Kevin Whitcher
Gooners. Relax. On this glummest of mornings I bring good news to cheer the heart. In September, the club’s annual figures will report a healthy profit. Peter Hill-Wood, fitness allowing, will bullishly inform the AGM in October that, in spite making an operating loss, due to the manager’s genius in the transfer market (specifically the sales of Robin van Persie and Alex Song), 2012-13 was a good year for Arsenal. Even if, as a consequence of yesterday’s defeat, Arsenal do not qualify for next season’s Champions League, that self-same genius should ensure profit the following year. A couple of players might be sold, but they will be replaced by others that the manager believes in. So there is no need for unhappiness today. The club’s principal aims are being met.
There are some who might disagree with the sense of priorities of course (and any that dispute this should name another club of Arsenal’s stature who would retain the same manager for eight years without winning a trophy), and they won’t be feeling so good about life today. The Gunners are five points adrift of fourth place, with Spurs moving ahead of Chelsea. Arsene Wenger’s team have 30 points left to play for and if they improve significantly on the lack of consistency demonstrated so far this season can still finish in the top four. Once they have visited Munich they will have no other distractions.
Before the game, it was highlighted that Arsenal had the meanest defensive record on the road in the top flight this season. If ever there was a case of lies, damned lies and statistics, there you have it, because Spurs won this derby due largely to a lack of work on the training ground at London Colney. The offside trap is something that the club have used as an effective weapon since the days of Herbert Chapman. However, it is about as much use as a monkey with a chocolate spanner when the players in front do not press the ball. At this point, I will just hand over to an email received from sometime contributor Theo Jensen…
I wanted to point out that for the goals we conceded, for the first one Walcott should have been tight to Sigurdsson and yet was higher up even than Giroud, while you could see Wilshere gesticulating in anger that he was so unchallenged. Secondly, apart from Monreal and Vermaelen lacking awareness for the second goal the back four shape was pub league standard, and Ramsey was supposed to be closing down Parker.
That's another thing, Ramsey is so woeful. Surely the best comparison with him would be to Torres, both ruined by injuries essentially. Just because he's slow doesn't make him an adequate holding midfielder like some have said, it's maturity, reading the game and experience which compensates that trait for holding midfielders. Equally when playing box to box he is so slow everything breaks down. None are slower going forward though than Giroud. I appreciate the notion of giving a player a year to adapt but why is this legitimate with Giroud? The lone striker is the focal point of everything in a 4-3-3 system, and yet after losing RvP who is surpassed only by Falcao and Messi in that role, Wenger goes for a Ligue 1 'star', rather than someone like Ba or even Dempsey who at least have EPL experience and wouldn't need to adapt, if indeed Giroud can ever do so... His chronic lack of pace is symptomatic of his (lack of) sharpness mentally. He's only scored four goals that weren't from crosses by the way: a chip against lowly Coventry, a near post hit against an exhausted and demoralized Newcastle and a brace against Brighton. Hardly fitting of the apparent 'total football' mould.
It’s a shame about the inability to defend as eleven men, because Arsenal actually played fairly well in this match, certainly the best they have played since Sunderland away. They were easily the best team in the first half and for the second 45 minutes, it was end to end stuff with Spurs counter attacking. Arsenal had their chances, but failed to convert more than once, and that with the assistance of a Bale deflection. Sigurdsson’s profligacy at 2-1 was like a reprieve for a condemned man as the hangman’s noose was placed over his head. Arsenal pressed, and got wide on a number of occasions, but the balls into the box were hit and hope and easily dealt with, percentage stuff that didn’t come off.
At one point, I found myself remembering players that have scored for Arsenal in the last 30 years of this fixture, and names such as Adams, Rocastle, Wright, Bergkamp, Vieira, Pires, Henry and Van Persie came to mind. The club don’t have many of that quality these days. There’s not much more to say about the match. Wenger’s team aren’t as good as they used to be, and as long as they don’t get the basics right, they are going to struggle. They have gained 47 points from 28 matches this season, and are 24 points off Manchester United, a team not funded by petrodollars but run by a board that will speculate to accumulate on players. Mind the gap?
As for the story about an offer for the club from a Middle East consortium, who knows? Stan Kroenke, as a businessman, would be a fool to turn down such an offer if it were genuine, although it is interesting that it may depend on the club being in the Champions League next season. “Arsenal is at a pivotal position at the moment,” said their spokesman. “The fear is that the club is facing a cycle of decline like Liverpool. From our point of view it is the perfect moment to make this bid because at this moment in time you can still genuinely justify this extraordinary valuation on the club. We will not bid for Arsenal if they go into decline. Kroenke and Usmanov will not get this kind of valuation if Arsenal do not succeed and will not get this kind of valuation ever again. We think that bidding now is the key because it is going to give every shareholder maximum value. We are giving them peak valuation.”
One theory is that the consortium is actually a front for Alisher Usmanov, who certainly has the money to make such a bid. Whether Arsenal fans would welcome it or not is one for debate, but few would doubt the club needs a more dynamic direction from its owners and/or directors. The team’s standing has gradually declined since the move from Highbury while profits have meant money that could have been used to improve things has been left in the bank. At the same time, if the tactics and match preparation aren’t right, then what point in buying quality? Arsene Wenger told journalists in his press conference last Friday that he does not do any specific preparation for opposing sides, he just concentrates on the game of his own team. After yesterday, you can believe it. Cazorla and Wilshere were largely pressed out of the game, Spurs’ midfield allowed time on the ball to expose the weakness of Arsenal’s offside trap.
2012/13 is continuing to go the shape of a pear... on the field at least.
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