There is a justifiable argument to suggest that Denilson was at fault for all three goals. After Nani’s unbelievable bit of skill to leave Nasri and Clichy standing around looking as gormless as the Chuckle brothers
It’s late on Sunday evening and last time I wrote about a defeat (coincidentally Man Utd (a) earlier this season) I was crucified by a lot of readers for supposedly being reactionary and overly negative. Well, I suggest you brace yourselves for some unpleasant reading because if you thought I was angry then, you’ve seen nothing yet:
No better place than to start with our very own number one…
The fall of Jens Lehmann:
August 12th 2007: Lehmann miskicks a straightforward backpass from Gael Clichy which results in David Healy giving Fulham a 1-0 lead. Arsenal fight back to win 2-1 and the German’s blushes are spared.
August 19th 2007: With Arsenal 1 goal to the good in the second half at Blackburn Rovers, Lehmann spills what should be a fairly comfortable catch from a David Dunn shot to cost the gunners 2 points.
Lehmann is then dropped. Germany’s number one makes only a few fleeting appearances during that entire season before being sold. During this season, Lehmann set a national team record of not conceding a goal for 681 minutes in a friendly against Switzerland in March. Lehmann goes on to have a decent Euro 2008 as Germany finish runners up with him playing every minute of every game.
Almunia’s legacy.
Saturday August 22nd 2009: Arsenal cruise to a comprehensive 4-1 victory over Portsmouth but suring the game, Manuel Almunia fails to deal with a cross allowing Kaboul to get the away side’s consolation goal.
Saturday August 29th 2009: With Arsenal 1-0 and in control at Old Trafford, Manuel Almunia comes charging out of his goal committing a needless foul on Wayne Rooney who not only was running away from goal but allow did not have the ball under control. Manchester United convert the penalty and go on to win the game 2-1. The winner coming through a Diaby own goal from a cross that Almunia could have come out and claimed.
Saturday September 12th 2009: At the end of a cagey first half, an off-target header from Manchester City’s Micah Richards hits the post and ricochets off Almunia’s back to give the home side a 1-0 lead. Manchester City end the game only having had 3 shots on target but win the match 4-2.
Sunday December 13th 2009: A simple cross into the penalty area sees the Arsenal goalkeeper misjudge the flight of the ball and weakly palm it straight to Dirk Kuyt who makes no mistake in giving Liverpool the lead. Thankfully, Arsenal turn it round and win 2-1.
Wednesday December 16th 2009: With the game at Turf Moor level at 1 a piece, Almunia dives and misses a cross which slides under his body into the path of Steven Fletcher who has an easy finish. The goal is wrongly ruled out for offside much to the relief of the Spaniard.
Saturday 9th January 2010: As Arsenal press for a winner against Everton in the snow, Steven Pienaar suddenly finds himself in the clear and one-on-one with Almunia. The Spaniard makes the decision an easy one for the South African as he flops to the ground allowing the Everton man to delicately chip the ball into the net. The game is ultimately drawn 2-2.
Sunday 31st January 2010: At 0-0 against a very committed and attacking United team, Nani skips through three Arsenal players – none of whom attempt anything resembling a tackle – before chipping a cross to the far post. As the ball is in the air, the 6’4″ Almunia reaches into the air and manages to inadvertedly palm the ball into the back of the Arsenal net. Arsenal go on to be humiliated as the Champions of England run riot in a 3-1 win. Late in the game, Almunia miskicks the ball straight to a United player but is fortunately not punished.
Manuel Almunia has never won an International cap.
Manuel Almunia somehow remains Arsenal’s number one keeper despite a string of errors no other keeper in league would have made with such regularity. Goodplaya in his fantastic post-match blog questioned how many other keepers would have made the same mistake Almunia did from Nani’s cross and even suggested that Almunia would struggle to make the starting XI of any other team in the division. I find it hard to disagree based on the damning evidence I’ve put to you above.
Credit where it is begrudgingly due
As much as I hate them, it cannot be denied that Manchester United tactically outclassed us. There was no good fortune about this result and some could even argue that a 3-1 scoreline didn’t even come close to doing them justice such was their overwhelming superiority up until the 85th minute. I take no pleasure in saying this at all but it is true.
No Pun required. He’s just awful.
Once again, that fraud of a footballer Denilson brings shame to the Arsenal shirt and yet again his defenders will be out in force to try and justify his continued inclusion in the starting line up. This despite being the worst player on the pitch in a game that also featured Wes Brown!
There is a justifiable argument to suggest that Denilson was at fault for all three goals. After Nani’s unbelievable bit of skill to leave Nasri and Clichy standing around looking as gormless as the Chuckle brothers, he had the simple task of sidestepping the one player one the pitch who wouldn’t even attempt any sort of challenge on him before putting in his cross and we all know what happened next. One of the arguments in favour of Denilson I constantly hear is about his positioning and how he is some kind of expert in stopping attacks. If a player of Nani’s limited ability is able to pass him with as little effort as was required then that argument is null and void. For the second goal, Wayne Rooney is somehow able to have a free run through the centre of of the pitch without a single Arsenal player around him. I cant say I was surprised when replays showed the closest Arsenal player to him was our very own Brazilian maestro who ambled along a good few paces behind him in what looked like a token gesture. In very much the same way he did last week against Sidebe so he’s got previous when it comes to this. Of course, you’d have thought he’d learned his lesson and maybe, just maybe, bust a gut to try and stop Park from making it 3-0. But alas, you’d be expecting too much from the worst player to play for Arsenal in living memory. I include John Jensen and David Hillier on that list because at they would look like they were making some kind of effort. Denilson was a disgrace against United and every game he continues to turn out for the gunners is just a sad indictment of the team we now are.
