Arsenal FC: 10 Games That Defined Their Failure in 2010/11
With the season now finished for three weeks, it's time for me to look at some of the games which defined Arsenal's failure in 2010/11. Arsenal suffered 14 defeats in its 58 games, some of which were very hard to take for a number of reasons. Note that not every one of the 10 games I will look at were defeats; I included two draws and even one victory.
1: Newcastle United 4-4 Arsenal (Premier League February 5 2011)
1 of 10
In my opinion, this game was the point at which Arsenal's season took a turn for the worse. It showed the good side of Arsenal, but the bad side as well. I still find it hard to come to terms with the events of that day, and how both teams went down in Premier League history.
Arsenal played beautiful attacking football throughout the first half and cruised into a 4-0 lead. Newcastle looked dead and buried. The first half featured some of the best football Arsenal played all season and featured goals from Theo Walcott, Johan Djourou, as well as a brace from Robin Van Persie that looked like it had secured an easy away win. The second half started much the same, but things turned when Djourou limped injured in the 49th minute.
Alex Song wasn't playing that day, and Abu Diaby had performed admirably in his position in the first half. However, shortly after Sebasten Squillaci replaced Djourou, things changed when Diaby took exception to a typical bone-crunching over-the-ball Joey Barton challenge. Diaby pushed Barton in front of the referee, and was given a straight red card. No action was taken over Barton's challenge, which, in my opinion, should also have elicited a straight red card.
Arsenal still managed to hold out for another 20 minutes, and halfway through the second half they were still 4-0 up. A few years ago Arsenal mastered the art of winning when they were down to 10 men by hitting their opponents on the break, but the current Arsenal team didn't have that mental strength. Newcastle pulled their first goal back through a penalty in the 68th minute, and the fear was already visible in the eyes of the Arsenal players.
Newcastle managed three more goals in the last fifteen minutes, as Arsenal put up a defensive display worthy of a team three leagues below them. Certain players were found very wanting that day, and they will never be viewed the same way by Arsenal fans.
As a lifelong Arsenal fan I will always love and support the team, but unfortunately all but the most blind Arsenal fans knew that the current squad was capable of capitulating in that manner.
I hope I never again see Arsenal put up a display like they did in the second half of that game.
2: Arsenal 2-3 Tottenham Hotspur (Premier League November 20 2010)
2 of 10
This was another game which was a tale of two halves, as Arsenal led 2-0 at the interval and ended up losing 3-2. Since Arsene Wenger took over at Arsenal in 1996, Spurs have not actually been footballing rivals to Arsenal. The rivalry had been more due to the proximity of the clubs than anything else. In those 15 years Spurs have never finished above Arsenal in the league, and it's something that Arsenal fans are very proud of.
They managed to beat Arsenal for the first time in 10 years at the end of the previous season, but that was an away game for Arsenal. They came to the Emirates and were outplayed in the first half with the goals from Samir Nasri and Marouane Chamakh. Arsenal fans looked forward to more of the same in the second half, but it was not to be.
The second half saw Arsenal start very slowly, and they just couldn't get out of that groove for the remainder of the game. Gareth Bale scored an early goal, which was followed mid-way through the half by a Rafael Van Der Vaart penalty. As the minutes ticked by, it became inevitable that Spurs would score, and that goal came with only four minutes left.
Like so many other Arsenal fans, I was disgusted by the team in the second half. No excuse could be offered for their failure in a game which clearly meant more to the fans than the players. I hoped this was finally the game in which lessons would be learned, and it looked like it might have been until the last few months of the season. Arsenal have since drawn away to Spurs in the league, which means they have failed to beat them in their last three league encounters.
It's a situation which must not carry on. The players have to be seen to be willing to die for the cause the next time the clubs meet. It may have been 50 years since Spurs won a league title, and Arsenal may have won six titles in that time, but it still hurts when we don't beat them. The manner of this particular 3-2 defeat was completely unacceptable.
3: Arsenal 1-2 Birmingham City (Carling Cup FInal February 27 2011)
3 of 10
This was supposed to be the game in which the current Arsenal team made its breakthrough to finally win a trophy after almost six barren years. They were without the services of the injured Cesc Fabregas, but at least RVP was playing and in great goalscoring form. Birmingham took the lead, but Arsenal fought back through that man RVP, and started to turn the screw.
