As A Chill Wind Blows, The Window Opens.
Dec 28th, 2008 by 'holic
Hello ‘holics. As expected I was missing for a few hectic days, and time may continue to be scarce as a new year approaches. Thanks for your good wishes for the management, who hopefully is now on the other side of a particularly deep trough.
If I was looking for the Gunners to raise the spirits I was to be just a little disappointed. Sadly I missed the Villa Park contest as I was at the hospital and was intending to watch it ‘live’ at midnight on Boxing Day, only for ‘holicdad to ruin my careful avoidance of the result on the phone. “I hope she does a lot better over the coming days than the Arsenal did today.”
He did me a favour. Had I witnessed the late capitulation at nearly two in the morning I would have almost certainly woken the neighbours with a loud tirade. I settled for the Match of the Day highlights. We certainly looked to have enjoyed some rare good fortune in the opening half as the in-form team in the Premiership threatened to take us apart.
Full marks then to the boys for all but grabbing the contest by the lapels after the break. I was absolutely delighted for the often unfairly maligned Denilson and Diaby when they scored. Had Robin van Persie’s effort gone inside, rather than against, the post we would almost certainly be celebrating six points out of six over the holiday.
Events today have persuaded me to gloss over the Villa comeback, set in motion by a reckless challenge in the box. It is quite interesting to consider, however, that had William Gallas not been around over Christmas, our points tally may have remained unaffected at four out of six, but the three would have come at Villa Park, and the one against Portsmouth!
Yes, the former captain certainly got us out of jail today. On a bitterly cold afternoon at the Grove the paying punters deserved a heartwarming performance against a team even more out of touch than us. Sad to say it didn’t happen. It would be easy to point at the Cesc-less midfield and say that is where the problems lay. I’m not sure that is fair.
If you looked at the individual contributions I thought that Eboue, Diaby, and Nasri were mobile, switched around constantly to keep the visitors on their toes, and behind them Denilson just ensured that no gaps appeared in front of what is probably our most vulnerable centre-back pairing.
It was more than a little frustrating to see the ball keep coming back at us when Adebayor, and particularly Bendtner, failed to retain possession and bring others into the game. Come the finish we had 58% of the ball, thirteen shots to four by Pompey, and a corner count advantage of eleven to two. Where does that tell you we lacked sharpness?
When the first substitution came I felt sorry for the luckless Eboue. Bendtner had started badly, put in little effort, and had become anonymous, so it was a mystery why he was switched to the right flank. I was also surprised to see Diaby make way for Ramsey, but delighted to see the young Welshman getting some Premiership experience.
The goal finally arrived when ‘Calamity’ James flapped at a Denilson free-kick and William Gallas turned from villain to hero with a brave header. Afterwards Arsene Wenger tried to talk up the unbeaten run. “In the last six games we have won three and draw three and out of the three draws we were leading in every single game, against Liverpool, Middlesbrough and Villa, and the teams won’t always come back to us.”
I suspect that last bit was a little tongue-in-cheek. Arsene will know only too well that this side is not organised enough to consistently hang on to leads. For now though we can anticipate a couple of weeks without Premier League action. By the time Bolton pitch up at the Emirates we may well have spent a few shillings on resolving the shortcomings in the squad.
People would do well to reflect that we have made it to the transfer window with an over-analysed, and over-criticised squad within ten points of the leaders. That they deserve to be behind is not in doubt, but the hysteria that greets every poor performance has become massively annoying.
Thankfully, my Christmas has put things back into a little bit of perspective.
25 Responses to “As A Chill Wind Blows, The Window Opens.”
Hi ‘holic,
With everything you have had to endure these last few months it’s a testament to your character that you give the likes of us any of your time at all. For that you deserve our unreserved thanks. Again, best wishes to the management and I’ll raise another glass of red to you both for the New Year.
Cheers
Arsene says he is looking for players in January. Lets hope he will make some deals even if they little bit pricey. Two players are needed DM & AM, three would be great (third player could be GK or CD)
http://www.skysports.com/video/clips/0,23791,12602_4713877,00.html?ssvTab=1&ssvSelectedTab=12599&ssvBasket=12602&ssvPage=1
“…but the hysteria that greets every poor performance has become massively annoying.”
