Date: Sat 27 March 2010
Teams: Birmingham v Arsenal
Venue: St Andrew’s
Arsenal: Almunia, Sagna, Campbell, Diaby, Clichy, Denilson, Song, Walcott, Fabregas, Rosicky, Bendtner
Birmingham: Hart, Carr, Johnson, Dann, Ridgewell, Gardner, Ferguson, Bowyer, Fahey, Jerome, McFadden
Match Review:
The last time Arsenal visited St. Andrew’s in February 2008 many people felt that it was the turning point in the Gunners’ season. Arsenal would have gone 8 points clear with a victory but an eventful afternoon saw Eduardo suffer a shock injury, Gallas throw a temper tantrum that would ultimately lead him to being stripped of the captaincy and a 90th minute Birmingham equaliser which deprived Arsenal of the three points. All of the headlines before the match were around whether Arsenal could lay to rest the ghosts of that campaign by getting the right result at St. Andrew’s this year. Despite a recent dip in form, Birmingham have had a good season and were difficult to beat at home. Arsenal brought in Walcott and Rosicky to replace Nasri and Arshavin, who were both suffering with small injuries. In the centre of defense, Wenger opted to bring Song back from his usual midfield position to partner Campbell in the absence of the suspended Vermaelen.
Arsenal nearly took an early lead in the opening stages when Rosicky’s cross was met by Diaby but the Lee Bowyer managed to get in the way as the ball deflected goalwards. Alex McLeish had spoken before the match about the importance of playing strong football against Arsenal, and it was clear that Arsenal were in for a tough match as they were subject to a number of strong tackles early on. Walcott had a half shout for a penalty when he was bundled over by Ridgewell in the box but the England winger should have done better shortly after when out muscled Dann to find himself clear through but Joe Hart in the Birmingham goal came out to cut down the angle well.
Birmingham did eventually settle down into the match and had a good chance to score when Bowyer managed to steal the ball from Denilson and the ball ended up at Jerome’s feet, but his strong shot was well saved by Almunia. All Arsenal supporters were left holding their breath near the end of the first half when Cesc Fabregas appeared to pick up an injury after a collision with Craig Gardner. As the half ended, there were strong words between Wenger and McLeish as they disappeared down the tunnel, with the former clearer upset about some of the strong tackles that the Arsenal players were subjected to.
The second half started with the tension of the match clearly increasing. The first real chance went Arsenal’s way when Rosicky made a good run through the middle of the Birmingham midfield and fed Diaby, who should have done much better but could only manage to fire hit shot straight at Hart. Moments later Birmingham almost found themselves in front when Barry Ferguson’s free kick from the centre circle found Roger Johnson and Johnson’s volley across the box flew over Almunia’s head and hit the post and Scott Dann followed up and somehow managed to knee the ball over the bar from a few yards out.
Following that chance, Arsenal started to turn up the pressure and the introduction of Nasri and Arshavin really seemed to change the dynamic of the match. Arsenal had the ball in the back of the net midway through the second half but Diaby’s challenge was deemed too strong in the lead-up to his short past Hart. Moments later Arsenal were in front when Nasri received the ball on the right and then cut in towards the middle and took a few dribbled before driving a strong low shot past Hart into the corner of the goal. Arsenal had a few chances to double their lead but Hart saved well from a Fabregas free kick, Arshavin missed cued on an open chance from close in and Nasri for some reason tried to square the ball instead of shooting when he was one on one with Hart.
As the clock hit 90 minutes it looked Arsenal were going to hold on for tough earned 3 points, but in the second minute of injury time Craig Gardner floated the ball into the box and as Sagna tried to clear the ball it smashed into Kevin Phillips and lobbed up into the air. Manuel Almunia was only able to parry the ball into the air and then watched as it floated over his head and into the goal. The final whistle blew a few minutes later and it looked like the ghosts of St. Andrew’s had some back to haunt Arsenal once again.
81′ [0 - 1] S. Nasri
90′ [1 - 1] K. Phillips
Player Ratings:
Almunia – 5
Goalkeepers for the big sides generally aren’t required to make a huge number of saves during each match as they are typically protected by strong defences but they are usually judged by the one or two times that they are called into action to make a big save. Unfortunately for Arsenal, Almunia just doesn’t seem to tick this box frequently enough. While the build-up to the Birmingham goal was slightly unlucky, there is no question that Almunia should have done much, much better. In a title race as close as this one, I am not surprised that some supporters are starting to question whether we would be at the top looking down if we had a world class keeper between the posts.
Sagna – 7
I don’t think Sagna really did that much wrong in the lead-up to the goal, even though it was his failed clearance that hit Kevin Phillips. Sagna had a pretty productive match and wasn’t really tested much at right back. I do wonder whether Eboue’s creativity from right back would have made a difference today?
Campbell – 7
There was additional pressure on Campbell this afternoon with both of the regular starting centre backs out. Campbell had an efficient match, although in fairness the Arsenal defense was never really put under too much pressure by Birmingham on the afternoon. He has been a good signing by Arsene but I know there are quite a few supporters that are a little worried about whether he can keep up with some of the quick and creative Barcelona players on Wednesday if he plays.
Song – 7.5 (Man of the Match)
As most people had expected, Song slotted in beside Campbell at the heart of the Arsenal defense to replace the suspended Vermaelen. I thought he played well but we also did miss his presence in the centre of the midfield today. I fully expect to see him back in the middle of the park on Wednesday.
Clichy – 7
Clichy linked up well going forward today but some of his old poor crossing habits seemed to have crept back in to his game today. I do think we are seeing Clichy back to his best though after he struggled a bit earlier in the year after coming back from injury.
