Arriving at the Emirates on Sunday, I found that Song was not playing.
He was injured at Aston Villa, so Diaby was in the Patrick Vieira position for the first time. A big call by the manager !
Did it work? Not really.
Arsenal’s attacking play was dismal. Again. In the front third, they lacked fluency, bite, sharpness, ideas, intelligence. They lacked everything you need to score a goal.
So at half-time I grabbed my friend round the throat.
“You got me out on a freezing day to watch this?”
“Why should I suffer alone?” he replied.
I wasn’t making notes but I think their first shot on target was by sub Aaron Ramsey on 78. The arrival of Ramsey and Vela brightened things up a lot.
The biggest problem is Adebayor, who is an imbecile, a donkey who stands behind defenders, never gets in front of them. If the move is a slow one, his movement is almost zero. When he does run, he runs offside. Watching him in the stadium, rather than on TV, is far worse because you can see all the things he should do, all the things he doesn’t bother to do, all the things he can’t do and won’t do. Adebayor is a clown who has improved a lot. He’s not what you want, he’s what you’ve got. He is a blunt instrument who is there to keep Arsenal in the Big Four. That’s his only job and he gets £80,000 a week for it. He has won the lottery. Wenger turned down £19 million for him, while asking for £30 million.
He’s six foot four but can’t really head the ball. And, unlike Drogba, he doesn’t knock defenders over. If Adebayor improved by 50%, he still wouldn’t be good enough to lace Drogba’s boots.
Released by a slick first-time pass from Diaby, Ade raced through as David James came out of his penalty area. Not good enough to chip the keeper, he swerved to the left and then remembered he has no left foot. Sol Campbell made the tackle and Distin cleared.In the second half many fans jumped to their feet when James mistimed a punch and Ade half-volleyed a shot and the net moved. But he had hit the side-netting
Bendtner was lazy, sloppy and slow. How did I ever think Bendtner was a player? When he finally made a good pass into the Ljungberg run of Nasri, the Frenchman scuffed his shot and hit the advancing David James.
Even the marvellous Sagna was below average. What little football there was came from Pompey, who played 4-5-1 with Peter Crouch up top. They produced a few bright moves involving new kid Mark Wilson, Kranjcar and the lively Belhadj, some promising play round the box, a shot or three, a header by Crouch against the post.
After 75 minutes I said, “Arsenal don’t deserve to win.”
“You’re right” said my pal. “They don’t deserve to win.”
Then David James came for a Denilson free-kick in 81 and missed it and Gallas headed in from 6 yards and it was 1-0 to the Arsenal. Typical Gallas : concentration, determination, bottle, vital goal.
“I feel sorry for Tony Adams,” said my mate.
For me, Arsenal’s three strikers are not good enough. So the whole team has only scored 11 goals in the last 10 Premier League games.
What did I think of Aston Villa 2 Arsenal 2 ?
Look at it historically : In 1998 Arsenal could defend a lead and in 2002 they could build on a lead and in 2004 they could build on a lead but wobbled at times, more than Invincibles should wobble. But, clearly, 49 games unbeaten is a historic achievement.
In 2007-2008 Arsenal were top for six months but couldn’t hold the lead in a game.
In 2008- 2009 they can’t hold a lead or build on a lead. Because the team is too young and half the players are too flaky.
Bottom line, Arsene Wenger is an attacking coach who practices attack every day but can’t teach defence and doesn’t want to teach defence.
How do I know that he doesn’t teach defence? Because if he did, his team would be better at it. If he drilled them till they took up their positions automatically, they would know how to defend a 4-2 or a 2-0 scoreline. But he doesn’t do that, so they don’t know how to hold a line, how to play as a unit, how to attack the ball on crosses and win it. Silvestre must often wonder what kind of outfit he has joined.
At Villa Park on Boxing Day, the attack was a shambles for 37 minutes. Completely incoherent. And so was the defence. Every time a cross went into the box, it caused pandemonium. Every time a corner went in, or a free-kick went in, it was panic stations. And John Carew and Martin Laursen were missing. If those two big men had played, Arsenal would have been 4-0 down at half-time. As it was, Villa hit the frame of the goal three times and later on Sagna had to kick a ball off the line when Almunia came out and flapped, his only big mistake of the game.
However, Reo-Coker made a mistake and Denilson robbed him and fired home a shot that went in off Brad Friedel’s ankle. Then Diaby linked beautifully with Eboue to make it 2-0 in 48, and van Persie hit the post with a sharpish chance for 3-0.
Then Arsenal fell apart because they cannot defend. Just as Djourou got wrong side of Robbie Keane against Liverpool, Gallas got wrong side of Agbonlahor against Aston Villa . His tackle missed the ball by a fraction, he conceded a penalty, and Barry banged it in. So Arsenal had to score again or defend a 2-1 lead for half an hour.
In 91, another ball into the box goes loose and Zat Knight slammed it into the bottom corner, as if he was Rivaldo. The team that was 4-2 up against Spurs and got a draw is the team that was 2-0 up at Aston Villa got a draw two months later. So Arsenal were fifth and three points behind Aston Villa.
Earlier on Boxing Day I went to Chelsea-West Brom, a top versus bottom game.
Chelsea are second on 37 points and West Brom are bottom on 15 points, so it should be a home win. Very soon, we knew it would be. Joe Cole’s cross swung down perfectly and Drogba’s header from six yards was awesome, stunning, perfectly timed. A hugely authoritative goal scored by a world class gladiator. Drogba can do everything that Adebayor can’t do : he is compact, has good feet, can hold the ball up, anticipate, explode, link smartly with Lampard, who made it 2-0.
There are moaners at every ground and fans sometimes complain in a humorous way. When we arrived at the Bridge we talked to the nutcase who sits right behind us. There’s no escaping him, so my pal starts him off.
“Whaddya reckon today then?” asked Rob.
“We’ll only lose 2-0.”
“Ain’t been much fun lately, has it?”
“No, it ain’t. It takes me back 27 years.”
When you watch football, the world’s greatest sport, it should be compelling. It should be gripping. You should be expecting something exciting to happen. Your enjoyment partly depends on belief. You should believe that something exciting can happen, believe that your defenders can stop goals, believe that your midfield can make goals, believe that your strikers can score goals, believe that your whole team will be equal to almost any challenge offered by their opponents. With a bit of luck, with your best team on the pitch, you want to believe that your team can beat anybody.
I don’t get that from Arsenal these days. I just don’t believe that this team is going to win. My expectations are low going into a game and then they get lower – and it’s been like that for most of 2008.
History will record that this group of players failed for four years in a row. And football’s authors will say : There was a big property crash and Arsenal Holdings took a massive hit on the Highbury Square flats development.