Will Arsenal Ever Beat A Top Team?
After another defeat to Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea this asinine question has raised its ugly head again. It’s a ridiculous, paraochial question designed to fuel the polemical needs of people carried away with their emotions.
Arsenal have beaten many top teams over the past few years but those results are either explained away or ignored if they deviate from the narrative, perpetuated by tabloid and TV media, that Arsenal do not beat top teams. Threats to Arsenal’s Champions League spots are discounted if we beat them, previous season’s top teams are removed from consideration if they fall out of the top four, Champions League opponents are ignored, cup games are overlooked if they are followed by games against “lesser” opposition and competitive matches are disregarded as “Mickey Mouse” without a shred of irony from people who would not have let it rest had Arsenal lost any of those games.
It is a stark fact that Arsenal have not beaten a Jose Mourinho team in 12 matches and often this is down to tactics, or supposed lack thereof, however I think great positives could be taken from our recent defeat to Chelsea.
From the off it was apparent that Mourinho considered us a greater threat than in March from the way he set his team up and tactically, in the main, we got it right. That’s right, Arsène Wenger did tactics (it still astounds me that people think he doesn’t) and they almost paid off.
Defensively we were quite solid and were undone by a moment of brilliance by Hazard. What can you do about that? What could a £40m defensive midfielder do to stop a devastating run like that? There is an argument that they occupy the space better and thus Hazard would not have been able to run the way he did but that is wishful thinking. Specialised defensive midfielders cannot stop every moment of brilliance just by breathing the same air as the opposing players – if they could then every team that has one would be unbeatable.
The second goal came as we chased the equaliser, which based on the flow of play suggests we could have got. Arsenal set up to choke the midfield, press hard and attack with pace. Arsenal did all of these things but what they struggled with was going for the simple goal. As is often the case, Arsenal overplayed and over-thought things. We just couldn’t carve out an opening or when we did we tried to make it clear cut when we should have just tested the keeper.
Watching the game I had a mix of emotions. I felt we got our defensive tactics right but lacked execution in our attacking tactics and I felt the lineup and consequential substitutions were wrong. Before the game I wanted to see Özil stay in the middle but Cazorla performed so admirably and was so influential in our pressing game I felt like Özil was in the right place. Sadly, he could not get a grip on the game and was largely ineffective. With hindsight he should have been on the bench but what does that say when you bench your best player?
I think the true question is why play your best player and key provider in a position where he’ll see less of the ball? Özil can do a job in wide positions but that’s not the question. The question should be, “should he?” and I don’t think he should. Once Fabregas had matured a bit and was settled in the team he did not play wide so why should Mesut? He’s 25 and widely recognised as one of the best players in his position in the world whereas Fabregas was 16/17/18 and learning his trade when he played a handful of games wide.
The decision to leave him on was a strange one and I am baffled as to why our best performers on the day were replaced instead of an ineffective player, on the day, and why another was brought on. We went from a team almost able to squeeze something out of the game to finishing with one that I feel would have been spanked had they started.
At the moment it feels as though we are accommodating Özil to the detriment of the team in certain games and that feels weird to write and think. I am certain he will get himself out of his funk and play as we know he can in the very near future but maybe in the mean time it’s better to drop him rather than play him out of position if the situation dictates different tactics are required.
Overall I didn’t feel like Chelsea were leagues above us. I felt the game was decided by a moment of brilliance and then flattered by a decent goal made when we were exposed in the hunt for an equaliser. I felt Chelsea’s defensive ability was matched by our seedling attack. Against weaker sides like Galatasaray and Aston Villa our new attack is too much but against better sides like Chelsea their fledgling status is exposed. Had this game come 2 months later I feel the result would have been much different.
Arsenal can take positives from this match and if they are willing to compromise on their tactics in other big games like they did this one then I’m certain they will win quite a few big games this season. The ability is there, they just need to take more chances.
Thanks for reading! Please comment on this post, subscribe by email, share with friends and follow me on twitter (@thedanielcowan). Please check out the official NLIR Facebook page http://facebook.com/northlondonisredblog for news, views, freebies and more.
Don’t forget to tune into the funniest Arsenal podcast around “Goonersphere Podcast“
Advertise your business here! Click here for details .
