When I watch games like the Bournemouth vs Arsenal at the Vitality Stadium, Albert Einstein’s words come rushing through:
“There are 2 things that are infinite, the universe and man’s stupidity and I am not sure about the former”
Liverpool dropped points against Sunderland, Chelsea also eventually dropped points against Spurs yesterday. Man United gained maximum points in 2 mins……I could go on and on.
Bottom line, the stage couldn’t have been set any better to motivate common sense to prevail for Arsenal to do the needful. However, with Wenger’s proficiency at self sabotaging, I should have known better and saved myself the grief after seeing the team sheet.
For crying out loud, why does Arsene Wenger feel the need to always start Aaron Ramsey even if he has no space in the midfield?
With Xhaka pairing Coquelin in the middle of the park and Iwobi retaining the no.10 pivot in the absence of Özil, where exactly did Ramsey fit in the equation?
Logically speaking, nowhere! He was meant to come on later in the game to help out in the middle of the park by replacing Iwobi or Coquelin but no, The Boss started Ramsey on the right.
Just 48 hours earlier, Lucas Perez held down that position and not only was he the beginning of the move that lead to the famous Giroud’s scorpion strike which Wenger claimed to be among his Top 5 goals as a manager, he bossed the area and made the opposition defence uncomfortable throughout.
Oxlade Chamberlain has been a subject of transfer rumour to Liverpool for the last 3 Weeks and he has stated clearly his unhappiness with lack of game time.
With these 2 players naturally adept to playing on the wing, competing for the spot and giving a proper thinking manager a headache as regards selection even when Walcott returns to the fold, what did we get?
Point is, Wenger gets paid £15,000,000 p.a to get it right. This situation was no rocket science but just a clear sign of indiscipline by the Boss when it involves Ramsey. No one can argue the energy Ramsey brings to the squad but when playing him out of position is definitely counterproductive.
Now that I have gotten that out of the system, let’s touch the positives shall we?
By a stroke of chance which involved the unfortunate situation of Coquelin pulling his hamstring Wenger’s godson, Ramsey was moved into the midfield and The Ox was brought in to play the right wing.
At this point, we were down 2 nil thanks to a leaking right side which made L. Daniels feel like some Christian Bale against Inter Milan. Fraser, although a decent player suddenly seemed like a Douglas Costa making life unbearable for Bellerin.
With the introduction of The Ox, Arsenal’s grip on the game started growing. Even though we conceded once more, I still believed Arsenal still had a minute chance.
With the right mix on the pitch, we can take on anyone and ball them off the park. Lucas Perez eventually came on but oh boy did he turn up. He laced a left footed volley from a tight angle for the second goal which confirmed my belief.
Alexis Sanchez took his tally to 13 League goals just one behind Diego Costa with 14 goals. Olivier Giroud continued his goal scoring form by completing the comeback with a headed goal to make it all square at 3-3.
I still hold the opinion that we could have walked away with maximum points if only Ramsey and not Iwobi was withdrawn to accommodate Perez.
At 3-3, Sanchez laid a smart through ball to Ramsey who just whipped the ball into the stands with his left foot when he had all the time to control and take a shot with his right foot or square it to someone else to score in the box.
Found myself celebrating a draw like a win…FA at the weekend, till the next thought…! COYG! ! !
