For those of you living under a rock, the North London Derby between Arsenal and Tottenham took place today at White Hart Lane. It was built up to be one of the top matches this season and it did not disappoint. From a possession standpoint, Arsenal dominated holding the ball 60% of the time, a lot of that due to Arsenal being down 2-0 to start the 2nd half. Both squads had an equal number of shots (11) and both looked potent at times.
From a neutral perspective, this game had everything – wide open play, beautiful goals, and controversy (more on that in a minute), all the essences of why so many love this sport.
From a Tottenham perspective, the proverbial monkey
(no, not Gareth Bale) is off their back. In years passed, this is a match Arsenal win and Tottenham lose – not today. Bale also showed why he is considered a top European talent with a clinical outside foot finish to open the scoring in the 37th minute.
Minutes later, the Spurs were up 2-0 with a nearly identical run by Aaron Lennon. When Szczesny committed, Lennon had a wonderful burst to dribble around the keeper and pass the ball into the empty net.
That’s all the Spurs needed to see out the match 2-1 and solidify a 7 point gap between Arsenal for a Champions League spot. It seems like the only thing Tottenham have to worry about now is holding on to their star player this summer as the Guardian reported documented interest from Real Madrid.
From an Arsenal perspective, there is plenty to worry about following this match. The squad selection was typical of recent weeks, but the mid-game substitutions and player positioning were somewhat of a head-scratcher. Following Mertesacker’s headed goal, Arsene made a rather questionable and unique change by bringing on midfielder Thomas Rosicky for right back Carl Jenkinson and then shifting Aaron Ramsey to Jenkinson’s position. Sorry Arsene, Ramsey is no Gareth Bale, but nice try.
The controversial part of the match happened around the 65′ mark as Adebayor went down awkwardly on his knee while Arsenal continued to play on rather than kick the ball out of play and allow the player medical attention.
This is far from a written rule and I can understand why Arsenal played on because 9 times out of 10, the “injured” player typically will miraculously get up and continue on as if nothing happened. Either way, Arsenal (and the referee’s) decisions to play on were met with loud displeasure by the Tottenham supporters and players. Eventually leading to a scuffle among a number of players on the pitch after the ball was finally whistled dead for an Arsenal free kick.
Arsene made his 2nd and final substitution in the 77th minute, bringing on the more attacking Podolski for the more defensive Arteta. This move is completely justifiable and honestly, should have been the first substitution. With Podolski, Arsenal looked much more dangerous almost immediately, but with only 10 minutes remaining, it was basically too little too late.
I’m far from the Arsene Wenger bashing club, but his in-game managing should be questioned this match. Every manager has questionable substitutions. They’re genius’s when they work and stupid when they don’t – it’ll always be part of the game. With that said, I just do not see what Wenger sees in Aaron Ramsey to justify playing him for the full 90+6 minutes of this and any other match. He can’t beat his defender one on one, he constantly gets beaten on defense, and his final balls leave much to be desired. I’m not sure whether it’s lack of a quality alternative or showing faith in a relatively young player, or both.
Either way, Arsenal now have their work cut out for them over the final 10 matches. Sitting in 5th place 6 points behind Chelsea and 7 behind Spurs, Arsenal do not have the benefit of playing either team so they must get some help from Chelsea and/or Spurs opponents if they are to catch either one. With a likely exit from the Champions League coming up after their 2nd Bayern match, one has to wonder if this will be the last Champions League action for Arsenal for at least 2 years.
The tide in North London seems to be turning, at least at the moment. There is still the possibility of a Tottenham collapse (wouldn’t be the first time) and a late season Arsenal resurgence. Arsenal’s only real “test” remaining is against the Red Devils, but they cannot afford to drop points from any other matches if Arsene wants that 3rd or 4th spot “trophy”. Tottenham must not think Arsenal are done and dusted – there is plenty of football left to be played. For now, North London has turned a dark purple with a blueish hue.
Arsene better do something to right the ship and fast or we’ll be seeing a lot more of this…
and this…
the rest of the season.
I wonder what prayer can do for this hurting team?
I wonder if Wenger’s apologists crying out loud “Don’t blame Wenger!” after this result. I’ve been on some forums of them whining how it’s not Wenger’s fault the defense is rubbish. Oh how amusing those people are.
This is the poorest side Wenger has put up and it shows on not just on this match, but other matches as well i.e. Bradford, Blackburn, Bayern Munich, etc. Another Invincibles or even come close to it, which this site predicted (bet you regretting that now, huh?) will never happen again under Wenger, especially with this current squad. All thanks to his outdated tactics and totally disregard of how a good defense works. As for seeing more of Wenger crossing his arms and face in hand, have you not been paying attention in the last few years? It’s practically what he does on the touchline that and arguing with fourth officials instead of instructing and motivation the players.
