Complacent Arsenal, good work by Zola

Results

Date	Time	C	Opponent	F	A	R	S
24 Oct	3:00 PM	P	West Ham United (A)	2	2	Draw

Zola built his game plan around Alex Song and Carlton Cole. It was clever and it worked but it wouldn't have delivered him a point had Arsenal not been so bloody complacent.

I am usually very generous with perspective when I look at Arsenal but I was livid yesterday for a whole bunch of reasons that I will get to later. But first, I will give my generosity today to Zola, Carlton Cole and Behrami.

When I wrote about the "new improved Alex Song" one thing I said was that the space in 4-3-3 gives Alex Song space to manoeuvre since he likes an extra touch before passing. It also gives him 4 options of where to pass the ball forward since Francesc Fabregas is more advanced. Alkmaar and Blackburn tried to stifle Fabregas. Zola, on the other hand went for Alex Song. Very smart.

Song was crowded when he was on the ball and even when he was running to win the ball. His extra touch allowed Behrami, the chief hassler to come close and Behrami kept our key ball winner away from Diamanti – very clever. Song was being pressured when he was going to apply pressure to an opponent.

West Ham dominated Arsenal in midfield in a way I haven't seen this season. Because Song could not relax, he couldn't pass to Fabregas in an advanced position. Because Cesc could not get the ball in an advanced position, Robin van Persie and Andrey Arshavin didn't see any good balls. As a result Arsenal could not do anything useful. Fabregas starting dropping deeper and deeper and so did RvP and soon we were playing an incoherent game.

In this incoherent game, the only person who could get the ball in a good position was Emmanuel Eboue. He is interesting on the ball but lacks cutting edge. Some people thought the game was over at 2-0 but I didn't for two reasons.

First, Carlton Cole was playing the Arsenal defence by himself and was doing so good that I was both embarrassed and amazed. I cannot remember a striker doing that well alone up front for a long time. I was pretty sure he would get a goal so I knew Arsenal would need a third goal. Second, because while Arsenal's problems with set pieces continue, you really need to be 3 goals up with 10 minutes to go in order to relax.

At the start of the second half, after a few lame Arsenal attacks West Ham picked up again and it really looked like they would score. We have said time and time again that certain players don't work well in tight spaces. 4-3-3 gives us space and it works with our team but when we don't have space, Eduardo is much better than van Persie and Nicklas Bendtner should be in the box as we will play longer balls.

I was really expecting an early change since Arshavin, Fabregas and van Persie looked lost. Eboue was getting a lot of balls but not getting anywhere and Song was so completely dominated that his only useful work came when we were defending deep.

We all know the team is good enough to win these games. We can see the swagger that suggests that if Arsenal stop themselves relaxing at 2-0 they could win by 4-0, even without the substitution. The big question is, why do they fail to do that? I have no idea.

Arsenal players lacked respect for West Ham and respect for 3 points. That pissed me off more than late substitutions. 2-2 can very quickly after 2-1 so they had little time to settle but still, what an annoying drop of two points in a weekend where most things went in our favour.

This team should not revert to type. The fans have to trust them else we will enter a nervous period again like last season and that could spell disaster. Worse still, we have encouraged Man City and Aston Villa by this result while Liverpool are resurgent. Damn unnecessary!

Liverpool and Rafa Benitez

Rafa lost 5 games at the start of a season at Valencia in 2001. He was so close to being fired and the next bad result would have sent him packing. The next game was against Espanyol and how was down 2-0 at half-time. His team finished the game with a 3-2 victory and he went on the win La Liga that season and then the next.

Rafa has beaten Manchester United now and Liverpool will be heavily boosted by that. As big teams continue to lose and draw, the season may not be that straightforward. I know Chelsea look supreme right now but they will be more affected by the African Nations Cup than any other team. Essien's absence at the beginning of last season basically got Scolari sacked. He is big for them and so is Drogba. Kalou and Mikel will not be there to deputise. But they have a pragmatic manager may will find ways to grind results.

Liverpool are inconsistent but dangerous with Torres. Manchester City have resources and a pragmatic coach. Chelsea are solid – very solid, a bid dull but very dangerous. Man United are exciting sometimes and solid (don't let the recent result fool you).

Arsenal are exciting and dangerous but not solid at all. Aston Villa are solid, dull but generally consistent. 38 games require solidity. Arsenal haven't got it. They have to find it. Solid means that you can count on the team to keep it together and do the right things at the right time with focus, get 3 points when it's there or get a draw when it's tough.

The season is still long and will be interesting and that is why it is so important to keep points that you've had in the bag for 70 minutes instead of pissing them away by being complacent and assuming that other teams will simply lie down. I am not holding my breath for the Carling Cup game. Benitez will play a full strength team. He needs the trophy and Wenger does too – I hope Wenger realises that.

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