Even Gilberto was below par

Sheffield United 1 Arsenal 0

I’M going to go against the grain a little on this one and in doing so probably get a fair old slating. Agreed: we were shocking, we deserved to lose and we didn’t create nearly enough. But I don’t think this result was as consistent with the rest of our away failures as many have suggested. Although the result was the same (limp defeat against a supposedly inferior side), for me the root of the problem was fairly different to the norm.

I feel we created nothing because we were simply unable to control the ball properly on an increasingly cut-up pitch. As time went on we let the problem swirl around our heads like a recurring nightmare and the problem became more and more exacerbated. By the end the confidence of virtually every player on the ball was utterly shot. What they normally do with their eyes closed was suddenly impossible. Not shoot enough? I didn’t see us even get the ball under control to have a pop. The fact that every player was below par suggests this was not the norm.

This is by no means an excuse, rather it is a criticism. We are too used to playing on carpets and we allowed the bad pitch to affect us more than Sheffield United did. They also benefited from not having to chase a goal as it deteriorated, which was utterly vital (see the side column). A lot of people on other blogs have criticised effort, but I don’t really think that’s fair. I’ve never been afraid to say when I have not felt we were trying hard enough but for me tonight was all about the team collectively having a complete off night after a promising start. And every team - including Manchester United (at West Ham) and Chelsea (at Boro and recently at home to Reading and Fulham) - have them.

Huge credit must also go to Sheffield United, who were excellent all night. In spite of our wretchedness, they defended so well that that extra second we were taking on the ball was crucial. I’m not for a second saying we don’t have a very obvious problem away from home and I’ll analyse where we stand in the long run tomorrow. But I just don’t think tonight fitted into those failures as obviously as many others do.

ARSENAL entered 2006 on a nine year low. Insipid away form meant not only was the title gone, but Champions League qualification looked a real ask. Even more worrying were the performances of big name players who were supposed to be leading the youngsters Arsene had blooded. We were leaving Highbury but looked like doing so with a whimper. Not even a Champions League tie with Real Madrid offered cause for optimism. In short, most fans feared a battering.

Wretched at the start of the year

January

ON January 3 we followed a 0-0 at Villa with another blank, this time against United at Highbury. The performance was ok but we were just relieved not to lose. It was more a case of pride salvaged than gained. By now talk of Henry heading to Barcelona was in full swing, but while everyone else seemed certain he was off, many fans were far less certain.

Then came the news that Henry was staying. But it did little to dampen the speculation and despite the player’s assurances, it was to be months before he finally formally committed his future to the club. Cardiff were duly dispatched in the FA Cup but with the transfer window open Gooners everywhere were agreed that transfers were needed and needed now. It was never more obvious than in the Carling Cup semi at Wigan, where we were awful and went down to a goal ten minutes from time. Gilberto was wretched and Hleb nowhere near fitting in to his new side. And Freddie was yet to score in the league and Pires was frequently anonymous, particularly away from home. Cesc was having to compensate for the hapless Gilberto and it was all very messy. We were also becoming rapidly shafted on defensive injuries.

There was optimism when Diaby, Walcott and Adebayor arrived in quick succession. They appeared to offer genuine potential, though the sudden glut of signings inevitably brought comparisons with George Graham swooping so wretchedly for Hartson, Kiwomya and Helder 11 years earlier. Meanwhile Ashely Cole said:

Buoyed by the new signings (Walcott was not yet confirmed), Arsenal went out and thrashed Boro 7-0. Even Alex Hleb scored. But we were still wretched away from home and a limp 1-0 defeat at Everton followed. Sol was all over the place, Gilberto just appalling and Henry had one of those days as the only man up front. To top it off, Cesc was sent off in the 90th minute. Three days later in the Carling Cup, goals from Henry and Van Persie were all set to take us to our first final under Wenger when in the final minute Sol Campbell totally misjudged a long ball and Jason Roberts scored to take Wigan through. A pattern was emerging. The game also marked Lauren’s last for around a year.

It should have stayed there

With optimism vanishing, Chairman Peter Hill-Wood showed a rare sign of being in touch with the fans when he said:

Martin Keown was brought in to toughen the squad up ahead of the trip to Bolton and there was a definite improvement in commitment. But we still lost 1-0, with Van Persie and Campbell both hitting woodwork to add to the two posts Henry struck in our previous trip to the Reebok.

February

West Ham became the last team to win at Highbury on a low point in our season. Sol cocked-up twice before walking out at half-time, leaving a defence of Flamini, Senderos, Djourou and Larsson. Almost implausibly, it left us praying Kerrea Gilbert’s back injury would heal quickly and thoughts of re-registering Martin Keown as a player even entered minds.

Victory at Birmingham was welcome but then rumours emerged that Alex Song may start in defence against Bolton. It didn’t happen but we still had to rely on a last minute Gilberto equaliser to salvage a 1-1 draw after their early opener. Looking back, it was almost a precursor to early life at Emirates.

