The qualifying rounds of the Champions League shouldn’t be some great drama for a club like Arsenal. They should be nights where the stages are set for the great drama of the knockout rounds. Nights where the qualification for the next round is taken for granted and the moments of interest are in the details of foreshadowing. Tomorrow’s discussion should be, how did Aaron Ramsey play? Did he dawdle on the ball too long there? Was Arteta unscathed in that tackle? And so on.
Of course every match generates some talking points for the scribes the next day and some ammunition to put into the bunker as future talking points. Perhaps tonight it will be a goal that Cazorla scores, a gaping miss by Gervinho, Giroud scoring and subsequently taking his shirt off and causing a mini-baby-boom among Arsenal supporters, whatever the event there will be talking points.
But hopefully, there will be little real drama, we’ve had enough of that for the week. Let’s leave the drama bombs to clubs like Chelsea, who were beaten by Waxtap last night. Beaten I might add on the night that they reinstated their disgraced captain, who is serving a domestic ban for racially abusing a fellow professional footballer. I think it’s safe to say that there will be little theater of that type tonight at the Emirates.
Still there will be a story arc and perhaps even some conclusions, because this is one of those rare European nights where the dramatic groundwork has already been laid: Arsenal v. Schalke is the game that follows the “infamous Norwich loss”.
Armed with my list of notable Arsenal defeats to lesser teams since 2009 (Hull, Stoke, Villa, Sunderland, Wigan, Blackburn, West Brom, (relegation bound) Newcastle, Bolton, Stoke, Aston Villa, Blackburn, Swansea, QPR, Wigan, and Norwich) I thought about going back through the archives and just quoting myself from the match preview of the next game. You know, the normal stuff about how this is a “must win” game or how so-and-so can “get his Arsenal career back on track” and that the club can “give the fans what they deserve”. How the players need to show “passion” and “urgency” and restore “pride” to the badge. And then sprinkle in some of the more bizarre pre-match tirades about how the “lickspittles on Fleet Street can stick their predictions straight up their fat asses (I’m looking at you, Lawro), Arsenal are going to come out and show they mean business.”
Of course I want Arsenal to beat Schalke, beat them handily in front of the home crowd. I want everyone of the Arsenal supporters filled with a sense of hope for the season that only a big win can provide. But rather than a story of redemption or “getting a win to ensure we can rotate our players properly” I wish that there was no higher purpose to this game other than a simple football match between Arsenal and Schalke.
My day will be notably undramatic. I woke up at 4am, let the dog out, put the kettle on and took a bath. Then I got dressed while the coffee steeped. Let the dog back in and in the most dramatic moment of the day (so far) decided that I would write about how wholly uneventful my day will be and how I really hope it stays that way.
See, there will be no going to the pub and eating lunch while watching the game. There will be no “banter” between me and the people I despise (everyone else at the pub who isn’t an Arsenal supporter). There will be no sneaking off to the back room at work to watch 20 minutes of the game. I will be in meetings. Yes. Meetings. The most interesting thing I will do in those meetings is decide who will perform what mundane task between now and the next meeting.
I suppose Liz Hurley could descend from whatever chariot she rides across the sky upon, take the form of a swan, and declare her undying love for me. Or perhaps there will be a paper jam in the printer and one of the students will need me to clear it. As a gambling man, I’d put money on the paper jam.
I will leave work early, though, which is nice. Then I will come home, turn the heat up, take out some dough to rise, and take the dog for a walk. And only after all that, I will turn on the Arsenal game.
At half time, I will take a look at my dough and make sure it hasn’t risen too much. You always have to check your dough during proofing, agitated yeast can lead to a quick rise, and over-proofed dough tends to fall flat in the final bake.
That’s a metaphor.
Never thought you’d have a crush on Liz Hurley. You’re smart and enjoy cooking, would have thought Nigella would be more up your street.
Nigella is too posh for me. Don’t get me wrong, she’s stunning and a wonderful cook, but she’s the kind of woman who wants to be a baroness. I’ll never be a baron.
More of a Delia fan myself, and I can remember her from when she was top totty.
As a Canadian, I agree that boring can be good. Or as the divine Mary J once put it in (ironically) rather dramatic terms:
“No more pain (no more pain)
No more game (no more game messin with my mind)
No drama (no more drama in my life)”
I’m really hoping for a solid, unspectacular 3 points. I’m really hoping that Klaas jan Huntelaar has a quiet night for he is easily capable of lighting us like a Christmas tree if given time and space.
