Greatness does

By Boris Mellor
March 20 2011

The curse of the Arsenal away screening hit again, has there ever been one where we won the match? All the ones I went to ended in sterile draws, which is why I decided to forgo the pleasure of paying £8 entrance and £4 a pint to watch the latest debacle.

In the month of March Arsenal have won only one game, and that was against Leyton Orient. Going out of three cups in two weeks is not good preparation for winning the league, nor is getting one point out of six off of WBA that brilliant.

Groundhog Day

It was groundhog days for several reasons, firstly Arsenal conceded 3 goals at home to WBA and the Gunners lost 3-2, secondly Almunia was involved in the  controversial conceding of goals, and thirdly it was one player who turned it around. This time it was Arshavin that saved Arsenal from defeat, last time a great performance by Nasri made the score a respectable 3-2 defeat. Arshavin scored a great goal, and it was his cross that reduced the WBA defence to a rabble for RvPs poke in.

After the last WBA game Almunia disappeared for five months, and I mean disappeared. His reappearance was only due to the injury of two rookie keepers, and the fact that Mannone is also injured.

Arsenal TV blamed Squillaci more than Almunia for the second goal, debatable, but neither covered themselves in glory on that one. If Almunia had stayed back it would have been harder for the forward to score. Meanwhile Lehman sat in the stands looking like a vulture.

Head Test

If anyone thinks it would be a good idea to play Jens I suggest they have their bumps read, the bloke hasn’t played for a year. Goal keeping is about snap decision making and quick reflexes, how sharp would he be? He wasn’t playing that well when he retired. Forty-one and out for  a season, its got to be a winner.

More ground lost

It’s too early to say that Arsenal are out of the championship race but unless key players return soon Man U have to be favourites. Arsenal’s defence has been solid, in the league not the cups, when Djourou has played. Sir Chesney filled us all with confidence. Without these two big men it may be a lot harder to achieve clean sheets. The first three minutes at West Brom put a major dent in the Arsenal’s defence is the best in the league argument; add to that that the goal scoring rate has slowed down the grounds for optimism are fading.

Confidence

Nor do I buy into the Man U have too many games argument, nothing succeeds like success, win and you don’t care how many you play, lose and every game seems one too many. In that sense at least the draw was more important than the point gained; being two nil down and coming back to 2-2 feels more like victory for Arsenal, and more like defeat for WBA.

Yes we must get behind the team now and push on whilst there is still hope. The full assessment must wait until the battle is finally over.