Not the performance we needed… Yes, it is the FA Cup, a knockout competition where the final scoreline trumps every other statistic. But that doesn’t stop highlighting the fact that despite playing Championship opposition at home (with a week’s rest, that too), we were visibly disappointing.
It didn’t start like that, of course. Right up to the time Calum Chambers scored, we played some mouthwatering football, as a team like Arsenal against a team like Burnley should. However, upon conceding the equalizer, we never really looked like regaining our former mojo. Even the goal Alexis Sánchez scored seemed harsh on Burnley, if not against the run of play.
Arsène Wenger’s philosophy is aesthetically a footballing work of art, but has a Goldilocks caveat to it, sometimes making it unreliable, almost obsolete. It’s only when Arsenal are 1-0 up against mediocre opposition at home on a sunny day can they guarantee some neat football and startling goals.
Everyone loves watching Wengerball in its element, but the variables assumed to be constant for that ideology to click are too many. What happens when the climate turns harsh, a player gets sent off, we concede the first goal or the opposition significantly change their tactics? As we’ve seen this season and before, Wenger’s confidence-based philosophy shows its Achilles heel when the slightest goes wrong.
Tangentially, am I the only one worried on how we struggle to – for lack of a better phrase – get back on the horse? Three frowny results in the league were always going to bring a psychological conflict into yesterday’s game, but to this extent? When things go wrong, we don’t look capable enough to turn them around quickly. Ultimately, self-wallowing in our own slump could cost us wins and trophies.
Mohammed Elneny does not look like a DM… It’s a ridiculously early judgement. It’s not even a judgement, but more of an incomplete observation. However, I couldn’t help but see how similar Mohammed Elneny is to Aaron Ramsey than he is to Francis Coquelin. Maybe it was the instruction on the day (because Coquelin was his partner), or maybe it was a new boy wanting to impress on his first day, but Elneny did not seem particularly bothered about the defensive duties of midfield.
There’s little doubt he was hugely involved and encouraging yesterday, straying into the final third and keeping the ball ticking. However, to me Elneny seems more of a player on the fence of being an attacking midfielder than a defensive minded one. How many real-time players do we know who can operate as a DM, CM and AM in the same vein? Emre Can is the only name that springs to my mind.
If Elneny is one of those rare gems able to transition himself in all three positions, that’s fucking gold. However, my gut says that Wenger hasn’t really signed a player who can compete with Coquelin. He’s signed one who can compete with Ramsey and Santi Cazorla.
Alexis Sánchez is, well, not bad… It’s unreal how quick this guy gets back into the game. His love for the game and desire to be the star man means that even if his legs are amputated, he’d be an outside chance to play next week.
To me, the only thing that separates Alexis from Ramsey is the ability, not the willingness. A player like Ramsey will try a hundred times and score once. Sánchez will score once in five tries.
It doesn’t take a genius to know that in the months to follow, he may be our most important player. Ozil is understandably tiring, Giroud will be rotated with Theo and our defence is starting to show serious holes. At such a time, a well-rested Chilean with a flair for scoring goals could be just what we need.
Does Theo Walcott take his Arsenal opportunity seriously? When Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain found the Englishman brilliantly and Walcott was through on-goal, I predicted his miss with a grimace. Anyone would have – the body language with which he tried to pass it through the goalkeeper was disappointing, yet unsurprising.
His miss compounds a run of poor games since he scored that goal against Manchester City, and he wasn’t particularly impressive outside of the goal then too. We know he has the ability, and we also know he can track back effectively (remember that sliding tackle against Manchester United?) Then why doesn’t he do it more often?
At this point, I have to wonder if Theo’s head will ever be in the right place. After that statistically sound season of 2012/13, the guy has faded terribly. There are elements to that – after all, he’s had an injury ravaged season and being forced to play from the left flank – but that can’t entirely excuse his on-off interest. Ultimately, it’s his inconsistency that has kept him a good player but not a great one.
Also, if he’s not careful, Ramsey could generate similar concerns from many.
Koscielny and Gabriel were not at their best… Playing two men upfront was a clever idea by Sean Dyche, because in the first half, we didn’t seem capable enough to deal with them. Koscielny and Gabriel made two mistakes each and had to be bailed by an impressive Ospina, before conceding from a set-piece. If not for Coquelin being the wall he is, we could have been in a lot of trouble.
The Emirates worries me… This may sound ludicrously nit-picky, but there’s something in the atmosphere of our stadium that worries me. I won’t pretend to have watched any of Arsenal’s matches in the stadium, but it’s easy to notice how low the mood has fallen. Sure, the audience varied because of ticket prices and the fact that it was an FA Cup tie, but that shouldn’t account for such a somber atmosphere.
Since the time Arsene Wenger subbed an impressive Oxlade-Chamberlain for Andrei Arshavin in 2012 against Manchester United, there has been tension in the ground. Booing or muteness was evident in games to follow, something I thought had healed itself in the 2013/14 season. Apparently not.
Fans are a huge part of making a home stadium seem like home, which is why this may be a bigger problem than given credit for. I know the standard retort to this is “Well, give us something to cheer about and we’ll do it”. But the cheers after Chambers scored the first were pretty tepid, and died quickly.
The stadium doesn’t need polite applause. It needs raw passion to spur them on. Am I the only one not seeing that?
-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]
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