Oh, this Arsenal team. You take one step forward and the immediate reaction is not to make the most of it but to take a step backwards.
Last night wasn’t a step backwards, although it does feel a bit like it. More a step sideways as we failed to take advantage of a bright start and an early goal. It was probably the quickest we’ve come out of the blocks this season. Cesc opened the scoring with a deft finish inside the near post in the 7th minute. We really made a great start, causing the home side all kinds of problems.
At the hub of it all was Cesc, as you would expect. He was Mr Energy, Mr Commitment, Mr I Want To Win This Fucking Game. After the goal he went close with another effort after some fantastic ball juggling, he also played in Arshavin for a good chance which forced a save from the keeper. And Arshavin himself hit the post with a left footed shot after a deft set up just outside the Burnley box from Samir Nasri. There’s no point saying it would have been a different game if that had gone in because it didn’t.
After we went ahead though we allowed Burnley back into it too easily. Arsene said afterwards:
Maybe if we were guilty, it was that when we were 1-0 up, we were too easy instead of fighting for every ball. As soon as we were 1-0 up we took the foot off the pedal and they took advantage
Which just goes to show that footballers these days need to have lessons drummed into them over and over and over. Sunday’s ‘hairdryer’ was effective only for as long as it took to get a result at Anfield, and it’s so frustrating. All credit to Burnley, I have to say. They worked their socks off, not once did they allow us to dominate possession and pass it around the way we like to, and that’s why their home record is so good. They beat United this season, they’ve beaten Sunderland, who beat us, so a draw isn’t the worst result in the world. The main issue I have is that having gotten ourselves into a good position from the start, something we have rarely done this season, we let it slip.
Their equaliser came from the penalty spot. There can be no complaints about the decision, Vermaelen clearly caught Bikey and in Graham Alexander Burnley have the closest thing to Matt le Tissier when it comes to penalties. Almunia had no chance, but then based on his performance Almunia could have had 500 attempts to save it and he’d never have gotten near it.
I know Arsene came out yesterday and said he believed in the Spaniard, citing a deflection off Lucas that nobody else seemed to see for the Kuyt goal on Sunday as justifcation for such faith. But last night Manuel Almunia looked a long way off a man who is ready to be playing Premier League football. In the first few minutes he came charging off his line for a ball he should never have been trying to get and only good reflexes stopped Vermaelen’s header going in.
I lost count of the kicks that went into touch. From being a keeper who almost constantly plays it short, he’s become a guy who kicks it all the time, and given most of our team are under 5’10 that is not a good tactic. At one point in the 2nd half he had the ball outside our area, Burnley dropped deep, expecting the long punt. Alex Song was clearly in space and asking for the ball. Almunia ignored him, booted it and we lost possession. At another point Gallas was making a clearing header, it was obviously the defender’s ball, at the last minute Almunia decided to come, punched and instead of the ball got Gallas in the head and I think Burnley ended up with a corner.
The worst moment though came for their disallowed goal. When the cross came in from our left hand side, Sylvester hopelessly exposed again, he actually went down to save it and then pulled his hands away. I cannot think of any possible explanation for this. It was truly amateurish goalkeeping and in all seriousness I think his complete lack of confidence is viral. It’s clear the defenders don’t trust him and that is transmitting itself to the rest of the team. It’s no wonder we don’t play with any confidence when they’re so worried about the keeper. He should be the bedrock of the team, the first part of the spine. Almunia is spinabifida at the moment and we need to do something about it. If I don’t see Fabianski in goal on Saturday I’ll be disappointed. And I’m not saying he’s the answer to our problems but he can’t do any worse than Manuel right now.
Having lost Cesc just before half-time with an injury the drive of the team was gone. He was the guy who was really up for it, who created the chances for himself and others, and Burnley, I think, sensed we wouldn’t be the same team without him. We had Diaby just back from injury and even at his best he struggles to impose himself on games. Theo Walcott barely touched the ball in the all the time he was on the pitch, his last act a tame sidefoot over the bar. His replacement, Eduardo, looked miles off the pace, which is no surprise given how little football he’s played and this time there was to be no saving grace from the Polly Pocket Russian. And we can’t complain about that. He can’t be expected to rescue us every time.
