Kevin Whitcher
If there is one thing about this season’s Arsenal you can be sure of it is that you never know which one you are going to get from game to game. You can have, on any given day, flair, determination or complacency. And sometimes a combination of two or even three within the same ninety minutes. We saw both flair and complacency at Reading yesterday evening, although you can forgive the latter when the lead is so comfortable. Assuming of course 4-4 draws are not a consequence.
There are two schools of thought about what happened at the Madejski Stadium. One is that the positioning of Theo Walcott as a central striker changed the team’s ability to attack for the better. There was a great deal of width, off the ball movement and incisive passing in the game. The other school of thought is that Reading were so bad that they made Arsenal look good. For me, the key thing was the space and time that were allowed to Santi Cazorla, who ran the game. Because the opposition did not get tight to him, they could not get a foothold in the game, and the Gunners grew in confidence. It will be interesting to see what happens at Wigan on Saturday and whether we see a disappointing display if the Spaniard is not allowed to be so influential. Did Bradford play that much better than Reading last week? My suspicion is that they were simply more determined, and concentrated on ensuring Arsenal did not break through and waited on opportunities to follow.
It will be interesting to see if Walcott is allowed a run at centre forward now. That his house is up for sale might suggest he has plans to move soon. Perhaps a private agreement has been struck that means the club will at least get some return on their investment in the player by selling him in January. It would be ironic if, just as he seems to be running into some kind of form, he did depart. The maths are as follows. He is asking £20,000 a week more than Arsenal are willing to pay. Over a four year contract that is £4 million. If you buy Zaha as a replacement, the transfer fee plus his wages will be considerably more. Of course, Zaha might turn out to be a better, more consistent performer. It’s a difficult one, depending on whether or not you have faith in Theo. For my money, he is worth retaining as an impact sub. But in footballing terms, he is nowhere near consistent enough as a starter. Last night he missed a one-on-one with the keeper at 0-0. Clinical isn’t the word for him.
It was a valuable win after what happened in the League Cup. Arsenal did what they should every time they face a relegation zone side and put them to bed. The goals were well crafted and demonstrated the quality there is in the team’s attack. However, there was no excuse for the first goal that was given away in the second half. The ball from the full back to the central midfielder across the team’s own half is too often seized upon by expectant opposition, and it needs to be cut out. The passer needs to find a closer team mate instead of putting the side in trouble. It was a horrendous lapse in concentration brought on by complacency. When Reading pulled back another, there were brief visions of St James’s Park and Phil Dowd, but it was thankfully not to be.
Arsenal saw the game out with a left footed Theo goal to relax everybody. If the team can use this as a springboard and put together a sequence of wins against relatively modest opposition until the Manchester City game in just under a month, then fans will start to feel better about the second half of the season. It is interesting that Arsenal, in spite of having played genuinely well only a smattering of times this season, are closing in on third place. What that says I am not certain. A lot of cheap points are being dropped by everybody outside of the two Manchester clubs I guess.
Still no news on the Boxing Day game. It will be a weird atmosphere at the stadium if it does go ahead, with maybe only half the crowd able to make it. Then again, a half empty ground might just be a portent of times to come! On that note, interesting to see the infamous ‘Arsène – Thanks for the memories but it’s time to say Goodbye’ banner make an appearance at the end of the match. No-one can accuse these boys of being fickle in their views on the manager.
The current issue of The Gooner will be on sale outside the away section at Saturday’s game v Wigan. It can also be bought online here. There is also an e-version of the issue available to read on your ipad/tablet/iphone/android. The app is free and you can download the first few pages of each issue as a taster before deciding whether or not to purchase the whole thing.
