Tottenham 2 - 1 Arsenal: Individual errors damage Arsenal's top four chances

First Half

For thirty five minutes, the game was a stalemate. Arsenal pressed Spurs right from the first whistle, playing a high line and congesting the middle of the pitch, making it very difficult for Spurs to get any sort of real possession going. Bale, playing just off Adebayor, barely saw the ball, and while Arsenal themselves weren't creating that many chances, there was a sense that they would, eventually, create at least one chance if they carried playing as they were.

But in true Arsenal style, they ruined any good work they did by making some stupid mistakes at the back.

Playing the way Arsenal were, pressure needed to be applied on the ball in order for there to be a high defensive line. If pressure isn't applied, you run the risk of playings getting in behind as the ball carrier will have to pick out a pass. To prevent that, the defence needs to drop deeper and hold up incoming attackers so their teammates can get back and help out.

Needless to say, Arsenal failed to this. Vermaelen comes racing out from his position in an attempt to cut out Sigurdsson pass, but in doing so, he left Bale a nice big gap to run into. Vermaelen did this with the thought that Arteta, who's coming back from midfield, or Monreal, who tries to play offside, will cover the space he just exposed, but he doesn't need to do it. His first priority should be making sure that nobody gets in behind and if he stays in his position, he gives himself a chance of blocking off Bale's run.

The goal seemed to shock Arsenal and Spurs took full advantage of that by quickly grabbing a second in similar style. Again, Spurs play their way out of Arsenal's pressure and a get run at their back four. This time, it's Brave Scotty Parker who has it, and Lennon who's making the run. Lennon starts his run on Monreal's blindside and by the time he's realised Lennon's made a move, he's already lagging a couple of yards behind. It's not good defending at all from Monreal, but at least there's cover. Unfortunately, that cover, who happens to be Vermaelen, was ball watching. Not once did he look around to see if anyone was making a run in behind him; his eyes were firmly fixed on Brave Scotty Parker, probably waiting to try and cut out the pass. Again, he doesn't need to.

There may be an element of lack of communication here, too, because once Monreal realises he can't catch up to Lennon, he needs to make Vermaelen aware that he needs to cover that run. Whether it be because of a lack of communication, or just an appalling lack of awareness on the behalf of Vermaelen, Lennon gets in behind, rounds the keeper and makes it 2-0.

Oh dear, Arsenal have problems now.

Second Half

So here we are again, hoping Arsenal drag themselves out the hole they just dug for themselves. They manage to get one back; some good work by Ramsey earned Arsenal a free-kick, which was headed in by either Mertesacker or Bale. With a good portion of time left to go in the game, there was a possibility that Arsenal could turn the game around.

Arsenal, though, seemed to lack composure on the ball. They kept trying to get the ball forward quickly and play the ball in tight spaces when they should have controlled the ball and forced Spurs back into their own half. Too many Arsenal attacks broke down because of too many misplaced passes and too many poor decisions.

Spurs should have scored at least a third. Lennon was an excellent outlet for them and through him they carved out a couple of good chances. Thankfully, Sigurdsson seemed obliged to pass to Bale when he was through one-on-one, Defoe screwed his shot wide and Bale missed a sitter.

Bar the chance Ramsey had, there wasn't really that many opportunities for Arsenal to level the score. The closer we got to the end, the more desperate we became, and we ended up just hoofing it up there in hopes Giroud or Mertesacker could win something. Unfortunately, Spurs' defence was playing too well for that tactic to be any sort of threat and the game ended 2-1.

Europa League, here we come?

Strangely, while the result is terrible for us, the performance actually wasn't that bad. At least, in comparison to other big games this season, it was good; we were spirited and pressed a lot and were actually playing well. But time and time again, it's the defensive side of things that let us down, be it a lack of organisation, poor marking from set-pieces or individual errors.

We can sit here all day and point out individual players but these are mistakes that can be cut out through good coaching. When our defenders get the basics wrong time and again, you begin to wonder if they're receiving adequate coaching and training and whether they're working hard enough on these things. A good defence is one that is drilled over and over so that it doesn't make these mistakes. The evidence is there that our team hasn't been drilled enough.

This is costing us big time. With 10 games to go, it's still very much possible for a seven point gap to be overturned. We turned over a bigger gap last season. However, there's a key difference between now and then. Then, we beat Spurs 5-2 and their form dropped while ours improved. Now, they've beaten us, and could potentially ride the momentum of that win all the way to the end of the season, while we have to pick ourselves up again and keep fighting in hopes they, or Chelsea, screw up.

At risk of being too negative, I can't see it happening. All season long, this side has been too inconsistent and too error prone. As soon as it starts getting a decent run of results going, it blows it with a poor result in the next game.

Spurs, meanwhile, have been more consistent. Their squad may not necessarily be better than ours, but they've played better for longer and are reaping the rewards for that.

We'll keep fighting - not like we have any other choice - but Europa League next season is looking increasingly more likely.

