
As games go, the kindest thing I can say is that it was nothing to write home about. (Which is something of a problem, because that’s exactly what I’ve got out of bed to do.) However, I suspect that come the 13th of May the point extracted yesterday will prove vital. Certainly, with Spurs continuing their hilarious flameout, it’s a point that leaves us slightly better off than we started this weekend.
(Not that I don’t fear rampant Newcastle coming up on the rails, but they have to play City at home and go away to Chelsea and Everton still.)
If you’ve only seen TV highlights of the match, don’t be deceived into thinking Arsenal created a hatful of chances and looked dominant. In truth we were woeful in the first half, despite kissing the woodwork twice. Perhaps stung by Wigan’s goals on Monday, the team looked anxious about getting caught on the counter – and rightly so, we were nearly undone by a simple throwout straight down the middle, and a couple of high balls pumped over the top caused panic.
Generally though, with Gibbs and the magisterial Koscielny restored to the back four, we defended decently. It was going forward that we had problems. There was a timidity to our play, and a lack of imagination, that resulted in the ball being shuffled, invariably too slowly, across the back line. For their part, Chelsea parked an expensively-fitted bus and looked to hit on the break. Unsurprisingly, any suggestion they might be knackered after their jammy exertions against Barca was unfounded, as eight equally unlikable sets of fresh legs started.
Read More