Points Dropped To 1 Point Gained & Preston Preview

   

Image Credit: The Metro UK

 I am so pissed!!! From an ooooh my…. to a Uurrgghhh. From making fans purr with ecstatic Joy almost wetting their pants to making them wanna tear their hair out in unbelievable frustration, you know it can only be Arsenal. What could have been a routine 3 points in the bag soon became an embarrassing scrap for a point, we sure know how to make a seemingly simple task harder than it looks. Well I have already mentioned it before that it can only be the gunners. Arsene may say his wards are now men but, performances like these ……. Le’ Proff plzzzzzzzz. What I see instead is what seems to be a battle between Dr Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, you not sure which Arsenal team would turn up. It’s becoming harder to tell by each passing game. The game against Bournemouth left me feeling a complex mix of extremes, angry frustration at the way the team committed school boy error after error (Hector I am looking at you) till we were 3 goals down, then there’s the Joy from the determined comeback to level the deficit. Why and how the gunners got themselves into such a tight spot, remains a mystery, not for the first time too and that’s the mystery….WHY!?

In our preview, we noted how Bournemouth were in fine form at the Vitality Stadium and how they liked to play the ball. The 3-1 score line at the emirates back in November never reflected the complete perspective of the game not doing proper justice to their effort in that match. One would have expected us to be better prepared knowing how dangerous this team is at home… Ask Liverpool.

Arsenal on this day were second bested by an average team that came prepared, better prepared if I dare say and had the commitment to follow through. It was thus no surprise to find us on the back foot, 2 goals down by the 21^st minute. When Bournemouth broke with pace on their right before quickly switching play with a nice diagonal lob to their left. Bellerin was caught out cold, sucked into the center, he tried to readjust but couldn’t get his balance right, made a lame attempt to nick the ball from Charlie Daniels who calmly slotted home beating Cech at his near post. Everton at Goodison came to mind.

1-0 to Bournemouth

 We tried to rally but met a resolute and confident Bournemouth, 5 minutes later we were down by another goal. This time from Granit Xhaka’s rush of blood to the head as he made another of his silly mistakes at the wrong end of the pitch. What he was thinking when he shoved down King I think from the back is beyond me. Callum Wilson dutifully obliged the opportunity by slotting home from the spot. 

1-0  to Bournemouth

    2 goals down going into the interval was a first for the gunners this season and we needed a response from the lads. Bellerin and Monreal were being torn to shreds by Fraser and Stanislaus, Arsenal was all at sea but it was going to get worse, not better. We lost Coquelin to a hamstring pull so Ox came on. Then we conceded a third goal. Bellerin again a culprit. He really had a bad bad day at the office on this one. Frazer almost beat him to the duel sprint but just couldn’t so he did a little nudge for Bellerin to lose his footing, before scooping the ball to slot through Cechs legs. It was all falling apart for us.

Finally the lads woke up and started to play better, we began to claw back the deficit which starting from Sanchez (as usual) we did in 20 minutes. That’s the only positive I take from this match. That Arsenal fought back from 3 goals down, so credit to the Boiz for that! and that's where it stops!. The inexplicable annoyance is, what where we doing getting ourselves into such a jam in the first place? For a team that habours the ambition of winning Titles? That’s probably gone anyway if the keep this sham up.

    Hind sight is a chick they say….init? This was a game that we could have used to cement our grip on the top assault, leapfrogging Man City and squeezing the heat on Liverpool, better yet we gain 3 massive points on Chelsea having not to unexpectedly dropped points at Spurs. A massive opportunity lost. Xhaka has had couple decent games for some time now but he really need to cut out his ridiculous moments of “brainwave” else he would become a liability for all his talent. Bellerin on the other hand is usually most dependable, so imam give him a free pass on this day where he was just not at the races going by his high standards. Alexis Sanchez, for all his work ethic and immense talent should grow a pair of "cajones" and stop with the sulking, get behind the team and lead. Not pout ya lips in frustration because you think the others aren’t on the same wavelength as you. Mustafi has to be our good luck charm, Arsenal hasn’t lost a game he has started this season. Wenger should do whatever he can to keep him "embalmed". Just Kidding but that stat is real or have I jinxed it now? The whole Team needs to refocus in general if they really wanna win anything this season. All isn’t lost but we are throwing away points. Arsene Wenger i am Looking at you!

Preston Preview: Whatever the team we put out but, If we can’t win Preston on Saturday at the Emirates, then we might as well forget any trophy this season, no disrespect to Preston North End.  That’s it for my preview. No team sheet on this…..Ciao