Post-Chelsea musings - Tales of The Expected

I'll try to take a different angle than everyone else.

No, it wasn't and for the most part they weren't. Boring, that is. It was a match wracked (for the most part) with tension, no little fear, and a villain or five. But that song would have been music to their ears.

As far as Arsenal were concerned, it was disappointing. But we were up against a bloody good side who quite rightly came with the attitude of What We Have, We Hold. Who wouldn't have done that very thing? They all know their roles, they are set up professionally and pragmatically, and they are extremely difficult to play against when in that mode. But I hold out some small hope for them dropping points on Wednesday, as it happens; they'll actually be coming out to play then.

And the problem was that for all the huffing and puffing - and there were moments when they were on the ropes - Arsenal simply didn't create enough chances or do enough to get the better of them. Courtois wasn't given enough to do, John Terry (for all that he is a heinous excuse for a human being) was magnificent, and the referee was lenient in not booking the thug Ivanovic early on and especially in allowing Chelsea to take forever on re-starts. Plus there were times when the Arsenal intensity dropped; we needed to be at them all the time.

I choose to make little comment on the penalties. None were given, and that was that. The handballs would have been harsh - although at the time I screamed for the Cahill one. Ospina made a genuine attempt for the ball, but got there late. Dangerous, yes; reckless, no. And the tackle for which their Number 4 was booked; such is life - he made a meal of it. Probably something he'd been taught in their weekly 'diving training' sessions (Tutor D. Drogba esq.; Star Pupils Oscar and Hazard).

So they did what they had to do, and they're bloody difficult to beat. But what I feel it did expose is where Arsenal still lack sufficient quality. 

• A new goalkeeper is required - somebody better than we already have. 
• The defence was adequate but rarely tested, and continues to worry me - the trademark ball over the top from their Number 4 to Oscar is the sort of thing that shouldn't catch anybody out
• Coquelin did OK but was harried constantly when he had the ball and we can probably do better than him 
• Cazorla was subdued and I feel a bit sorry for him in the role he is being asked to play
• Ditto Ramsey; another square peg in a round hole
• Ozil didn't, frankly, show enough urgency
• Giroud was shown up for what he actually is - not top class. Terry had him in his pocket all afternoon
• Plus a top-class wide player, please; Alexis, for all his attributes, is not that

3-4 new players required to reach their level. Over to you, Arsene, to buy just two and leave us short again, I'd imagine. The problem is that the players we'd like are all at bloody Chelsea!

Two things to add:

1. On their Number 4... Personally, I didn't boo him; I gave him the Silent Treatment. But nor did I applaud him when he was substituted. And frankly I couldn't understand the thousands who did. He's the enemy now, and therefore not worthy of our energy being expended on him. He means nothing to me now, for all that he carried our team for a couple of years. I suspect that there was a lot more to his move to West London than we know, for all the 'buy-back clause' may suggest

2. To the bloke first up on 6-0-6 who called for Wenger's head on the back of this match. Well, I switched over in disgust the moment you started down that road, so I have no idea what Wrighty said to you, but today wasn't the day to start on that one again. There are many reasons why one could say Arsene Must Go, but on the back of a long winning run and a repeat Cup Final to look forward to, plus holding our own against the Champions elect? Bonkers.

Second, and another FA Cup, is Progress. Let's aim for that. And then we'll see. As I said yesterday, Mourinho and Chelsea need to be stopped, blow by blow. And we'll need help from elsewhere to do that. But we must start inflicting a few flesh wounds ourselves along the way.

One Nil to The Arsenal - and Rosenberg

Arsenal fans of a certain vintage will remember our successful sides of the late 1980s and early 1990s. They started off their run with successive Milk (League) Cup appearances in 1987 and 1988, and then followed it up on one of the greatest nights in club history; May 26th 1989 and that famous 2-0 win at Anfield to clinch the League title. Another title, and a bit more sporadic cup success over the next few years - including the Cup double of 1993 and the (totally against the odds) European Cup Winners Cup win over a Parma side bristling with talent in Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen in 1994  - and then it was all over for a few years until Arsene Wenger arrived.