Boring, boring Arsenal…COYG
Something about the bread metaphors and Arsenal, they ring so true.
3-0 to the Arsenal tonight?
Come on Arsenal.
This game makes me nervous. For Arsenal, the wear and tear of the season is starting to take its toll while it’s still too early for our LANS to contribute significantly. Schalke are a good team and shouldn’t be be underestimated. I know that if you take the team A beat team B which beat team C argument too far then Barnet will beat Arsenal. But, Schalke just beat Dortmund, the defending Bundesliga champions and who, but for one of the best goalkeeping performances in a long time, would’ve handily beaten ManShitty at the Etihad. It’ll be a tense, cagey game which will turn on some very small margins. I’ll be very happy with a one goal victory but a draw wouldn’t surprise me.
Ok. They obviously targeted Santos. Dont know if Kos warming up is to sub an injured Verm or a lost Andre.
This one’s for Ssinderias! Nothing in common with the Rams indeed! http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/othersports/article-2222314/St-Louis-Rams-cheerleaders-visit-Abbey-Road.html
Thanks jaymin
I’m actually more worried about what’s going on with Arsenal right now. Slumping!
F**king hell.
Who exactly were those guys in the red and white? I thought Arsenal was supposed to be playing tonight? I must have gotten the schedule wrong…
What is going on – gearbox broken for large parts of the game and never looked like getting beyond 1st-2nd gear. Allowed the opposition to get in the game and a couple of yards was all it was needed to see Santos not pushing up quick enough for goal 1. He seems likeable but Santos seems to have a slow reaction time on defence. 0 shots on goal at home until the dying moments (already 2-0 down) tells its own story. Really not good enough, and overall was a painful game to watch. The second goal – well, ctpa summed it up really…
Giving CL debut for a 17 year old when you are 1-0 down with 8 mins to go. Same thing happened against Norwich in PL… Is this a clause in Gnabry’s contract…?
In the big scheme of CL this loss might not count…We lost to a better team…and clearly lacked width.
Jenkinson barely attempted a cross and was always passing it back to where it came from..Gervinho is like a pulling a card from a deck…you have no idea if its gonna be ace or joker… The relevance of Tim’s article kicks in hard now..if you arent taking shots, you arent getting goals…
Credit to Schalke..they are an in form team…and played like one. We get another go at them in 13 days time..Hopefully we have the main squad back by then..
I think they gave him his debut because of the very simple fact that there wasn’t any other attacking options on the bench. It’s not like we had Van Persie there. The thing is, we had our main squad for tonight, I don’t think Walcott would have made such a difference, and certainly not WC or AOC.
And I just remembered Diaby and the fact that even Arsenal doesn’t tell us when will he be back.
This is really turning into a joke.
To be fair to Jenkinson – who would have been on the end of the cross? At least until Giroud was brought on – and again the subs brought on too late to change the game. Jenks may have been one of the few players to emerge with a shred of credit from the game.
I agree Pat. I find it hard to digest that with Arteta and Santi in midfield that we can still be so dreadfully uncreative
A) There are just some players that, when you play with them, just suck the energy out of you because they don’t pass, they seem to miss seeing the pass, they don’t finish when served up on a platter, they chronically lose the ball, they don’t help out on defense… Gervinho is one of those players. And then we brought on Arshavin, another one of those players;
B) We lack pace without Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain. We may have guile, but for years now we’ve lacked the power you see with Chelsea, Man Utd or Man City (granted they lost to Ajax tonight). We may be trying to emulate Barcelona’s style, but Sanchez, Villa, Messi, Pedro, Iniesta and even back to Eto’o and Ibrahimovic – lot’s of pace in that line-up;
C) Why is Podolski always coming off at about the 75 minute mark? Does he have a fitness issue we aren’t aware of?
D) For years now we see this team go through roller-coasters of super-confidence alternating with such evident episodes of self-doubt, even though the cast has been turned over. What is Wenger doing wrong when it comes to filling the players with belief?
So bummed tonight. Schalke was good, and deserved the win. But we really should be competitive, especially at home.
Ibrahimovic pacey? You’re having a laugh!
