I make it a practice not to post until about 24 hours after the match, otherwise it'll be just be raving, gnashing and foaming. So for what it's worth, I'll try to analyse yesterday.
I’ll leave it to others to discuss Dzeko’s two glaring misses — one put almost perfectly onto his head, the other one right to his feet — and I’m sure there have been many takers. I have ceased to expect anything of him. But make no mistake, the real, the unforgiveable damage was done in the first forty five minutes.
How so? Well, has anyone else become utterly sick and tired of seeing us amble around at about half the pace we should be playing at until we go a goal (or preferably two, just to make it nice and hard) behind? What do we think, that we’re going to do a Watford or Sunderland every single game? We put Wigan’s goal under no kind of threat for the entire first half. That’s what kills me. When we upped the pace after Samir’s goal to what we should have been playing at from well within the first half or at the very least, from the very start of the second half, we were overrunning them, creating real pressure and chance after chance.
But let’s have it right. We are a multi-million pound squad. We should be beating the Wigans of this world by 2-0 or so, if we are treating them with urgency right from the off. Respect to Wigan, but I am absolutely certain that Arsenal are going take them apart.
Is it worth singling out players? Well I will say this, and it’s not a way of defending Dzeko at all. By God but Beast has gone badly off the boil. I don’t remember him doing anything vaguely threatening until he was taken off. The penalty was a tad harsh, but the most important point was that Demichelis had been clearly beaten for pace and it wasn’t the last time in the match. Anyway, as I was saying about that back line:
Quote from pre-match thread:
Lovebitesandeveryfing wrote:It's the combination that bothers me, mate. Vinny with Demichelis? Well, ok, just about (although there's a lot on here who'll disagree with me: cf. a certain goal scored not so very long ago by a certain Sunderland striker). Vinny with Nastasic? Well, pretty good last season, and that, make no mistake, is our long-term combination, whatever Nastasic's failings this season. He'll come back, he's very young. Vinny with Joleon: definitely, Joleon's a good player when he's got Vinny next to him, and he proved it over and over again during the title winning season (although there are strong signs that Pellegrini does not rate Lescott and he's not long-term for us).
On this question of burn-out, which I'm alert to. It seems to me that a central defender does not burn out to the extent that a box-to-box midfielder does, or even a striker who's constantly looking to shake his marker off. A central defender's essential job is to read balls coming at him, and to move into the appropriate position to mop up. Then, if they're skilled — as Vinny is — to move out of their box with the ball at their feet and release it at just the right moment to a midfielder who's in a better position. By the time they've got to the halfway line, they shouldn't have that ball any more. Then they should hold back. All this, Vinny does excellently, but I'm certain that this doesn't involve getting through as many miles on the park as many other players get through. Plus one other thing: Vinny's just come back from, what was it?, a four week lay-off. And was that the first time he's been injured this season? I
seem to remember that it's the second, but I could be wrong. Yaya plays every single game if he's even vaguely fit. Beast seemed to play every single game, in every competition, until he got injured, and I think that's come back to bite him on the arse, big time. Silva's in the same category. These players, yes, must be rested.
Asplund2 wrote: Yeah I agree with all that you say mate, Vinny is the player that maybe could play the rest of the games. But is there one game to rest it I think its this game.
Lovebitesandeveryfing replied: On the face of it, it looks like the easiest, I'm with you there. Trouble is, if we start thinking that or rather, if the players start thinking that, then we'll get done! And you know what? I'm getting a taste for this going to Wembley business. I want us to do it again. Very soon. ;-) End if quoted exchange.
It’s no consolation at all to be right. In fact it feels fucking awful. But I’ve got to admit I had it slightly wrong, because I hadn’t anticipated that Pellegrini would compound the mess by choosing Clichy over Kolarov. The idea constantly peddled that “Clichy is better at defending than Kolarov” may have been true in the past — was certainly true in 2011-12 — but it simply won’t stand up to the scrutiny of their respective performances this season. Clichy was found out against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge; he was found out against Bayern at the Etihad, big time; and he has now been found out against (wait for it)… Wigan. That second goal is diabolical, there’s no logical way that it’s the striker’s ball. He just wanted it more. Micah looked o.k., I thought, and Lescott too. Zab needed resting, so I’ve got nothing to say about that. But you just knew that you line up those four at the back and one or two of them are going to be badly exposed. It could have been Micah, it could have been Joleon. Well, it wasn’t, but by God we need Matica Nastasic injury free and back to his proper form, to partner Vinny (and yes, I was critical of Vinny for the Sunderland goal). That is our quality central defence, for years to come. Everything else is back up, and not at the same level, even potentially.
Otherwise, can we save anything from this disaster? Because it is a disaster. This was a fairly benign draw from the hat. What would you rather have had: Arsenal or Everton away? Or Wigan at home? Doesn’t need too much thought, does it?
Well, I for one feel sorry for Samir. He put everything into it, obviously wanted to win, and was probably our only genuinely good player (I totally include Sergio by the way in that judgement about the first half nap that everybody seemed to be taking — when he started to go for it in the last half hour we saw the difference immediately). I still fail to understand why James is not an automatic starter in exactly these sorts of games. He for one does not do “ambling”. I don’t say he was brilliant or anything even close to it, but when he came on he was busy and up for it.
That’s about it. We’ve got to pick ourselves up from this hangover, and fast. Are we really going to blow away all that fine work done in the PL in November, December, January? I feel for fans going to Barcelona, but I honestly think it would be the biggest shock of the last fifteen years in the CL if we were to beat them 3-0 on their own turf. That’s basically what it would take. And I don’t fancy us to beat them on penalties, in the event of a 2-0. Ok, 3-1 would see us through. But even then, supposing that miracle takes place, are we really going to beat everyone that’s lined up behind them to win that competition? No, for me, the League is the total and absolute priority. It was great to win the Capital One Cup, but if we’re left holding just that in our hands, this season will have a decidedly bitter taste for me. Even a second place wouldn’t console. We were second last season. This club has other ambitions now.
