There goes the chance for the top of the table, as Arsenal tamely went 2-1 down to West Bromwich Albion. The result means that, bizarrely, Leicester City are atop the league on points. It’s a weird campaign, this, and representative of how open it is. Symbolically, the opportunity we missed yesterday at the Hawthorns seemed like a neat microcosm of what might happen to our Premier League challenge.
And let’s not blame injuries here. Bar Kieran Gibbs for Aaron Ramsey, we arguably had our best starting XI out there. Despite injuries and fatigue, there was more than enough quality to dispatch a rocky West Brom away. The fact that we didn’t is upon us, not on lady luck.
You may point to the hordes of players we have injured leading to lack of options on the bench, and I may agree. However, the fact is that despite lack of options, Wenger failed to rotate where he could. It isn’t unreasonable to suggest that Gabriel Paulista, Mathieu Debuchy or Mathieu Flamini could have started the game, and given our starters a bit of a breather.
Even when Wenger could rotate, he chose not to. Even when he did, he saw fit to take off Joel Campbell, possibly Arsenal’s least tired player of the eleven. Doesn’t this rotation policy invariably mean that we would always find ourselves in injury crises, sooner rather than later?
As it stood, Francis Coquelin and Mikel Arteta fell prey to injury, in bizarre fashions. One could legislate for Arteta’s injury – he was just back into the thick of the action after recovering from a setback, and ageing legs possibly took its toll. The fact that he is still at Arsenal is more labelled at Wenger’s transfer approach, than his man-management skills.
But what of Coquelin? Maybe it was because of sheer overplaying (since he played nearly every Arsenal match this year), but the fact that it came after two weeks off for Coquelin is what puzzles. Is it down to our training methods that Francis found himself crocked in November? Or did Shad Forsythe and co. not notice Coquelin’s muscles wearing down, pushing him toward the red zone? Worse, are Shad’s concerns overruled by Wenger who plays his men anyway, until they are damaged irreparably?
I don’t know. I can’t possibly know, since I don’t have any inside connections to the club. I’m merely a blogger and as such, my job is to pose questions on issues I think matter. However, the fact that these questions have gone unanswered since my sixth post goes to show the magnitude of negligence in Arsenal Football Club.
It’s painfully obvious this is a problem that needs sorting soon. It does not end by simply hiring an admittedly world-class fitness staff. There needs to be some sort of equilibrium found on the way the players train, the minutes they play and the post-match treatment they’re offered. Because if we don’t, we can kiss any significant trophy goodbye.
Despite everyone’s feet dying all over the place, we did manage to take the lead through our first presentable chance. Mesut Ozil tossed a free kick inside and Olivier Giroud nodded it in for us. As much as Ozil’s set-piece delivery has markedly improved this season, that goal really felt more borne out of West Brom’s problems than our effervescence. Allowing our best aerial threat (by far) so much space in front of a goalkeeper who didn’t look like he gave a shit almost seemed rigged.
But Arsenal being Arsenal, we succumbed to the pressure of expectation once more. Despite having loads of the ball and an uncomfortable Tony Pulis side on their knees, how we managed to throw that away took unique levels of shithousery. Switching off like that to allow James Morrison to volley the ball over Cech was bad enough, especially given that it was a set-piece which gives us time to prepare.
Conceding five minutes later was even more suicidal. At the very least, after the equalizer I expected West Brom to think they caught a lucky break and put ten men behind the ball to fight for a draw. However, our general lack of confidence on the ball made Pulis sniff in the air hopefully, and his team managed to get yet another. James McClean – who was a menace to Hector Bellerin for most of the game – got the ball near the touchline and whipped it in, which Arteta bundled into his own net.
Right now you cannot convince me that Arteta has any sort of player future at Arsenal. He may be a good coach, as many seem to suggest, but at the moment his injury concerns and general lack of quality shine far uglier. I was foolish enough to believe he could be good backup to Coquelin, but yesterday was a painful example of how far off he is. If Wenger already knew this, it’s amazing why he didn’t try harder for Morgan Schneiderlin.
We dominated the ball and had a fair few chances after finding joy down the right, but didn’t convert. It’s a suspicious coincidence how lackadaisical we get in front of goal when the stakes are upped. On another day, Campbell would have sidefooted that Santi Cazorla pass into the far corner. Today, nerves got the better of him.
As if to make our jittery nature all the more slapstick, Cazorla made a hash of a debatable penalty. It’s amazing how we fall apart when the spotlight is on us. Sure, we may win a few FA Cups here and there, but for any true Arsenal fan, only the Premier League and the Champions League truly matter. The 2011 Carling Cup at Wembley and the 2014 FA Cup Final are neat motifs of the team’s mentality during monumental occasions.
And this is why, chances of Arsenal winning the league are as low as ever. Despite Manchester City getting a beating against Klopp, our part in the title race is merely an illusion. Unless Manchester City and United fall to unimaginable new lows, we will not overtake them. Forget injuries, forget bad luck – if we cannot get our nerves straight when it matters, we won’t win anything that matters.
It’s a shame, really. This team is probably the best Arsenal side I’ve supported. The personnel are there, the qualities are there. However, if the man-management and mental strength isn’t, the game gets over before it begins, as has been the case for more than five years.
Whenever will we learn?
-Santi [Follow me on Twitter @ArsenalBlogz ]
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