Category: Arsenal

Why Arsenal Stumbled This Season

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal5 Comments

The season that started so brightly for Wenger and his young squad ultimately ended in tears. Literally in tears, shed by Gallas on the St. Andrews pitch if you take the results at face value. Unbeaten at the beginning of 2007-08, when and why did Arsenal fade away?

Firstly the goal difference of each match shows a very real drop in league form after the 26th game of the season. The run until then had been near perfect. The first major blip you see for games 10 and 11 was the 2-2 at home to Manchester United and then 1-1 with Liverpool away.

Analysis of Arsenal\'s League Results

Graphs courtesy of Arsenal Stats Centre

The first League loss at Middlesbrough actually came after a 3-1 loss in the Champions League dead rubber at Sevilla away. The Arsenal beat Aston Villa away 2-1, drew at Newcastle 1-1, before succuming to Middlesbrough 2-1 away too.

In retrospect this looks like four fatiguing away games slowly taking their toll. But the team still bounced back. Arsenal lost 1st place on Game 29. Game 30 came against Chelsea where Arsenal slipped further behind.


Arsenal\'s League Positions

A bit of nifty work on Excel highlights the point where the form turned bad. Games where Arsenal scored first are highlighed, because the pattern is fascinating.

The Point Where Arsenal\'s Season Went Wrong

Ananlysis Of The Matches Where It Went Wrong

The first bad result is in the FA Cup at Old Trafford, where a weakened side lost heavily. The Arsenal then lost top spot after drawing at Wigan, having surrendered a five point lead to United at this point.

The Champions League results against AC Milan were a bit of a blip. The players were possibly more focused on these big games than those against teams like Wigan and Middlesbrough.

After Sagna’s injury at Chelsea the team surrendered a lead and then conceded two at Bolton, and this pattern continues, as Arsenal lost their leads in the the next four games. This shows just how fragile the team was, the defence especially brittle.

At home Arsenal only drew during this period, but only scored first there in the two games at Liverpool, the rest all required equalisers.

The terrible run highlighted can be summed up in the fact that in 13 games Arsenal went out of all three major competitions. The confidence of the young squad was affected, but in some ways this was not a collapse. The results don’t show the full picture.

The problems can be simplified into four categories:

Defensive Errors

A key point in the awful form, conceding too many in the last few games. All the goals from Liverpool and Manchester United in the last four games were preventable, stemming from a lack of concentration. I suspect some of it has to do with confidence but concentration is needed.

Squad Depth

The thin squad provided little cover for wingers and few experienced defenders or strikers. Arsenal were predicted to struggle at the beginning of the season so the good form was surprising. The team performed well until the Spring, and showed potential, but it is a common for small squads to fail through the Spring. Here, fatigue showed through in the last month resulting in costly mistakes. The team requires signings of one or two key experienced players who can bolster the squad, maybe three if you count the ‘keeper.

Injuries

This follows on from the last point. Wenger lost an in form Van Persie early in the season, then Fabregas too, whilst in form. Fabregas hardly scored after the injury, and definitely suffered from a break in playing time. Rosicky was key on the wing for the large part of the season, was also injured.

The mother of them all was the horrific leg break Eduardo suffered. Undoubtedly this had a negative psychological impact, as well as ruling out a key striker, who Wenger said, “would be like a new signing”  in the new year.

In terms of defence, the team lost experienced Toure, although Senderos filled in admirably. Then Sagna was also injured, which exposed our defensive problems further whilst desperate measures were taken, playing Toure out of position.

Key decisions

More controversial is the point that key decisions went against the team. This cannot be an excuse for failure, but it does provide some context to compare to the psychological state of the side. At Birmingham, a last minute debatable penalty was given, resulting in two points dropped after a terrible game. Again, against Liverpool in the Champions League arguably Toure did not foul Babel, but a penalty was given seconds after Walcott’s run put Adebayor through for a goal to put Arsenal in front.

