For the second time inside a week I don't know where to start and what to say. I suppose I should express my condolences to a number of people, starting with Arsenal fans. Those who stuck with the Club for the last ten years are the definition of a fan. Devotion through the good and the bad (mostly bad), backing the team home and away singing their hearts out. Those who, despite feeling angry, disappointed and let down, continue to support Arsenal.
I think the mere fact of being an Arsenal fan speaks volumes about your personality, about your traits and priorities, about your values. There was even a joke, which went like this: "If you find a woman, who supports Arsenal, marry her. She'll never leave you if the going is rough, she won't desert you even if you're not successful for a long time, but she'll worship every your achievement and milestone".
I also think that supporting Arsenal should long have become an official excuse for any strange behaviour or mood swings. "Why have your skipped the class?" "Arsenal lost" "Why didn't you hand in your written report?" "Arsenal lost" "Why did you murder the cat?" "Arsenal lost". Sounds as good an excuse as any. Maybe better than most.
I also want to express my deep sorrow to Alexis Sanchez, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck. The boys have worked their socks off, given everything and it wasn't enough to get the three points. Watching Alexis cry made me, too. I don't cry often. I prefer kicking furniture or shouting at people. Yesterday, seeing Alexis's let-down and sad face made me weep like a little girl. Jack and Alex, meanwhile, had it in them to go and thank the away fans for their support.
I also feel sorry for Arsene Wenger. Yes, you've read that right. On a purely human level, I feel for the man. You have to be dead inside not to. He's a human being, who is put under immense pressure right now. From the media, the brainless pundits like Savage, from the fans. I'm glad I haven't seen the post-game press-conference. From what I've heard, the boss looked completely lost. And he has kids and a wife to go to, he has to carry on. As you may remember, Arsene turned 65 not long ago.
He very obviously doesn't have the answers to our second capitulation in the space of five days. He laid some of the blame at the players' door and, while it's understandable, they are not solely at fault.
Is Chambers all that guilty for producing a bad display? The guy is 19 and played in every game, bar Hull. That makes it 17 games already, only three appearances from the bench.
That fact that such a young and talented boy is played out of position also doesn't help. Chambers is much more of a CB, than a RB, it seems, so I'm not at all inclined to skin Calum based on one bad performance, during which he didn't play in his preferred position.
The same goes for Monreal, apart from the "one bad performance" bit. The Spaniard is out of his depth, something he himself admitted to earlier in the season. He held his own stoically against Bony, but you can't realistically expect a 5'9 feet tall Nacho to do the same against a 6+ feet Gomis. I'm not blaming him for losing that headed duel. Rather, I'm much more interested in where Mertesacker has been.
I'm also very interested in our shape prior to their equaliser. The goal itself was magnificent, there's no denying that. No wall or goalkeeper could have saved that, so hats off to Sigurdsson for a marvellous strike. But could this strike have been avoided? I think it could have and I see two ways of how it could have been accomplished.
First: Ramsey and Flamini should have been switched on when the attack broke down. Both were caught very high up the pitch, left out of the equation early in the build-up and this lead to a dangerous attack. Second: Gibbs shouldn't have allowed Barrow to get that far. I don't have any issue with the foul itself, I'm just saying it should have been committed further up field to prevent a dangerous free-kick. A yellow is a yellow anywhere.
Some of the other manager's decisions also baffle me. Why not play Bellerin at right-back from the outset? He's a right-back, unlike Chambers, while Chambers is a centre-back, unlike Monreal. Bottom line is this: why Chambers wasn't subbed when it became clear Montero was getting the better of him? Or, at least, why did no one shield Calum, why nobody helped him out?
But don't let my criticism of the defenders fool you: it was a collective failure, not the back-four one. Flamini and Ramsey tried to help (the Welshman finally played much closer to the defense), however they fell short when it mattered most. Wilshere and Walcott came on, but did so five minutes late. At that point we were already down by a goal.
Sanogo was the final straw. The absurdity of that sub almost equals Coquelin for Giroud a couple of years back. Remember that game? We were drawing Aston Villa and Arsene decided to protect the point instead of going for all three. The irony is, I think we've lost that game.
Yet we also cannot pin all the blame on Wenger. It's a vicious circle. But the Frenchman ultimately doesn't run around or kick the ball himself. He cannot directly influence the proceedings by physically being on the pitch.
Did he really instruct Flamini to bomb forward when we conceded that unfortunate free-kick? Highly unlikely. Did he order six of his players to remain at the other end of the pitch when Montero and Gomis stormed upfield to grab the winner? I don't think so.
For the first time in my memory an Arsenal side performs worse than the sum of it parts might suggest. Much worse. We have a very good squad, yet we're unable to deliver.
And the problem isn't only the lack of proper personnel or the walking wounded. It isn't the experience, cause we have plenty experienced players, like Mertesacker, Flamini, Monreal, Sanchez. Something is badly wrong with the mentality, the way we approach games. Arteta spoke about it before the Anderlecht game, Mertesacker mentioned it now.
We have now surrendered most points from winning positions in the league: 9. Meaning we would have 26 now, just three behind Chelsea. As it is, we sit sixth, having garnered just one more point than United and just three more than Liverpool, Tottenham and Everton, who we've all considered laughing stock. Until now, that is.
And the solution? The only reasonable one I can see is making this team work with the manager we have. Changing managers mid-season is nigh on impossible, cause no one is available (no one better than Wenger, bottom line) and it can also be potentially risky. A new guy will need time to settle in and we need points now. So Arsene should try and make this team play and stay in charge at least till the end of the season. And then we'll see.
