As last night’s events begin to sink I still can’t shake
that it felt like it was a defeat. We’ve failed to break down a Manchester
United rearguard that has been laughable throughout this season. We had an
opportunity to go back top and capitalise on Chelsea’s late slip at West Brom and
we failed to take advantage. I’m not sure the hunger and desire that we were
promised after Saturday’s embarrassment was evident. There was talk from Wenger
regarding nerves but I’m sorry, what is there to be nervous about? We got
battered on Saturday but that was a fluke, a one-off if you like (despite it
happening at The Etihad as well), I’m sorry nerves shouldn’t be used a reason why
we failed to win a game that would have given use huge momentum with a favourable
run of league games upcoming. It was a massive chance missed.
Ozil has taken far too much stick over the last few days but
last night he should have been the difference maker but sadly the supporting
cast failed to attend (Cazorla excluded). It was good to see him orchestrating
our attacks but players seem too eager to drop deep and not make the killer run
and draw players out of position. This is after all what Wenger’s teams from
our successful years were the masters of. Gary Neville once said that Ferguson
advised that our movement was that good that their players elected to stand
still and play more of a zonal defence because they just got ripped to pieces
in a 1v1 situation. Ozil showed up last night and a lot of other didn’t.
The player who is attracting the most attention for his poor
performance last night is Olivier Giroud. He was poor; he had chances to score
and failed to convert. Crucial chances have to be taken in such games but unfortunately
for us we lacked that killer instinct. Giroud is suffering from a dip in
confidence and when that happens to a striker who isn’t world class that leaves
us in a dark place. Is he the next Emirates victim? He hasn’t scored at The
Emirates in the Premier League since 23rd November. That’s quite a
bad run of form. That said I was under no illusions that Giroud wouldn’t suffer
a dip in form, after all that is why there should be reinforcements as a summer
and winter transfer window continues to look like a huge mistake. I wasn’t
overly convinced Higuain would have taken us to the next level, as his own
record in big games for Madrid was questionable. That said he has movement and
the eye for goal that we are craving. It’s worth considering he would have cost
the equivalent of a proposed fee for Draxler.
Despite Giroud’s woeful night, I don’t have him top of the
list in terms of poor performance. Jack Wilshere takes that honour. Jack seems
to play the game as if it’s a 5aside game. You cannot be that wasteful in possession,
you cannot run down blind alleys and just be generally reckless. I’m getting a
bit tired of him lying on the deck as well. Our attacks seem like they are at a
premium at present, so when we are getting stopped at source, that becomes a
huge issue. If I were Wenger I’d be considering playing Tomas Rosicky in his
position. Rosicky himself is about as much use to going forward as Clive Allen
was for us. Ozil put one on a plate for the Czech last night and he elected to
control, double back and pass. It was a position that Robert Pires would arch a
curler into top corner after taking it first time. I mention Pires because it
was he that was replaced by the fan favourite Rosicky. Everyone talks about
the tempo Rosicky adds and I agree, I just expect more from an attacker, like
goals and assists but it just seems that this move would be a good fit. What do
you think? He did play there against Fulham at Craven Cottage in a nice 3-1
win. A game in which we played without a recognised DM, which is also a point
worth considering as we seem to have welcomed Denilson back into the side. So there's
plenty of food for thought.
As a result of our several failings you can’t help but
discuss Wenger’s involvement in this. Managers live and die by their team talks
and substitutions. The latter, well that’s just pathetic. One sub? In which a
player that came to life recently in centre midfield is shunted out to the
right winger because he has erm, pace. You have a German International sitting
there, get him on the left wing and take a punt. There is no guarantee these
changes would work but at least show the intention to win the game. This is the
second of what you’d call big games when Wenger hasn’t utilised his bench, the
other being Chelsea. Is Wenger not learning his own lessons here? Yes, we are
one point off top, it’s not the end of the world but at some point, you need to
reclaim top spot and with an extremely tricky March upon us, it just felt that
we let this game and opportunity get away from us. Away sides are more than
happy with a point; any of the top four managers would take a point before an
away game of such importance. At present we are just the kings of the 0-0 HT
draw. As I mentioned on Sunday, the last time we led at HT in a league was in
December against Hull. We don’t appear to have any game management, particularly
when a side lacks a killer instinct. I would even reason with subs like
Bendtner for Giroud, you know, trying something a little different. We seemed
to forget that lofting crosses into the box is exactly what Vidic wants. What
he doesn’t like is balls in behind and getting turned. Sagna put in one peach
of a pass late on but Giroud couldn’t convert. The big game bottlers stigma
remains with us and I doubt we can shake it off this season although three wins
at Sp*rs, Chelsea and Man City would blow that out of the water, but let’s be
honest, that’s not realistic.
Wenger needs to fix this disjointed side. We have one of the
top playmakers in world football but he needs players that have the desire and
ability to score. Only Santi Cazorla seemed willing to support the German last
night and if we continue to shun attacking responsibility then we will continue
to fire blanks. Let’s just hope this side can find its spark in the cup competitions
and give us a timely boost ahead of the turning in to the final straight.
Spot on as always,after last nights' fiasco I'm now more than convinced that 13/14 season is another 'also ran' season and AW's only goal is a place in the top four.This has been as best as he could have achieved over the last 7-8 years.We definitely need new manager who is tactically aware how to win games and motivate players,not smart choreographer like our current one...
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