Arsenal have to learn to make life easier for themselves

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Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
02 Feb	12:45 PM	P	Manchester City (A)	3	1	Win

Top of the league again after an impressive win over Manchester City at the weekend and two equally impressive wins over Newcastle suggest there's good reason to be optimistic for the rest of the season.

Thanks mostly to Emmanuel Adebayor, Arsenal are scoring a lot of goals with (freak Spurs disaster aside) three goals in each of the last four games. The goals are now more frequently coming from crosses and occasionally from long range shots, so stopping Arsenal scoring is going to become even harder for the opposition.

Sadly, as has often been the case with Wenger's teams, the better they play, the more complacent they get. So although Man Utd have let top spot slip for now, that is one big thing to fear that they have over us; they are more professional in getting the job done. They don't have players who are likely to relax as much as Gaël Clichy did on Saturday when he allowed Corluka to get the ball off him so easily in such a dangerous position.

I sometimes feel like Arsenal's defence should have a manager of its own, while Wenger gets the rest of the team playing great football, because the cocky and risky approach to the game that we see from players like Fabregas and Hleb, who like to have the ball and take as much time as they like thinking about what to do with it, sometimes spreads to the defence, and they take risks they shouldn't be taking, and what should have been a very easy game became a tougher task than it needed to be.

City weren't at the races. They were powerless to stop Arsenal playing at 2-0 down they looked deflated and weren't creating anything, but we gave them a goal and basically said to them "don't worry, you're still in this".

As a result, Wenger made only one substitution very late in the game; I wasn't expecting him to make any. If one thing costs us the title it could be the burn-out of key players who have to play 90 minutes in games like this one just because we don't kill teams off early. The way we were playing we could easily have been 3-0 up by half time and should have been taking off players like Hleb and Fabregas after about an hour, saving them for big games against Man Utd and Milan that are just around the corner in what will become a very hectic schedule towards the end of the season.

Man Utd will have off-days, but when they're not, they'll win, and they'll probably win convincingly, and will be able to rotate a little more.

Arsenal look very good right now, and with the likes of Rosicky and van Persie to hopefully return from injury soon, Wenger will have more options, and hopefully that will mean slightly fitter and fresher players to pick and choose from, and swap around. Otherwise, if this is Arsenal at their peak now, it could be too early to carry them through til the end of the season.

User Comments

Syed

Posted on 6 Feb, 2008 at 06:44 PM - Reply

Clichy has been a ROCK, and yes i mean a rock in defense. i hardly see him lose out on any tackles. his crossing and general forward play has improved too. he is much better than evra in defense, and is the best LB in PL, and hes had a flawless season till his first. give him a break, in fact he and toure are the only arsenal players i feel who do not get complacent. the problem here is the team, the team gets complacent; and yes we need to address that.

David

Posted on 5 Feb, 2008 at 05:50 PM - Reply

I would not disagree with the blog. Yes Clichy is probably the best left back in the PL and yes he is allowed to make some mistakes but what Arsenal lack is the killer instinct, which in this season has got much better. They need to finish off the game very early on rather than waiting till the last minute. In this sense Man U are much better. They do not take the foot off the pedal. That is why Arsenal cannot afford to take the eye off.

Gooner mike

Posted on 5 Feb, 2008 at 05:05 PM - Reply

I totally agree with the article. We sometimes tend to relax when we really should be sending out a message to the rest of the EPL teams that we are here to stay. Yes its Arsenal 4 life no doubt, but its annoying that some fans are blinded to the fact that we become complacent when we are ahead by a 2 goal margin. Remember the sunderland game? And then the birmingham game when we thought everything was all gravy? It almost happened again against a better team in man city. As much as i hate to admit it, if u give man utd or chelsea the chance man city gave us, i promise u they'll inflict some serious pain no doubt about that. Yes clichy has been brilliant all season so have the rest of the team but we need to learn to keep going till the end.

therein71

Posted on 5 Feb, 2008 at 04:44 PM - Reply

I watched the game without any worry that we would lose. Some guys round me were whinging and wittering from when City scored. Why people need to whinge watching this team is beyond me.

Law

Posted on 5 Feb, 2008 at 03:51 PM - Reply

Considering the way we play the ball out of defense, it's a testament to the quality throughout this team that we haven't conceded more goals from giving the ball away in stupid areas. The problem is, you can't have it both ways. If you want to be able to keep the ball like we do you can't hoof it long or put it out every time you're under pressure. To play our posession game, you have to pass the ball out of defence whenever possible. Really we should be thankful that we have defenders capable of doing this 99% of the time.