@Brian I don’t think anything could hurt at this point.
@Arsenal Fan Like I said in my post, I’m not an Arsene basher but if a non Arsene basher is questioning his decisions, he must be at fault in some cases. I don’t think Arsenal’s woes all fall on one man’s shoulders…many aspects of the team are to blame – the board for not spending obvious cash reserves, Arsene for questionable lineups and tactics, the players for under-performing at crucial moments and against lesser opponents. Any person with any soccer knowledge knows that the team Arsene put out for Blackburn was a legit squad and SHOULD have dominated that match. That is why a lot of the blame, in my opinion, falls on the players for not executing. Arsene can only put out the best squad he has available to him, he can’t go out and kick the ball for them.
@brian: pray that Wenger resigns, but he’s too stubborn to change. I just laugh at the people who thinks that he will do so every year.
@jstrykes: you’re no Arsene basher, but you’re a typically Arsene apologist, where you blame Wenger very little or none at all and blame it all on somebody else. It shouldn’t fall on one man as you mentioned, the board should to bear some responsibility, mostly giving Wenger so much power in the club’s transfers and policies, but the majority as to go to Wenger. As for the board “not spending obvious cash reserves”, why don’t you read reports how the club got millions, as much as £70 million sitting in the reserves FOR Wenger to spend. Wenger didn’t want to spend because he’s happy with what he’s got, more happy getting the likes of Jenkinson and Ramsey to sign an extension than buying a proper DM and GK. It was Wenger the one bragging that we got two good players in every position (yet he had Ramsey playing at RB), just one of the reasons why he didn’t pursue the players we needed this January. Even if Wenger does spend, there’s a good chance he’s going to buy mediocre players. Just look at the joke of our defense, millions spent and no improvement at all. There’s been talk that Wenger stopped letting Steve Bould train the team on defending because Wenger’s ego couldn’t take all the praises being given to Bould early in the season. If this turns out to be truth, I’ll pay Wenger’s plane tickets myself. The team assembled by Wenger is mostly his responsibility, his willingness to stick to mediocre players, instead of buying actual quality players, why he stuck with Diaby still just amazes me. As well as the one-dimensional tactics and horrible defending that we still have problems for years and the substitutions, it took seventh minute for Wenger to bring in Wilshere, Carzola and Walcott on that Blackburn match. About you going on blaming it all on the players, yes some of the blame should go to them, but you go on like Wenger doesn’t do anything before/after/during matches. He doesn’t set the tactics, motivate the players, set the training and so forth? If that’s the case, why pay him £7.5 million a year? Keep believing that Wenger is being deprive of money to spend, despite the reports and Wenger’s past actions in the last few years alone, because that’s what Wenger apologists do to absolve him of most of the responsibilities as the manager, I have heard this all before. Anyway, I’m still sad on the lost to the spuds, need a good laugh. “Mikel Arteta is playing the role of the strong holding central midfielder a la Gilberto” Ha ha, that’s a good one!
“As for the board “not spending obvious cash reserves”, why don’t you read reports how the club got millions, as much as £70 million sitting in the reserves FOR Wenger to spend. Wenger didn’t want to spend because he’s happy with what he’s got…”
You do realize the reports of the 70m available are for THIS summer right? Obviously, Wenger hasn’t had the chance to spend it yet. If he does not spend money this summer (at least 50m), I will officially be on your Wenger hater side. I questioned Wenger’s tactics and squad selection/substitutions in my post so I am not one of those who worship the guy and thinks he can do no wrong. In my opinion, I believe Wenger has his tactics that he almost always uses and has had success with, but I don’t think this team is built for his tactcs. For some reason he has decided not to change up his tactics to better suit the current squad and for that he is most certainly at fault. That’s not to say players haven’t underperformed or the board hasn’t given him the money he needs in the past, which is why blame falls on everyone at Arsenal, not just Wenger. I think this summer is where drastic squad changes are made because if not, then Wenger absolutely should get the majority of the blame for not improving an apparently average squad.
“Mikel Arteta is playing the role of the strong holding central midfielder a la Gilberto”
In k_venezia’s defense, Arteta was in great form when this article was written. He had played well in the CM/DM role all season until he was shut down for a few weeks because of an injury. The injury and layoff seems to have affected him.