I am not slating the players, Wenger, or the club. Almost every player invested a huge amount of effort this season. Wenger was right at the beginning of the season when he said the team could achieve great things. They have played fantastic football regularly this year, and mounted a title challenge.

The side needs to aim as high as possible. They now sit, only four points behind Chelsea after their 1-1 with Wigan. Once the season is over Wenger needs to focus on strengthening the squad and maintaining the quality within the side. The key to success is stability in the team and in management.

Arsenal Title Hopes Over Manchester United 2 – 1 Arsenal

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

First off,

We didn’t deserve to lose yesterday.

Highlights here.

Man Utd

Ronaldo 54 (pen)
Hargreaves 72

 2-1
(0-0)		 Arsenal

Adebayor 48

Even Fergie was a little gracious:

“Arsenal had some great moments, they were brilliant at times. They bossed the first half.

We played some of the best football we have this season.

It was a great game to watch, but to be honest after I saw us concede another lead through silly mistakes I felt a bit sick.

Don Howe approved of the decision to include Song, I did too. He has some good tactical analysis here.

All the idiots who are going blame Wenger and the players etc. etc. etc. can shut up. We are an amazing team and if it wasn’t for injuries such as Eduardo, Rosicky, RVP and bad luck then we could have had success this season.

Ade had some great chances to put us in front in the first half, and we had some great passing moves.

Hleb was menacing in the hole, RVP was contributing from the wing, as was Clichy and Fabregas was pulling the strings in midfield.

Gilberto had a shot blocked by Song in the area after a corner and we looked dominant.

I thought we should have been in the lead and we were playing well, Eboue was even making some good runs and passes.

We came out in the second half and scored, RVP put in an excellent cross and Adebayor had a header which came off his arm. I thought it was a deserved goal and a decision going in our favour for once after all the hard luck we’ve had!!

But within minutes that horrible feeling was back, another penalty conceded, this time for a Gallas handball in our box, where there really was no need for it to happen. We just can’t hold on to leads at the moment, and it seems to have defined the last third of the season. Many of the goals we concede are not actually in open play, but dead ball situations.

Anyway Ronaldo put the ball away after having to retake the penalty for encroachment in the area by Park. he slotted iot away in the same position, bottom left, just out of Lehmann’s reach.

Their second goal came after Evra was tripped needlessly right in front of our box. Hargreaves went for it and Lehmann was too far over, it went in the empty right hand side of the goal. lehmann didn’t even move, he knew it was too far for him to reach.

We put on Walcott, and then nearer the end Bendtner, both did well. Bendtner had several headers saved by Van Der Sar and created chances. Walcott had a few good runs and played well generally.

We looked like we might actually get another goal, bombarding their defence, we were playing for our season and our pride.

After a superhuman effort on our part, the final whistle went and we lost.

Thats all you can say. We now want Man U to beat Chelsea because I really want second place.

Wenger said here: and here

“This team is amazing, They keep going and I am so proud of all of them.

“I feel we were very unlucky not to win the game, but we have to accept what happened.

“In the last two months we have had a blip, but we have not had much luck either and you could see that again today.

“I believe this team is good enough to win things and our biggest target now is to keep the group together.”

“we don’t feel there’s a different technical quality between us and Chelsea and Manchester United,”

“I’m not an idealist [and] I feel we must win trophies. We lacked a bit of maturity in some games but trophies will come.”

“The winner is praised beyond reason, the guy who does not is slaughtered,”

This is all so true, and I feel that although the result was painful, I feel good in a wierd way, about next season, the players we have and the style of football is amazing and we have a great future.

Wenger knows the squad needs adding to, and he knows they need to mature, but I hope we keep it together because we do have something amazing.

