Soler
Established Member
Originally posted Saturday, 12 February 2005 3:14 PM.
What do Rory Delap, Aki Riihilahti and Robert Earnshaw have in common? They are the three men who have really dented our title challenge this season after the loss at Old Trafford. Three players not of any exceptional ability (indeed, two of them are fresh out of the Coca-Cola Championship) have turned Highbury and Selhurst Park on their heads by scoring shocking equalisers against the Champions.
Arsenal are supposed to be untouchable. Unbreakable. Unbeatable. Yet three times this season have players from these modest clubs whose only ambition is to not be relegated have taken points away from the once glorious and unconquerable champions of last season.
At present Arsenal have only beaten two of the bottom five clubs. Last season the only one of the bottom five clubs to take a single point off of Arsenal were Leicester and Everton, away at the Walkers Stadium and at Goodison Park. Arsenal destroyed Leeds scoring nine goals against them, Wolves were easily accounted for in both ties and Manchester City didn't really put up that much of a fight at Highbury on what was José Antonio Reyes' debut.
But this season our record against the teams we should be obliterating completely is, frankly, embarrassing. 1-1 draws against West Brom and away to Crystal Palace were bad enough but to score a ninety two second equaliser through Robin van Persie to save ourselves against Southampton, well, that was a lot worse than those two matches combined.
All these 'lesser' teams have adopted the similar philosophy that our bogey team Bolton use. It's a simple 4-5-1 formation that sees a quick striker left on his lonesome up front whilst the numerically superior midfield battle our midfield duo. We're all none too aware of how successful Sam Allardyce has been with this system against our Arsenal – his side has taken four points off us this season, a point last season and that ever crushing point away in 2002/03 that saw Arsenal lose the Premiership title when Martin Keown scored that own goal.
It's this system that Crystal Palace will use on Monday evening when I have to try and wake myself up at 6:30 in the morning. Andy Johnson will be all on his lonesome up front whilst the likes of Routledge, Riihilahti and Kolkka will run around in the middle. Palace uses this to great effect, so much so they're usually a better team away from their own Selhurst Park than they are playing at home. Playing away works better for a team who plays this way, and playing against a team whose mentality it is to attack works even better.
Therein lies the problem for Monday. Arsenal's only belief is to attack at all costs under Arsène (what a refreshing change that is) and this really will give Palace a bit of a hope. Iain Dowie is a good manager who knows what he is doing, and he will obviously set his tactics to replicate what Palace did at Selhurst in October, when they were one of the form teams of the league.
Before the loss at Old Trafford Arsenal would not have been bothered by this. We were just too bloody good for these lesser teams to stop even if they barricaded their goal with a parked bus. It just wouldn't have mattered, and it wouldn't have stopped us from slamming three or more passed their hapless goalkeeper.
Even if the performance against Aston Villa was one of our best in months, I still don't feel terribly optimistic going into Monday's match. I still think Arsenal's recent performances have been enough to convince me of a victory, but I seriously doubt Arsenal will thump Crystal Palace like some Gooners are convinced of. Of course, if we do, I'll be the first to admit I'm wrong.
With Sol Campbell out with his ankle injury I can see Palace scoring a goal, mostly because of Cygan's lack of pace and Andy Johnson being easily able to exploit that. Kolo Touré will have to be on his toes all night long. However I still think Arsenal's recent form is good enough so we avoid another embarrassing draw against the relegation contenders.
Arsenal really need to win this game. This could prove to be a big weekend for us with that lot above us playing their neighbours at a stadium where they've been humiliated at before, and Chelsea facing one of the harder tasks in football – away to Everton. It'll definitely be the battle of set piece on Merseyside. I just hope we don't put in yet another pathetic performance against a lower table team that would, undeniably, ruin what little chance we have left in this league campaign.
2-1 to the Arsenal.
What do Rory Delap, Aki Riihilahti and Robert Earnshaw have in common? They are the three men who have really dented our title challenge this season after the loss at Old Trafford. Three players not of any exceptional ability (indeed, two of them are fresh out of the Coca-Cola Championship) have turned Highbury and Selhurst Park on their heads by scoring shocking equalisers against the Champions.
Arsenal are supposed to be untouchable. Unbreakable. Unbeatable. Yet three times this season have players from these modest clubs whose only ambition is to not be relegated have taken points away from the once glorious and unconquerable champions of last season.
At present Arsenal have only beaten two of the bottom five clubs. Last season the only one of the bottom five clubs to take a single point off of Arsenal were Leicester and Everton, away at the Walkers Stadium and at Goodison Park. Arsenal destroyed Leeds scoring nine goals against them, Wolves were easily accounted for in both ties and Manchester City didn't really put up that much of a fight at Highbury on what was José Antonio Reyes' debut.
But this season our record against the teams we should be obliterating completely is, frankly, embarrassing. 1-1 draws against West Brom and away to Crystal Palace were bad enough but to score a ninety two second equaliser through Robin van Persie to save ourselves against Southampton, well, that was a lot worse than those two matches combined.
All these 'lesser' teams have adopted the similar philosophy that our bogey team Bolton use. It's a simple 4-5-1 formation that sees a quick striker left on his lonesome up front whilst the numerically superior midfield battle our midfield duo. We're all none too aware of how successful Sam Allardyce has been with this system against our Arsenal – his side has taken four points off us this season, a point last season and that ever crushing point away in 2002/03 that saw Arsenal lose the Premiership title when Martin Keown scored that own goal.
It's this system that Crystal Palace will use on Monday evening when I have to try and wake myself up at 6:30 in the morning. Andy Johnson will be all on his lonesome up front whilst the likes of Routledge, Riihilahti and Kolkka will run around in the middle. Palace uses this to great effect, so much so they're usually a better team away from their own Selhurst Park than they are playing at home. Playing away works better for a team who plays this way, and playing against a team whose mentality it is to attack works even better.
Therein lies the problem for Monday. Arsenal's only belief is to attack at all costs under Arsène (what a refreshing change that is) and this really will give Palace a bit of a hope. Iain Dowie is a good manager who knows what he is doing, and he will obviously set his tactics to replicate what Palace did at Selhurst in October, when they were one of the form teams of the league.
Before the loss at Old Trafford Arsenal would not have been bothered by this. We were just too bloody good for these lesser teams to stop even if they barricaded their goal with a parked bus. It just wouldn't have mattered, and it wouldn't have stopped us from slamming three or more passed their hapless goalkeeper.
Even if the performance against Aston Villa was one of our best in months, I still don't feel terribly optimistic going into Monday's match. I still think Arsenal's recent performances have been enough to convince me of a victory, but I seriously doubt Arsenal will thump Crystal Palace like some Gooners are convinced of. Of course, if we do, I'll be the first to admit I'm wrong.
With Sol Campbell out with his ankle injury I can see Palace scoring a goal, mostly because of Cygan's lack of pace and Andy Johnson being easily able to exploit that. Kolo Touré will have to be on his toes all night long. However I still think Arsenal's recent form is good enough so we avoid another embarrassing draw against the relegation contenders.
Arsenal really need to win this game. This could prove to be a big weekend for us with that lot above us playing their neighbours at a stadium where they've been humiliated at before, and Chelsea facing one of the harder tasks in football – away to Everton. It'll definitely be the battle of set piece on Merseyside. I just hope we don't put in yet another pathetic performance against a lower table team that would, undeniably, ruin what little chance we have left in this league campaign.
2-1 to the Arsenal.
