Arsenal 0-2 Liverpool: Complications and Implications

Arsene Wenger admitted that he is familiar with the term “When it rains, it pours” and I’m not surprised; it’s certainly pouring at the Emirates. The feeling is that Wenger’s actions in the next ten days could threaten to destroy or perhaps reinforce his legend at Arsenal Football Club. Liverpool recorded their first win at Arsenal for 11 years and Arsenal finished the match with a team that resembled a Carling Cup side rather than the crucial Premier League encounter this undoubtedly was. Szscensy – Sagna, Miquel, Vermaelen, Jenkison – Lansbury, Ramsey, Nasri – Van Persie, Bendtner was the ten man side that finished the game yesterday and Arsenal looked desperate. 

Nasri: Staying or Going?

The choice to play Samir Nasri and bring on Nicklas Bendtner from the bench, two players who have publicly expressed their desire to leave the club before the month is over, suggested that Arsenal’s squad is extremely thread bare. It also highlights the fact that no replacements for these players have been purchased; a situation that the Arsenal fans will be hoping their manager rectifies sooner rather than later.

Liverpool, on the other hand, looked very much the opposite; showing their squad’s strength by bringing on Raul Meireles and Luis Suarez on to change the game in the last half an hour. Dalglish has brought in several hard working players of Premier League standard in Carroll, Downing, Suarez. None at a cheap price undeniably, but the players are now available to Dalgish, something Wenger surely envies. Both teams were coping without their inspirational captains, Fabregas having left for Catalonia and Gerrard still nursing an injury, and no doubt Liverpool’s squad was much better equipped to deal with that draw back.

Tough Time For Wenger

Considering the gulf in experience and value of the two squads the result did flatter Liverpool slightly. Shortly after going down to 10 men after Frimpong was shown a second yellow for a high tackle on Lucas, Arsenal were dreadfully unlucky when a Miquel clearance bounced back into the Gunners’ net off Aaron Ramsey’s chest. Granted, the Welshman didn’t know anything about it but the goal symbolized the way his game had gone. He was caught in possession several times, while his positioning and passing were often wayward. Arsenal had no-one on the bench to come on and put him out of his misery and he was left to struggle on. Arshavin was similarly disappointing and failed to re kindle the form that saw him score 4 against Liverpool a couple of seasons ago, while his opposite wingman Theo Walcott also struggle to make an impact on the game. The only solution Wenger had was to substitute Walcott for centre forward, Bendtner, hardly a game changer.

There were a few boos at the final whistle, although these were apparently not as audible as the Sky microphones would have you believe. Besides, it seemed they were mostly directed towards the referee Martin Atkinson. The officials undoubtedly had a poor game, failing to notice that Suarez was offside for the first Liverpool goal and that Robin Van Persie should have been awarded a penalty late on after being dragged down in the area by his shirt at the hands of Jamie Carragher.

There is no doubt that Arsenal’s situation is somewhat unfortunate; the injuries to Wilshere, Koscielny and Djourou certainly have not helped, but the suspensions are entirely their own doing. Song and Gervinho are currently one game into serving a three game ban for entirely avoidable offences, while the impressive and positive Frimpong will now miss the Manchester United game, thanks to is naïve over-enthusiasm. 

Kenny Dalglish: On The Right Track

Liverpool look like they will develop into a very dangerous side with a bit of time and the right management but they really should have beaten that Arsenal side by more. The struggled draw at home to Sunderland last week shows there is still work to do. The code has not quite been cracked at Anfield but, they certainly look like they will have an input into the race for the Premier League title.

As for the Gunners, well the next ten days are very important for the club given that the transfer window closes on September 1^st. They take a slender lead into a tough Champions League qualifier, and the result will surely make or break their season. Arsene Wenger needs to act quickly and decisively.

Andre Villas-Boas

As Chelsea embark on a new season with a new manager, their 5^th in seven years, it seems right to suggest that this one might be the one they give a little more time to. He’s young, he’s handsome and he did quite well with Porto, ring any bells…

Of course the similarities have been apparent between Villas-Boas and Jose Mourinho, the statistics are similar and even John Terry has commented on their similar personality traits. Not surprising since the now Chelsea manager worked with ‘The Special One’ for a number of years. Mourinho even once referred to the youngster as “my eyes and ears” when he was head of the Opponent Observation unit at Stamford Bridge. So, he is no stranger to the English game and is fluent in English due to his time in the UK with Mourinho and an English grandmother on his mother’s side. Such a good student is he that he took Mourinho’s record of 33 matches unbeaten in all competitions with Porto and bettered it by three.

