If you are an Arsenal fan, losing at home to Monaco in the Champions League had an unusual familiarity about it. The striker fluffing his lines, the creative midfielder looking anything but creative, the world cup winning center-back playing like an overgrown 20 year old at a kick-about in school. Yes, this was Arsenal at their worst and in recent seasons it has become run-of-the-mill for Arsenal supporters.
Arsenal have exited the competition in the round of 16 consistently over the past four years losing to Barcelona, Milan and Bayern Munich twice respectively; all superior opposition compared to AS Monaco. Wenger would have been delighted, although melancholic about the prospect of facing his old team in the round of 16 this season which would automatically put Arsenal favorites to go through to the quarter finals, something they hadn’t seen in four seasons. However, Arsenal unpredictable as ever, choked at the biggest stage as they so often have in recent seasons and are on the brink of a shock exit from the coveted competition. The defeat brought to mind the mauling at Stamford Bridge by Chelsea last last season on the occasion of Arsene’s 1000th game in charge of the North London club and of course, the defeat to Birmingham in the League Cup Final.
Much criticism was directed towards Olivier Giroud who was termed a ‘wandering wardrobe‘ by The Guardian’s Barney Ronay for his horrendous display in front of goal. Giroud missed sitter after sitter until Arsene withdrew him immediately after he skied a ball into the crowd with an inviting goal mouth and a goalkeeper off balance. Giroud was terrible and did not look anything like the player Arsenal have relied upon this season. Although Giroud rescued Arsenal at Everton and won the game at the Etihad, his no-shows have been prominent against big opposition and in the biggest stages. Arsene should rethink his options going into the second leg whether to start with Giroud or use England striker Danny Welbeck through the center.
Another no-show was German Mesut Ozil. The world cup winner tried to pull the strings alongside Cazorla but cut a frustrated figure all night. The lack of drive that has embodied Ozil and has been his scathing criticism was put on show at the Emirates on Wednesday night. Whenever he lost the ball, instead of trying to recover it or at least make an attempt to recover, he seemed to wave his hands towards the referee or towards an invisible judge above signalling a foul or agitation against him. It must have been a bad German night altogether as another weak display from Per Mertesacker allowed Monaco the luxury of three away goals. Mertesacker was criticized for going side in to block Kondogbia’s powerful strike on goal and was clearly at fault for charging in at the relentless Fabinho leaving Martial free on the wing to pick up Fabinho’s pass setting up Berbatov for the killer second goal.
A second leg in Monte Carlo has to be easy for AS Monaco tactically. Repeat. Make Arsenal suffer in possession by keeping the same fluid formation and not leak in goals. It has been proven time and again that if you frustrate Arsenal without giving them a sniff at goal, you always get more than one chance to score against them yourselves. A repeat of the same tactics from Jardim’s side will no doubt take Monaco through to the Quarter Finals for the first time since they lost in the Finals to FC Porto in 2004. Arsenal will need luck and plenty of commitment from all its players and most definitely will need their French manager’s years of wisdom and experience to pull this through against his former employers. Either way, a cracker at Monte Carlo is in store.
The Perfect Through Ball 