Arsenal's points in the north

Arsenal's points in the north

By Myles Palmer

On Saturday, Arsenal went up north on a wet, windy day and lost 1-0.

That wasn't interesting because it was an old story.

It's pathetic and rather boring.

So losing at Sheffield United for the first time since 1973 was not very interesting, except to historians. We've seen this scenario many times before.

It's the last Saturday of December and they go to Yorkshire and all over England it's a squally day of wind and driving rain. The puddles were so deep that Watford v Wigan was abandoned after 51 minutes with the score at 1-1

At Spurs, in a heavy monsoon, Liverpool beat them 1-0 with a goal by Luis Garcia in first-half stoppage time. Spurs gave them a pounding after that but Liverpool held on and then kept another clean sheet today when they stuffed Bolton 3-0 at Anfield

AT BRAMALL LANE the official score was Neil Warnock 1 Arsene Wenger 0.

But the real score was Neil Warnock 2, Arsene Wenger 0 because the Blades had a good goal disallowed.

ARSENE started without Fabregas!

He had Aliadiere and RVP up front with Baptista on the left (!!!!!) and Rosicky on the right. Flamini was in central midfield with Gilberto.

When it started, RVP took so long to get into the game, and took such offence at being roughly treated, that he set the tone for an utterly dire Arsenal performance, one of the worst ever in the Premiership.

In the long run, this Arsenal performance may save Sheffield United from relegation and may cost Arsenal a place in the so-called Champions League.

Baptista wasn't ready for this challenge and may never be.

Aliadiere, 23 now, should not be at Arsenal.

So there was no attack and no hope of scoring on a windy day of mud, rain and rugged play by the northern Englishmen.

When a Baptista- Rosicky move broke down, Sheffield United broke and a simple ball was played up to Christian Nade, who rolled Toure and accelerated towards the penalty area. Senderos was standing too far away from Toure and reacted far too late.

Lehmann sold himself by coming to the edge of his penalty area, giving Nade one option, which he accepted, steering the ball past Lehmann's left arm and into the net. If Lehmann had backed off, Nade had more work to do, more decisions to make, and Toure might have recovered lost yards.

If you want to defend with a high line, both centrebacks have to concentrate, anticipate danger, and cover each other. Half of football is played without the ball.

I MISSED the first half of the Arsenal game because my pal Bob took me to see Chelsea play Fulham. By the time I got home from Stamford Bridge it was 5.50pm and half-time and our friends Jenny and Dave had arrived for a two-night visit. So I chatted to them and then switched on the second half. Then I watched it all again Football First.

Midfielder Phil Jagielka played the last half-hour as a stand-in keeper for Paddy Kenny, who pulled his groin taking a goal kick. Amazingly, Arsenal didn't cross the ball and jump at Jagielka, who trains with the keepers from time to time. Late on, Jagielka tipped over a mishit shot by Robin van Persie.

Jagielka said, “We expect that now from Arsenal, we have had it a couple of times. They don’t care to shake hands, they get very upset. If they want to be like big babies, let them be big babies. If they don’t want to shake hands, we are not bothered about that.

“That’s what happens when you have a lot of foreign players in there that don’t like the nitty gritty of the Premiership.That’s the way it is. I am sure they are just disappointed to lose but, as far as I am concerned, you’ve still got to be sporting enough to offer a handshake if someone comes up to you. I don’t know if it’s us or what.”

Jagielka also said, “I was surprised they didn’t test me more. The way Arsenal play, they try to overcook it sometimes with too many passes. It’s either the best goal you have ever seen in your life or one too many passes. That suited us down to the ground.”

CHELSEA-FULHAM was interesting because I'd seen the same game on Boxing Day 2005, when Chelsea were playing well and Fulham still gave them a very close contest which looked like finishing 2-2 until Crespo won it with a volley which few, if any, Premiership strikers could have scored.

Clearly, Chelsea are now missing Gallas, Cech, Terry and Joe Cole, and also Robben, who only starts alternate games, if that.

Former Arsenal right back Moritz Volz grafted superbly in midfield for a Fulham side who were without Bouba Diop and Knight, plus Boa Morte, who was on the bench.

Amazingly, Fulham took a throw on the left, Radzinsky dummied and Volz hit the ball past Hilario at the near post : 1-0 to Fulham. On TV we saw it deflect off Paulo Ferreira who played in central defence with Carvalho

The Fulham fans, crammed into the far end, went suitably berserk. Chelsea's 30,000 geezers were somewhat stunned. I thought it made the game more intertesting

Kalou, a kid, was fragile and raw but played the whole 90. When Shevchenko came on in 57 it was not for Kalou but for Geremi.

Then a Lampard shot that was going wide was deflected in off Liam Rosenior for a jammy equaliser.

At 1-1 Bob said, "They need two more goals."

Lampard zoomed into a loose ball in a wide position near the byeline, glanced quickly over his shoulder, and clipped over a cross to the far post to give Drogba a comfortable header for 2-1.

Bob had said Chelsea needed two more goals and he was right. When Frank Queudrou delivered a not-too-dangerous-looking cross from the left, Essien dived under it, Drogba kicked fresh air, and Ballack's panicky right foot swing failed to connect.The ball hit him on the left ankle and broke to McBride, whose stabbed shot was blocked by Hilario's foot. Carlos Bocanegra knocked in the rebound for 2-2.

Where was Carvalho? Does Mourinho tell him to man-mark? Carvalho should have been protecting the zone on front of the goal, where three players who are not centrebacks all missed a routine ball into the box.

I enjoyed the game but all it told me was that Chelsea, like Arsenal, are missing Gallas.

Chelsea were missing Gallas at the end of August and most of their fans were well aware of how important he was.Replacing a defender as good as Gallas is virtually impossible. Mourinho knew that and so did the supporters.

Obviously, a 2-2 draw was a massive result for Fulham. And a mega-result for Manchester United, who went six points clear when they beat Reading 3-2. Their first goal was almost offside and their third goal was definitely offside. Today Man United blew it by drawing 2-2 at Newcastle. Even for them, a 2-1 lead is not enough.

Mourinho said that five players were not performing, naming Sheva, SWP and Boulahrouz. He also criticised Joe Cole for postponing a foot operation.

"Maybe we are not as good as we think," he said."Maybe I am not such a good manager, maybe the players are not such good players. We cannot defend, we concede incredible goals, and in attack we have one player."

In winning four consecutive titles with Porto and Chelsea, Jose Mourinho has been ahead at Xmas every time, and often well ahead.

He has never been under pressure like this before. Chelsea are hated by fans of other clubs. They are nobidys favourite second club. Everybody knows that the billionaire bought two titles and very few want to see him claim a third, especially with Mourinho at the helm .

And the Special One is feeling the pressure. He is playing too many people out of position, and the new superstars have compromised his style of play without delivering in an alternative formation. He needs a chairman or an MD to put an arm round him and say, "Relax, don't slag your players off, we can still win it." Who can do that for him? Who can put an arm round the boss's shoulder and reassure him the title can still be won? There is nobody there who can do that. Only John Terry.

Chelsea go to Aston Villa on Tuesday night.

Aston Villa are hard to beat and Martin O'Neill will see that game as an opportunity.

Arsenal play Alan Pardew's Charlton.

Fortunately, that game is not in the North.

There are 26 points at stake in the North this year : Man City, Middlesbrough, Bolton, Newcastle, etc etc.

26 is a lot of points !

League points won in the North so far : 8

Premiership games coming up in the North : 5

Available points from those games : 15

Points I think Arsenal will get, even with Gallas back : 5

To Arsenal fans I'd say : Happy New Year ! And enjoy your home games.