The Champions League group stages are not renowned for providing scintillating, exciting football and last night was no exception.
A rather dull game looked like it was going to provide Arsenal with three points but there was an inevitability about AZ’s late equaliser. Ronald Koemen said before the game that Arsenal had defects and although it took them 93 minutes to exploit one, exploit it they did. Andrei Arshavin was caught offside, they sent the ball into the box, Diaby’s challenge for the header was tired and Alex Song switched off totally to allow the AZ player all the time and space in the world to volley home the equaliser.
We have been, for some time now, suspect at set-pieces and it cost us the three points last night. That said we were somewhat lethargic throughout. We missed the industry of Rosicky whose ability to find space and to drive the team forward would have given us better balance and the lack of Eduardo, Walcott or Bendtner on the bench gave us fewer goalscoring options.
You can’t help feel it was a game we should, and could, have won though. As early as the 8th minute Robin van Persie had a fantastic chance, on his left foot, seven or eight yards out and in the form he’s been in you expected him to break the net. Instead his effort was a bit tame and straight at the keeper. It was a half of few chances, AZ’s only real threat was a shot which fizzed over the bar, while at the other end we did little to threaten their goal.
We took the lead in the 36th minute after the AZ player mis-controlled the ball, Arshavin played a ball down the channel to van Persie who squared it for Cesc to sidefoot home. A beautifully simple goal and 1-0 to the Arsenal. It might have been two before half-time when a van Persie shot went through the keeper’s hands and only just cleared the bar.
The second half really wasn’t up to much either. The football was dull, a Robin van Persie free kick the best opportunity I can recall, but as time went by you just got the sense that Arsenal needed another goal. AZ began to press, the crowd got right behind them and they should have been level when one of their players poked the ball just wide – I think it was from a corner. Diaby almost got his second own goal of the season when a ball deflected off him and just over the bar. You could sense the equaliser coming.
And when it did it was made all the more frustrating because Arsenal should have had a penalty with just a couple of minutes to go. Carlos Vela was clearly tripped in the box but the ref waved play on. At 2-0 it would have been all over, instead our three points turned into one with the late AZ goal.
Afterwards Arsene Wenger said:
We are still learning. You do not need to give a free-kick away on an offside in the last minute. We were caught a bit naively on the second ball, that can happen sometimes on the first one that you lose the header, but on the second one, their player was completely free to score.
While Thomas Vermaelen said:
We were in control, there were no big chances for AZ but in the last minute they scored. It feels like a defeat. In the Champions League you need focus for 93 minutes – tonight we made one mistake and paid for it.
Yep, we certainly paid for it and while it was really rather frustrating it’s not exactly a disaster. We still sit top of the group, one win will qualify us and with three games to go it’s unthinkable that we won’t get those points.
It’s the manner of the draw that makes the result seem worse than it actually is. If they’d scored in the 53rd minute instead of the 93rd it would be easier to cope with, although the fact we conceded so late is a lesson for us. Our defending of the set-piece left a bit to be desired. I know there are tired legs and all that but you can see what happens if you switch off, even for a second, at this level of football. The manager says we’re still learning and it’s as well to learn from games like last night’s so as to avoid similar results which may have much more serious consequences.
And while AZ is a team you would expect to beat the Champions League is capable of throwing up some interesting results. While we mourn a late equaliser against a tidy Dutch side, Barcelona got beaten 2-1 at home by Rick Rubin, or something. So football is odd, at times, and we remain in a good position in our group.
As an aside, Vito Mannone‘s continuation in goal last night makes the keeper situation at the club even more curious. Manuel Almunia was the number 1 at the start of the season, now he can’t displace a young Italian who has barely got into double figures in professional appearances. It does beg questions. What has happened to the Spaniard who, while never the world’s greatest, had progressed well over the course of two seasons, was generally solid and had clearly established himself as first choice?
There’s got to be something more to it than meets the eye. We know Wenger likes to give young players a chance but Mannone is still incredibly raw. Yes, he’s done well but he’s had the good fortune of playing in a run of games which have been fairly kind. Does he have the temperament for the big occasion? As a young keeper he is going to make bad decisions because that’s what young keepers do, it’s how they learn. Can we afford, if we’re really serious about winning things this season, to allow him to do that ‘on the job’?
With Almunia clearly out of favour the next option is Lukasz Fabianski who made his return for the reserves last night in 2-2 draw with Wolves (which also saw Samir Nasri make his comeback). The Pole signed a new long-term contract at the end of last season, despite being a long way from convincing when called upon, so maybe there’s an expectation he can make the step up. All the same you can’t help but think that the ideal solution might be to spend some money in this area come January.
Elsewhere the Telegraph suggests that Stan Kroenke is set to buy more Arsenal shares this week, edging him ever closer to the 29.9% mark that he would only allow himself to reach if he was planning a takeover. The club’s AGM is tomorrow so we should get a clearer picture of what’s going on there afterwards.
Right then, that’ll have to do. We’ve got some days to regroup and prepare for a trip to West Ham on Sunday. More tomorrow.
