The Soccer Blog: Wigan 2 - Arsenal 2: Disappointment, but the Sun Came Up Today

Thursday 30 December 2010

Wigan 2 - Arsenal 2: Disappointment, but the Sun Came Up Today

Wigan 2 – Arsenal 2: Disappointment, but the Sun Came Up Today - The Offside - Arsenal blog

« Wigan – Arsenal Match Thread | Home | Wigan 2 – Arsenal 2: Disappointment, but the Sun Came Up TodayBy: Martin | December 30th, 2010
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Well, that really took the wind out of our sails, didn’t it?

I was travelling pretty much all day and late night last night to and from a banquet, so I didn’t get to see the match. So I won’t be doing player ratings or discussing the match in any great detail. And, fair warning, I tend to be a bit more placid and level-headed when I haven’t had to watch a poor Arsenal performance, so know that going in.

It is, obviously, very disappointing. We were in a position to go 2nd place, even on points with 1st place Manchester United, and we really, really blew it. I’ve said a thousand times, and I will make 1,001 — for all the attention lavished on “top of the table clashes” and the “Big 4 table,” what really determines whether you win the league or not is how you do against teams near the bottom of the table, and we have been abject in that regard this year. If we don’t get that sorted out immediately we will not win the league, regardless of how we far against the Manchester teams in upcoming fixtures.

That having been said, the hysterical knee-jerk reactions never cease to amaze me. The exact same people who were saying we were going to win the league on Monday night were calling for Wenger’s job and calling for half the team to be sold on Wednesday. Beating Chelsea does not automatically mean we’re a great team, and drawing with Wigan does not automatically make us a terrible team. I suspect the truth lies somewhere in the middle. And for what it’s worth, I think if someone had told us on Sunday that we would take 4 points from the Chelsea & Wigan matches, we definitely would have taken that.

I said it at the time, and I still feel, that the problem was not with the team selection. The team worked its ass off on Monday night, and those players were tired. Plus it would be idiotic to play guys like van Persie and Djourou, with their injury histories, so soon after a full match — it would be asking for another injury. The team that played, other than Denilson and Koscielny, were all full internationals with a lot of experience. And man for man, we were superior to Wigan. The players who played are responsible for winning that game, and they did not step up. From what I hear we were pretty poor the entire match with the exception of that 3-4 minute span at the end of the second half. And failing to get a third goal to kill off the match with Wigan, the team with the worst goal differential in the Premiership, down to 10 men, is inexcusable.

It does seem like we got a bit unlucky with the refereeing. From what I’m reading the penalty was not a penalty in two respects: (1) it wasn’t a foul; and (2) even if it was a foul, it was outside the box. That’s certainly unfortunate. Between that and the Carlos Vela no-penalty call against Braga, it certainly seems like we’re ending up on the wrong side of a lot of things lately. And supposedly we should have gotten a penalty when Wigan handled Nasri’s free kick in the box. If he does his job properly and doesn’t bottle both those calls, we almost certainly win this match and we’re having a different discussion today. But honestly, for all that, we were up 2-1 against 10-man Wigan, blaming the referee in this instance would be the worst kind of excuse-making. You got terrible refereeing decisions, but great teams find a way to get past them.

Diaby went off injured in the 27th minute. At this point, with his inability to stay fit and the host of young midfielders improving on a daily basis at Arsenal, I think Diaby’s future at the club is in real jeopardy.

Squillaci certainly seems to be living up to the storied #18 shirt at Arsenal, doesn’t he? He looks to be the latest in a long line of sub-mediocre French defenders to wear the shirt — Cygan, Disastre, etc. And we conceded from another frakking set piece. Possibly the most worrying piece of information to come out yesterday was Wenger’s post-match quote: “Nobody looks from the outside to take charge on the organisation side. There is no voice when the focus drops a little bit. You don’t feel that anybody takes charge on alertness and we need to communicate much better than that.”

It makes me want to throw things against the wall. Most teams have that, and it’s called coaching. Get Keown or someone in as at least a part-time coach to work with these guys — “You stand here, you stand here, you stand here. If this happens do x; but if this happens, do y.” I know it’s not an easy thing to do, but honestly, it’s not rocket science. There are ways to make sure that we don’t leave guys unmarked or knock the ball into our own net. We may never be a great set piece defending team, but surely we can look better than the Bad News Bears out there. And considering that we have conceded half our goals from set pieces, improving that would make a huge difference in our standing at the table. But it drives me crazy when Wenger seems confused and blameless over this stuff. If the players aren’t organized and communicating with each other, that’s because they haven’t been coached property to do so, end of story.

Anyway, 2010 is over for Arsenal — not with a bang, but a whimper. We ring in 2011 on Saturday away to Birmingham, a very tricky fixture and one that obviously has a lot of history for Arsenal fans. We’ll probably see most of the same players from Monday, and if they put forth the same kind of effort, we should be able to get full points from that one. Preview for that match coming up tomorrow.

