Arsenal were embarrassed 6-0 at the hands of Chelsea this weekend. We decided to ask some of our writers were it all went wrong. Let’s have a look at some of the answers:
Where did it all go wrong today?
Tom Paterson: A more apt question would be: where didn’t it go wrong? I wasn’t expecting much from this match, being without our three best players was always going to be a huge blow, so our line up was predictable – allowing Mourinho to exploit our weaknesses (of which there were many). In the second half, for a period of about 15 minutes, we found our footing and played some decent football, which makes me wonder why we felt the need to go into the game straight for the goal, rather than getting a foothold and building up to an eventual goal.
Will Schwartz: I’d say it was a simple matter of being utterly outclassed by Chelsea. From the start, you could just see that they wanted this match so much more than we did. From the players to the coaches, Chelsea were more prepared, and came out with a lot more desire. It’s very hard to avoid defeat when that happens.
Llew Davies: It was a similar pattern to the Liverpool match. After the first goal went in, it was inevitable that we’d capitulate against a Chelsea side which were remarkably clinical. We can obviously look at Giroud’s saved shot, but I think that would be a little naïve and harsh on Giroud.
Samuel Collins: Arsenal were too open right from the kick-off. Wenger went for it last week at Spurs, with an attacking line-up, and it, ultimately, paid off with the win (despite the average display), but Chelsea are a different kettle of fish. For both of Chelsea’s first two goals, Arsenal were left in two on two situations at the back, all this inside the opening 7 minutes. Why Wenger set the side up to be so attacking from the offset – when a point would have been a good result – was bizarre. I would have thought Flamini would have been perfect for today, filling in the holes where Hazard and Oscar love to roam. Arteta’s lack of pace and Chamberlain’s inexperience showed dramatically today in central midfield.
The losses of Ramsey, Wilshere, Walcott and Ozil are massive, but Chelsea were without two first-choice players themselves in Willian and Ramires. It was perhaps ironic that Chelsea’s 6th goal (Matic to Salah) was made by January signings – choosing not to invest in the winter window is looking more and more regretful.
Younis Sultan: I think it went wrong when we conceded the first goal, for a team that has come this far because of their team spirit and squad building it’s disappointing to see them capitulate to this extent, not once but thrice and look like 11 strangers playing football together. I think the players pump themselves up so much that they forget they still need to do the basics right, it’s about composure and effectiveness rather than inexperienced rash.
Can anyone come out of that performance with their heads held high?
TP: Bacary Sagna, Tomas Rosicky and Carl Jenkinson (to a lesser extent). I find it so hard to accept the fact that Bacary Sagna, one of the few consistently brilliant players we have us about to walk away from our club on a free transfer, he played at RB and LB today and did brilliantly, so finding a player with the consistency and the versatility of Sagna will be a hard and expensive task. Tomas Rosicky, despite losing the ball in the build up to one of Chelsea’s goals, showed fight throughout the match, and created two of our best chances, with the pass to Giroud and the shot late on.
WS: No, I don’t think anyone can lose 6-0 and come out with their heads held high.
LD: On a day like today, there’s little point in highlighting certain players or aspects from the game. It may sound cliché, but we win as a team and lose as a team. Everyone’s performance was below-par, and well below what we expect of them, and I’m sure they would be the first to acknowledge that.
SC: It was a scandalous display from every single player, although some were worse than others.
YS: I know you would like me to have a few more words in this section but essentially the answer is no.
Just what is Arsenal’s problem facing big teams – do we have to look at Arsene Wenger’s tactics or is it more of an issue for the players?
TP: A combination of the tactics and the players. Our system isn’t the problem, it’s the personnel who are asked to carry out the tasks. One example is Mikel Arteta, who was asked to play in the holding role, yet had one of his poorest games for Arsenal, failing to cut out much at all and getting spun on a regular basis.
However, there does appear to be some kind of mental block for the players, we always start poorly against the big sides and players rarely seem fired up and play their best in these huge games. I don’t think the players will believe they can win the big matches whilst we have Giroud starting up top, even the best teams need someone to create something out of nothing, Giroud seems to do the opposite, he creates nothing out of something.
