Arsenal 1 – Aston Villa 2: Gunners Undone by Bent Brace

By: Martin | May 15th, 2011

Well, that was kind of our season in a nutshell, wasn’t it?

Dominant possession, wasting chances, some poor defensive lapses, some unlucky calls from the referees, and we find ourselves losing a match 2-1 that we should have won pretty easily. And now we find ourselves in the exact position where we didn’t want to be — no longer in control of our own destiny in terms of finishing 3rd and avoiding a qualifier to get into the group stage. Three months ago, we were talking about winning the quadruple — now we’re just hoping Manchester City drops points so we can finish 3rd, and trophyless again. Sigh.

We started out on the back foot and we were never actually able to recover. Aston Villa got a target off very early, but it was harmlessly hard. But they kept up the pressure, we looked very sloppy, and they finally broke through in the 11th minute. They took a long free kick over the top, we lost track of Darren Bent, who always seems to kill us, and he scored what was really a pretty remarkable goal — he brought the ball down with his chest with the first touch, and then, before the ball hit the ground, chipped the ball beautifully over Szczesny with his right foot to put Aston Villa 1-0.

And then, just a couple of minutes later, it was a case of deja vu, as Ashley Young split the defense with a long through ball that split the center backs. Squillaci lost track of Bent, Sagna played him onside, and the ball found him right in the middle of the box, and Bent did what he does best — finish. He coolly slotted the ball underneath Wojo, and just like that, Aston Villa were up 2-0.

Arsenal seemed shell-shocked at that point, but as the half went off, we settled in and began to take control of the proceedings. We had a great chance in the 29th minute — the ball was played through to Aaron Ramsey, who probably took a little too long to settle the ball. Even so, as he wound up to take the shot, defender Richard Dunne came across him, got none of the ball, and knocked Ramsey off his feet. Stonewall penalty, but the referee saw it differently, and didn’t award it. A real shame, too, because that would have almost certainly have gotten Arsenal back into the match at 2-1. But it wasn’t to be, and Aston Villa took care of the danger.

Just a few minutes later, we had another great chance. Robin van Persie got put through on the edge of the box, he showed a very neat bit of skill to create some space and got the ball onto his left foot, and belted a shot across the goal and rattled the far post. Another couple of inches and Arsenal would have cut the lead in half, but as it was we stayed down 2-0, and Arsenal hit yet another post (we lead the league in the category by far this season). Just a few minutes after that, Arsenal had a corner and Vermaelen’s header went just over the bar.

And then, at the very end of the first half, the ball was played into van Persie, who did extremely well to turn his man and create what looked to be a goal. The ref called a foul on van Persie, but replays showed it to be the wrong call. Once again, should have been a goal, but wasn’t due to a wrong call by the ref. It was 2-0 at half-time, and Arsenal players were showered with boos as they walked off the pitch.

At the half, Chamakh came on for Squillaci, dropping Song back into center back alongside Vermaelen. And it was clear from the get go that the change in personnel signaled a change in approach, with Arsenal playing a lot more long balls into the box to try to take advantage of Chamakh’s strength and aerial presence.

But despite creating a ton of chances in the second half, we just couldn’t convert. Given how disappointing the performance was, I’m sure you’ll forgive me for not cataloguing all of them in great depth. van Persie had a shot on the edge of the box that he sprayed well over. van Persie played through Gibbs on the edge of the six-yard box, but Gibbs’s shot was too low and saved by Friedel.

After that, we had yet another good chance. So good, in fact, that we actually scored. A cross was played in from the right, Chamakh rose up and above and headed the ball in. But he could only celebrate a second before the goal was disallowed for pushing off. Replays showed (at least to me) that Chamakh didn’t really push off, or at least didn’t push off more than any other player always does in that situation. He certainly used his hands for leverage, but didn’t really push Walker down. I felt it was definitely a phantom calls, and for what it’s worth, the announcers agreed. Still 2-0, somehow.

Finally, right before the 90 minute mark, we got one back. And it was the kind of goal we seem to never score that we should try to score more. We used the revolutionary tactic of “put some big guys in the box and the put the ball into the box and see if they can win it.” In this case, it was Bendtner that won the long cross, chested the ball down and then ran across the box, but his shot was blocked. But it was blocked directly onto the feet of van Persie, who calmly slotted home to cut the lead to 2-1.

