So close for Arsenal ... but now too far

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Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
10 Dec	4:00 PM	P	Chelsea (A)	1	1	Draw

I thought I was the only one mad enough to think that Arsenal could win at Chelsea but it seemed the Arsenal players also believed that they could.

From an expectations point of view, a draw is good but from a reality point of view (for the championship), Arsenal needed 3 points, and they need 3 points from all games to stay in touch. Reality says it was a bad result but all of us recognize that it was an encouraging display.

Gilberto was my Man of the Match. If Henry needs an example of what a captain should do, then he should look no further than his deputy.

First he leads by example. Second he protects his players from themselves (Eboué losing his temper again!) and from the opposition. Third, he encourages the players rather than berates them. Lastly and most importantly Gilberto is present to control dangerous situations (defending set pieces) where organisation is needed.

At every set piece, Gilberto went in to make sure that players were talking and getting organised. He spoke at the right times. Besides being captain, Gilberto did his job as defensive midfielder excellently. His interceptions were invaluable to the young defensive pair behind him.

Clichy can be as good as or better than Ashley Cole. It's the second time I've said that and this time I am even more sure. For a start, he played better than Ashley Cole at Stamford Bridge.

Porto turned out to be a great rehearsal for Flamini. Flamini's positioning has been dodgy since coming back into the team but this time he worked very well. He went forward only when necessary and stayed back to cover Fabregas when he went forward. Teams try to stop Fabregas to stop Arsenal, Flamini stopped Chelsea from stopping Fabregas.

Djourou had a wonderful game that almost made Senderos seem like the younger partner. As I said in my last piece, the fight between Djourou and Senderos is not a forgone conclusion.

Djourou is more anticipative, he is better with mobile forwards and does well in close contact situations – he knows how to fall over while bringing the striker with him without conceding a dangerous foul.

Senderos had a shaky game but to be fair, he is just back from a long injury spell and still needs to banish his ghosts with Drogba. Senderos misjudged the flight of the ball at least 3 times – that's lack of sharpness. He is a good defender and games improve players.

Adebayor kept the ball better than ever before against Chelsea and even beat defenders several times! As usual, when a player gets better at one thing, he reveals another thing. Now he can keep the ball, it is evident that he is not great at looking up and picking a pass. But Adebayor is young and games have already improved him. The partnership between him and van Persie (a good consistent performer) need time to grow.

As I said in the last piece, I was not scared of Chelsea unless Robben, Cole or SWP were playing. That's partly because Eboué is not a good defender yet and because the Chelsea line-up with their usual "untouchables" is predictable, though effective.

Until Robben came in, Arsenal were coping rather well. The referee missed a blatant foul by Ashley Cole on Hleb which started a counter-attack. Unfortunately, Freddie had been on the pitch for all of 30 seconds and was not alive enough to disrupt Essien, who got a clean shot away that beat a surprised Lehman. After the goal, I was hoping that Wenger would bring in Baptista for Adebayor. It was a whole 8 minutes left and Adebayor was tired. I thought that may have made a difference in the last 8 minutes.

This was a continuation of the Spurs game. Arsenal pressed high and defended together. I saw periods where Hleb, Flamini and Fabregas surrounded Essien and Makelele and getting stuck in and physical and won many times. I thought to myself that I had not seen that since the Vieira, Petit / Parlour days. That was fantastic to see. And the players now know that it pays off.

What this game tells the players is that playing hard and together gives results and it doesn't matter who the opposition is – Portsmouth, Wigan or Chelsea. What this game tells the players is that none of the league forerunners are better than them, in spite of any injuries.

What this tells the players is that their performances can deliver results and that they are good enough. What this tells Arsenal is not to give up and to play Charlton with exactly the same vigour as they play Chelsea.

Confidence and hard work alone is what is winning games for Manchester United right now. We can have confidence and we can work hard. In addition we are better skilled so we actually have an advantage if we can turn on confidence and hard work.

User Comments

benhan

Posted on 12 Dec, 2006 at 04:43 AM - Reply

Good Article. In this battle, Wenger won over Mourinho. He had the maximum result with the minimum resources. With current Arsenal young inexperienced squad (and missing 4 big experienced players), compared to Chelsea mega-stars squad, a draw was an excellent result!

Steve Ong

Posted on 12 Dec, 2006 at 01:27 AM - Reply

Any normal hicks would have been proud about what the young gunners have done tonight and that my friend, is what it's all about.

Aussie Fan

Posted on 12 Dec, 2006 at 12:02 AM - Reply

Article was a good Read. I Must add though, the ball should have been delivered to VP A lot more, its clear to see that he is our most Potent attacking Weapon, give him the same amount of Chances Adebayor had and we would have been out of the Ball Park.
Adebayor for his part is improving, but to do all this fancy footwork, and then let a shot go, that barely trickles over the dead ball line is a bit down grading to him. He should hit the ball with more conviction and Power.
I Would like to see VP, and Aliadare partner up or VP And Baptista. I think that this would yield alot more goals. Adebayor is not Clinical enuff infront of goal. He is a Good player, but not Great. He does a consistent Job but not a great Job. The way Arsenal play him, takes the away the playing style. If you use a player like Adebayor it usually means that the crosses should start firing in but they never do. So for what he does holding the Ball up is still progressing. But sopmeone who has to hold the ball up, he never looks up to pick the runs he is always too busy trying neat flicks.

