There are a handful of sides in Europe which are clearly superior to Arsenal and if Arsène Wenger wants to tweak his tactics and take a more pragmatic approach when travelling to one of these grounds, like he did to such good effect at the City of Manchester Stadium last month, then few fans are likely to complain.
Tottenham definitely do not fall into the former category. Arsenal have a very good recent record at White Hart Lane and a much more talented group of players than their North London rivals so why did Wenger’s men perform like they were hoping to defend for 90 minutes and somehow snatch a win this Saturday lunchtime?
Right from the start Arsenal set out their stall to defend and invite pressure from opponents who, while admittedly on a good patch of recent form, are not exactly world beaters. Once Welbeck had turned on the afterburners and Mesut Özil had given the side a 1-0 lead against the run of play this issue was massively exasperated.
Arsenal were so intimidated by an onslaught that, more often than not, ended up with an over hit cross or a misplaced pass that they completely forget how to play football and were unable to complete even the most routine clearance or execute a straightforward one-two.
Whether it was Laurent Koscielny playing the ball straight to the feet of an opposition attacker, Welbeck making a mess of a simple short pass or Per Mertesacker chesting the ball down to an onrushing opponent at one stage or another virtually every single Arsenal player looked like they had suffered a complete loss of composure.
Such pervasive desperation would be understandable if Arsenal were defending a slender lead away to a European giant but why did a team who have been encouragingly consistent of late look so timid against opposition who they have regularly been able to beat both home and away?
It seems that the against-all-odds win away to a slightly under strength Manchester City last month might have had a detrimental effect on the mentality of the manager and side in that it has made them completely lose sight of what their strengths and weaknesses actually are.
When you put Mertesacker and Koscielny under pressure for 90 minutes they are guaranteed to make mistakes because Arsenal’s game revolves around retaining possession rather than the ability to stand firm in the face of a non-stop onslaught of balls into the box.
Unfortunately Arsenal were incapable of taking the pace out of the game by keeping the ball and the players, who at times appeared terrified of Tottenham’s fire power, shrank into their shells with Santi Cazorla virtually anonymous and neither Özil nor Welbeck able to achieve any penetration down their respective wings, save for the smart linkup which led to the opening goal.
It seemed that the players went into the match with the mentality that Tottenham were much the better side but with a backs-to-the-wall performance and a goal on the counter attack maybe they could get something out of the game.
This is a completely unacceptable mindset to take into a local derby, particularly against opponents who have more often than not come up second best against Arsenal in recent years and the way that the players went immediately into desperation mode after going a goal up should be a major concern for Wenger.
It’s difficult to know whether it was a case of Wenger sending the side out with instructions to sit back and defend or if the players’ confidence eroded in what must have been an intense atmosphere but the results were massively disappointing.
Tottenham spent the majority of the match camped inside the Arsenal half and the men in red shirts didn’t seem to have either the ability or inclination to take the game to their opponents, preferring instead to sit deep and hope for the best.
If Arsenal want to go to Stamford Bridge or the City of Manchester Stadium and set out with a defensive strategy than supporters will accept that, after all they’ve seen time and time again what can happen when their side is too open away from home.
But there is no excuse for taking such a timid approach away to Tottenham and what will hurt even more than the deeply disappointing result is the way which Arsenal allowed themselves to be outplayed for entire swathes of the game.
I hope Wenger’s men learn a valuable lesson from today’s debacle and that in the future Arsenal will approach every game with the sort of confidence, pride and belief that was so conspicuously absent this weekend.