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Category: Arsenal News, Match Review, Wigan

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Tweet « Wigan – Arsenal Match Thread | Home | SairaxI agree with Martin (thank you for posting today for me!) but I'll add a small gripe.

Besides the Diaby sub (which turned out to be a good thing because Jack added a bit of urgency and consistency to our side) Wenger didn't bring on Theo and Nasri until the 83rd(?) minute, which was after Wigan had scored. Why can't he bring on Theo at the 70th minute to kill the game off? Frustrates me to no end. DorbellRosicky was awful. He cannot play in the middle. He was constantly trying these stupid one twos, NONE of which paid off. He is not a string-puller like Cesc. He is good on the ball, but he creates jack squat.
I'll give a pass to Arshavin for this one due to the goals, but really... come on, he can score the odd brilliant goal here and there, but he is not the guy who can inspire the team and lead it to victory. In fact, quite the opposite.Chi-TownGoonerThe last goal was not squillaci's fault... it was fabianski's for being way out of position, he can't judge crosses for shit. Fabianski did not play that corner well at all, he was running around like a chicken without his head. He is a good shot stopper, but I'm scared shit less with every set piece with our center backs and goalie. Honestly, if available we need to pickup Per Mertesacker he will be the towering defensive back that can control set pieces.Homey_MillsI couldn't bring myself to read or write anything after the game until now. But I'll mention a couple of things.
First, this was always going to be a difficult one. I could have looked at the schedule a month ago and said it would be tough. We have a huge one at home where we'll have to play all our best players, and then travel away for a game with only a day of rest. And Wigan had an extra day of rest. I've heard that called a "scheduling loss." Fortunately, it was a scheduling tie in our case.
In the same situation, Man Utd chose to use the same lineup they'd used two days prior. They gave up a late one for a tie. We chose to fully rotate, and got the same result. If the outcome is going to be the same, then I'd rather we rotate. We'll be much better off this weekend, and it's good to give some game action to the 2nd-level players.
Having said all that, I can't say it was really the rotation that did us in. Our advanced players generally did pretty well. I agree that Bendter isn't really a winger, but we still got our two goals. That should be plenty. But in the back, where we used two of the same defenders, and the same goalie... well, that's where we gave it up. Kos and Squizz just aren't that good right now. And unless Djourou is clearly ahead of Squizz now (and hopefully he is), then the problem in the Wigan game was basically down to our regular starters. I know the Wigan guy took a dive to get the PK, but he also undressed Kos, and then Kos stuck his leg out there. That will attract a ref's attention every time.
If we do get Vermaelen back in January, and Djourou stays healthy, then I think we could really have something. If not, then I see stuff like this happening several more times this season.Darren_VAnd for the record, the OG wasn't all on Squillaci. Flaps was waaaay out of position. He seems to mis-judge alot of crosses/free kicks imo. Hesitate and indescive, puttin him into no man's land. See vs Wigan, Chelsea. Hesitated and contributed to Carrol's goal vs Newcastle (not all his fault).
Those are the ones I can think of off the top of my head. And then there is last year's efforts which are painful to think about.PeevishThanks for the reasoned post Martin, it is appreciated by us fans who are disappointed, but realistic about the situation we find ourselves in going into 2011. I'll give you credit for it, even if a lot of it may come from not having watched the game. I only saw the first half myself so that may also be why I have a similar outlook.

Look, our defense sucks. It has sucked for a long time now, and I don't see any reason why it won't suck. And that's probably the single most frustrating thing for me. Why is it that we have a championship worthy attack (yes we miss chances, and play pretty too much, but this IS Arsenal after all), yet have an embarrassingly week defense? And why does AW continue to ignore this? And why do I, and many others, continue to bang their heads against a cold, hard sharp wall over this issue?

I watched a couple of old Arsenal games, from the 97-98 range the other day, and you know what? Our defense was rock solid, but our attack was, in my mind, nowhere near as dominating as our current one. The only difference between now and those glory days was that we finished chances, thanks mainly to Bergkamp's ridiculous skills. I really think thats the one thing we are missing from the attack, a master of his craft who is not afraid to shoot, knowing that 9 times out of 10 he is going to force at least a save, but also knows the moment to pick out a crazy sexy pass. But you know what? Our attackers could stay as attackers without the constant threat of going behind, knowing that our back line was comfortable with the opposition coming onto them hard, and even if they didn't, the PetiViera monster was always going to help out on either end of the field.

But to call the current team rubbish, awful, terrible etc., is just not right. We are just deeply and obviously flawed, and have been for way too long. And our manager gives no indication that HE needs to do something. Which causes frustration. Especially in a season where the title is up for grabs more than I can remember for years.