Amen brother. Constant criticism from the media is one thing, but having to hear moaning and griping from fellow gooners after an important win is ridiculous.
Yes I feel we need to sign at least two players next month, but not much we can do till then, considering injuries etc. So get behind the team, because we’re not far off despite our dropped points and we can grow from this.
Just remember we’re the biggest confidence team there is. May not be the best thing, but if Arsene plays it right next month in the window, we could see a vast improvement in the second half of the season.
Better to have luck go against us as well as poor performances this side of January imo.
It’s not hysteria, but utter frustration. Wenger has let the squad be decimated by the departures of flamini, diarra, gilberto and by not replacing them has been completely negligent. After liverpool in the champions league he finally recognised there was a problem dealing with high balls (no shit), but again never bought in a solid centre back. Arsene has lost sight in actually creating a winning team and has created a vanity project instead. We have the 2nd highest wage bill according to Deloiite, but there are only 4 top quality players in my opinion deserving these wages in sagna,fabregas,van persie& clichy. Eboue, shouldn’t be booed, but he isn’t there to have his confidence massaged either. Once again today he was lackadaisical and gave away possession with very poor passing. I hope arsene gets real and strengthens, otherwise it could be a very bleak 2009.
*raises glass to you both* Hope the Management gets better soon. So sorry to hear of all your troubles. Big big hug for you mister, next time I see you.
Very warm “welcome back”, holic. And may the ascent from the trough be a swift and easy one for management.
It is INDEED hysteria, it’s really tiresome and it’s being perpetuated BIG TIME by some of the fireside scribes on other sites who’s logic is more difficult to dissect than Chinese algebra.
BBC’s highlights didn’t adequately reflect the dominance that flowed from confidence at Villa after we went 2-0 up. Promising signs there. Robust performance from Denilson and a well earned goal. Diaby’s goal was real quality. I really enjoyed it with him.
Loss of JD20 in the warm-up and the rushed, last minute intro of a “not ready” Toure to compensate, upset us at Villa and we certainly rocked and rolled for 40 minutes. ‘Nuf said about Willie G and the penalty.
Good three points today, I thought. Not a cracker, far from vintage. Superb through ball to Ade from Diaby for the first “nearly was”. Beautiful flight on Denilson’s free kick for the goal. Agree Vela nd Ramsey got some good exposure time. Both did OK, particularly as the game was opening up a bit when they came on.
Again, welcome back. Have a great Hogmanay. Mine’s the Glenlivet.
Agree wholeheartedly with your last thought ‘Holic. At the game today there was a minority of people still booing the likes of Bendtner and Eboue for everything that was not 100% perfect. One guy sitting near me was practically apoplectic evry time Bendtner lost the ball – even though sometimes it was because he’d been given a bad pass that put him in trouble and other times there was nothing on for him because of lack of movement from his team-mates. Yes, Bendtner and Eboue are both in bad spells of form, but the hysterical way in which some supporters want to turn on our own players is self-defeating. Confidence is obviously paper thin in the squad at the moment and they need our support, not the knowledge that every slip will bring a ton of vitriol down on them. When the crowd got behind the team against Liverpool after Ade’s sending off our remaining 10 men lifted their game and the Liverpool players were intimidated. We need more of that and less of the idiotic criticism.
“Have a great Hogmanay. Mine’s the Glenlivet.”
‘holicdad came up trumps at Christmas. My Hogmanay treat will be a ’92 Vintage Famous Grouse, bottled in 2004. Looking forward to it immensely.
thanks for your blog holic. with even the big blogs going into doom-mode, it’s good to have at least someone who can see the bigger picture instead of over-lamenting on every single wrongdoing of every bloody player. back in 05-06, we were defeated 6 times up to this point and look at the squad we had back then and compare it to the squad we have now which is so bad apparently.
as you said holic, it’s a confidence problem and with all this moaning it ain’t gonna get better.
and Rocky… it was the same for me today: “they’re all playing shit especially denilson, useless bastards… the lot” and after the 1-0 “vela is pure class, ramsey is pure class, adebayor is a monster et cetera…” and frankly it’s starting to get on my nerves
Spot on commentary – a good antidote to the inanely tedious arseblog and the moronic and juvenile leGrove.
