2011 might not have been great, but the start to 2012 has been dismal. Whilst most people see the New Year as a fresh start, Arsenal began the year looking fatigued and tired, and in serious need of refreshment.
Hopefully that refreshment will come in the form of a couple of new players, and some enthusiasm and encouraging performances from players in the FA Cup. Despite playing well in the first half against Fulham, the busy Christmas period took its’ toll on the team and they lost all control on the game.
Some of the fundamental mistakes that we hadn’t been making in recent weeks returned at Craven Cottage. The injuries and the red card didn’t help the situation at the back, but both goals that we conceded were avoidable, and came from individual errors. What also made the match immensely frustrating was that the last results of 2011 had all gone in our favour, and a win at Fulham would have put some pressure on those above us, and kept us in the top four. 2011 ended so well, and now at the start 2012, that feels wasted.
The first half at Fulham was good, and we restricted the hosts’ opportunities well. Had we shown more confidence in front of goal, the match could and should have been out of sight for Fulham at half time. Gervinho was a main culprit, but we still should have had a penalty when Senderos tripped him. In a traditionally difficult period of the season when results really are everything, we haven’t been helped by the lack of penalty decisions going our way. In the last five league games, we arguably should have had five penalties that weren’t given. Obviously there are no guarantees that the penalties would have been scored, but they’d have given us a much better chance of winning the games that we dropped points in. It seems that all of our bad luck with refereeing for the season has come at the same time, and at a bad time. Hopefully it’ll balance out later in the season.
Before a match, looking at who the referee is can generally give you a good or bad feeling about the upcoming game, and when seeing Lee Probert was officiating the Fulham match, I didn’t think we’d suffer from dodgy decisions. However there were minor and major ones during the whole game. How Riise swinging himself round Djourou’s legs, and pushing Walcott into the advertising boards aren’t fouls I’m not quite sure. Robin van Persie was also subjected to some strong challenges, and you couldn’t help but feel Neil Warnock’s comments about him at the weekend were in the back of the referee’s mind. Djourou’s first yellow card was justified as he was late and caught Dembele, however Murphy committed a similar, if not worse, foul on Djourou in the second half that didn’t earn a caution. All fans just want consistency. That made the second yellow that Djourou received very frustrating as there was minimal contact with Zamora, and nowhere near enough to pull him down. Djourou wasn’t completely innocent though as he should have been aware that Zamora might fall and should have made sure he didn’t leave himself vulnerable to a situation where the referee could send him off.
Overall, Djourou didn’t have a great match, as it’s clear he isn’t comfortable at full back. However he’s played there enough in recent weeks to be able to do a better job. His positioning might not have always been perfect, but Francis Coquelin put in a fantastic amount of effort as a make shift left back, and someone with the same energy would have been helpful on the right. When Djourou had gone off, I’m still wondering why Sebastien Squillaci came on. He’s out of form and has barely kicked a ball this season, so why not bring on Ignasi Miquel who would have been slightly more tuned in to the pace of the game. Miquel could have gone to the left and the quicker Coquelin could have gone to the right to deal with the dangerous Karim Frei.
Squillaci’s header for Fulham’s winning goal was bizarre to say the least. Surely the basics of defending say head the ball away from your goal, or out of play, and not across the goal. Squillaci chose to head it straight across the goal to claim a good assist for Zamora. It’s very easy to blame him because frankly he hasn’t been very good since we signed him, but in fairness to the Frenchman, he was thrust into a pressured situation for his first league appearance of the season, and had to play in an unfamiliar position. Although when we’re in a serious need of points to get into the top four, there isn’t time to be sympathetic.
The Fulham equaliser also came from an individual error. Wojciech Szczesny has generally been excellent this season, and has put a firm end to all questions about Arsenal needing a new goalkeeper, however he showed he’s still young and learning his trade when he was caught out from a corner. Had that been Almunia, Fabianski or Mannone, fans might have been calling for an immediate replacement, however there is a sense with Szczesny that the mistake was an isolated incident. The Pole hasn’t made the number of mistakes that the other three have, and has the confidence to get over it. While one mistake leads to another for other players, we’ve seen that Szczesny improves following them. You only have to look at his form since the Carling Cup final to know that. Hopefully the same will happen again. In the context of the Fulham match though, his eagerness to come out of goal cost us.
As much as individual errors and refereeing mistakes contributed to the defeat, the bigger problem was how the team, and particularly the midfield, faded massively in the second half. Fulham did improve after the break, but we allowed them the possession to do so, and couldn’t keep it ourselves when Fulham attacks did break down. Arteta and Ramsey both looked knackered, and when they did have the ball, they weren’t able to ping it forward into space for the quicker players to run onto, as they weren’t making themselves available for that type of pass. It would have released pressure and made us dangerous on the counter attack.
Of the quicker players, Walcott in particular had a poor game. He missed the Wolves game because of a virus, and he could still have been feeling the effects in the QPR and Fulham games. If he was struggling, why was he risked in both games when Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is waiting in reserve? Rosicky would have been more effective coming on in the centre to replace the tiring players in there, and bringing Oxlade-Chamberlain on would have meant we’d have had the option of pace on the counter attack.
I thought Laurent Kosicelny and Per Mertesacker both played well, and both did their best to hold the lead that Koscielny gave to us. Even though both looked fatigued, they dealt with Fulham’s forwards well. The only time Zamora was given any real space in the box was when he scored at the end, although that was when he was in an area that the inexperienced full-back Coquelin should have been covering, and he only received the ball from Squillaci’s poor header.
The defeat means we haven’t come out of the Christmas period as well as it looked like we would do at the end of 2011. If this is what the rest of 2012 is going to be like, is it too late to go back to 2011?
There is cause for optimism though. The players will have had a full week without a game before we face Leeds in the FA Cup on Monday, and then don’t play for another six days before Swansea, so hopefully they’ll regain some fitness. There will inevitably be some changes for the Leeds match as well, meaning we should be refreshed for Swansea.
The team selection for Leeds will be interesting as there is scope for changes in most areas of the pitch, and it’ll be anyone’s guess as to who lines up at full back. With Sagna supposedly nearing a return, I doubt Arsene Wenger will make a big signing at full back, so we’ll probably see two from Yennaris, Coquelin and Miquel filling those berths against Leeds. Hopefully it’ll be a chance for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to show he’s worth trusting in the Premier League. Yossi Benayoun, Tomas Rosicky and Andrey Arshavin should also all be in contention for starts.
Whilst there is a need for changes, we must take the match seriously. The replay against Leeds in the third round last year added to the fixture congestion, and as we play Manchester United in January, we need the tie dealt with, and our name in the fourth round.
This post has mostly been doom and gloom, but there is one name that makes me want to stay in 2012, and should get all Arsenal fans excited for the first two months of the year, even if not in terms of his current footballing ability, but just as an icon who we want to see in red and white again. Thierry Henry. Enough said. Bring on the next two months Gooners!
Source: Sam Limbert, ESPN Soccernet on 5 Jan 12
