One moment of horrible defending and one flash of individual brilliance, that was all it took for Chelsea to get past Arsenal.
To start with, I would say I was rather surprised to see the team sheet. Especially to see the name of Ramsey, who I felt was in need of a rest rather than playing this game. But hey, what choice our manager have when the likes of Gnabry, Zelalem, Eisfeld and Flamini were injured and Arteta was suspended. Hayden of course was another option. And to be honest, I thought Wenger would give him a start after praising his qualities the other day. Eventually I was happy to see Ramsey in our starting eleven along with first team players like Koscielny, Cazorla and Wilshere and to see a bench consisting of Ozil and Giroud, I was fairly convinced that we would give Chelsea a stern test. You certainly can’t complain that Wenger didn’t field a good side. The starting eleven indicated his determination to keep the positive momentum going.
I knew that Mourinho would bring a strong team to play against us. To have players like Mata [a world class player], Willian, Eto’o, De Bruyne etc. in what you call your reserve team is a telling statement from the Mourinho and Abramovich that the squad depth indeed have a crucial role to play in a long season. Money can’t always buy you happiness, yeah but it can certainly buy you a strong squad.
Prior to the game, I read that Jenkinson ditched his car and ran 2 miles to training today. I don’t know why he did that, but I loved what he did. Well, that was not the case in the pitch. Yes Jenkinson has had many good games for Arsenal in the early part of last season. Especially the away game to City at  the Etihad and the away game at Allianz Arena. But yesterday’s game showed us that he still has a lot to learn. We all know that his area of weakness was his aerial ability, that was evident in the game yesterday. Interestingly some of his positives, like his crossing also didn’t help him either. Overall he had a bad game. This doesn’t mean that he is a awful player as many fans on Twitter quote, it also doesn’t mean he is as good as some say. He for sure has a lot to learn and improve. I would say to learn more, you need more game time. The more you play, the more focused you can be, the more confident you can be. His nervousness and his decision making at times, was poor yesterday and it eventually led to the first goal. Not to mention, Alan Hansen will bring this up some 4-5 years later in a review show of Match of the Day. I sincerely hope Carl can improve by getting more game time. On a side-note, Bacary Sagna has yet to sign a new contract – which worries me.
Bendtner, oh what can I say about him? My mum would definitely ask me, who is this girl? If she saw him yesterday. Game wise, he was not the same who had some positives to take in from the Norwich game. Some would argue the service was not good enough for him. But I can say that he clearly didn’t do what a centre forward should do. Like to stay on the shoulder of centre half’s or to run into spaces and drag 1 or 2 defenders towards him so that it opens the space for our midfield players etc. After a game like this, Arsene Wenger will surely think about bringing another striker whether to play as a back up or to start with Giroud in January. Again I am a bit concerned what would Arsene do if Giroud picked up an injury?
You know, its never easy to take positives from a game which we lost. But yes there were some. After a bit of rusty performance against Crystal Palace, Santi Cazorla was back giving us a committed performance this time, only to see his efforts go in vain. But the turns and nutmegs were a joy to watch. At times, I was just thinking: ‘this guy, he doesn’t have a weak foot’. His fellow countryman Nacho Monreal was also having a good game. He showed us in the Palace game that he can attack as well and yesterday was not that different too. In the earlier seasons, I was worried with constant injuries to Gibbs and his backup Santos who looked more like a left winger than a left back. But now am least concerned about our left backs. Both Gibbs and Monreal are very good. Something which tells me again that a competition can always bring the best in you.
Is this a tactical victory for Mourinho? In my opinion, no. We were better for most of the time, but as in the past,some individual errors led us to lose the game. But medias if not all, some will hype it as a tactical victory of Mourinho. It’s a bit sad that Wenger still couldn’t get a win against his rival manager even after 8 or 9 attempts. A loss would ensure one more thing – the media didn’t have much to write about us ever since the Villa loss and the BVB loss – but now, am sure many news and articles filled with some negativity will pop up in the coming days.
What’s next for Arsenal? The Liverpool game followed by the Champions League game against BVB Dortmund and then the away game at Old Trafford in the league. The fixture list is unforgiving now, and a loss to Chelsea means that Liverpool game has massive importance. A win in that game would bring confidence back in the team ahead of the above mentioned two fixtures. A loss in the Liverpool game would certainly bring back the negativity that was absent for quite some time. Well that is what football is all about. A loss can overshadow some fine victories achieved over the weeks. Similarly a string of wins can help us forget the League Cup exit last night.
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Photo by Kieran Clarke