Kevin Whitcher
It takes two teams to make a decent game of football, and – as far as entertainment goes – only one turned up at the Grove yesterday afternoon. Arsenal did all that could be asked of them, and won at a canter. It was a stress free fixture, and perhaps we all need a few of those. It may seem strange to think it, but even in the days of Henry, Bergkamp and Pires, there were dull home matches where the team won comfortably. I guess great games feature either an extraordinary high level of performance from one team (such as – off the top of my head – the 7-0 victory over Everton in 2005) or a decent amount of tension (such as last weekend’s visit to Chelsea, or the 5-3 home win over Middlesbrough in 2004).
But every season sees a certain number of the type of matches we saw against West Brom. It’s a case of job done, move on to the next one. Every home victory naturally breeds confidence, and that is what the team need to start gaining results away from home on a consistent basis. The win at Chelsea was wonderful, but after a poor sequence of away displays in the Premier League previously, the team need to start notching up points on the road on a regular basis.
There is a dreadful fear amongst some fans that a decent run between now and the turn of the year may see the manager declare that his current squad is good enough and does not need bolstering in January, even if he himself has admitted that fourth place is the best we can hope for this season. A bit of a contradiction if that does occur. If fourth place is what these players can achieve, why not use the £50m odd rotting in the bank to actually push on for the lofty heights of the top three? I can see January being very quiet though, going on past experience, followed by a springtime slump as squad depth is once again exposed.
Still, at least we can enjoy the fact that at centre back, currently the manager is spoilt for choice with three capable defenders. The return of Thomas Vermaelen has improved things in the last couple of matches, and it will be interesting to see if he is rotated or not. Laurent Koscielny had another excellent display yesterday as well. The team has changed a little since the departures of Fabregas and Nasri. In a sense, there is slightly less confidence, and passes are more frequently shorter, five-a-side stuff. This has long been a part of Arsenal’s game, but it was ventured to me by a neighbour that with Fabregas and Nasri, more adventurous passes were sometimes attempted, more risks taken going forward. I suspect that is down to the nature of the players involved rather than any change of policy, if indeed it is the case. I can remember Arteta playing sone Cesc-style through passes on occasion, but what I think is true is that without Cesc and Nasri, the build-up play and the tempo is slightly slower.
This could of course reflect the opposition, West Brom played fairly deep, more concerned with not getting a hiding. Roy Hodgson sides have a reputation for not travelling well, and this was no exception.
Thanks to Ian Henry for pointing out that Arsenal moved into positive goal difference with this result, which does indicate that a few wins don’t make for a rosy season, although everyone is pleased that at least the team has put together a decent sequence of results. The atmosphere reflected that at the match with a decent amount of singing and chanting given the nature of the game. A text from contributor Ian Tanner posed the question of who makes way when Jack Wilshere is fit. These are definitely the kind of problems we want.
The question we don’t want to ask is what happens when RVP gets injured. Oh, is that an international break on the horizon? A couple of meaningless friendlies you say? I’m going to hibernate for a fortnight and pray it doesn’t happen…
The current issue of the Gooner is available to buy online here
Kevin Whitcher’s newly updated version of the book co-written with Alex Fynn, ‘Arsènal: The Making of a Modern Superclub’ is available in paperback from publishers Vision Sports for a reduced price of £6.99 including postage if you use the promo code ‘Gooner’ on the page that appears after you click ‘buy now’. Click here to order.