As the game wore on, Birmingham's goalkeeper made save after save to keep them in the game, but surely it was only a matter of time before Arsenal got the winner. However, in true Arsenal fashion things took a dramatic turn for the worse in the 89th minute. A harmless ball into the Arsenal box was destined for the arms of Wojciech Szczesny until Laurent Koscielny swung a leg at it and deflected it straight to Obafemi Martins, who then prodded it into the empty net.
I don't think Arsenal fans will ever know exactly what happened between Szczesny and Koscielny, but it looked to me like the keeper had called for the ball and Koscielny should have left it to him. It gave Arsenal no time to recover, and their season effectively ended on that day. The players were unable to recover from that disappointment. What should have been joy for Arsenal fans quickly turned to despair.
.jpg?w=256 "Colts Jaguars Football")
4: Shakhtar Donetsk 2-1 Arsenal (Champions League November 3 2010)
4 of 10
Arsenal had won their first three Champions League group games with ease, and they merely needed to see the last three games out to top their group. A draw away to Shakhtar would probably have been enough to secure first place, and a win would have virtually guaranteed it. However, the manager decided to play a weakened team against a side notoriously difficult to play away to, and Arsenal took nothing from the game.
The signs were good early on, as Theo Walcott streaked away to give Arsenal a 1-0 lead in the ninth minute, but by half time they were behind 2-1. It hurt even more because ex-Arsenal player Eduardo da Silva scored the second goal, but it was no more than Shakhtar deserved. I firmly believe that Arsenal would have won their group if a stronger team had been played in this game, and it also could have made things a lot easier for them in the knockout stages.
They came into the game on the back of five consecutive wins in all competitions, but they went on to lose the following Premier League game at home to Newcastle as well. The players who were rested against Shakhtar failed to do the business against Newcastle, and Arsenal suffered as a result. I hoped the manager had learned his lesson, but clearly the team picked in their next Champions League game proved me wrong.
5: Braga 2-0 Arsenal (Champions League November 23 2010)
5 of 10
Arsenal had lost their previous Champions League group game away to Shakhtar, but they still had the chance to win the group by getting a result from this game. A draw would have guaranteed qualification for the last 16. Braga are a good team at home, and so Arsenal needed to field a strong team.
However, Wenger yet again fielded a weakened team, and once more it came back to haunt him. Arsenal had lost at home to Spurs the previous Saturday, and it was not a good idea to field a weakened team yet again in the Champions League. On the night Arsenal probably deserved at least a draw, they were defeated by Braga's two goals in the last ten minutes.
I could argue that Arsenal should have had a clear penalty given when the scores were level, or that they only had 10 men on the pitch after Emmanuel Eboue went off injured with all of the substitutes used already. However, the fact remains that Arsenal would have had a much better chance of winning the game with a full-strength team, and Wenger chose not to play one. The decision was his and his alone, and it ended up giving Arsenal the most difficult tie of all in the last 16 against Barcelona.
6: Barcelona 3-1 Arsenal (Champions League March 8 2011)
6 of 10
Arsenal had beaten Barcelona 2-1 in the home leg of their last 16 tie, and they needed to put in a fantastic performance to make it through to the last eight. A few crucial decisions were made that night, the most crucial of which was the inclusion of Cesc in Arsenal's starting 11. He had picked up an injury at home to Stoke City only two weeks earlier and clearly wasn't fit to play.
Apparently, it was his decision to play that night, and I'm sure he still regrets it now after his mistake handed Barcelona their first goal. Arsenal needed 11 players who could give everything they had for the whole 90 minutes, but Cesc had very little to offer for the 76 minutes he lasted. At that stage, Arsenal were 3-1 down and needed to find a goal from somewhere to progress to the next round.
Of course, that wasn't the only disappointing event on a night in which the darlings of UEFA proved yet again that they are exempt from the rules other teams have to play by. The ludicrous sending off of RVP by a referee who has never refereed a losing Spanish team in almost 30 games was no surprise at all, and the constant play-acting and badgering of the referee by the Barcelona players was a complete disgrace.
Even with so much working against Arsenal, they nearly got the result they needed in the end. Nicklas Bendtner had a great chance in the last minute to put Arsenal through on away goals, but he wasted it with a poor first touch and Arsenal were out. It also has to be remembered that Arsenal were winning the tie early in the second half, and were dealing with Barcelona's non-stop attacking until RVP was sent packing.
