Goonersphere Match Review: 17.8.13 Arsenal 1 Aston Villa 3

Things looked rosy for Arsenal when Olivier Giroud scored the opener

First and foremost, the performance against Aston Villa was quite simply not good enough.

We started brightly, dominating the early exchanges and up until around 20 mins we were comfortable. Villa looked off the pace and let us play. Ramsey and Wilshere had oceans of space to operate in and the goal we scored after 6 minutes was mainly down to some very dopey Villa defending.

The back four were caught much too high, Chamberlain scampered down the left and Giroud was given the freedom of the penalty box to knock it in. Villa looked like they needed another pre-season friendly; they were pressing poorly and I noticed a few times that the back four were poorly positioned (full backs staying deep while the centre backs inexplicably pushed up).

In the absence of Arteta, it seemed to me that Wilshere and Ramsey were sharing the ‘Anchorman’ role depending on where the play was taking place. It worked quite well while Villa were in their early stupor. But suddenly the midfield was sliced open by nothing but a burst of pace. Gabby Agbonlahor ran right through the middle of our team, cutting in from the left and avoiding some pretty tame tackles from Ramsey, Wilshere and Koscielny.

It was really dozy defending and was topped off as Agbonlahor was flattened by Szczesny. Advantage was played, Villa somehow missed an open goal and the referee pulled play back for a penalty. Now, I’ll look at the refereeing in my next section, but whatever the complaints about the advantage, Szczesny’s tackle was poor and it was a stonewall penalty.

Benteke stepped up, hit a woeful penalty that Szczesny parried, but Benteke stuck in the rebound with his head. After that the game became a lot more even, both teams could have scored again if the final pass had been right, but at half time it was 1-1.

We’d already been forced into replacing Gibbs with Jenkinson and our second substitution was another forced one; the Ox was injured and replaced with Cazorla. We are used to seeing Santi playing on the left of the attacking three, but this change seemed to spark an immediate loss of shape.

Cazorla rarely stays on the left, he’s given license to roam, but with Santi roaming and Sagna (now at left back) bombing merrily upfield, the left hand side was left exposed and Ramsey and Wilshere had to cover. This dragged us out of shape and while we looked dangerous going forward, we looked horribly open at the back. This was highlighted when Giroud, our centre forward no less, had to sprint to left back to help stop a dangerous Villa attack.

Eventually we were punished, Agbonlahor put through again, after the ball was lost in midfield and Koscielny produced a world class sliding tackle to deny him. Anthony Taylor however, awarded a ridiculous penalty. Benteke stepped up again and sent Szczesny the wrong way.

Koscielny was booked for his fantastic defending and within minutes he was penalised for a nothing tackle and sent off. Ramsey was shoved in at centre back (he’ll be in goal before long) and Arsenal‘s goose was cooked. Down to ten men and a goal behind, Villa simply sat deep, packed the their half tight and waited for the counter attack.

There were a few chances to equalise, notably for Rosicky and Cazorla, but we were eventually hit on the break, Luna sent clear and finishing cooly. After starting brightly, we’d faded badly and handed victory to a Villa side, who really should not have won. Villa put in a decent performance, but not one that should be sinking us at home.