Arsenal's First Away Defeat This Season Three Wins Out Of 8

Off to Africa
By Boris Mellor
October 21 2012

Arsenal were very poor offensively – that’s not angry Arsenal fans speaking but Arsene Wenger. He refused to blame Mannone for the conceded goal, but he was prepared to blame his attack. I can find no mention of mental strength, or the handbrake, in his post-match comments, but he did admit Norwich were more up for it than Arsenal.

I have often said after Arsenal have played at home after the post international break that if the match had been away the Gunners would have lost. So really this should have come as no surprise, but Norwich have been so poor this season, languishing in the bottom three, I very foolishly predicted an Arsenal win.

But the signs were there from the very start as the Gunners played as if they had treacle in their boots (thanks to Ballistix for that one), they never upped the tempo until it was far too late.

Most players had an extremely poor game, only Arteta and Cazorla kept battling away, but any chances they created were wasted on the dullard forward line. Gervinho looked like a poor man’s Adebayor, Giroud tried to prove that Chamakh is not the most shot shy player at the club since Hleb, and Podolski, as for Podolski where was he? At least we can look forward to Gervinho going off to Africa soon.

Even Wenger refused to hide behind statistics, Arsenal had seven shots on target compared to the Canaries three, but stats mean little here, not one of the shots really tested the keeper.

There is no point in discussing the match any further, Norwich deserved their win, and could have won 2-0, Arsenal wouldn’t have scored even if given 30 minutes extra time. More important than the match, is what does the result tell us about Arsenal’s chances of winning anything this season?

Knee Jerk or Analysis

My view from the beginning of this season was that this team would not be good enough to reach great heights, that it would be a typical Wenger post invincible season. That means probably top-four and no silverware; it doesn’t mean relegation or doom, the straw argument often put forward by the more sycophantic Arsenal fan unaware the club existed before Monsieur Hulot arrived.

This defeat has prodcued screams of rage from quarters least expected; those claiming this was it at last have been pulled up short by the fact that Arsenal now have only three wins out of eight and are in 9^th place. They are however 3 points better off than last season. It is better to judge after 10 games, but one thing Norwich did spotlight is the weakness of Wenger’s squad after a few injuries.

Wenger was reduced to putting Mertesacker up front as Arshavin and Gnabry were unable to provide the finishing touch, as his three most forward players struggled to make any impact.

We will have to wait and see if this is a blip or not, after all Arsenal were in a far worse position this time last year, but superhuman form saw the team rise to finish 3^rd place.

However, that amazing feat depended on two players, one I am not allowed to mention, the other Arteta. Without Arteta the team only managed to win one game and that was thanks to a goal keeper, unfortunately not one of ours, who seem incapable of being the reason for winning any game. On the positive side a rapid Wilshere return could change things, but over dependence on him probably led to his last lengthy injury spell.

The other player, now departed, scored important goal after goal, on departure he was denounced as a one season player. The problem presented to Arsenal is can Podolski and Giroud make up for his loss? Could they have one great season? Because it will be needed. It’s a big question and a lot depends on the answer. The other question that will be answered this season is can you win anything without a world class keeper? Brian Clough thought not, on his arrival at Nottingham he bought Peter Shilton and went on to win two European Cups in a row.

Whenever Arsenal have won anything I would argue it was with a great keeper between the sticks. For the invincibles it was Lehmann, for Wenger’s two Doubles it was Seaman, for the first Double it was Wilson. Anyone who thinks that any of Arsenal’s present keepers are in that class are dreaming, but I am not here to take anyone’s dummy away. We will know the truth in May, if not somewhat earlier.

Arsenal's First Away Defeat This Season 3 Wins Out Of 8

Posted by: Arsenal Times (IP Logged)

Date: 21/10/2012 11:02

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Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 2012:10:25:00:34:56 by Padre Pio.