I must confess that I left today’s game a little frustrated. I felt at times we played as if we thought we were 4-0 up, but forgetting to score the 4 goals first. We created precious little. I know what you say about sharpness holic but we only had 3 shots on target. That does not provide evidence to me that we are firing and sharp. I think far from it. However, 3 points is 3 points and so I will take that.
I thought we played well in patches. Plus points for me were Nasri, Diaby and Denilson in the middle. I was also impressed with the whole round performance of Gallas. Thought he looked strong at the back and when it was all going a bit stale, was prepared to make runs forward. The introduction of Vela was a massive plus. At last we had some width and someone who was prepared to actually run at defenders. We were so narrow at times today it was frightening.
I agree with those who have made comments about negative remarks. Where I sit there is a guy a few rows back who I am sure would have Bendtner on a firing squad given half a chance. I know that frustration gets to us all but this surely does no one any good?
As for the Villa game, I was more disappointed with the second goal. Gallas made a silly challenge to give away the pen. But we then held on for nearly 25 mins and looked okay. Then we were so nieve in injury time it was untrue. I have banged on several times here about lack of leadership and that was a prime example. Unbelievably basic. There is a big lump of a centre half standing on the edge of our box as they have a throw in? I wonder what he is doing there??? Oh bugger. That’s what it was. So so frustrating.
Transfer window approaches and I agree holic. Hopefully by the time we run out against Bolton there will be a few new faces. AW has stated a few times that we lack experience. I agree totally but it does raise questions. Why do we only offer players over 30 one year deals? I know the likes of Pires and Gilberto would not be playing every week. But you can not tell me that the likes of Nasri, Diaby, Theo and Denilson would not have learned bucket loads from them. They do not have to be regulars. Surely their presence on the training ground would have produced results. I must admit, it is a policy that I have never got.
One final comment, how great was it to see Tony Adams get the reception he deserved? The highlight of the day came after the final whistle. Big Tone shakes hands with his players as they come off, with his name ringing in his ears. He then turns to acknowledge the Arsenal faithful. Fantastic.
Happy New Year to you and yours holic. Here’s to 2009
Another desperately poor performance against a Pompey team that were taken apart by the mighty West Ham last week. Where`s the lovely pass-and-move play that has been the Arsenal trademark of recent years? The team now appears to be unable to pass forward and instead plays crab like along the line just as if it were Twickenham instead of the Emirates. And why can`t players take on defenders more and play a more direct game sometimes, instead of getting bogged down with a stodgy, predictable, passing game that breaks down all too easily? No-one was able to win the ball or make any sort of telling tackle until one by Vela late in the game. Unbelievably, we had to wait for Pompey players to miss-control the ball before we could regain posession. Speaking of Vela, why was he played on the left from where he was playing long balls into the box? Although I thought he had a rather good game and livened up proceedings a little, he is wasted there. Vela is an in-the box goal poacher and must play centrally, with Ramsey on the left flank if necessary. Portsmouth are one of my candidates for relegation and if this game is anything to go by, we are in serious trouble ourselves.
Hi ‘Holic. I think the reason he kept Bendtner on on the wing, was because of Portsmouth’s height. Let’s face it, with Cesc/Rosicky/Theo out, our truly creative options are limited, so the Boss is rightfully focusing on defense first. With Bouba-Diop, Crouch, Distin, and Sol on the pitch, there was a big potential danger of headed goals-against from set pieces. Keeping Bendtner and Ade both on the pitch gave us the height to help defend against that eventuality, and I think it was the right move, no fault of Eboue’s. He just isn’t as tall as the Dane.
Biscuitbum
I didn’t see a ‘desperately poor’ performance. What I saw was a Portsmouth team totally lacking any ambition beyond keeping a clean sheet (yes, Crouch hit the post but that was their only serious attack). It was up to us to break them down. We did. What’s the problem?
