Arsenal's Momentum Has Juddered To A Halt

Match Review: West Brom 2 Arsenal 1 - Premier League 21.11.15

Saturday was a miserable afternoon for Arsenal. We threw away a lead, saw two more players join the injury list and watched a late penalty sail over the bar. We played poorly for large parts of the game too and after struggling to a point against Sp*rs, these last two league games have brought our momentum to a juddering halt.

Despite our hopes before the game, only Bellerin was back from injury, with Ramsey, Chamberlain and Walcott all still out for varying lengths of time. Gibbs started on the wing with a lack of viable options out wide and Alexis played again despite two ninety minutes stints for Chile.  

It was a cagey start, with West Brom sitting back and playing in the familiar disciplined shape that almost every team employs against us. We didn’t look very invigorated either, our play was slow and West Brom pressed into lots of backward passes and mistakes. However, despite our struggles, we took the lead just shy of thirty minutes as Mesut Özil assisted for the tenth league game in a row, whipping in a free kick for Giroud to glance home.

After breaking the deadlock, you’d have thought it would be a confidence boost and that West Brom having to look for a goal would give us an advantage. But we didn’t seem galvanised at all and a little more than five minutes after taking the lead, we surrendered it. Mikel Arteta, on for the injured Coquelin, gave away a free kick ten yards into our half and for the umpteenth time, a ball to the back post was our undoing, Morrison the man to connect and loop the ball in.

We barely had time to register the disappointment of going behind before we were inexplicably behind. We allowed James McClean in down the right, with Bellerin failing to track the winger and McClean’s speculative thump across the box hit Arteta and dribbled over the line. A terrible goal to concede and utterly avoidable. West Brom had only had one shot on target and two goals and that was how it stayed for the rest of the game.

The way we played in the second half warranted an equaliser. We should have had a penalty early on with Olsen almost rugby tackling Giroud as a free kick came in and Özil hit the post with a snap shot from the edge of the box. Gibbs should have scored, but had his shot blocked from six yards out and then his replacement, Joel Campbell, somehow managed to skew wide two yards from goal. That was a staggering miss, one that maybe signalled that this was not going to be our day. We got a bit of luck when Olsen smashed a header against the bar, but the balance was quickly restored.

You don’t often see penalties given for players being obstructed or held back in the box, but surprisingly Clattenburg spotted Alexis being felled and pointed to the spot. Cazorla stepped up to take it and was hounded and abused by the West Brom players as he tried to compose himself. Clattenburg just let it happen, merely watching on as Gardner got in Santi’s face, in his ear, Olsen scuffed up the penalty spot and Lambert continued to delay the penalty being taken. Eventually Santi got to actually take the penalty but agonisingly his left leg slipped from underneath him and he spooned the ball over the bar. A final punch in the stomach to cap off a day of bitter disappointment.

While I think our play in the second half warranted at least a point, the fact is we didn’t get it. Our performance in the first half was lethargic and all too familiar and it will kill any title aspirations we have. Our injury situation is quite ridiculous and as well as drastically improving our performances, we’re going to have to find a way to keep our key players fit. We’ve lost Coquelin for at least two months, and Arteta’s body seems to have given up the ghost. But the injury problems can’t explain how we created more than enough chances to win the game and didn’t take them. We had our first choice back four and conceded two absolute shockers. This season is a huge opportunity to win the League, but if we continue not to turn up until we’re losing or not bother with the first half, it’ll just be another ‘what if’ campaign.

Teams

West Brom (4-5-1)
Myhill (Y), Dawson, Evans, Olsson, Brunt (Y), Fletcher, Yacob, Morrison (Y) (Lambert 77’), Sessegnon (Gardner 61’), McClean, Rondón (Berahino 68’)
Subs
Chester, Gardner, Anichebe, Lambert, Berahino, McManaman, Lindegaard

Arsenal (4-2-3-1)
Cech, Bellerín (Y), Mertesacker, Koscielny, Monreal, Coquelin (Arteta 14’ (Flamini 49’)), Cazorla, Sánchez, Özil, Gibbs (Campbell 63’), Giroud (Y)
Subs
Ospina, Debuchy, Gabriel, Reine-Adelaide, Flamini, Arteta, Campbell

Player Ratings

Cech - 7/10 - Did nothing wrong, couldn’t stop either goal
Bellerin - 5/10 - A poor game for him, at fault for their second
Mertesacker - 6/10 - Not at his best, got distracted by Olsen for their equaliser
Koscielny - 6/10 - Not at his best either, maybe Gabriel could have played
Monreal - 6/10 - Didn’t do a lot wrong, didn’t offer much going forward though
Coquelin - N/A - Out for two months at least, huge blow
Cazorla - 6/10 - Won’t blame him for the penalty miss, but overall not at his best
Alexis - 5/10 - Hard work is not making up for poor decisions, needs a long rest but can’t have one
Özil - 6/10 - Another good assist and created chances, but lost the ball for their second
Gibbs - 5/10 - I don’t think there’s much of a future for him as a winger
Giroud - 6/10 - Got the goal, but disappeared for the rest of the game
Subs
Arteta - 4/10 - Gave away the free kick for the first, scored an own goal, went off injured
Campbell - 4/10 - After a decent showing against Swansea, a return to the norm, dreadful
Flamini - 6/10 - Reasonably good, certainly gave his all

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