WS: I’d say a little big of both. From a tactical perspective, we were way too open in the middle of the pitch and on the flanks, which could have been remedied by playing with a more defensive setup. However I think a lot of blame should be put on the players. It seems like we simply don’t have a big match mentality. From the missed chances to the lacklustre defensive work, many of them just can’t get it done when it matters most.
LD: Personally, I think it’s just big game nerves. Our title chance hinged on this particular game and it certainly affected their game. Once we win a game of today’s magnitude, I’m sure we will become a team which will perform on the big stage. We seem to approach these games with a feeling of fear. We need a winners’ mentality and that will come.
SC: Tactics and mentality.
YS: I think it’s a combination of tactics, motivation and having such a feeble squad. The game against Chelsea I think was the players going in with the wrong mindset, from the 1st minute and never really recovered. It was like a rush of blood to the head for them and there’s quite evidently some experience still missing from the team.
Has it ruined or spoilt Wenger’s 1000 game celebration?
TP: No, Arsene’s previous 999 games more than make up for this result. I can look past any defeat, no matter how damning, and appreciate that this man has allowed us to gain a state of the art training centre, a state of the art 60,000 seater stadium, an unbeaten season, FA Cups, league titles and more. The fact that Arsene Wenger turned down opportunities at clubs like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, where he would be able to spend to his hearts content, to stay at Arsenal for the clubs long term benefit shows what a brilliant person he is.
WS: I think it’s spoiled it, which is very unfortunate. Today was a day to celebrate one of the greatest ever Premier League managers, but all anyone will remember is the scoreline. Real shame.
LD: Of course it has to an extent, but I won’t judge Arsène’s past, future or present on today’s result. It’s a shame we didn’t mark Arsène’s 1,000th game in charge of Arsenal with a better result, and performance, but we must move on.
SC: I feel all the talk about it being the ‘1000th game’ might have taken the players’ focus off the game. It was disappointing.
YS: It definitely has marred it but I think any celebration that was going to happen did so before the game with everybody paying tribute to the manager. After the game it was always going to be about one thing and one thing only. The result, win and we’d have been in a massive massive position to win the league.
Where do we go from here – is that the title race over?
TP: I have said this multiple times, but the hope that us Arsenal fans have had about the title was always going to end in tears. As far as I am concerned, the title hopes disappeared when Theo’s knee went, the fact that we managed to stay so near the top with injuries to Ramsey, Ozil and Wilshere is an achievement in itself, but sadly you don’t get a trophy for that. We have pretty much consolidated our position in the top four, so it’s important to keep grinding out results, and to make sure that we win the FA Cup. I’d be more than satisfied with a draw against Manchester City.
WS: On paper, the title race isn’t over. A win over City and some bad results for Chelsea and Liverpool would put us back in it. However I don’t see us winning the league. Too many factors are stacked against us, and it looks like we may need to make some changes before we can make a proper title challenge. The FA Cup and top 4 would be a fantastic way to end the season though.
LD: Improvement is what I, personally, wanted to see from this season and, to date, I’ve seen plenty. Our title challenge is effectively over, but we’ve pretty much secured a place in the UEFA Champions League this season and we should win the FA Cup. We have to pick ourselves up for Swansea, go again and blitz the final stages of a promising season.
We’re still a work in progress. While I, amongst others, may have been lulled into thinking we will win the league this season, it is/was somewhat far-fetched. We’re keeping our best players, we have money to spend and we have Arsène Wenger. We can do it next season.
SC: A win against Swansea on Tuesday will put Arsenal 4 points behind Chelsea again, but we’re chasing Chelsea, City and Liverpool, 3 teams. It’s basically impossible now.
YS: It’s not over till it’s over, however I think we have to win all of our next 3 games for sure and re calculate our expectations from there, if we beat City, Swansea & Everton and are still within touching distance, Chelsea, City & Liverpool have some hard games left and will also be playing each other.
