Arsenal vs. Tottenham: Gunners Improve, Yet Still Desperately Frustrating

In contrast to Manchester United, Manchester City and Chelsea, Arsenal are not a team that can count on depth over the course of the season. Whereas those teams can call on Dimitar Berbatov, Nigel de Jong and Alex, respectively, Arsenal can only summon the likes of Andrei Arshavin, Francis Coquelin and Per Mertesacker. Arsenal’s first XI can compete with anyone in the world, but Arsenal’s second XI would be lucky to stay in the Premier League.

This has been illustrated over the opening weeks of the season, and perhaps best on display in today’s loss against Tottenham at White Hart Lane. Despite enjoying the better run of play over the first hour of the game, with Gervinho whiffing on a Robin van Persie-inspired move, the Gunners showed the resilience to equalize without displaying the resolve necessary to win.

The absences of Jack Wilshere and Alex Song in midfield, and Thomas Vermaelen in defense, meant that the North London sides played end-to-end football instead of a one-sided affair with Tottenham on the back foot. While Luca Modric and Gareth Bale were kept in check for large portions of the game, the last 15 minutes saw substitute Carl Jenkinson caught out on a throw-in that led to Bale being fed in towards goal, culminating in Kyle Walker’s long-distance winner. The injured Sagna would not have shown such naïveté.

So, too, with improved new boy Mertesacker, who looked more comfortable with the pace of the Premier League than in recent weeks, yet still had a flawed performance. Ex-Gunner Emmanuel Adebayor’s perfect floated pass picked out the onrushing Rafael van der Vaart for Tottenham’s opener, bypassing the out-of-position German International, who was caught double-marking Jermain Defoe instead of following the diminutive Dutchman. Had Vermaelen, or even Laurent Koscielny been on the pitch, I doubt such positional issues would have occurred. 

And so it is that Arsenal fell to their heated rivals on a day when they were arguably the Spurs’ full equal.

How, then, to characterize an Arsenal team that displayed something greater than the woeful ineptitude that plagued some of its performances earlier in the season, without hitting the heights that fans, if not pundits, know the team is capable of reaching?

I would argue that the loss is not cause for significant concern. Whereas systematic problems existed just a few weeks ago, with lineups that included enough new faces to preclude the possibility of any discernible team rhythm on display over 90 minutes, individual efforts were to blame for this afternoon’s defeat. Had Gervinho felt inclined to put away his eight-yard effort 29 minutes into the affair, the match’s outcome may well have been very different.

The return of Thomas Vermaelen cannot come soon enough, especially now that Bacary Sagna will likely be facing a long spell on the sidelines. His tactical acumen and technical abilities have been sorely missed in the Arsenal back line. Perhaps more importantly, his leadership qualities and work rate would go a long way towards calming an Arsenal ship that has yet to make it into clear waters this season.

Regardless, Arsenal have yet again spurned a chance for valuable points that will, not may, come back to haunt them at the end of the season.