Of course, I fully expect the stat warriors to come out in his defence once more but seeing as stats are never compiled for negative things players do on a pitch such as failed attempts at tackles, number of times beaten by dribbles from the opposition, number of 50-50s lost out on and failure to keep track of opposition players he is supposed to be marking then there is no balance to your nonsensical argument (that is ultimately proven wrong in games like this one) and you can stick your stats where the sun doesn’t shine.
No case for defence
But Denilson and Almunia are not the only culprits today. If anyone else had bothered to show up then maybe their flaws might have gone unnoticed. The defenders and the entire defensive side of the game – or lack thereof – almost became a laughing matter at the end. As fun as it is to see Gallas and Vermaelan get on the scoresheet, I’m becoming more and more concerned at their complete lack of defensive discipline. With that clown playing behind them too I feel they should certainly be doing a great deal more in their supposed set posi
tions. After Pienaar’s free run to goal some weeks back, you would have hoped that the manager would remind our CENTRE BACKS of their responsibilities rather than allowing them to continue to maraud up and down the pitch as if they’re playing playground football. Neither was anywhere to be seen as United launched the their counter attacks for both the second and third goals. It’s all well and good trying get more goals but as defenders surely your number one priority is to prevent the opposition scoring. I’d rather score less and concede none than see us get opened up in such humiliating fashion.
Out of tune
That said, after praising the team for their defending against Villa on Wednesday, it turns out that no-one in the team was willing to put the work in against United. I’d be interested to know how many tackles and interceptions were made during the game by Arsenal players because it looked like very few from where I was sat. Much like the aforementioned centre halves, Alex Song seemed to totally neglect his duties as a holding midfielder as was more often than not in attacking positions trying (and failing) too hard to be a goal-scoring hero rather doing the job he was supposed to. As critical as I will continue to be of Denilson until his useless self is sent packing, Song was also very much at fault for allowing the United players such freedom to run at the Arsenal goal.
Left Behind
I am left scratching my head as to how we have gone from the left back position going from one of our strongest areas on the pitch to one of the weakest in just a couple of years. I’d like to give Clichy the benefit of the doubt and say he isn’t match fit but when he’s even allowed Darren Fletcher to get some joy down that flank you really are left to wonder what has happened to Gael as a player. Allowing Nani to look like some kind of world beater in the first half made for painful viewing and the young Frenchman didn’t improve a great deal in the second half.
On the front line.
An ever so tiny consolation to take from the game was that apparently Arsenal have now reached the 60 goal mark in the Premier League faster than anyone in the history of the league. Given how powder puff the attack was and the insistence on trying to play without a recognised striker, getting on the scoresheet at all was a miracle. Rosicky and Nasri were both peripheral. Both players are remarkably similar in their styles and almost seemed to cancel one another out. Both are supposed to be link up players but with no-one to link to, they both because totally redundant. Arshavin was far more involved than he has been recently but he wont be a centre forward for as long as he has a hole in his backside. Which will be forever in case you are wondering. The two aren’t correlated however. It’s just a weird metaphor I’ve chosen to use in order to make a point. I digress. Bendtner make negligible impact when he came on an the other fraud in Arsenal colours Theo Walcott at least tried to make couple of runs. Unfortunately, but not unexpectedly, failing to keep control of the ball when doing so. Fabregas struggled which meant the rest of the team did. This is probably the most damning observation of all as it just proves Arsenal’s current over-reliance on him to carry the team.
No substitute for quality
A non-Arsenal fan pointed out to me this evening that the quality was telling between the substitutions made by both teams. While at 3-0 up United were able to bring on Valencia and Berbatov – 45million pounds of talent – and Giggs – man who has won the title more times than John Terry has paid for abortions, we could only muster Eboue, Walcott and Bendtner. Players that would struggle to strike fear into the hearts into the opposition if they were an under 7 girls team. You could argue the Arsenal play ever so slightly improved with their introduction but you could also argue that with the job emphatically done at 3-0, the visitors were able to take their foot off the pedal allowing for a finale that the fantastical and deluded among the Arsenal faithful will try and tell you we can take positives from. These same people will conveniently ignore the fact that United still had chances to extend their lead during this final part of the game.
Who’s the Daddy?
Speaking of the deluded, was I crazy to think that we could actually win the title? Can I still cling onto that last shred of hope? I always will until it is mathematically impossible but you’d be crazy not to accept the unlikeliness of such a fantasy actually coming true. This season we’ve been schooled at home by both United and Chelsea both in equally humiliating manner in which very few positives can be taken. I’ve read elsewhere something about ‘starting brightly’ and how that can be a positive. Well, Bolton started brightly against us but that doesn’t mean they are better than us. And this what it ultimately boils down to at the end of the day. We are quite simply not as good as United or Chelsea. Trying to argue otherwise is futile given the results in recent encounters (Last four games just at home against both have seen no wins and four defeats with just 3 goals scored and 12 conceded). Maybe we deserved more at Old Trafford but ultimately we still lost and cant continue to make excuses. The sooner we accept we are still some way off being as good as either team, the less heartache we will experience when our so-called championship contenders let us down yet again. Here’s to a fun day at Stamford Bridge next Sunday…
EXAMPLE OF AD POSITION