But alas, it was too little, too late. We really only had one more legitimate chance in the 4 minutes of injury time, which was when we won a free kick on the edge of the box. van Persie played the ball to Vermaelen, whose shot was still directly into the wall. Not only after that, the whistle blew final-time, and we had lost 2-1.

Full-Time Stats

Possession: Arsenal 68% – Aston Villa 32%
Shots (on Target): Arsenal 24(6) – Aston Villa 8(5)
Corer Kicks: Arsenal 13 – Aston Villa 2

The “lap of appreciation” was to be after the match, but I don’t know how it meant. Not well, would be my guess. Given that the fans were booing the players during the match, and there were a ton of empty seats at the match. We still have one more match, but this feels like a season of massive disappointment for us. As I said, we went from (in retrospect, delusional) talk of winning the quadruple just 3 months ago to to now being odds-on to finish 4th (again) and trophyless (again). It’s been a very tough period to be an Arsenal fan, any way you cut it.

I honestly don’t know what else to say. We had great chances to win trophies, but we blew them. We completely crapped out at the end of the season — again. Our injuries haven’t been especially bad this season, the other teams around us have not been that good, there really aren’t any excuses — we just don’t have the mental strength required to win things, and it is a deeply troubling problem to which there is no immediate answer. But I guess we’ll have plenty of time to do that post-mortem after the season. But for now, enjoy what’s left of your weekend.

I’ll do the player ratings tomorrow. Until then.

***************

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Category: Arsenal News, Aston Villa, Fixtures, Match Review, Premiership

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Abby

i think AW ,as much as i respect him, has to take some of the blame for the players poor performancs (cosidering he sticks with this squad). He defends his players too much and he puts all the blame on himself (as in the bolton game) since he knows that he wont be under pressure as much as the players if they were to blame. I dont think he is the type of manager to scream at his players and that just annoys me because they really need a lesson in commitment and how to love this club and battle till the very last second. to be honest i was happy when the fans where booing the players after the game.
Gues

There were some people that seriously believed Arsenal could win the league
this season. There were others who believe that until obvious lessons from past
failures are addressed, then the same mistakes are destined to be repeated.
Although I believe fans will see some major purchases this summer, if only
because of the amount of money received for Fabregas, Nasri and Clichy (what
significance that none of these players were even on the bench yesterday? Don’t
expect to see them against Fulham either), ultimately the manager’s refusal to
work on the defensive side of the game will continue to cost the team honours.

The crest for next season has the word ‘Forward’ running underneath. A while
back, the club badge featured a motto that translated as ‘victory through
harmony’. There’s not much harmony at Arsenal these days. When I heard Pat Rice
was staying on for a further year, the new crest came to mind. A much-needed
chance to shake things up, to actually do something in a positive direction has
been put on hold for a further 12 months. And why? Because the manager persuaded
Rice to stay on. It is a demonstration that he has too much power and that an
employee has his bosses – who decided to pay him £6.5 million a year until the
summer of 2014 – by the short and curlies.

A friend saw Ivan Gazidis after the game yesterday and said he looked
despondent, really low. I don’t think there is any illusion about the gravity of
the situation for the CEO, but he feels powerless to do anything about it.
Actually Mr Gazidis you are not. I have written before that the board need to
force changes on the manager by insistence on alterations in the way the team
are prepared and on the shopping habits of Wenger. For starters, they can tell
him he has to recruit a specialist defensive coach and said coach must be given
regular training time to work on the team. When Arsenal do not have the ball
they are found wanting.

Additionally, decisions about the playing budget need to be removed from the
manager. He should identify the players he wants (and be told in no uncertain
terms that he needs to get in players with experience and leadership qualities)
and the board should then tell him to p*ss off back to his office and leave them
to deal with transfer and wage negotiations. Additionally, the existing
contracts need to be looked at and some imaginative dealings done. Some players
are not going to move because of the fat wages they are on which no other mug on
earth would be foolish enough to pay them. So the club must arrange loans (and
swallow paying a percentage of the players’ earnings) or free transfers to get
them off the wage bill. What is the purpose of Tomas Rosicky going to be in
2011/12. Denilson? Sebastien Squillaci? These players positively handicap the
team’s chances of success. Basically, the manager has to be usurped with some
strategic instruction to him as an employee. Then he might jump ship and go
manage Real Madrid.

Of course it’s going to be ugly. The chain mail divide in club level with
Wenger’s giant face has Big Brother echoes about it and now the celebrations of
his achievements make compromising him awkward. The club is now starting to go
backwards and the manager is already getting his excuses in for a finish outside
the top four this time next year. He knows next season is going to be a
struggle. It is difficult to replace Fabregas and Nasri and improve.

