With a lot of injuries and disruption, Villa were there for the taking. But Arsenal’s performance was as flat as a pancake and as soggy as the Villa Park pitch.
The starting line-up showed a radical change from Portsmouth – Reyes, Bergkamp, Pires and Gilberto out. Van Persie, Hleb, Fabregas and Ljungberg coming in. Was there too much experience missing?
The first 15 minutes were comfortable for Arsenal but the final ball was just not there. It was a soft pitch, a soggy game – partly as a result of too many games at once over Christmas.
Van Persie made a couple of bad passes. Ljungberg was tragic. Nothing he did came off. He lost the ball virtually every time, often ending up on his backside with hands in the air. He is still yet to score in the Premiership this season. His equivalent Christiano Ronaldo will illustrate who is the most dangerous on Tuesday.
Hleb is a dribbler – and doesn’t shoot directly. He’s certainly not a replacement for Vieira – he makes the style more indirect. Hleb and Flamini and to a lesser extent, Fabregas were always looking for someone to pass to, instead of whacking it across, or even at the goal.
Arsenal kept passing straight into the crowded centre and the ball kept coming back.
At the back Baros threateningly beat Campbell once or twice.
A cross by McCann hit Lauren (Arsenal’s best player) and could have gone anywhere.
Lehmann gave the ball away direct from a goal-kick and took a risk on a back pass which didn’t help defensive confidence. These incidents were signals to Villa that Arsenal weren’t the high and mighty side they were expecting and treating as such.
Barry soon after hit a right foot shot a which swerved across Lehmann, who did well to clear it.
Moore got ahead of Toure who tried to clear with a high boot. It hit the Villa player who tumbled for a penalty claim.
Baros was free at one corner as Cygan marked two players, getting caught in no-man’s land as they moved in different directions. Where is the Arsenal defensive coach? Where is the on-pitch communication. It happened again ten minutes later. And several times in the second half. Come back Tony Adams. Get a promotion Steve Bould.
A good ball by Hleb saw van Persie in the clear but was wrongly judged offside. Ridgewell performed a karate kick on van Persie’s neck. A lesser but similar offence by the Dutchman was red carded against Thun. Both incidents highlighted declining refereeing standards this season.
A tactical coach like Mourinho would have swapped it around at half-time putting on Pires, Berkamp and or Reyes. There was no fluidity and the performance was technically flawed. Hang the United match – three points are three points. But no.
On 53, Campbell and Fabregas lost out Moore who squeezed it to Baros who was through on Lehmann. The German came out, stood tall and the Czech shot over.
Henry passed to Ljungberg who cut inside and fired a rising shot which beat Sorensen but came off the post. It was the Swede’s first noticeable contribution of the match.
A Van Persie dribble won a free kick 30 yards out. But Rennie allowed the wall to be only six yards away.
A Villa free kick saw van Persie break away from the wall and the ball deflect off him dangerously.
Yet another corner (Villa’s eigth to Arsenal’s 0) saw Cygan marking two at the back of the area again, resulting in Bakke getting a free shot.
Bergkamp came on for van Persie on 67. Reyes for Hleb on 75 and Pires for Ljungberg on 78. And as if to prove a point, the three fashioned a chance with Pires passing to Reyes, who flashed it wide.
Arsenal looked more threatening. A long kick saw Henry flash a shot across Sorensen.
And a last minute corner, saw Campbell head to an unmarked Toure who reacted instinctively and knocked it wide from around 6 yards.
Before the match, Wenger said the attack had to function well and if you don’t score goals then you can be in trouble at the back. The worry here for a team based on attack was the lack of chances Arsenal created.
Wenger described the performance as technically inadequate. It is more than one player that Arsenal need in the transfer window on this showing.