A Heavy Price To Pay For A Point Against A Poor Spurs Side

Match Review: Arsenal 1 Sp*rs 1 - Premier League 27.09.14

The first North London Derby of the season ended in frustration, as Sp*rs stole a point from the Emirates. Arsenal were the dominant side and Sp*rs played in a manner that suggested they didn’t harbour any belief that they could win the game. But individual errors and an indifferent performance in the final third meant that what should have been a derby day win ended in a share of the points.

Having broken away slightly from 4-3-3 at Aston Villa, Wenger returned to it with Arteta, Ramsey and Wilshere making up the midfield three. Özil was again forced wide left, with Chamberlain on the right and Welbeck up top, meaning no place for Alexis. Cazorla also dropped to the bench having started at Villa, while the back five stayed the same. I have to say, I was disappointed with both the formation and also that Alexis was left on the bench. I understand the need to rotate and keep players fresh, but I’d prefer to go all out at the start, get the game won and then sub those who you want to save. By all accounts, Alexis was buzzing to get involved in the derby and will surely have been disappointed to have had to watch on at the start.

Arsenal made all the early running, with Tottenham happy to sit back and attempt to contain us. Wilshere had an early chance after Welbeck won the ball back in midfield, but Wilshere chose the wrong option on the break away. Welbeck and Özil were running into space on his left, but Jack chose to go right to Ramsey who was forced wide and could only hit tamely at Lloris. Welbeck and Wilshere also had shots but we really only created half chances, mostly from long range. Sp*rs had very few forays forward and had a few mere sniffs at goal. We suffered two massive blows though and not from Tottenham attacks either.

The first came on about 29 minutes, when Arteta punted the ball out of play, sat down and signalled for a change. It looked to be a calf injury and the grim look on Arteta’s face suggested it’s not one that he’ll be recovering quickly from and it’s also his second injury of the season. That was bad, but much worse came just before half time as Ramsey collapsed near the Sp*rs box and to everyone’s horror, held his hamstring and beat the ground. He looked in a lot of discomfort as he hobbled from the pitch and I imagine that he will see another lengthy layoff. Wilshere also picked up a knock, but he was able to carry on. Suddenly, we’re looking very light in midfield with a trip to Chelsea on the horizon.

The second half saw more Arsenal dominance and more deep Sp*rs defending. Özil had a great chance, but his first touch scuppered him and he could only poke the ball to Lloris. It seemed that the match would be a case of if and when Arsenal could score, but all of a sudden we blew our on feet off with a rocket launcher.

Szczesny, having made a very simple save from a half hearted Tottenham effort, tried to get the play moving again quickly by throwing out to Mertesacker. Chambers and Mertesacker exchanged passes before the German passed to Flamini in midfield. Flamini’s touch was terrible and Eriksen was quick to nip in an rob him. Lamela picked up the ball and fed Chadli, who cooly slotted underneath Szczesny and put Sp*rs into a horribly underserved lead. It was a moment of unbelievable stupidity from us, allowing Tottenham to steal a goal they would otherwise have had no chance of getting.

Now, suddenly, we had some urgency in our play. It always amazes me that we can’t find this drive to our play unless we go one nil down. It’s like we assume that we can stroll to a win until the opposition rudely remind us that we can’t and we then have to scramble our way back. It’s not the way to be successful really, but for some reason we find it immensely difficult to come out and hit teams hard. It’s hurt us for a while as we let teams settle and ultimately makes us very vulnerable to a sucker punch, exactly like what happened on Saturday.

However, if there’s one thing we do well, it’s coming from behind to save games and yet again, we pulled ourselves out of a hole we’d dug for ourselves. For all our tippy tappy passing play, it was actually a very scrappy goal that hauled us level. Santi Cazorla hit a hard cross from the edge of the area, which deflected off Özil and then Kaboul, sending it bobbling towards Welbeck. The striker swung his left leg at it, but only succeeded in losing his balance and falling over. Fortunately the ball fell to Chamberlain, who produced the one moment of quality of the entire move, side footing high into the top corner. Relief, but not a situation we should have found ourselves in the first place.

We hammered on the Sp*rs door for the rest of the game, winning tons of corners, but consistently failing to make anything of them. We were so poor from set pieces, with a Mertesacker header the closest we came to scoring from one. We nearly conceded from one at the end after a breakaway allowed Vertonghen to storm forward into our half, only for him to be absolutely schooled by Koscielny. Despite our dominance, our failure to create clear cut chances meant that Sp*rs clung on for a point, exactly what they came for. Their fans celebrated like they’d won and their players looked very happy too, take from that what you will. Having had 69% of the possession, triple their amount of corners and nearly triple their amount of shots, we should rightly be very disappointed to have only drawn. Sp*rs are a very mediocre side and rivalries and derbies aside, they're a team we should be beating.

We have some serious problems that have come out of the game too, as Arteta and Ramsey will miss both Galatasaray at home and Chelsea away next weekend. There are doubts over Wilshere’s fitness too, but hopefully he will make at least the Chelsea game. But we now have a problem if Wenger wants to continue with the three man midfield, with all three of the aforementioned players likely to be missing midweek, a patch up job seems likely against Galatasaray. The injuries are racking up at an alarming rate and with some difficult fixtures on the horizon, we’re going to have to dig deep to keep our season together.

Teams

Arsenal (4-3-3)Szczesny, Chambers (Y), Mertesacker, Koscielny, Gibbs, Arteta (Flamini 29’), Ramsey (Cazorla 45’), Wilshere (Y) (Alexis 63’), Özil, Chamberlain (Y), Welbeck
Subs
Ospina, Coquelin, Flamini, Cazorla, Alexis, Podolski, Rosicky

Sp*rs (4-5-1)
Lloris, Naughton, Kaboul (Y), Vertonghen, Rose (Y) (Dier 83’), Capoue, Mason (Y), Lamela (Y), Chadli (Y) (Bentaleb 80’), Eriksen (Lennon 62’ (Y)), Adebayor (Y)
Subs
Vorm, Dier, Fazio, Bentaleb, Townsend, Lennon, Soldado

Player Ratings

Szczesny - 6/10 - Didn’t have much to do, but has to take some blame for their goal
Chambers - 7/10 - Another very impressive performance
Mertesacker - 6/10 - Should probably take some blame for their goal too
Koscielny - 7/10 - He’s such a boss and I loved him for ruining Vertonghen at the end
Gibbs - 7/10 - Gave a lot down the left, maybe be caught out for their goal, but only slightly
Arteta - 6/10 - Didn’t really have any time to accrue a rating and went off before half an hour
Ramsey - 6/10 - Injured his hamstring, but he needs to simplify his game to regain form
Wilshere - 7/10 - Passionate, driven performance and did a good job
Chamberlain - 7/10 - In the right place and composed to equalise for us and ruined Danny Rose all game
Özil - 8/10 - Our most threatening player and worked hard to try and unpick the Sp*rs defence
Welbeck - 7/10 - Worked hard and on another day he’d have helped us to victory
Subs
Flamini - 5/10 - Had a shocker for their goal and will have to improve for upcoming games
Cazorla - 7/10 - Helped set up our goal and added a bit of zip to the midfield
Alexis - 7/10 - Worked exceptionally hard when he came on, just needed more time

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