Podolski Rescued Lacklustre Gunners

Match Review: Anderlecht 1 Arsenal 2 - Champions League - 22.10.14

Arsenal fans have long had to put up with the team making it hard for themselves, just look at the way we won the FA Cup. But Wednesday night’s game in Belgium was quite ridiculous, even by our standards. I’m struggling to think of many less inspiring performances we’ve produced, especially against an opposition we should have been beating with ease. For ninety minutes we pretty much embarrassed ourselves, yet somehow, despite going a goal down, we turned the game around in stoppage time to steal the points.

With Szczesny suspended and Ospina joining the staggering injury list indefinitely, Emiliano Martinez made his Champions League debut in goal for us. Martinez’s most prominent moment in an Arsenal shirt before Wednesday was in the insane 7-5 win over Reading in the League Cup. In that game, he let in an absolute howler that sent us 3-0 down, so Arsenal fans could be forgiven for being a little apprehensive about the young stand in. Slightly surprisingly, Wenger decided to continue with Monreal at centre back and use Chambers in the right back role. Ramsey was fit enough to start, but Arteta stayed on the bench.

While we controlled the first half, it was the type of control that matters very little, as it yielded no reward. Chances were at a premium, although there were a few flashes from Alexis, and Welbeck looked like he’d have been dangerous should we have been able to actually get the ball to him near the goal. Anderlecht looked troublesome on the break too and our makeshift defence struggled at times, with Monreal receiving an early yellow card. It was a horrible first half to watch. Our passing was slow and largely pointless and only Alexis looked like he was giving his all to the game.

The second half was just as mind numbing as the first, as we looked less and less like we would be able to find a way through a disciplined, but not exactly solid Anderlecht defence. Despite how poor we were, we did manage to create a few chances and Cazorla should have scored when sent clear by Alexis, but the keeper saved his rather tame effort. Ramsey and Alexis himself also had chances to open the scoring, but then disaster struck and we were punished for our profligacy.

Defensively it was a car crash, as our back four was pulled apart embarrassingly. Gibbs was barely in the picture as he’d been caught far too far forward and Monreal allowed Praet all the time in the world to turn an cross. Mertesacker was in no man’s land and Flamini and Chambers contrived between them to mark the same man and leave Najar free to head beyond Martinez. Now instead of a frustrating draw, we were faced with an embarrassing and damaging defeat. Wenger’s response was to bring on both Chamberlain and Campbell, replacing Welbeck and Flamini. However, we looked more likely to concede than equalise, as Anderlecht continued to torment our jittery defence. They really should have scored from a number of counter attacks, one of which ended with the ball looping onto our crossbar. We looked well beaten and I don’t think any of us thought that we had a goal in us. But as has been the case this season, we finally clicked to find a late goal.

The equaliser came from a move down the right and a beautiful Chambers cross that flew over towards the back post. The cross perfectly picked Kieran Gibbs, who planted a fantastic first-time side foot into the far bottom corner. A brilliant finish at a vital moment in the game, with just a minute left to play and we looked to have salvaged a rather undeserved point. But unbelievably, we somehow turned an undeserved point into an absolutely scandalous win in the first minute of stoppage time.

This time it was Chamberlain doing the hard work, winning the ball back and crossing towards the far post from the left side this time. Alexis chested the ball down and showed stunning control to work an angle for a cut back across goal. The ball rebounded off an Anderlecht defender and fell perfectly for Lukas Podolski, who took a touch and smashed it into the roof of the net.

I almost felt a little guilty celebrating, but late turnarounds have become par for the course for us this season. Crystal Palace, Everton and the game against Hull at the weekend all involved very late goals to get us out of trouble, while a host more have involved us coming from behind. It’s a terrible habit to get into because, inevitably, we won’t be able to save every game and it means that our standard is way below where it needs to be. We were terrible last night and despite the win, it was incredibly concerning to see us play in such a slow and lethargic way. The defence was an absolute mess too, Chambers was not convincing in the right back role and Kieran Gibbs was poor with his positioning, namely in being far too far up the pitch pretty much every time they counter attacked. Flamini had a poor game, whilst Ramsey looks a shadow of last year’s world beater. We have a lot of injuries, but we really should be playing a lot better and we are going to create a lot of problems for ourselves later in the season by dropping so many points now. But a win is a win, despite the circumstances and we have to put this behind us and show a much improved performance against a very beatable Sunderland side.

Teams

Anderlecht (4-4-1-1)
Proto, Vanden Borre, Mbemba Mangulu, Deschacht (Y), Acheampong, Tielemans, Defour, Najar, Praet (Dendoncker 88'), Conte, Cyriac (Suárez 83’)
Subs
Suárez, Colin, Kljestan, Dendoncker, Roef, Kabasele, Mitrovic

Arsenal (4-3-3)
Martinez, Chambers, Mertesacker, Monreal (Y), Gibbs, Flamini (Chamberlain 75’), Ramsey, Wilshere (Podolski 84’), Sánchez, Cazorla, Welbeck (Y) (Campbell 75’)
Subs
Huddart, Bellerin, Arteta, Rosicky, Chamberlain, Campbell, Podolski

Player Ratings

Martinez - 7/10 - Made some important saves to keep us only one goal down
Chambers - 5/10 - A tricky evening in defence, but provide a great assist for Gibbs
Mertesacker - 5/10 - A very poor performance by his standards, looked out of sorts
Monreal - 5/10 - The sooner he can get back to left back the better
Gibbs - 6/10 - Defensively poor, but scored a cracking goal
Flamini - 5/10 - A poor game for him and isn’t looking good enough for the club
Ramsey - 5/10 - Very quiet and had little influence over the game
Wilshere - 6/10 - Also quiet, but looked most likely of the midfield to create a goal
Alexis - 8/10 - Our best player, worked his socks off and created most of our chances
Cazorla - 6/10 - Another quiet performer and missed two very good chances
Welbeck - 6/10 - Again, subdued, but didn’t get much service
Subs
Chamberlain - 6/10 - Helped create the winner and did an ok job in central midfield
Campbell - 6/10 - Look busy and could be a useful option for us this season
Podolski - N/A - Can’t really rate on eight minutes of game time, but made a decisive contribution

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