Ox is the 1-2 watch out for

<Insert cartoon from Narz's post here. Remove girl and put jade guy.>

I expected zero points from the game and my expectations were duly met by Arsenal. They never fail to deliver zero points. It is only when I expect them to win that things kick in. At 1-1 I had foolishly begun to hope that we could salvage something from this game and step up the pressure on Chelsea but it was not to be.

1. It was going to be a game decided on the flanks and it indeed was. Giving Ox a start above Arshavin was a courageous and excellent decision by the boss but this meant even weaker protection for our fullbacks for Ox hasn't yet learnt how to go forward without abandoning his defensive duties. He tended to overdo the staying back part initially and was left out of position when his team mates were expecting him to have made the run ahead. More than once good passes from Walcott, Song and Ramsey found him out of position. When he decided to go forward and run at Evra he left Djourou undefended. But, it was his direct approach in a game where Arsenal struggled to attack at all that yielded the goal. From last night, it looks like The Ox can be a very exciting player indeed.

2. Showboating, selfish Nani completely dominated Djourou on the left wing and could have easily created more than three goals had he an inkling of what team play meant. He kept taking shots and going for goal on his own when he could have easily picked out a cross/teed it up for Rooney/Welbeck. Giggs, a more mature head and only player in the Manu squad I have some sort of respect for, did what Nani should have done and placed a perfect cross after easily beating Djourou. His first attempt from the left wing for Manu = goal.

3. The extent to which Arsenal's passing and movement was failing was clear from the number of long range shots attempted by Arsenal. It was frustrating to watch. A team known to make the foolish n+1th pass instead of shooting was spraying weak attempts by the dozen from outside the D. As Andy Gray said in FIFA 09, "the goalkeeper will take them all day long", and he did.

4. Last night I thought Wenger had lost it when he subbed Ox for Arshavin, that age was catching up with him and his stubbornness was beginning to cost us points. But it seems stupid to think that now. Wenger was the one who started Ox (dropping Arshavin) against Manu in a game that he himself described as "must-win". If he knew what he was doing then, I am quite sure he knew what he was doing when he was taking him off. What was apparent to millions on TV would have surely been apparent to Wenger. Wenger almost never subs at half time, but he did sub Djourou for Nico Yennaris, a reserve team player sent out for a PL debut. And that worked well didn't it? If he says it was because Ox was cramping then I am ready to believe him.

5. For all the Djourou berating it would do good to bear in mind that it was Vermaelen who left Valencia unmarked for the first goal. That's Valencia  beating Vermaelen in the air. Who would've thunk!

All said and done, this game wasn't a disaster. Nothing shocking in losing to a team that's just three points off the top playing with a team with 1-2 many injuries (heh).