Finally some schadenfreude I can get behind – Arsenal beat Chelsea

Schadenfreude: [shahd-n-froi-duh] noun satisfaction or pleasure felt at someone else’s misfortune.

So it was when John Terry bowed down before the current goals in leader in the Premier League and watched him jink Petr Cech into an open goal situation. The satsifaction that was watching Terry fall and Robin Van Persie slot home the winner was pure delight on so many levels, none of the least was that the situation couldn’t have happened to a more deserving player and team. And as an Arsenal fan, who is so used to being ont he other end it was finally a bit of karmic justice that leaned to the red and white.

Arsenal don’t win at Stamford Bridge. It is a mantra we’ve gotten used to in the last few years. Heading into the match, even as vulnerable as I thought Chelsea were, I honestly thought the best we could hope for was a draw. What I didn’t expect to see was an episode of “Who’s defending is worse.” Much to my delight it was the the experience back four of Terry, Ivanovic, Cole and Bosingwa that look like the worse grouping.

Whether it was Cole getting burned repeatedly by Walcott or getting stripped by Andre Santos or Terry’s ignamonious fall from grace, Chelsea’s back four were hardly reminiscent of the shut down crew of yesterday. The simple fact that they did not seem to have an answer for the Arsenal passing game that in second half was opening them up repeatedly was a shocking yet pleasant surprise. Arsenal when they are at their passing and moving best will shred a club that makes mistakes – even without the likes of Nasri and Fabregas. And honestly, I thought the performance of the attacking VI was the best it has been all season.

In Chelsea’s switch to attacking, flowing football they’ve discovered what most have – it leaves the defence exposed at times. Barcelona have moved to perfect the defence in this manner by making sure all 11 understand their defencive responsibilites. Sometimes we have players on the field that don’t either defend or understand their role defending. For Chelsea, they had no clue and with all the space that was created, Chelsea’s aging and slow back four couldn’t handle the pace and speed of Arsenal. At one point the blues defenders were just left to stand around watching Arsenal play tippy tappy football and look stupid doing it.

But if I am fair our defence didn’t crown itself in glory and its only because the team made the right adjustments at half time that it the red side of London that has been saved the blushes. In the first half, Andre Santos looked lost against more wiley attacking players like Juan Mata and in the build up to Chelsea’s second goal was completely fleeced by the spanish star.  Mertesacker also was not used to the speed of the likes of Fernando Torres who contrary to press reports, still hasn’t found his game since his switch from Liverpool. Djourou can be forgiven in my opinion for playing out of position but let’s be fair he hasn’t been exactly poor. Laurent Koscielny was the bright spot in the defence as always he rose to the occasion and completely had Torres in his back pocket even going so far as to robe him on numerous occasions.

But for a team that is supposedly lacking the tactical nous from its manager to adjust, they came out in the second half with two adjustments. First Alex Song sat back deeper covering the centre backs. Secondly everyone on the team was ball hungry and fighting for the ball every time it was lost. It was a tactic that worked effectively in last year’s 3-1 basting and it was one of the reason’s the tide was turned in the second half.

Of course though the story is John Terry’s slip, fall, kow tow or whatever you want to call it. In case you missed it –

The funny thing about the fall, the more I watch the more it doesn’t look like Terry trips. It looks like he falls on his own. It couldn’t have happened to a more deserving man. My destestation of John Terry goes back to the immediate aftermath of 9/11 when he Fat Frank and Jody Morris got drunk and stripped naked at a hotel with Terry reportedly making some rather insensitive comments to Americans at the hotel. Let’s throw in all the other crap about John Terry and it is very easy to find why a lot of people outside of the Chelsea family have no taste for the man.

