Arsenal got their busy Christmas schedule off to the worst possible start on Saturday with a 1-0 defeat at Sunderland. But worst of all, and a major sin for an Arsenal side under Wenger, Arsenal rarely looked like scoring.
There was an early shot by Rosicky which was saved and a chance for Eduardo after a good run by Song and that was it in the first half. A couple of crosses flashed across the area in the second half and a half-chance for Arshavin after a good ball from Song and that was about it. Way below par for Arsenal this season, considering that the goals have been flying in.
The absence of RvP is obviously going to be used as an excuse but it was clear to see we were lacking a spark in attack. It's not just his goals but his contribution to our overall play that we missed. We also lacked a real physical presence in attack and finished the game with Walcott, Arshavin, Vela, Nasri and Cesc on the pitch. Bags of talent but not really the most physically imposing forward lines.
Their goal was the kind of goal Arsenal concede. Corner comes in, nobody really wins it, it bounced off one of their players at the back post and fell perfectly for Darren Bent who smashed it in. Vermaelen was marking him, or meant to be. He was also marking the Wolves player who scored their goal from a corner a few weeks back. And like then Almunia didn't really do anything this time either. He wasn't really at fault but he didn't really do anything. We had a decent shout for a penalty but it was the type you don't really get away from home. And that was it. Bit of a limp performance really and reminded me of a typical post-interlull performance.
Arsene Wenger has had some interesting things to say about the game here and here. Usually Wenger blames the sun the moon and the stars before laying any fault at the feet of the players but that first link says:
"I believe, maybe, we didn’t realise enough the importance of the difficulty here.
“We were much better at Man City, we were much better at Manchester United than we were today that is for sure. Today we were not good enough, I don’t deny that."
I agree that this is the first time we have been really poor despite those two other defeats, but more significantly in his comments last season and for the past few it has been all "we are learning" and "we are still young" and not often enough has Arsene said straight up we were not good enough. Perhaps he no longer considers this team "young" and wants to see some return for his faith. I know the fans do.
Also worth noting in the second link:
"For me, the big season is with Arsenal, not the World Cup," he said.
"We don't pay players to go to the World Cup - we pay them to do well for Arsenal. The first pride of a man is to do well for the guy who pays you."
There has been a bit of talk that for the young squad we have our wage bill is surprisingly high, third to Chelsea and Man Utd. Again perhaps Wenger now wants some return on his huge investment. Again, I know the fans do.
It's a real change in attitude from the manager. I will be very interested to see if anything else changes in the future.
Arsene said today that Kieran Gibbs is back for tomorrow's game but nobody else is yet fit but more on that tomorrow.
Also today Stan the Man has taken himself ever so close to the 30% threshold after buying ten more shares. I wonder what the gameplan is here, I really do. If it is a full takeover just do it. If not, why the small purchases? We shall see in the future no doubt.
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