Match report – By the numbers – Player ratings – Video
In the cold light of day a draw with Chelsea isn’t a bad result but, for me anyway, there’s a feeling we missed a good chance to take all three points last night.
Chelsea, by Mourinho’s own admission, came not to lose, rather than to win, and apart from a Lampard shot which cracked the underside of the bar, and a weak effort from Willian, they troubled us little. While we clearly wanted to go for it more than they did, that attacking part of our game just didn’t click again, and it’s a bit of a worry.
I’m sure the appalling conditions the game was played in had a part in that, but too many passes went astray, preventing us from building any rhythm or pressure and against a team that, let’s face it, parked the bus whenever we had possession it was always going to be a struggle to break them down.
Aaron Ramsey, in particular, had a night when things didn’t work, but while some of that was simple stuff the stats show us that the majority of his misplaced passes were in the final third. He was, at least, trying to make something happen. Ozil was peripheral, Walcott’s game isn’t suited to situations like last night where there’s no space of him to exploit, and Giroud lacked service most of the night.
However, when he did get, he was found wanting. Late in the second half, Ramsey finally found his range and clipped a ball over the top of the Chelsea defence which found Giroud’s run. Although Cech came out quickly, the striker sliced his shot wide of the near post and he really should have scored. You can’t say all of our issues last night were down to him, but that is the difference between one point and three, and at this level you have to take those chances.
I like Giroud, I think he’s a decent player who gives us 100% in every game, but in matches of this magnitude you need your striker to bury that. I don’t want to compare him to players of the past, but I think we can all go back in our minds over the last 10 years and find a player who would tucked that away. He’s scored in just one of his last 10 games (two goals v Southampton), and when there’s such a heavy burden on him as the lone striker, it’s when you wish we had someone else to throw in.
Oddly, Arsene Wenger made no substitutes last night, explaining afterwards:
Because I had plenty of offensive players on the pitch and we were in the need to attack. I felt we had the balance defensively and we had four or five offensive players on the pitch, let’s continue to do that.
I do understand that, to an extent. Chelsea weren’t really threatening but it seems there’s a lesson learned from that Dortmund game. We lost it trying to win it, and I think that was a factor, especially after a 6-3 result against Man City. However, I don’t think that Cazorla, for Walcott, for example, would really have affected the defensive balance of the team, and it might well have just given us that extra bit of creativity in the final third.
Giroud had another effort blocked (this time by excellent defending rather than poor finishing), and a Sagna header was headed off the line as we looked for the three points, but the goal never really looked like it was coming. Chelsea were organised and disciplined at the back and, as I mentioned before, we found that, along with the conditions, difficult to cope with.
It was interesting to hear Sky talk constantly about how the game needed a strong referee, and thankfully it had one in Mike Dean. I’m not one for conspiracy theories regarding officials, but I think he got a couple of important decisions wrong. Firstly, that was a penalty on Theo Walcott. Willian clearly kicks his standing leg, and in an era when it’s perfectly acceptable for a forward to knock a ball past a goalkeeper, start to fall and initiate contact with the keeper on the way down to get a spot kick, this was absolutely stonewall.
Then there was the Mikel on Mikel Arteta incident. It should, at least, have been a yellow card, and we’ve seen reds given for a lot less than that. Yes, it was two players going for the ball, but the Chelsea man missed and went studs first into Arteta’s shin, snapping his shin pad in the process. In the Sky studio Carragher thought it was a red, Gary Neville was having none of it, saying it was a genuine attempt to win the ball.
However, as pointed out on Twitter by Sarah Shephard, the difference is that Arteta’s studs are going towards empty space, whereas Mikel is always going to connect with the opponent if he fails to win the ball. At the very least it should have been yellow, it’s amazing that he got away without even a talking to from the ref. As for Mourinho’s post comments about football being a ‘game for men’, it’s beyond transparent but you can be quite sure if an Arsenal player had made a challenge like that on one his players, he’d be bleating like the hypocrite he really is.
I don’t know how accurate the stats which, apparently, show our abnormally low win percentage under Mike Dean are, but in tight games small things make the difference. A penalty, for example, could have been enough to seal the deal. I get why people get angry with him but I also think it becomes a convenient way of not addressing our own issues at times.
Ultimately, we have to look at ourselves and our own performance. Giroud had the chance to make Dean an irrelevance this morning and failed to take it. It doesn’t mean you can’t question some of his decisions, but we can’t lay all the blame at his door by any means.
Overall, it feels like a missed opportunity. Chelsea weren’t all that and we spurned the opportunity to score the decisive goal, so questions will remain over our ability to do it in the big games. Until we start winning them, that’s going to be something of a monkey on our backs.
However, as we go into Christmas in second place, on goal difference, with the same points as Liverpool, I think we’ve got to look at our lot and be pretty content. I certainly wasn’t expecting us to be in this position at the start of the season, and at some point we were always going to have a period when we dropped points.
It’s 2 from 9 in recent games, so it’s up to us to put it right, and quickly. If you look at our next 7 league games (West Ham, Newcastle, Cardiff, Villa, Fulham, Southampton, Crystal Palace), you have to think it’s the kind of run that we could take a lot of points from. We need to take a lot of points and build momentum going into that crazy February/March run of fixtures which are really very challenging.
We’ve dealt well with this level of opposition so far this season, and I expect us to do so again. There’s no real time to dwell on what might have been from last night, we have to move on and win the next one. We’ve got ourselves into a good position this season, it’s time for some consolidation, get some results and performances under our belts, which can go somewhat to rebuild a bit of the confidence which seems a bit lacking in recent weeks.
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There’ll be the usual Christmas message tomorrow from the disembodied head of a former player, but for now, I hope you have a nice, relaxing time, whatever you’re doing and wherever you spend it. Normal service with resume on the 26th with the West Ham game.
Until then
