I don’t know how any ambitious Arsenal fan can look at that result with pride. In truth, I don’t think any ambitious Arsenal fan did. A draw against Tottenham Hotspur at White Hart Lane isn’t the worst result in isolation, and considering the circumstances (think Coquelin red card), probably felt better. However (think Premier League challenge), it really wasn’t.
It wouldn’t be unfair to say we were largely poor, at least until we scored. Tottenham had the majority of the ball and despite not creating any clear-cut chances, seemed to be in control of their game plan. The possession statistics alone didn’t bother me. I wouldn’t have minded in the least if it was our plan to let them have the ball and bite them on the break, as we’ve done a lot of times against stern opposition.
But here’s the rub – that wasn’t the plan. Our plan, as it almost always is, was to play Wengerball. We half-heartedly tried to pass-and-move the ball yonder the pitch to dismal results, because Spurs pressed us into submission and regained it rather easily. David Ospina even had to make an incredulous reflex save from stopping Eriksen deflecting it in. Over time, we just desperately decided to hoof it to Danny Welbeck and hoped for the best.
Don’t get me wrong, I was happy when it happened – but there was nothing planned about the goal we got. It started from Aaron Ramsey losing the ball in midfield and Tottenham bundling it to Welbeck. The Englishman, probably our best player on the day, cut inside and found Hector Bellerin quite well. Make no mistake, Bellerin’s pass to Ramsey was 100% intentional, and so was Aaron’s finish.
A fine ribbon on a sole attacking move by Ramsey, but don’t let that fool you. The guy tries to be Zinedine Zidane hundred times in a season and when it succeeds once, people forget the other 99 failed attempts. His high-risk-high-reward outlook nearly always ends in a series of mini-failures before bearing fruit. Even then, the fruit doesn’t seem worth it.
Ramsey was almost easily our worst performer on the day. Playing Wengerball against a pressing Tottenham was always going to see him make a hash of the ball a lot. However, Ramsey does himself no favours by being too much of a glory hunter. Everyone loves a player who tries, but over time, Ramsey’s refusal to see the error of his methods turns that love into frustration. At the death, he missed a great chance which any player with a modicum of composure would have taken (or at least tested the keeper).
Anyhow, the goal changed things and for a brief period of time, we looked like a team that could take the game to Tottenham. However, Francis Coquelin became another example of Wenger teams bottling it under pressure by red carding himself. It’s almost impossible for him to make a case over the two yellows, and even Michael Oliver looked apologetic as he showed Francis the door.
Of course, we panicked. They scored twice, and for a while it really felt like we’d be on the end of a pasting. However, from one of our rare breakaways Alexis Sanchez somehow managed to squeeze the ball past Hugo Lloris. The spirit we showed to get back on the horse was pretty commendable, but for it to come against a team like Spurs, sort-of takes the sheen from it. Despite all their mental solidarity, Tottenham always seem to blow it in front of their North London neighbours. Lest we forget, this is a team that let Mathieu Flamini score two against them.
No question that was a red for Eric Dier too, and if he was sent off we probably would have won that game. But how often have we sat beleaguered at the wrong end of a refereeing decision? Bad referees are a rotten part of the game, but they remain a part of it. Deal with it. Oliver isn’t one of the worst referees in the league anyway. This was the same referee who sent off Angel di Maria and booked Adnan Januzaj last year in the FA Cup. I didn’t hear a lot of Arsenal fans bitching about his competence then.
What infuriated me more than Dier not getting sent off was the substitutions Arsene Wenger made after that. With Spurs looking rocky and their defensive midfielder walking on a tightrope, surely he could have thrown on some more attacking options and really turned the screw? What was the virtue in taking off an impressive Welbeck for Flamini, and then Mesut Ozil for (a defensively competent) Joel Campbell?
If I were an Arsenal player and I saw those substitutions, the message would be crystal clear for me. It certainly was for Ospina. With minutes on the clock, the Colombian dallied over goal kicks and ran the time down so we could secure an anticlimactic and ultimately safe draw at White Hart Lane. It wasn’t his fault. That was the instruction from the touchline.
For obvious reasons, when there’s a flicker of a chance to revive a failing title bid and the manager decides to shut up shop, one has to question that instruction. Credit to the players for pulling it out of the fire when all seemed lost, but why were they disallowed from aiming for more? Wenger knew that Leicester City winning later was plausible (P.S. They did). He knew that holding on for a draw even though Spurs were on the ropes would increase the likelihood of Arsenal falling eight points behind the league leaders. So why did he take the decision?
The answer is obvious: fear. If the past five years have proven something, it’s that Arsene Wenger is more afraid to lose than he is hungry to win. He’ll opt for the easier alternative and draw against Tottenham, than shoot for the moon and try to best them. When it boils right down to it, it’s this attitude – more than his style of play, more than his transfer philosophy and more than his player management – that warrants his immediate sacking.
-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]
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