Arsenal destroyed as empty seats tell their own story
That was beyond rediculous. What an abject, rotten, inexcusable performance.
Chelsea demolished Arsenal on their own ground as a the Gunners flattered to deceive for the first 25 minutes, became bogged down for the next 10 and then promptly taken down ruthlessly by the half’s end.
Our defence was a shambles as Drogba’s strength and clever running parted the centrebacks, Anelka’s deceptive pace gave Traore all sorts of hell, and it paid off when Drogba squeezed between Gallas and Vermaelen to finish emphatically.
Two minutes later, Ashley Cole floated in a cross which was a carbon copy of his previous assist. Vermaelen could only slice the ball into his own goal, in what can only be described as Tottenham defending.
Naturally, having a rose-tinted view on things, I thought that an early goal in the second half would change the game in our favour. And it nearly was the case when Arshavin thumped home after Cech appeared to fumble it in his direction. Replays showed Nasri had got his foot in there and ‘interfered’ with the goalie’s grasp, and as Arseblogger rightly points out, we’d be pretty angry if it happened to us.
That goal never came. The goal never looked like coming. We couldn’t land a cross in a kiddy’s swimming pool. We couldn’t fashion any meaningful shot on target.
Walcott had come on for Alex Song at half time, Vela replaced the ineffective Eduardo up front and Rosicky eventually came on for Denilson. No subs helped. None forced a growth spurt from a patently short team who could not compete with Terry or Carvalho for height. Sagna and Traore could not get half of their crosses past Cole and Ivanovic.
Drogba scored Chelsea’s third from a free kick that Almunia should have done far better to predict. Easy for us to see from the telly, of course, but it just summed up a night where we were so clearly out of our depth. Bad referreeing glosses over that fact – yes, some decisions went against us, like the fact we get booked after one tackle and are never given the opportunity to get ’stuck in’ like other teams are – but on the whole, we were outclassed from first to last.
Possession and passing only means so much against a team that intends to sit back, soak it up, and then smack your side down so methodically and, it pains me to say, predictably.
For once, I cannot blame the fans for leaving the stadium early. It sends its own message.
Almunia – 5: yNothing much to do for much of the match, which given the scoreline, shows how bloody clinical Chelsea were. Made a sharp save late on in the match, but could have shown more control of his box for the first two goals. A poor attempt at a save for Drogba’s third.
Sagna – 5.5: Defensively okay, but his crossing was seriously rubbish. Not helped by the lack of targets, mind you. However, his failure to shut out Ashley Cole for identical assists in the first half.
Gallas – 5: Lacking concentration at times and had a lot to deal with as Drogba strafed across the defence’s front. As part of the defensive unit, at fault for both first half goals.
Vermaelen – 5: A slack showing. Slow to react at times, failed to really assert any physical authority and did not click with an out of sorts Gallas.
Traore – 4.5: Being bulldosed off the ball by Drogba was an embarrassing summing up of his day. Is not an Arsenal player. Unfortunately, is all we’ve got.
Song – 6: Marginally the best Arsenal player of the night, and that says something as he was subbed off inexplicably at half time. Imposed his physical game, passed well, but let down by a poor team defensive effort.
Fabregas – 6: Nothing really came off for the captain but can’t be faulted for effort at least. Kept our possession ticking over but no-one found a way to make it all count.
Denilson – 5: Scurried about in the first half but once the goals came, quickly faded into the background.
Arshavin – 4.5: Lovely finish for the disallowed goal but otherwise an abject display. No interest in tracking back, no interest in closing players down. Has the gloss brushed off?
Nasri – 5.5: Ran around, passed it around, got stuck in a little bit, but nothing much more.
Eduardo – 5: Struggled. Did not get on the end of any crosses sent his way, and Terry gobbled up the air balls without trouble.
SUBS: Walcott – 5: Strange sub, with some questions over Song possibly being injured. Ran into dead ends all night as his snail-pace start to the season continues.
Vela – 4.5: Like for like replacement for Eduardo both in style and effectiveness. Had a shout for a penalty but otherwise offered nothing new, has no physical presence and offered no real shots on goal.
Rosicky – 5: Peripheral when brought on. By then the match was a lost cause.
First thing’s first: November is over. It’s time this team put on a convincing run and that must start against Manchester City in the Carling Cup. Sod the kids’ development, this team needs some winning feeling back in their bones, and if playing Man City is difficult enough for the first teamers, there’s no point sending in the young lambs.
Some may criticise me for being overly harsh, but I think it’s justified given the moderate platform the blog usually stands on. Last night’s match was an education. It was infuriating, and Arsenal’s performance was limp at best.
Arshavin looks decidedly unmotivated. If that carries on in training, drop him. So much for Myles Palmer’s “he’s got bottle.” He’s showing none of it because his national side didn’t make the World Cup. Who cares? Club football again and again takes precedence over international football. At 28, he’s showing a remarkable amount of immaturity.
