No Usamov

By Boris Mellor
January 13 2008

No sooner had Wenger got over his December crisis than the January one commenced with a lacklustre display against Birmingham. Manager of the Month had also declared that winning the award was not a curse, and that he had won the next match immediately after the award many times. Maybe hubris brings its own curse. Personally, I wish they would give it to Ferguson and leave us alone.

   There is no point in over detailing this match, but it is true to say that Arsenal were good value for their one goal lead at half time, even if it was from penalty. Indeed the only worry was that being only a goal ahead would come back to haunt them.

    Sure enough, a few minutes after the start of the second half Arsenal gifted one of those goals to the opposition at a corner. I have read one or two people saying Almunia should have saved it – tosh! Fabregas deflected it at the last moment giving the keeper no chance.  

  Once equal Birmingham effectively stifled the Arsenal midfield, and towards the end even tried to win. They got that wrong, for as soon as they went on the offensive it opened up for Arsenal, but it was too little too late.  

Elephant in the Room  

Now it was a poor performance, but it is not the end of the world, and I do not want to overanalyse it.  Indeed the great man says the team lost focus, true. However, I will make two points.

1. The Elephant in the room – Fabregas.

Cesc had no focus to lose, as he did not have any in the first place. He miss hit more passes than Gilberto midweek. He rarely got into goal scoring positions, ok its one match, but he has been like this for a month. Is this Real Madrid shit unsettling him?

 

1. Missing Kolo.

   By this, I am not referring to defensive problems. Yes, the goal was a piss off, but we have conceded the same kind of goal with Kolo there, and I thought Senderos had a decent game.  

What I am referring to is the lack of urgency from the back to drive the team forward. Very often, when the midfield is being suffocated by the opposition Kolo goes on one of his dynamic runs, or cheekily chips the ball over defenders (not that I missed his free kicks). This did not happen today, one or two players mistook hoofing the ball hopefully to Adebayor for a chip. It was a waste of time. 

   Birmingham nearly did a job on Man U, and they did one on us. If Arsenal players can learn not to underestimate teams like this, from now on, then it will not have been a disaster. These were points that should have been won, but the players must take responsibility for their own mistakes, and just make sure they win far harder points in the future.

 

For a large selection of Arsenal Books, DVDs, PC games AND MORE at Bargain Prices visit the Arsenal Times Store CLICK HERE