Manchester United vs Arsenal 2-1

This is as bad as i have EVER seen us play in a big game or any game for that matter. But then again, i never saw the Norwich game two weeks ago. This team looked lethargic, hesitant and with very little desire. Put on top of that a coach that stubbornly continues to make stupid decisions about his team and the way he manages it and you get a result like today: 2 shots on target, both after 91st minute of the game. And to be fair, Man U had a shitty performance as well, otherwise the scoreline would have been closer to the one from last year at Old Trafford.

Where do i start on this one? In the last blog i said that if Santos starts as our left back in this game, we will let in at least 2 goals. Unfortunately, i was correct. To be fair, he didn't have direct impact for both goals we conceded, but he had a huge indirect impact on our whole defense. His inability to cover his zone properly forces Podolski and other players to come back and help him out. And the fact that people run in his zone non stop, creates tension in the rest of the defense because they know they can't count on him to keep up with wingers, so other players are constantly unsure if they should stick to their duties or go help him out. On numerous occasions today, he was beaten over and over on his side. Cleverly, Rafael and Valencia had so many runs  on his side that i can't even count them. Thank god most of them ended up with constantly shitty crosses which just shows you that getting scored on, only twice, was due to luck and bad execution on Man U's part not any good defensive work that we did. I didn't feel like taking pictures today, otherwise i could have taken at least two or three where Santos commits to a tackle and when he misses it, he can't even stay close to the person that passed him.

Vermaelen was awful today. The mistake for the first goal doesn't even need to be discussed. Sadly enough, he repeated it in the beginning of the second half and it should have been another goal. He hasn't been sharp all season long, but i really do think that because of Santos's shitty abilities, Vermaelen starts worrying too much about covering his side as well, which leads to hesitation in his game. Instead of focusing on his own play, he has to worry about the Brazilian meatball on the left. Mertesacker, Sagna and Mannone were our best three players today. Mertesacker has been solid all season long, big improvement in his game compared to last year. Sagna had a good game as well and did all he could to help us out. Same goes for Mannone, he saved what he could and you can't ask much more of him.

Our midfield was horrendous. We made so many bad passes and we lost the ball so many times that after a while, i lost count. Everyone was bad. Cazorla, despite his goal at the end (which really helped my fantasy team), was terrible in the first half and big parts of the second. He missed a ton of passes, gave away a stupid penalty and for 70% of the game, was lifting his arms up and asking for fouls or complaining about passes. That's just not good enough from a guy who is supposed to be our main force in the midfield. And he has been poor for a number of games now. Ramsey had one good run on the right side in the first half and that was about it. The rest of the time, he was also giving the ball away, and not doing anything useful on the pitch. Arteta was uncharacteristically sloppy with the ball and also seemed nervous and edgy. Wilshere had a lot of desire, but his game was nowhere near the performance he put against QPR. He missed a lot of passes and had a tough time with his final ball. That's understandable though, considering the time he has missed. And about his red card, i don't want to even talk about it now, because that's all on Wenger and i will write about it in a minute.

Podolski and Giroud were bad. Especially Giroud. Not so much as performance. But lack of effort and desire at times. He lost the ball numerous times and i saw him walking back and not chasing after it on more than one occasion. To me, that's unacceptable. If you give the ball away, especially in your own half, you have to run and try to win it back. Instead, he would just jog bag and watch what happens. Podolski was no where to be seen but that's partially because he was so busy helping out Santos. You can't expect him to have a big impact on the game if he is constantly running back trying to cover for his left back. Theo should have started the game, he didn't do much after he came on, but by that time, the team was in pretty bad state. He did give a good ball to Giroud at the end, but he couldn't score.

A lot of people might disagree with me, but i put this loss and our performances lately, on Wenger.

1) Ever since Gibbs got injured, we have been struggling with Santos in the back. You give him a game or two and when you see that he is a disability for your team, you make a change! Vermaelen can play left back, Koscielny can come in at centre back, so could Ignasi Miquel (i know he is hurt now). Also, when you know Gibbs's injury record and you know Santos is not good enough (we know that from last year), you BUY a left back in the summer, so you have some cover. Arsene always says, "if everyone is healthy, we have a tremendous squad and we don't need new players". Guess what? They never are. No team ever is in full strength. If we don't buy a left back in January, Wenger is an idiot. p.s.I know he will say "Gibbs is healthy now, we don't need a left back". The question will be, how long will Gibbs stay healthy? Man U have had Vidic, Smallings and Jones injured since the beginning of the season. That's three players that used to start for them! But they make good enough adjustments to plug the gaps. They haven't been great defensively but they have patched things up enough so they can still win.
 

2) Wilshere should have been subbed off today. If you know the guy, you know he cares, and plays with passion and desire. He wasn't having as big of an impact on the game as he did against QPR and you know he already had a yellow card in the first 10 minutes, so when you get to the 60th minute, you change him. It won't affect your game as much because he wasn't playing as well and you still leave your team with a chance to win (i mean draw). When Cleverly got his yellow card, what did Ferguson do? He waited until the second half and as soon as Cleverly had a bad foul, he subbed him right after. That's what good managers do. They don't count on young (even if experienced) players to hold their nerve and be smart, the managers take that decision for them!

3) How many shitty games in a row do we need to play for Wenger to start playing Theo. I am not saying, Theo will magically take us out of this slump we are in, but he is always a threat going forward and gives pace to our attacks. Something we really need, when we have trouble breaking teams down. Every time he has come on this year, he has had a positive impact. I understand you have a contract dispute, but if he doesn't sign and you have to sell him in January, shouldn't you at least take full advantage of him while you can? Or the interests of the club are more important than the result on the pitch? Fuck our team performance, let's make sure we show Theo we won't budge and keep him a sub, when meanwhile we are playing shit and that would be even bigger motivation for him to leave.

I have always been a huge supporter of Wenger, but i am getting really tired of the same lame excuses and answers. Of his refusal to tweak his strategy when it's obvious it's not working. Of his inability to make rotations at the RIGHT times. Today's Arsenal was lifeless. No passion. No energy. No clear idea of what to do on the pitch. The best words to describe us today are Confused and Hesitant. If you can't get your team ready for a big game like this, i doubt it will be easier to motivate them to play against Norwich or QPR or whoever it is. Since when did shitty performances like today are OK for AFC? I guess we will just have to continue to enjoy shitty wins here and there, try to get to the top four and always use our injured players as an excuse.