Yeah... Pic via Guardian.
SC Braga 2: Matheus 83, 90+3
Arsenal 0
After the debacle that was Saturday against Spurs, this match was time for Arsenal to get back on the proverbial horse, and in the process, secure their path into the next round of the Champions League. Instead of getting back on the horse, what actually happened was the horse kicked Arsenal while they were down. So now, Arsenal is still stuck face down in the mud with things spiraling out of control very quickly.
Arsene Wenger, judging by rotation, seems to have no desire to win the Champions League
The amount of squad rotation in the past two Champions League fixtures have boggled my mind. There were seven changes to the side that lost on Saturday. Bacary Sagna was on the bench. Samir Nasri was on the bench. Alex Song was on the bench. Marouane Chamakh was on the bench. Andrei Arshavin and Robin van Persie were left in London to "rest."
During the month of November, the squad has been treating European competition like it's a glorified, multi-national version of the League Cup, which is a disturbing thought if you spend too much time thinking about it. Shakhtar Donetsk was not the time to field a B team, and after losing there, Braga certainly was not the time to do it again.
This team has, offensively, run out of ideas
Unless Cesc Fabregas is in tip-top form, this team has lately been playing like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. Fabregas was at the top of his game in the first half on Saturday, but has been invisible at best and noticeably detrimental to the team at worse since. This happened against Newcastle as well, and it's thanks to his recurring hamstring injury (which recurred again and will likely keep him out for at least two weeks.) When Fabregas is playing hesitant, the entire offense suffers.
Unfortunately, without Fabrgeas on the pitch at all, the offense will still suffer. This is because his replacements have not yet built up the instinct to pick out that perfect pass in the final third that Fabregas is so damned good at. Samir Nasri will probably be close to there in time, but he's not right now. Arsenal essentially had no threatening chances on goal from open play yesterday. Crosses are sent into the box and nobody is there but the other team. Once Arsenal starts losing, they start hoofing the ball long, forgetting that they don't have the personnel on the other end to win those long balls anyway.
The squad does not have a straight-up holding midfielder and it makes the back four look worse
Without the injured Thomas Vermaelen, the Arsenal back four have exposed themselves this season as lacking experience and prone to break downs that lead to goals conceded. How on Earth did one Braga striker beat three Arsenal defenders twice yesterday? Once Eboue was injured forcing Arsenal to ten men, the back line never reorganized themselves. But, even with all of the problems the back four have had, they have not been helped by the fact that Arsenal's holding midfielders haven't exactly been natural for the role this year.
Arsenal have deployed four different players in the holding role section (the 2) of their 4-2-3-1 formation this season: Alex Song, Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby, and Denilson. Diaby is currently hurt, having been hacked at the same ankle twice this season, but he's more of the creative offensive type anyway, and was playing the Fabregas box-to-box role as of his last appearance at Chelsea. The same essentially goes for the young Jack Wilshere; he's not the type you want just hanging back at the halfway line when he offers so much to the offense. Denilson, we've been saying for years, does not have the size and body type to fill the role adequately anyway.
This leaves Alex Song, who has been pushing way too far forward this season. Song was on the bench yesterday (this goes back to my rotation point above, of course), but it's been an issue all year. Paraphrasing a bit from various sources, a holding midfielder's job is: "screening the defense, covering for those who push forward, retaining distribution nearer the defense, directing distribution forward, and forcing the opposition offensively into more difficult areas of the pitch." Basically, you can't do any of that if you find yourself caught forward on the attack. This, in turn, exposes the back line.
The holding midfielder needs to be someone who floats back around the halfway line ready to deflect pressure away from others. If caught out of position, as Song has been so many times this year, the consequence is added pressure on other players whom you are supposed to be helping.
Nicklas Bendtner, for all his talk, is useless
For examples, see yesterday and November 3 at Shakhtar Donetsk. That is all.
Arsenal lacks the mental resolve to win anything
This is troubling. I've talked a lot recently about the differences between Dominant Arsenal and Complacent Arsenal, who are seemingly two completely different teams. At Everton, Dominant Arsenal played 70 minutes and built a 2-0 lead, which Complacent Arsenal did not have enough time to fuck up. Against Spurs, Dominant Arsenal played 45 minutes and built a 2-0 lead, which Complacent Arsenal had plenty of time to fuck up. Yesterday, only Complacent Arsenal appeared. You can't win trophies like this.
Arsenal had most of the possession through the match (about two-thirds, I believe) and yet never seemed to be threatening on the attack. There's something seriously wrong there. This is a team that was just days ago embarrassed in the second half at home against a bitter rival. The proper response to that is to go out and thrash a legitimately weaker opponent (Braga is 10th in Portugal and had lost three of four.) Despite losing to West Brom, despite losing to Newcastle, despite losing to Spurs, all at home, you get the sense that this team still finds themselves too comfortable in games they "should" win.
That means they 1) lack a killer instinct to take advantage of situations where they could put the opposition down for the count and 2) are incapable of pulling themselves up when the going gets tough, as evidenced by repeated losses in the same pattern. That's going to lead you nowhere fast in these competitions.
I am legitimately worried where this season might end up going
With everything that has happened this month, I'm starting to find my normal, ever-lasting-until-mathematically-eliminated optimism fading fast. Suddenly we're possibly a draw against Partizan away from the Europa League. And playing as Arsenal has this month is a fast track to a fifth place finish and, you guessed it, the Europa League next year.
Football can be a cruel and unforgiving game. If you spiral out of control for too long, it becomes nearly impossible to rectify the situation. If next month continues as this month has, then who knows what competitions this team will be going for next year.
Just ask Liverpool.