Thus, Arsenal's season had gone from bad to worse. It seemed this was just too much for the players to take following their Carling Cup final defeat.
7: Arsenal 2-3 West Bromwich Albion (Premier League September 25 2010)
7 of 10
I chose this game because it showed what was missing from Arsenal on so many occasions throughout the season. They were playing at home against a newly promoted team and should have had more than enough to beat them despite a few absentees. However, Arsenal simply failed to show up that day until they were 3-0 down with 15 minutes left.
When they did finally wake up, Nasri bagged a brace of goals, and they almost rescued a point. The problem to me was that Arsenal believed they would beat West Brom, and they didn't put in the effort required to do so until it was too late. On various other occasions at home against supposedly lesser opponents, they did the same thing, and ultimately it was their home form which saw them slip to fourth.
This attitude in the Arsenal team needs to be altered. In my opinion, doing so may require a couple of new players.
8: Wigan Athletic 2-2 Arsenal (Premier League December 29 2010)
8 of 10
Arsenal played a lot of games in quick succession over the Christmas programme, with the trip to Wigan coming right after the game at home to Chelsea. Arsenal had not beaten Chelsea in a long time, and their 3-1 victory over them looked like it might be the turning point. They now needed to keep up their momentum to challenge for the league title.
Yet again, Wenger decided to make wholesale changes to the team which did not pay off. Wigan took an early lead when a dive earned them a penalty, but Arsenal fought back to lead 2-1 at half time through goals by Andrey Arshavin and Bendtner. However, they never truly had control of the game, and with only 10 minutes left Squillaci scored a ridiculous own goal to gift Wigan a point.
9: Arsenal 1-1 Liverpool (Premier League April 17 2011)
9 of 10
Arsenal's season was already in rapid decline when Liverpool came to visit them at The Emirates. They had to win this game to keep their chances of winning the league title alive, and the manner in which they threw away their lead will not soon be forgotten. Although Arsenal played very poorly, they were thrown a late lifeline when they got a penalty in the seventh minute of added time. RVP put the penalty away to give Arsenal the lead with injury time as good as over.
All Arsenal had to do was defend for the minute or so the referee might add for the time to take the penalty and the following celebration. However, Liverpool attacked straight from the kick off, and Arsenal looked visibly frightened at the prospect of conceding a goal. Liverpool got a free kick just outside the Arsenal area. The nerves of the Arsenal fans were fraying.
The free kick hit the wall and was cleared towards the edge of the box to the right hand side. Lucas took possession for Liverpool and Arsenal's Emmanuel Eboue was the nearest man to him. With Lucas's back to goal, Eboue only needed to shepherd him towards the sideline, and the game would have ended in an Arsenal victory.
Eboue has never been my favourite Arsenal player because I think he is a loose cannon on the pitch. He proved this sentiment exactly right by running into the back of Lucas inside the penalty area and knocking him over to concede a penalty. Liverpool put the penalty away, and Arsenal's season took yet another turn for the worse with their third consecutive home draw in the league.
10: Arsenal 1-0 Manchester United (Premier League May 1 2011)
10 of 10
The reason I chose a win among all the defeats and draws was due to the manner in which this win occurred in the middle of Arsenal's complete collapse. United came to visit Arsenal knowing that a win would end Arsenal's chances of winning the league, and almost definitely guarantee their 19th title as well. They were completely outplayed, and only some poor refereeing saw Nemanja Vidic stay on the field after a first half hand ball wasn't spotted in his own penalty area.
Arsenal showed the spirit, determination and discipline that had been missing in almost every game since the Carling Cup final, and Aaron Ramsey scored the goal to give them three points. It gave some brief hope to Arsenal fans as well, but this was followed by only one point in their last three games. Arsenal could easily have finished second or third had they continued with the form they showed in this game. The reasons they didn't are infuriating to fans.
It's difficult to explain how the Arsenal players were able to raise themselves in the middle of that terrible run to beat the eventual champions. If they were capable of that performance on that day, then why were they not capable of the same against so-called lesser teams? Hopefully Wenger can find the answers over the summer, and the Arsenal fans can look forward to a better season starting in August.
That's it for today.
See you tomorrow.
.jpg?w=480 "Colts Jaguars Football")
