Clueless, chaotic defending making Gunners a pushover
OUR MAN at the Emirates on where it all went wrong for Arsenal and what the future holds...
EUROPA DOPES?
THE Europa League on Thursday nights is the terrifying prospect for Arsenal after losing to Dinamo Zagreb and Olympiacos. Next up at the Emirates are Bayern Munich on October 20 followed by the return in Germany two weeks later. Arsene Wenger blamed the fixture schedule for this defeat, claiming trips to Zagreb, Chelsea, Tottenham and Leicester were a contributory factor. He is the only one who believes that.
EVERY SECOND COUNTS
ARSENAL’S defending was chaotic, summed up by the 59 seconds between Alexis Sanchez’s second-half strike and Alfred Finnbogason scoring Olympiacos’ third. They defended so deep that at times they were lined up just in front of David Ospina. It was amateurish. When Laurent Koscielny was injured in the second half, Wenger had little choice but to replace him with the experienced Per Mertesacker, rather than gambling. It is hard to believe Wenger named four defenders on the bench, leaving him little attacking option other than Aaron Ramsey. That will take some explaining.
HISTORY LESSON
NEXT summer it will be 10 years since Arsenal cruised through the group stages with one of the most powerful, impressive teams in European football, before beating Real Madrid, Juventus and Villarreal on their way to the final against Barcelona. Then they had Jens Lehmann, Sol Campbell, Ashley Cole, Cesc Fabregas and the outstanding Thierry Henry, who were ranked among the best in Europe. In like-for-like positions now are Ospina, Kieran Gibbs, Santi Cazorla and Theo Walcott. Even with Walcott in excellent form, this group is not in the same class. The only person who cannot see that, of course, is Arsene Wenger.
FORTRESS EMIRATES?
ARSENAL have lost six of their last 12 games in the Champions League at home. It is a shocking statistic. Last season’s abject 3-1 defeat by Monaco at the Emirates was supposed to be a one-off but now Arsenal have the jitters at home. It is a mystery because the supporters were on their side throughout this appalling, chaotic defeat. Arsenal’s home league form is patchy as well, with a surprise 2-0 defeat by West Ham and a 0-0 draw with Liverpool adding to their troubles.
WONDERFUL WALCOTT
THE only player who can be absolved of blame is Walcott. The guy is on fire. He has scored 17 goals in his last 21 starts, which is powerful ammunition when it comes to team selection for Sunday’s clash with Manchester United at the Emirates. It can only be a matter of time before opposition defences wise up to the timed run that continues to elude careless centre halves but his first-half equaliser was a quality finish. This was another decent showing, with his clever cross setting up Sanchez for the equaliser at 2-2. Good on him for that.