The honeymoon is now well and truly over for the Gallas and Vermaelen partnership. They have failed to dominate most opponents so far this campaign, and something needs to give. Maybe not much will, given they’re all we’ve got with the replacements behind them.
The strikers are a real worry. There’s something telling about the fact that ‘if Vela was given half the chances Adebayor was given, he’d be the Premier League’s best’ is hardly, if at all, heard anymore. Outside the Carling Cup, there is nothing to suggest yet that the Mexican will become an Arsenal striker.
Eduardo’s having a stinker at the moment. The fullbacks cannot cross. There are so many things that need serious work on the training ground, and Arsene Wenger’s coo-cooing won’t do anything to improve that. Sure, he’s saying things any manager would say to divert attention away from the squad’s failings, and that’s fine. But you just have to seriously hope that these things will be tackled where they’re meant to be tackled.
Hopefully some good news comes our way quickly. Some might say I need a bit of perspective alongside a team that’s basically a millionaire’s plaything, but you can only play those put in front of you.
An eye-opener, that one. What were your thoughts of the game?
Filed under: Arsenal, Chelsea, English Premier League
The big difference between the two teams is efficiency. For 60% possession we didn’t create enough and then from two crosses the game is over.
Football is a simple game but our players do everything possible to complicate it. On a greasy pitch every team except ours will be crossing balls in behind the defence to cause mayhem – its not pretty but it works.
Until our players accept the responsibility to adapt to a situation we have no chance in the big competitions.
As for the sugar daddy argument – I think the world has changed and the likelihood of finding someone who would pile in the money no questions asked has diminished significantly. I’m proud of the way the club is run but it would be nice to have that loyalty rewarded by a stand out victory and not a capitulation every time the big boys come to visit!
Too many fans moaning about a result that means nothing much at this stage of the season, at Arsenal we have the worst fans in the league for moaning bitching and slaging off our own players, what happened to the fans we had at Highbury?
60% posssession against Chelsea is a dam good fact, ok so we never stuck the ball in the back of the net, but would Chelsea have got anywhere near beating us without Drogpa?? no bloody way!
Just remember people we had no first choice strikers out on the pitch RVP and Bentner both out injured, Eduardo just trying to get his game back, Walcott just back from injury, Rosicky just back from injury, Nasri just back from injury, thses are not excusses these are facts, we are a good team, can be a great team but players and the management need the support of the fans at fans at all times, we need to have more vocal support at the ground at all time, support your club boys and girls because they need you.
The loss is a reality check. Come Januari we need to buy.
Although Drog’s goal was a beauty I feel with more luck it could have dropped out.
But that’s class for you and we are missing it at the moment. Hope Bendtner returns as snow in December; cold , hard and with the light in his eyes. Buy an extra striker in the ranks and he might even feel some pressure.
Defensive; to be fair to Sagna from the second the game was running I was more frightful the goals would come from Traore’s side. My God that boy takes silly risks. A utility man in the sense of Matuidi or Veloso (DMF,SB,SMF) would be welcome. Maybe one for both sides, left and right.
Also the sale of Silvestre and Sendros should bring in the cash for a top defender and a promising youngster. We need more and better CB back-up. I take Sako from PSG any day.
Chelsea havnt used any serious money for the last two seasons so the Sugar daddy theory goes out hte door.Why is people so afraid of criticising Wenger ? it is he who has put out the team everytime( maybe with slight help from Rice) that we have been mauled by Chelsea or Manure,the buck stops with Wenger it is as simple as that.
@ Rich and Jazbo
Both great comments. I did take that from the game too.
It’s obvious to all and sundry the gunners are mathematically out of the title race.AW insists are still in it. He is duluding himself. Of course it can be done. To do tthat the gunners must win all matches from until nyd. that is along shot.I remember MU went on along winning run in 2002-03. they won 16 out of the 18 matches.
Tthey could do it because they don’t indulge in passing all the time.They play to win and to score with economy of effort something AW/Arsenal are loath to do.
AS for AW’s comment on Drogbait shows he is not gracious
to admit he was beaten by a better team.
I’m afarid AW is too myopic and is still keen to see his project youth thru.
I’m afarid he will drag Arsenal down with his obstinacy and unwillingness to face the truth:The gunners anint good enuf
Time to hang Almunia out to dry!! First goal understandable (ish). He knows the second is arriving in exactly the same position and he stand behind a defensive and an offensive player waiting for the ball.
Pitiful
Let’s face it we were outplayed, so learn the lessons and regroup for the next game. But I doubt that will be possible as Wenger seems to have gone totally delusional with regard to Arsenal’s performance. Perhaps the strain is getting to him and he is on his way to completely cracking up.
bring jay simpson back
Chelsea have a fantastic defence.
Arsenal do not.
The team with the best defence wins the Premiership.
This will be even more the case as the grounds get heavy from now on.
BLAH BLAH
Standard all you arsenal hater ‘fans’ are delighted to be proven right, a 3-0 scoreline must mean a thrashing, now we’re shit kids again and we need to spend millions.
