In the Aftermath:Arsenal v West Ham – Match Review

William Gallas celebrates scoring - (Photo by Clive Rose/Getty Images)

Gutted.

Distraught.

Pissed off.

The list could go on. Everything was set for the Gunners to make significant headway in the league table. Man United lost to Liverpool. Spurs lost to Stoke, City and Villa both drew. An Arsenal win would’ve put the Gunners in third with two points over Spurs and 3 points over the next contender. Yeah, well didn’t you just know the red and white army would go ahead an cock it up!

I am one of those fans who internalizes team disappointment. I can’t even read the papers because I don’t want to relive the heartache I just witnessed. And I am finally setting down to write this after nearly a full days sleep. I didn’t want to do it because my original draft was laced with rather colorful language  and well you all should know I don’t write that way. I try to stay objective and realistic. If I think we are going to lose, I will say so. Same thing with draws. But this was one freaking match that we should’ve taken clear and simple.

The match was a tale of two halfs. In the first half we dictated play, moved the ball around and controlled possession with our usual flair. We scored two goals one from an in form Robin Van Persie and another from William Gallas. Throughout the first half West Ham simply looked like they could not be bothered to go for anything. Headers, tackles, balls, with the exception of Carlton Cole, there was no committment from the side. A third goal looked in the offering but it never materialized.

The second half starts and you would expect that given the performance mid week again AZ Alkmaar the Gunners would want to enter the pitch and put it away. But that is where you would be wrong. Gianfranco Zola, clearly recognizing that his team needed to come away with something, had his team ready to come out on the pitch and play. Each one of his subsititions added something and wehn Diamanti entered the game the whole flow took on another feeling. Roles reversed and Arsenal now looked like the squad  who didn’t want it. Carlton Cole who was the only threat West Ham had in the first half finally netted a low crossing header to put the home side 1 point down. The tide had definitely turned.

5 minutes later Arsenal were the recipient of two bad calls. The first was a missed penalty on William Gallas. Gallas clearly stuck his foot out (whether intentional or not I don’t know) and Parker tripped over it. The replay showed it was a clear penalty. Play went on, however a minute later, whether making up for a missed call or not, the ref called a dubious penalty on a really soft play. If anything I think it would’ve warranted a diving call. But alas it didn’t and the former Livorno player, Diamanti who looked rather erratic was set to take the kick. It should be noted that penalties are not given with Signore Diamanti. Against Liverpool he clearly kicked a ball twice – another poor call by the ref – and he has a penchant for rocketing shots over the goal. This time however, he didn’t and he netted a scorcher off just out of the reach of Mannone. I have to say Mannone had the play dead in terms of direction he was off the ball by inches (I’ve watched the replay and slowed it down – he is right there). I can’t give Mannone a bad grade on that.

2-2 and I’m scratching my head. Before the end of the game the West Ham keeper would make a save of pure brilliance on a shot from Robin Van Persie that looked like a true winner. But it wasn’t to be. We drew. West Ham deserved the point, and frankly we deserved nothing.

What went wrong is a mixture of two main things and lots of niggly things. The first two things are, team selection and desire. The first is up to the manager and the second to the players.  I still do not understand the selection of Eboue and Diaby, when you have the likes of Wilshere and Ramsey available to you. I clearly understand that Eduardo and Nicky B were likely not fit for a full 90 minute match. Start the two younglings and let the others come on to relieve them if needed. Eboue who is showing a great effort has no business being up front. He is not made for that position. He is a full back pure and simple. Great speed coming up the wings with a lousy finishing touch. This was exemplified in the second half – up 2-0 with a chance to nail it shut – Eboue comes in up the right side, clearly beating the player and instead of a direct shot on goal or better yet a pass to Arshavin or RvP, he shoots it across the penalty box with out testing the goalie.

The other poor choice was Diaby. Again, he has promise but he is either not ready for prime time and needs more time with the reserves to learn or he simply is not Arsenal material. While he wasn’t dreadful, he wasn’t substantial. His tackling resulted in too many free-kicks near the penalty box that you were gritting yout teeth the whole time. Throw in bad judgement on when to bring players on and Arsene did manage this team properly yesterday.

The other part of this and in my opinion more of the reason why we drew comes down to the players. There is no doubting the talent on this squad. And if the likes of Nasri and Rosicky could get fit and join the rest on the pitch they would be as good as any team out there. With one exception – a desire to finish teams off.  I can’t find much in the way of defencive lapses that led to those goals. The defencive back four didn’t have a bad game. Vermaelen and Gallas were their usual workman selves and Song is turning into a monster – still makes some niggly mistakes but overall he is clearly laying claim to the defencive midfielder role. Overall the entire team as a unit did not have the mentality to put the game away. Call it desire, call it gumption – either way when called for they simply did not seem to think that West Ham was that much of a threat. They talked about it all week long after the draw in Holland. They could not let teams in. They did yesterday and they are paying for it.

If this Arsenal squad ever get the hunger and killer instinct of say a Chelsea, they will win lots of silverware. The attacking flair is there they just need the ability to lock down an opponent and either hold a lead or score enough that even an opponent scoring isn’t much of a threat. We’ve seen it done this season. There is no reason it can’t be done. If it is done, than all the glory shall come – if not then this group will be perpetual runners up.

And even though we now sit in third on the table based on GD – there is no bright side to this. We can only hope that this is a mini slump and that next week’s derby against Spurs is used as a chance to re-enrergize and show the league we are for real.

Next Up:

Carling Cup: Arsenal v Liverpool

EPL: Arsenal v Tottenham