Stalemate, But Credit Burnley And Pray Cesc Recovers
Dec 16th, 2009 by 'holic
I would imagine that the opening forty-five minutes were a joy for the neutral to watch. Owen Coyle had said beforehand that his side would play football, and largely they did. Not that long ago the experts would have suggested they were committing suicide, and they seemed to do so after a bright opening in which Almunia had to be alert to deny Vermaelen an own-goal!
They survived a penalty shout when Nasri was grabbed around the arm and tumbled. I would not have been surprised to see it given at the other end, a feeling that would resurface. The half may not have been all about Cesc Fabregas, but he was certainly the central character for the forty-three minutes he lasted before limping off to join the queue for Colin Lewin’s already overcrowded infirmary.
It was Cesc who took advantage of poor defending to snatch the opening goal in seven minutes, and ninety seconds later he could, nay should, have had a second. On fifteen minutes the lively Arshavin hit the post and it looked as though the Gunners were putting a firm grip on the game.
Credit the hosts then for a spirited response which culminated in a penalty award when Vermaelen clumsily challenged Bikey. No complaints from me about the award, which was as deserved as the one the visitors might have had earlier on. As Arsenal had controlled twenty minutes, so the baton passed to Burnley who did the same.
The turning point of the night arrived just before half-time when Fabregas limped out of the contest. We will find out tomorrow I suspect the full extent of the damage, but on the face of it the skipper may get a family Christmas after all.
The stats reflected the open nature of the contest to this point. Burnley shading it with fifty-one percent of the ball. That almost never happens to Arsenal, even when they are at their worst, and this was not their worst. They turned it round in the second half, but possession does not necessarily equal dominance, and so it proved.
There was less to admire in the second-half. Song stepped up to the plate and was making every attempt to kick-start our static attack, but in fairness Burnley organised superbly, with the back four protected by a row of at least three at all times around the edge of the box where the Gunners found no channels for the intricate through ball that would secure the points.
Burnley’s main threat was the energetic Eagles, now the main outlet for them rather than the tiring Fletcher, and he was denied by a magnificent save from Almunia. Any thoughts that Manuel’s confidence had returned were shot though when he missed a straightforward cross and only the offside flag denied Fletcher a winner.
The last forty-five minutes were as strange and insipid as the first had been gripping, but it was easy to see why Burnley have such an impressive home record, and include Manchester United among their victims this season.
Tell me we should still be looking to win at places such as this and it is hard to argue at any length, but had you offered me on Sunday morning four points from our two trips to the north-west, I would have snatched your arm off with some considerable haste.
I hope other sides in the wrong half of the table are encouraged to show such ambition against us. The spectacle is better as a result, although once we are back to full strength I suspect it will be regarded as suicidal again. I have to say though that Burnley continue to have our respect. I hope they survive. There are more than three clubs with worse attitudes than them in the top flight.
43 Responses to “Stalemate, But Credit Burnley And Pray Cesc Recovers”
Glad with a point in the end.
Another port (Tawny Dover) this time please, ‘holic.
When you are satisfied with one point at Burnley you deep down know that we are reduced to also rans.
You’ve got to say Burnley were well organized, committed and ambitious and deserved at least a point.
I feel Almunia is now our weakest link. It’s not that it would have won us any extra points tonight but if we had had a top class keeper from te start of the season we’d be up there with Chelsea tonight.
Really bad result when looking at the fact that Chelsea, Man Utd, Villa, Spurs and Liverpool all won this round. Just half a bad result when looking to the game as a whole. All credit to Burnley for a very very very well played football match. I’m angry with the result, because I, as a supporter, want Arsenal to win the league, but I really do feel it was an exciting game after all and again, all credit to Burnley. Can’t fault them for anything. We should have put away at least one of our what, five 1-on-1s but hey, that’s life.
I’m going to worry sick and be down for a few days because of this and I could go around and boo-boy our players (Walcott would be a great target here!) but for the love of Cesc (quite synonymous with God, don’t you think?) there is no point. He’s just back and we tried to cope without our best striker and our best playmaker against a fully committed side at home.
For the third time (feeling strangely generous today) all credit to Burnley. At least they didn’t do a Wolves. Now I’m just hoping for Cesc to come back soon and with some luck, we might still be in it.
I’d like any old Indian Pale ‘Holic!
