Absolutely pathetic today, Arsenal, and much of the blame has to be placed at the feet of Arsene Wenger, who always has a worried frown on his face even if the Gunners are 6-0 up (which doesn’t happen these days). He seems to have instilled in many of the players a mindset not to take any chances. There is no Plan B, let alone a Plan C! In fact, I’m not even sure there’s a Plan A! They can’t seem to adapt as Everton has under manager Roberto Martinez. I know Arsenal are missing a lot of their best players through injury--and one has to question why they always seem to get so many players injured--but the list of subs is far from impressive. They sorely missed Kieran Gibbs, and Laurent Koscielny. There are no consistent strikers who seem to instinctively know where the goal is without looking up. Monreal is a Championship league player at best, and Sanogu couldn’t find the net if the goal posts were 20 feet further apart. Giroud spends most of the game on the grass, clutching his head after missing another easy tap in. Arsenal only ever have about one guy in the box--contrast that with Man City, L’pool, or Everton. Giroud strolls into the box, while guys like Lukaku, Nasri, Suarez and Sturridge storm in with focus and purpose. Today, Naismith for Everton, stormed into the box in hopes of a rebound, off a goalie save, and got it. That’s what good opportunist forwards do. Arteta is as much MIA as was Ozil. In fact, I didn’t even know he was playing today as the commentators never mentioned his name for about the first half. There is no leader on the Arsenal team, like say a Vincent Kompany, John Terry, Steven Gerrard, or Leighton Baines. The captain is either a non-inspiring Arteta or Mertesacker, or Vermaelen, who’s been mostly sidelined this season, but gets given the armband. You would think that 2-0 down, that Wenger would tell his players to throw caution to the wind and take some risks, but careful and steady was the name of the game. He then waits ‘til Arsenal are 3-0 down before bringing on the newly returned Aaron Ramsey and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, both of whom make an instant impact, but it’s too little too late. Ramsey immediately seems to find a ton of space from which to play some great touches, and The Ox blasts in a brilliant shot that Tim Howard may, or may not, have just tipped over the bar. Let’s have more courage, Arsenal, or you’ll be playing in the Europa League next year instead of the Champions League. In fact, the way Everton are playing they have the momentum to move up to 4th, which, with a game in hand they probably will.
Posted on: Mon, 07 Apr 2014 02:16:44 +0000
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