My summary.

Arsenal bossed it from start to finish.

Dumb stupid defending cost us.

Depsite that..we were a little unlucky.

I feel sick but we have to admit the reality.

We are not good enough, simple as that.

Also, ITS NOT THE END OF THE WORLD if we miss the CL next season.

arsenal played well... defense and keeping cost Arsenal the game again.

Arsenal time for arsene to leave his seat and let someonelse take his place. Now people might not agree with me but Arsenal is getting worse every season and he isnt doing anything to change it.

Our deferders plays good all game but makes silly mistakes that changes the whole game. Now i dont know whose fault is that but it needs to change. Koscielny should've started instead of Mertesacker. I know Mertesacker has been great this season but we all know how he plays against pacy players.

The attacking was toothless. Never seemed like a real threat. If it wasn't for bale would have been an easy clean sheet

Also why was Poldi on bench? I sometime dont understand how Arsene thinks. Arsene wants to play like Barca & Spain but he forgets that we dont have players line them.

All this talk about defence but if we had top class striker we had more than enough chances to score 2-3 goals or atleast get a draw

sportsczy wrote:arsenal played well... defense and keeping cost Arsenal the game again.

Only Defense and Keeping cost us the game ? ohhh how sadd
Every year same thing .. .
We aren't good enough and i don't mind us not playing the CL if it can wake us up

Just plain bad defence. Vermaelen has been a horror-show this season and we need more protection in front of that back-line. Our consistency and mentality throughout an entire game are both laughable; there's always a 5-10 minute spell where everyone and their grandmother seems like they can score on us no matter who we face. For the next week, everybody will be talking about how Bale got the best of us, but in reality we shut him and the entire Spurs team down for most of the game. We were the better team without a doubt, and frankly I still think we're a better team than them, and yet we're now comfortably behind Spurs regardless.

Flops: Giroud and Vermaelen. Even our normal stars like Wilshere and Cazorla were sub-par.
Stars: Mertesacker (I don't think he did anything wrong for either goal) and Rosicky once he came on.

Rosicky needs to start more; I've been saying this for weeks. He has the best vision and passing range of anyone on our team IMO, and his directness and ability to play balls through the other team's backline is of a level that none of our other midfielders possess.

I didn't think our attack was bad at all. Spurs scored 2 and put a lot of players behind the ball. Our final ball was just off. Walcott was the worse of them all.

Again, we controlled this game. We misplayed 2 offsides traps where CBs went to sleep and keeper was sitting to close to his line (keeper needs to be a sweeper when the high line is played). Szzzzzzzzzny may not have saved them even if he was positioned correctly... but he would have made it a lot harder... especially the Bale goal.

Wenger out! Mourinho in! Usmanov in! Buy Falcao, Cavani, Fellaini, Neuer, Luis Gustavo, Baines, Coentrao, Shawcross, Bale, and Scott mothereffin' Dann!!1!

Seriously though, that was a tough one to take - we were stronger for large parts of the game, but we just don't have enough quality and cohesion upfront some games, and there is some serious voodoo curse for this chronic inability to avoid simple defensive mistakes. Good transfer market dealings are necessary this summer, but I can't be the only one who thinks that a change-up in the training & tactics is at least as necessary ...

I dont know why Giroud played the whole? just useless.

If we had a decent striker we could scored few goals today.

Save us Villa.

Szczesney: 6 Not much to do. Didn't save the goals hence the score.

Jenks: 7 Did well. He's very quick and was good going forward and defensively.

TV: 4 A good second half but his first half cost us. Sell him.

Mert: 6 Scored (maybe). Did little else to help us.

Monreal: 4 His first poor game. Some poor defending from the new guy.

Arteta: 5 Did you see him?

Wilshere: 5 Been on great form. Didn't happen for him today.

Ramsey: 3 Please stop defending him. Supporting your team is all good and well..but he is not good enough and being picked due to Wenger loving him. Fluffed a great chance. Took too long a few times on the ball and got tackled (as usual). Didn't track back (see that chance when the Spud tried to set up Bale?). What EXACTLY does he do to help us? Please tell me? Yes, Vermealen was just as bad...but he can still put in a good performance now and again (rarely nowadays). Wenger's love affair with him has cost us. Started vs Bayern. Started tonight. I'm sick of it. Check out Arsenal's results when he starts vs when he doesn't. Then have a go. I love my team and I hate favouritsm. It's now cost us the CL.

Walcott: 5 Major disappointment. Poor. Some nice dead balls. Some poor open play.

Giroud: 3 Come on guys. This guy isn't the answer.

Santi: 4 Mr Invisible in the second half.

Subs:

Rosicky: 5
Podolski 4 (looked injured to me)

Maybe I'll calm down by tomorrow.

Chumlum wrote:Wenger out! Mourinho in! Usmanov in! Buy Falcao, Cavani, Fellaini, Neuer, Luis Gustavo, Baines, Coentrao, Shawcross, Bale, and Scott mothereffin' Dann!!1!