But enough of the history lesson. The point I'm trying to make is that this was a successful side, but not by any stretch of the imagination a loved one. Admired, I'm sure, but that was where it ended. Liverpool were the glamour club of that era; incredibly successful and brimming with class and style. True, there were flair players at the club - the likes of Davis, Merson, Thomas, the much-missed David Rocastle, and towards the end Ian Wright - but this was a side built on a rock-solid defence that along with a somewhat 'destructive' midfield made them extremely difficult to beat when it really mattered. 

And at this juncture I would like to point out some parallels with the current Ch$ls$£ side - but also some major differences:

One the parallel side, there is the 'pragmatic' managerial side of M0#r^nh0 (hereafter referred to as TDL [The Dark Lord]), and the solid defensive foundations. A side capable of moments of great ingenuity and excitement, but one that is very much set up in Safety First mode. Admired, but outside of SW6 not loved at all. Hark back to George Graham's Arsenal sides, and there's your parallel. Single goal victories ground out week after week, capitalising on opponents' mistakes, etc.

And what, Ch$ls$£ fans especially may ask, is wrong with that? TDL has been charged with bringing trophies to the club, and that he is once again doing. That the success of the club is due in massive part to the largesse of its billionaire owner's gift of £1bn+, and its ability to attract some of the world's top players as a result of that, is not in dispute. 

This is where the lines diverge. That Arsenal side was mainly built on a self-sustained core - home grown players and the odd astute purchase. But that's hardly the case with the current Ch$ls$£ side (or to be fair most really successful clubs these days). But the chucking of money at the issue for a sustained period of almost 10 years has now seen the bloated, unpleasant Frankenstein's monster of West London take its full form. A club that can win the FA Youth Cup for 4 successive years, but singularly fails to bring a single one of those players through to the First Team? A damning anomaly, built round a business model perpetuated by the new FFP rules which they are playing so well with the help of TDL's good friend, the Super-Agent Carlos Mendes (how anyone could have extracted £50m from PSG for David Luiz is beyond comprehension).

What is of course galling for Arsenal fans was the timing of Abramovich's arrival on the scene. It happened at virtually the very moment when the decision to build a new stadium meant a tightening of the purse strings in N5 - and at a time when Arsenal and Manchester United were utterly dominant domestically. Invariably, the injection of unprecedented bundles of cash left Arsenal in Ch$ls$£'s wake. It very much upset the Natural Order of things.

But let us not lose sight of the fact that TDL was sacked the first time around for combining his particular style of football with - at a certain point - a distinct lack of success. In the aftermath of a pitiful 1-1 home draw in the Champions League group stages with Norwegian champions Rosenberg. And perhaps there is a glimmer of hope in that?

Some will point to the fact that Ch$ls$£ flew out of the blocks at the beginning of this season, playing some scintillating stuff and carrying all before them. Even leading to the suggestion in some quarters that they might go the entire season unbeaten (don't make me laugh - only Arsenal do that!). So they do have that capability - and with that side and that money behind them they damn well should have! - but at the moment when he could see that his side were running out of a bit of steam Manchester City simultaneously ground to a virtual halt and so the path was clear to him. Revert to type and defend the cushion the early season performances had given him. And again, why wouldn't you? 

So it's up to Ch$ls$£'s rivals to start to deliver the blows that cut them down. Slow the juggernaut, and then stop it. Start beating them, and start denying the owner what he truly craves, a successful side that is Loved, not merely Admired. 

Starting today, perhaps? The title race is essentially over for this season, but hopefully a marker can be laid down for next season and then other sides can pick up the baton also.

To be frank, all I can foresee for this afternoon is a drab, low-scoring match shaped by the tactics of TDL. Matic and Zouma in front of the back 4, looking to stop the fleet-footed Arsenal attackers exposing the lack of pace of the centre-backs. But it's difficult to take the moral high ground on that if one learns the lessons of history. W

hat Arsenal need to do is find a way round it - look to 'knock them off of their f*cking perch', as Fergie once said about that Liverpool side. That needs to start by scoring the first goal this afternoon.

And look, I've written an entire blog post about Ch$ls$£ without mentioning Fabregas... Damn!!! I almost managed it...