Humpty Dumpty sat on a wall…you know the rest of the rhyme. Only a Dumpty with a hump could have crashed so dumbly as we folded and capitulated to Championship strugglers Ipswich Town in the first leg of the Carling Cup semifinal at Portman Road. We lost to a side that had no coach – after firing the highly-decorated but luckless Roy Keane.
Of course trust Arsene Wenger to rollout the excuses and this time, he didn’t disappoint. This time, the excuse was, fatigue. Fatigue indeed! I’m having a laugh. As if his pampered wimps play everyday of every week. As if those games were played in far-flung places like Vladivostok or Arondizogu in my native Nigeria.
We simply stunk the place out as the likes of Nicklas Bendtner and Andrei ‘the Giant(!)’ Arshavin outdid each other in incompetence. Our players’ collective attempt to sleepwalk their way to a win backfired spectacularly as we were rightly put in our place by Ipswich’s battling men who had nothing to lose. You just have to hand it to Wenger though. He at least conceeded that we lacked “spark”. Cute choice of words. It may be just the first leg of the Carling Cup with the second scheduled for the home comforts of Emirates where we are always expected to annihilate the opposition – not mentioning that the likes of West Brom and Newcastle (who until recently were both campaigning in the same division with Ipswich) beat us a few months back.
Our performance doesn’t bear mention because we did nothing of note all of the 90 minutes, except to extend our lack of a goal from open play to 270 minutes. So, to save everyone unnecessary aggro, let’s just go to the ratings which are in themselves more cause for the sort of aggro Humpty Dumpty must have felt after his great fall.
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| No sweetness here....Arshavin ruing a poor outing |
*Szczesny (7/10) – He may be just 20 and short on experience, But what he lacks in real playing time, he makes up for in ability and determination. He covered his lines well and dealt with everything that Ipswich could conjur in form of an attack. Until the 79th minute that is. He still prevented an even more embarrassing situation by saving from Carlos Edward’s point blank shot after the speedy winger had evaded our ramshackle offside trap in the 83rd minute. It was his second straight game in the starting eleven and if he continues this form, he won’t be overlooked for too long.
· * Eboue (6/10) – Did well as far as his standards. Didn’t disappoint but didn’t turn the world upside down as well. Enjoyed some freedom and space to overlap in the first half especially and combined well with Walcott in front of him. Enjoying an extended spell in the side due to the suspension of Bacary Sagna and should enjoy it while it lasts before the ‘Sagman’ returns in next week’s FA Cup replay against Leeds.
· *Koscielny (7/10) – Did well to be fair to him. I’m still mystified why people enjoy slating him. I reckon and keep insisting that he is a fine defender. To tell it as it is, I think he’s been let down a lot by his defensive partners. He is still a top man marker and makes up a lot of ground when it comes to a sprint. Wasn’t at fault for the goal.
· *Djourou (7/10) – Everytime he files out for us, I always say a silent prayer that he doesn’t pick up an injury. He is world class, if you can describe a 22 year-old bloke who hasn’t played 50 top flight games for Arsenal in his entire career as that. He is still top class and the more games he plays, the more I admire him. If he continues his progress, he’ll soon become our answer to Barcelona’s Gerard Pique. He was directly responsible for the goal though as he was outrun by the determined Tamas Priskin. Will learn though from last night but I still rate him. Highly actually.
· *Gibbs (6/10) – Did well and with his worrying injury history, we ought to err on the side of caution with him. I still consider him lightweight but he acquitted himself well and dealt with everything that came his way. Bombed forward at every opportunity and helped to neutralise the threat of the tricky Connor Wickham, who is Ipswich’s Golden Boy. Though he still has a considerable way to go before threatening the more-experienced Clichy, Kieran is still a bundle of talent.
· * Denilson (6/10) –Went a long way to repairing the damage he caused in the FA Cup with that penalty clanger against Leeds. Stood strong on his feet and held the middle fort well. Tackled back and front a lot; and snapped into tackles with much more gusto. He clearly was a man on a mission and methinks he accomplished it by a mile. Had a good game all round and repaired his reputation to great length.
· *Wilshire (6/10) – Was his usual busybee self and played some nice balls.The weakness with his game though despite his precociousness, remains that he isn’t direct and penetrating enough. He can be forgiven though because at 19, he’s still learning the ropes. Did well all in all on the night and complimented Denilson well. At least he offers something refreshingly different to the tired Thomas Rosicky.
· *Fabregas (7/10) – Did his best to lift the team and dictate the play as always but things just didn’t work out for him on the night. Almost gifted Ipswich a soft goal in the early minutes of the second half after he lost ball on the halfway line with the entire defence off their line. He never gave up though and tried to win the game almost singlehandedly, which unless your name is Diego Amando or Christiano Ronaldo, you won’t succeed. Still worked his socks off nonetheless.
· * Arshavin (5/10) – Is it pure bad luck or bad karma? Whichever or whatever it is, I give up trying to unravel what is eating the little Russian. From the best player of the European Championships in 2008 and onto becoming one of the most-feared players in the world, the little Russian has been reduced to a walking shadow who needs three touches to control a ball and can’t beat defenders from a lower division. His confidence is at rock bottom at the moment and one wonders how much lower you can sink despite his lack of inches. His loss of form continued last night and it is now a crisis.
· *Bendtner (5/10) – Can’t bother to waste time and words on this one. He’s just a muppet who looks more and more clumsy everytime he wanders on a pitch. I can tell you right now, he’ll never make it at Arsenal. Not now. Not ever.
· *Walcott (7/10) – Never short on endeavour. Ran his guts out and got on to the end of some tasty passes. Won a couple of freekicks in good positions, which if we had a reliable deadball specialist, could have yielded goals. Unfortunately, he looked like a lone ranger most of the night.
Substitutes
· *Chamakh (5/10) – He came on in the 63rd minute for the bumbling Bendtner but lacked any real service and ended up being swallowed by the Ipswich defence. Looks to be struggling for form after a blistering start to his season.
· *Song (5/10) – Replaced Wilshire in a double swoop with Chamakh but found it tough to stamp his usual authority.
· *Vela (4/10) – As long as you don’t have any expectations from this bloke, you’ll not be disappointed. He came on for Arshavin and promptly vanished amidst the 21 other players on the pitch. Typical.
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