On the up side: Sol and Cesc. Not so good: Theo and Vela
I MADE a rare away day trip yesterday to Stoke. Here are my thoughts.
The opening goal
Fabianski, where were you? It had to be his ball.
From then on…
We very, very rarely looked dangerous for the rest of the half. The conditions were pretty poor, with the pitch playing a lot less well up close than the TV highlights suggested. We’re awful on bobbly pitches. It’s not an excuse, just a truism – yesterday as well as performances a couple of years ago at Wigan and before that at Sheffield United attest to as much.
Distribution
We weren’t helping ourselves with some woeful distribution at the back. Too often Fabianski was going short with balls that were making life difficult for already nervy defenders. Coquelin was struggling to put a foot right at one point and the last thing he needed was being put under pressure from his own teammates.
Sol Campbell.
Rolled back the years to remind us how he’d been the king of the Premiership jungle for so many years. He was a behemoth in the first half and undoubtedly in better shape than in the last year of his first spell at the club. He may have tired later, but for a 35 year old playing his first proper game in however long, that can be excused. I also didn’t think him to blame for the second goal, which was a perfect cross.
The comparison between Sol and Silvestre.
Could not be more marked. Sol is not really any less agile, but while Campbell exudes calm, Silvestre is quite the opposite. We were very lucky not to concede a penalty at 1-0 for what was a very rash challenge in an non-threatening position.
Cesc Fabregas
Lead the team like a true captain. He has developed that Gerrardesque (and dare I say it also Lampardesque) desire to come out on top no matter what. There was one moment where the ball ran away from him in the second half and he crunched (completely fairly) right into a challenge he had only a remote chance of coming out with the ball from. Excellent, inspiring stuff.
If only the same could be said for one or two of his teammates.
Carlos Vela got marginally better after doing absolutely nothing for a long time. It’s all very well doing it on a perfect pitch against second rate opposition on a nice night in front of a full house at the Emirates in September but at some point there needs to be something more. Theo Walcott (returning from injury, let it be said), was woeful. I can’t remember him skinning a man once and really, that needs to be what he does. Both also looked very wet and cold and didn’t really go in for challenges like Cesc did. Disappointing.
After we equalised.
We still didn’t do enough going forward. Stoke always looked threatening and other than a Cesc drive we created very little. We needed to score before they did and in fairness to the manager he went for it. The problem was the players lacked a little bit of something, urgency perhaps.
When their second goal came
Denilson’s attempt to chase the man on the wing reminded me of one of those early football computer games where you’re a crap team and you’re chasing a good team. It was painful to watch.
Had the goal for 4-1 been allowed.
It would have flattered them quite a lot.
Delap’s throw-ins
I’ve no objection to them in principle. If you can do it, why not and as the Stoke fans took great delight in reminding us at 3-1, it’s not “all they do”.
But I am a lot less sure about the towel business and the 30 seconds or more it takes for the throw-in to happen. Firstly, supposing we wanted to bring on a towel every time we got even the most innocuous free-kick to dry the ball? I doubt we’d be allowed to. And yet it’s not like you can’t very well throw the ball when it’s wet.
My next gripe concerns the referee, who would point to his watch as if he was stopping it every time we kicked up any fuss. Why when a goalkeeper takes too long over a goal-kick is he yellow carded and yet Delap can get away with it time and time again? And surely is the answer not then for goalkeepers of a side in no rush to decide they want to dry the ball every time they get a goal-kick? The time might get added on (probably not) but the aim of giving their team a breather and taking momentum away from the opponents would at least be achieved – and without threat of a yellow card.
And finally, if every time we got a free-kick and Cesc Fabregas decided he needed a minute or two to “get his head in the right place”, would that be equally cool with the ref?
The youngsters
Coquelin struggled out of position, Traore is a little fortunate with Gibbs’ injury because I think the latter is a markedly better defender right now, Emmanuel-Thomas was decent on the ball but didn’t really look comfortable with where he was playing and Eastmond was OK, messing up a few things but also showing a nice eye for a pass on occasions.
The Stoke experience
Wasn’t great. Getting out of the car park (just as is the case at Bolton) is an hour long plus absolute nightmare. Their empty seats were depressing, their fans quiet in the first half but loud enough when they sang. The ground is a reminder that to bracket the Emirates with all new grounds is ridiculous because Stoke’s is utterly charmless. The lighting in the away end bar area was so low it felt like the twilight zone.
The team selection
I’m kind of with Arsene here. I think he genuinely worried that some of the defenders could be out of Wednesday if he played them. Otherwise I think we’d have seen a bit more experience in there. With the players fit to start, only Rosicky in for Eastmond could have made the midfield stronger. Up front, Walcott needed a game, you have to give the likes of Emmanuel-Thomas a chance and Carlos Vela should have been wanting to grasp his with both hands. So I’ve got no real gripes and who is to say the first choice 11 available would have won away to a mid-table Premier League side with a very decent home record? It was always going to be tough.
And now…
It’s time to get behind the team. They’ve been great of late and who would have thought we’d go into this run of games in this position not so long ago? Come on you Gunners!
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