Manchester United Vs. Arsenal, Line Ups. It’s Make Or Break Time

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

Morning all,

Looks like we’ve got:

UPDATE:

Lehmann

Toure Gallas Song Clichy

Eboue Fabregas Gilberto Hleb

Adebayor Van Persie

Lehmann has come in for Almunia and Song replaces Senderos. It is his first start for a long time, and I hope he can replicate some of those excellent performances he put in for Cameroon in January. Eboue again sarts ahead of Walcott, why not put Toure and Gallas in the centre and Eboue at right back, it seems to make more sense to me, then we would have our stringest possible lineup in my opinion. Arsene knows? Pretty standard line up, I think this is quite strong, the only problem is Flamini’s injury. Gilberto I hope can nullify the threat from United’s Midfield, especially Ronaldo when he cuts in from the wing.

Wenger knows that the whole season will now be probably defined by the result at Old Trafford today. Click here.

“It will be the greatest achievement of my career to win the Premier League now because we are swimming against the stream at the moment,” said Wenger.

“For us the game on Sunday is the game of the season. If we do not win this game we have no chance.

“We will fight until the last second of the championship.”

Fighting talk from Wenger and it’s all true. Exactly what yopu want to hear at this stage and I hope he can inspire the players today!

He comments here on the refereeing recently:

“In 11 years [at Arsenal] it’s the worst I’ve seen,” he said. “It is in every game. It is difficult to understand. It damages the confidence of the team and then you become more vulnerable, but it is like that.

It is true that the decisions that we have had go against us have hit the team hard, but we can only fight back, we can’t blame refereeing decisions for our loss of form, and I don’t think Wenger is, but they haven’t helped us.

He knew about the risk with his youth policy he tells Sky Sports.

Theo Walcott has garnered a bit of positive attention after his run against Liverpool, attention which is well deserved.

Cesc says a draw today would be as bad as a loss. That is true and I think we are going out for the win as always.

RVP agrees, saying that we aren’t going to change our style of play today.

So make or break time today. I m pretty cautious about the match, but I know we can achieve if we play right on the day.

Manchester United vs. Arsenal, First Thoughts

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal1 Comment

We have a big game tomorrow.

Sunday 13th April 1600.

Manchester United

At Old Trafford

Big game.

The Arsenal news is:

Man United’s draw 2-2 at Middlesborough last week showed that they are not unstoppable.

We lost out at Anfield on Tuesday, disappointing, and unlucky. I hope the psycholoigcal impact is not too negative, but I can’t help thinking it will be.

We have to throw everything we have at this match to keep respectability and the pressure on Man U and Chelsea, and remember the title is still a ‘mathematical’ possibility.

Realistically I’d just like something to cheer us up and to erase the pain of all the bad results recently. Where better to end them than where they began at Old Trafford when we lost 4-0 in the FA Cup!

Good luck Arsenal, we’ve nothing to lose except the game!

Flamini Out For Three Weeks As Lehmann Rants

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

Bad injury news today: Flamini will be out for about three weeks Wenger says here.


 This is a blow for us. Flamini has been a revelation for us this season and we will miss him. Le Boss says Gilberto will come in. I was hoping Flamini wouldn’t be out long, but it seems Gilberto is going to get his chance. Wenger said:

“It is a big blow but Gilberto has a lot of quality and experience. He will come in. He can help the team recover and focus. Robin van Persie is available. He had two good sessions yesterday and today. He looks to be OK and we’ll see how we go from here. But Bacary Sagna is out.”

So it looks like RVP will start on Sunday, pity about Sagna.

I really think Walcott has warranted a starting place too. He has been really good all season and his inspirational run in midweek really was a big boost for his chances in the first team. His team mates have been praising him here. Kolo says:

“Theo’s run was fantastic, with a great pass at the end. He is a good player and is improving every time. I think he is going to be one of the best players in England.”

Willy Gallas is pretty low after the Liverpool result. Not exactly what you want to hear from the captain before you go into a big game on Sunday. I hope he changes his attitude sooner rather than later. there were doubts about him being captain, maybe these are showing through now we are at a low point in the season. A captian needs to be a leader. Come on Willy..