Share with others:
Arsenal beat Liverpool twice last season and Tottenham thrice the same season, so i don’t get this obsession we have with beating big teams.If we cannot beat them away lets just try and beat them at home so that we are square with them!!
My sentiments too, although calling spuds a’top team’ is debatable =)
You can add to this Napoli and Borussia Dortmund from last season.
Arsenal have played 7 games in the PL including City, Chelsea, Everton and Spurs.
the results haven’t been fantastic but if we can win the next 5 games (Hull, Sunderland, Burnley, Swansea and United) we could be back in business.
If we beat United people will say that they are not a top team this season, it’s so ridiculously inconsistent. Last season Liverpool were a ‘top team’ when they beat us but not when we beat them.
It’s disappointing when we lose but what is more disappointing for me personally is the spineless so called Arsenal supporters who bad mouth our own team at the drop of a hat. People who claim the club is so wrong about a variety of issues feel vindicated when we lose, granted, but can take no enjoyment when we win, unless they are as two faced as they are disloyal.
Get behind the team
nice write up,at least for once u criticized wenger.keep it up.
For once…. Oh dear.
When playing Chavski we should fight fire with fire.
There is an article on BBC sport highlighting the “shirt pulling, off the ball fouls” that claims its not cheating, its “cute”. Claiming its what makes Jose a winner??? Fucking unbelievable.
That really pisses me off, what is the difference between diving to get a player booked (Hazard on Chambers), and tactical fouling? Both are ways of cheating the ref and the opposite team.
As a fan I find tactical fouling one of the worse tactics in the game. It is an Jose tradmark. If Urugauy did to England the press, including the BBC would cry their eyes out. But Jose does it in the Premier League and its “cute”.
This seasons games v City and Chavski reminds me of the early years at the Ems. At that point we had so much talent that in big games teams with all the money and world class players they could stuff into a match day squad, resorted to those ‘off the ball fouls’ style tactics. They haven’t been used for a few years, because they wasn’t needed. However, now they are back. Thats because we are a threat again.
Oscar made enough fouls, pre-meditated from the training ground, to be booked three times in the first half. When refs know Jose uses this tactics, and they know Chavski are fouling our players to stop them breaking away, why are they not booking them? Its a premeditated foul? Its as yellow as they come.
My point is, if the BBC are willing to print that this sort of things as “cute” then, v those sorts of teams, we need to do the same.
You can’t trip a guy outside the area, its a booking, but trip a guy in his own half, on the turn with a 4 on 4 situation and its fine.
Fight fire with fire, because with tactics like that, we need a perfect game to get results against the big sides.
Although I am not saying we are cheated of out wins, we need to improve, it is clear that at the Bridge on Sunday, had the ref stopped the tacitcal fouling, which is a booking offence, then we may have had a better chance of getting at goal. Because every-time we turn on goal they foul us and get 8 men back.
COME ON THE GUNNERS
MU will be coming soon. I dare say if Wenger continues with his
tiki tak and nor shoot on sight until the perfect pass arrives,
the gunners could lose to another high profie competitor.
I just hope I am wrong.
Oh dear! Another article championing the merits of respectable mediocrity. I suppose rose tinted glasses can make even the dreariest of circumstances seem palatable. In fact, the numbers simply do not support your argument vis-a-vis Wenger’s record against top opposition. In case you were interested, Arsene has lost 17 out of 21 games against top opposition away from home, and that does not even include his record in Europe nor does it take into account the number of red cards his teams have amassed during those losses. Tellingly, those numbers make the argument in favour of those you decry. The reality is that Arsenal have reached the proverbial glass ceiling under Wenger.
I think you’ve reached ‘the glass ceiling’ if you think charlie and the chocolate factory is a proverb. Haven’t you got some housework to do anyway?
Bit sexist.
Sheila said Wenger has lost 17 out of 21 matches home and away against the big teams.At one time he was regularly beaten by red face and Chelsea in the epl and cl. Ronaldo and Drogba scored many goals. Why is this so?
You don’t need to be a genius. Wenger is always playing the same way leaving
acres of space and time for the opposition like Costa.
As said he has reached the end of his glass ceiling. I say thanks for the memories and go and earn a well deserved retirement otherwise he risks the ire of the fans through his arrogance and stubbornness.