talkingOfArsenal.com

I never thought that I would be writing this 11 or so games from the end of the '07/'08 season or even after the Birmingham game, however whether we'd like or want to accept this or not, last weekends game just feels like it could be a season-defining one, depending on the Arsenal teams reaction to adversity.

This isn't just down to the fact that we dropped two points, when we were literally seconds from claiming all three - no, it's also to do with the multiple psychological blows of losing Eduardo the way we did, squandering multiple chances when we had ample opportunities to finish them off, the (rare?) mistake by Clichy (can a second mistake of similar nature - remember Man City - be called rare?), and finally the reaction of Captain Gallas after the game.

Much has been written regarding the Eduardo injury, including my take on it, and I have nothing much to add there. Regarding Wenger's retraction, he states:

"It was a highly emotional afternoon and we were all shocked by the injury to Eduardo. On reflection, I feel that my comments about Martin Taylor were excessive. I said what I did immediately after the game, in the heat of the moment."

Obviously one has to respect the views of the great man himself, however I have to admit that I personally wouldn't have been so magnanimous. Such a tackle cannot be justified under any circumstances, and I feel that Wenger's comments in the  post-match interview include nothing that requires a retraction.

Onto other incidents in the game, and from hereonin, and bar one or two incidents, it's purely the referee Mike Dean's one-man-horror-show. 

The first Birmingham goal that came from the free kick, was never a foul. A minute before awarding Birmingham their penalty, Adebayor was blatantly fouled (shirt clearly being tugged and thereby impeding his progress) in the penalty area, which should have resulted in the penalty.

What does Mike Dean do? Nothing.

Fast-forward to Clichy's mistake in the penalty area - to be fair to the Frenchman, although it should never have happened in the first place, he recovered remarkably well to get to the ball. Unfortunately, in spite of this, referee Mike Dean saw fit to award a penalty even though his linesman who was twice as close as he was, hadn't flagged.

Which brings me onto Clichy. 

This is the second time this season, that the lad has had a lapse of concentration that has resulted in a goal being conceded. Against Man City, Arsenal had only just earned a two-goal lead when Clichy was caught napping on the byline by Vedran Corluka, with the Croatian picking out Gelson Fernandes who scored.

We were lucky to get away with that mistake.

This time against Birmingham City, the timing of the left-backs error gave us no chance to recover - two very valuable points dropped.

Now don't get me wrong, I like Clichy, and wouldn't swap him for anyone else. However, he has to remember that in between his excellent attacking play down the wing, he is still after all, a defender, and in the last few minutes of a nervy game in which we have a slender lead, row 'z' should be his best friend.

Clichy is brilliant going forward, but is sometimes so attack- or wing-minded that he periodically lapses and looks to pass rather than hoof the ball out of a tight position - and passing the ball out was what he was planning on doing when he took his eye off the ball and changed his body shape in the penalty area.

I for one am not a fan of hoofing the ball upfield with no sense or sensibility, however the flipside of this is that you ought to be damn sure no opposition player is nearby before taking your eyes off the ball and looking round for someone to pass to.

Contrast this with Sagna at right-back - so far this season, he has had the balance right between bombing forward and putting in a decent games innings as an attacking wingback, and still having the presence of mind to be defensive when required, always kicking the ball clear in times of doubt.

It pains me to say this, but our man Clichy really ought to know better.

Any howls of disagreement towards my criticism of Clichy, especially in light of the horror that had preceded, will not be dismissed out of hand, however I must re-state that this isn't the first time this season that such an error has been committed.

And now onto Adebayor, and that incident where he might have squared it.

There are those who say that he didn't see Bendtner and so was in his full right to attempt a shot on goal, instead of squaring it. Well, I say that it's his job to look for better placed players, as part of any attack. I know that hindsight is a beautiful thing, however the great strikers of this world know when to take opportunities for themselves, and when to concede for the sake of the team, that other players might be in a better position.

Since last weekend, I've asked myself a couple of times whether Adebayor is chasing the top goalscorer accolade in spite of what he tells us about the Arsenal team being more important, or whether he is in this for the team.

On reflection, I'm going to give him the benefit of the doubt. For now.

On a general note, I can't help feeling that despite Wenger's repeated calls for humility in the squad, shades of complacency still exist in this Arsenal side when they play lower-placed opposition. As far as I'm concerned, Birmingham are a better side than the story that their league position tells. Manchester Utd, Chelsea and other teams didn't find taking points off them easy. Arsenal have now dropped 4 points in two games against this relegation-battling side.

Both sets of points lost against Birmingham have been, in my opinion, purely down to lapses of concentration bourne partly out of complacency. Anyone remember the soft goal from the corner we conceded when the Brummies came to Ashburton Grove?

Had we were playing Manchester Utd or Chelsea, where concentration levels would inevitably have been higher, I have no doubt that Adebayor would have squared that ball to Bendtner. How else can you explain Clichy's lack of clearance, if it's not due to a lapse of concentration? Again, would he have acted in that fashion had we been playing traditional top-4 opposition? I doubt it. It's not that obvious, but shades of complacency creeping into our game against Birmingham (both at Ashburton Grove and away) have cost us the 4 points.

What's done's been done, we have to move on.

It would be easy to write off that game as a total disaster, however with a few days gone, I feel that there are a couple of positives from the Birmingham game (I am trying my best to remain upbeat).

Firstly, Master Walcott's two goals - you wait all season for a goal, and then two turn up at the same time. Taking the context of the game into account, it remains to be seen whether this is the start of something special for the young Englishman. I sincerely hope so.

The second positive must be the spirit of the team, the unbelievable fightback by this young Arsenal squad after what must have been a terrible psychological blow to suffer. Until the Clichy gaffe, and the even bigger mistake by the referee to award the penalty, I thought the team had done brilliantly under the circumstances.

In football, as in life, you will always come up against unforeseen setbacks. After the heroic fightback by the Arsenal team to go 2-1 up, "The Mike Dean Horror Show" turned up and turned the result with some inexplicable decisions. There is little you can do about it. What remains within our control though, is the way we react to adversity. This young Arsenal side, will have to dig even deeper than they have now, if they are to maintain their lead at the top of the table, and go on to win the title - and it's going to be even harder now.

Whichever way you look at it, a great injustice has been perpetrated. What is most important though, is to put this experience behind us as quickly as is humanly possible, and try to look ahead to the remaining 11 games.

The team must quickly recover, if they are to give this title challenge their very best shot for the sake of Eduardo. Mathieu Flamini was spot on, when he said after the game:

"We wanted to win [the title] before, but now we want to win it also for Eduardo". 

Here's to hoping that somehow, this young squad finds the strength to respond with winning ways after what must be a most appalling experience to have to endure.

Come on the Arsenal.