Lehmann is ranting on about how he would have kept us in the Champions League. Jens is a bit temperamental and after a season fuming on the bench that was probably too much for him. Maybe he was hoping Manuel wouldn’t save the pen. I don’t think it would have made much of a difference anyway, he needs to shut up, pretty soon!

Henry Winter writes here, about how we have to learn to win ‘ugly’. We have heard this before to be honest but it still makes an interesting read.. He also thinks we should have strengthened the squad and I agree to be honest.

Fergie says Manchester United are ready for Arsenal. Ok ok Fergie, blah blah blah.

Alright thanks guys, thats it today!

There Are Some Positives? Wenger, Adebayor, Toure

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal1 Comment

Morning all,

Thursday, and I’m still really pissed off about the Liverpool result, and the way that wonder run from Walcott counted for nothing!

Clichy thought it was ridiculous..

I guess that’s just football. The reaction has been a little extreme from some fans.

There’s no way Wenger should go, and the players we have are very good, we just need a few more, that’s all.

I’ve read a lot about people calling for Wenger’s head, saying we should get rid of the team etc etc etc, what a load of crap.

Look, at the beginning of the season we were all saying that following from last year this year would probably be similar, the final phase of the ‘transition’. It’s been better than we would have hoped then, just not as good as it was looking a few weeks ago!

Lets look at it this way:

  1. The team has performed amazingly and we have been much more successful than many critics suspected.
  2. We are only 6 points behind Man Utd in the League so maybe we should push on and try and be optimistic!
  3. We know we are good enough to challenge for everything next year.

Wenger:

“We cannot lose our belief now – let’s not forget we played a very good game at Anfield. And if there is a lesson, it must be that we have to concentrate to the very end.”

Good words Arsene. We did play well, and the players know that, but I think they are probably pretty down right now.

Adebayor knows Wenger can put them on the right track:

“He has more experience than anyone here, and he knows the words to use so that we can come back on the pitch, be more successful and want it more.

Toure:

“We still have the chance for the Premier League and we will try to take it. We know it is not over – we just have to look at the next game and try to win.”

Exactly Kolo!

Injury News

Flamini is probably going to miss the Man U game after the ankle injury he picked up, but I don’t think it’s serious.

Liverpool Part Two Over, Part Three Is Crucial..

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

If we had fielded a stronger side on Saturday then we might have gained ground on Man U who drew 2-2 with Middlesbrough. If we had beaten Liverpool then we would have been only 4 points behind them.

Goodplaya says we should make some interesting selection changes in an article here.

As it stands now we are still 6 points off the top, with little realistic chance of the title whatever Wenger says!

The Champions League seems to be our main priority now and tomorrow night we go to Anfield knowing that a win will put us through. Liverpool will probably sit back and defend their away goal, but try to hit us on the break. We have the talent to do it but I am 50/50 on our chances of going through.

Rosicky probably out for the rest of the season now, but RvP is in the squad for tuesday night.

In the end we have achieved a lot this season but lost a great chance for silverware, the squad is too thin really and not up to the strain of a full season, we are tiring now and because of that our performances have dropped.

We have dropped off the top of the League, out of the FA Cup, out of the League Cup and now have a small ray of hope in the Champions League, but we are definitely the underdogs there.

I think we have played amazingly this season and hope for even better next year. But mathmatically we can still win the League and the CL is still open, so lets not get too down yet…

Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

Pretty disappointing yesterday.

1-1 conceded yet again.

Just hope we can do it at Anfield, to be honest we could because we have dominated the second half of both the last two games. If we don’tit looks unlikely that we will get anysilverware this season.

Not much time right now, fuller post tomorrow.

Bye Gooners.

Who Else Wants To Beat Liverpool? Round Two

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal

Today, Arsenal Vs. Liverpool 12.45pm, Ashburton Grove..

RVP won’t start due to his injury problems…

Mascherano is suspended baecause of his red card against Man U.

Gunnerslive has predicted line-ups here.