I’m SO TIRED of hearing the same old rubbish. That game was a travesty, chelsea somehow managed to play like bolton, create nothing and be 2-0 up at half-time.
We badly missed RVP, and Eduardo is suffering a mini-crisis of confidence. Up front we couldn’t show any killer instinct. They had NO injuries, and a huge amount of luck.
Yes it’s annoying. Yes it makes you want to be angry at Wenger and the players. But to use this match as another example of 2 year old criticisms is Alan Hansen/Jamie Redknapp level punditry.
We didn’t play great, but neither did Chelsea. They had 10/11 players behind the ball and knocked the stuffing out of us with the vermaelen og.
We’re going to be low on confidence after that game, and it’s now, more than ever, that we fans need to show the players our belief in them. Belief that I still have, and that any true fan should still have.
Pathetic fans who leave the game with half an hour to go, please just all FUCK OFF back to your middle-class guardian-reading lives and leave it to us real fans to celebrate when we do the Prem/CL double in May.
“It’s obvious to all and sundry the gunners are mathematically out of the title race.”
No the only thing thats obvious is that you are retarded! How can they mathematically be out of the title race?
The first thing I noticed is that the team was seriously messed up by the wet. The clinical passing game that we play is at a serious disadvantage since passes go astray and players slip over, we need some way to adjust our tactics to account for this.
The next big problem I saw is that we didn’t have a player that could (or even tried to) finish from outside the box, so they let us take possession, waited inside the box and held us there. We couldn’t make any progress inside the box because our players were muscled off the ball by a physical defense. The fact that we didn’t have any targets for crosses compounded this problem in my mind, just about every cross in the air that I saw was taken by a Chelsea player. In this respect I think we really missed RVP and Bendtner.
Let’s face some home truths here. Our early season form was totally misleading. Who have we beaten this year? We score goals for fun against the weaker teams in the Premiership but as soon as we come up against anything that could be described as tricky (Sunderland away for example) we drop points! Beating spurs at home is, up to now just about the best result we have had this season!
We all can see that we don’t have a decent keeper at the club, the defence isn’t good enough and the team are just not physically imposing AT ALL! Wake up and smell the coffee. Wenger’s experiment has failed!
The soone AW realizes Arsenal require neeed time and space to play their beautiful game the better.In previous seasons teams look in awe as the gunners pass and pass. Not anymore.They are going to get stuck in meaning stop them in their tracks.Flashback to march 2003. Bolton got stuck in and the gunners dropped two points and were unable to train the title.
In those days we had guys at least 5ft 11in/1.8 m tall and 79kg/170lb. Nowadays in the present line up other than Gallas/Vermallen/RVP/Brentner to name a few the rest are easily bowled over. Walcott maybe fast but he was easily overpowered . There were othere cases as well.
In short project youth since its inception five years ago aint working.A lot of time has been wasted nurturing these talents.
In short the case rests with AW.He is too stubborn a guy to admit his mistakes and he wants other teams to play his way.When the gunners are denied time and space he says it’s anti soccer.
Nobody is indispensable. Gunners will forever be grateful for what he has done. That was in the past. The show must go on.
I think the likes of Wilshere, Coquelin, Watt and yes Senderos will show what it means to fight for every ball when they come up against City tomorrow. And I think they’ll pull off something special.
Vela was 100 times better than Eduardo when he came on. It’s frightening how slow Eduardo is.
Almunia is a joke. He was nowhere near the free-kick and it was hardly a rocket. He must have the worst shots-to-goal ratio in the Prem. Wolves had one shot – goal. Sunderland had one shot – goal. Chelsea had four – 3 goals. Get this useless man out the club!
Get almina out, confidence will return
“at Arsenal we have the worst fans in the league for moaning bitching and slaging off our own players, what happened to the fans we had at Highbury?” Perhaps you should also ask what happened to the players we had at Highbury?
Footballs fans are loyal and pragmatic, if their team loses but put’s up a fight they will still turn up every week (check out the teams at the bottom of the league). I think what gets most Arsenal fans who have been around long enough (40 years in my case) is that they recall the ‘Highbury Fortress’ mentality we used to have. I for one dont want to return to the days of 1-0 to the Arsenal, but I would also like to see the ‘no-surrender’ attitude that used to prevail to enable us to win those games against all that visited.
I have been a fan for 50 years and I honestly cannot remember seeing an Arsenal team less competitive at home. We never looked like scoring and we never looked like keeping a clean sheet- so it proved. Chelsea are not great- they are well drilled, strong defensively, very solid with a centre forward at the top of his form-However, this was not a one-off-Chelsea were 3 goals better than us last May and they are 3 goals better than us now-both times we were playing at home. Do we accept that they should remain 3 goals better than us indefinitely? If you do then perhaps you should join the Arsene knows brigade. Exactly what he knows , I am not sure- how to thrash poor opponents and lose heavily to good ones?
Do we want to be humiliated every time we play Chelsea football club?
There is an answer- The Board must go, we must attract better players, Wenger must go. We must get a top class manager and invest in the team- and rebuild.