{"id":4079,"date":"2021-10-19T19:20:43","date_gmt":"2021-10-19T18:20:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=4079"},"modified":"2021-10-21T15:24:15","modified_gmt":"2021-10-21T14:24:15","slug":"inconsistencies","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=4079","title":{"rendered":"“Inconsistencies”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

Due to a rather unlikely confluence of a few unfortunate emergencies, I have been delayed \u2013 even by my own standard of always being late — in writing this match review. And now that I have started, with your permission (and forgiveness for the delay) I think I would like to avoid reminiscing the match in its minute details, not least because though eventful in a certain way, the match was not memorable by any standards. All the key actions have already been chronologically recollected and microscopically dissected in many other places and I don\u2019t think there is much I can offer in addition to those perfectly fine recapitulations.       <\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, I would like to bring out what I noticed to be an overarching theme of our performances for you dear readers to comment upon. It just also happens to be a theme that can equally apply to the performance of the match officials. I don\u2019t want to offer any excuse for the former, neither do I want to overlook the relevance of the latter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Inconsistencies. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our performance \u2013 in its most holistic sense, including individual performances, team cohesiveness, the ability to control the match positionally, tactically and temporally \u2013 had all the trademarks of recent years of Arsenal inconsistencies over the context of a season where every step taken forward inevitably is followed by some backward movements almost with an eerily hypnotic quality of being under the spell of some invisible force. But not only that. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

I think the inconsistencies even within<\/em> the context of a single match, as demonstrated yesterday, are no less concerning. We started brightly, scored a well-deserved early goal to take the lead, and then failed to use that lead to take control of the match. It was a baffling failure because we had superior technical quality in the midfield with Partey, \u00d8degaard, ESR and Saka all technically gifted in retaining possession. We had two perfect outlets in Aubameyang and P\u00e9p\u00e9 for well-coordinated counter attacks when Crystal Palace was pressing high up the pitch, and yet somehow, we looked confused and bereft of ideas. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

This particular problem of the midfield failing to impose their technical qualities on the match in a cohesive manner has occurred way too many times for it to be just an accident or a rare coincidence of individual failures across all 3-4 players. It is also not a matter of physical prowess \u2013 which the midfield is sometimes accused of \u2013 because we have had dominating performances in the middle of the field with diminutive players like Cazorla, Rosick\u00fd, Jack, or going back earlier, Cesc pulling the strings. Energetic, inspired, highly motivated and physically relentless though Palace\u2019s pressing was (and set up tactically astutely by Vieira who had obviously noticed our propensity to incoherence under pressure) much of our midfield malaise was due to lack of courage on the ball. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Courage is probably too strong a word, confidence may apply better. How is it that the once most trusted midfield anchor of one of the most demanding and ruthless coaches of current times makes so many wrong decisions and takes so many wrong touches while playing for Arsenal? Would Thomas Partey have dared to put in that performance for Diego Simeone even in a pre-season friendly? I am not questioning Partey\u2019s professionalism, simply wondering what exactly is different for him in terms of the set-up and environment for him not to push harder to be at his very best. Yesterday was not his very best. And he has repeatedly mixed his superlative qualities with alarming bits of laissez-faire attitude on the ball, the likes of which we used to find completely unacceptable even from players of much less technical ability, for example say, Alex Song.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this mostly youthful team, players like Partey, Aubameyang, Xhaka, Lacazette, and even P\u00e9p\u00e9 have the responsibility of leading by actions as much as leading by words. Partey, the captain (despite his early goal) and P\u00e9p\u00e9 (despite his assist and contribution to the second goal) failed to lead by example yesterday, and not for the first time. Which was in stark contrast to Lacazette who brought a degree of potency and urgency back to the frontline play that should be the bare minimum standard for the majority of the entire ninety minutes, if not all of it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Going back to the lack of confidence on the ball, I don\u2019t think it is a coincidence that sometimes the entire team seems to have no idea that a thing called progressive passing exists, or they are allowed to invent new situational possibilities just by the strength of their individual abilities. This is not a team that lacks technical qualities anymore but many of them lack maturity. Moreover, the overall set-up and football philosophy should be such that they find in themselves the ease and freedom to express their qualities without losing positional discipline. Watching Martin, Saka and ESR, the word inhibited came to my mind. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also, whatever happened to our swashbuckling left back who used to go past players and provide cutbacks from the byline? Is he just going through a bad patch or did the system yesterday inhibit him too? I don\u2019t remember ever seeing Kieran Tierney in Arsenal colors playing so many back passes from an advanced position. It was almost a homage to Xhaka. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

If we are to play minutely prepared, uber-choreographed football and not the \u201cI give you a template, guidance and the freedom to enjoy yourself, and you solve precise tactical problems in the match\u201d philosophy of Ars\u00e8ne Wenger then the choreographer needs to be more proactive when the dancers (not marionettes) are looking at each other for cues. I think we all expected these teething pains of Mikel\u2019s managerial career where he struggles to balance his well-known attention to tactical details with the demands of allowing the team to play within the guardrails of a template, and even though much of Arsenal fan-base is patient enough to see his evolution work itself out towards success there has to be a more measurable indication of cumulative progress beyond the one-off euphoria of 45 minutes of demolition of the old enemy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Carrying on with the theme of inconsistency: a nine year old returning hurriedly from his school \u2013 and skipping his after-school program to be able to watch his favorite team play live \u2013 watched in disbelief and horror as an opposition player tried to volley Bukayo Saka\u2019s (no foreigner this player, one of England\u2019s most promising talents and a world class player in the making) standing leg into the stadium to see only a yellow card and asked me \u201cWhy is that not a red? Oh, that was Mike Dean!\u201d Though he has been keeping me company watching Arsenal matches for a while now it is only in last three years the passion and the love have started to crystallize into an identity. And even he could notice the obvious on his TV screen from the other side of the ocean. Whichever way the media or the Premier League hierarchy want to spin refereeing inconsistencies, scandalous decisions like yesterday\u2019s simply erode people\u2019s trust in them.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Due to a rather unlikely confluence of a few unfortunate emergencies, I have been delayed \u2013 even by my own standard of always being late — in writing this match review. And now that I have started, with your permission (and forgiveness for the delay) I think I would like to avoid reminiscing the match […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4079"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4079"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4079\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4095,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4079\/revisions\/4095"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4079"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4079"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4079"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}