It is easy to say that all the other players should display his passion and leadership qualities but the truth of the matter is that some players are natural leaders whilst others are not. It is unlikely that a side will have a whole squad full of leaders who know how to drive others on

Match Review – Tottenham 2 Arsenal 1 – Premier League

Well that’s all folks, the title dream is all but over. This is the first time that I have said that this season and I must say it feels quite horrible. We had to beat Tottenham at White Hart Lane to stand any chance of keeping up with Chelsea and perhaps even Manchester United.

I was very happy about the opening eight minutes of the game, we had dominated possession and were swarming around their penalty area. Tottenham have been a good attacking, passing side this season especially at home but they could not get on the ball at their own ground but typical of much of our defending this season we gift them a goal with their first attempt on goal.

I never, ever want to see that goal again. Not because it was against us, not because it was Tottenham, who scored but because Sky thought it would be great to show the same stupid goal 1,235 times in the space of five minutes.

To be honest, I think the goal has been blown way out of proportion. Manuel Almunia should have caught it but we know that many goalkeepers in this day and age punch the ball. Many of the worlds best goalkeepers elect to punch rather than catch, so blaming him for that is neither here nor there, even if the catch would have been the better option.

David Seaman would have come and caught that, held it in his chest 99 times out of 100. Almunia got sufficient distance on the punch but his drop to the floor was somewhat unnecessary, even that fall wasn’t the end of the story. Almunia started to step back towards his line as Rose struck but Sagna was behind him and couldn’t get out of the way. Rose’s shot, merely a controlled volley that was heading towards the middle of the goal went through Almunia, over Sagna and into the unguarded net. It wasn’t like Rooney’s volley against Newcastle a few years back, it was in the middle of the goal so I wish everyone would stop waxing lyrical about the ‘wonder strike’

Manuel Almunia should have done better and he didn’t. 1-0 against the run of play.

Tottenham who were already camped in their own half before the goal had been presented with a game plan. Stop Arsenal from passing through the middle and hit us on the break.

Before the game I expressed my concerns over the lack of creativity in the side in the game against Wolves. I wondered how the team would do in a difficult game away to Tottenham without Cesc and Arshavin. The team that took to the pitch last night kept the ball very well under intense pressure from the Tottenham players but when it got to the Tottenham penalty area the players kept bumping their heads against a brick wall. It reminded me of something Dennis Bergkamp had said in a recent interview.

Bergkamp said:

“Arsenal always have more possession of the ball than the opponent. You don’t see often a bad pass in the midfield. But in the final third, often it’s a bad decision. That’s so strange,”

This has been the case in recent weeks, we have lacked that bit of spark and imagination. It has been our fantastic attitude and desire that has got us through against the likes of Hull City away, Stoke City away and Wolves at home. Cast your mind back to the Blackburn Rovers game at the Emirates. We started with Robin Van Persie, Andrey Arshavin and Cesc Fabregas and offensively we looked devastating. Few teams in world football could match our strike rate and chances created at that stage. We had a wonderful attacking side but the defensive side of our game was causing us problems. For much of the early part we were more than making up for any shortcomings defensively. With our best offensive players unavailable we are not producing the attacking qualities that we saw in the early season but the defensive mistakes are still there.

It is simply unfeasible to think that you can have players content to sit on the bench who can come in and produce the same quality as your best.

Barcelona are probably the best team in world football but you remove Messi, Xavi and Iniesta from their side then their offensive will suffer. This is not an excuse, this is fact. Fact that we have to deal with.

Tottenham had problems of their own, they were missing key players and that could well explain why they hardly managed to keep possession for more than a few minutes without handing it straight back to Arsenal.

Any doubts about having our most important players out injured were answered when Thomas Vermaelen went down like a heap after only 18 minutes with a calf problem. A calf problem that rules him out for the remainder of the season. If it hadn’t become so tragic, it would be funny. It is no laughing matter. If the season started as it has in the last few weeks then we wouldn’t have any first team members to choose from in December.

I thought Denilson had moved the ball around very early and very effectively. I have read many negative comments about Denilson’s display and quite frankly I do not get it. Abou Diaby was below par and has been over the last few weeks. I had said recently that when Diaby controls the midfield, we usually win. That seems to have been the kiss of death as his high performances have dropped. He produced an inconsistent performance last night, winning the ball well at times and then giving away possession a little too easily on other occasions.

Tottenham didn’t pose much threat in the first half, because Arsenal had most of the ball. The trouble is Arsenal didn’t cause any problems to Gomes in the Tottenham goal either.

