Date: 27th February 2015 at 6:12pm
Written by:

Here we are again, fellow Arsenal fans, feeling an empty, indescribable emotion that is a horrid blend of anger, betrayal and simple disappointment.

Here I am – writing my first ever piece on my dearly beloved team – and unfortunately I feel compelled to voice my concern regarding Arsenal and ask the question: when will we learn?

Date back to February 16th, 2011: we host possibly one of the greatest domestic teams in the history of the football – a Barcelona team at their peak, boasting the likes of Xavi, Iniesta, Messi and many more talents teams would die to get their hands on. Thankfully, the first-leg is at home and the simple target is clear to see – keep a clean sheet; stop them having an away goal going into the second leg at their place. Despite a good score line, (2-1 for those of you that can’t remember for whatever reason) Arsenal failed to keep a clean sheet and eventually lost the tie 4-3: had Arsenal kept that clean sheet at home in the first-leg, we would have gone through on away goals.

What is it, I hear you say? ‘Everyone makes mistakes … You have to make mistakes in order to improve’. That, I totally agree with. But the thing that irritates me and thousands of other Arsenal fans is the fact that this has happened five years on the bounce now – which is simply inexcusable.

Date back to the year 2012: we lose the tie 4-3 on aggregate after practically losing the tie within the opening 90-minutes – a demoralising 4-0 in the hands of Italian giants AC Milan. The following year, we face German giants Bayern Munich. The opening leg is at the Emirates and we lose 3-1. At home (which sadly reminds me of Wednesday night). We then went on to win 2-0 against them at the Allianz Arena and go out on away goals. The following year told the same story as we lost at home, giving them an away goal advantage, and then went on to get a very respectable 1-1 draw at their place. Which begs the question: why have we not learnt our lesson? Why is this STILL a problem?

These ties paint a clear picture: each year Arsenal have neglected the importance of keeping a clean sheet at home and keeping themselves in the tie after the first leg and have each year been punished for doing so.

I think, as a passionate, lifelong Arsenal fan, that for a club of our size, history and quality, we really ought to expect better things because it’s becoming a reoccurring problem that we’re doing fantastically to achieve a top four finish only to be embarrassed and let down a couple of months down the line. We have seen in recent performances – most notably against Manchester City in the league – that Wenger is not a one-trick pony and there is more to his tactical knowledge than just playing the beautiful passing style that, although we love to see it, it can easily be used as our weakness. As unattractive as it may be, I feel that if it has been proven that we can play a defensive way and win against a good team, then we should definitely deploy that in games where we NEED to not concede.

Don’t get me wrong – the teams we’ve gone out to are all highly respectable teams, and on two of the occasions I’ve listed the team who knocked us out have gone on to win the Champions League. The side we’re facing this year around have an excellent defensive record – keeping 22 clean sheets in their last 37 prior to the tie at the Emirates – but I still feel we should be doing more and should definitely learn from our mistakes rather than continuously repeat the process every single year.

As negative as this is, a hopeful part (however small it may be) still remains in me that says that everything will be OK and we’ll get through this tie and live to fight another day. Hopefully the boys will tighten up defensively, dominate in midfield, take the chances we create and most importantly make them feel sorry for ever feeling that they could ever win this tie. COYG!

 

One response to “When will Arsenal learn?”

  1. edwin says:

    I feel we are out of the champions league, on one side am happy because we can concentrate on keeping our FA cup and maintain a top three finish on the premier league. on the other hand, we out to have beaten Monaco and progress to the quarter finals and many gunners did feel that. anyway we know where the problem is (Mertesacker and he ought to be on the bench tomorrow as we face Everton) Gabriel should be given an opportunity