Wenger at the Nou Camp
On Tuesday night Barcelona knocked Arsenal out of their second tournament of the season, having recently been defeated by Birmingham City in the Carling Cup final. The two defeats couldn’t have been more of a contrast, in one game Arsenal dominated possession and chances and were unfortunate to suffer defeat due to a badly timed communication breakdown at the back. On Tuesday Arsenal barely touched the ball and were comfortably second best all night – at attacking. During the match it was being suggested that Arsenal were not getting the ball because Barcelona were too good, however for anyone with an ounce of tactical awareness it was obvious that Arsenal had gone out with a very definite plan to let Barcelona have possession and to simply soak it up (similar to Mourinho’s Inter team last season) and by and large it worked. Yes, Barcelona did have 70 something % of possession but until Cesc Fabregas gifted Iniesta the ball on the egde of the Arsenal area in the 48th minute of the first half, they hadn’t really created many clear chances. The defence had stood firm and kept Barca at bay, and when they did break through Djourou, Koscielny, Wilshere and others were throwing their bodies on the line to prevent shots at goal. Arsenals critics regularly complain about Wengers lack of a “Plan B” – on Tuesday we saw that he can adapt, and adapt well. Arsenal took a 2-1 lead into the game, and knew that 0-0 would see them through, they also knew that Barcelona don’t have a “Plan B” and would attack at 100% from the first whistle, tire in the last 10 minutes and control possession throughout.
Some have suggested that it was foolish to think that Arsenal could keep Barca at bay, often citing their perceieved defensive frailty. In reality though, Arsenal have the most clean sheets in the Premier League this season and their post January defensive line up of Szczesny, Djourou, Koscielny and Song (in defensive midfield role) have kept 7 clean sheets in their last 8 premier league games together, the only goal coming against Everton when Louis Saha was about 4 yards offside. That is a phenomenal record, and if Man Utd had been keeping so many clean sheets the pundits would be creaming themselves. As such, it was not foolish of Wenger to put trust in his defence, yes they were missing Song but they very much had the ability to defend well. The problem, however – and it’s a real ball ache, was that the whole plan required Arsenal keep 11 men on the field. This tactic could not work against Barcelona with 10 men, particularly without Song and particularly with Fabregas not at full fitness. It is not often Wenger loses his temper in the way he did on Tuesday night with match referee Busacca, but on Tuesday he knew that the moment Robin Van Persie was sent off, Plan B would not work, and his players were too tired and stretched for Plan A.
For me, in hindsight, Wengers plan was clear and simple and it required his team to be efficient and ruthless. They would soak up pressure and attacks for 60 minutes and gradually build their attacking threat going into the final 10 minutes by which point Barcelona would have tired. Conceded a goal just before half time meant that they brought the attacking threat forward, and within 10 minutes of the restart they had won and corner and then pressured Barcelona into a mistake. Two minutes later they were attacking again – and that is when they were stopped in their tracks by that terrible refereeing decision. People have been quick to ignore that Arsenal were on the attack when the sending off occurred, instead focussing on the “no shots on goal all game” stat. You could see from the opening to the second half that no one would have been saying that had Arsenal kept 11 men on the pitch, Wenger’s plan had moved forward and they were attacking early. Could they have won? It is impossible to say conclusively, but on the basis of the first half there is no reason to think they could not have gone on to win the tie overall. This was further demonstrated by the golden opportunity presented to Nicklas Bendtner in the 88th minute, when the tenacious Wilshere stole possession inside the Barcelona half and teed Bendtner up perfectly – unfortunately an appalling first touch the chance, and the match, was gone.
Breaking down why Arsenal lost is fairly simple, three things:
1. The referee. The decision to send Van Persie off was a shocking call, but the match official was poor throughout. Barcelona arguably should have had a penalty in the first half when Diaby appeared to trip Messi in the box. More crucially though, not one but two Barcelona players have been caught on camera holding Van Persie and Nasri by the neck in a strangling grip. Busacca is seen right next to the incident but opted to take no action at all. Dani Alves went unpunished for a from-behind scissor tackle on Nasri, the same player went unpunished for a late tackle on Fabregas. Both tackles were yellow card worthy, yet Barcelona ended the game cardless. Those incidents only serve to make the Van Persie red card seem all the more unfair, if he could be sent off for having a shot on goal just 1 second after the referee had blown for offside then why did Barcelona not get even a yellow for their offences? I think the referee bottled it big time at the Nou Camp
2. