Kevin Whitcher
I don’t think anyone is going to get carried away by Arsenal’s victory over a relegation-bound Middlesbrough last night. It was a game which both sides needed to win, and became very open in the second half as a consequence.
Certainly, the home side came close to leveling the game 2-2 on two occasions, and ultimately, this game will be more fondly remembered for the points and the two excellent Arsenal goals than the defending. If Wenger’s team are to have any hope of defeating Manchester City next Sunday at Wembley they will certainly have to play better than this.
Arsene Wenger switched to three at the back, although why he felt the need to inform the world of this before kick off smacks of insecurity (“Look at how I can tactically adapt everybody!”). With the players selected, he could have fielded the standard 4-2-3-1 so why he didn’t keep quiet until the teams lined up at kick off is a mystery. Why give your opponents the chance to work out who is going to do what to counter the change in advance?
Anyway, six changes from the Palace defeat and the Ox and Monreal as Arsenal’s version of Victor Moses and Alonso. The Ox was actually the stand out player of the first half, although ran out of steam a little after the interval. Arsenal generally struggled to get going and neither team looked convincing in the opening 45 minutes. The 1-0 lead courtesy of an excellent Sanchez free kick calmed nerves at half-time
That didn’t last too long as less than five minutes after the re-start Negredo somehow stabbed the ball in, despite the attentions of two defenders. Manchester City will have Aguero, Sane, De Bruyne, Silva and in all likelihood Sterling at Wembley. Based on the evidence of last night, it’s difficult to envisage a clean sheet for Wenger’s side. The midfield duo of Xhaka and Ramsey simply do not provide enough cover for the defence, and whether there are four or three at the back, danger comes from the flanks, which is why so many will travel to the semi-final in hope rather than expectation. Last night was a case of new formation, same problems.
At least, at the Riverside, Arsenal rallied and the greater amount of space that opened up was exploited by Sanchez and Ramsey to lay on a chance that Ozil converted well. Middlesbrough’s Achilles’ Heel – their inability to score goals, proved their undoing. After the catastrophe at Palace, they were probably the best team the Gunners could have faced.
At half-time some Wenger Out banners were confiscated by stewards apparently on the basis that the game was on television (even though the cameras were behind the away fans). Go figure. Seems to me like censorship is alive and well. The US is planning a pre-emptive strike on North Korea, but the Wenger Out brigade don’t have any plans to bomb the Emirates to the best of my knowledge.
Arsenal hung on to their lead at 2-1, and rode their luck a little to get the three points. That keeps them in with a chance of a top four place, but the fixture list looks daunting, especially with the potential psychological damage of a bad defeat in the semi-final. Yes, cup football is full of surprises, but in both their previous semis, Wenger’s team were not able to dispose of either Wigan or Reading without needing extra time. Manchester City will be more resilient with Kompany in defence, so it is going to take the type of performance that we haven’t seen in months from Wenger’s team to get to the final. Worse still, they do not even have a settled side. Who can predict the starting eleven?
The fear is that this is, like the win over West Ham, a blip in a terrible run, rather than the green shoots of recovery, the typical Arsenal end of season recovery to scramble into fourth place after a disappointing title challenge collapse.
The players though, celebrated as if they’d won Sunday’s semi-final rather than an away game at a relegation doomed side. I guess they needed that. Arsene Wenger certainly did.
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