I’ve always felt that sports figures are human and make mistakes and should all be forgiven so long as they show lets say – moral improvement. For John Terry he takes supporters acts of forgiveness as a sign he is free to go ahead and just do something even more egregious.  In light of this week’s racism row, you knew the spot light would be on him. When he scored Chelsea’s second, I was  worried that should the score hold Terry would be heralded for rising above the controversy and “his mental strength” blah blah blah. So it was only with utter glee that I was happy when I saw him fall over. It couldn’t have happened to a nicer guy.

About the game in it’s entirety I have to admit I loved it. For all so many reasons. From the 8 goals scored and the fact it could have easily been a 10-10 match. For the fact that it does in fact look like Arsenal have righted the ship. I loved it because Robin Van Persie is clearly showing that he is the cream of the EPL crop right now. 7 goals in 3 games – nuff said. Finally, it was a win over Chelsea. Something that hasn’t been easy to come by.

As for a our players I thought we had three or four standouts. I believe Gervinho and Ramsey have both taken their games to another level in the last few weeks. Chelsea did not seem to give much focus to Ramsey and left him open for most of the day. He bossed the midfield effectively and his passing was sport on. By far his best match of the season.

Theo Walcott showed what he can be like. If the lad could put together a consistent run of performances together like this, he would be the world beater we all hoped he could be. But he has to show that he can do this on a regular basis. But it was promising.

Not enough can be said about our Captain. He is clearly out to show his worth to the club and if he can stay healthy he will get the golden boot. He is already a shoe in for player of the month. 7 goals in 3 games and 33 in his last 37. He is that good. His third yesterday was pure class. The second shows how smart he is. All in all he is the complete player for Arsenal right now.

I do have to give a nod to Chelsea’s Juan Mata. If not for some good defending he single handedly could’ve kept Chelsea in the match.  He was/is the best player Chelsea have right now. I don’t know if Song’s tackle created some of the swerve on Mata’s goal but if it didn’t that was one beautiful goal. clearly we would’ve been better had we signed him. The Gazidis team that misread the tea leaves on signing him should be shot. But enough of that. We are not here to discuss Chelsea players.

Now with the season moving on in my opinion there are now more questions being raised of Chelsea than of Arsenal. If Chelsea were supposed title contenders what does that make Arsenal. While our defence is not robed in glory it is clearly better than Chelsea. This is a Chelsea defence that has yet to keep a clean sheet at home and looks completely out of place against better teams. I used to think that the break of the top teams were the two Manchester clubs, Chelsea as an outsider to the top and then Arsenal, Liverpool and Spurs fighting for 4th. Now you have to think that Chelsea has to be lumped with the clubs fighting for fourth. And if you are fair maybe you have to reassess where Arsenal are going to finish.

At this week’s AGM Arsene Wenger asked the supporters to have faith. Admittedly, I know a lot of fans were skeptical. I hope that there is now there is significant evidence that this club is indeed coming good.

Some Final Thoughts.

As I watched this match, I was thinking of an interview in the Guardian with Lee Dixon. Basically, Lee feels that defending in the Premier League is no longer what it was:

“The game has changed,” Dixon reflects.”We would find it harder now. Nobody including myself seems to know what the offside rule is. Defenders aren’t allowed to tackle any more. Hence the seeming lack of depth in good quality defenders. The art of defending has been diluted.”

I agree. In this era of attacking football the focus is more on letting that play out than letting defenders go in and tackle or simply do their job and defend.  This was completely on display yesterday. It is something I have felt for a long time that as bad as Arsenal have been defending that defending in general is no longer what we know it or in my opinion want it to be.

Players Ratings – 

Szczesny – 6
Djourou – 5
Mertesacker – 5
Koscielny – 7
Santos – 5
Song – 7
Ramsey (MOTM) – 9
Arteta – 7
Gervinho – 7
Walcott – 8
Robin Van Persie – 9

Subs:
Rosicky – NA
Vermaelen – NA
Jenkinson – NA
Well, that’s it for now. We’re well and truly in it. We have Marseille at the Emirates and then an EPL match against West Brom. All in all a good week for football with increasing team confidence. Hopefully, it all stays the same way.