Frustration at The Emirates

So yet again we go down at home early in the first from a silly defensive error. It makes for a thrilling match, don’t get me wrong, but it’s starting to get pretty frustrating. Dyer made it to the edge of the box with little pressure on a Newcastle counter-attack and slotted home a curling shot into the far side of the net.

Henry came on in the second to rescue the game with a great un-save-able free kick into the top left corner. We spent the rest of the match passing the ball around the box and creating several opportunities that just wouldn’t go in. The ball just didn’t want to go home.

The real frustrating part is how many opportunities we had that went inches wide or were saved by an immaculate Shay Given. Given was really the deciding factor in this match, as he was called upon several times to make clutch saves and was always at the ready. In all he made 9 great saves from 9 great shots.

The team played quite well today if you take out the defensive error and lack of a second goal. Baptista stood out in my mind as the player that underperformed compared to the rest. After the first 15 minutes he just looked tired and slow. I’m sure Arsene was counting on him for more contribution to the game so it will be interesting to see what happens next for him. The rest of the team, particularly Van Persie, Clichy, and Hleb looked great. Lehmann went hardly challenged.

Flamini worked well as a holding midfielder, coming to the rescue in a couple of situations but mainly being available as an outlet for the defense. Although the team played well together, you could tell that without Rosicky, Ljungberg, or Gilberto on the pitch, we were just a tad bit lost.

Back to the goal… it was a horrid mess. We’re a team that scores most on the counter-attack and to fall victim to that ourselves is a bit embarrassing. Going a goal down at home early in the first is even more embarrassing and its a trend I hope we break post haste.

It’s quite difficult to be critical of the team right now because they are playing great football, just not delivering the win. It’s like we’re on the edge of breaking through and winning some convincing games, but for every step forward we take one step back. Oh well, it could have been worse! At least we escaped with a draw when we needed it. Losing at home would have been even more dreadful so we should be mindful of that.

So we end up tied for third after dropping two points. United and Chelsea have both won to keep their great progress going. Unless they fall apart and Arsenal get it together, I don’t think the table is going to change too much.