The Injury Express has arrived right on time. Arsenal are ravaged. I mean absolutely thread bare at the moment. A promising season once again wobbling because of the internal demon haunting the club.
But the players have to fight if they want to win. And they are fighting, but it’s not convincing and it’s horrible to watch the struggle. Tottenham, probably ridiculed prior to the game, ran the show. They were faster, stronger, smarter. Arsenal played like children and nearly lost like children. Sunken heads and hissy fits. But even tired children can fight when sparked into life. All it took was Kieran Gibbs to do a bit of running, a bit of pressing, and the jail door was unlocked with Ozil supplying the key for the sixth game in a row, a new BPL record. I think Gibbs deserves a mention this week. He came on and made the difference like any man of the moment should. He took his chance during dire circumstances and we should be thankful.
It’s obvious Ozil is the league stand out this year, but I feel there’s only so much praise you can give someone. He’s been immaculate. He created another defining goal on Sunday. But I want to talk about Gibbs. The English left back can play a more advanced role until the injury crisis sorts itself out, because lets face it, Arsenal are incapable of fixing the underlining issue. Gibbs has always been an attacking fullback, often criticised defensively, contrast to Monreal who is superb at defending, and also attacking.
But Gibbs provides more pace and has shown an eye for goal in the past. Recent memory draws a Swansea game into picture where the move was similar, and Gibbs slammed home with a stunning volley. That’s what he can do with his late runs from the left. And that’s what got Arsenal back into a game that was very bleak. I can’t remember seeing Arsenal so battle-worn. The team looks a mess. Every clearance looks desperate. Every sprint up the pitch sucks the life out of them. Sanchez hasn’t been interested for weeks now, and Santi was crucified by Bayern’s midfield, and then Tottenham’s. So Wenger has little options. Campbell, whilst a solution, isn’t warming the cold gap left by Theo and Chamberlain.
Gibbs came on from the bench because Arsenal were struggling, in desperate need of some fresh legs and a different approach. It meant that as soon as Gibbs came on he was able to press and press, something the team failed to do from the start. Arsenal can move Sanchez to the right and play Kieran Gibbs in front of Monreal. This provides a solid left hand side, but also one with pace and width, with Sanchez offering trickery on the right. It’s a better balance than Campbell on the right, who can only use his left foot. The equaliser came within minutes of the Englishman’s introduction, who ghosted in on goal from the back and directed Mesut’s sublime cross into the net. In a game that was scrappy and uncomfortable, it was one of the few times where an Arsenal player made the effort to stretch the defensive and sprint into the box.
Of course, playing a registered left back as your attacking left side threat isn’t ideal, but what we are seeing are the threads of Arsenal’s promising season coming loose, so fresh ideas would be most beneficial. Wenger has approached the last month in the same dreamy way as he always does, he’ll play his favourite eleven of footballers, play them till they drop, because he trusts them too much, but he won’t change until an injury forces his hand. It’s bad management, when you consider how excellent he’s been in other areas of the season – bringing Gibbs and Flamini on is good management, whilst never resting Sanchez up until this point is a horrifying decision, because he’s now the only attacking option with both flair and goals, and he can’t be dropped because there’s no support.
Anyway, a strange door has opened for Gibbs, although IÂ highly doubt Wenger would ever utilise him in this way other than a rushed decision ten minutes before the whistle blows. It’s honestly a shame, that for all Arsenal’s creative football, we still don’t seem to have creative plans when everything goes to pot. And it has gone to pot. That’s an average Tottenham side with no stars, and they slaughtered Arsenal because Wenger has his weary team playing on their knees.