A cold night at the Reebok brought about a first start for Bacary Sagna since his injury away at White Hart Lane and a welcome return to fitness for Mikel Arteta. After a spirited if unconvincing comeback in the Cup against Villa on the weekend, Arsenal had barely any time to rest before Szczesny; Sagna, Mertesacker, Koscielny, Vermaelen; Song, Arteta; Chamberlain, Ramsey, Walcott; van Persie (C) started against Bolton’s Bogdan; Steinsson, Knight, Wheater, Ricketts; Eagles, Muamba, Reo-Coker (C), M Davies, Petrov; N’Gog with the Gunners desperately needing a win after three straight league defeats.
In the opening throes of the game neither team looked particularly comfortable in possession and the passing was poor from both sides, especially so considering Arsenal’s normal fluid and accurate possession play. That said, we seemed a class above the team we saw lose away at Fulham and Swansea with the power of Sagna down the right and the balance Arteta’s brilliant passing play brings to the heart of the midfield. As for chances in the first fifteen minutes, Bolton had absolutely none and Arsenal created a couple of shooting opportunities that were either blocked or wasted despite how pedestrian our pace going forward was. Around the 20th minute a mistake by Koscielny let David Ngog fire straight at Szczesny from a tight angle but the Ox ran it all the way upfield before swerving inside and blasting his shot over – a sign a player who has promise so much still has a lot to learn.
credit to the guardian/Jason Cairnduff/Action Images
However, the Trotters wasted a golden chance when Koscielny, at fault again, was outmuscled by Ngog underneath a bouncing ball in the area and the ex-Liverpool striker rolled his shot wide past a beaten Szczesny. Straight after in the 25th minute Theo Walcott should have put Arsenal 1-0 up every day of the week after a brilliant through ball from Chamberlain and incredulously played it straight into Bogdan when 1 on 1 on the edge of the box; the wingers form definitely doesn’t reflect the fact he’s negotiating a new contract and has been poor of late. Another glaring opportunity was missed by Mertesacker who failed to attack an RVP cross seconds later and you were left to wonder whether Arsenal would be left to rue missed chances as we have done before.
A bitty end to the half saw the first booking of the game went to an incredibly unlucky Thomas Vermaelen who saw yellow after Mark Davis dived at his feet – in the defenders own words, it was a joke; Chris Foy levelled the cards count up immediately after with a booking on Steinsson for bundling the Ox over soon after. Fourty-five minutes played and with the scoreboard still goalless, Owen Coyle would have been the much happier manager, especially considering how Arsenal should have scored at least two goals before the break and were playing with no real urgency. Tactically, the patient approach from the Gunners to play through defence had seen the Trotters’ defence break on a number of occasions but with no tangible reward at half time; that said, the side looked tentative as players were back from injury and Ramsey’s play was very fatigued indeed.
Arteta hits 86% of his passes and RVP hit the woodwork twice, but doesn't test Bogdan with a single shot on target - credit to the Guardian
The start to the second half was as flat as the first, with Arsenal creating little and Bolton offering even less: the hosts pressuring Szczesny into a Cruyff turn and Walcott being caught offside was a threatening as it got for the first ten minutes. It looked as if the Gunners had a breakthrough when Sagna swung a cross in from deep and Arsenal’s Captain Fantastic RVP ran diagonally across goal to open up his body and volley with his left against the near post, the shot bouncing away and Arsenal coming as close to 1-0 as they had done thus far. Alex Chamberlain, who had had an average game, was subbed in the 69th minute for Thierry Henry, much to the delight of travelling Gooners who had expected to see Arshavin come on instead. Could Titi be the game changer once again?
Bolton were putting the pressure on the away team now with a succession of crosses and corners, with not a lot of potent threat but the uneasiness that Arsenal still feel when the ball is airborne in the box still very apparent; this effect seemed about to be compounded when Kevin Davies replaced David Ngog in the 75th minute. In fact, the Gunners seemed to start to mount more of an attack after this as the abundant possession continued and we hit the woodwork again after van Persie pulled on to his right foot on the edge of the box and tried to chip Bogdan with a diagonal ball floated into the top left hand corner – which hit the bar. In the 80th minute, Rosicky replaced Ramsey and Tuncay came on for Petrov to inject a bit of freshness into the game.
Arsenal are nearing relegation form - credit to Opta
The elusive breakthrough goal looked to undeservedly come for Bolton just before full time when Mark Davies was played through by Tuncay and Szczesny upended him in the area: but no penalty was given by Chris Foy. Although there was minimal contact between the players, there was none between the keeper and the ball, so it looked a penalty and Arsenal were probably lucky not to be 1-0 down despite having all the ball and all of the chances up until now. A crucial header from Per Mertesacker which saw him take a boot to the head preceded full time and a goalless draw was an incredibly underwhelming result for the Gunners, who had passed up the opportunity to make up ground on Chelsea at one of the worst teams in the league.
All in all, this is 100% not the result we wanted and actually a massive blow towards any hopes we had of taking fourth place. However, the performance is what really hurts for me. A showing totally devoid of urgency, passion or hunger to get forward capped off by wasteful and casual finishing was ‘vintage Arsenal’ in the way that they seem to never fail to disappoint when it matters against the lower lights of the league. Aaron Ramsey’s leggy play is not to blame for the teams poor form, but is symbolic of our problems – we’re trying too much and not producing enough. Thinks don’t look good for Arsenal who are very much back in the relegation form with which we started the season and it’s hard to see where the positives will come from.
Player Ratings: Szczesny 4, Sagna 5, Mertesacker 5, Koscielny 4, Vermaelen 5, Song 4, Arteta 6, Chamberlain 5 (Henry 4), Ramsey 4 (Rosicky 4), Walcott 4, RVP 6