Seriously though, that was a tough one to take - we were stronger for large parts of the game, but we just don't have enough quality and cohesion upfront some games, and there is some serious voodoo curse for this chronic inability to avoid simple defensive mistakes. Good transfer market dealings are necessary this summer, but I can't be the only one who thinks that a change-up in the training & tactics is at least as necessary ...

This but i don't expect anything because Wenger is not a great tactician or something. Mourinho had Villas boas as assistant ; Ferguson had Carlos Quieroz ; Pep had tito . Wenger needs someone like them

We will lose out of Cl for 24m, Wenger and Donkey face can *bleep* off now.

Giroud is shit, Ramsey is shit, Vermaelen is shit.

Bénin wrote:
This but i don't expect anything because Wenger is not a great tactician or something. Mourinho had Villas boas as assistant ; Ferguson had Carlos Quieroz ; Pep had tito . Wenger needs someone like them

Wenger will not allow his assistant take credit for Arsenal, he would rather see us fail than let another person take credit for Arsenal.

I was really impressed b

Eman wrote:Just plain bad defence. Vermaelen has been a horror-show this season and we need more protection in front of that back-line. Our consistency and mentality throughout an entire game are both laughable; there's always a 5-10 minute spell where everyone and their grandmother seems like they can score on us no matter who we face. For the next week, everybody will be talking about how Bale got the best of us, but in reality we shut him and the entire Spurs team down for most of the game. We were the better team without a doubt, and frankly I still think we're a better team than them, and yet we're now comfortably behind Spurs regardless.

Flops: Giroud and Vermaelen. Even our normal stars like Wilshere and Cazorla were sub-par.
Stars: Mertesacker (I don't think he did anything wrong for either goal) and Rosicky once he came on.

Rosicky needs to start more; I've been saying this for weeks. He has the best vision and passing range of anyone on our team IMO, and his directness and ability to play balls through the other team's backline is of a level that none of our other midfielders possess.

This

We bossed the game, it was the best pressing game i've seen arsenal play for a very long time, but we lost concentration for both their goals, the defence needs to communicate more, if Monreal had screamed at vermaelen then the second goal could have been averted .

Walcott played a really smart game, he kept on making runs inside which allowed room to be created for the fullbacks . but i feel that sometimes he should have stayed on the wing more as we didnt have any wide outlets apart from the full backs at one point . i just wish people had got on the end of jenkinson, walcott needs to learn to take up more intelligent positions in the box . anyway theres still a chance tottenham will drop enough points to allow us to finish fourth we just need to win ours .

Kind of strange how divided in opinion people are about Ramsey for today's match. Some people think he was one of the better Arsenal performers this game. Others think he was dismal. I know people have divided opinions about him as an overall player but usually we can all agree when he has a better game vs when he doesn't ...

Ramsey worked very hard all game and did have some good moments, but he did tend to spend a bit long on the ball and lacked end product - some of his crosses were dismal, and his shot when clean through one-on-one lacked conviction. So I'd say it was a mixed performance.

Yeah Ramsey wasn't terrible. He did a pretty good job when put at RB too and got in good positions when the Spurs players weren't paying too much attention to him. I can understand being frustrated with his performances, but in comparison to his showings last season, I do see improvement.

Poor defending and being average going forward cost us this game. The best chance we created was the one Ramsey had. Apart from that our forward play was average to be honest. Giroud ?? shit, Theo Average ?? average.

Our defending is not good enough for a top team, mistakes after mistakes every game. We even come to expect it now, we can defend well for 30 minutes but we guarantee the other team at least one chance

why is it that we never finish the job whenever when we get a goal back ? perhaps its because our attack is a little lacking in quality.. i dk . we barely create any chances against the top teams . ramsey had a decent game his skill did after all create the free kick from which mertesecker scored, he should have scored but we should accept that players miss chances, CRbale missed a far easier one

timzink wrote:why is it that we never finish the job whenever when we get a goal back ? perhaps its because our attack is a little lacking in quality.. i dk . we barely create any chances against the top teams . ramsey had a decent game his skill did after all create the free kick from which mertesecker scored, he should have scored but we should accept that players miss chances, CRbale missed a far easier one

Completely agree, after we got one back I expected us to create plenty of chances but we did nothing with the ball. Sperz just put men behind the ball and defended comfortably. The other problem is since Theo's goal have dried up, No one else has stepped up and Wenger keeps benching Poldi when he is a goal threat

GoonerJay29 wrote:Ramsey worked very hard all game and did have some good moments, but he did tend to spend a bit long on the ball and lacked end product - some of his crosses were dismal, and his shot when clean through one-on-one lacked conviction. So I'd say it was a mixed performance.

Ramsey will do the running and stick a foot in but he just doesn't have that creative side to his game. People expect him to do too much.