Oh, why can’t they all be like me? No tactics, no defensive midfield, 4-1-4-1, no set piece goals, no time wasting, pass pass pass, injuries
Spurs gameplan: Sit back, soak pressure, hit on counter and defensive errors. Mathieu Flamini obliges. Ericksen pounces. Nacer Chadli scores.
Arsenal profligate: 71% possession, 15 corners, 10 shots on goal. Ox’s equalizing goal. No more additions. Younes Kaboul and Hugo Lloris immense.
Eight points dropped. Seriously, at this stage, one can’t say anything about Arsenal’s direction. There isn’t any. All that positivity from the Aston Villa win dissipated. We had Oezil and Welbeck switched on for that match. Against Spurs, they were on a continental drift. The first half was about as boring as watching paint dry. Wenger forcing the 4-1-4-1 once again with Oezil stuck to the left. Wilshere and Ramsey getting in each others way as hopeless pedants. The somnolence was marred by Mikel Arteta and Aaron Ramsey limping off. Arteta’s injury forced Flamini’s entry. At 30 years the Frenchman’s spirit is willing but his …….. and proving costly. Ramsey’s exit brought on Cazorla at the second half resumption with Ozil shifted centrally resulting in a marked improvement. Arsenal finally had a spring in their step and the Ox and Calum Chambers bearing down that right corridor with heavy pressure. But just like City, against the run of play, Spurs went ahead as Szczesny with a familiar tic distributing the ball cleanly relied on Flamini to clear the backfield. A disoriented first touch and Christian Ericksen pounced. Flamini was cast aside and the Dane sucking in the Arsenal defense diagrammed the ball to Lamela and thereon Chadli cutting inside the box. You could see the inevitability unfold step by painful step.
Arsenal responded almost immediately with Mertesacker almost scoring from a corner but his header was stopped by Lloris right on the line and did not creep in. If this was Diego Costa it would have. As with Arsenal’s futility in keeping players healthy, another staple is its toothless corner taking. In general, set pieces. With Arsenal virtually camped out in the Spurs final third, Younes Kaboul found his groove. With frustration mounting, it was Kaboul’s one and only breakdown which set up the equalizer as Cazorla’s fizzing cross airkicked by Soccer Shaolin Welbeck was accepted by a grateful Ox. A great moment to savour. Arsenal came back for more but this time Kaboul was not willing to oblige. Spurs great rearguard action kept the Gunners shooting blanks.
Post match, Wenger sniffed at Spurs performance, pulled up Michael Oliver for not penalizing time wasting, in addition to his previous day dire pronouncements of Spurs struggling to be competitive after blowing wads of cash on a new stadium. Stop whinging. Arsenal take one step forward, two steps back, three steps to the right, turn right and repeat the same, in clockwise fashion. Till it turns dark and then the players worried parents pick them up.
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