So the board must pretty much insist on the changes so that the club can get
through the next two seasons – they can afford to give Wenger the boot in 2013
and swallow the cost – and halt the decline we will witness if they simply leave
Wenger to continue to indulge himself in his vanity project to show what a great
manager he is.

The facts are these. The team that won the trophies under him was built on a
bedrock of an experienced defence, with the addition of Sol Campbell. It was the
defence that sorted out the midfield of Petit and Vieira to give them the
protection they needed. A defence Wenger inherited. Trophies followed as Vieira
developed into the player a winning team needs. Wenger also had David Seaman in
goal and then made an inspired signing in Jens Lehmann. Yes, going forward he
signed some marvelous players (although more experienced than history sometimes
makes out, Pires and Henry had World Cup winners’ medals before they arrived at
Highbury), but we have some marvelous players going forward now – real talent
like Van Persie, Nasri, Arshavin and Fabregas. The problem since Campbell left
the club in 2006 is the goals conceded. Through the failure to recruit enough
quality, experience and leadership at the back, and the ridiculous farce at the
start of the season that meant Almunia and Fabianski had to confirm by dropping
league points what everyone knew – they are not good enough – the club has
wasted a season. A season in which a fantastic opportunity to win the title has
been spurned.

There was a demonstration against the board before the game yesterday. Next
week at Fulham there will apparently be an anti-Wenger demonstration. The club
moved stadium so it could keep up with the big spenders, but there has been £40
million in the player trading account since the sale of Toure and Adebayor two
years ago. It has not been used to improve the team on the pitch, but just look
at all that lovely money. And the club want more! For what exactly?

If there’s one thing Ivan Gazidis should do it is insist that every penny
used for player sales (circa £90 million if Fabregas, Nasri, Clichy, Bendtner
and Arshavin all go) plus the £40 million in the kitty is all used. £130 million
can buy two Vidic style defenders, a quality holding midfielder (giving Alex
Song something to think about and ideally learn from) and a striker to work
alongside Robin van Persie. Next season’s team will look very different and it
is important there is genuine competition for places. Forget trying to protect
the likes of Song and Abou Diaby and makes them play out of their skins to keep
their places.

Wenger said recently, “I have been asked if I will change my principles and
if you can convince me that my principles are wrong, then I am ready to change.
But I feel we try to play football the proper way. When you don’t win, your
principles are questioned.” But Arsene, if your principles are that what you do
with the ball is more important than what you do without it, then they are
wrong. They are of equal importance as the great teams have shown, including
your own. Wenger again: “I think if something is wrong in our team, it is not
the principle of playing our football the way we do.” So paying so little
attention to the defensive side of the game is not wrong, is it?

Two more years of this…

To finish, a text that made me smile in the aftermath of the defeat against
Villa, a team that had nothing to play for and every reason to have been ‘on the
beach’. It’s from occasional contributor Doktor Schneide – Could not stay for
the lap of ‘appreciation’. Am more disappointed than Arshavin being led into an
all you can eat salad bar
Homey_Mills

Is it too early to start talking about Jan Vertonghen again? I just re-read something I read last summer, where he said he wanted to win the Dutch title this year, and then move on. Ok, so he just won the Dutch title, and now it's time to move on. He also spoke of the EPL being his favorite league to watch, etc. I also recall the Martin talking about him last summer too. I'd prefer him as more of a D-midfielder and emergency CD. If he rotated with Song and Wilshere, we'd always have a good option at one of our two D-mid spots. I'm loving that idea in a big way. Our backup options at those spots have been a huge obstacle this year.
JG

.. I've been thinking about him. And Hazard. And Gameiro. And Amalfitano (Gameiro's Fabregas/Xavi-like buddy). Here's the thing. Hazard and Vertonghen, should they stay at their current clubs, are guaranteed CL football next year. If they were to move to Arsenal, well... they would not, as we all know now. Falling to 4th seriously jeopardizes our chances of any really good transfer signing this summer, especially considering Man City, the other club sniffing around Vertonghen, and Inter for Hazard, are guaranteed CL football next year (well, Man City if we fall to 4th). That's where we really screwed the pooch today.
Homey_Mills

