No hattrick this time: Spurs 2 - Arsenal 1

 My apologies for the super late report; I am now sufficiently not angry to be trusted with an expensive computer for typing up this post. I was hoping to use the format of my previous as a template for future match reports but just for today—also since I have a lot on my chest that I need to spill out—I am going to deviate a bit.

Don’t blame the high line

Arsenal played a very high line and pressed the Spurs midfield, which led to a very open first half since Spurs played a fairly high line as well. The first half was full of very exciting end-to-end football—the score could have easily been 3-4 according to this writer, in Arsenal’s favour of course. Neither Vermaelen nor Dawson seemed to be in control of their defences, a large part of that down to the frenzied pressing and counterattacking of both teams. Arsenal, in truth, did do better—until the first goal was scored—because of their asymmetrical 4-2-3-1, with Cazorla playing inside on the left. Arsenal’s high tempo pressing got them more possession, and seeing how they dominated the midfield, it seemed that it would only be a matter of time before they scored. It wasn’t to be though; Cazorla and Wilshere played well but not as well as earlier games, and the decisive killer pass failed to materialize despite the team weaving pretty patterns in midfield. Spurs looked dangerous on the break; they were constantly looking to involve Bale and Lennon. Call me whatever but their gameplan seemed to revolve totally around Arsenal playing badly and losing the ball. I kept thinking during the match, “Hah, what a crap plan” until they scored, twice.

Image credit www.eplindex.com

Now there has been a lot of scapegoating over the past week, with Vermaelen and Mertesacker coming in for the most stick. I beg to differ because when the center backs are playing a high line to help the midfield dominate possession and create chances, I wouldn’t blame them unless it was a high scoring game and individual defensive mistakes decided the game. For both goals, Spurs were on a fast counterattack with two of the speediest players in the league, Bale and Lennon. For the first, Adebayor made a brilliant run to take Mertesacker out of the play (he ended up playing Bale onside), Vermaelan let him go and had a microsecond to decide if he had to turn and chase Bale—arguably second fastest player on the pitch—or intercept the ball, which he tried to. Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta, who was tasked with picking up Bale in the Arsenal half, can be seen ambling towards the pass instead of busting a gut to get to Bale. Or Jenkinson, who should have been closing down Sigurdsson, who had ample time to pick out a pass in the absence of any pressure. The second goal too came down Arsenal’s right, Jenkinson who backed off apparently having been terrorized by the sight of Scott Parker ambling at 10 km/hr with a football at his feet. By my observation, Parker had about 7 seconds—7 seconds!—to pick out a pass. Admittedly, Monreal could have done have better with tracking Lennon, or calling for help.

In the end, Spurs gambled on Arsenal playing badly and hit pay dirt, while Arsenal gambled on dominating possession and scoring more than Spurs, which didn’t quite pay off. Wilshere and Cazorla had quiet games while Giroud astounded this writer with his lethargy and sulkiness. Giroud’s lack of pace is obvious but one would expect him to make up for it by thinking harder and anticipating situations better, but when you see him realize half a second late that a through ball is coming his way, the act of an expensive phone being chucked at an expensive TV can be forgiven.

Mertesacker did say after the game that the players had been tired and needed a break, which would explain the midfield losing steam faster than usual. So Arsenal having to have played this weekend is probably a good thing; with a good long break hopefully the players will be fresh and ready for the greater challenges ahead. It seems unlikely that Spurs will mess up again while Chelsea, well, Rafa is definitely staying until the end of season so there’s a fair chance that they might. Lets make things easy for ourselves by winning the Champions League!

Arsenal ratings

Szczesny: 5/10

Jenkinson: 4/10

Mertesacker: 4/10

Vermaelen: 4/10

Monreal: 4/10

Ramsey: 5/10

Arteta: 5/10

Wilshere: 5/10

Cazorla: 6.5/10 (for making a concerted effort to turn the game around in the 2nd half)

Walcott: 4/10

Giroud: 3.5/10 (for acting like a spoilt little princess in the 2nd half)

Substitutes

Rosicky: 6/10

Podolski: 5/10