Well well well. Football is a funny old game, eh? We played well at Old Trafford and lost, last night we played genuinely badly and won. For all the pain of having to sit through a performance like that I know which I prefer at the end of 90 minutes.
In all my years of watching Arsenal I can’t remember us starting a game quite so disastrously so quickly. From an early Standard corner the ball was headed clear and for some inexplicable reason Eduardo decided to try a back heel to Cesc on the edge of our box. It fell to Standard defender Mangala who held off Cesc’s challenge and drilled it home to put the home side ahead.
“Schoolboy error!”, shrieked Alan Parry on Sky. And while he sounds like a hyperactive, hysterical old drama queen he was right. I have no idea what Eduardo was thinking and trying to play football in areas when we should just stick a foot through it has been a consistent failing in recent times.
Then, before we could even settle, Eboue lost the ball in midfield, they broke forward, William Gallas looked to have tripped their player in the box and the ref gave a penalty. My first thought was that it didn’t look like a penalty and having watched the replay a few times I don’t think there was much contact at all, if any, and if there was it happened outside the box. Still, that really doesn’t matter. Jovanovic stepped up and tucked away the penalty with no problem. 2-0 inside 4 minutes and what a start for young keeper Vito Mannone.
That must have been very tough for the young man. We should have protected him, helped him ease his way into the game, instead he’s picking the ball out of the net twice and we haven’t even played 5 minutes. I think he showed his nerves with a couple of dodgy kicks in the first half but after that you have to say he handled himself pretty well.
The rest of the first half was nothing short of atrocious. I can’t remember the last time I saw us play that badly. Overhit passes, underhit passses, poor control, we were so sloppy in possession it was most un-Arsenal-like. Of course you could mention the kit. If you stick us in a Sp*rs kit chances are we’ll play like Sp*rs. That thing is an abomination and whoever came up with it and whoever approved it needs a very hefty kick up the arse. Please Arsenal and Nike, no more white kits.
Let’s face it, Standard Liege are not a particularly good side and while they didn’t really threaten us at all in the first half after the goals, nor did we make life too dangerous for them. We lost the ball all over the place and just when you couldn’t wait for half-time to come, Abou Diaby seemed to wake up for a moment. He surged past of a couple of Liege players in midfield, drove forward, slipped a nice ball down the outside of the defender for Nicklas Bendtner who finished well to make it 2-1 at the break.
It was a hugely important goal, no question, because until then Liege looked happy enough to sit back knowing the way we were playing we couldn’t break them down with a JCB. The second half started and we almost gifted them a third within 20 seconds, but as time went on you could see the tide turning a little bit. Liege worked very hard but were getting tired. Aaron Ramsey came on for Tomas Rosicky and we started to get the odd on shot on goal in. Ok, they were from distance and not very good shots but we were pressing.
From a free kick on our right we delayed a substitution. Wilshere and Sagna were about to come on for Eboue and Eduardo when Cesc fizzed in his first decent delivery of the night. It went over everyone to the back post, clearly hit Song on the arm, he poked it back and Thomas Vermaelen was there to poke it home. There looked to be more than a hint of offside to the goal as well. But sometimes you need a bit of luck and in recent games we haven’t had that. Moments later a good move saw Eduardo draw a good save from their keeper.
Then a corner from the left evaded everyone before it landed on Eduardo’s knee and went in to make it 3-2. He might not have even played last night but there’s no doubt the Crozilian had an interesting night. He gave away the first, struggled throughout the game, yet popped up with the winner. That knocked the stuffing right out of the Belgians. We should have made it 4 but Aaron Ramsey’s pass to Nicklas Bendtner was typically overhit and the chance went begging. They pumped long balls forward which our defence coped well enough with, the final whistle went and somehow Arsenal had won the game.
Amazing. Now, I don’t say this to be critical, merely to state my opinion, but I thought Cesc, Diaby, Song, Eboue, Clichy and Eduardo played badly last night. Gallas and Vermaelen did well enough at the back while I’d give props to Rosicky, who showed what he can bring to the side, and Bendtner who worked really hard up front, but 6 of the 10 outfield players had stinkers. To come away with three points after that is remarkable. Not bad, don’t get me wrong, I’m delighted, but hand on heart how many of you thought we’d win that game the way we were playing?
They talk a lot about how the sign of a good team is playing badly and winning. Personally I think the sign of a good team is playing well consistently and winning football matches but if this goes some way to instill some belief in the squad that they can underperform and win, that they can overcome a 2 goal deficit and win, then it’s all right with me. I may be wrong but I think this is the first time we’ve come from 2 down to win since that incredible game at the Reebok a couple of seasons ago.
Afterwards Arsene Wenger said:
When you go 2-0 down after five minutes, you know you have a big task in front of you. To win away from home in the Champions League and score three goals will always be tough. We fought back with a goal and then in the second half, when they got tired, we got set-pieces and took advantage of it.
I’m sure the manager knows we got out of jail a bit last night and I suspect he’ll be concerned with some of the performances. We look particularly vulnerable in the left back position at the moment. Gael Clichy’s decision making and positioning are all over the place and when you see average players going at him and beating him it’s a real worry. I think he’ll be a bit worried about central midfield as well. Cesc has been very quiet since his return from international duty.
So while there’s relief all round and positives to be taken from playing like that and winning the game I don’t think it’s unfair to say we need to improve considerably. I know we were missing players. If you look at Arshavin, Nasri, Walcott, van Persie, Almunia, Sagna on the bench then there’s no doubt those players would have made a difference. Yet it’s consistent complaint, isn’t it? “If only we had X, Y and Z back from injury”.
The problem is when X, Y and Z eventually comeback A, B and C end up crocked. So without trying to make this sound like an episode of Sesame Street I’m going to enjoy the win, difficult and all as it was to achieve, and hope for much, much better against Wigan on Saturday.
Till tomorrow when we’ll have a brief preview of that game plus an Arsecast. Have a good one.