Sorry but we were awful at the back against Liverpool and should be capable of travelling to Turf Moor with a depleted side and taking three points.
We are Miles off winning the League. Sorry to be so pessimistic but the board have settled for a top four spot. The argument that we needed to move from Highbury to challenge in the transfer market looks a little thin!
Credit Crunch or not Season Tickets are pricey my friends.
PS I’ve supported the lads since ’72 so it’s not a knee jerk re-action but the forward line looks like we are playing against the 7 dwarfs and Walcott and Vela look far from the finished article.
I need some more optimistic gooners to raise my Chrimbo Spririt
I just did my best Rawsy!
Barman! A pint of IPA for ol’ Rawsy as well. We both need it methinks.
It’s frustrating but Burnley are proving tough to beat at home (9 games, 1 defeat now isn’t it? And they beat a certain team above us). We’re 3rd in the table, that’s a fair reflection of where we stand and we just have to push on and see what we can do over the holiday period.
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Don’t forget Charlie we lost at OT, MC and when Chelsea got bored of us pi**ing about with the psycadelic football that will eventualy see us move to the west end, we wont need a stadium, or indeed goals scored 3. get real pal
Evening Holic,
I was more nervous about this game then I was about our trip to Anfield, as I said on the previous blog Burnley are no mugs at home, and they deserve all the plaudits they will get after this game.
After a shaky few minutes I thought we dominated for a good while, thought we should of least 3-1 up at HT. Cesc was great and made us tick, we just weren’t the same team after he left the field. Watching him walk, and not limp down the tunnel at HT gave me a glimmer of hope that his injury may not be too bad.
I don’t like being too negative about our lads, but I thought that Theo was poor, he missed a number of chances you’d of thought he could of done better with.
As you posted Almunia did make a few good saves, although the one from the Verm header might not of had to look so spectacular if his positioning was better TBH I’ll have to see it again to be sure. BUT he does worry me, his positioning at set pieces is way off, he often flaps at crosses, seems to have forgotten how to catch and when he kicks/slices the ball away 90% of the time the ball goes into touch or to an opposing player. I hate posting this, because I know he’s had some personal tragedy in his life lately and over the years even if he wasn’t the greatest, he was always a solid keeper, those days are unfortunatly gone.
OK, rant over. A look on the bright side, confidence wise, we didn’t lose and a point at Turf Moor is more then many get, just ask Manure fans.
Pint of cider for me please sir.
Cheers
I think I am getting real, I said we’re currently in the position we deserve to be. Saying that we should be capable of beating Burnley at Turf Moor as if it’s the easiest task going, when we have a depleted team and they’ve lost once at home all season, how realistic are you being?
Howdy ‘Holic,
I think the “great” Dane commenter is on point. We are just not ready. Period.
I support this team to the hilt, but a performance like today’s only leads me to conclude we are simply above average. We have above average forwards (who create multiple opportunities, but finish sparingly), an above, above average midfield (who can boss the game at times, and can score at times, but has difficulty concentrating for a full 90 – they are good for at least 2 mind-switching moments per match), and an average to sub-average backline (who concede as many chances as they create).
This is honesty, folks. I’m lowering my expectations so that I can enjoy the season as we play beautiful football, but not the determined game to get any silverware.
Skunky beer for me today ‘Holic… matches the way I feel ;(
cant think of a solitary arsenal player to come out of tonights game with any credit, none of them were especially bad (even almunia, poor as he was didnt cost us anything) but there’s an awful sense of familiarity about this feeling, knowing with half an hour or 25 mins to go, that there is absolutely no chance we are gona score… this tippy tappy football, pass and move (sideways and back only) isnt all that great to watch nor is it effective, but if you look at the squad we have, we dont have any other choice… most of the time, there is no point in or full backs or supposed wide men putting crosses into the box, as we’ve no one there to win the ball… i know this doesnt really make sense given all the plaudits we continually recieve about the aesthetic football we play, but its too one dimensional and to be honest its boring…. watching us go from one flank to the other with a serious of short sideways passes, and then back again gets pretty fucking mundane after a while… we need to learn to penetrate more, and if the players we have at the minute arent capable of anything better, then we need to replace those players with ones who are….
