Where to even begin with the shower of the proverbial that we witnessed from Arsenal yesterday, eh? I mean seriously, I have no idea where to even start. Nothing went right. We played terribly. Then, even with most of the 90 minutes of tripe we had to sit through, we still get handed a lifeline by Mark Clattenberg in the shape of a soft penalty, but we conspire to royally bugger that up too via an unfortunate Santi Cazorla slip.
It would have been more than we were worthy of, if truth be told, because we were appalling from start to finish. Before we scored the opening goal we looked sluggish and after we’d conceded the second goal through our own implosion, we were languid, so it’s the least we can expect after a terrible day at the office.
West Brom didn’t even have to be any good. They weren’t. They showed up, pressed with a little more urgency and got their rewards through their endeavours. Bellerin had a poor game and was ball watching for the floated ball to the back post for Morrison to glide over Cech. For the second goal McClean just drifted past his marker to put the ball in to an area in which the abysmal Arteta gave him quite literally a helping hand in to our own goal.
Defensively it was horrendous to watch. At one point in the game Mertesacker played a simple forward ball straight to the feet of a West Brom player to set them up on the counter. Koscienly gave the ball away more times than I’ve seen all season. Bellerin looked like a young player and not the guy who has dethroned Debuchy. Monreal was probably the only player to have a half-decent game.
And therein lies the problem. A ‘half decent’ game. If we’d have had six or seven of our players who’d have turned up and given us a seven out of 10 game, we’d have probably won that match yesterday. I’m not sure a single player got about a six.
Actually, I correct myself, because Alexis looked better and was a threat for most of the afternoon. But you can tell he’s not at 100% because his touch wasn’t quite there at times in front of goal.
To add insult to injury, we’ve also picked up two more injuries, which has pretty much added a bit of cat urine to a sh*t sandwich. If Coquelin is out for any length of time, we have Flamini and then Bielik who are our defensive midfield options. Arteta is also now out with a calf and you have to wonder, given his persistent injury problems, why they manager has continued to put his faith in him. I know he’s a good player and I’m happy he’s in the squad, but he can’t really be relied on in a Championship winning team, can he?
Heh, ‘championship winning team’, sounds fanciful doesn’t it? Yesterday I said that if we’re going to stand a chance of winning the league it’s games like West Brom away that you win. We lost. I’m feeling low. Low because it was a real chance – with hindsight in mind given Moneychester City’s result – to get a bit of daylight between us and them. Forget Leicester and Man United, it’s City who are the one’s who look like you need to finish above them to win the league. But we’re Arsenal and every time we’re handed an opportunity we always seem to bugger it up. Had that Cazorla penalty gone in, then we could chalk it up to a bad day at the office and move on, but another defeat leaves me wondering how on earth this team are going to compete.
I suppose we won’t have to worry about that, if all of the other teams around us keep effin’ up as well. We’ve lost three games this season already, yet we’re still only two points from the top. The curse of November might well and truly do us in, because that’s a draw at home to our local rivals, a shocking display yesterday and on Tuesday we play Zagreb with rapidly dwindling squad numbers. I don’t really even care about the Champions League, but I do care about the Premier League. If Arsene could wrap up some of his players in cotton wool that would be great, but we are running out of bodies, so the same players will be playing in midweek and on Sunday next week. We just have to hope that there is some sort of miracle cure for players like Ramsey and the Ox, because we look like we’re on empty now. It’s catching up with us – all of these injuries I mean – and we look like a beleaguered team. Is that the manager’s fault? Is it the training methods? The lack of rotation? I don’t know and frankly, after a day like yesterday, I don’t really care right now. But I do want to see us get better and apply ourselves more than we did yesterday.
Right, that’s it for me, as I’m nursing a hangover and need some pig. See you in the morrow.
I too feel pig sick at the manner of the defeat but at least City lost also. We were poor against the Baggies but it just wasn’t our day. At least the chance of new signings coming in January looks likely. Let’s just hope we can now go on an unbeaten run and claim top spot.