Kevin Whitcher
Ed’s note – I was unable to catch yesterday’s game. However, regular Gooner contributor David Oudôt was good enough to step in for me and cover the article on the match. My thanks to him for the piece that follows…
Aside from the 5-2 massacre of Everton, prior to yesterday we had only scored three other away goals in the other six away games we had had so far this season, not a stat that warms the heart on a cold December Sunday. In light of that we should perhaps be grateful that Giroud’s late, late equaliser got us a point against a very average Southampton side, rather than feeling equal parts angry and frustrated about seeing another defensive debacle and an attacking performance based solely on possession for the umpteenth time in the last seven years. But, alas, we will instead exhale long and hard in frustration at our team’s performance. Again.
With the exception of Mustafi being sidelined since last Saturday and being replaced by Mertesacker, we played Wenger’s best XI based on our 3-4-2-1 formation and style of play and it was not arrogant for us to expect a victory today against a mid-table side. However, we seemed to have a repeat of last Saturday coming, as the opposition came out hungrier than us, our defence being ridiculously shambolic and feeding them open goals. With Mertesacker stumbling over and giving Tadic space to run into with Monreal and Kolasinac already ten yards up the pitch with their minds on attack, the very average reserve centre forward Austin dinked neatly over Cech for the opening goal in the third minute. Thereafter we seemed to try and give them more chances with the back three each giving their worst performance so far with Monreal constantly out of position, Mertesacker three yards behind everyone, and Koscielny clearly suffering from his ongoing Achilles issue, and if Southampton had someone like Kane up front we would have been three down in the first 20 minutes. If it was a boxing match the referee would have stopped it at that point.
Who exactly coaches the defensive stuff at Arsenal? Based on their playing career CVs, you’d be entitled to believe that Bould and Lehmann must be involved in some way, but with the defenders’ focus being on them having to be creative as the midfield players in front of them it looks as though Steve and Jens just do as they’re ordered by Wenger. Like the players themselves. It is so annoying that when Cech gets the ball or has to take a goal kick he looks to feed one of the centre backs on the ground and we build up play from the back a la Bayern Munchen and Barcelona. It’s fine if your keeper and defenders are of the same quality as Neuer, ter Stegen, Hummels, and Mascherano. But Arsene, ours are not. Every team now knows to pressure Arsenal from their own goal kicks as our defenders often panic, there is no audible communication between them, and the opposition often get fed the ball. We all see this every week but Wenger seems to think their performances in training outweigh those in matches.
Going forward we seemed to focus on possession and wearing the opposition down, but with them having their early goal behind them, the Saints automatically got into a 10 behind the ball system and there was no way past them. With our players forbidden from shooting from range under the instructions of their manager, they were focused solely on passing their way through and it was only if there was a particular piece of quality skill that we did find room for a shot at Forster. This only happened twice in the first half with Lacazette and Ramsey having shots after producing intricate pieces of skill themselves.
Second half saw us looking more eager up front and keener to get an equaliser, but with van Dijk, Hojbjerg and Yoshida being very strong, we were kept at bay quite comfortably. Whilst we managed six shots on target over the course of the game, only one of them was a very good save from the ‘keeper, and it’s a bit sad and predictable that we were again reliant on our plan B of a Giroud header after coming off the bench. It showed that our Wengerball doesn’t work against teams who have 10 men behind the ball, as we’ve all known for nearly a decade. Performance wise, the only players who stood out were Ramsey and Ozil, the former having to do the work of two men with Xhaka being incredibly poor throughout the game (and he will hopefully be replaced by Wilshere on Wednesday against West Ham, who offered a lot more than Granit after he came on). Ramsey was looking to get everything going, whilst Ozil worked hard in both halves and looked to create so many chances you felt sorry for him as he deserves better than us. When he left Real Madrid, players such as Ramos and Ronaldo were publicly berating their club’s decision to sell Ozil – praising him as the best creator at the club. The thing is, when you create openings for the likes of Ronaldo, Benzema, and Higuain, the goals often follow as they are all players on the same wavelength as Ozil, whereas at Arsenal the players aren’t and nothing comes from his work as much as it did at Real, or still does for the German national team.
For Wenger to blame the hangover from ManYoo and Southampton running the clock down being key reasons behind the performance is sheer desperation on his part. The game was only changed with the introduction of Thursday night starters Giroud and Wilshere whilst the rest had enjoyed eight days since their last game, so to make those excuses is just another denial of Wengerball failing and that we need something new. We may have changed formation since the Palace game last season but ultimately the players are instructed to play the same way as they did in a 4-2-3-1, so with Wenger mentioning earlier this week that he actually prefers that to our current three at the back made me laugh at him. To use my father’s age-old quote about people who are self-contradictory and appear to be confused, Arsene “doesn’t know if he wants a sh*t or a haircut”. Quite.
The sad thing is that we have a very good squad. 25 very good players with a variety of skills among them who would walk into many other top European sides. Based on what you see on paper, we should be challenging for the trophies that every Gooner is pining for, but I really don’t think we get to see the real them at all as the players are committed to the Club contractually and must follow the instructions of their line manager strictly and obediently. The only two exceptions are Sanchez who does whatever he likes with the ball whenever he gets it, and Ozil who tries to create as much as he can – it’s no surprise that those players have already decided to leave in January or June. They don’t have to follow Wenger’s orders the way the others do as they know they’re already leaving. And after Wenger stating that the Club chose not to sell either of them of their own accord his confidence of getting the best out of them every week, there’s no way he can drop them.
You know those meetings at work when your boss orders you to do something or that you have to do a certain aspect of your job in a certain way, you go “yes boss, of course”, but walk away from the meeting thinking to yourself “s/he hasn’t got a f***ing clue”? And go about doing what they told you to do… which makes you and your company look stupid, naïve, and not getting everything that they should be? Yeah. That’s our football club.
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