I dont think it’s defeatist or accepting we’re ‘also-rans’/’miles away from the title’ to be happy with a point at Burnley. As many will point out, it’s a tough place to go to and expect anything (I’m pretty sure the Champions of the last 3 years went up there and lost…) given how well they’ve performed thus far this season (and indeed tonight!).
I honestly expected us to lose this one. It’s the old cliche of not liking a midweek away trip ‘oop Norf’ on a cold winter’s eve.
That said, given everyone else’s results around us tonight (City excluded), it looks a very poor result and after last weekend and places us right back at square one considering how well things went in our favour.
Concerned about Cesc. We really lacked penetration (heh!) in the second half without him and I hope his injury isn’t too serious.
I’ll have a Captain Morgan’s please ‘holic. Make it a double. It is Christmas after all…
Well, after watching the highlights on MOTD I’m now happy with the point. Feel a bit better now.
Don’t know why Hansen was acting like such a pri(k, although Dixon and Lineker cut him nicely down to size.
Same again please barman,
Cheers.
Just watched the highlights on match of the day and I have to say that on another night that could easily have been a 3-4 thriller or a 1-5 drubbing by us. Football seems to deal with the tightest of margins at times and I think we have been benefactors (their offside goal looked onside using the BBC graphic) and victims of margins tonight; Cesc’s second chance when through and Andrei hitting the post in the first half and one or two one on one’s for Eduardo toward the end, not to mention a couple of headers from Vermaelen and Gallas.
If we had played out a dire 1 – 1 draw with only one chance then we may have cause for concern, but we are still finding our feet in this strikerless system and are making more chances over time.
We also have a home banker against Wolves to make up for two dropped points when they visit us in April to look forward to. They have both Everton and Stoke at Home either side, so expect their reserves to turn up – it’s only fair, right?
I’ve had a couple of glasses of red tonight already, so just a glass of still water for me please, barkeep. Oh, and a whiskey on the side.
If we had played out a dire 1 – 1 draw with only one chance then we may have cause for concern, but we are still finding our feet in this strikerless system and are making more chances over time.
Anybody know an engraver who could imprint this on a few dense skulls?
We could have won and we could have lost! Sounds obvious but this type of performance was not untypical of either Chelsea or Man United over the past 3 years, albeit they generally won !
What I find amazing is that we had three players playing tonight who simply do not possess the required quality to play for Arsenal.
Almunia is just not very good. He hid this quite well last year but this season the charade is over.
Silvestre, despite what Arsene said today about his influence, is quite simply the worst defender I have ever seen in an Arsenal shirt. I include Willie Young, Gus Ceaser, Oleg Luzny, Philippe Senderos and Pascal Cygan. The only one close to competing for this honour would be Igor Stepanovs. If he was a horse he would have been shot by now.
Theo, it is said that he did not start playing football until relatively late and if this is true then it perhaps explains his complete lack of natural awareness of intuition about where or how he should play the ball. I think the ironic thing is that he knows it, and this feeling of being out of his depth is killing his game further.
I have huge admiration for Wenger and have to believe that his unwillingness to recognise or deal with these deficiences is simply stubborness. This is perhaps his fatal character flaw and will continue to plague his Aresnal project and drive us as fans mad !!
Scope the this weekend’s fixtures too:
Saturday, 19 December 2009
Arsenal v Hull, 17:30
Aston Villa v Stoke, 15:00
Blackburn v Tottenham, 15:00
Fulham v Man Utd, 15:00
Man City v Sunderland, 15:00
Portsmouth v Liverpool, 12:45
Sunday, 20 December 2009
Everton v Birmingham, 15:00
West Ham v Chelsea, 16:00
Wolverhampton v Burnley, 13:30
Fulham have been no mugs under Hodgson of late and nothing is a given for any of the teams – you have to fight for points away from home in this league at the moment.
Very very well said Snail!
…as will be abundantly clear in May, Snail, when supporters of at least three clubs, possibly more, will be saying we could have won it this year, when points were tumbling all over the place.
Watch Chelsea struggle in January and February…
Send over a drink for Snail for cheering us all up.
I am so disappointed with this result. We never win away against the smaller teams especially if we have to travel and the weather is poor. It looks like we lack strong individuals who want to win at all costs and give the opposition a hard time. We need a few replacements to get this team playing again Most of them are secure with their places . The match with Aston villa is going to rock us if we play like losers.
