Where do we go from here?
Posted by Young'un in Arsenal | 18 February 2010
Quite a night of football. Perhaps due to my tender years, perhaps not, but I've never seen anything quite like that. I'd imagine it was rather entertaining for the neutral; far from it for the die-hard gooner.
I'm not sure where Arsenal are at the moment. A million miles from the meltdown some pundits expected, i.e. dropping out of the top four, but equally, it's hardly been a roaring success, well not consistently at least. One week it appears Wenger was right all along, that his youthful, capital-saving policy will finally come to fruition, only for it to feel like a distant dream the next.
In the Premier League, we have been on a remarkable rollercoaster ride, and it's far from finished yet. An irresistable start was halted by consecutive defeats in Manchester but eventually The Gunners found their swagger again and were going toe-to-toe with Chelsea, who were reaping the benefits of a settled Didier Drogba at the peak of his career. This was largely due to the form of Robin van Persie, who scored a mouthwatering 7 goals in 6 league games between late September and early November. Not to mention the numerous assists he provided. It was during this period that the narrow-minded baboons on Match of the Day had a debate over who was the best striker in the league: "Rooney, Drogba or Torres." Not for a minute am I dismissing the qualities of those three, but the emission of the Dutchman from the 'shortlist' epitomised their anti-Arsenal agenda. van Persie's season would be ended early, following another injury picked up in a pointless International not-so-friendly. Arsenal appeared to be out of the title race after being humbled 3-0 at home to Chelsea, leaving them a massive eleven points off the pace.
But through a combination of hard work, rare strokes of luck with Chelsea and United dropping cheap points, and of course Cesc Fabregas leading by example, The Gunners climbed back to the peak of the mountain that is the Premier League. A quite remarkable feat, as the mind can only imagine how Chelsea and United would cope without their talismanic strikers for the majority of the season. But this is Arsenal we're talking about, and the dreaded four-game collaboration included defeates against the big two which saw us slip out of the race. Again. Or so it seemed. More freakish results saw the gap reduced to just six points, with Arsenal in a good position, having played all the dangerous teams, bar City at home.
In Europe, we were drawn against Porto which seemed to be a blessing. So last night we travelled to Portugal filled with optimism, especially after springing back into the fluctuating title race. But two horrendous errors involving stand-in keeper Lukasz Fabianski saw doubts cast over the team's immediate future. It seems we do not have one single goalkeeper who is competent, let alone quality. Vito Mannone had one terrific performance at Fulham, but was then dropped after some shaky moments against Blackburn and Birmingham. Manuel Almunia retained his place between the sticks, but has done little to raise hopes. I'm not igniting a witch-hunt but it seems every man and his dog knows he is not good enough. Well apart from Mr Wenger. He never comes for crosses, just cowers on his line and his distribution second to...every keeper in the division. At least one of his kicks, every game, will go out for a throw-in, and the game against United was a perfect example of his ineptitude. Eboue threw him the ball, all he had to do was clear his lines, or better still find a teammate. He completely scuffed it and it fell to a United player on the edge of the box. It came to nothing but the point is, we cannot have someone like this 'protecting' the team.
Fabianski has been slated for his performance last night, rightly so, because the second was a total mess, while the first was quite simply inexcusable. It was utterly horrible. So much so that I actually laughed when the replay was shown. It was reminiscent of my local team a few years ago, where my keeper fumbled a pathetic cross into his own net. Presumably hurt by the insults thrown at him by his teammates he left the field in a strop. Maybe Fabianski should have done the same, at least we wouldn't have had the debacle that occured for the second goal! I jest. Woo-kash is quite the opposite, he lets nothing get to him, similar to Bendtner. No matter how badly they play, they'll come back stronger. Some would call it arrogance but I think it's a positive attribute. Almunia would not have recovered. His confidence would be shattered. But Fabianski was still something of a commanding presence. He claimed all balls tossed into the box and made some commendable stops. He's similar to Lehmann in a way, in that he's very rash, borderline mental, yet also a top, top goalkeeper. Well he's not yet, but he could be. I hope he's given another go on Saturday and can then push on, but I'd be more comfortable if an established, quality keeper comes in during the summer. We shall see...
But the man between the sticks was not the only culprit last night. To quote an article on Le Grove "Gael Clichy was absolutely woeful again, he was roasted time and time again by a second rate winger." I think that has hit the nail on the head. He has had an uncharacteristically poor, no scratch that, bad season and it's a shame Gibbs is injured, because he would walk into the team if fit. Denilson continues to frustrate. I struggle to see why he is in the team. He can't tackle, can't head, refuses to sprint back, will only jog (see Rooney's goal at the Emirates the other week) and loses the ball cheaply, which is bizarre as he only ever seems to pass sideways. I pray that Song is back, or at least that Wenger gives Ramsey more of a chance, because he is clearly more talented.
I'm probably being too harsh but it's hard to see Arsenal winning trophies without a fully competent goalkeeper, and with players like Denilson in the side. Obviously injuries have affected the team's progress but this happens every year so it's not a real excuse. We're not in a bad position, the league is still within our grasp and the away goal scored by Big Sol is nothing short of massive. Optimists will say that all is needed is a 1-0 win. True. But can you see us keeping a clean sheet? Me neither.
TrackBack
TrackBack URL for this entry:
http://www.reallifenews.com/cgi-bin/mt/mt-tb.cgi/1263
