Out of contention before Christmas, what went wrong?

By Asser Ghozlan on Friday, October 17, 2008


I had thought the defeat against Fulham was an all-season low and that we had recovered magnificently well, scoring goals freely and overcoming two banana-skins up north in the space of a week in admirable style.

And then came Hull City!

How wrong I was, as what was expected to be a standard two or three goal victory turned sour, and in turn, highlighted to us that our optimism regarding our chances this season, optimism that was somewhat reasonable I have to say, had been blown to smithereens by the mere novices of top-flight football. Whilst I am not taking anything away from Hull City's start to the Premier League season, this was a match that we simply had to win if we had any aspirations to winning the title after four painful years.

I might sound incredibly pessimistic, bordering on impetuous, but I cannot be blamed, and neither can the scores of Gooners, for thinking that we have no chance whatsoever having lost two games out of seven this season, against teams we would have expected a standard six points from. Once again, I am not arrogant enough in claiming that we have the right to win every match, because no team is unbeatable and everyone is entitled to the odd blip and shock result (a la Liverpool at home to Stoke), but two blips in the space of six weeks is just too much to take, considering there are 30-odd matches left, and with us having had the easiest start on paper compared to Manchester United, Chelsea and Liverpool.

Speaking of Liverpool, there is a team that passed its early-season title credentials with flying colours. They might have got away with it at Sunderland on the opening day of the season (still managed to nick a late victory, whilst we could only draw, an interesting comparison). But they have since beaten their fierce rivals United, went to Goodison Park and won so comfortably and showed true mettle by coming back from a 2-0 deficit to fashion an impressive victory over mega-bucks Manchester City.

Meanwhile, Chelsea have added flair and creativity to their solid, methodical base, and that is why they will be favourites for the title, not least as they will be desperate to end Manchester United's grip on the title from the past two seasons. They have not had the best of starts in terms of performance by any means, but the key is their ability to getting results, wracking up three points after three points even when they are subjected to tremendous amounts of pressure by the opposition. And, with the strength and world-class experience of their squad (no matter how many injuries they have), it pains me to say that their "second eleven" could possibly be too much for our best team.

So what did go wrong? Well, a good start would be the fact that our rivals are all interested in developing a dominant side, able to truly challenge on all fronts, whereas we have been interested in developing youth on an annual basis; Arsène Wenger's biggest faux pas.

I listened to Wenger testify to our non-winning match performances, with one interesting, common statement standing out after our matches against Fulham, Hull and Sunderland:

"We were not sharp enough."

Toothless. Meek. Weak. That is what Le Boss had had to say after gaining a modest one point out of nine from three teams that will most probably fill the lower half of the table. The vaguest of statements without a true justification of why we are dramatically falling behind our rivals, and why, in a year or two, we could be looking at a situation where the likes of Manchester City and Aston Villa have jumped above us; due to the former's endless money pit, and the latter's astute management in combining youthful pace with power and experienced heads.

And looking ahead to Saturday's clash with a faltering Everton, I hear that we will have to make do without William Gallas and Bacary Sagna, with Francesc Fabregas and Robin van Persie classed as doubts. In other words, we are likely to have our extreme weakness and lack of depth harshly exposed for all to see yet again. All to see except our very manager that is, whose famously myopic vision has extended to missing the failings of his own stubborn principles, and may I add, his own team. I suppose the only comfort from the match against Everton is the fact that our opponents have not exactly been firing on all cylinders either, with one victory in their last six matches, including a disappointing 1st round UEFA Cup exit.

However, now is not the time to discuss our title credentials, especially with one more defeat to equal our league loss tally from last season. It is now time to start picking up wins on a regular and consistent basis, with Saturday being a good start.

I would love to be proven wrong come May. After all, I am as big a 22-year-old Gooner as you will see, and my depressing overtures source from my very love to the Club, and so I would love to be served a huge chunk of humble pie at the end of the season.

However, I somehow don't see that happening, do you?