Puxatawny Marseilles

from the Fort Greene bunker

Champions League Group Stage

Arsenal 0–0 Marseilles  1 November 2011

I missed the first 30 minutes of the match, which apparently had the best chances but couldn’t take them. It appeared we’d have a repeat of the trip to Marseilles, so I settled in for another session of teeth gnashing. After the match on Saturday it would be churlish to complain, but we looked jaded, to borrow some Wengerspeak.

Song and Vermaelen were our best players on the pitch. Vermaelen marshaled a clean sheet with 3 players beside him that arrived in the summer, and one of them is a dozy Brazilian left-back with absolutely no positional sense whatsoever [and as seen on Saturday, who also apparently can’t dance]. Though this was his first complete 90 minutes since his return, he did this against a team that was lightning quick on the counter and as such has a reputation for being stronger away from home. Think Aston Villa a few seasons ago. For once a player’s words are backed up by his performances.

Song was a rock in the heart of our midfield. His positional discipline has been so good of late and as well whenever it seems he is caught in possession he just mans his way out it of danger.  Not too many standouts other than those two. It’s not that anyone was particularly poor either; it was just kind of pedestrian. I will say that I’m impressed lately that Rosicky no longer indicates any kind of death knell in our chances when he arrives as a substitute. I was glad to see his arrival and the pass he put in for RVP’s lob attempt was tremendous.

I was pleased to see Wenger make the one or two changes that he did, not only because it shows a much appreciated conservative treatment of RVP [and perhaps a preemptive one with Kos] but because it might just also suggest a tweaking of his typical instinct to make his selections based on momentum. It didn’t have the same result as against Stoke, but I have called for this type of approach before, and noted the effect Alex Ferguson has often achieved by similarly saving his star performers for late substitutions, particularly in this stage of the season.

Following the final whistle and for much of the second half I bemoaned the defensive shortcomings of Santos. With a little distance I’m loathe to be too critical and give him a little more benefit of the doubt. He has definitely had his strong moments in the 1v1 tackles I've seen from him this season, and his positional problems may be down to communication issues as much as his attacking sense. But I still find it strange that he worries me as much as Jenkinson, given the decade of age/experience difference.

Another observation is that Szczesny has a puzzling tendency over the last few matches to go Almunia-about around the edges of the penalty area. Maybe it’s down to the absence of the need to make a world class save that we experienced so often in the beginning of the season. What is remarkable is that we have not coughed up anything out of such incidents, and on a few occasions I have had brief flashbacks of the Carling Cup final only for the danger to be averted. A Cruyff turn to evade two opponents? Mental.

A word for Marseilles’ defending. They have a lot of overall team speed and showed tremendous recovery each time we managed to forge any kind of penetrative passing. I didn’t appreciate the theatrics Valbuena used so frequently but expected as much after the first match, and after these two encounters their 3-0 win over Dortmund makes a great deal more sense, and our position at the top of our group that much more impressive.

This match was a reversal of sorts. Thus far the CL has been a welcomed reprieve from league pressure but on evidence of this match we looked tense, perhaps wary of losing after a big win. It might be a bit of a surprise but we have played 18 matches in all competitions already this season. In the first 9 matches we conceded an average of 2 goals per game, and in the last 9 we’ve reduced that by half, with Vermaelen only just returning to the squad and with injuries to 3 out of 4 fullbacks. And even though we got blanked yesterday, we have also had a nearly identical turnaround, if you will, in our scoring. Whereas the first 9 games produced 10 goals, our last 9 have seen 18.

While this result may not be so impressive in terms of performance, and we failed to qualify for the next round just yet, it still represents another step in the right direction for the recovery of the team.  I take it as a very good thing. As Szczesny pointed out, 4 points and two clean sheets from this tie with Marseille would have been gladly accepted two weeks ago.


Follow @11cannons