Damn straight. When this team was playing some beautiful fast paced football Arteta was in great form. After his injury spell he just hasn’t been the same, nor has the team since a few key injuries. Remember, before the loss to THFC on Sunday, the Gunners had won 3 straight league games.
All that money, had it been spent in vain on players would be a hugeeeee issue if there is no CL next season. The financial ramifications for no CL means scaling back the wages as things sit today. Imagine spending 40 or 50 million on players in January to barely claim a CL spot (because the league title is United’s), then having no room to improve the team this summer, except to watch a few players be sold. Is that better? Who was available that would have stepped right in and righted the ship? Monreal was a solid purchase, and the team is youthful. This summer is the time to adjust the roster and perhaps start fresh with Wilshere, Walcott and the youngin’s.
@jstrykes: where do I begin? I know you Wenger apologists are in denial, but I didn’t think you lot are lazy. The £70 million reported was not just this summer, but for PREVIOUS summers and it goes back as far as 2007. Take a look at here: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-483982/Wenger-rich-reserves.html. Also, the late Danny Fiszman said in 2008 that Wenger even has £30 million to spend on one player. He even said this doozy, “It’s not our decision who he (Wenger) spends money on, nor will it ever be our decision. If he said to us, ‘I want this guy and he’s £30m, can I buy him?’ the answer is ‘yes’. Absolutely. We totally back him. It’s his decision.” The reason why he doesn’t change his tactics is because he’s stubborn. Come on, don’t be afraid, it’s okay to say it. I’m not surprise that there’s some tension between him and Bould, seeing as Steve is more vocal than Pat Rice and won’t sit as long as Pat did after seeing this horrible defense game after game. I doubt you will change your tune if Wenger doesn’t change this summer. He will provide the same excuses, “we only buy super quality players” or “the squad has two good players on each position”, etc. and you lot will eat it up and forget he has done this before.
For Arteta, you know that he had injuries before, right? Some of his injuries were way longer than his last injury when he was at Everton, but he still played well. Probably because he wasn’t playing as a DM, hell Moyes sometimes play him as a RM because of his crossing abilities. Any person with any football (that’s soccer for you, Yanks) knowledge knows Arteta doesn’t have the physicality of Gilberto and Vieira to be enforcer in the middle. Why do you think Wenger tried to pursue Vertonghen last summer and said he will play as DM for Arsenal, which led the Belgian to reject us and go to the spuds instead? Kvenezia’s article was so laughable for various reasons (Walcott as a young Bergkamp? LOL. Has he seen DB played? I agree if you take away Dennis’ killer passes, vision, ability to hold the ball away from defenders and creativity), I wouldn’t be surprised if he thinks that Ramsey will be the future RB for Arsenal if Wenger keeps playing him there long enough. Speaking of kvenezia…
@kvenezia: we beat the likes of Stoke, Sunderland and Aston Villa, two of them were at home (one victory was helped but a lucky deflection), three teams that sits on the bottom half of the table and each have a much lower wage bills than we do. Teams that we should be beat. Golly that’s good enough for me, give Wenger a good for life at Arsenal! Btw, we played a full squad on the Man City, Chelski and Liverpool matches and so your argument that it’s injuries’ fault is invalid. Every team goes through injuries some more than others, but it’s up to the manager to be prepare for those. Some managers are better equip to deal with them, others like Wenger bragged we got two good players for every position. A few players be sold? You mean what’s been happening in the last few years? You forget the likes of RVP, Song, Fabregas, Nasri, Clichy, etc. and we qualified into the UCL during those seasons and that’s still happening, because players don’t see the team capable of winning trophies anymore. I fear Wilshere will be doing the same, maybe not in year or two, but later when trophy drought continues and wants to actually look back that he won something. Who was available? What about Diame (a proper DM) from West Ham, who cost half of what Santos cost, Étienne Capoue (another quality DM) who was linked with us on January, Ba which Chelsea got for a steal, but Wenger was too worried about Giroud’s feelings to do anything about it and Moussa Sissoko who cost £2.2m for Newcastle, who Arsenal could have persuaded to join with bigger wages (Arsenal paying 50k a week to bench warmers) and UCL football. I’m sure there’s more. Don’t take Wenger’s words that January isn’t a good time to buy players, just looking it up to see that’s not true. I won’t be surprise if Wenger uses that we didn’t qualify for the CL as the reason why he will not spend on the players we need this summer. That excuse that we have a young team has past it, surely it’s getting tired. But whose fault was it who assembled a mostly young inexperience team? With you lot, it’s anyone but Wenger. Sure, give it another summer, just like the last summer and the summer before that and so forth. You people take something that makes you forget this every summer? Wenger is an egomaniac, he doesn’t want anyone’s assistance in improving the team, hence the same defensive blunders over and over again and keeps sticking to his policies, so he can gloat if it actually does work, but I wouldn’t hold my breathe. He had his time, we are grateful for what he has done for the club, but that was 8 years ago, which is plenty of time for any manager. Time for him to go.
