After the extreme disappointment of the Manchester United game on Tuesday, there was at least something to cheer Arsenal fans up the following night. Chelsea's last minute exit to Barcelona, after having had 25,000 penalty claims turned down, was highly amusing. The intensity, bitterness and sheer sour grapes of their complaints, just underlined for many people how pleased they were to see them go out of Europe. Some of the dissent at the end of their game was just symptomatic of their "win at all costs" mentality, instilled in them by Jose Mourinho - his shadow still looms large over them.So, we had the opportunity to laugh at Chelsea. Looking at their team sheet for this game, it was amazing just how many detestable players they have - Cole, Drogba, Anelka, Terry, Mikel, etc. Frank Lampard isn't that likeable, but came a poor sixth in the hate stakes - and would have been seventh if Michael Ballack had made the starting XI. Incredible. By contrast, the Arsenal team wasn't all that hateable - Adebayor being left on the bench saw to that. Fabianski bizarrely came in to face Chelsea after screwing up against them last time, and Arshavin again missed out, with a virus this time.
Arsenal started off OK, lots of possession, a few decent chances, the best of which fell to Theo Walcott to miss. Overall, the first half hour or so was a tale of much Arsenal possession, but relatively little to show for it. Against teams like Chelsea, that is always something that makes you nervous you might get punished. And, before too long, punished we were - Alex getting up relatively unopposed for a header, and the ball bouncing in off the underside of the bar. Again a soft centre in defence, and the keeper may have done better, but it was 1-0 to Chelsea, against the run of play.
Before half time, it became 2-0, a decent Anelka shot from outside the box, which swerved a bit, but was still nowhere near enough to the corner for the keeper to have missed it. It was a fair shot, but should really have been saved, and I think it needs to go down as a(nother) keeper error. Not good, and you have to question Fabianski's future at Arsenal now.
Just after half time, it was 3-0, an own goal from Toure. A good header from Nicklas Bendtner pulled one back with about 20 minutes to go, but Arsenal were never likely to get themselves back into the game. A late Malouda goal made it 4-1, for Arsenal's heaviest home League defeat for over 30 years, and what was something of a hammering all in all. The Arsenal players didn't really seem to show up - players like Van Persie and Nasri were rather anonymous, Walcott missed everything that came his way, Diaby was absolutely useless - and the few that did seem to be up for the game were always going to struggle against that background. It was pretty much the same starting team that had beaten Chelsea earlier in the season, and it just underlined the size of the gap between Arsenal on form, and Arsenal on a bad day. That gap is too big, and needs some experience to bolster our "bad day" performances so that we can get results from those games.
So, a depressing game. Despite the season being over, it could get a whole lot more depressing next week, as Manchester United could win the League against us - a grim possibility. It was all looking so hopeful about a month ago, but this will turn out to be a frustrating season for Arsenal fans. Thank God there is a long summer with no football, I am just about sick of it for now.
No comments:
Post a Comment