Shambolic Defending and Impotent Attack Costs Arsenal .. Yet Again!
It was a dominant performance by Milan, reminiscent of their glory years, and an equally toothless one by Arsenal – just one of the many in the past 4 years.
In my preview I spoke of the narrow formation Milan play and how this could be exploited by Arsenal. Quite the opposite happened last night, as Milan overran the Arsenal midfield and defense by playing through the middle and playing well, where Arsenal were simply outnumbered and ultimately outclassed – despite having more posession (typical Arsenal). Ineffective down the wings, they failed to test Milan’s narrow formation or their fullbacks. And it didn’t help that Arsenal’s defending was typically Sunday-league. Had Milan been a bit more clinical in front of goal, it could’ve been an all-out rout!
As much as I want want to blame the manager for this, it was his players and in particular his senior players who really let him down .. once again. Theo Walcott offered absolutely nothing going forward, and left Sagna exposed far too often. Ramsey has been short of confidence since the start of this season and has probably been overplayed. Another player who has been overplayed is Koscielny, we’ve now lost him to injury for God knows how long, and Arsenal are now one injury or suspension away from the mighty Squillaci. Rosicky, like his right-wing counterpart, contributed exactly nothing to the attack or defense and I wouldn’t blame him because he was being played out of position. He’s been very influential in the middle for Arsenal in the recent weeks, and should’ve started behind the striker. Someone suggested on Twitter last night that he had been deployed on the left to provide more defensive cover to Gibbs. You cannot, CANNOT play players out of position in a game of this magnitude, and the blame for the rests solely on the manager’s shoulders. As does the blame for the fact that Arsenal is currently fielding average or below-average players in their squad and offering contract extensions to such players, Johan Djourou being one. Djourou is slow, and for a big man he’s easily shrugged off the ball. He’s sluggish and clumsy, cannot tackle properly, does nothing to organize the defense, and is, in a nutshell, not fit to play in a team vying for trophies on multiple fronts. Another senior player, Thomas Vermaelen, was below par, kept losing his marker on the crucial of times and once again I would blame the manager for playing him out of position for 3 months and slotting him back to the center in an important game. The simple fact is that Arsene Wenger should’ve signed a left back in the winter window when he had the chance, even a loan deal would’ve done. Especially strange since at one point the manager said that a left-back will be signed in the winter, and then completely backtracked on his own statement!
Alex Song ‘pulled a Nasri’ and chose the perfect night to go missing, as he often does. Arteta was less influential than he usually has been for Arsenal this season. Gibbs was better, considering it was his first game back from injury.
Its also easy to point the finger towards Chezney for the first goal, it was a weak goalkick, unacceptable at this level and such goalkicks have now been a regular feature of his game – something he needs to work on in the training ground. But the fact is not one Arsenal player even went close to challenging the Milan player whom the ball fell to. He played a simple cross to Kevin Boateng who in turn scored an excellent goal, I recommend everyone re-watch Prince’s brilliant skill for the goal, at least once.
Milan kept opening up the Arsenal defense by playing simple passes between the back-four. And once Djourou was introduced, you just knew it would be a rout. He conceded a soft penalty in the second half and is now well on his way to being the next Silvestre/Eboue/Denilson.
Taking nothing away from Milan, it was a dominant performance. Like Zonal Marking noted, they played to their strengths very well. To me, they clearly had a gameplan, both with and without the ball. And they stuck to it quite well. Ibrahimovic and Robinho were in total sync and worked well together, and one could see that this is the perfect partnership up front for Milan, and should keep Pato on the bench for a while. Silva, Mexes and van Bommel worked excellently together as a unit to keep van Persie quiet.
But the fact is Arsenal were toothless, clueless, were devoid of any organisation, and let Milan take them to the dryers here. Arsene Wenger was, as usual, devoid of anything even close to something called a plan-B, got his tactics totally wrong. And sometimes and especially after watching games like this, it looks as if Harry Redknapp of all people has more tactical nous than Wenger! Arsene did nothing to change things at half-time, and its not the first time this has happened. Arsenal were sinking faster than the Titanic at Old Trafford earlier this season and lets not forget than Arsenal continued to ship 8 (eight!) goals and absolutely nothing was done to change this.
Even the most die-hard Arsene Wenger fans are starting to lose the trust and faith in him. And with these sort of results, he’s not doing himself any favors at all. Fact of the matter is that Arsenal are now on the brink of mid-table mediocrity, and right now, it would take nothing short of a miracle for Arsenal to (a) proceed to the next round of the Champions League, and (b) qualify for the competition next season. The team now smacks of mediocrity and its quite telling that long-term Arsenal targets such as Eden Hazard would now prefer a move to Tottenham Hostspur. The bench has below-average players like Chamakh and I think the fact that a 35-year old Henry was preferred last night over Chamakh or Park speaks volumes in itself!
Milan were impressive, but this is without a shadow of a doubt one of the weakest Milan side in years, and everyone was expecting a closely-contested game, if not an evenly-matched one. Not to be, unfortunately. But the performance says a lot about the state of the current Arsenal side and the man it is being managed by. Devoid of ideas, it was a collection of 11 individuals rather than a team playing out there (just like the Old Trafford game). This was Arsenal’s biggest away defeat ever in the Champions League. I really don’t see the point of playing the return leg, Arsene might as well put the reserve team out at the Emirates as they would probably show more heart and fight than what was on display last night!
Would also like to take a moment to speak about the San Siro pitch, which from the looks of it had been relaid especially on both the flanks. Deliberate? Perhaps to nullify the threat posed by Arsenal’s wingers? Conspiracy theories aplenty on the internet.
Post-match reactions:
Arsene’s post-match reaction. We’ll see what he does about it, as another crucial game coming up over the weekend against Sunderland. Actions always speak louder than words!
Arsenal’s defeat could affect Premier League’s standing in Europe. Via The Telegraph.
Eboue, who had some hilarious things to say on his Twitter! Is that even his real Twitter? As useless a player he was during his time with Arsenal, gotta love his sense of humor!
Adriano Gilliani who says there could’ve been more than 4 for Milan, and I totally agree!
Vermaelen spot on here, and I like the attitude – something that unfortunately cannot be said for everyone in the team.
Some former players speak: Dixon and Petit. Petit (2) on shedding the dead weight, spot on!
A feature on Arsenal’s current state of affairs on ESPN.
Ibra: “We showed the right mentality.” Hard to disagree.
Alternatively, this was an interesting perspective on why people need to get behind Arsene and his team.
Questions, questions
Will van Persie sign on? Will Walcott and Song sign on? Do Arsenal fans even care if Walcott signs on or goes? Will Arsenal be able to continue to attract top talent? Will Arsenal continue to lose their best players and stick with what are clearly mediocre, mid-table-team players? Will the board and the manager continue to do absolutely nothing about the fact that clearly something is not right with this team and the setup? Will Arsene Wenger continue to mismanage players to the ground, bring the once-Invincibles down to utter mediocrity and in the process permanently stain his reputation?
Away fans
Shout out to the Arsenal fans in attendance at San Siro who had to sit through this abysmal display of football by Arsenal FC, and probably paid good money to do so.
—–
[Written by a long-time Arsenal fan, and a believer that the club will always be bigger than any player/manager/individual. Gooner, through thick and thin!]
OneWorldFootball 