He’s hoping Walcott will start on the right ahead of Eboue and so am I because Eboue has really contributed very little this year and I think most people would agree.

Wenger Says:

“There are no problems with Adebayor.”

So that means he will start, fatigued or not, I think that’s our best option. Arsenal-mania reports here that he feels less jaded and ready to go, which is good news!

Wenger also said:

“I believe they will make changes, I am convinced of that. I am not sure whether Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres will play…I believe we can still win the title. Manchester United are an excellent team but they can still lose points… Everything is still possible but the main thing for us is to win our games.”

So optimistic from Wenger, but he knows the position, it is unlikely that we can win the League, but statistically it is still possible.

Some news on Eduardo here from Arsenal Analysis: It seems he is making a better recovery than hoped, and ‘fingers-crossed’ could be back as early as September.

Arsenal Blog thinks Flamini should put pen to paper sooner than later, I have to agree! Click here to read. Insidearsenal agrees here! with a mention of the ticket touts at Ashburton Grove hype that has built up recently in the media.

Arsenal News Review gives some stats analysis here ahead of the game. Interestingly it really proves that we outpassed Liverpool the other night, I just hope we don’t come to regret not taking our chances in the second leg.

But back to today’s game, I will be there, Block 5 Gooners.

Lets get some atmosphere going and get behind the team today!

Almunia & Should Arsene Invest In A Striker?

On By jamesgillespIn Arsenal2 Comments

Two men have signed a new contract at Arsenal.. No Flamini isn’t one.. It’s Manuel and Fran Merida. The man who has taken Lehmann’s spot this season and performed well as the new ‘No.1’ or at least I think so, and our young Spanish prodigy currently on loan in Spain with Real Sociedad.

I said earlier in the season that I wasn’t sure if Almunia was a long term option in goal but the more he plays the more I feel he is a solid part of the team. His deal is long term and Almunia himself said:

“I talked to my wife and I said I did not want to go back to Spain to play. Hopefully I can finish my career here”

Most goals we concede are due to defensive errors and generally this season I think he has done a sterling job. Well done Manny!

Injury news ahead of Saturday is that, Van Persie is only 20% certain to play, and Adebayor also has a slight knock which Wenger will review today.

Recently while reading some forum posts, I came across an interesting post about our strikers, basically saying that we need the chequebook out this summer to sign some strikers. I thought I’d give my own opinions and find out yours.

Adebayor: Works hard all over the pitch, sometimes a little too hard. Has definitely got the talent to perform at the highest level. Scored 19 league goals this season, but has come in for a bit of stick recently. I think it’s undeserved, he has had many different partners this year and has often had to lead the attack on his own. He’s a versatile, pacy player who has a great future.

Van Persie: Well, a man with a lethal left foot and bags of talent, but hasn’t had the chance to shine due to terrible injury problems. I saw his appearance stats and he has only played about as many games as Justin Hoyte, not really a first-team player, in his time here. Flashes of brilliance i.e. volley against Charlton last season, but needs to be injury-free to really be useful.

Walcott: Great potential for the future, pacy, intelligent and able to score goals. He got off the mark, in the League , against Birmingham in that 2-2 draw this year and is certainly a bright hope. I think he has warranted a starting position, at least on the right wing for his recent performances. Maybe not ready for the pressure of being a first choice striker?

Bendtner: Another one with great potential, but he hasn’t lived up to it, occasionally we have seen great things, his aerial ability, great control and touch and a good ability to make space, but he is still young and needs to mature.

Eduardo: He was starting to get into his goalscoring role before his injury and looked like the goalscorer we have been looking for, out for 9 months now after his horrific leg-break, hopefully he will come back with goals, but you can never be certain he will be the same player.

So in summary, Ade, a great player – needs a good partner up front. RVP, injury prone, but could perform. Walcott and Bendtner – great potential but need more experience, and Eduardo is out injured for a long period.

It seems to me that Arsene should consider making an investment in the summer… What do you think? Feel free to get involved, just leave a comment!