That's it. Long two weeks of misery and self-reflection ahead. I'll be back with you when I find the time and something worthwhile to write about.
Until later
Follow me on Twitter (@AlexBaguzin)
I think the mere fact of being an Arsenal fan speaks volumes about your personality, about your traits and priorities, about your values. There was even a joke, which went like this: "If you find a woman, who supports Arsenal, marry her. She'll never leave you if the going is rough, she won't desert you even if you're not successful for a long time, but she'll worship every your achievement and milestone".
I also think that supporting Arsenal should long have become an official excuse for any strange behaviour or mood swings. "Why have your skipped the class?" "Arsenal lost" "Why didn't you hand in your written report?" "Arsenal lost" "Why did you murder the cat?" "Arsenal lost". Sounds as good an excuse as any. Maybe better than most.
I also want to express my deep sorrow to Alexis Sanchez, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Jack Wilshere and Danny Welbeck. The boys have worked their socks off, given everything and it wasn't enough to get the three points. Watching Alexis cry made me, too. I don't cry often. I prefer kicking furniture or shouting at people. Yesterday, seeing Alexis's let-down and sad face made me weep like a little girl. Jack and Alex, meanwhile, had it in them to go and thank the away fans for their support.
I also feel sorry for Arsene Wenger. Yes, you've read that right. On a purely human level, I feel for the man. You have to be dead inside not to. He's a human being, who is put under immense pressure right now. From the media, the brainless pundits like Savage, from the fans. I'm glad I haven't seen the post-game press-conference. From what I've heard, the boss looked completely lost. And he has kids and a wife to go to, he has to carry on. As you may remember, Arsene turned 65 not long ago.
He very obviously doesn't have the answers to our second capitulation in the space of five days. He laid some of the blame at the players' door and, while it's understandable, they are not solely at fault.
Is Chambers all that guilty for producing a bad display? The guy is 19 and played in every game, bar Hull. That makes it 17 games already, only three appearances from the bench.
That fact that such a young and talented boy is played out of position also doesn't help. Chambers is much more of a CB, than a RB, it seems, so I'm not at all inclined to skin Calum based on one bad performance, during which he didn't play in his preferred position.
The same goes for Monreal, apart from the "one bad performance" bit. The Spaniard is out of his depth, something he himself admitted to earlier in the season. He held his own stoically against Bony, but you can't realistically expect a 5'9 feet tall Nacho to do the same against a 6+ feet Gomis. I'm not blaming him for losing that headed duel. Rather, I'm much more interested in where Mertesacker has been.
I'm also very interested in our shape prior to their equaliser. The goal itself was magnificent, there's no denying that. No wall or goalkeeper could have saved that, so hats off to Sigurdsson for a marvellous strike. But could this strike have been avoided? I think it could have and I see two ways of how it could have been accomplished.
First: Ramsey and Flamini should have been switched on when the attack broke down. Both were caught very high up the pitch, left out of the equation early in the build-up and this lead to a dangerous attack. Second: Gibbs shouldn't have allowed Barrow to get that far. I don't have any issue with the foul itself, I'm just saying it should have been committed further up field to prevent a dangerous free-kick. A yellow is a yellow anywhere.
Some of the other manager's decisions also baffle me. Why not play Bellerin at right-back from the outset? He's a right-back, unlike Chambers, while Chambers is a centre-back, unlike Monreal. Bottom line is this: why Chambers wasn't subbed when it became clear Montero was getting the better of him? Or, at least, why did no one shield Calum, why nobody helped him out?
But don't let my criticism of the defenders fool you: it was a collective failure, not the back-four one. Flamini and Ramsey tried to help (the Welshman finally played much closer to the defense), however they fell short when it mattered most. Wilshere and Walcott came on, but did so five minutes late. At that point we were already down by a goal.
Sanogo was the final straw. The absurdity of that sub almost equals Coquelin for Giroud a couple of years back. Remember that game? We were drawing Aston Villa and Arsene decided to protect the point instead of going for all three. The irony is, I think we've lost that game.
Yet we also cannot pin all the blame on Wenger. It's a vicious circle. But the Frenchman ultimately doesn't run around or kick the ball himself. He cannot directly influence the proceedings by physically being on the pitch.
Did he really instruct Flamini to bomb forward when we conceded that unfortunate free-kick? Highly unlikely. Did he order six of his players to remain at the other end of the pitch when Montero and Gomis stormed upfield to grab the winner? I don't think so.
For the first time in my memory an Arsenal side performs worse than the sum of it parts might suggest. Much worse. We have a very good squad, yet we're unable to deliver.
And the problem isn't only the lack of proper personnel or the walking wounded. It isn't the experience, cause we have plenty experienced players, like Mertesacker, Flamini, Monreal, Sanchez. Something is badly wrong with the mentality, the way we approach games. Arteta spoke about it before the Anderlecht game, Mertesacker mentioned it now.
We have now surrendered most points from winning positions in the league: 9. Meaning we would have 26 now, just three behind Chelsea. As it is, we sit sixth, having garnered just one more point than United and just three more than Liverpool, Tottenham and Everton, who we've all considered laughing stock. Until now, that is.
And the solution? The only reasonable one I can see is making this team work with the manager we have. Changing managers mid-season is nigh on impossible, cause no one is available (no one better than Wenger, bottom line) and it can also be potentially risky. A new guy will need time to settle in and we need points now. So Arsene should try and make this team play and stay in charge at least till the end of the season. And then we'll see.
That's it. Long two weeks of misery and self-reflection ahead. I'll be back with you when I find the time and something worthwhile to write about.
Until later
Follow me on Twitter (@AlexBaguzin)
