Disappointment. Repetition. The vague promise of a hardworking, resilient fight back after previous campaigns marked by failures to dispatch teams, or the humiliation suffered under the wrath of Europe’s biggest giants. Hasn’t that cycle been a tad too familiar with all quarters of the Arsenal fan base.
Time and time again the theme of our UEFA Champions League campaigns have been about responding and avenging to disappointments, rather than building on our run of 18 consecutive seasons in the European competition, and mounting a serious assault to grab the elusive trophy.
Wednesday evening’s result at Zagreb was frustratingly familiar. With all the talk of treating the opponent with respect and not belittling the team, there was an alarming chasm between the Croatian side’s fight and vigour, and Arsenal’s ‘turning up to win’ attitude. More worryingly though, was the team’s inability to dominate and control the game.
Wenger made six changes to the side, but the players that came in; David Ospina, Mathieu Debuchy, Kieran Gibbs, Mikel Arteta, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Olivier Giroud, were mostly internationals who had more than adequate quality to dispatch Dinamo Zagreb with ease. It was a chance to rotate the team and keep players fresh for the crunch game at Stamford Bridge on Saturday, but more importantly, to give the players on the bench match fitness and time to play, to impress the manager and fight for their places. However, last night was anything but that, and the players justified the fears and disappointment from the fans, falling ever deeper down the unfathomable abyss.
It was annoying. These players were players of genuine quality, and they had the trust and faith of the manager.We all wanted to believe in the manager’s faith in the players he had at his disposal but the performance showed that while the team had depth, it certainly did not have the pedigree and fight. This made the clamour for a striker and defensive midfielder all the more deafening, and it’s nearly inexplicable as to how nobody in the market could have possibly improved such an abysmal team performance.
Arteta, for all of the respect I have for him as a dedicated professional and captain, and for doing an incredible job in steadying the rocking ship in turbulence back when he came in, showed a 90 minute trailer of a horror show, and left our minds in great terror of a scenario where Francis Coquelin was injured and he would have to deputies for him. Statistics showed that he made zero tackles, interceptions, and won no aerial duels. It’s hard to blame a player for the team’s performance, but last night highlighted the alarming need for another defensive midfielder to act as cover for Coquelin, and a timely reminder of Arteta’s waning powers.
Giroud, on the other hand, looks a man still possessed by his miss against Serbia. The frustrating thing about Giroud is that he is so easily affected by the media and his missed chances, in a way resembling the melancholic Romeo in Romeo and Juliet. He has the physique, the strength, the power to strike fear into defenders, but perhaps what sets him apart from other strikers might be the fact that he doesn’t put himself about more often and is too soft. While Diego Costa is at the other end of the spectrum which might not necessarily be a good thing, Giroud can certainly learn a bit from him, with the Frenchman allowing himself to be overwhelmed by his mistakes, not realising his full potential. His red card, however harsh, would certainly dampen his spirit and confidence even more, and the big Frenchman has justified the clamour for a world-class striker, and will find himself further below Walcott in the pecking order.
Kieran Gibbs and Mathieu Debuchy allowed us to appreciate and love even more the Spaniard duo of Hector Bellerin and Nacho Monreal, and overall on the night, things just did not click and it had a Monaco facade on it. Or Milan. Or Dortmund. The list goes on. Beaten by a team we should have comfortably beaten on the opening game further worsens the woes compared to the previous games.
While Gary Neville passionately argued over the fact of a lack of power and strength in the team, with Ferdinand citing the lack of personality, what is most disturbing is the lack of fight and determination in the side. It’s not so much about power and strength, however much I would love to have a player of those attributes in the team, but the lack of a leader, and really the lack of personality in the team, to infuse the team with fight and determination. Arsenal showed absolutely none last night.
Merely a mouse with the facade of a tiger.
