Arsenal- Wigan loss, scapegoats and fickle fans
Waking up after a loss, at home, to Wigan isn’t exactly the nicest of things but it’s the reality we as Arsenal fans faced. The game was hard to bear. No fan could envisage a result like that. We knew Wigan would be dangerous, but 2-0 down inside the first 10 minutes? It was, for want of a better word, nuts. Arsenal were simply outplayed. We just weren’t up for the battle.Throughout the game, our Brazilian left-back/wing-back/winger/centre mid/striker/, whatever, was drifting into the middle and leaving gaps for Wigan down the right. And as he drifted into the middle, the center of the pitch became clogged up and we weren’t able to play our normal game where we’d stretch the opposition and attack from the wings.
Theo Walcott was isolated on the right – Roberto Martínez got the tactics spot on – which meant Sagna could do no overtaking thus providing extra attacking threat. In the middle after Arteta went off injured, Song lost his position all together.
Arteta would usually sit back when Song goes forward and cover, but as it was Ramsey in the middle with him, when he went forward, so did Aaron. And when Aaron decided to stay back his attributes aren’t that of a defensive midfielder so he was fairly easy to beat. Song should of been more disciplined and stayed back. He’s played 200 games for Arsenal, he should have learnt by now.
We were, quite simply, poor in our general play. Our lackluster performance epitomised by our negligence in attack. We were naive and sloppy all over. Players looked scared, our key men went missing, it was almost as if the team felt they were untouchable, complacent even. Well they’re not. We’re not Barcelona and Wigan are certainly no walkovers. Our midfield was fairly weak; bar Tomáš Rosický whose mazy little runs caused the Wigan defence some problems.
Alex Song looked somewhat impotent and impetuous while Ramsey was overrun and exposed, our defence couldn’t cope with Wigan’s counter-attack [you'd think for a team who regularly plays counter-attacking football they'd know how to defend against it] – André Santos looked to attack at the wrong moments and was also exposed, Bacary Sagna was given the runaround by Victor Moses and Johan Djourou and Thomas Vermaelen? Well to be fair, they played well. Vermaelen’s powerful header got us back into the game. His passion, fight, spirit and determination was incredible to see.
And if there was one criticism of Vermaelen it would be that that said passion, fight, spirit and determination and desire to bomb forward left the defence vulnerable. Djourou was solid all throughout apart from one mistake where he almost gifted Moses a goal, but we’ll ignore that as Moses didn’t score. And finally our forwards: They looked lost.
Robin van Persie was playing like a man with no confidence, Yossi Benayoun was working hard but lacked the killer instinct and Theo Walcott rarely received the ball and when he did, he did nothing with it. The substitutes never really had the effect they’d been brought on to offer and Wojciech Szcz?sny tried his best for the first goal and should’ve done better for the second. Other than that there wasn’t much for him to do.
If I remember correctly, Arsenal had 64% possession. That’s good, obviously, but nothing was done with it. We passed the ball from side to side, back and forth. There was no penetration or urgency, we were ponderous. Wigan wanted it more, they worked hard to retain possession, they showed commitment, something we didn’t. Every player deserves criticism – except for maybe Tomáš Rosický. And that brings me to the next installment of this post: The Scapegoats and Fickle Fans.
It’s fair to say we’ve had our fair share of scapegoats over the years. Repeatedly blamed for a loss they may or may not have played a part in. i.e. Ramsey was blamed on Monday, but he wasn’t even on the pitch for Wigan’s 2 goals. The fans are quick to jump on a player’s back.
Ramsey is 21 years old, captain of his national team and playing for one of the biggest clubs in the world – he can hardly be a bad player. I understand the frustration and anger, he has been playing bad lately, that’s unavoidable. But to say he should never play for Arsenal again or he’s not Premier League quality is laughable. He’s a good young player.
Yesterday when André Santos drifted forward, I noticed Aaron would regularly cover for him. He showed intelligence in his positioning. He had 92 touches and 89% pass completion. He has his faults, no doubt, but so do many other players. Criticism is all a part of the game, it’s justified some times as well, but abuse and death threats is taking it way further than it needs to go. [note: Only a few were sending death threats and/or seriously abusing Ramsey. They were told where to go by more logical fans.]
Gervinho has also received some criticism for his performances since his return from The African Cup – some deserved, some not. Theo Walcott is another one to blame when things don’t go right. He’s been in fine form recently and yesterday just wasn’t his day. The sad thing is, if you stick up for a player on Twitter you’re labelled as someone who doesn’t know football. Which I think is very unfair.
It’s almost as if Ramsey is so hated that people ignore Robin van Persie’s below-par performances in recent games. They ignore that last night Thomas Vermaelen’s constant desire to attack occasionally left the defence vulnerable to the counter. They ignore the star players’ poor performances. But you’re obviously not allowed to slate a star player because then you know nothing about football. Obviously.
Now then, the fickle fans: When we were losing regularly or playing consistently inconsistent, Arsène Wenger was the fall guy. It was his entire fault. Then we started winning and he was a genius again. Then we lost to QPR and he should have been sacked. We beat City and Wolves, then guess what? Yep, he was once again a genius. Now he doesn’t know what he’s doing, he’s an awful manager and he’s ruined our season.
About 4 or 5 games ago we only needed 1 or 2, maybe 3 players to make us strong enough to compete again. Now we’ve lost we need 5 or 6 world class players. That seems to be the way of thinking for a number of fans. And I’m sure if we beat Chelsea in our next game the problems will go away again. It seems some fans only voice their opinions when Arsenal lose. They’re only happy in defeat. It gives them a platform to moan. Their views differ depending on form. I maintain my stance on the team’s ability, performance, expectations and all that jazz whether we win or lose.
I’m generally an optimistic pessimist. I know we have great players and are capable of greatness, but I always expect us to struggle against weaker teams. I don’t mind people saying “Wenger out” as long as this view is expressed after a win as well as after a loss. It’s times like this when you realise who the real fans are. Loyalty through defeat, people. Loyalty through defeat.
And as I finally come to the end of this post, a few words on Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain. I believe some fans expect too much from him. He’s not always the answer. He’s just a young player with bags of potential and my worry is he’ll eventually become over-hyped and if he doesn’t live up to the high expectations, a scapegoat. Yes, another one similar to Walcott. He can become a star but we mustn’t get ahead of ourselves.
He done nothing when he came on last night, he isn’t experienced enough to be an impact sub. And whenever Arsène Wenger decides to take him off when he’s started a game and playing well, remember the EUROs are in the summer. I’m sure Wenger’s trying to not build his hype anymore so he’s fresh for next season. Would you rather he was fit and ready for next season or knackered because of the tournament? I’m sure it’d be the former.
Even so, he may go to the EUROs after all but I for one am happy that Arsène Wenger is doing his best to make sure he doesn’t.
Goodbye.
Written by Ryan Goodenough
Follow him on Twitter @RealYoungGunner
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