One of the best parts of last season, apart from finally winning a trophy, was Arsenal's extended run atop the Premier League. Being in first place for so long did a lot to restore a sense of pride among Gooners all over the world. It served as a reminder that our club could challenge for titles again and erased some of the embarrassment factor that accompanied being an Arsenal fan over the better part of the last nine years.
A few shambolic defeats in the second half of the season brought us crashing back to Earth a good deal, but winning the FA Cup made it feel like a successful campaign and raised hopes for more to come. So far this year, that hasn't been the case at all and Tuesday night's 3-3 draw against Anderlecht further reinforced Arsenal's reputation as a laughingstock.
The come-from-behind draw does little damage to our prospects of advancing out of our Champions League group, despite the fact that a win would have clinched our passage to the knockout stage. Dortmund would also still hold a three point lead on us even if we had won. It would have been a major statement to still be in the running to win our group, though. To capitulate in a match that should have been a dominant win and throw away any chance of winning our group at the same time hurts. As a club, we're resigning to the fact that we are clear-cut second favorites in our group and whether that might be true or not, it's disappointing that we didn't earn the results needed to battle that notion until the end.
As for the match, there is no way that being 3-0 up should result in anything other than a win, no matter who the opposition is. The old cliché can be true about the precariousness of a two goal lead, but Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain's goal to put us up 3-0 should have iced the game. It should be said that Anderlecht's first goal was obviously offside, though allowed to stand by the referee. After that goal, though, we reacted shockingly poorly, as Anderlecht drove the game from then on. The mental toughness that Arsene Wenger praises so often in games we win late or fight to hold on for was nowhere to be found that night.
As gloomy as that draw left me feeling, there are still positive things happening. Alexis Sanchez continues to play absolutely out of his mind and in the form he's in, it appears as though we really have signed a very special player. Some of our players are returning from being maimed, too, with Theo Walcott back in action, Olivier Giroud close to returning to training and Mesut Özil and Mathieu Debuchy making progress as well. Also, full credit should go to Anderlecht, who we should have lost to in our meeting in Belgium. They played us very tough, even while 3-0 down when it's extremely difficult to push on and much easier to give up.
So not all is lost as we prepare to face Swansea on Sunday. It's just that instead of being able to build on a winning streak in all competitions, our confidence will have taken a hit after throwing away a sure win at home to lesser opposition. It remains to be seen if we respond with a passionate, focused performance or if doubt creeps in. Now into November, the same inconsistency Arsenal has shown since the start of the season remains the same.
Showing posts with label Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. Show all posts
November 6, 2014
September 30, 2014
On the Brink of a Big Week
A lot has happened since the last time I checked in, including a 3-0 smashing of Aston Villa, an exit from the Capital One Cup at the hands of Southampton and a 1-1 draw in the North London derby that felt more like a loss. As we cross into the month of October, Arsenal still have yet to establish much positive momentum. The positives are there — we're still unbeaten in the league, we have five of our six Champions League group stage fixtures ahead of us and even our exit from the league cup means less fixture congestion for our threadbare squad to have to contend with. At the same time, the flipside to each of these things is evident, too.
We sit nestled in our familiar fourth place spot in the league and though we're undefeated, we haven't found our form with only two wins and four draws. When it comes to the cup exit, many Arsenal bloggers have pointed out that it was a missed opportunity to give some of our youth players and reserves games, especially since some of them may be heavily relied on due to the injuries we've suffered. Our chance to get back on track in Europe comes tomorrow against Galatasaray with the pressure on us after being dominated by Borussia Dortmund. Our next game after that is the rather shit-inducing matchup against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
It has been hard to build momentum with all of the injuries we have encountered. We signed Danny Welbeck and he has looked really good in our team, bagging his first goal against Villa, but then we lost Giroud for 3 months. Our decision not to sign any more defenders immediately cost us even further when Mathieu Debuchy went down with a long-term injury, too. Mesut Özil struggled to find form of his own, then just when he notched a goal and an assist in the span of two minutes, Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere all get injured in the next game.
In terms of our season, it is still early days but Arsenal have yet to look like the team that rattled off 10 straight league wins around this time last season. Of course, those wins came after a dispiriting opening day loss, so things can turn around pretty much at any time. I feel like the pieces are there to do it, with Alexis looking great, Santi Cazorla still a wizard on the ball, Welbeck leading the line well, and so on. It's also worth mentioning that Calum Chambers has been an incredible signing and in each appearance he has made, he has played way beyond his 19 years of age would suggest.
