Ian Henry
A couple of seasons ago it was 4-2 up against Spurs going into injury time; earlier this season it was 2-1 up away against 10-man Wigan; on Saturday it was the gold-star performance, 4-0 up away against Newcastle, after 26 minutes, and still 4-0 up with 22 minutes to go. To throw away two points from that position is quite an achievement.
It should not surprise anyone anymore; after all, earlier this season the team went even better, cruising 2-0 at half time against Spurs, the players managed to turn in a second half performance so casual, lazy and complacent that the only surprise was that the Spurs winner didn’t come until some time after the 80th minute.
Regular readers of my occasional pieces here will know that I think the centre back pairing of Squillaci and Koscielny is a disaster waiting to happen; they may not have directly caused all of the goals to go in on Saturday, but their presence on the pitch together coincided with a defensive implosion. All our defeats in the Premier League have come with this pairing; our run of good form has been associated with Djourou and Koscielny at the back; on Saturday, Djourou goes off and the French pairing resumed duties. Normal service resumed.
Of course it wasn’t just the fault of the hapless French duo. No, Diaby’s stupidity (there is no other word for it) at reacting to a robust challenge from Barton is unacceptable at this level. I heard on the radio on Saturday night that he had tweeted to say he was “sorry” and was “a broken man” apparently. Well, Abou while you sit in the stands watching Wolves, Orient and Stoke, make sure you look after yourself and think about your reaction on Saturday. Because, if the manager brings you back against Birmingham in Carling Cup Final, of one thing you can be sure – that angelic apology for a footballer that goes by the name of Lee Bowyer will stick his foot in on you in the final and he will know you will probably react. I was appalled as anyone by the tackle by the Sunderland player which put you out for a year and I am sure that memory is never far from your mind when you are tackled. But you cannot react how you did on Saturday and expect no retribution from the referee. Arsene Wenger said the sending off was unnecessary; too right it was, but the referee had no choice. Your reaction Mr Diaby was what was unnecessary. Turn the other cheek.
Talking of having no choice, never mind the fact that Mr. Dowd had no choice but to book the idiotic Eboue for kicking the ball away when a free kick was awarded, what does it say about the structure of our squad that our answer to needing to defend a 4-2 lead as it was at the time was to take off Walcott and replace him with Eboue? Does Wenger never learn? We were 4-2 up against Spurs in 2008 and the same thing happened, Walcott replaced (almost in the same minute) by Eboue and the end result was the same. Eboue and holding onto leads is akin to asking a rugby player not to come in from the side in a ruck. They can’t stop doing it. Eboue can’t help in a situation where defending a lead is the name of the game except by being off the pitch.
In August 2009, when we lost at ManU from a winning position, courtesy of Diaby own goal and a penalty conceded by Almunia, I wrote that Arsenal would never win the league with these two, and Eboue in the team. Almunia has been displaced, but is now an injury to Chesney away from a return, but Diaby is still here (intermittently I grant you) and Eboue saunters on from time to time, dives, gets booked and contributes precious little other than chaos; this trio of expensive sub-standard players have been joined by Squillaci and continue to be accompanied on occasion by the woeful Denilson.
The squad is the best our manager has ever had, or so he says. Does he really think that we believe that? I hope, fervently, that I am wrong. I hope that whoever plays in the Carling Cup Final continues to the victory the club desperately needs; the same applies in the game against Orient. A Cup double is a realistic possibility, provided we can avoid away trips to ManU or Chelsea in the quarter final if we make it. Who knows about the league? Four points with 13 games to go is not impossible to make up, especially as ManU have to play Chelsea twice. It is not impossible, but it will be a darn sight more difficult with the players we have than it needs to be. Like most Arsenal fans, I cannot understand why the manager did not strengthen the team in the transfer window. With Vermaelen, Song, Djourou and Nasri back, and no more injuries to our first choice team, we will be more than capable of beating most teams. The trouble is that injuries always happen; so what matters is not so much the quality of the first 11, but the quality of the reserves. And Messrs Almunia, Eboue, Squillaci, Diaby, Denilson and Rosicky are not up to it. The more they play, the lower our chances of winning anything.
And one final thought; if we can concede four goals in 22 minutes against Newcastle, how many do you think Barcelona can manage to put past us in 180?