Denilson – 6.5
Denilson was forced to step into the holding midfield role to cover for Song. While he will score the occasional goal outside of the box, I think the challenge with Denilson sometimes is that he lacks creativity going forward and doesn’t always link up well with Cesc.
Diaby – 7
I thought he was unlucky not to have his name on the score sheet when he had the ball in the back of the net but it was called back for a foul which I thought was just a strong play. I don’t think this was Diaby’s best match but he didn’t really do much wrong either.
Fabregas – 7
Cesc failed to really stamp his authority on the match but I think this was partly due to the efforts of Birmingham’s concentrated effort to almost man mark the Arsenal captain most of the match. He was also subject to a number of strong challenges and there were concerns that Cesc wouldn’t be able to continue after the first half. After the match Wenger commented about his injury. “I don’t know medically. We will have to assess that tomorrow. He got tackled at the knee. We tried to take him of at first but after he said he was alright.”
Walcott – 6.5
Arsene Wenger would have been hoping for the same sort of performance from Walcott when he scored two goals at St. Andrew’s in 2008 in the match where Eduardo was injured. Unfortunately this was not the case and Walcott struggled to really get into the game as the Birmingham defense was generally set-up deep and didn’t give Theo any chances to stretch his legs. Theo did waste one golden chance in the first half when he was set free and his weak shot was easily stopped by Hart.
Rosicky – 7
I thought Rosicky had a good match today. He was strong in possession and looked to press forward and make things happen when he had the ball at his feet. He linked up well a couple of times with Diaby but the French midfielder was unable to finish either chance.
Bendtner – 6.5
Bendtner failed to add to his strong string of recent strong performances. He wasn’t given much to work with today but he also didn’t take his chances when they presented themselves. For example, in the second half Sagna crossed to him and he wasn’t aggressive enough in expecting the ball to come to him which resulted in him missing a good chance to make contact a few yards from goal. I also feel that the big striker should be getting his head on more set pieces and corners than he seems to be this year.
Substitutes:
Nasri – 7
Came on for Rosicky. Nasri added some creativity when he came on which helped us to open up the midfield. His goal was well taken. He was guilty of failing to capitalise on a one on one with Hart after the first goal which could have wrapped it up for us.
Arshavin – 6
Came on for Walcott. Wenger mentioned after the match that Arshavin had a groin problem but he was disappointing when he came on. Not for the first time in recent weeks, he completely bundled an open shot in the 18 yard box and he seemed slightly disinterested at times when he came on.
Supporter’s Review:
A large contingent of Arsenal supporters made the journey northward to St. Andrews for the afternoon kick-off. They could be heard all match and helped to rally the Gunners in their quest to break down the stubborn Birmingham defence. There was plenty of support for Eduardo, who didn’t play on the afternoon, in his first return the ground where he suffered his horrific injury. I know a lot of Arsenal supporters will be angry about the nature of the draw this afternoon but we need to all rally behind the team and make sure that the Emirates is absolutely rocking on Wednesday. There is still a lot to play for this season and hopefully this was just a small bump.
Manager’s Review:
There were a few big decisions for Arsene Wenger to make before the match today. First, in the absence of Vermaelen who missed the match through suspension, Wenger opted to move Song into the centre of defence to partner Campbell. Second, while he would never admit to it, Wenger must have had a thought in the back of his mind on Wednesday’s big match against Barcelona at the Emirates. Arsene decided to start with Walcott and Denilson in the midfield, with Nasri and Arshavin starting on the bench. Although Wenger said after the match that both Nasri and Arshavin had started on the bench due to injuries, it was clear throughout the match that we lacked creativity with two of our more imaginative players off the pitch. I thought Wenger brought them both on at the right time in the match as there was a clear change in our style of play when they were on the pitch.
Wenger was clearly disappointed after the match and I am not surprised as he knows how damaging this result could be for Arsenal’s ambitions this season. “It is a disappointment because we had the game won and we had the chance to score the second goal. I believe the pitch was very difficult to play on and it was a scrappy game. We got slowly on top and played the second half in their half but they defended well and made the game difficult. In the end we got caught.”
Conclusion/Final Thoughts:
Stealing Wenger’s words, today was a “big blow to our chances”, particularly as both Chelsea and Manchester put together dominating performances to give them both the all important 3 points but also a boost to their goal differences. While I wouldn’t say Arsenal are definitely out of the title race, I think this means that we really can’t slip up again for the rest of the season now if we realistically want a chance of being in contention at the end of the season.
I think the most disappointing thing about today was that we knew this was always going to be a difficult match and while Birmingham were difficult to break down, we finally managed to put ourselves in front, only to throw it away in the end. This is not the first time Arsenal have done this in recent years. While we can all talk about Almunia’s poor keeping, the reality is that we shouldn’t have put ourselves in that position. We had chances through Nasri and Arshavin to put the game out of reach, and we were careless with possession in the minutes leading up to the Birmingham equaliser when we should have just held on to the ball and seen out the remaining minutes. Some will say that this is due to a lack of experience with some of the younger players but I don’t buy that. I think we lose focus sometimes when we take the lead and it is frustrating that most of our losses and draws this year have been as a result of errors or lapses instead of being beaten by a piece of individual brilliance. I am not sure who to point the finger at for this problem to be honest. Some of the blame may be Wenger’s inability to ever place fault on his own side, typically pointing to other factors such as the pitch or referee. Some blame has to fall on the players’ shoulders for not learning from previous mistakes and having the will and desire to see out matches when in front.
Whatever the reason, Arsenal have a big match at the Emirates on Wednesday against Barcelona. Hopefully all the players will be fit (Fabregas in particular) and up for this match. The supporters will be right behind the team so let’s make sure that we have a night to remember for the right reasons this year!
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