Just after the half time break, the defensive weakness was once again exposed. I am sure Wenger would have spoken to his players, told them what they needed to do to put it right in the second half but all that went straight out of the window when Jermaine Defoe who was having a very quiet evening played a wonderful defence splitting through ball to Gareth Bale and the left sided player finished very well. Unfortunately for Arsenal it was not all about good work from the opposition. Three out of the four were at fault for the goal. I could go into all the individual errors but its been done so many times already.

The communication wasn’t there, the organisation was absent and it cost the team. Had the score stayed at 1-0 then anything could have happened, especially with Theo Walcott and Robin Van Persie on the bench.

I have to join in the praise for the performance of Sol Campbell. A giant on the pitch, and ran his heart out. All the usual cliches but all the appropriate words for his display. You can see the passion and desire he has. At 35 years old he should be proud of pulling out a performance like that, in that atmosphere with all that pressure on his shoulders.

It is easy to say that all the other players should display his passion and leadership qualities but the truth of the matter is that some players are natural leaders whilst others are not. It is unlikely that a side will have a whole squad full of leaders who know how to drive others on. Cesc Fabregas, William Gallas and Robin Van Persie are all players who play with their hearts on their sleeves where as you could argue that Robert Pires may not have that very same quality yet you would not doubt his contribution to a team.

Speaking of contributions to teams. I had almost forgotten how good a certain Robin Van Persie was. How do you take a player of that quality for granted. I had been watching us pass the ball from back to front without anything different, anything incisive and then Robin’s first or second touch was a delightful Cruyff turn which completely sold his marker. That piece of magic instantly stood out and made me realise what we have missed, not only for the 70 minutes of the game but for five months of the season.

Out of the leading strikers for the top clubs it was our own Van Persie who missed half the season. Manchester United have seen how costly it has been losing their main forward in recent weeks. But I have already made this point, so do not need to go there again.

How Robin Van Persie could produce that kind of comeback after missing so much of the season is beyond me. Wenger said before the game that Robin looks like he hasn’t been away and it wasn’t joking.

Heurelho Gomes came to life when Van Persie entered the fray. Van Persie’s chest and volley was fluid and wonderful, Gomes matched it. We have missed Van Persie’s left footed thunderbolts from a dead ball and his only effort was arrowing towards the top corner before the Brazilian flew to meet it and parry over the bar. Breathtaking save.

Gomes also denied Sol Campbell from close range. On another day, Campbell could have had a brace against his former club.

Van Persie was involved in Arsenal’s late consolation goal, after he brought the ball under his control and fed Walcott on the right, Bendtner was on hand to tap in his ninth in eleven games since returning from injury. A fantastic strike rate.

It wasn’t enough, it was too late and Tottenham held on for their first league victory in over ten years. They celebrated as a lower league side would do in an FA Cup giant killing cup tie and that just shows the difference between the two sides. They have already released the DVD which really makes me proud that I support the correct half of North London.

The players attitude is under question today and I am not sure I quite see it like that. Wenger himself alluded to it so it could well be true but I thought the problem was more to do with the lack of offensive quality on the night. Sol Campbell had the right attitude but he was never going to do a drag back on the edge of the area and slide a runner in. Clichy was never going to bend a free kick into the top corner. Arshavin and Cesc could and they were not available whilst Van Persie’s fitness only allowed him a minimal time on the pitch.

Our squad depth has been questioned by all and sundry but I am sure if I asked even the most pessimistic of Gooner he or she would have said that Silvestre would have been an ok option at sixth choice. (1. Gallas, 2. Vermaelen, 3. Campbell, 4. Djourou, 5. Song and 6. Silvestre)

How many players are you supposed to allocate for two positions? Eight? Ten? What if our injury situation at the back got even worse? It is ridiculous to suggest that Wenger should have expected this crisis. Sagna and Eboue have been pretty much fit all season but if they had been crocked like Clichy and Traore, Gibbs etc should we be thinking of adding another two in the summer?

What is vital is figuring out what on earth is happening with our players. Working out why we have by far the worst injury list in the league. An average injury list would have seen us as champions this season, that I have no doubt but it is not average and we are not champions. That is life.

I am very proud of the way we have dealt with so many injuries. To last the season with these problems and still be in the fight with five games to go shows that the squad is in fact very strong and not weak. The only real positive to having so many injuries is that it makes the younger and fringe players stronger, it gives them more games to develop and improve.

Today we can let Tottenham have their day in the sun, they are striving to be in the position that we are in. A place in the Champions League and that still looks very difficult for them.

For Arsenal, we have made strides forward this year, it has been a disappointing ending to an up and down season but at least we were in the thick of it until the end. We are on an upward curve unlike some of our rivals so as long as we can keep hold of our key performers and add to the squad in the summer then we should not be downhearted.

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