Law

Posted on 5 Feb, 2008 at 03:51 PM - Reply

Considering the way we play the ball out of defense, it's a testament to the quality throughout this team that we haven't conceded more goals from giving the ball away in stupid areas. The problem is, you can't have it both ways. If you want to be able to keep the ball like we do you can't hoof it long or put it out every time you're under pressure. To play our posession game, you have to pass the ball out of defence whenever possible. Really we should be thankful that we have defenders capable of doing this 99% of the time.

please

Posted on 5 Feb, 2008 at 11:40 AM - Reply

clichy is the best left back in the premierleague

Sheltie Gooner

Posted on 5 Feb, 2008 at 10:04 AM - Reply

Let's put things into perspective here- Gael CLichy is a very very good left back and is having a good season. Yes he made a mistake on saturday but so what? It didn't affect the result and we picked up 2 points on the Munichs. Mr Wenger seesm to know what to do so let's get behind out boys and hope that the final stage of the season is as good as the first

liaogz

Posted on 5 Feb, 2008 at 07:35 AM - Reply

Besides being superbly negative in this article, the writer is also superbly disrespectful to the opposition. Do you really expect us to be 3-0 at half time against this city side under errikson?

And one more thing... Man U is currently NOT championship material. They have already lost 4 games. Their game against spuds is unconvincing so does their game against fulham.

liaogz

Posted on 5 Feb, 2008 at 07:25 AM - Reply

Besides being superbly negative in this article, the writer is also superbly disrespectful to the opposition. Do you really expect us to be 3-0 at half time against this city side under errikson?

And one more thing... Man U is currently NOT championship material. They have already lost 4 games. Their game against spuds is unconvincing so does their game against fulham.

joe

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 09:37 PM - Reply

you can't be serious, clichy is without a doubt the best left back in the freaking county. that was the first mistake he made this season. so, please man get off his dick.

gooonnneeerrss

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 07:43 PM - Reply

i cant belive how many of these comments are negative and patheticly no need we still ge the job done right or wrong we have 90 mins to wrap the game up wether we do it in the first 10mins or in the 90th minute we have that time so it doesnt matter when we wrap it up so thats a pathetic comment
2)without gael clichy we would suffer due to african nations him an gallas are playin brilliant football together and broggers is right so f**kin moanin and be happy we are top of the league

G-funk

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 07:34 PM - Reply

First off, I’m behind this team and was confident in their abilities going into this season, but given the experience (rather, the lack of- in various positions) and the youth of this squad, they are doing exceptionally well this season. Certainly, they are much more consistent and competitive than most folks thought they would be this year. Critics (and probably a number of fans as well) had written Arsenal off going into this season. Realistically speaking, this very well could’ve been a rebuilding year, but this squad has come together and demonstrated increasing cohesion at a pretty astonishing rate. I think it’s rather absurd to be criticizing this team for not thrashing their opponents early in the match. Be appreciative of the fact that they are proving people wrong by simply being in contention for the league, as well as the C.L. and FA cup. Perhaps a couple years down the road, when this core of players has had more than 1 or 2 seasons together, this criticism will be justified. Until then, bottle the complaints, and enjoy watching beautiful football and being top of the table.

casicky

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 07:16 PM - Reply

i agree sometimes it does feel like we shoud have a defensive coach becoz i feel at times its beyond Wenger's attacking flair style.

Utkarsh

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 06:42 PM - Reply

Mate wat rotation are u talking about dont u remember that our first 11 is rarely used in cup competitions newcastle was an expection they dont play the cc they are rested more than the manu players and chelsea ones who play their st 11 even in the cc

BoringBoring Fan

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 06:23 PM - Reply

Clichy is allowed to make one mistake a season .If you are a real Arsenal fan and really enjoy the way Arsenal play you have to put up with the fact we try to play football at the back.Once in a while it will go wrong ,I for one do not want us to change as is what I pay my season ticket for .If I want to see the ball hoofed into the stands I can go to watch many non-league or parks football teams.Stop moaning and be greatful that week on week we see some of the most beautiful played ever seen in this league,country continent and world
Arsene knows!

Broggers

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 05:01 PM - Reply

I can’t believe how negative you are. Clichy has been our most consistent player and has one ‘average’ game and makes one mistake. Yes, Arsenal will create lots of chances and only score a small percentage of these but look at the statistics and enjoy what you watch. Of course we have a smaller squad than the Mancs and less so-called firepower but support the team and stop f**king moaning and being negative.