Cheers, ‘holic. What Snail said.
GoonerGerry. You are right about Portsmouth lacking ambition and being happy with a point. But we were poor. We can not hide from that. Do you really think we palyed well???? 3 points is 3 points and we are all pleased about that. But we created very little. In the end we had to rely on an error and a centre half to win us the game.
I personally conisder only 3 shots on target in a home game against Portsmouth a problem. Lets see what happen in January. Here’s hoping that some genuine quality is brought in to add something to this side.
Steve T
Don’t get me wrong. I’m not happy with what I’m seeing lately either. I want to see significant changes in January too.
But, looking at the game in context, with the players we’ve got available, that wasn’t so terrible. With the midfield lightweight in the centre and lacking width and pace, it was always going to be hard to break them down.
When we went ahead, I looked anxiously at the time remaining, trying to figure out how much the ref was likely to add on, worrying that we’d find some bizzare new method of throwing it away at the other end!
I also think though, that given the season we’ve had so far, our league position isn’t as awful as it could be. Assuming we do strengthen – which we absolutely have to do – there’s still reason for optimism.
People would do well to reflect that we have made it to the transfer window with an over-analysed, and over-criticised squad within ten points of the leaders. That they deserve to be behind is not in doubt, but the hysteria that greets every poor performance has become massively annoying.
Word. For. Word.
Cheers ‘holic and best wishes to the management
Brilliant point RockyLives.
It feels that some so called fans at the moment want the players to play badly so they can continue moaning and complaining!
As you said players like Bendtner and Eboue are only gonna play worse when some idoits are booing their every touch!
Come on Gooners lets give this young team some support for a change!!
merry christmas holic,
agree that it’s a tad silly to blame the lack on cesc on us not whipping pompey 8-0
pompey came to defend and made it very hard for us,
we lacked width more than anything else, hence when vela came on it gave us an extra dimension
it may not have been free flowing but we created about four/five very good chances to pompey’s one effort of the match
it was a deserved, if not spectacular, win
some people should appreciate what we’ve got, because when it’s gone they’ll be wanting it back and we’ll be telling them ‘I told you so’
http://anotherarsenalblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/because-were-worth-it.html
ps karl, bergkamp’s the man, wanger et al
good to see some sensible gooner opinion out there, it gives me hope!
Absolutely agree about the hysterics regarding players and the Manager. People who wish to send Wenger down the road would do well to realize that he is a manager who could write his own ticket anywhere in the world.
Happy New Year to you Holic, since coming back from Porto I’ve become a real port snob, so mine’s a vintage tawny with a side order of stilton. The Pompey game, as 1979 gooner said, Pompey was laboured, but labour we did and when the free flowing football wasn’t quite there, we toiled away with a set piece. Not too long ago that we were criticised for not being able to do that. United toiled to similar victories against Stoke and Boro but nobody’s complaining there. Without Rosicky, Fabregas, Eduardo, Walcott and Hleb there is a big gap in the creative department which is understandable. If you took Tevez, Rooney, Ronaldo, Berbatov and Scholes away from United, they’d take a 1-0 home win over Pompey all day long. Still, let’s hope some of our gaps are plugged in January so to speak. Happy New Year to the Gooner brotherhood.
I agree that the result was not so terrible, but feckin` hell it was Portsmouth, PORTSMOUTH! We should be putting these teams away comfortably and we are not. Villa got lucky tonight and have a string of easy games (if any are easy) to follow, and are already 3 points to the good. If they pip us for 4th spot, then its not just goodbye to Fabregas for a few months. Fabregas and several others won`t want to stay. If AW brings in the right players in January, I believe we will finish in at least 4th., and anyone who wants AW`s head is not thinking straight. maybe it is, as he says, just a matter of confidence, but unless we string together a long series of wins, we will end up in a right pickle. It really is that serious.
wishing a happy new year to you ,holic, the managment and all goonerholics from the dizzy gang in spain.
GOD BLESS ARSENAL