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| End of an era? Drogba, Lampard and Terry ponder the future after Monday's capitulation |
A huge win like this not only takes the monkey that Cheslea has become this past five years off our backs. It broke a hoodoo that has shrouded the club like a dark mist for the past five seasons. It does wondees for the spirit.
The fact that Arsenal has not been able to sniff the premiership title since we last lifted it in 2004, has been due largely and significantly to the emergence of Roman Abramovich’s supremely , richly assembled coalition of stars at Chelsea. Man Utd has also played their part in denying us, but the role of Chelsea has been much more pronounced.
All the while, the likes of Frank Lampard, John Terry, Wayne Bridge and that man, Didier Drogba took turns to dish out punishment and humiliate us. It was a simple, straightforward case of “might is right”. Drogba in particular was always like a bull in the ring, stirred by the sight of a red flag anytime we lined up against them. His record of 13 goals in 12 games against us was a banner of derision, waved in our faces at every slight chance. But like all good things, they ultimately come to an end.
Well, last night changed all that. The missing ingredients in Arsene Wenger’s perennial youth project – belief and pressing – emerged Monday night to complete the brew and deliver a resounding victory that by all ramifications, has severely damaged Chelsea’s interest in the title race
Remember those two words – belief and pressing.
It was belief in the first place that laid the foundations of our game on the night. As the match kicked off in front of a boisterous full house at the Emirates, it was apparent what Chelsea’s gameplan was. Their tactic, which has served them so well against us in the past, was to soak up all the pressure we could offer and then hit us on the counter at the slightest chance. With Drogba on the pitch and prowling around our defence, it was a tried and trusted approach.
Remember again. Belief and pressing.
As the match unfolded and the intial opening skirmishes settled down, we gradually exerted control which wasn’t too different from what Chelsea expected. Their chance for a breakaway counter attack came in the 24th minute when someone - I think it was Lampard – hit a long ball upfront for the dangerous Drogba to chase. Surely he did and engaged Koscielny in a mad sprint for the ball. The younger Frenchman took him on and actually won the race inside the 18-yard when he edged ahead to kick the ball from the boots of the Ivorien. First blood? Yes indeed but this time it was to us.
Rewind back 21 months ago in March, 2009 when the same Drogba was hit with a long pass out of midfield against us at Wembley in the FA Cup semifinal – the game where Wenger left in-form Andrei Arshavin on the bench until the game was eventually lost.
Back to the Drogba pass. He duely chased the ball down and almost casually brushed aside the half-hearted attentions of Mikael Silvestre. After just five strides, he was face to face and alone with a hapless Fabianski in goal. With all the time in the world, he coolly picked his spot before shooting sweetly into the net for what was to be the winning goal.
Then, as had been the case in all games against Chelsea and Man United, we lacked belief and pressing.
On Monday night, the equation changed at last and to good measure.
By the midway point in the first half, it was becoming clear that we wanted it more. Players in red were flying into tackles and refusing to be pushed off the ball. Song, Fabregas and Wilshire stood up to John Obi Mikel, Michael Essien and Lampard, while though starved of service, Robin Van Persie kept plugging away and switching positions. It may have been Fabregas’ words last week that our problems in big games were psychological and mental. Whatever it was, there was a zip and determination not to yield to Drogba and Chelsea this time around.
Which was what gave Song – of all people – the conviction to roam forward in the 44th minute (a period in games when players’ minds are already in the dressing room) and switch passes with Nasri and Wilshire before receiving the ball and blasting it past Cech. Belief did that to him.
Belief and pressing also gave Walcott the strength and presence of mind to chase down the ricochet from Essien and lay it on for his captain for the second so early in the second half. A minute later, pressing allowed Walcott to intercept and nick the ball from Essien before feeding Fabregas, who, a master of such situations, calmly waited for Walcott’s timed run to return the ball to the Englishman who gracefully blasted the third goal that knocked the stuffing and the fight out of Chelsea.
For all the careful and painstaking planning that Wenger has put into his ‘youth project’, the two ingredients of belief and pressing remained the missing links for so long. They were qualities that no coach can teach any player as they are basically mental. Has the coin finally, finally dropped in the minds of our players?
Fabregas himself explained it after Monday night’s game by declaring that the difference between a good team and a great team is actually very, very small. It’s all in the head.
For all his glittering goalscoring prowess against us, Drogba found no space or time to weave his magic on the night. All the years and years of pain inflicted on us at will and often with arrogance came to a fiitng end because on the day and on the occasion, our players threw away their fear and trepidation of their hoodoo and forced the hand of history.
Belief and pressing have added something new and formidable to Wenger’s youth project. He himself put it in the best words possible by stressing cheekily that, “it is no longer boys against men”.
About time too.
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