Blackburn Rovers 4 - 3 Arsenal: Perfect example of how poor defending can cost you points

Back to our old selves, eh?

For the first time this season we were fine going forward. The zip was back into the passing and the players movement and we really looked like we could stick a few pass this Blackburn defence and get ourselves a good victory. Along with our new found grit and determination at the back, a win was looking good.

Those were my thoughts during the first half, but I guess I really should have known better, huh?

It was classic Arsenal out there. Lots of posession and chances, but a distinct lack of organisation at the back which is what ultimately cost us the game. The wasted chances at the end just compounded everything.

Do I think we were unlucky? Yes and no. On the face of it, conceding two own goals and one offside goal just screams bad luck. Looking at it in more detail, there are most certainly things Arsenal should have done better to avoid these types of situations.

I'll break it down goal-by-goal:

1st Goal: Song does well to win the ball in the middle of the park, but it rolls out to Hoillet who has too much space. At this point he probably should've been closed down by a midfielder, but wasn't. The backline tried to hold it's position in an attempt to play anyone running in behind offside, but there were clear signs that this back-four have yet to develop a solid understanding. Both Koscielny and Santos were too deep, and because of this there was a nice gap for Yakubu to run into, receive a good pass and score with an accomplished finish.

So two fundamental mistakes here: the first allowing Hoillet too much space in a dangerous position, the second the inability to hold a straight defensive line.

2nd Goal: Welcome back, weakness to set-piece. Arshavin initially does well to track Rowe back but gives away a free-kick in a dangerous position. Rochina's ball in was actually pretty poor but when the defenders are that close to goal any lucky deflection can cause problems.

The problem here wasn't Song not anticipating the defender missing the ball, it was van Persie not winning the header against Givet. With a free-kick that close you have to win that first header and if you don't, it causes all sorts of problems.

Could Song have read it better? It's difficult to say, and would be a harsh criticism of him because the same could have and probably would have happened to anyone else.

3rd Goal: It's offside. That's all I can really say. Okay, so Koscielny failed to clear the corner and the ball fell to N'Zonzi in a dangerous area, but then after that you can't really account for poor decsisons from the linesman.

4th Goal: Caught on the counter. Djourou came across and took a gamble in attempting to win the ball from Olsson, but misses and put his team in all sorts of trouble. The rest of the defenders were running back and on the back foot, so the chances of an own goal were pretty high. It's unfortunate, but preventable. If Djourou holds Olsson up instead of diving in, then he might have given the other defenders the time to get back and set themselves.

So three of those goal were most definitely preventable; let's not let the fact that two were own goals blind us from the fact that it was just poor defending in the lead up to the goals that created these situations.

Then at the end, we had two excellent chances to rescue a point but neither Mertesacker or Chamakh could get their headers on target which just made things worse in the end. Fact is, better defending means we wouldn't be in a situation where we're relying on a late goal to get a point away to the team that's bottom of the table with no win in four games.

One has to wodner: how much of our defensive frailties are down to the personnel? No matter who we buy, the players are making the same fundamental mistakes time after time. Surely this is a coaching issue.

I've seen all those idiotic knee-jerk threads in the general section about Koscielny, Mertesacker, Song, et al. And I've seen all the tweets and forum posts about how bad they are, about how we should have signed more Premier League experience, about how slow Mertesacker is, about how bad Song is... it goes on and on, but let's be real here. You could have put the best defenders and the best holding midfielders in the same situation, and they would have made the same mistakes because that is the way they are being coached to play.

A back-line consisting of a player making his third appearance and a player making his first start is being told to hold a high-line and play an offside trap, something that requires great understanding and organisation. In what way is this wise?

Then our defensive midfielder is being told to get forward, influence the play, support the attack, even though there's an unreliable back-line that needs protection. Again, where is the logic behind that?

So while the players may not play well on the day, let's not understate the important of training, coaching and tactics to allow the team to defend properly. I get the impression we just throw them out there and say: "Go on, just defend."

Why did we just give Santos a start when Gibbs was doing okay? Not that Santos was awful or anything, but Gibbs has more experience playing with Koscielny and Sagna than Santos.

Why did we bring Djourou on for the injrued Sagna, when Coquelin has more experience playing right back? Djourou looked completely lost in that position.

There's just so much wrong with us defensively. It's baffling how these same issues keep coming out. It really is.

