Arsenal 2-Standard 0, Injuries Continue to Mount, Song Signs New Contract

By: Martin | November 25th, 2009

Well, first, as is customary, the good news. We won. In doing so, we not only clinched advancement to the knockout stages, but won our group, ensuring the more beneficial draw of clubs which finish second in their groups. Since we did this with a game to spare, we have the luxury of being able to rest some key players for the December away fixture at Olympiakos, which can be a tough trip and tricky fixture. And we currently have more points (13 from 5 matches) than any other club in the group stages, although several teams could match that total with wins later today.

But, unfortunately, there’s some bad news as well. For starters, while I wouldn’t say we played poorly, we certainly could have played better. We did score twice, but our finishing was poor, and generally our execution in the final 1/3 of the pitch lacked quality. I’m not sure if it’s because of the drop in quality of players because of injuries, fatigue from the international break, or just because these players haven’t had the chance to really play together very much this season, but Standard’s defense was really there for the taking and we should have been quite a bit more lethal in attack. And despite the fact that Standard offered little going forward, we continued our worrying trend of only allowing a few shots, but allowing really dangerous shots when we do–Standard hit the post a couple of times. Almunia only made one save all game.

The main point of worry, though, is injuries. We suffered two injuries this game, and both came where we can least afford it. Gallas left at half-time–I assumed that it was because he took a nasty blow to the head when he and Arshavin tried to head the same ball (his eye was nearly swollen shut by the end of the half), but apparently he has an ankle issue, too. No word on how serious it is or whether he’ll be available for Chelsea on Sunday. More certain is the diagnosis of Kieran Gibbs, who, as cruel fate would have it, injured his foot a couple of minutes into injury time right before the final whistle. Broken metatarsal in his left foot, out for around 3 months. Frak. When I first saw it and read about it, I thought, “Arsenal medical staff strikes again,” thinking they had misdiagnosed his “bruised foot” from the international break and sent him out to play when he shouldn’t have been out there. But that injury was in his right foot, so the fact that he suffered two foot injuries in the span of little over a week appears to be just a coincidence.

Make no mistake–this is a real problem for us. With Clichy and Gibbs both out injured, our options at left back are distinctly unappealing. We have Armand Traore, a talented young player who doesn’t seem to have the defensive chops to play the position as well as we expect, or we have the option of playing one of our reserve center backs (almost certainly Silvestre) left-back; or we can move one of our starting center backs to left back, and either play reserve center backs or drop Alex Song to the backline. Any of these options make us significantly worse.

And the Gallas injury hurts too, because it forces Wenger to either play Song out of position or play Mikael Silvestre. I suspect he’ll go with the latter. You’ll remember last season that it was Silvestre, against Chelsea, who gave up on the ball that Didier Drogba beat him to score the goal which put us out of the FA Cup. Look, Silvestre seems like a decent teammate and a good guy. But there’s no escaping the fact that he has been exposed as a footballer well past his prime, and no longer able to play at the highest level of the game. He’s got some veteran savvy, but all the experience in the world does you no good if you can’t keep up with and physically impose yourself upon defenders.

And, unfortunately, he seems to be Wenger’s preferred option. I don’t think we’ve gotten the whole story on why this is, but Senderos seems to be out of the picture unless absolutely necessary. It’s a shame, too, b/c I’ve always thought Big Phil was a pretty decent player who just lost some confidence and made a few high-profile mistakes. Especially against a striker who relies on brawn as much as Drogba does, I think Senderos would be our best option on Sunday. But Senderos was pretty clear about wanting out of the club in August, and the relationship between him and the club seems to have soured. Although it is to his credit that, if this is the case, he hasn’t been giving a bunch of interviews about it like so many other players would have.

At any rate, I am very, very, very worried about the ability of a Sagna-Silvestre-Vermaelen-Traore backline to deal with the likes of Chelsea. Having no depth on the backline really cost us down the stretch last season, and it should have been very apparent to Wenger that we needed reinforcements this season. And yet, we just replaced Toure with Vermaelen. I don’t understand why it wouldn’t have been worthwhile to go out and get a player like Sakho or Bassong, young guys who would have been willing to be a back-up and play on the Carling Cup squad for a season or two with the implicit understanding that they’d have a chance at the first-team once Gallas moves on. For all Wenger’s genius in the transfer market, his persistent blind spots can be downright infuriating.

