Ozil banishes away day hell to get Wenger off the hook
THE margins can be desperately fine in the English Premier League and here, for once, Arsenal found themselves on the right side of the line.
At 1-1 with less than 20 minutes left, this had become anybody’s game. Behind at the break to an Alexis Sanchez free-kick, Middlesbrough had equalised through Alvaro Negredo and taken the game to Arsenal.
Indeed, had Petr Cech not made a very good save from Daniel Ayala’s header, the visitors would have been behind and heading for a fifth away defeat on the spin.
This time, though, Arsenal found a way. They rode what proved to be a brisk but brief Middlesbrough storm and then broke to win the game. It was a bad goal to concede. Boro’s marking was poor, but when Sanchez crossed from the left to the unattended Aaron Ramsey, he showed impressive vision to chest the ball down to Mesut Ozil and the German’s finish at the near post was assured.
Ozil hadn’t played well up until that point, but it didn’t matter. This was a big goal and a reward for Arsene Wenger’s decision to make bold changes.
The Frenchman ripped up the team that lost at Crystal Palace. Out went captain Theo Walcott and five others, and in came a back three including 21-year-old Rob Holding.
He had not played a Premier League game since August and it was said Arsenal had not used a back three for two decades.
So it was assertive from Wenger — and it worked. Defeat was hard on Middlesbrough and they look doomed. But it is some time since we have seen Arsenal shade a tight, attritional game like this.
‘I felt it added a bit more stability on the long balls,’ said Wenger in explaining his 3-4-3 formation.
‘We faced a direct game and we have been punished a bit on that. It gave the opponents more of the ball.
‘Against Palace, we had 70 per cent possession, but lost.
‘Sometimes, we want to have the ball, but when a team lacks confidence, just to change the system can help.’
Boro counterpart Steve Agnew said: ‘We are bitterly disappointed with the result, but the players gave everything they had.
‘We couldn’t ask more of them.
‘We played on the front foot, put them under pressure. I felt we might get the second goal after Negredo scored.’
At the end of a tepid first half, a tale of two free-kicks summed up the difference between these teams in terms of technical quality.
There had certainly been no great gulf in terms of effort, organisation or purpose before Sanchez opened the scoring.
Given a chance to strike at goal from dead centre following a clumsy foul by Adam Clayton, the Chilean took his opportunity with aplomb. His right-foot shot was not quite in the corner, but had enough power and disguise to fool keeper Brad Guzan and find the net.
It was a little rough on Agnew’s team. Within 90 seconds of falling behind, though, they had a chance to get back on terms.
This time, the free-kick was taken by Grant Leadbitter, who had enjoyed a good half breaking up play and harrying in the centre of the field. The angle was not as helpful as it had been for Sanchez, but he was still in a decent position.
It said much about the lack of goal threat carried by his team this season that the shot crashed lamely into the foot of the wall.
The opening period had not been packed full of chances, but the best came Arsenal’s way. Sanchez saw a volley at the far post saved by Guzan while Boro right-back Antonio Barragan had to be sharp to tackle the Arsenal forward on the six-yard line after a low cross from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain seemed set to end up at his feet via a deflection.
Negredo ran hard and one low shot rebounded from Holding’s shins before a header from Marten de Roon was ruled out for offside.
Four minutes into the second half, Middlesbrough finally found some quality. Sanchez gave up possession and, when Stewart Downing progressed down the right and crossed beautifully for Negredo, the Spaniard eased ahead of Laurent Koscielny to volley in the equaliser from six yards.
Things almost got better for the home side. George Friend’s deflected cross landed at Downing’s feet, but he couldn’t keep his halfvolley down.
Boro were on the rise — and the Riverside was rocking — until Ozil emerged to show that quality nearly always counts in the end.