Hipster Gooner Man of the Match: Matheus
After the debacle that was Saturday against Spurs, this match was time for Arsenal to get back on the proverbial horse, and in the process, secure their path into the next round of the Champions League. Instead of getting back on the horse, what actually happened was the horse kicked Arsenal while they were down. So now, Arsenal is still stuck face down in the mud with things spiraling out of control very quickly.
Arsene Wenger, judging by rotation, seems to have no desire to win the Champions League
The amount of squad rotation in the past two Champions League fixtures have boggled my mind. There were seven changes to the side that lost on Saturday. Bacary Sagna was on the bench. Samir Nasri was on the bench. Alex Song was on the bench. Marouane Chamakh was on the bench. Andrei Arshavin and Robin van Persie were left in London to "rest."
During the month of November, the squad has been treating European competition like it's a glorified, multi-national version of the League Cup, which is a disturbing thought if you spend too much time thinking about it. Shakhtar Donetsk was not the time to field a B team, and after losing there, Braga certainly was not the time to do it again.
This team has, offensively, run out of ideas
Unless Cesc Fabregas is in tip-top form, this team has lately been playing like a bunch of chickens with their heads cut off. Fabregas was at the top of his game in the first half on Saturday, but has been invisible at best and noticeably detrimental to the team at worse since. This happened against Newcastle as well, and it's thanks to his recurring hamstring injury (which recurred again and will likely keep him out for at least two weeks.) When Fabregas is playing hesitant, the entire offense suffers.
Unfortunately, without Fabrgeas on the pitch at all, the offense will still suffer. This is because his replacements have not yet built up the instinct to pick out that perfect pass in the final third that Fabregas is so damned good at. Samir Nasri will probably be close to there in time, but he's not right now. Arsenal essentially had no threatening chances on goal from open play yesterday. Crosses are sent into the box and nobody is there but the other team. Once Arsenal starts losing, they start hoofing the ball long, forgetting that they don't have the personnel on the other end to win those long balls anyway.
The squad does not have a straight-up holding midfielder and it makes the back four look worse
Without the injured Thomas Vermaelen, the Arsenal back four have exposed themselves this season as lacking experience and prone to break downs that lead to goals conceded. How on Earth did one Braga striker beat three Arsenal defenders twice yesterday? Once Eboue was injured forcing Arsenal to ten men, the back line never reorganized themselves. But, even with all of the problems the back four have had, they have not been helped by the fact that Arsenal's holding midfielders haven't exactly been natural for the role this year.
Arsenal have deployed four different players in the holding role section (the 2) of their 4-2-3-1 formation this season: Alex Song, Jack Wilshere, Abou Diaby, and Denilson. Diaby is currently hurt, having been hacked at the same ankle twice this season, but he's more of the creative offensive type anyway, and was playing the Fabregas box-to-box role as of his last appearance at Chelsea. The same essentially goes for the young Jack Wilshere; he's not the type you want just hanging back at the halfway line when he offers so much to the offense. Denilson, we've been saying for years, does not have the size and body type to fill the role adequately anyway.
This leaves Alex Song, who has been pushing way too far forward this season. Song was on the bench yesterday (this goes back to my rotation point above, of course), but it's been an issue all year. Paraphrasing a bit from various sources, a holding midfielder's job is: "screening the defense, covering for those who push forward, retaining distribution nearer the defense, directing distribution forward, and forcing the opposition offensively into more difficult areas of the pitch." Basically, you can't do any of that if you find yourself caught forward on the attack. This, in turn, exposes the back line.
The holding midfielder needs to be someone who floats back around the halfway line ready to deflect pressure away from others. If caught out of position, as Song has been so many times this year, the consequence is added pressure on other players whom you are supposed to be helping.
Nicklas Bendtner, for all his talk, is useless
For examples, see yesterday and November 3 at Shakhtar Donetsk. That is all.
Arsenal lacks the mental resolve to win anything
This is troubling. I've talked a lot recently about the differences between Dominant Arsenal and Complacent Arsenal, who are seemingly two completely different teams. At Everton, Dominant Arsenal played 70 minutes and built a 2-0 lead, which Complacent Arsenal did not have enough time to fuck up. Against Spurs, Dominant Arsenal played 45 minutes and built a 2-0 lead, which Complacent Arsenal had plenty of time to fuck up. Yesterday, only Complacent Arsenal appeared. You can't win trophies like this.
Arsenal had most of the possession through the match (about two-thirds, I believe) and yet never seemed to be threatening on the attack. There's something seriously wrong there. This is a team that was just days ago embarrassed in the second half at home against a bitter rival. The proper response to that is to go out and thrash a legitimately weaker opponent (Braga is 10th in Portugal and had lost three of four.) Despite losing to West Brom, despite losing to Newcastle, despite losing to Spurs, all at home, you get the sense that this team still finds themselves too comfortable in games they "should" win.
That means they 1) lack a killer instinct to take advantage of situations where they could put the opposition down for the count and 2) are incapable of pulling themselves up when the going gets tough, as evidenced by repeated losses in the same pattern. That's going to lead you nowhere fast in these competitions.
I am legitimately worried where this season might end up going
With everything that has happened this month, I'm starting to find my normal, ever-lasting-until-mathematically-eliminated optimism fading fast. Suddenly we're possibly a draw against Partizan away from the Europa League. And playing as Arsenal has this month is a fast track to a fifth place finish and, you guessed it, the Europa League next year.
Football can be a cruel and unforgiving game. If you spiral out of control for too long, it becomes nearly impossible to rectify the situation. If next month continues as this month has, then who knows what competitions this team will be going for next year.
Just ask Liverpool.
Hipster Gooner Man of the Match: Matheus
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