But as you so well put, 4 points from Chelsea and Wigan is not a disaster by any means. There is a growing feeling that games against Wigan and the like are 'gimme' games, from the fans, and increasingly it seems from the players themselves. Lower teams will take more points of us this season. There I said it. And you know what? They will take points off Man U and Chelski and Man City. Because they are decent teams. And with our defense the way it is, we are not a great team, but a very decent team - and decent teams often beat very decent teams.

And I have never rambled so much in my life. Sorry. But I've typed it, so I will post it dammit, and you will waste your life reading it dammit.MartinThanks. Much appreciated.

Completely agree re: fan overconfidence. Top to bottom, the Premiership is better than it has ever been, and there just aren't many easy wins out there, especially away from home. I don't think I mentioned it on the blog, but it pissed me off to no end after the Manchester United-Birmingham match, when a bunch of people on Twitter immediately started up with the "if we can beat Wigan 5-0, we'll be top of the table!" nonsense. I believe my response was "I think we should worry about just beating a team that beat us last season before we got so arrogant we start talking about winning by 5 or 6." And lo and behold...

What gets to me is the mood swings. It just seems like Arsenal fans have the memory of hummingbirds, and no perspective whatsoever. If we win, all of a sudden we're title contenders and we can beat Barcelona. If we don't win two days later, we're terrible, fatally flawed, 6-8 players need to be sold in January, and Wenger has to be fired immediately. Then 3 days later Arsenal will win again, and the very same people are talking about what a great team we are. I find it confusing and exhausting. Obviously people's moods about the team are going to shift based on the most recent results, but the way people just pinball back and forth from one extreme to the other . . . I just don't get it.PeevishYea totally agree - I have to say, I hope those supporters who disrespect the opposition don't become too vocal and show Arsenal fans in general up in that light - as obviously biased as I am, I really think Arsenal fans, in general, are among the most fair, respectful and well informed fans out there, certainly among the upper tier of teams around. Please dont let the few fans like those you describe make us look like certain other top teams' fanbases, who consistently hold their teams up to a higher standards than the 'minnows' unworthy of their time.

But then on the other side, please don't let us become a group of unwavering all-things-Arsene cheerleaders. We have problems, and Arsene has his faults, and I DO think (as I have said many times) we need to get new (quality) players in, that can play NOW, not in 5 years after loan spells and reserve games, and lose some of the deadweight in the squad, or at least give some of them more worthy competition for their places. But it doesn't make us a shit team, just one that could so easily become better and stronger.

MartinAnd I didn't mean all Arsenal fans, obviously, just a certain vocal subset of them.TheoW14Yeah wigan didnt deserve that point after that dive for the penalty and the nasty red card headbutt...i dont see how you can say that is fair play. And i saw some good things out of that..we should never try to pair chamack and bednter up again :) even though i think they both did their job decently well yesterday, and that Arshavin is alive.........!!!!!!!!! If he keeps scoring spectaculars hell be back to his great form in no time, and we saw Rosisky looking for shots and up for the ball more than he usually does.....and may i restate Arshavin was doing things!!!! I do think he shuldve come of but i think well see the russian back in the line up in no time. One bad thing is i think like Martin Diabys arsenal future is in jeperdy, you cant go out injured in the twenty seventh minute and expect to play again for a long long long time. Djorou is the answer to all the questions though we need him to play him every match untill TVM5 comes back and kos and squillaci and switch off but we need the big man in there...and i dont know about you guys i know Clichy wasnt playing yesterday but i want gibbs better so he can step in for Clichy, because Clichy doesnt know how to mark at allGeorgedb1yea I can't believe how many people think that Wigan deserved anything more than a 1-2 loss and the red card they got... sh*t luck though... and we certainly didn't help ourselves out. I'll be happy to see Wigan off to the championship by season's endSairaxWigan wanted it more than us and they knew they could get at us because they did it last season and they saw it was a different lineup than Chelsea. They pressed us hard and used their pace whenever they got the chance. They busted a gut for 90 minutes. So, fair play to Wigan.SairaxExtended Highlights
http://dai.ly/fYhY7gFred Jacobwatching that again is tortureJGArshavin's goal sure wasn't tortureFred JacobWhat amazes me is that we concede on corner, but we cant even score on corners.Darren_VAren't the two similiar? Shite on set pieces from a defending point of view, shite on set pieces from an attacking point of view.
Maybe some practice on them in training would help. There's a novel idea!Georgedb1Martin, with regard to how the boys were playing, what you heard is wrong, we played really well and certainly 2 levels above Wigan 95% of the game. Where the 'same ole Arsenal' comes in is when we start talking about efficiency in front of goal. What happened yesterday was just a whisker away from happening against Chelsea. Our offense in terms of momentum, imagination and control is as good as or better than Barca or any other top team. Our finishing is horrendous. Arshavin got the difficult goal and missed the easy one. As for the defense, I don't think the problem is with the players, the problem is that Wenger has been using the same coaching staff for over 11 years. We need some new blood and new ideas, especially since its obvious that the old is not working anymore.Darren_VYou classify that game as 'played really well'? I disagree completely. Even when we scored the 2 goals, they kinda came out of nowhere. Arsenal played like shite, and their superior talent got them 2 goals, and their shite play allowed Wigan far too many chances and were deservedly punished for it.
The fact that we still created a bunch of chances while playing so poorly is an indictment of how far superior Arsenal's squad is.Georgedb1Well, there certainly seems to be too opposing groups on whether or not Arsenal played well. I personally think that you're letting the result affect your opinion of how we played. We should all be upset about the result, I know I am. What I'm more upset about is that excluding the period of 60th minute through 75th (or so) we were undoubtedly the better team and the score showed it. Aside from that little 15 minute period and about 2 or maybe 3 good chances that Wigan created in the 1st, there is nothing to be said for Wigan. In fact they scored the equalizer in a period when we had already resumed control of the game... so again, like I said, I still believe in my analysis of the game; 'sale ole Arsenal' beautiful play, shit finishing, and in this case a bad result.Darren_VIt's funny, I think you are looking at the stats and saying we were much better, without really watching the game.
They fully deserved to be ahead in the 1st half, despite it being an extremely soft PK. We were rubbish. Sure we scored 2 goals. One was a wonder goal, and the other Bendtner had a lucky bounce with his spin to break free. The 2nd half was quite dire for the most part, rarely creating and looking threatening. Before N'Zogbia was set off they were pushing us back and we didn't look great at all. The goal conceded was typical Arsenal again.
You are certianly entitled to your opinion, but for as long as you think we played well, I will disagree completely and question your standard of 'playing well' because I think my standard is quite higher than yours from the sounds of it.Georgedb1lol what stats? I saw the entire game, unfortunately, and I merely mentioned the score and the period of time I thought Wigan were doing good... all of 15 minutes.

