Chelsea 2 Arsenal 1 : Irretrievable Damage

Tags

Arsenal, Chelsea, Francis Coquelin, Mata, Ramires, Theo Walcott

Puts his more illustrious team mates to shame

How would the players feel if the fans only turn up after half time? Play to an empty stadium in the first half. If the players themselves are not bothered to turn up in the first half of any match, then why should the fans? It’s a reciprocal relationship but at this point in the season, we’re getting the wrong end of the stick. This team is not only unrecognisable from one match to another, but also from one half to another. Maddening and so frustrating at the same time.

Even after what was supposed to be a morale boosting win in midweek against Swansea, our first in four matches against them – we still started the Chelsea match as timid as we did a week before. The same thing happened during the Manchester City match last week and it repeated itself yesterday. If the team is unable to learn from mistakes from just one week ago, then we are in big trouble. Like empty vessels playing the game, going through the motions without thought, without improvements.

The midfield triumvirate that worked so well in midweek was retained, yet that seemed to be a very risky move. Abou Diaby, with all his physical shortcomings, is surely too soon in his latest comeback to be playing his 3^rd match in a week’s time. While I’m happy Diaby remained injury free after this 60 odd minutes workout, I’m less happy with his contribution. You can see clearly that he was tired and was not up for it yesterday. With the way we were playing, made even worse to have a passenger in the side. Not doubting Diaby’s quality but surely even an out of form Aaron Ramsey would have been a better choice to start than a very tired looking Diaby.

That seemed to set the stage for our lacklustre opening 45 minutes. A first half of utter shambles from those in red and white. Two goals were conceded very early and our fragile confidence went with it. Martin Atkinson didn’t (also read as incompetently) spot the stamp from Ramires on Francis Coquelin, from which Chelsea broke to score the opening goal. However, it’s a tad self-righteous to complain about the penalty. Yes, Ramires could have avoided the on-rushing Wojciech Szczesny but didn’t. Such is the way it’s played these days. The Pole also did himself no favours earlier by flapping at Mata’s shot, reminding us of what Manuel Almunia used to do.

What proceeded next really got on my nerves. We just gave up. Out of 11 players on the pitch, only 2 stood up to be counted. Coincidentally, two of them were the youngest players on the pitch, for us. Their team mates of more experience and age should rightly feel ashamed that they are being driven and led by their younger compatriot. Jack Wilshere and Coquelin stood out in the mediocre mess that we churned out in the first half. There were gaping holes between our midfield and our defence, Chelsea were afforded the freedom to control the game.

Sometimes I wonder whether the players get a slap on the wrist if they tackle during training. Perhaps even a fine, because I cannot think of another reason why no tackles were put in during the first half. We might have the wind knocked out of us with the concession of the two goals but there was no attempt to restrict Chelsea’s game. A little bit of gamesmanship (a recurring topic for me) or nous that goes missing. Had we put in tackles and maybe a foul or two here and there, just to break up the play and allow us to regroup; we could have broken Chelsea’s foothold in the game. A game plan which Chelsea had no problem utilising to snuff us out in the 2^nd half.

To the team/manager’s credit, we did come out of half time looking like a different side. A side who suddenly realised that the match had started and finally decided to play. We were quicker to the 2^nd balls and were pressuring Chelsea all over the pitch. Our passing tempo increased and suddenly we’ve become a team again. Theo Walcott scored from a Santi Cazorla through pass but it’s another one of those beautifully worked goals that I’m not going to watch again. Chelsea took heed to the warning of a second 2-0 collapse at home in just a matter of days by stifling us with niggly fouls all over the pitch. A successful plan which broke our momentum and enough for them to see out the match.

Where was this team in the first half? Did the players just realised at half time that what they were doing weren’t enough? You can’t put it down to fitness level as we seem to be picking up steam as the match went on. Did the manager change anything at half time? Why does he need an entire 45 minutes before getting that tactic through to his team, if any? We were struggling in the first half and had changes been made then (tactic or personnel), we could have given ourselves a fighting chance in the 2^nd 45 minutes. It’s all going horribly pear shaped now and it doesn’t help when the manager brings on a previously frozen out Russian as an attacking option when we needed help.

For 30 minutes (45^th – 65^th min & 85^th – 95^th min) we showed that Chelsea are a side which we can beat. The problem is prolonging that period to at least double that amount. It is rare for any side to have complete 90 minutes of dominance. Should we at least achieve 70 minutes of dominance and pressuring the opponent, we could build a good lead to protect the other 20 minutes. Last 10 days left in the transfer window, do you still see the squad as complete, Mr Wenger?