A solid beating of Tottenham always brings tremendous joy to any Arsenal supporter! So, today was definitely an enjoyable day for all Arsenal fans. Does this win solve all the problems that we have? NO. Does this win change the fact that at times we are absolutely clueless defensively? NO. Does this win mean that Wenger has finally realized that he needs to change his tactics and squad rotation? Most likely not.
Overall i felt that with the exception of the first 10 min of the game, we were the better team hands down. But the way we got scored on both times was absolutely pathetic. Saha's goal was a fucking joke as far as the position of our defenders. Nobody knew who they were supposed to cover and Saha had miles of space even if he got lucky with the finish. There were a few more times where our defenders were clearly out of position. Especially in the first half, our pressing of the ball was so naive and panicked: two guys would run straight up at the Tottenham player with the ball, this way freeing someone else who had loads of space to work with. I am glad we were pressing the ball but we have to do it more efficiently than what we did in that first half.
Once Tottenham scored, we woke up and took control of the game. We actually created some chances with Van Persie missing a good chance and Friedel making a great save on Rosicky's header. The penalty for their second goal was again a result of our bad defending, but we responded with a great goal from Sagna. The build up for that goal was great and his header excellent. Too bad that until that goal, Sagna had his normal crossing ratio in full effect: 1 good cross out of every 5 he tries. Robin's goal soon after was pure class, great control of the ball and great shot. I thought the best player on the pitch in the first half was Arteta. He was pretty much everywhere, very active and into the game. He was pressing hard and tackling people all over the pitch. Gave some great passes, most notably the pass to Sagna for the first goal.
Overall i felt that with the exception of the first 10 min of the game, we were the better team hands down. But the way we got scored on both times was absolutely pathetic. Saha's goal was a fucking joke as far as the position of our defenders. Nobody knew who they were supposed to cover and Saha had miles of space even if he got lucky with the finish. There were a few more times where our defenders were clearly out of position. Especially in the first half, our pressing of the ball was so naive and panicked: two guys would run straight up at the Tottenham player with the ball, this way freeing someone else who had loads of space to work with. I am glad we were pressing the ball but we have to do it more efficiently than what we did in that first half.
Once Tottenham scored, we woke up and took control of the game. We actually created some chances with Van Persie missing a good chance and Friedel making a great save on Rosicky's header. The penalty for their second goal was again a result of our bad defending, but we responded with a great goal from Sagna. The build up for that goal was great and his header excellent. Too bad that until that goal, Sagna had his normal crossing ratio in full effect: 1 good cross out of every 5 he tries. Robin's goal soon after was pure class, great control of the ball and great shot. I thought the best player on the pitch in the first half was Arteta. He was pretty much everywhere, very active and into the game. He was pressing hard and tackling people all over the pitch. Gave some great passes, most notably the pass to Sagna for the first goal.
We started well in the second half as well. I thought Redknap made a mistake by leaving Adebayor on the pitch the whole game. Even though he scored, he is slow and didn't pose any threat even on high balls. I thought someone faster like Defoe or Lennon would have given us many more problems. Anyway, i thought the goal Rosicky scored was vital. It gave us even more belief that we can win this game and kind of deflated Tottenham completely. It was a great build up for the goal and Rosicky's finish was world class! I am really happy for him because he is a player who has been playing well but never got over that hump of scoring important goals for us like he used to do for Borussia Dortmund. If Arteta was the best player on the pitch in the first half, Rosicky was the best player in the second. He was all over the midfield, giving great passes and trying to create chances. His pass to Robin was vital in Walcott's first goal.
In a way i am happy for Walcott as well, because he was struggling for a long time in the past few weeks. You could see in the first half, that he was lacking confidence big time. He misplayed at least 4,5 passes, didn't look comfortable at all. Missed a great chance when he ran past the Tottenham defense and instead of cutting inside toward the center and shooting the ball, he tried to go right and passed to RVP to no avail. I thought he would be subbed at half time and i would have approved that substitution. Luckily for him and for my fantasy team, he stayed on and scored two nice goals. You can see that he is comfortable when he has space to work with and can run past people and shoot at goal. That's why i feel it's Wenger responsibility to adjust his position when we play teams who sit back and defend and do not give us any space. In those games he should play Walcott as a striker and Van Persie right behind him, this way giving him a chance to out run central defenders and be a constant threat with his pace instead of putting him on the wing where he is completely lost and runs out of ideas.
Our defense was much better in the second half, specifically Vermaelen. He was out of position more than once in the first half and had a big fault in the build up to Tottenham's first goal. Second half he won pretty much every high ball and played much, much better. I thought Gibbs was pretty good except for the dive he decided to take in the first half in hopes of winning a penalty. Koscielny was solid as well. I am also glad Jenkinson is back, that kid plays with a lot of heart and has a wayyy better cross than Sagna, that's for sure :).
I have to give props to Wenger for trying to change things by starting Benayoun together with Rosicky, Walcott, Song and Arteta. Even though Benayoun was not exceptional, he did bring us more security and control of the ball in the middle of the pitch. The question is, why didn't he try this earlier in the season? The guy has been sitting on the bench for most of the campaign.
So, this was a great win for us but it doesn't change our situation much. We are still very very vulnerable defensively; we struggle with teams who don't give us space; Wenger's rotation policy is non existent with a few exceptions here and there; and tactically Wenger still doesn't always put the players in the best positions for them to be successful. But today was a win that we should all enjoy! We played some great football and got a result. Did i mentioned we spanked Spurs in the process :))? Another big game vs Liverpool next week, let's hope for another good performance! C'mon You Gunners!!
p.s. I normally don't write about our non Premier League games, but i just have to mention that players like Djourou should NOT be in this team, let alone give them contract extensions!!! This clumsy clown makes around 50,000 pounds a week! That has to be a sick joke. And we just gave him a contract extension??? Squillaci makes around 60,000 a week??? We have other examples like Vela, Bendtner, Fabianski and Denilson all making between 40,000 and 60,000 per week. Those guys, especially Fabianski and Denilson should not be making more than 15,000 a week. So, the bottom line is that we pay average to high wages to players who are absolutely not good enough to receive even minimum wages. And then we can't reward our best players with higher wages because we pay so much to bench warmers. Look at how much Man U's Danny Wellbeck makes - 15,000 a week! Obviously now that he plays more regularly they will probably give him a new and improved contract but the fact is that until you prove yourself at Man U you get minimal salary. Now compare that to Djourou's salary, a guy who not only is not good enough but he doesn't even play unless someone is injured. And Wenger rewards his clumsiness with a new contract, wtf.
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