First of all, I'd still bet we finish ahead of Man City. They have two tough ones left, and I prefer the points in hand. Plus I think they'll be too busy celebrating the FA Cup.
Second, a player coming in won't come in with the attitude that Arsenal will get bounced out before the group stages, even if we do finish 4th. Players don't have that mindset. And I don't even think it will happen.
Third, I'm with you on some of those players. For me, we have two real needs in the transfer market. And several players who can be offloaded. I suppose I can live with Eboue and Gibbs as backups to Sagna and Clichy. Plus I think with another true CD option, we can shift someone out to the side in the back. Anyway, I think the critical needs are another D-mid, as mentioned, and another wing/forward. I don't really like Bendtner in that role, and he's already complained about it as well. So I see 3 players for 2 spots, or else we have to bring in Rosicky or Bendtner. We need 4 players for those 2 spots.
Right now I'm thinking Falcao and Vertonghen would be best, and then offload about 4-5 guys to make the money a little closer to even. Still spend about 15m on the balance, perhaps. You know, like a big club would do. (Actually, that's more like what Villa or Spurs would do, in this day and age. I don't think I'm asking for a lot here.)
Gooner

Very disappointing showing. Had I been at the game I'm not sure I would have booed but I definitely wouldn't have clapped.
Chicago Gunner

I guess the silver lining of yet another embarrassing loss is that it provides further reason to make changes at arsenal this summer.
Homey_Mills

Well I thought all that last year too. I thought with the way the season ended, we'd definitely make some changes and spend some money in the summer. Didn't happen. I'm hoping for the same "silver lining" you're hoping for. I'm just not holding my breath this time.
JG

Well, this is the second straight year this has happened: promising title charge by winter's end, only for it to all fall apart in every single competition by season's end, with the team playing like a bunch of U-17 Stoke fans high on meth. This time around, however, fan discontent has been much louder and much more vitriolic than last season, and the number of calls for Wenger have certainly increased compared to last season. Basically, one more season of this charade and its bye bye Arsenal as a top club. All of this leads to the conclusion that Wenger will at least attempt at changing the way things are done at the club.
Benjamin Dockter

It's been at least four years now that we've had a good chance at the title and totally sh*t ourselves from February on. I have huge respect for AW and what he's done for the club, but if there aren't some major changes this summer, good riddance.
JG

I'd say that, in the realm of making flimsy excuses, 07-08 had one: a much younger squad struggled to cope with Eduardo's injury. A popular player that was fast becoming an integral part of the team suffers a career-threatening injury, and you tell me the squad's mental concentration won't slip a little.
And in 08-09, we weren't in the title race at all- a horrendous autumn had us wrestling with Aston Villa for 4th, before Arshavin came and saved our skins. And we had a bunch of injuries that season.
What I meant was that this was the second year in a row that the title was in our grasps, there was only 1 or 2 other teams competing, not a lot of injuries, an easy run in, you name it- and we blew it. We lost and drew to teams we shouldn't have, literally snatching defeat from the jaws of victory- one year it is damaging but frustrating, but two years in a row is unacceptable. Something has to change.
Homey_Mills

I dunno. I'd be curious to hear what others think about whether: a) there's a much louder discontent this year and b) if that will impact what AW does in the summer.
Chicago Gunner

I think if a football manager began basing his decisions on fan sentiment, he'd be out of football pretty quickly, so i doubt fan discontent will have a significant impact on his offseason decision-making. My question is whose decision is it to keep or fire wenger? If I'm Kroenke, I definitely want to keep Wenger on. He has kept the team competitive for a long time with fiscal conservatism. Does the team really need to win trophies to keep its fa base? I doubt it. My point is that Wenger is a great manager from a business perspective, which is why I think he'll keep his job.
Patoux21

I don't see any disappointment to have. This team AND the manager aren't good enough to be successful (sportively I mean...). This club looks more and more like a corporation trying to please its shareholders by making money (tickets increase). As a Arsenal fan who cares if the club's financials are balanced.
JG

Cesc looks... resigned. Resigned to leave? To stay because Barcelona can't afford him? (They'll get Rossi for 30 million this summer). I don't know. He's certainly not happy here anymore. Can't blame him. We're going to have to make changes, obviously, but far more than the cheap promising youngster/cheap experienced also-ran. We need GREAT players, who will be coming to compete with the complacent, settled "Stars" we have here already for the starting XI spots. Question is, is Wenger willing to spend?
Bertrand

Cesc is not competent either.

Hasn't been for the entire season.

Hope he leaves and we get a decent sum for him.
Axel

I really pray for that not to happen. It's going to be a blow even if we get a replacement..