Broggers

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 05:00 PM - Reply

I can’t believe how negative you are. Clichy has been our most consistent player and has one ‘average’ game and makes one mistake. Yes, Arsenal will create lots of chances and only score a small percentage of these but look at the statistics and enjoy what you watch. Of course we have a smaller squad than the Mancs and less so-called firepower but support the team and stop f**king moaning and being negative.

Sege Bee

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 03:47 PM - Reply

Sorry mate but I rate this post 20% on accuracy.this is Clichy's first visible mistake..please its allowed.he's human and he made it on a day we won 3-1.It wasnt a costly mistake....Also I feel the need to rotate players but I think we should be looking at motivation here as the key.The last time most of our key players rested for about 2 weeks we had a dour draw with birmingham so sometimes these things can't be explained.All Wenger needs to say to the players before every match is ....WE NEED TO WIN THIS LEAGUE

Goonerbeall

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 03:41 PM - Reply

Spot on DanishGooner. Many seem to have forgotten that until 3-1, it was touch and go with City players running us rugged. It was a much more close game than people are giving credit for. I for one was scared that we gonna get mugged until we scored that third goal. So, please lets be clear: we need to throttle and kill off off opposition much earlier than we do.

Eye

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 03:27 PM - Reply

Send a message to the FA, tell them the hectic schedule force us to give up the FA cup. It is brainless scheldule to exhaust our English teams before they compete in the CL. Give up the FA cup.

ypzo

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 03:17 PM - Reply

I agree with ollynen completely. Man city's goal was probably the first mistake by clichy which lead to a goal so give him a break. I think the team played well throughout the game and dominated man city at their HOME ground. Surely u don't expect every team to not give arsenal some trouble even when we are playing well.

ypzo

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 03:17 PM - Reply

I agree with ollynen completely. Man city's goal was probably the first mistake by clichy which lead to a goal so give him a break. I think the team played well throughout the game and dominated man city at their HOME ground. Surely u don't expect every team to not give arsenal some trouble even when we are playing well.

Milot

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 02:33 PM - Reply

we will not play for one week now so the players can rest as much as they want, Wenger Knows.

Danish Gooner

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 02:20 PM - Reply

But lethargic in front of goal is strangely something that is particularly apparent under Wenger as well as we play we also too often get to little reward.Is it the way of playing(remember the cska Moskva game) ARE SOME OF THE PLAYERS BAD AT FINISHING ARE THEY TO LAID BACK ??? it really is a conundrum.

Danish Gooner

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 02:17 PM - Reply

Well spoken !!!! I felt right up till 3-1 that we could get punished it is still bewildering how many chances we miss.We must be the most sloppy top team in europe.How many times havnt we said it is incredible that we didnt score more.

Danish Gooner

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 02:16 PM - Reply

Well spoken !!!! I felt right up till 3-1 that we could get punished it is still bewildering how many chances we miss.We must be the most sloppy top team in europe.How many times havnt we said it is incredible that we didnt score more.

Gavin Welch

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 02:05 PM - Reply

Yes I have a comment. Why when I sit down and write my comments do you not post them? Everyone else seems to have there say but mine do not get posted, really winds me up! What's the point in offering a comments section???????? Thanks for nothing!

Santino

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 01:22 PM - Reply

Good point actually I never realised it.. I was too happy for the fact that we are back on top again but yeah specially during the hectic schedules, we need fresh playerss!!! if we are to go far!! with PL, CL and FA.

Harry Barracuda

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 01:14 PM - Reply

Utter nonsense. We're the first team to win at Eastlands and we did it convincingly. United played like pants.

Harry Barracuda

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 01:12 PM - Reply

Utter nonsense. We're the first team to win at Eastlands and we did it convincingly. United played like pants.

ollynen

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 01:09 PM - Reply

Ridiculously negative. Isn't that Clichy's first howler of an otherwise flawless season? Give the guy a break, he's not a robot! Also, the final paragraph contradicts the previous two or three. Silly billy.

brian the gooner

Posted on 4 Feb, 2008 at 01:09 PM - Reply

Agree with everything that is said here.Give me the days of fairly recent years when we would be 3 or 4 goals up in 20 mins and then the game would die.Not particularly great for the neutrals for the last 70 mins or so but just great for us Gooners who did not have to spend virtually the last hour on Saturday screaming at the screen in absolute frustration at seeing what should have been a cruise turned into a little bit of a nail biter with the constant fear that we were going to concede a ridiculous equaliser.I felt more relief and the tension physically draining away from me when the third finally went in.

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