigue as the reason why we lost, remember our boss made nine changes to the team that started the Carling Cup win at Tottenham in midweek, so it seems letter “I” is still your only hope.
No my friend, I suggest you put it back in your pocket because we’ve run out of excuses. This is reality and until we grow up and accept the fact that Manuel Almunia is a mistake waiting to happen and Gael Clichy is not a defender, we can be all optimistic and full of hope as much as we want but things will not change. I can’t even say at least we still play nice football because as I said up there, Sunderland and West Brom were better even in that respect.
I wish I could say it’s a one off, that the team will recover and produce super performances against Partizan and Chelsea but we’ve seen this before so you’ll surely understand why I look forward to these games with less optimism than this afternoon.
Player Ratings
Almunia: 4 – This is sad. Only days after Lukasz’ latest mistake in goal, here comes another Manuel show. Too quick to leave his goal, uncertain when he doesn’t and just like Liverpool, goal conceded at his near post.
Koscielny and Squillaci: 4,5 – Awful(both) in forgetting about Peter Odemwingie in West Brom’s first goal. Awful(Laurent) in doing very little to block Gonzalo’s Jara second goal attempt and terrible(Sebastien) in West Brom’s third goal.
Clichy: 4 – Just to spare the irony of some saying I only complain when we lose, I warned about him after the 6-0 Blackpool win. Now it’s no longer just a warning, it’s a big problem which should be fixed immediately.
Sagna: 5 – I can’t remember the last time Bacary was so shocking back there. Some of his decision making were completely wrong and the way Thomas surged past him to then cross for the second goal was depressing to see.
Song: 4 – No idea what he is doing this season, plays with no discipline at all. Stepped it up in the second half, seemed to care, but not enough.
Diaby: 4 – And the wait for Abou to be a finished product goes on. And on. And on.
Nasri: 7,5 – Almost scored a hat-trick to salvage a point but yet again, here I am, asking why only in the second half? What is the bloody reason why he sleeps for 75 minutes and wakes up in the last part?
Arshavin: 5 – I don’t care if he’s tired or still upset because Russia didn’t qualify for the World Cup. Fact is that he’s not performing. If you squeeze his 90 minutes you will get no more than 5 where he tried to do something worth mentioning. The rest was walking, going down, staying down and misplacing passes.
Eboue: 4 – Failed in everything he tried. First on the right, then on the left, no impact whatsoever.
Chamakh: 5 – Tried hard, but not good enough today.
(Subs)
Vela: 4 – Zero confidence. Only once he received the ball and tried to run with it. But can’t blame him, this is what you get when you use such a talented player the way Arsene has been doing so far.
Rosicky: 5 – Little impact, was supposed to do what basically Samir did but never managed to get close to that.
Wilshere: 6 – One of the few who seemed to care about what was going on around him. Seriously, it cracks me up to look at an 18-year old and say he is the one others should look at to learn what fighting means.
From thegunninghawk.com
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