Its officially in our DNA to feck up leads.

Same old story with defending. I thought bringing in Djourou at rightback was a joke of a decision when Coquelin has the pace to deal with Hoilett.

And our finishing is a joke as well. Mertesacker, Chamakh, Gervinho...all with superb chances to get something out of the game.

For the past year, I can't think of a week where Arsenal hasn't had me depressed, whether its through matters on or off the pitch

I just want to see what arsenes excuse is gonna be this time

Good attack.. Pathetic defense..
The biggest flop.. Mets**kr..
Djurou pathetic..
and Kos u too today...
Banging my head...
Samba >>>>>>> Metskr
Santos excellent debut.. Attack was good.. All played well.. Even Chamakh scored..!
Gervinho had a very good game.. All others were good..

Wilson37 wrote:Good attack.. Pathetic defense..
The biggest flop.. Mets**kr..
Djurou pathetic..
and Kos u too today...
Banging my head...
Samba >>>>>>> Metskr
Santos excellent debut.. Attack was good.. All played well.. Even Chamakh scored..!
Gervinho had a very good game.. All others were good..

have to agree with this ! we should of got PL experienced defenders

i did see a different Arsenal towards the end,going all in!question is,where is that level of passion//drive at the start of the match?

lol worthy game.

InvalidComment wrote:i did see a different Arsenal towards the end,going all in!question is,where is that level of passion//drive at the start of the match?

What match were you watching? The start of the match we were brilliant.

Apart from Santos' shitty positioning, we were playing solid football and connecting very well.

shit got so bad we HAD to go 4-4-2 at the end

the_gooner wrote:

InvalidComment wrote:i did see a different Arsenal towards the end,going all in!question is,where is that level of passion//drive at the start of the match?

What match were you watching? The start of the match we were brilliant.

Apart from Santos' shitty positioning, we were playing solid football and connecting very well.

Think he's asking where the passion and drive from the start of the match went.

My head is at its bursting point, I've lost my ability to read.

I feel sorry for rvp lol he must look at the defense and cringe everytime at practice.

I didn't participate in the live commentary, so here's my two cents:

I don't know if we could have been any more unlucky today. We conceded two own goals and an offside one, and should have had at least twice as many goals as we did. We were far far too wasteful when we did have the ball, and frankly looked scared out there when we didn't have it. We totally dominated the possession play but couldn't handle the stuff off the ball.

I don't get how some people are using Mertesacker as a scapegoat though. He didn't score on our net, and he wasn't any more at fault for the second goal than anybody else was. First one he maybe could've done better, but other people messed up for that one as well. He screwed up that attempted offside trap in the second half (which Szczesny saved), and missed the header at the end (which Robinson was up for if it had been on target), but he wasn't calamitous otherwise. Koscielny was worse IMO, and Djourou should never be played as RWB. But where was the cover for the defence for that 20 minute period where we were under siege? Our midfield 3 totally disappeared for long periods. Gervinho's wastefulness in the first half was also infuriating.

Not everything was bad today, and we played good football at times, but we looked scared and vulnerable of a team that simply isn't on our level.

I gave up watching at 4-2 .__.
Went to read a live blog instead.

At least Chamakh scored...

Arsenal Arsenal
Wojciech Szczesny6.0

That's now 12 goals he has conceded in his last two Premier League but had it not been for the young Pole this could have been even more embarrassing for the Gunners as his team-mates pressed the self-destruct button.

Bacary Sagna 6.0

Did not look his usual self as an attacking force down the right wing and after an indifferent display he was hauled off, presumably because he was injured.
Per Mertesacker 7.5

This was such a commanding performance from the assured German that you have to wonder why Arsene Wenger did not sign up him ages ago to tackle the Gunners defensive woes but I suppose it's better late than never.
Laurent Koscielny
Flop of the Match 5.0

What could go wrong did go wrong. Still looks shaky and his own goal summed up a poor performance from a player who looks ill suited to the cut and thrust of English football. Rabbit in headlights.
Andre Santos 6.5

Solid debut from the Brazilian and the fact that he wears the No11 suggests that he is planning to do more attacking than defending for his new club but could do better at the back as he was guilty of playing Yakubu onside for the Rovers goal.
Alexandre Song 6.0

