The more reserved proportion of Arsenal fans won’t be worried about a last minute draw at Anfield. It’s a good result, we were missing key players, these are early days in the season, so they will say. In many ways it didn’t seem like a new season. Truth was, as I sunk deeper into my chair and took another required slug of Red Stripe, it was like nothing had changed at all, just an extension of the same old crushing frustration. Watching Arsenal is a case for therapy, and here we are just one pace into the campaign.
Arsenal are mystifying. When the teams were even they appeared comfortable, dictating the flow of the game more like hosts than visitors. After Liverpool lost Joe Cole to a red card Arsenal had a numerical advantage. Instead of prising the day open with the extra man the Gunners had been introduced to a completely new game, playing the second half like an old family member trying to send a picture message on an iPhone. Arsene Wenger’s team knew what they wanted to do but didn’t really understand how to do it.
Liverpool were rejuvenated under the circumstance of playing a man light. The energy of The Kop spuring on their dented underdog was compelling and having Roy Hodgson to hand-out expertise in organisation slammed a concrete wall in front of Arsenal’s faces. It was proof that Arsenal still struggle to unlock conditioned games. As so often is the case, they emerged daunted by the changes to their environment. When Arsenal really needed somebody to answer ‘what do we do now?’, the reality was, well, there wasn’t anybody. Captain Cesc Fabregas holds the secret formula but he was absent. Manuel Almunia had the armband but he was isolated at the other end of the pitch, and it’s unlikely he would know Cesc’s recipe anyway.
When it was obvious the team needed a new dimension to cut holes in Liverpool’s leather fabric, glances fell towards the dug-out. Thomas Rosicky and Theo Walcott replaced Emmanuel Eboue and Jack Wilshere – very much like for like. Walcott is as close as Arsenal get to a natural winger although he isn’t the finished article. Other than that, Arsenal lack width, plus the ability to cross a ball with outcomes of fatality. Drawing Liverpool’s defenders out of their comfort zone rarely happened, nor did the overlap of full-backs to take play deep into Liverpool’s half, all basic in strategy but effective when trying to break down ten men. Playing through the middle was a lost cause.
Finally though, Liverpool lost their concentration when Rosicky crossed and Marouane Chamakh caused Pepe Reina problems. Karma had turned up. The man who was the prankster last month when he forced a Barcelona shirt on Fabregas had become the brunt of the joke to the travelling north London support. Reina is seldom so untidy but had he seen Chamakh coming from the corner of his eye? Had he seen the videos of the Moroccan scoring countless headers for Bordeaux? Could this have forced the error? Maybe so, and if that’s the case then Arsenal must understand there is a powerful outlet in Chamakh and start to perfect the ways of serving him.
There were plenty of positives for Arsenal. Laurent Koscielny looked comfortable alongside Thomas Vermaelen. As time goes on the pair could well form one ruthless central partnership. Other than a couple of youthful moments Jack Wilshere took the game to Liverpool. He hardly seemed bothered by the huge stage or by facing Steven Gerrard, when some more experienced team-mates clearly did. When he miss-controlled a pass he refused to allow Javier Mascherano the luxury of picking it up and walking away, so he gave the fierce Argentinean a taste of his own medicine. Arsenal had built up a nice pace in the first half. All that was missing was the goal. Still, not bad for the opening 45 minutes of the new season.
The problems then? Need for a quality goalkeeper is the obvious one. People might hold different views on David Ngog’s opener: the argument is a top keeper would have saved. Watching the Spaniard twice lapel across a crowded penalty and claim nothing though, were the sights of somebody who has lost the plot. Marks of desperation are upon Almunia and the more he lives in this state of affair, the more likely it is that errors will stay regulation. The caginess of Almunia isn’t exactly the requisite of a captain and it doesn’t take a scholar to see that Vermaelen should be the team’s leader in place of Fabregas. William Gallas was stripped of the role so why is Almunia so immune? This leads on from whether he should even be playing.
All the other problems synonymous with Arsenal on the day might be partially overlooked, being so early in the season and all. What can’t be ignored however are the latest hints that the fans could be drawn into another year of sitting on the doc’s couch and pouring out the pains of following Arsenal. I guess that’s only for those who can afford an hour a week of psychiatric help. For the rest of us, it’s talking to Jan the office cleaner, John the barman or Jimmy the cab driver about the woes of being a modern day Gooner. It’s good to know I’m not alone. It’s good to have the Premiership back.
THE ARSENAL
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