Five Bad Surprises of the season
By Randy Osae
4-4 home draw with Spurs
Never mind the opposition. When a team gifts a two-goal cushion in as many minutes during the conclusion of any game, it is just ridiculous.
Tottenham must still feel they have beaten Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
And there is no need recalling the synopsis of this October story. After Van Persie netted his 50th goal for the club, this derby seemed done and dusted, until some horrendous slacking in defense.
Centre-backs Gallas and Silvestre had been responsible for a goal-a-piece for either side.
What hurt worst, was that dear old Spurs evened arrears when Arsenal had been bragging of victory for long.
Walcott’s injury with England
How many times do we see a youngster show glimpses of talent and set high targets for one new season?
Walcott was an aspiring ’season wonder’ – netting a hat-trick for England and staking his claim in Wenger’s plans with goals and assists here and there, until…
Until that mysterious injury he sustained on international duty which limited him to being a spectator for not four days, not four weeks, but four MONTHS.
Argh…what might have been is only what we know.
And when he returned in mid-March, Walcott gave the reason why.
Hull & Villa come to stun
The Emirates has seen some humiliating ends this season, but none was more infuriating than Hull’s tiegrish comeback and/or Villa’s resounding 2-0 win.
For a side which had been deprived of top-flight football for 101 years to come to one of the division’s most formidable grounds, go behind and then win like that was simply outrageous. And you could really lament where all of Arsenal’s prowess had vanished to. To be honest, the Gunners did not play bad on that day either.
Just over a month later, Aston Villa were in town. Just like against Hull, Wenger’s men came into the second-half to complete the formality of winning after a lackluster first. But Villa conjured two goals out of the blue. Again, it was not an all too bad performance by the home side. Almunia’s penalty stop had faced a decent display by Arsenal which could have seen them win by a stretch on another day.
They lost however.
And from then on, Martin O’Neill’s men would be neck-and-neck with Arsenal for fourth place.
What’s even weird about those defeats? They followed emphatic Carling Cup outings in midweek.
Only two wins when in yellow away kit
That kit may have been pleasing to the eye for many, but it was no luck charm for sure.
Arsenal modeled that change strip on thirteen occasions last season, and for my superstitious beliefs, they were always odds-on to fail.
The Gunners began the season in this outfit (which commemorated the ever-famous Michael Thomas moment of 1989) at FC Twente and won 2-0.
But only a coinciding 2-0 victory at Upton Park would add to triumphs registered in the away kit.
Notable shambolic moments in it were when Arsenal gifted leads at Middlesbrough, Aston Villa, and Liverpool, were well beaten at Stoke City and Manchester United while the Carling Cup youngsters saw their sweep in the competition end at Burnley when they changed attire.
Wenger’s men did have the last laugh at the Stadium of Light, Kyiv and Rome, but Arsenal were scarcely bound to win on the scoreboard.
A bit of a jinx factor here?
Once league leaders
Do you know there was a time when every team was behind Arsenal on the league table?….this season? Yes, this season.
If this campaign was seeded by a bad start to you, then consider this.
After a 3-1 victory at Bolton, Arsenal became table-toppers in late September and it had the makings of the 2007/08 start when they climbed and glued themselves to the summit until the business end.
But the stopping of that imperious form hinged on when Hull brought them back down to earth. Who knows what would have happened had that momentum not been interrupted by such a HUGE upset?
So, as much as they proved title outsiders throughout, there was actually a time in this long season when Arsenal had the “United” feeling.
Perhaps the dooms were not from start to finish, were they?
Other bad surprises that could have made the list are; Vela never given the chance to shine and Eboue once jeered at the Emirates Stadium.
Stay tuned for the Five Good Surprises of the season tomorrow.
One of your better articles, Randy.
I think if we had Theo fit for the whole season we definitely would have made more of a title challenge.
Anyway, let’s build towards next campaign and look forward.
“One of my better articles”? At least I do take time and give 100% in everything I publish here.
Oh yes, Theo’s fitness was a declining factor.
Agree with both of you guys about Theo’s fitness and making a difference this season.
don’t get me wrong, theo is very talented, very useful and has contributed a lot this season. that said i think people have over-rated him. especially since that hat-trick, which no one can deny has been a one-off, not something he ever looks like doing. his crossing can be good at times, but is often very poor and he, whilst finishing wonderfully once in a while, gets worked up in front of goal and either takes a touch to many or misses his shot.
i suspect that if he was not english people wouldn’t make such a fuss about him. that said we DID miss his qualities and he certainly is a very talented guy with a lot of potential. but if people look beyond his hat-trick and his nationality they’ll see his great moments are pretty few and far between really. he is very often anonymous in the big games, his end product is sometimes good, but generally unreliable and for a player of his style, he doesn’t look like scoring anything like enough.
his potential is huge, but walcott has not been all that impressive for us yet on balance. as i said i suspect that if he was french people would be far less kind and turn less of a blind eye to his short-comings sometimes.
i should add, a fit rosicky is worth two walcott’s.
Yes, Rosickly aka ‘little mozart’is a missed.
What about Cesc’s injury?? Also I would argue the worst point was before the season started. The second we didn’t sign Alonso from the scousers. Imagine if we had him playing all season, craft and steel. Also worth noting after Gallas was rightly stripped of the captaincy he played very well until his injury. The semi’s may have been better with him playing??
Anyway too many if only’s, unfortunately more than manure….
Roll on next season. Great food for thought though. Thanks for the great blog, keep it up.
Cheers Paul Bro, I try to make this site the best I can.
nice one randy..
For me one of these was the HULL team management ganging up to smear our club captain and manager with lies and creations. I couldnt believe they were hell bent on persuing so vigorously a story with no credible evidence until I discovered paul Duffen their chairman is a known supporter of the SPUDS!
My view is that the worst bad surprise was the signing of Silvestre, after getting rid of Senderos on loan, what a cock up that was.
Hahaha…LOL
The nastiest surprise, for me, was the complete lack of effort, respect and sheer arrogance shown by our players in games like; Hull, at Home! Why that was? Gawd only knows!
come on you should not single out only one player for being bad yhis season….its not just theo or cesc that where missed it was like whole team….just tell me when we had the whole team healthy this season….its like we are cursed with injuries…i think that we have great team and that we do not need much back up…we just need our players healthy just imagine healthy Dudu and Rosicky.
Bad surprise of the year… fish dying
Seriously… three in one year. So young. So sad…
Does no one care about my fish?