On Valentines Day we went to Liverpool without Kerrea Gilbert, Sol Campbell, Pascal Cygan, Ashley Cole, Theo Walcott, Lauren, Gael Clichy, Jose Reyes, Dennis Bergkamp and Robin Van Persie. But those who did travel were utterly awful in as bad a performance as there has been under Arsene Wenger. I gave the boss a zero that night for stubbornly persisting in starting Pires and Ljungberg together away from home and leaving Diaby on the bench.

A pleasant surprise

It all meant we went to Madrid with a sense we were about to be happy slapped around the Bernabeu. Ever the optimist, I said:

My mum’s determination that I cook her a birthday dinner party that night meant that for just the second time ever, I watched a recording of an Arsenal game without knowing the score. OB Odense away in September 1992 was the other by the way. Phones were disconnected, windows blacked out and guests told not to mention the match. Then when I turned on I watched a fantastic Arsenal performance topped off by a magnificent goal from Thierry Henry. From then on things got better. I summed it up:

We returned to form at Blackburn, losing 1-0.

March

Then it was on to Fulham where we won quite neatly 4-1. In the meantime despite being my some distance the most junior person in my department, I had somehow laid my hands on a corporate freebie for the Madrid game. The fact every single colleague of mine at the time were women clearly helped.

The game was beautifully set up and at the back of everyone’s mind was the realisation that if we lost we would have just watched the last ever Highbury night match. The atmosphere in the old stadium was crackling that night and the game was fittingly excellent. Reyes blasted against the bar for us, then Raul hit the post and Jens saved the follow-up with an unbelievable piece of goalkeeping. By the end it was painful to watch and even more so when Robert Pires’ slide rule shot from 60 yards at an open goal fell a yard short. But in the end the whistle went and Highbury rocked for one of the very last times. What a night.

Four days later it was Liverpool at Highbury. On 21 minutes Cesc played in Henry with a pass that had it been an inch to the left or an inch to the right would have been intercepted by one of two Liverpool defenders. Henry picked it up, cut in from the left and then a split second before pulling the trigger he nudged the ball back half a foot away from goal. In doing so, he opened up a few more inches of goal. It was enough to allow him to bend the ball sumptuously beyond Reina for a truly splendid goal. We dominated from then on but were pegged back by a dodgy equaliser. Then Henry collected a horrendous back-pass from Stevie G and netted a deserved winner. It was a real feel good performance.

Charlton were dispatched six days later with minimum fuss and when they were the opposition for the reserves at Underhill the following night, Theo Walcott showed glimpses of his talent, though probably not enough to merit a place at the World Cup. Sol Campbell made a low key return too.

Ahead of Juventus at Highbury all the talk was of Patrick Vieira v Cesc Fabregas. Nine months earlier they had been captain and apprentice, tonight the slight youngster had to win the battle against his old mentor were Arsenal to progress. And he rose to the occasion splendidly, scoring an opener that was unlikely not so much because he scored it but more because the crucial tackle had been on Patrick Vieira and come courtesy of Robert Pires. Cesc then played in Henry for a second that capped almost as fine a night as Highbury had seen in it’s entire 93 years. The sight of two Juve players losing it and seeing red at the end told the story of our domination.

The Pires tackle dominated most people’s thoughts for the next few days. I said:

Old meets new in the North Bank perspex

April

On 1 April I made my final ever pilgrimage to Highbury to see us against Villa. The first had been over 16 years earlier for a regulation Saturday 3pm game in October against Manchester City and now it was time to do it for the very last time. In one sense the fact that for most in attendance this was just another game made it all the more easy to soak up the normality of Saturday at 3pm at the old stadium. I started with lunch at the Chip Inn on Holloway Road, just as I had all those years ago with my late father. We ambled down Drayton Park and for the very last time turned right off it instead of to the left, where the new stadium rose impressively under the Argentina sky.

I used to sit in the Family Enclosure but today it was the North Bank. Reflections on the perspex on the side of the stand created a scene where the old east stand was super imposed onto the new east stand a few hundred yards away. The teams came out and for two minutes we paused to acknowledge the player who had been my boyhood hero all those years ago. The applause in memory of David Rocastle was long and heartfelt.

The Clock End clock reads ten to five on my final Highbury visit

In the event, the class of 06 provided a wonderful show. By this stage in the season Thierry Henry was simply floating on another level. His swivelled and fired in a shot in one movement that cannoned off the bar for Adebayor to score. Then he controlled a Reyes pass five feet in the air and lobbed Sorensen as if it was the easiest thing in the world. For the rest of the half Highbury basked in the lazy spring sunshine that so made it what it was over the years. After the break Henry, Van Persie and Diaby added three more wonderful efforts. As Henry was subbed on 64, Highbury to a man, including the Villa fans, rose to acknowledge his majesty.