Oh man, you guys aren’t taking the piss, are you? Sorry if my posts gave you guys a reality check. If it makes you feel better, I can post “In Wenger We Trust!!!” and tell off people who disagree to support the spuds or chelski. How’s that?
I don’t know why you think I’m a Wenger lover. I criticized him for his tactics because they don’t fit with the current makeup of the squad. I criticized him for using Ramsey so much, only having 1 real central striker, and making questionable substitutions. How is that saying “In Wenger We Trust”? I think this is the weakest squad Arsenal have had in some time which is why I will give him this summer to fix it before I completely jump the Wenger ship. Why is it so difficult for you to give the man a chance to fix obvious squad flaws? Yes, I know he had the chance to buy in years past but we also had a MUCH better squad years ago so the argument could’ve been made that we didn’t necessarily need to spend 30m on 1 player. That was before we lost Nasri, Clichy, Cesc, VP, Song, etc. The bargains Wenger tried to bring in are not at the caliber of that group of players (except maybe Cazorla), which is why I will give him this summer to fix it because every Arsenal supporter can agree on 1 thing and that’s this squad needs upgraded. With a documented 70m to spend, there should be no reason now for Wenger not to spend it. If he doesn’t, I’ll be right there with you trying to run him out of town.
@jstrykes: I call you a Wenger lover, because you lot keep believed some mythical force is stopping Wenger from spending, which is the number one reason why you lot absolve him of the many responsibilities of this club. Didn’t you mentioned in your previous posts, it’s the players and the board’s fault, before it’s Wenger? Before I actually showed you proof, you actually believed that Wenger for the first time has 70m sitting in the reserves this coming summer and never for previous summers, a fact which could have been easily research on the internet.
Why should I give Wenger another chance? If this was only two, three or four years, but it’s been eight years now. What makes you think he’s going to do any different this summer? Eight years and the defending is getting worse and the gap between the league leaders is getting bigger. Unlike your colleague, I don’t believe this current squad will be even close to being as good as the Invincibles. Another reason is I don’t trust Wenger bringing in the players we need, because he’s stubborn and he’s afraid it will hamper the development of Ramsey, Diaby or whoever and also, the players he brought in the past few years aren’t as good as the players he had brought in his first 8 years at Arsenal. We have gone from Pires, Henry and Campbell to Gervinho, Chamakh and Koscielny. And his youth project is a failure, for every player like Wilshere there are many other youngsters (look them up it’s a long list of them) that failed to make the grade at Arsenal and eventually sold elsewhere, many who are playing in a league below the Premier League or clubs in the EPL that’s are sitting in the bottom half of the league table. I hope I made it clear for you on the reasons why I won’t give him one more season.
Now you give me good reasons why Wenger should stay as the manager without bringing up past achievements he brought to the club eight years ago or leaving it to faith, which you are currently doing that he’s somehow going to change.
I think you taking the 30m on 1 player literally, Fiszman was making a point that cash is readily available for Wenger to spend, yet the pro-Wenger brigade is ready to complain how Wenger got nothing to spend. We might have had Nasri, Clichy, Cesc, VP, Song, etc. back then, but Wenger was too stubborn to drop Alumina and get a quality keeper, something he has repeatedly done like not buying quality players, because he willingness to stick with mediocre players and youngsters he brought to the club.
Arsenal needs upgrading alright. But it starts with the manager and bringing in someone with tactical sense and improving the defending to start challenging the Manchester clubs and Chelski for titles and not a manager that says bollocks like “4th place is a trophy”.
“What makes you think he’s going to do any different this summer?”
Because this may be his last chance to prove (to fans and the board) that he can buy quality talent and he knows it. If he doesn’t do much this summer, his job is in jeopardy, more so than it is now. He HAS to do something different this summer or he will be gone. That’s why I have faith that he will do the right thing this summer and spend cash.
“And his youth project is a failure, for every player like Wilshere there are many other youngsters (look them up it’s a long list of them) that failed to make the grade at Arsenal and eventually sold elsewhere…”
You act like Chelsea and City are creating youth wonderkids year after year. Why do you make it seem like Arsenal is the only team with failed youth players? Every club has youth projects that don’t pan out. Don’t just single out Arsenal. Every club goes through dozens of youth players before they find a “Wilshere”…youth players like that don’t just grow on trees.