Are you having a laugh? Ibrahimovic is nothing if not powerful. He said Ibrahimovic was that type of power player we are missing. Giroud could be our version, but Giroud is slower and less skilled. Can you imagine our team with an Ibra leading the line. Good grief, we’d be in first. I would even have taken an aging Berbatov at this point. Giroud is a very nice player, his movement is good, his spirit is good, but he’s not our answer.
Yes, Podolski has had a “slight ankle injury” for most of the season
I’m really puzzled by Podi, seems no pace no energy for the last 2/3 games. Don’t know what position he’s supposed to be at the game. I hesitate to contemplate why he left his old club.
A so obvious hole at our left with Santos and yet nothing had been done. could it work better if moving our captain to left back and brought in Kosc ?
I will disagree that this was our main squad. We have no consistency, because we have had a huge rotation of players in and out of the team, again.
Our ” second string” is lacking in areas. Santos is not a proper left back. Poldi’s form has dropped because he no long has Gibbs running the flank and giving him support and width, Just like Theo not playing well without Sagna last year. I like Coquelin and I don’t think he played poorly but we played with two players that sit deep in midfield and only one who has a drive to go forward. Then we complemented that with 2 guys up top who are not good finishers. We expected Poldi and Santi to create and score. Not gonna happen at this level.
We need a Diaby, Wilshire, or even Rosicky in the midfield to give use the drive and creativity. We also need some pace. Our 3 fastest players are all crocked. No one out there tonight could stretch the defense.
Lets hope that Santos and Coquelin and Gerv as our lone striker is not our best XI.
So glad I recorded and watched this one delayed. Was able to fast forward all the boring sideways passing and then quadruple time the final 15. I think I’ll do that more often if we keep playing like this!
Seems we’re in one of those slumps we always go through. Although this time we don’t have RvP’s brilliance to see us through. And without that we’re exposed for the deeply inconsistent and average side we truly are.
Ugh, what a crap performance and the scoreline rather flattered us. Schalke missed two sitters before finally getting their breakthrough. While we never really looked like scoring, defensively we were poor. The ability to keep a clean sheet can get you points if your struggling offensively. Santos was piss poor and was unsurprisingly partially at fault for the breakthrough, showing once again he has as poor an understanding of the offside rule as Adebayor. For f***s sake, it’s the second straight game he’s cost us a cheap goal like that. If we’re not going to start Giroud, I’d rather play Poldi centrally. Gervinho is just too…I don’t know, hit or miss shall we say. Two breakaways for him and we don’t even get a shot off. Jenkinson, for all his defensive improvement, can still only do one thing offensively and that is cross on the overlap. He can’t take players on, he lacks the confidence and probably technical ability to keep the ball under pressure and so the ball just goes back to the goalkeeper whenever an opposing player comes within a couple of yards of him. At least in the seasons before last, Arsenal would at least maintain the illusion of genuine competitiveness until February.
On the bright side, and being in a rather spiteful mood right now, I can take small pleasure in Dortmund beating Real Mad and topping the group of death while ManShitty are left bottom not even in a Europa League spot.
in this game and the last, Arsenal actually playing with a crippled defence and a non existent front, no wonder all the moves just didn’t click.
I’m thinking ahead of the next game, if Wilshere still not available, hopefully either Ox or Walcott starts on right, Podi on left and put back Giroud in centre, something a bit more recognizable. But the left back ?? No more Santos please. Just disastrous. When we’re winning maybe he’s fine to be out there. But not when the team already is struggling it would be better to have Verm stays on left and Mert and Kosc as centre backs. Don’t want to contemplate the aftermath if another loss happened.
Unfortunately I missed the game but watched online highlights. It was 4+ minutes of all Shalke highlights! Was the game really that bad?!
I don’t recall anything like this from highlights!
Yes it was that bad. The only silver lining I see right now is that it looks like we’re hitting our January doldrums/confidence crisis/Wenger clutching at youthful staws in mid-October. If we get it out of our system now, maybe we get the ship steadied through the winter months and can be around still come March and April.
Gervinho should go some preaparatory camp for the african nations cup..
Read what walcott has to say…………at
http://arsenalforeverdude.wordpress.com/2012/10/25/walcott-speaking-friendsfans-and-haterslend-me-your-ears/