An angry Gooner

I don’t think I’ve used the F and C word so much in one night as I did after the Wigan game.

Going into the game I was feeling smug and quite confident that Arsenal would mop the floor with Wigan. We’ve been on an amazing run recently, with a ‘blip’ against QPR. After that QPR display we were told by Wenger and certain players that we would learn from it and it was a one-off. No more frustration for the Gooners!

One of the said players, Theo Walcott, explained that consistency is the key, blah blah blah!! So it was ironic that it was he that had another bad game. I suppose he’s consistent there! Someone joked on Twitter that maybe Theo should swap sides at half-time and play for Arsenal in the 2^nd half. He can be so frustrating because he shows some great pace and lovely skills at times but then other times there is nothing!

After 10 minutes, all the happy feelings I had and the words I’d read and listened to was just fluff in my head. Arsenals were 2-0 down after some bad defending and a rare mistake from Wojciech in goal. Arsenal had been in this territory before, we were 2-0 down at the Emirates to Villa in the FA cup and Sp*rs (5pur2 J) and managed to not only come back in those games but go on to win them.

I was feeling pretty relaxed and our ‘being 2-0 down and still winning’ consistency would continue, especially with 80 minutes to go and the fact that Wigan hadn’t beaten us at The Emirates. The Verminator restored a half smile on my face with what turned out to be a consolation goal. Thomas Rosicky planted a great cross for his namesake team mate to nod past Al Habsi. I called that goal a Tom-Tom goal.

As the 1st half was coming to a close, it dawned on me that Van Persie (my vote for PFA Player of the Year) had hardly touched the ball which also made me think that once he did he would punish all before him. But he was consistently shut out and was made to run about without the ball for most of the match.

The 2^nd half was 45 minutes of frustration! Arsene Wenger summed it up in his post match interview. The team lack cohesion, togetherness and there were too many individuals on the pitch. There was no method to our madness. The players looked to get an equaliser without actually thinking about what was going on.

I didn’t like the reception that Aaron Ramsey was receiving from the home crowd. I admit he hasn’t been playing well of late and he didn’t have a good game against Wigan but moaning at everything he does is not going to get him back to where he can be. Song had another one of them games where passing forward didn’t come naturally to him and he picked up his 9^th Red card of the season.

So, Arsenal lose a game they shouldn’t have (on paper) and the only thing they can do is focus on Chelsea at the weekend. We beat Man City after losing to QPR so that kind of consistency will curb my frustration for another week.

For those of you who haven’t guessed, the F and C words are Frustration and Consistency.

Gavin White

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Comments

[chris from cambridge]

We lost to Wigan because the Wigan manager out played Weneger - who simply just not do tactics..

[zdzis]

Black dawn this time around...
Walcott's inefficiency may not be as simple as that. His performances rely to a rather great extent on how much support can Sagna supply. And Sagna had an off day again. So Walcott again couldn't work as smooth.
The fact that Wigan use this quirky defensive line also posed a distinct problem to the Arsenal front line. It's easier to shut out the wings when you can easily move two players to close the winger down and still have another centre-half to keep the ball away from the goal. So Walcott got double- and triple-teamed, and because he's not the Wizard of Oz, the ball was promptly lost. RVP is not in the same shape he was a month ago, he's no longer scoring from every position. Even his left leg isn't as remarkable - one or two stinging shots is all, but how could he direct them straight at the keeper? That final touch was missing, and with it went the bite that usually made dispossessinbg the rivals a fairly easy job. Arteta's injury actually robbed us of our only chance of taking anything out of the game. Not only did it coincide with Wigan's breathtaking assault, it also meant we lost our key midfield hub. Wenger currently doesn't have any player who could do the same job. The only other is Diaby. Ramsey is still not in shape, although he's not as bad as so many people make him be. Finally, while Benayoun serves us very well and his maturity was one of the few things to relish in that game, we painfully missed another creative attacking outlet. It seems both Chamberlain and Gervinho are not having their best time right now, and this means the only winger in any kind of a shape is Walcott. Which makes defendinh against us a whole lot easier.
Of course we got beaten by a relegation-threatened side again, which justifies comparison to the QPR game, but I think Wigan were very lucky to win this one. Arsenal acted very immature over the Arteta crisis - which is really shocking. Why didn't he sit on the pitch to give the sub time to warm up? Why did he go on to take part in the corner when he felt there was something wrong and couldn't run properly beforehand? Why didn't Song take precautions and act as backup just in case? A clear case of immature, irresponsible behaviour. Our suddenly toothless attack was unable to deal with the deficit, and again, it fell to Vermaelen to restore any chance of survival. And now we can only afford one more blip - a draw with either of the sides we're going to face. Should we draw with Chelsea? or Stoke? I think both Wenger and his players know if they want to stay up they need to win every other game. One bad day too many and we could land 5th, or even 6th. It's still too close a call to be complacent, or even to be out of shape...

[BLC]

how on God's green earth can you possibly attempt to blame Sagna for Walcotts poor performance?? Whilst i appreciate that Sagna was not on his A game he still put in a mighty shift and was left with the job of doing all of the work on the right wing. Walcott how ever did absolutely sod all, all game. whenever Sagna pushed forward, instead of offering himself for the pass, Walcott ran off in between Wigans central defenders. Whats Sagna supposed to do with that? Thru out the game Walcott was reluctant to receive the ball, run at defenders, offer himself for throw ins, or even passes. he was a disgrace, almost as if he didnt want to be playing.

Rambo was terrible on Monday night, he would probably admit that, his touch was bad, his determination wasnt there and he just looked lost. However, rather than jumping on his back and simply saying he's not good enough, people should be asking why is he struggling? Based on Monday night, it was relatively simple, nobody was coming deep to offer their help(with the exception of Rosicky). when Wigan have almost all men behind the ball and none of Arsenal forward line are making moves to create space, what can you expect of Rambo? He's not a messi esc player that can run rings past players, he has vision and when he see's a thru ball opportunity. he'll take it. but with no movement, he is restricted in what he can do.

Theres also a lot of people asking questions about RvP because he isnt scoring in every game now, which quite frankly is rediculous. let us not forget that this is probably the most amount of game that he has played consecutively in a single season.