Back to the top of the league (albeit very, very temporarily) after a nervy 2-1 win against Everton, where a 7 minute spell just before half time decided the game.
An injury to Aaron Ramsey – it was coming, the amount of games and the distanced he’d covered was surreal – meant that out-of-form Oxlade-Chamberlain started on the right flank. Olivier Giroud started ahead of Theo Walcott to keep the “survival of the fittest” player management for the lone striker role all the more complicated. I’m enjoying it, to be honest. This is what I’ve always wanted for Giroud, even one and a half years ago.
After a mild start where we knocked the ball about without much in the way of chances – much like Bayern did against us – we found the breakthrough in the 36th minute, when a quite sublime Mesut Ozil pass found Olivier Giroud, who nodded home an easy header. In a game where it seemed getting goals would be hard, it was world-class who made the difference again.
Ozil has done well to impress many, but what seems particularly pleasing about his resurrection is the fact that the mainstream media are catching up to it. Deny it however you want to, but there was a part of you that wanted the media to catch up on his performances quicker. The guy was showing glimpses of getting back to his best ever since he returned from injury, but it’s only now that he has the statistics to support it.
The same cannot be said of Oxlade-Chamberlain, though. The Englishman is enduring a less-than impressive period, which tends to hype because his every mistake turns into a huge error. Barring those two own goals in the Champions League, it was his giving-away of the ball which led to Ross Barkley scoring on the counter. In hindsight, Gabriel was much more at fault for the goal than the Ox, but such is the nature of Chamberlain that he’s likely dissing himself right now.
Even the mistake he made was borne out of a ferocious desire to force his way back into form. Instead of playing it to a Hector Bellerin in space, he opted to do a shimmy and curl the ball a la Monaco. It didn’t work, of course, and the consequences are there for all to see.
I think Oxlade-Chamberlain needs some time to get his head in the right place, and Ramsey’s injury provides just that. It is my belief that pound for pound, the Ox has the potency to offer Arsenal much more than what Ramsey did on the right. Now is as good a time to prove that, and prove he should.
Most of the second half was worrying, not only because of the chances Everton created, but the manner in which we let them. At 2-1 up it’s always good to see the team search for another goal and make things more stable, but surely not so in the last minutes? The way the players pushed and stayed forward reminded me of the 2-1 loss against Swansea last season, where we were caught on the counterattack despite leading 1-0 up. There were times when we had more than five players higher up the pitch, fullbacks included.
That wasn’t punished today – just about – but surely Arsene cannot afford his team to be as tactically naive in the future. Indeed, Wenger was livid when the so-called defensive midfielder Mathieu Flamini played like a second striker instead of shoring up the defence. And he should – Arsenal cannot be as nonchalant with games as they were.
Granted, fatigue from the Bayern victory was probably a factor in tired legs, but that doesn’t excuse the team losing their shape. Once again we had to rely on Petr Cech to make a fine save towards the end, but it’s time we stop being so reliant on him. Three points are always a yes-please from me, but my approval would obviously be higher to a comfortable three points.
Sometimes attack is not the best form of defence. Defending well is the best form of defence.
Hopefully we learn from such games, because we cannot afford for things to go really bad before going back to basics for a couple of games, like what happened against Olympiacos. We have a title challenge to maintain.
-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]
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