arsnl4ever

Posted on 11 Dec, 2006 at 11:56 PM - Reply

This may not be Arsenal's year for trophies but everyone has to go through some rebuilding. After watching Chelsea match, I can say the future looks good. Gilberto should stay captain even with Henry coming back. It will take some load of Henry & Gilberto is better in that role.

rodnot71

Posted on 11 Dec, 2006 at 08:16 PM - Reply

well done boys. well done for our young gunners.
what surprises me most is that we beat manu at old trafford, held chelsea at their ground, beat liverpool, and then with all respect lost to whu, fulham, man c?

but to draw at stamford bridge, with all those gallant lads, this team will surely improve. i only hope that they shoot more, cause they play the ball too much, although it is nice to watch.

osagie

Posted on 11 Dec, 2006 at 05:42 PM - Reply

I think you take away from our performance on sunday when you bring up the issue of our current league position. Our position has absolutely nothing to do with sundays game, it has more to do with droped points at home in games we were supposed to win and the losses to fulham and westham. Those were winnable games but as painful as it is its all part of the learning process. I think Arsenal are going upward from here on and if eventually we are unable to catch up with ManU, i think we are better equiped for next season.

Jean Louis

Posted on 11 Dec, 2006 at 05:18 PM - Reply

Another excellent article!! I'm very happy with the boys performance with Chelsea... it was an amazing game! Ive always liked very much Adebayor and each time he plays he does it better... Gilberto had an AMAZING game ( I live in Panama and i watched the game in an Argentinian channel and the comentarist chose him as the Player of the game) and Clichy... well... he was just fabulous... Im sure he will be much better than Cole and for the french team he will be an important piece in years to come, Flamini is getting more and more appearances in first team and is getting the experience he needs because he is a great player but I still can't understand why Arsene played him instead of Baptista... I can't wait to see Baptista play at least a full half!!... When Gallas, Toure, Rosicky and Henry are all back Im sure this team will be kicking some asses! hehe. Im very positive about this team but I know we are not going to win the Premiership this year... but I hope and Im confident we will finish in 2nd or 3rd place... but the CL im sure we can win it, we will !!! COME ON GOONERS!!!!!

AC

Posted on 11 Dec, 2006 at 02:53 PM - Reply

the team should be proud of their performance. Impressive displays all around. Adebayor seems to grow in confidence with every game and his class is really starting to show. great technique. still needs refinement and maybe he needs to take a few more shots, but i liked what i saw. hopefully this will be just a taste of what's to come from him.

Djourou and Clichy were great. Not perfect, but very good. I've always liked Djourou for some reason and Clichy is also starting to shine. It's hard to be critical because they're so young but obviously there's still quite a bit of work to do. Eboue and Clichy need to get better at defending wingers.

Midfield was quality all around. What struck me first was that there was constant pressure against the attack. Maybe I'm exaggerating because this was a big game, but I don't recall a time this year when I've seen the midfield so busy. Hleb, Fabregas, RVP and Flamini were all fighting for the ball and acting as a unit. Senderos had a bit of a rough game. Personally, i think he was just nervous. There were a few mistakes that I'm sure Wenger will discuss with him, but at this point, they're all academic- there was no harm suffered.

And this brings us to Gilberto. What a game for him! He seems to be revelling in his captaincy. How many times has he saved Arsenal's defense in the past? He is such an under-appreciated player. Maybe because he lacks the flair that we tend to associate with Brazilian footballers. Maybe because he quietly goes about doing his duties, mopping up other people's mistakes, that he often tends to go unnoticed. But he was everywhere last night. And he really did show what the benchmark for a captain should be. Yes, to put it simply, he led by example.

Make no mistake, we needed to win this game and we didn't. Not so much to catch up with ManU at this point, but to catch up with Portsmouth, and Liverpool. We're only 2 points away with a game in hand, but we needed the points. Liverpool seems to be regaining its away form and Portsmouth has been up there consistently all season. Not to mention that it just plain stinks to see us out of the top 3 or 4. No offense to the likes of Reading and such, but we need to be higher up in the tables.

Let's hope for good things.

the famous gcp

Posted on 11 Dec, 2006 at 01:53 PM - Reply

I was disappointed by Arsenal's approach to this game. Clearly scared of losing they played out for a draw and to be fair deserved a point at the interval. As a Chelsea supporter i was pleased with the result - it's always better coming from behind late on and there comes a lot of satisfaction knowing that we played the game looking for a third consecutive title in mind, while the Arse played for a point with no ambition of pushing for the title themselves. As for the cole situation i was gutted when he signed but the lad is turning it around and it looks like we may have got the best end of the deal after all. Gallas is quality but Cole is English and has got youth on his side. Come on Chelsea.

Wtf..

Posted on 11 Dec, 2006 at 12:51 PM - Reply

We thought we could win?
We were abused, absolutely mullered, extremely lucky to take a point home. As usual, your article fails to deliver.

kayan

Posted on 11 Dec, 2006 at 10:03 AM - Reply

i couldnt agree more with you. gilberto was just amazing, protected the young back four, supported the front line, chased, shadowed, intercepted and encouraged. he was the epitome of a captain, easily my man of the match.

Iyere Omokhuale

Posted on 11 Dec, 2006 at 09:16 AM - Reply

Great article, Joel, great write up, and you captured the points succinctly.

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