Chelsea 2 - Arsenal 0: Gunners given the Blues by a Drog.
By Stanley Croyance
9 Comments
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Match Analysis
Starting last week, Arsenal were the top scorers in the league with 60 goals. However what wasn't noticed, was that they had let in 25 goals in 23 games, now the tally stands at 60 goals scored, 30 goals against, such stats aren't for champions, especially after comprehensive bashings by their main rivals.


Chelsea carried on from the November demolishing when they beat Arsenal 3-0, starting with a 4-5-1 team that was tasked with defending deep and striking on the counter with venom. Arsenal came with a 4-5-1 as well, with Arshavin the point man, sound similar to November?


Chelsea only needed 8 mins to take the lead, Terry heading a corner across goal, and Drogba thumped in the loose ball. Where was the Arsenal marking? Could Almunia have closed the ball down quickly, especially since the ball went in at the near post. At that point, Arsenal had made a decent start, keeping the ball, moving forward quickly. From then on, Chelsea knew it was counter attack time.


One of the main differences in the result was from the players that wear the number 1 jerseys. Fabregas floated a ball over the Chelsea defence, and Arshavin was one on one with Cech, he shot, Cech saved it when a goal looked certain. Then a few minutes later, Chelsea scored a second, 5 passes box to box saw Drogba cut inside Vermaelen andClichy before blasting past Almunia. Could Almunia have stopped it, the ball was in front of him, he protected his face before protecting his net.


Chelsea knew it was game over midway through the second half, the midfielders dropped deep, and broke on the counter. Arsenal would now face the problems they have faced against Utd and Chelsea, pass pass pass, cross and the ball is headed away. Where was the shooting? Nasri had the chance to shoot and chose the dribble, chance gone, Fabregas fired a freekick around the wall and Cech saved his team. Drogba also rattled the bar with a freekick, similar to his effort in November, Almunia just preferred to watch the ball and not save it.


As an Arsenal fan, this is not painful, it was expected. This team lacks a lot of characteristics to win big games that decide events. Who took responsibility to bring the team back when they went 2-0? No One. Who was organizing the team when they never had the ball? No One. Leadership is a big problem. The team never played good football either, too predictable, and the best football is effective and winning football. A good team scores a lot, Arsenal do that, but they let in too many, that is bad.


Another problem is the loss of form of too many players, Almunia is finished for the season, he has no confidence, Clichy looks slow and indecisive, Walcott just looks completely lost. Tactically, Arsenal never improved from November, too many small players, still can't defend a counter, still don't shoot from outside the box, still pass pass pass pass. Long way to go.


Well done Chelsea, good luck fighting Utd for the title.


9  Comments
08.02.2010 10:40
Almunia scored a 1??? hohoho! you're right, there are no leaders in the team. Fabregas and Arshavin could not bare the responsibility and they've been presented with a chance, Gallas also. Time for major changes
08.02.2010 12:07
Basically , Gunners were not allowed to play their game...Chelsea controlled the midfield..And helped by too many basic errors ... Almunia 1 ?? you are more critical than Louis Van Gaal .... But yes , collective loss of form is a serious concern for Arsenal..lets see if there is enough ammunition left with Gunners for another flurry
08.02.2010 15:07
arsenal are becomin same-ol same-ol... their thru balls were easily intercepted... since there was no player that was effectively played out wide, the fullbacks could easily tuck in, and stop the thrus... almunia was pathetic, yes, but what about the gunners defence for the 2nd goal? its 5 agaiinst 2 in favor of arsenal on chelseas break. drogba has the ball, anelka makes a decoy run and 3(!) players follow him blindly, drogba just dodges 2 and smashes the ball in with his left... dissapointing...
08.02.2010 15:18
i swear to god i sooo saw this coming,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,, XD
08.02.2010 15:25
u saw it coming? i saw it happenin beforetime, specifically, a week/year ago, when they played man utd at the emirates... same-ol, same-ol
08.02.2010 15:28
wait, satn gave a 9... to drogba? how...? okay, he was really good, but not "stans-9" good... i thought "stans-9" is what a player gets when he dribbles past all 10 outfield players, and then dribbles the goalie, twice, to score the goal of the century, 5-6 times in one match...
08.02.2010 16:07
That second goal of his was emphatic, if Ibrahimovic/Rooney/Torres had scored that, more would have been made of the goal, to time his touch to bringing the ball inside and smashing it straight at the keeper, who he knew would be too scared to do anything was intelligent. I do think after his second, he just played an intelligent team game, not for himself but for his team mates. Arsenal never played well in my view, you can keep the ball all day,but if you don't show any sign of shooting, what is the point?
By  dank
08.02.2010 16:11
"1 for being human" - love it!
09.02.2010 09:27
I do agree with Arsene to an extent, when he said Chelsea dint play football, but then they dint need to. He also said Chelsea are more experienced with knowing when to pull players' shirts which is actually true. Chelsea were not really better, pretty much the goalkeeper was the only real difference between the 2 sides. Did you guys notice Chelsea taking as long as they could in throw ins, free kicks, everything after having the 2 goal lead, I don't think United did that even when they had the lead at the Emirates. Its not easy for good footballing teams to beat Chelsea with them getting all their bodies in front of goal defending and playing dirty, physical and spectator unfriendly football. I hope Barcelona draw Chelsea in the quarters, only they can show the Arsenal kids that beautiful football can bring results.
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