@jstrykes: so basically, you got no good reason why Wenger should stay other than putting your blind faith on him. And they say some of those people who wants Wenger to stay has become some sort of cult, where for them AFC stands for Arsene Football Club. Well, okay, I’m not stopping you doing that, but don’t tell me you find it difficult why I want him gone, because we have gone through summers like this before with Wenger.
Yes, the likes of Chelski and City don’t create wonderkids every year, but unlike Arsenal, they don’t heavily rely on their youth projects in hope of developing good players than spending on quality players. We have seen it time and time again, where Wenger keeps sticking to his youngsters than buying experience quality players. There’s also problems selling some of these youngsters that fails to make the grade at Arsenal, because of the ridiculously high wages given to them, thanks to the socialist wage system which Wenger had a hand in along with the board, just look at Djourou, Bendtner, etc. where they keep getting loaned off, but not after spending a considerable amount of time on the bench draining funds from Arsenal that they don’t deserve, because other clubs don’t want to match the salaries that Arsenal gave them and I can’t blame those clubs. If Wenger’s youth project was successful, I can understand why Wenger went that route, but in reality, it waste more money than it does good. At his time at Monaco, his first attempt at his youth project, didn’t pan out so well. It’s the main reason why Monaco faltered that season and got Wenger fired and at Arsenal, he’s doing it all over again. Some people never learn.
@jstrykes: so you given up already? Come on, I thought you got more in you to defend Wenger. Well, I got to give you credit that you can put up a pretty good debate, despite flaws in your arguments. I can’t say the same with your colleagues with them typing “Don’t blame, Wenger!” and failed to put up any good arguments.
I “gave up” because there’s not point in trying to convince each other when it’s clear our opinions aren’t going to change. There’s valid reasons to support either side at this point. I appreciate your banter, it’s always good to hear everyone’s perspective. You may not have convinced me to hate Wenger at the moment but I definitely shortened my patience with him after our discussion. This summer will be make or break in my decision to support Wenger, as well as many other Arsenal fans I’m assuming. It’ll be interesting to revisit this post in 5 months or so to see if Wenger actually did spend or if he will be the same old stingy Wenger as you say. Only time will tell. With that said, here’s to hoping Arsenal can pull off the impossible against Bayern tonight…at least we can agree on that!
Your opinion may not have changed, but you could at least provide some counterpoints to my arguments, I mean relying on faith that Wenger will do right this summer isn’t exactly a good argument. Anyway, well, it was nice having this good debate with you. But one thing to clear up, I don’t hate Wenger. I along with a lot of people wants Wenger to be back to his old self, but it’s obvious for several years now that’s not going to happen. Wenger has gone from this cool and calm demeanor to throwing bottles, constantly harassing of officials, getting touchline bans and the constant rubbish that comes out from his mouth now. I would rather Wenger to resign with dignity than being thrown out of the club. As for whether Wenger will be stingy this coming summer or not, well, I admire your confidence, but history is on my side. Wenger had the money to spend in previous summers, despite what you believe and he didn’t recruit the players we needed. You’ll see the say same old excuses Wenger will use this summer and if he does, I hope you’ll own up like you mention.
You have to give Wenger some credit for yesterdays “win” over Bayern. He shook up the lineup and it worked. If our defending wasn’t so piss poor in the first leg, we would’ve went through.
After the match yesterday I’ve concluded that Verm should not be our captain. Our defense looked much more in sync without him. Whether that was due to Gibbs return or Fabianski in goal it remains to be seen but Verm has been very inconsistent this season and seems to make critical mistakes at the worst times…something a captain shouldn’t do.
Sure, I’ll give him credit. But with a combination of no pressure to win (with Wenger judging the Swansea match more important than the UCL match) and complacency from Bayern, just like AC Milan did last season on the 2nd leg of the UCL tie, this result shouldn’t be that surprising. Makes you think why the team don’t perform like this more often, as you’ve seen it time and time again this season alone that the team only picks up the pace when their backs are against the wall after a subpar first half. Arteta said it best that this win means nothing if the team can’t be consistent and you have to agree, we are anything but consistent this season. Fabianski was good that night, but he’s error prone as our other keepers, one match doesn’t erase his other performances. Wenger should just bought a proven and experienced keeper sometime ago than relying on the keepers we got. We haven’t had a reliable keeper since Lehmann and he wasn’t as good as David Seaman. But Wenger will be Wenger.