It felt surprising to see us slip against a team like Hull City, until I realized it wasn’t the first time something like this happened this season. It wasn’t even the first time it happened this month. Then the surprise waned.
How often have we seen this happened? We played well, dominated possession, and created a load of chances. Over time, the goalkeeper started having his annual game of the season and thwarted any chances we had, to score the goal we probably deserved. In every Arsenal season, performances like these are so guaranteed they feel like that morning cup of coffee that’s always on your table when you wake up.
There wasn’t anything particularly wrong with our team selection too. Arsene Wenger was wise to not overplay any of Mesut Ozil, Olivier Giroud or even Petr Cech and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. I was skeptical of playing Theo Walcott up front and Danny Welbeck on the flanks, but I thought both of them made a good account of themselves. As did Alex Iwobi, who’s really catching the eye this season.
We played quite well, as you’d expect from a team like us playing a team like Hull. We had great chances, of course. It wouldn’t be Arsenal to not fashion huge opportunities in a 0-0 draw. Welbeck had two, Joel had one, Alexis had a free kick, and even in the last minute it seemed like we might bundle the ball in, but it wasn’t to be.
You could blame the referee, and you’d have a case. Mike Dean, as has been well documented by now, was entirely guilty in not awarding us two stonewall penalties. You could make an excuse for the handball one, for his line of sight was disrupted by players in the box. But the Calum Chambers one? Come on. If Jamie Vardy deserved a penalty last week, so did he.
However, when will we stop pinning defeats on referees? Of course Dean is part of the reason, but isn’t that something we should be knowing by now? It hurts me to say that incompetence of an official should be a given, but someone has to say it. This has become one of the norms of modern football. European referees (especially those sanctioned by the FA) aren’t ever going to cut the mustard anytime soon. It’s time we accept that painful fact and get on with the game.
If there’s something we can address and change, it’s ourselves. There’s little hiding that we took Hull rather lightly. In all honesty, even my mood wasn’t really one of “Right, we need to be focused, just showing up won’t get us the win.” I felt we had more than enough to keep them at arms bay and get past the game easily. Then again, I’m not paid £8m per annum.
Arsene is very diplomatic in his pre-match and post-match pressers (as many are), but there was a certain amount of frankness to what he said yesterday that caught my eye.
“We were, on some occasions, too individualistic, lacked a bit of patience and coolness in front of goal. It shows you that in every single game all 18 members of the squad have to be focused, otherwise you get nowhere.”
He’s spot on. We overrated our capacity to get past Hull without getting out of first gear. Despite the rotation you could see we clicked, but weren’t emphatic enough to go over the line. Heck, we could have towed the other line had Sone Aluko (I think) not shot straight at David Ospina in the end.
Another point to consider – Alexis Sanchez hasn’t looked his best this season, has he? After a streak around the beginning of the season (those goals against Leicester, United and Olympiacos) he’s really fallen below expectations. His buffering in front of goals and outrageously wayward passes were evident yesterday. I was always worried about Alexis’ form this season, but never got time to extrapolate on it.
Remember this back in September?
“You have to admit Arsène Wenger disappoints players more than he flourishes them. For every Coquelin there’s a Diaby and a Denilson, and for every Alexis (who I’m slightly worried about this season) there’s a Gervinho, an Arshavin and a Carlos Vela.”
I know he’s a human machine, but you simply cannot use him so many times. You can’t even use an actual machine so many times. If the maverick, prolific Alexis Sanchez of last season never reappears, it’d be foolish to blame anyone not Arsene Wenger.
Him and Arsenal need to shape up for Tuesday. In truth, I think we’ll fare rather well against Barcelona. We’ve shown a trendline of performing really well against big teams this season, and seem to take them more seriously. However, if we don’t remedy our chronic illness of not converting huge chances, the rare opportunities we get day after tomorrow may go begging as well.
-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]
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