Still not beaten Arsenal

By Boris Mellor
February 1 2009

As soon as the team was announced a friend messaged me from the other end of the stadium, "Van on the bench! Wenger must be on fucking drugs." I replied, "Suicide note". It was clear we would not now win the game. Without van Persie's goals and assists this last month where would Arsenal be?

 Wenger argued that RvP mustn't be overworked, that if he is overplayed he will risk injury. He has a point, but surely it is against Cardiff he should be rested, then he would have over a week to the next game. By not playing RvP two points were thrown away on a day when Villa also slipped. Yes RvP finally came on, but the Hammers had a stranglehold on the game by then. Does this mean that Wenger is saving everything for the cup? Wouldn't Ade and Nick make more sense in the cup?

Groundhog Day

Arsenal started brightly, but it was powder puff football with little real threat. Once again the midfield balance was wrong as Nasri started on the wing. Once again the buildup was too slow to take the opposition by surprise. Once again the finishing was too poor to have any effect.

Once again the ball was spurned unless it came directly to a player's foot. If a pass is a yard wide it might as well be 50 yards wide. Once again Diaby picked up a yellow for a clumsy tackle.  Considering the bloke rarely starts he has picked up his five for suspension in double quick time.

Bendtner is too slow on the wing, nor does he want to run long distances;  Adebayor's first touch has gone to pieces, once he could manage one correct touch out of three, now it's not at all. After 15 minutes the pace dropped the usual lackluster first half.

In the second half the crowd finally convinced the team it was important to try harder. Now the tempo stepped up and for long periods the West Ham goal was under siege, but the ball couldn't be forced in. Nor did the Hammers keepers have to make that many saves. The best chances were hit wide. True a good Toure shot was headed off the line, but clear cut chances were few. There were only five Arsenal shots on target in the whole match.

Arsenal did improve when Vela came on for Eboue, and when Nasri finally came into the middle; why does Wenger persist with Eboue? Yes he is ok as backing for RB, but he is an ineffective midfielder. It is time for Vela to become a regular. Even RvP was off target, everyone remembers Ade missing a sitter, but so did RvP. He skewed a ball across the goalmouth when it would have been easier to put it in.

First league goalless draw at Emirates

With Fabregas, Walcott, Eduardo and Rosicky missing this team is mainly made up of ordinary players.  It is no use berating the team's effort, the defence was ok, but the midfield was unbalanced, Bendtner can't play in this formation, and Adebayor needs to find his confidence. The buildup is laborious and predictable. The team just isn't good enough. This is the first Premiership goalless draw at the Emirates, if you had to pick a team to achieve that then it is the one selected for this match - purpose made. I suppose the one good point is the clean sheet.

Wenger claims Villa will slip up, but as I pointed out in my preview so will this team. If we had won today the draw at Everton would have been a good result. Instead four points have been dropped in less than a week, and it has been demonstrated that without RvP we are even more mediocre. No more rubbish talk form players about winning the title - they will overachieve to get fourth - unless there are some radical changes in the lineup. Only new blood or rapid recoveries can sort this out. Hard work might help, but it is not the full solution. Unless the balance and personnel change Groundhog Day will go on and on.

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