The team will need to respond tomorrow against a very tough Galatasaray team after failing to beat a poor, flat Spurs side that we really should have beat. A draw at home wouldn't be the worst result in the world but after losing our opening match, we really can't afford to drop any more points. Galatasaray did us a favor by drawing their opening match against the supposed underdog of the group, Anderlecht. However, we have yet to see if that is a good omen for us tomorrow or if Anderlecht are being underestimated more than they should be.
As for Sunday's match against Chelsea, it remains to be seen whether we can keep from self-destructing against a top four team on the road again. The hope is that we'll have learned from the mistakes of last year and/or gotten over the psychological hurdles that we face with those teams last year, but then we felt that way last season after it happened against City. And then Liverpool. Then Chelsea. Then, to some extent, Everton. Chelsea also look like the best team in the Premier League this year by a long way, which is very painful to admit because I truly hate them all with a burning rage. It would be fantastic to upstage Mourinho by handing them their first loss, but if we held on for dear life and scraped at least a draw from them, I'd take it in a heartbeat.
The news from today is that Jack will be in the squad tomorrow, though my guess is that he will not start. Also for all Arsenal fans' required daily reading, Arseblog raised a good argument for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to play in central midfield with the injuries we've had there. Ox has looked very good this year, his equalizer against Spurs was as clutch as hell and maybe he can step up in the position in which we have the most depth.
Until next time.
We sit nestled in our familiar fourth place spot in the league and though we're undefeated, we haven't found our form with only two wins and four draws. When it comes to the cup exit, many Arsenal bloggers have pointed out that it was a missed opportunity to give some of our youth players and reserves games, especially since some of them may be heavily relied on due to the injuries we've suffered. Our chance to get back on track in Europe comes tomorrow against Galatasaray with the pressure on us after being dominated by Borussia Dortmund. Our next game after that is the rather shit-inducing matchup against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge.
It has been hard to build momentum with all of the injuries we have encountered. We signed Danny Welbeck and he has looked really good in our team, bagging his first goal against Villa, but then we lost Giroud for 3 months. Our decision not to sign any more defenders immediately cost us even further when Mathieu Debuchy went down with a long-term injury, too. Mesut Özil struggled to find form of his own, then just when he notched a goal and an assist in the span of two minutes, Mikel Arteta, Aaron Ramsey and Jack Wilshere all get injured in the next game.
In terms of our season, it is still early days but Arsenal have yet to look like the team that rattled off 10 straight league wins around this time last season. Of course, those wins came after a dispiriting opening day loss, so things can turn around pretty much at any time. I feel like the pieces are there to do it, with Alexis looking great, Santi Cazorla still a wizard on the ball, Welbeck leading the line well, and so on. It's also worth mentioning that Calum Chambers has been an incredible signing and in each appearance he has made, he has played way beyond his 19 years of age would suggest.
The team will need to respond tomorrow against a very tough Galatasaray team after failing to beat a poor, flat Spurs side that we really should have beat. A draw at home wouldn't be the worst result in the world but after losing our opening match, we really can't afford to drop any more points. Galatasaray did us a favor by drawing their opening match against the supposed underdog of the group, Anderlecht. However, we have yet to see if that is a good omen for us tomorrow or if Anderlecht are being underestimated more than they should be.
As for Sunday's match against Chelsea, it remains to be seen whether we can keep from self-destructing against a top four team on the road again. The hope is that we'll have learned from the mistakes of last year and/or gotten over the psychological hurdles that we face with those teams last year, but then we felt that way last season after it happened against City. And then Liverpool. Then Chelsea. Then, to some extent, Everton. Chelsea also look like the best team in the Premier League this year by a long way, which is very painful to admit because I truly hate them all with a burning rage. It would be fantastic to upstage Mourinho by handing them their first loss, but if we held on for dear life and scraped at least a draw from them, I'd take it in a heartbeat.
The news from today is that Jack will be in the squad tomorrow, though my guess is that he will not start. Also for all Arsenal fans' required daily reading, Arseblog raised a good argument for Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to play in central midfield with the injuries we've had there. Ox has looked very good this year, his equalizer against Spurs was as clutch as hell and maybe he can step up in the position in which we have the most depth.
Until next time.
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