In the second half I think the only save Jensen had to make was from a fairly tame Eduardo free kick. Yet Burnley might have scored on numerous occasions. They hit the post, they had that effort ruled out for offside – and Almunia is a lucky man in that regard because if that goal had stood after he’d pulled his hands away then I don’t think he’d have been forgiven – there were two fairly decent penalty shouts in their favour, and in general they had more of the ball, more of the play and showed more ambition than we did. That we never made the third sub to try and win the game says a lot about we played.
In the end I think a point was a fair result, although I don’t think we could have complained too much if they’d gotten a winner. A late one for us would have seemed a bit unjust. Welcome, of course, but unjust. We were complacent and could have paid the price. As I said, a point at Burnley is a point more than United got, so it’s not the worst result in the world, but when we put ourselves in such a good position after Anfield it’s hard not to view this result with frustration. Would we have taken a draw at Liverpool and a win at Turf Moor? Probably. But while taking nothing away from Burnley, they worked hard for their point, you just can’t avoid thinking that if we’d worked as hard as they did we’d be sitting here this morning two points better off.
Afterwards the manager confirmed Cesc would be out for the Hull game on Saturday after picking up a hamstring injury. He didn’t look to be too bad when he came off so let’s hope it’s not that serious. It was obvious how much we missed him when he went off. The manager also had a little go at the fixtures. Due to Fulham’s participation in the Europa League Hull did not have a midweek game, prompting Wenger to say:
The guy who organised the fixtures this season must have come from a special school, because he’s more intelligent than I am. We have some teams who do not play at all. We play Sunday and Wednesday away and at home on Saturday against Hull, who have not played all week. For sure, (the fixture organisers) have never played football, organising midweek games in a week when you have a Europa League programme.
Which is quite amusing, the special school idea tickles me greatly, and his argument is not without merit but it’s not relevant to last night at all. It’s only an issue if we struggle on Saturday against Hull. You can’t complain about it having an influence on the Burnley game. And the majority of teams played a midweek game, it was the bad luck of the draw really that we’re facing one of the teams who had the night off. And Arsene has been in English football long enough to know that there is always fixture congestion at this time of the year. Also, let’s not forget earlier in the season some other team faced Bolton who were due to play us but because of our Champions League qualifying game had more time to rest. It works both ways.
As for his comments about the Wolves team sent out to face Man United, I don’t think there’s much wrong with what Mick McCarthy did. Even with his best team it would have been a complete fluke for them to get a result at Old Trafford, a 999 out 1000 shot, and McCarthy saw the weekend game against Burnley, funnily enough, as more important. It’s not as if we’ve never done it, you just have to think back to the Olympiacos game a couple of weeks ago.
To be honest I think it’s deflectionary stuff from the boss, designed to make the headlines and the draw the attention away from the fact we didn’t take the three points last night. As I said, a draw away from home against a committed, hard working side is not the worst result in the world, nor does it mean we’re out of the title race. It does mean we’ve made life more difficult for ourselves though. And with regard to the Hull game on Saturday three points has to be the order of the day. More on that game in the next couple of days.
Finally for today, the winners of the competition to win the pair of books. Up for grabs were Arsènal : The Making of a Modern Superclub by Kevin Witcher and Alex Fynn, and signed by Arsene Wenger himself – as well as The Pocket Book of Arsenal, also by Kevin Witcher.
The answer to the question was Patrick Vieira, he scored the winner against Leicester on the final day of the Invincibles season, and the RNG has chosen the following winners: Michael Iacovides, Jeff Parton and Alex Clarke. Well done to you, I’ll be in touch to get details from you. Hard luck to everyone else but don’t forget that if you follow the links to the books and use the code ROCKY at check-out you get 10% off your purchase – publishers website.
And finally, finally, I’m sure you’ve all seen this most awesome YouTube video by now but if you haven’t you’re in for a treat. Splendid work.
So, that’s that. More, including an Arsecast, tomorrow.