I have to hop on a plane in a bit, so I won’t give a full recap–I’m sure you’ve read about it and seen the highlights by now anyways. But we definitely controlled this match. Aside from a couple shots which hit the posts, Standard never really threatened. On the other hand, it felt like, especially in the first half, we created a lot of opportunities, but just lacked a killer instinct. It seemed like we hit the post or put balls a few inches wide half a dozen times. But Nasri’s goal was a very composed finish, and Denilson’s goal…well, the keeper should have saved it, but it was a brilliant, audacious effort, and sometimes those catch the keeper flat-footed and you get rewarded. It was a well-deserved victory, and frankly, the scoreline probably flatters them a bit, it felt much more like a 4-1 game than a 2-0 game.

On to the ratings:

Almunia 6.5. Only made one save (on a muffed shot) all match, and never had to struggle. It’s worrying that he seemingly never has to make saves, but neither of the shots which hit the bar were his fault. Another decent performance where he didn’t have much to do.

Eboue 6.5. Made a few decent runs, but wasn’t as involved as he could have been, and didn’t have too much to do at the back.

Gibbs 6.5.Solid performance from Gibbs, of the kind that I think we’re dearly going to miss for the rest of the calendar year. Sigh.

Vermaelen 6.5 Was solid at the back, but against a punchless team like Standard, really should be getting forward a bit more.

Gallas 6.5. Only played first half, but played well, and got his head on a couple of dangerous balls–could have been rewarded with a goal on another day. Here’s hoping he’s okay.

Denilson 8. Great performance on his return from injury, and showed that he’s going to be an important part of this midfield going forward. He also probably played well enough to make Wenger think about playing him in the holding midfield role and Song at center back if Gallas can’t play on Sunday. If everyone was completely healthy, who would be playing in our midfield? It would definitely be Cesc and Song, and I think Denilson may very well be the third member of that.

Song 8.5 Man of the Match, for the second match running. My goodness, he’s having a good run of form. I think he represents our best hope of slowing down Chelsea–he’s got the physicality and aggressiveness to battle with Drogba & Co., and I could see him really disrupting that diamond formation.

Cesc 6.5. Not terrible, but just never really got it going. Gave away possession a few times on bad passes, and wasn’t a consistent threat. Also lost his temper again, and drew a yellow (although he incited retaliation which drew a red). Looks like a guy who could use a day or two off to me.

Arshavin 6.5. Confirmed what we thought–he really gave it a go as the center pivot forward in the 4-3-3, and I think he’s our best option, but several times got bullied off the ball by bigger defenders. Still, big ups to a guy whose head bleeds all over the place and just asks for a couple of stitches and a clean jersey and gets right back out there.

Nasri 7.5. Looked pretty good up front, and showed some poacher’s instincts on the goal. I like Nasri.

Vela 6.5. I also like Vela. He looked pretty solid, I thought–creative and dangerous, and really could have easily scored early in the game, when his shot off a corner kick hit the post. He’s got a world of talent, and I think he really could be a very good high-level striker in another year or two if he continues to get experience and mature. Plus, my roommate thinks he’s “soooooooo hot.” So he’s got that going for him.

Walcott 5.5. Looked off, couldn’t adequately use his pace and skills to create chances.

Rosicky 6. Decent substitute performance, especially considering he was playing further back on the pitch than he normally does.

Silvestre 6. Looked fine, as he played the entire second half. But the problem isn’t against lesser teams like this, it’s against teams which really test how much gas he’s got left in the tank. We may have to find out next week.

Well, that’s that–we have now made the knockout stages 10 years running, which is a remarkable level of consistency. In the spirit of Thanksgiving, we should all be grateful to support a club that has established such a level of year-in, year-out success, even if it hasn’t translated to trophies the last couple of seasons.

Also, in good news, the club announced this morning that Alex Song signed a new long-term deal with the club. Song has really come into his own this season–there aren’t five better holding midfielders in the world at the moment. And it’s shown not only in the difference in possession we retain this season versus last season, but also in Fabregas’s performance. Song has given Cesc what he had in Flamini and what he was missing last season–someone to cover his back and allow him to go forward, but also to win the ball consistently and get the attack moving the opposite direction. Song has quietly become one of my favorite gunners this season, and I hope he plays for us for a long, long time.

I’m going to be traveling for Thanksgiving, but will try to drop by and update once or twice on goings on, and I should be able to have a preview of the Chelsea match up Saturday night. Hope you all have a happy and gluttonous turkey day.