The last two unbeaten team in BPL beaten last weekend. What a day! :dunno:
North East: title graveyard?
By Ian Grant
Middlesbrough 2 Arsenal 1
The North West used to be Arsenal's bogey region. But is it now the North East, with one point out of six, there this week?
The signs of this performance were obvious in the second half at Newcastle - where a tired Arsenal hung on for a point.
Here some players looked off the pace. Gilberto, certainly - and then Diarra, who seems to start brightly and fade. Adebayor had an appalling game, losing the ball eight times in the first - and TEN in the second. But there again - he didn't expect to lead the line without the support of van Persie for nearly three months.
Eduardo looks out of his depth - and probably needs to be loaned out to come to terms with the speed and physicality of the Premiership. He also needs more mental toughness to help him stamp himself on a match.
The Brazilian born Croatian lost the ball five times in the first. His anonymity is becoming glaringly conspicuous. He is not on the same wavelenghth as Adebayor. One example of the few attacks, Adebayor pulled away in space and was free on the right. Eduardo took it left and into trouble.
There was a gaping gap between Arsenal's central midfield, often square and static, and the dysfunctional attack. Rosicky had an opportunity to step up to the plate, but he was peripheral. That put more pressure on an already tired defence after three hard away games on the trot.
Arsenal are unlucky to have injuries to four key players in this heavily congested week. But the critics will question whether the squad is of sufficient depth to challenge for the title [and Champions League for that matter].
In the first couple of minutes, Rochembach came in heavy on Diarra. A foul. But it was a sign of things to come.
In the fourth minute Aliadiere [who buzzed around with a kind of demonic karmic energy that was out to prove Wenger wrong] overplayed but ran diagonally into the Arsenal area. Almunia rushed out. Toure was unsure so went to tackle the ex-Arsenal man, and unnecessarily nudged him over. A soft penalty? The previously anti-Arsenal biased Howard Webb was the referee - so a clear penalty in the circumstances.
Almunia got a hand to Downing's spot kick - and maybe should have saved it.
A couple of decisions - goal-kick instead of an obvious Arsenal corner and a free-kick instead of another away team corner - was further evidence, if evidence was needed of this Northern born referee's bias.
But having said that, he did let Eboue get away with a clear face slap in a midfield tussle.
Arsenal's first shot on the Boro goal came when Rosicky swivelled it tamely wide of Turnbull's left hand post.
And an Adebayor header from an Eboue free-kick and two charged down Toure efforts represented Arsenal's only real attempts of the half.
Boro's tactics were to harry and hassle - give Arsenal players no time on the ball. But also to play, stretching the game wide and exploiting gaps in the middle.
This was seen when Aliadiere dummied a low cross, leaving Boateng to fire just wide.
Arsenal looked sharper and better in the second half with Bendtner [providing shape, stickability and precise passing] on for Eduardo, and later Denilson and Walcott on for Eboue and Diarra.
But that didn't stop Boro nearly carving out a second, with Aliadiere setting Tuncay through to knock his effort just wide of Almunia's right hand post.
Walcott maybe should have done better with a clear opening, but he elected to go wide, instead of hitting it first time.
Neutrals, though would say Boro deserved a second goal, as Almunia parried out a shot by O'Neil (on 74), only to see Tuncay coming in from the left and fire it over his head with a slight deflection off Gallas.
The game was virtually over when Bendtner dummied a low cross from the left, for Rosicky to fire a low diagonal shot past the hitherto untested Turnbull.
Those that see life in terms of a glass half full, would say: Arsenal can regroup with key players coming back; they no longer have the burden of an unbeaten run; and at least the record of scoring in every Premiership game, this season, is still intact.
Those that see life as a half empty glass would say: it is the beginning of the end of the title challenge; and the squad lacks experience and depth.
Only time will tell who is right.
Arsene Wenger said: "We lost the game because we deserved to lose it. It's that simple. Middlesbrough were sharper in the fight. We missed the start of the game by giving them too much room and it cost us a penalty. From then on, it was down to us being a little bit jaded physically.
"It was our fourth away trip on the trot. We gave absolutely everything to come back. We lacked creativity, sharpness in our passing, so therefore we were not dangerous enough to come back into the game.
"They defended well, Credit to them, they were sharper than us and you could see, once we were 1-0 down, if we did not come back before half-time, it would be difficult.'
"At the moment we miss many in the same area. Maybe it handicaps a bit our creative potential."
Aliadiere said: "This is the first time I've played against them [Arsenal]. I was very motivated. We wanted to work really hard from the kick-off."
Downing said: "They let you play a lot. So we moved the ball a lot."
Gareth Southgate said:"It was down to the players. Their approach and attitue was fantastic. We felt that after three away games and players missing it was a tall order for Arsenal. On the day we played good football, worked, scrapped - and gave a good account of ourselves.
"We felt we had to be positive. Get on the front foot. If they are allowed space and time they destroy you. We wanted to get about them and upset them - Not physically but by pressurising them. We didn't want to let them settle into the afternoon.
"We deserved the win. We played really well."
Middlesbrough: Ross Turnbull, David Wheater, Jonathan Woodgate (Robert Huth 73) Luke Young, Emanuel Pogatetz, Gary O`Neil, Fábio Rochemback, George Boateng, Stewart Downing, Tuncay Sanli (Adam Johnson 90) Jeremie Aliadiere (Julio Arca 81) .Subs not used: Jason Steele, Dong-gook Lee
Arsenal: Manuel Almunia, Emmanuel Eboue (Theo Walcott 60) Kolo Toure, Gael Clichy, William Gallas, Bacary Sagna, Lassana Diarra (Denilson 60) Gilberto, Tomas Rosicky, Eduardo (Nicklas Bendtner 45) Emmanuel Adebayor.Subs not used:Jens Lehmann, Philippe Senderos
Referee Howard Webb
Dec 9, 2007
