What the hell are you doing, Cesc? Pic via Daily Mail.
Arsenal 2: Nasri 9, Chamakh 27
Tottenham 3: Bale 50, van der Vaart 67 (pen), Kaboul 85
Lest I fly into a bitter rage, something for which 6:30 a.m. on a Monday morning is far too early, I'm going to keep this recap short, for obvious reasons. After last week's win at Goodison Park, I said there were two Arsenal teams on display. There was Dominant Arsenal, who controlled the play and scored two beautiful goals. And then there was Complacent Arsenal, who got too lackadaisical at the back, conceded late, and was forced to hang on for dear life. Against Everton, Dominant Arsenal built up a lead for a long enough period of time that Complacent Arsenal wasn't able to blow it. That was not the case on Saturday.
Laurent Koscielny returned from his suspension to slip in for Johan Djourou in central defense (Koscielny then proceeded to pick up his fifth domestic yellow card of the season, which I believe will bring on another one match ban and force this switch again next Saturday) and Denilson got the start over Jack Wilshere in one of the holding roles.
This match was, clearly, a tale of two halves, but what a beauty of a first half that was, wasn't it? For the first 45 minutes, there was only one team on that pitch and they were wearing red. Nasri's goal from the byline took forever to roll across that line and Chamakh's side footed deflection of Arshavin's cross was pretty cheeky, but both were beautiful. Arsenal was unable to go for the jugular, however. Cesc Fabregas missed a brilliant chance to make it three when the Spurs defense parted like the Red Sea for him, then Chamakh was clear through on goal before inexplicably stopping and looking around for help. It should have been at least 3-0 by halftime and the dagger would've been more firmly planted.
Spurs made a tactical switch at halftime by playing more compact in the center of the pitch, knowing how hard it is to beat Arsenal wide. Lucky for them, Complacent Arsenal came out for the second half and put up one of the worst performances in years. What the hell happened at halftime? Did they all get prematurely drunk in celebration? (If every blogger on the Internet is going to come up with an excuse for what happened in the final 45 minutes, I may as well have my reason be utterly preposterous.)
As soon as the comeback began for Spurs, even while still up 2-1, Arsenal looked immediately incapable of handling the pressure. The porousness of the back four, and the ease with which they become lackadaisical at times, led to Gareth Bale's goal just five minutes after the restart. From there, Arsenal looked unable to win this game. Spurs looked deadly on every counterattack. The holding midfielders were no longer winning everything at the halfway line. Dominant Arsenal never left the dressing room after the interval.
And then, the build up to the equalizer. Alex Song whistled for a foul, leads to a free kick in a dangerous area, and Arsenal sets up a pretty good sized wall. Rafael van der Vaart takes the kick and Cesc Fabregas inexplicably, while standing in the box, lifts up his arm to block it. He got away with this at the end of last year's 1-0 win against Liverpool at the Emirates when Howard Webb didn't see it hit his arm. But that time, he at least wasn't standing in the box and it would've just been another free kick. This was just plain stupid. Van der Vaart's penalty was taken perfectly and suddenly it was 2-2.
Arsenal looked like they had a winner a few minutes later, but the assistant was correct, as the play from Robin van Persie's free kick saw at least two players blatantly offside. I don't remember many specifics about Kaboul's winner five minutes from time, as I refuse to watch the replays, and also, we all did shots immediately afterward.
So, where do we go from here? Well, Braga tomorrow, for starters. But on the whole, if Complacent Arsenal still exists and shows up from time to time, then this is not a title-winning side. And that flat out comes down to leadership. Tom Vermaelen, come back soon.
Hipster Gooner Man of the Match: Rafael van der Vaart
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