For me that afternoon encapsulated why we were leaving the old ground. I said:

The rest of the year will follow. With thanks to the Arseblog archives for help recalling January, for when the Goodplaya records appear lost.

I can do pictures. And captions too.

THOSE of you with eyes will have noticed Goodplaya.com has landed ceremoniously in the 21st century courtesy of a grand redesign. Needless to say, I was not responsible and thanks should instead go to reader Peter Turner for making everything look so cool.

I haven’t thought too much about the Sheffield United game yet but it’s fair to say their approach will be fairly “northern”. By that, you can bet they will be wound-up, will get among us from the first minute and will do everything they can to trouble mad Jens at corners, which is fair enough.

Word is we have a whole host of injuries, with Adebayor, Djourou, Hleb and Walcott joining Freddie, Henry, Eboue, Gallas and Diaby as absentees. A few other players have colds, but that hardly sounds like reason not to go to work to me. So I guess we are looking at a line-up something like: Jens, Hoyte, Toure, Senderos, Clichy, Cesc, Gilberto, Rosicky, Van Persie, Baptista and a n other. Could be Flamini I guess, though Aliadiere could also feasibly start up front.

One thing that has struck me is the morbid fascination SKY seem to have with televising our away games. It’s as if they sense carnage and in fairness they are often right. Including up to next week, TV will have screened nine of our 11 away games and shown just two out of 11 at home.

That’s your lot for now. Review of the year hopefully coming soon.

Watford 1 Arsenal 2

DID you lean against a crash barrier at Barnet on a brilliant July day two and a half years ago? If the answer is yes then like me you remember an absolute howitzer from RVP on his debut in a 10-1 win that had the ignomony of including a Francis Jeffers hat-trick. Yesterday was yet another game where the individual skill of Robin Van Persie proved decisive. He won us three points at Charlton, one against Everton, scored a crucial equaliser against Hamburg, gave us hope where there had been none at Fulham, guaranteed three points against Blackburn and won two last night. Most proved to be crucial goals and all came at a time when we were looking unlikely to score any other way.

If I do say so myself, it was a point I raised months ago when others were doubting his ability to fit into the squad. I said that, firstly, his team play would improve. And I added that him not always being on the same wavelength as the others could in fact prove to be asset when the team as a unit were failing to function.

Yesterday was strange. Whatever our plan was in the first half, it didn’t work. It seemed to me we were fairly content to allow them posession and then we hoped to either catch them on the break or pounce on their mistakes. It was flawed firstly because our shooting boots were not quite on, secondly because to get mistakes out of a team like Watford you really need to pressure them when they have the ball and thirdly because Watford are decent enough (particularly at home) to carve out chances of their own. That was particularly evident against a defence that you would hardly describe as machine like.

Our goal felt like the first corner, flick, header goal combination to come our way since Adams and Bould were in their 20s. It was a lesson that for all the attacking intricacy in the world, a simply worked set-piece can be just as effective. Sadly, we didn’t kick on from there and Tommy Smith became just the second man this season to equalise against us (after Michael Essien). It was a well worked goal, though Kolo Toure will think he probably could have done more to stop the cross coming in and Hoyte’s shank with an outstretched boot was only ever likely to cause more grief than relief.

So the half time report was could do much better. Things continued in the same vein after the break. Watford were more lively, more alert and had more of the play. They always looked capable of grabbing a goal even though they were not creating clear cut chances. We were probing but things just weren’t coming off. And that was why Van Persie’s individual talent proved decisive. Theo Walcott played him in with a delightful ball down the line. He kept onside, twisted his man and finished with a swing of the trusty left boot.

It was interesting hearing Van Persie interviewed. Firstly, he came across as surprisingly modest and secondly he actually answered the questions properly as opposed to responding with the normal footballer crap so beloved by the Sven generation of England players. I have not done playa ratings as I have neither the time nor the material from the match to go into them in depth. In brief though, Jens was good and focused, Hoyte ok but error prone, Clichy better but still a little error prone, Djourou and Toure shaky at times and second half sub Senderos in control on the whole. However whatever way you look at things, if the famous back five had a grave it wouldn’t just be turning in it, it would be positively spinning. Gilberto was busy making important blocks and scoring the opener, Cesc was ok but not at his best, Hleb was involved but not productive, Rosicky was peripheral, Adebayor was good in parts, Van Persie was involved but frustrated until his most excellent goal, Walcott was quiet but excellent on the RVP assist and Baptista was among things.

Our defence still looks very shaky but at least in the space of ten days we have turned two away draws into wins by keeping going until the end. It is some progress. Sheffield United away on Saturday will be another big test.

Enjoy the day. And leaping on the Gunnerblog theme, if everything goes tits up with the family, then just think of this.