Holic and Mollusc, great work on the positive vibes (in VERY trying circumstances). A point at Burnley isn’t a bad thing, but after two points won at Anfield, it feels to me like a missed opportunity and a fairly large backward step.
Denilson’s absence was glaringly evident*. The pyramid is important to the team, and by the end of the game, the fact that two cornerstones (Deni and Cesc) were missing, really showed. The remaining member of the triad, Alex Song, worked his heart out though.
Manuel needs a session with Basil Fawlty on the wild hotelier’s psychiatrist’s couch. If nothing else, he looks like he needs a bloody good laugh to cheer up his spirits. I suspect we may see Fabianski on versus Phil, the Brown stain on the underpants of the Premier League’s team, on the weekend.
The sooner we get one of our three injured LB’s back, the better, on tonight’s showing from LB No.4. Theo worries me. He’s not a laddie now. We need a FEW flashes. Maybe they’ll come on Saturday vs Hull?
Snail educating the palate with the vin rouge again, I see. A bottle of whatever he’s having please, barman.
* Were Chris The Hawking Arse’s prayers answered?
Admirable positivity, as always. Not feeling it myself. Gutted with the dropped points, and no fan of the overall performance. Too many out-of-form players; the injuries are taking a toll even with the players back: Walcott, Nasri, Diaby, Eduardo: not good enough for me.
Lets just say it wasnt the worst result in the world.
‘holic, i think when you said :
“Any thoughts that Manuel’s confidence had returned were *shot though when he missed ”
you may have meant it to be *short
I never get people who say that we struggle whenever ‘the weather is poor’ or similar. We’re in England, the weather is poor for most of the duration of the season anyway!
If we had played out a dire 1 – 1 draw with only one chance then we may have cause for concern, but we are still finding our feet in this strikerless system and are making more chances over time.
Anybody know an engraver who could imprint this on a few dense skulls?
What will you clowns think of next? Why not get a clue, drop out of wenger’s hopeless school of spin and just tell it like it is…..let’s just continue to tolerate this mindnumbing stupidity.
Here’s one candidate for engraving…
Song was again the one saving grace from a disappointing outcome. Credit given to Burnley for playing the open game they promised and got a point to show for their courage. I also thought Diaby was good defensively showing good discipline, unfortunately that curb his natural attacking game which I guess most are grumbling about. Eduardo got a a few chances late on but was too slow to react. The Crozilian’s season have not started yet have it?
I’m having a hard time trying to come to terms with today’s game. I don’t know if you noticed but for a little while, when we were 1 up and Pompey drew level with Chelski, we were virtually on top of the table assuming we won our game in hand. We had a strong whiff of success, felt what it meant to be on top. The confidence, the certitude that comes with it. The pride too. I had forgotten how positive I felt during the Invincibles sreeak or the CL run.
Whatever the circumstances, having to crash on earth is unpleasant but it’s made so much worse by the contrast between being virtual champions and now. I know we can, but… will we?
Really looking forward to this weekend. A triple vodka please, on the rocks with a dash of lime juice
People need cheering up? Well, I saw Adebayor yesterday sky two great chances he should have scored to get Citeh back into the game against Spurs. Last year it would have been him you were complaining about so I’ll offer a toast to Arsene for offloading him at the right time. Stop moaning and get ready to vandalize Hull City! Hot coffee for me, barman.
It’s shaping up to be the season when the team that draws the fewest games might end up in the best shape, as each of the top 3 look capable of losing 6 or 7. With that said, 4 points from trips to Anfield and Burnley we’d have gladly taken 7 days ago (perhaps with reversed results). I agree fully that winning away games is proving harder than ever for everyone but I still see us in with a shout.
Nobody has mentioned Diaby, I’ll try….his performance was confusing. Not until the very last minutes did I see him run past a player, his movement off the ball seemed lacking and I expected to see some penetration which was lacking. When he plays well he looks so capable but too often it’s a nothing performance. Then there’s Eduardo….he so needs the confidence of a few goals because at present he looks lost, slow and unsure.
Hoping Cesc is back soon – any games without please put Nasri in his creative role.
I’ll have a cider and black please.
“When you are satisfied with one point at Burnley you deep down know that we are reduced to also rans.”
