An angry Gooner
I don’t think I’ve used the F and C word so much in one night as I did after the Wigan game.
Going into the game I was feeling smug and quite confident that Arsenal would mop the floor with Wigan. We’ve been on an amazing run recently, with a ‘blip’ against QPR. After that QPR display we were told by Wenger and certain players that we would learn from it and it was a one-off. No more frustration for the Gooners!
One of the said players, Theo Walcott, explained that consistency is the key, blah blah blah!! So it was ironic that it was he that had another bad game. I suppose he’s consistent there! Someone joked on Twitter that maybe Theo should swap sides at half-time and play for Arsenal in the 2nd half. He can be so frustrating because he shows some great pace and lovely skills at times but then other times there is nothing!
After 10 minutes, all the happy feelings I had and the words I’d read and listened to was just fluff in my head. Arsenals were 2-0 down after some bad defending and a rare mistake from Wojciech in goal. Arsenal had been in this territory before, we were 2-0 down at the Emirates to Villa in the FA cup and Sp*rs (5pur2 J) and managed to not only come back in those games but go on to win them.
I was feeling pretty relaxed and our ‘being 2-0 down and still winning’ consistency would continue, especially with 80 minutes to go and the fact that Wigan hadn’t beaten us at The Emirates. The Verminator restored a half smile on my face with what turned out to be a consolation goal. Thomas Rosicky planted a great cross for his namesake team mate to nod past Al Habsi. I called that goal a Tom-Tom goal.
As the 1st half was coming to a close, it dawned on me that Van Persie (my vote for PFA Player of the Year) had hardly touched the ball which also made me think that once he did he would punish all before him. But he was consistently shut out and was made to run about without the ball for most of the match.
The 2nd half was 45 minutes of frustration! Arsene Wenger summed it up in his post match interview. The team lack cohesion, togetherness and there were too many individuals on the pitch. There was no method to our madness. The players looked to get an equaliser without actually thinking about what was going on.
I didn’t like the reception that Aaron Ramsey was receiving from the home crowd. I admit he hasn’t been playing well of late and he didn’t have a good game against Wigan but moaning at everything he does is not going to get him back to where he can be. Song had another one of them games where passing forward didn’t come naturally to him and he picked up his 9th Red card of the season.
So, Arsenal lose a game they shouldn’t have (on paper) and the only thing they can do is focus on Chelsea at the weekend. We beat Man City after losing to QPR so that kind of consistency will curb my frustration for another week.
For those of you who haven’t guessed, the F and C words are Frustration and Consistency.
Gavin White
For more Football Blogs and opinion from football fans around the world
3 comments