Drawbridge

By Boris Mellor
March 1 2009

Arsenal are becalmed in the worst period of Wenger's reign. No previous Wenger team has gone four games in a row without scoring. That's four nil nils in a row, plus the game before was 1-1, so that is five draws in a row. Five points out of a possible 15. That is relegation form, except the team has accumulated enough points from earlier in the season.

An increasing number of fans booed at the end, I didn't, clearly this team has a confidence problem, no point in adding to it. The media are making a lot of fuss about the booing, but surely they weren't expecting a standing ovation?

Changing the Stats

Funny what grief does to fans objectivity, after the match I was told Fulham had more chances than Arsenal. I replied that Arsenal had more than enough chances, just the finishing was lousy. True Fulham had a good number too, but their finishing was worse. Since then I have read that that Fulham had more chances on other blogs. So what is the truth?

The BBC gave Arsenal four on target and Fulham 1, Sky agreed, as did Hodgson who said their keeper had a little more to do than Almunia. The BBC gave Arsenal and Fulham 10 off target shots each, and Sky gave Arsenal 8 Fulham 9. True Arsenal only had slightly more chances, but they did have enough to win it, and they did restrict Fulham to only one shot on target. It doesn't change the fact they were not good enough, but there is no need to change the facts.

Same Old Same Old

This match was just too dismal to report in full, both teams had chances, but Arsenal were terrified of taking theirs. Nasri, RvP, Vela all scuffed shots, or passed when a shot might have been a better option. It was pass, pass, pass, pass back, pass pass pass.  A few headers were on target, and the Fulham keeper saved one or two, but most of the time Arsenal rarely looked like scoring, whilst Fulham looked very dangerous on the break. Fortunately Almunia had another sound game.

Once again Arshavin looked promising, but was held back by the incompetence around him. There was nobody with the guile, or courage needed to take the game by the scruff of the neck and make the difference. There was no leader in the last third. You could hardly claim that Arsenal were the better team, worthy of a fourth place.

Arsenal have not only failed to make ground on Villa, but will now have to watch out for Everton who are hard on their heels. Was this a hangover from the victory against Roma? Possibly, but the inability to score in open play is now hanging like an albatross around the players' necks.

The possibility of Arsenal finishing fourth is rapidly receding, they are running out of games. The best hope is that Eduardo, Adebayor, Fabregas and Walcott can return as soon as possible, because when it comes to scoring this lot are a busted flush. Apart from RvP they were busted long before the goal-less run started. If RvP does not score then nobody does.