Easy Run In... What Easy Run In?

With just a point needed to ensure third place and an improved points tally over last season, Arsenal visited Ewood Park. Given their proclivity to gift points when least expected, one never really knows when this famous festival known as St Totteringham’s day will actually come.

Sam Allardyce has a singular footballing philosophy – hoof the ball up the pitch. This fact is amply demonstrated by his preferring to sit up in the stands to watch the said high balls, rather than on the touchline, dictating tactics to the team. Tactics, what tactics?

And within 10 seconds of the start, that’s exactly what they did, and got a free kick too. Less than five minutes later, another free kick. But both were kept out by Arsenal. In between these two hoofed shots, Vela had a golden chance to score, but decided it was a good time to remind us Arsenal fans why exactly he doesn’t make it to the team often enough.

However, ten minutes later, Van Persie showed us, and Vela, what is missing from the Arsenal attack, as he pounced on a flick on from Sagna to give Arsenal the lead. It also seemed to me that this was Sagna’s first real productive assist this season.

Following that goal, the game settled into a familiar pattern. Arsenal trying to out-pass Rovers, and Rovers trying to get win fouls in the Arsenal half and try to score with set pieces. Neither approach paid dividends though, and the game meandered aimlessly for the rest of the half. Just before the break though, Blackburn’s pressure paid off. With some shambolic defending on hand to help him, David Dunn had the easiest of tap-ins to equalise for the home side. The term that comes to mind is S.O.S, or Same Old S**t.

The second half was as predictable as it has been all season. Arsenal had the majority of the possession, but no creativity or incision to create chances. Substitutes like Eduardo hardly touched the ball, while Arshavin had a very good chance saved.

On the contrary, the mid-field lost the ball in dangerous locations often, and so, in spite of superior possession, it always seemed that it was the Arsenal goal that was more suspect. My fears were realised midway into the second half. A corner ball was floated just a yard from goal, and Fabianski was left punching the air, while a truck called Samba rolled him over to give Rovers the lead. Arsene Wenger’s look said it all.

The defensive woes just seem to mount. Arsenal have now conceded 40 goals in the league. Abysmal! Terrible! Unbelievable!. Running out of adjectives here – this is so not the sign of a championship winning side. How can we say the signings of Vermaelen and Campbell have boosted the defence when we still concede more goals than last season?

What struck me during the game and later too, was the sheer lack of pace in the Arsenal side. After having successfully defended free kicks, the team seemed to be completely lost on how to launch a counter attack. The whole team was still inside their own half, and there seemed to be simply no way to quickly turn defence into attack. What use the speed of Walcott, Eboue and Vela? Compare this with Arsenal of a few years, when it took less than 20 seconds to score. Compare this too, with Chelsea on Sunday, when their speed resulted in the regular scything of Liverpool’s defence and the winner as well. Even the passes were slow. Arsenal are known for slick, quick passing, but the speed of the passes was snail-like, and easily intercepted.

The other thing that I found interesting, and disappointing, was the number of times the Arsenal players had to resort to fancy footwork like flicks, back passes and so onto get past the defence. What that means to me is that if you have to resort to trickery so often, then you don’t have the requisite technique, strength or pace to get past the defence. Again, compare this to how Malouda got past the Kop defenders on Sunday (I am not including Drogba in the comparison as he is a freak – not many are like him).

And finally, the team movement is such that many players converge in and around the ball. Presumably, this is to give the player in possession options. However, the support playes are so close to the ball, it’s actually quite easy for the opposition to crowd out the Arsenal players and stop the attack. With players not being spread, there is also little risk of leaving space for a fast player.  This suppresses creativity.

But that’s it then. Arsenal have managed just one point in the last 4 matches, scored four and conceded seven, to watch any title challenge slip by. So much for “an easy run-in”. Who would’ve thought that we would have to wait till the last game to secure third place.

By the way, did I mention I watched the game in High Definition? Bloody HD!