We'll have to agree to disagree, like I said two groups on this. I think its unfair to say your standards are higher than mine in such a conclusive manner, especially since I arguing that you're letting your disappointment with the result distort your opinion on how we play (and that perhaps you might have had a better one if we had got the 3pts).

Anyway, it is what it is... I cannot agree.Aad966we were playing amazing enuff 2 concede with wigan down 2 ten men... freaking great huh... that we cudnt score a winner vs ten men.... the best we ever played...Georgedb1Before you decide to be sarcastic make sure you actually READ what I say and dont put words in my mouth... I didn't say we played amazing, you said that... and if you can actually THINK a little and have watched more than 2 Arsenal games you'll know that we usually play WELL, usually the dominant team, but its just our finishing that keeps us from a result. For Arsenal, more so than the average team, playing well doesn't mean a good result.Illinois GoonerI think Martin is spot on. If you look at what most of the pundits have said about this game, it's that Wigan deserved a draw. I have to agree with that. We are simply not good enough defensively and I think the solution is as simple as bringing someone in who knows how to drill the sh*t out of the defense to make them into a solid unit. Our offense can beat any team on their day, but "their day" only happens once every 3-4 games. Everyone knows Arsenal can score lots of goals but we don't have consistency. If we had that and defensive stability we wouldn't need to score 4 goals to win every game.Fred JacobSo because the pundits said they they deserve a draw that why we let them equalize thanks for clearing that upIllinois GoonerI don't know what your point is here. I'm not talking about the commentators, I'm talking about the many different news sources that wrote reports of the game after the fact and that most of them agreed with what a lot of people on this forum are saying. The main issue being that Wigan's players were tearing Arsenal's back line to shreds. Sure we had a lot of possession and a couple nice goals, but we had a lot more shaky moments at the back than they did.Fred JacobWe played better than Wigan, what game you were you watching? the one i watch we were losing the ball most of the time, turning it over and not controlling the game at all, and the players were always falling for some reason like there were walking on iceGeorgedb1lol they you must have started watching at around the 60th minute and finished at the 75th.Guesti think your article needs a sentence along the lines of....'fair play to wigan who played very well for long periods, frustrated us and managed to come back from a goal down with 10 men to steal a point'Georgedb1Re: your quote; yea, I read that Sun article too... bullsh*t! Wigan didn't deserve that penalty and they certainly don't deserve to be mentioned in the same article as 'fair play'.... that red card was about the only thing they deserved the whole game.MartinGood point -- to take points off Arsenal when down to ten men is a great result for Wigan, regardless of how the goals were scored. I just didn't see the match so can't comment too much on how well they played.blog comments powered by Disqus