Well, what can you say about yesterday’s game? The less the better, I’d have thought.
I once cut the top of my thumb off with one of those big rotary meat slicers you see in delis and that was more fun that watching that game yesterday. Another strange team selection/formation with Abou Diaby looking like he was playing as a striker but unfortunately he’s as good as our other strikers at being strikers and that is ‘not very’.
There’s really no point in me going over it in detail. The problems are the same as they have been recently although we did nearly scramble one in at the end. More down to accident than design though. I was going to mention Eboue again but I’ve decided against it simply because what I have to say about him can wait until the end of the season.
On the positive side though we gained a point for the first time in four league games and even more positively than that Everton and Bolton drew 1-1 which means we still have the two point gap over Allardyce’s men who come to the Grove on Saturday (more on that game later in the week). A win against them and a win against Man City, which is the game we have in hand, should give us the points we need to secure 4th. Arsene said yesterday was a ‘good point‘. In the grand scheme of things it’s hard to disagree with him.
Still the lack of goals and the inability to see where the goals are going to come from are tremendously worrying. I don’t think we’ve ever had such a barren time in front of goal as we’re having right now. We’ve scored just 15 goals in the league in 2007 and 8 of those were in January. I keep talking about the law of averages. Surely one of them has to fluke one in off someone’s arse or something.
Perhaps another game without a goal will convince the manager that he’s got to address the lack of firepower in the team. I like Adebayor, I have to say, but of his 6 league goals only one has come in a game where he’s been the lone striker (United away). His other goals have all come when playing alongside somebody else. Now, of the remaining five league goals three have been crucial – the first at Spurs, the first against Portsmouth and the winner at Wigan. The other two (one of which was a penalty) have come on top of other goals. So, it seems he’s our best chance at a goal, and our best chance at an important goal, but perhaps the best way to do this is make sure he’s playing in a forward two. However, that means playing either Baptista or Aliadiere (or Diaby!!!) and those two are about as effective as pissing on a forest fire.
Certainly the lack of goals from midfield is something that needs to be addressed in the summer. We need players who can get beyond the last defender and stretch defences. Neither of Hleb or Rosicky are ever going to do that and while there is an argument that both of those players are being misused, as both of them prefer to play more centrally, their contributions have been disappointing. In the centre of midfield Cesc would be the first to tell you he should score more goals but the positive thing is that he does shoot, he does get in positions and his finishing will improve.
With the team so desperate for goals maybe we should be looking at increasing our threat from set-pieces. Yeah, I know, our corners are crap but it wouldn’t hurt if we had a couple of taller players on the pitch. Certainly against Bolton I’d drop Clichy, play Gallas at left back and bring Senderos back in to cope with the aerial bombardment from Bolton and at least give us some kind of threat if we do get a corner.
Anyway, that discussion is for another day. For now we just have to hope, pray, sacrifice animals and sell our souls to Satan for the goals we need. It’ll all be worth it in the end. Fiery damnation for all eternity or losing to the likes of Bolton and Sp*rs. There’s nothing to think about, is there?