Wow… that pretty much sums up how I’ve been feeling about this result. I hope it’s not true, but that’s the sinking feeling I’m trying to fight off.
A frustrating evening but yet again, not good enough. Yet again we have not managed to hold onto a lead. Yet again we were not clinical enough and could not close out the game. I agree that I would have accepted 4 points from these trips. However, have taking all three at Anfield we should have been both strong enough and clinical enough to win this one. I accept the points about other teams and Burnley playing well, but I also think we can lose sight of what and who we are. What other teams do is of little concern. If we want to be taken seriously as title contenders then we need to take full advantage of the Liverpool result and get wins at places like Burnley.
What frustrates me is our shortfalls now, were all highlighted in the summer. I am a massive AW fan but his dealings in the transfer market leave me baffled. I am all for bringing in and developing young players, but there has to be a balance. I do not understand why we have let older players go without being replaced. I also do not understand when the deficiencies that were identified by almost everyone in the summer have not been addressed. Unfortunately they are now coming back to bite us on the arse. It frustrates me greatly because we only need minor tinkering with to make the difference. With the money generated last summer there should be no excuses. Very disappointed.
No excuses against Hull. Convincing victory please
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Morning Gents,
As a Texan Gooner, let me draw a parallel. I am also a supporter of the Dallas Cowboys (I supported them LONG before I moved to Texas). For several years in the early ’90s, the Cowboys dominated the NFL and won three Superbowls; their trademark – stingy defense and a three-pronged offensive attack that converted possession into touchdowns, not field goals. Currently, the Cowboys are the third-ranked total offense except in scoring – more field goals than touchdowns; and they are lower table in defense.
Here I liken the Cowboys to our mighty Arsenal. Both teams have glorious histories of championship success and devoted fans. Both current versions have questionable (leaky) defenses and loads of possessions (shots on goal) with less conversion to touchdowns (goals). Both teams have fans who’d rather not hold the team to account for fear of being accused of less than ardent loyalty. One difference, Arsenal have AW and the Cowboys have a clown (I believe his name is Krusty).
My point is this, be a supporter, but not an apologist. Yes, Burnley is a tough place to play. Yes, Burnley (insert – West Ham/Sunderland/whomever) played an open game with heart and determination. Yes, we’d be happy with four points. But, if you have designs on the title, YOU HAVE TO BEAT marginally inferior teams and DEMOLISH inferior teams…
Bottom line, neither the Arsenal nor the Cowboys appear capable of doing so, and both will be on the outside looking in come championship time. God love ’em both.
Onwards and upwards, Gooners!
Four points from the Diverpool / Burnley fixtures that is.
Lonestar Gooner:
49er fan here and I’d love it if we even got field goals; it’s fun to laugh at the cowboys expense but at least they’re a pretty good team, even if they fall short. I could go on and on about this but this is an Arsenal site.
Anyway, Almunia was awful yesterday. He didn’t cost us the game but he was atrocious. Three times the ball was booted out of play when we had open midfielders (granted one time Gallas gave him an awkward pass back.) Our defense seems to trust each other but not the goalkeeper. Sagna and Gallas both were having words with Almunia over lack of communication. Whoever scored their disallowed goal was inches offside but how Almunia missed it was ridiculous. He’s already been benched earlier this season, and I do feel bad for him because he is a good goalkeeper in general but I’m really beginning to doubt him remaining as our #1.
As for the rest of the team, we were fine but we didn’t know what to do in the final third. There was nobody to pass to, no opportunities, and we couldn’t hold the ball for that long. We really need a (fit) striker. Please get back on form quickly, Eduardo. Maybe if our midfielders were more clinical in the beginning we’d have had more goals as cushion, but we cant argue like that. We just have to hope Hull doesn’t put in the performance Burnley did.
For those who are not in the know on NFL matters, there is no love lost between Cowboy and 49er fans, but it’s good to know we can agree on Arsenal. Good comments, Harsh.
‘Holic, kudos for having a site where disparate NFL fans can get together behind the Arsenal.
A scoasch of whiskey for my new friend and me, please!
Is it me or does Almunia look more like Eddy Izzard every day? There is certainly a comic element to his goal keeping, which is not amusing!!We need to shake off this disappointment and prepare for Hull. Hope Cesc is ok. Eduardo will score this weekend and get some confidence back. 3-0 to the Arsenal!!