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| "What we produced was just not good enough" |
Contrast that with the talk over the past two weeks, where the players were quite literally sucking each others' dicks, talking about how good we are, the quality etc etc...
It buffles me very much that Arsene Wenger is unable to change his team formation or personnel early in the game when things are not working out. That's why we really lose, especially to hard working, so-called lowly teams. It was very clear that the team was not balanced as early as the 15th minute. Playing Ramsey on the left attacking berth was very strange to me indeed.
Arteta, Song and Rosicky collectively were not getting any joy in midfield. They were being hustled into errors and conceding possession. Their speed of play was too slow and thus allowing QPR enough time to read their passes and organise themselves defensively. We looked like a team that had played a 180-minutes game of football in the previous 24 hours. Such was our slow pace.
Thomas Vermaelen had a stinker of a game. The first goal was directly his fault and he played a big hand in the second by falling over. Diakite was standing alone in the middle of our box, with no Arsenal players within a mile of him. He was able to side foot into our net without so much as a challenge coming in.
Robin Van Persie really needs to start scoring and stop scoring only when he wants to. At 1-1, had he scored that chance when put through by Song, I think we might just have gone on to win or at the very least draw the game.
That brings us back to the issue of coaching, team selection and motivation. How many lessons do we need to learn before we start winning games such as the one on Saturday? How many times are we going to go back to the proverbial drawing board? How many times are we going to "come back stronger" or "respond" in the next game? Why couldn't we up our game once we levelled and put QPR to the sword? Why didn't the players pick up their game, especially in the second half? Why didn't we show hunger for the 3 points on offer? Why weren't the subs made much earlier to address the fact that we were too open at the back because our mid-fielders went clubbing?
I have not looked at the stats, but we didn't create many chances throughout the course of the game. Our problems really stem from midfield. When the mid-fielders are out-fought, out-thought and they also take a holiday, you are bound to see team performances such as the one on Saturday.
I must say that Arsene Wenger does not seem to know how to deal with teams who defend narrow. Games like that require more usage of crosses from the wings into the opposition box for your strikers to head on target, knock down or cause errors/own goals for defenders. Trying to go through a tightly packed central defence by passing, when you don't have the speed and skill of Barcelona, is really futile.
I can live with Arsenal losing after they put in a shift, but what really pains me is losing when we play below par. On Saturday we just weren't putting in the effort. Our tactical approach was poor and our manager didn't or couldnt do anything about it. We looked timid and QPR sensed it. Taarabt was having a good game, even show-boating with flicks and nutmegs! And our players just stood there, marvelling at his footwork.
Now Tottenham have caught us on points, something that we really could have avoided. Next up we face Manchester City at home. I fancy us to beat them if we play to our potential and the manager gets his team selection sorted out. One thing is clear; we cannot afford another below-par performance otherwise Chelsea and Tottenham will overtake us in the race for 3rd place.
Let's keep supporting the team for the remaining 7 games, hopefully we shall avoid another blip.
Sideways march the Arsenal!!
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@ the_afrogunner on twitter
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