Arsenal Fail To Show Up and Title Hopes Are Damaged

Orc Victory



I hate playing Stoke.  I hate their narrow pitch and their "physical" players, their ignorant Ramsey -hating fans, and their managers whether Pulis or Hughes, who often display moments of classlessness.  Continually drawing with them is bad enough, but to play so poorly after having a week between games and a couple of days off from the manager puts into question the reality of having title winning aspirations.  I'm not sure this squad is up for it or built for it. 

How can we maintain a serious title challenge when our offensive backup is a 21-year old kid who misses a wide open shot from 12 yards out?  How can we challenge for yesterday's very important three points when only making 14 tackles the entire game against a very physical opponent?  Even I, with my constantly buffering stream,  saw Jack skip out on two chances for tackles.  He's suppose to be one of our most spirited players.  Unless he's carrying some sort of injury, that's not excusable.  And even then, why is he on the pitch injured when we have so many midfield players who could fill in?

Giroud spent most of the game allowing himself to be bullied by Shawcross and Wilson.  He's a strong guy, and should not accept being manhandled. Whining to the ref doesn't accomplish that. I fully realize that this ref didn't call much in terms of physicality and allowed  Giroud to get beat up and stamped on, but I would rather have seen him go a bit "Flamini" on someone and  potentially earn a yellow, rather than complain.   He was more of the show-pony than mustang we needed him to be yesterday.

The one not-so-dim spot was that we improved greatly when Ox came on.  He helped create more in the last 20 minutes (along with Ozil) then the starting XI did for the first 70.  Our game is most effective when we have width and some pace.  Although the starters did well against a very poor Sunderland, they did not provide either attribute against Stoke on their narrow pitch.  I really think Ox should be a regular starter if he is physically ready for it. 

There are nine league games left, and I could be overly negative here because mathematically, we are still in the hunt.  But even Wenger was realistic about how yesterday's result affects our chances:

It is not slightly worrying, it's a big worry for us to lose a game like that. It is a massive setback of course.

March is here.  The push is on.  This team has shown resilience before along with grit.  It remains to be seen if those qualities reappear for our next set of challenging matches.  Everton is up next in a tournament in which we have a realistic chance of winning, but only if the fighters within our squad make an appearance.  Otherwise, I think this temporary momentum switch can very well become permanent, and this season will end up like the last decade's worth.

That's it for now.  Take care you Gooners.