2. Game Plan Too Obvious
We did it against Manchester City and it worked, so why not try it again right? Wrong.
It was clear from the start what Wenger wanted the boys to do, sit back and invite pressure, and then punish Spurs on the counter attack. But doing that for 90 minutes against an unpredictable Tottenham side was never going to work.
They played with a solo striker in Harry Kane, so neither Mertesacker or Koscielny had tabs on their man marking, like they did with Aguero and Reges. This meant that Kane had the ability to wonder around the box and wait for his chance, and with the absence of Bellerin at right back half the time, it was our captain who had to come out and cover the empty gaps.
As good as Coquelin was today, he never showed a true partnership with Ramsey, and when you don’t have a base of the midfield, you don’t have a midfield at all. Sure, this plan works, but only when you have the likes of Alexis and Walcott starting the game, the two players with serious pace to counter on. Instead, the ball would be cleared and land at the feet of Giroud, who can’t take on players individually, and the only outlet he had been by using his right foot to find Welbeck, another player who simply did not look up for it today.
Too many long balls were coming in over the top as Tottenham ran out of ideas to snatch the winner, but it simply came down to the energy levels of our defence. They couldn’t cope anymore and it only took a split second for them to switch off and the game had changed. I can see Gabriel coming in for Koscielny on Tuesday night against Leicester, something to freshen up the back and make the Frenchman realise his place isn’t that comfortable each week.
This is the biggest lesson Wenger has to learn today, he took a gamble and it didn’t pay off. But in the long run, he can now see that something has to change up-top when playing the top teams.