Standing ovation from Rovers fans when he was subsituted said it all. He stood head and shoulders above rivals early and set up Gervinho's opener with a sublime pass but was guilty of switching off in scoring an own goal.
Mikel Arteta
8.0

Cesc who? If he carries on this way, Gooners will quickly forget about Fabregas because the Spanish playmaler not only scored a fine goal but also knitted everything together in accomplished fashion. A joy to watch.
Aaron Ramsey 7.0

Samir who? The Welshman gave his team the upper hand in with a high-enetrgy performance down the right and teed up Arteta's decisive goal but then faded badly as Rovers raised their game.
Andrey Arshavin 6.5

When he's up for it, the Russian can be a real menace and fortunately for Rovers he was only in the mood for the first half would have scored had it not been for Robinson's heroics before he vanished and was substituted.
Gervinho 8.5

Showed how you make up for lost time by opening Premier League goal-scoring account with exquisite opener as he made up for getting sent off after misbehaving at Newcastle and pulled the Rovers defence all over the place.
Robin Van Persie 6.0

It looked as though his midweek exploits in the Champions League had caught up with the Gunners skipper because he was unrecognisable from the striker who has become of the most feared forwards in English football. Tame.
• Substitutions
Johan Djourou 5.0

The weakest link? Arsenal went from bad to worse when he came on for Sagna because he looks like a player who has lost any semblance of self-belief. Leaden and ponderous.
Theo Walcott 6.0

Flattered to deceive when he came on as a second-half substitute and seemed destined to torment Rovers but failed to build up head of steam.
Marouane Chamakh7.0

Gave Arsenal hope and ensured a nerve-jangling finale by heading in a late goal that suggested better things are to come from the Morroccan.
www.goal.com

Honestly, I think Wenger needs to go I can't stand these losses any more, he will never change his philosophy. We clearly don't have the same quality in the midfield without Wilshere and Cesc there and he needs to realise this. We could of lined up as a 4411 with RVP playing off Chamakh and Walcott+Gervinho on the flanks with Ramsey and Song playing deep but we know he will never try something new. Who knows if that would of worked but the point is he never even tries. Why did Gibbs not start he did decent midweek and Santos has never played a EPL match and couldn't even run at the end. Why did Djourou come on as a RB when Coquelin is more capable of marking Hoilett and has actually play as a RB? Why did Walcott not start vs a team with very slow wing backs? How come Wenger keeps talking about AoC's quality and he has showed in for the England under 21's and vs Man United last season and is not on the bench?
The commentator made a fantastic point why do we change players in our back 4 every week how are they supposed to build chemistry when they play with someone different every week?

I know some people will say OH you are not a real Arsenal fan if you don't support Wenger, but honestly I don't care, are you prepared to see us line up the same and lose to the same things week in week out, season after season?

when "being unlucky" is a consistent occurrence, it has nothing do with luck. Low zonal defense is a fail usually, and definitely without dominant and aggressive CBs. Because our defense sits so freakin low, the defenders have nowhere to clear the ball = big chance for OGs.

The incredible thing is that we're over-aggressive in our base defense (play very high and gamble a lot) and over-passive in our FK defense (play very low). It's surprising.

Raptorgunner wrote:

Spoiler:

Goal.com sucks :L

7.5 for Metersacker? WHAT THE F*CK? Such biased ratings. Own goal aside, Koscielny was better than Metersacker even though he was probably more fatigued. Just crazy..

beatrixasdfghjk. wrote:

Raptorgunner wrote:

Spoiler:

Goal.com sucks :L

I know, the rating is a joke.

Iceman wrote:7.5 for Metersacker? WHAT THE F*CK? Such biased ratings. Own goal aside, Koscielny was better than Metersacker even though he was probably more fatigued. Just crazy..

Yes that is what I am saying, we got better rating then the team that won lol.

Raptorgunner wrote:

Iceman wrote:7.5 for Metersacker? WHAT THE F*CK? Such biased ratings. Own goal aside, Koscielny was better than Metersacker even though he was probably more fatigued. Just crazy..

Yes that is what I am saying, we got better rating then the team that won lol.

But we should have, their goals were jokes D<

the whole defense needs to learn how to properly align up with each other, it constantly looks like our defense is trying to emulate the look of a constellation in the sky or something.

Wtf is wenger thinking bringing Djourou? We lost the game cus him.