At the tender age of 33 there have been doubts expressed about whether this man can take charge of a dressing room filled with egos like Drogba, Terry, Malouda etc. all fighting for places. Yet, he seems to have his players on the same wavelength and seems keen to providing Chelsea owner, Roman Abramovich with what he wants; attractive football. Something else which drew the Russian owner to Villas-Boas is his European Trophy winning experience. After last years success with Porto in the Europa League Villas-Boas took Porto on their longest unbeaten run in Europe. However, that doesn’t guarantee success with his newly inherited Chelsea team. It does guarantee plenty of pressure, though.

Many have called for this to be the time that Abramovich gives his employee at the helm the precious gift of time, many feel that if Villas-Boas is unsuccessful in his first season that his job may be feared for and some pundits think that he is most likely to fall flat on his face given the enormity of the task ahead. Already he has some big decisions to make in terms of personnel in transfers and the squad he will pick to start against Stoke tomorrow.

The Chelsea manager has made no secret of the fact that he will stick with the 4-3-3 system that worked so well for him at Porto. However, this does leave him with selection problems/privileges depending on which way you look at the situation. A 4-3-3 formation would mean that he will have to decide whether he will start Drogba or Torres and it’s likely that the two will very rarely play together. He will then have to find a way to fit Anelka, Malouda, Kalou, Benayoun, Sturridge and anyone they may sign (possibly Modric) into that mix and find the best fit, no doubt, with the watchful and judgemental eye of Roman Abramovich keeping a close eye on proceedings.

There is a fantastic interview with Andre Villas-Boas in today’s Telegraph on his footballing philosophy. Well worth a read.

A Case for Nicklas Bendtner

It has been made no secret that Nicklas Bendtner is keen to secure a move from the Emirates and he seems close to doing just that. The Danish centre-forward has not travelled with the club or taken part in any pre-season friendly matches so far

Ask your average Arsenal fan and they will tell you that they’re very happy for Bendtner to be leaving. However the young Dane’s contributions to the Arsenal cause have been far less woeful than his reputation suggests. Often accused of arrogance or ‘over confidence’ by his own fans, Nicklas Bendtner was left in a no win situation at the club. The player said he wanted to play every game; he was criticised. He said he could score goals; he was criticised even more. Tell me, what more do you want a young forward to say?

The reason Bendtner struggled to score was because he was played out of position for the majority of his time at Arsenal. More often than not he was to be found out on the right hand side putting crosses into the box. Yes, the tallest Arsenal player on the pitch was putting the crosses in to the likes of Arshavin, it's laughable really. However, when he was played in a more central role, most notably in the 2009-2010 season, when Robin Van Persie was injured, he scored several important goals for the club; namely, a 94^th minute winner against Hull at the Emirates to keep The Gunner’s in the title race. A header from a cross, funnily enough.

Yet, it seemed that nothing could win him over with the fans. Constant criticism followed by several relatively fruitless efforts on the right wing eventually ground the player down and with the arrival of Marouane Chamakh he has probably felt forced to look elsewhere for the chance to play regularly.

Just to put things into perspective slightly, Bendtner has scored 45 goals from 156 appearances and Robin Van Persie has scored 97 from 230 appearances. That’s an average of 3.4 games per goal for Nick, compared to 2.3 for Robin. Now, just to clarify, I am not suggesting that Nicklas Bendtner is on the same level of Robin Van Persie the point of the stats are just an attempt to show that perhaps some of the ill-feeling directly towards Bendtner was a bit hasty. He also played a big part in securing Denmark a place in the 2010 World Cup; a massive achievement for a 20-year-old.

Before the signing of Chamakh, Bendtner was Arsenal's archetypal centre forward who could be deployed as a change of strategy when their patient passing football was falling short of the mark (See: Ibrahimovic's role for Barcelona). Yet, he was rarely used as an actual plan B, as in, Arsenal would never change their style to suit their target man and the whole thing was a bit limp. More of a bad fit than Bendtner being a bad player.

Talk of a potential buyer for Nick has been coming from Portugal and there has reportedly been several clubs in contact for him, it’s now down to the player and his agent which is his father to choose the most suitable club.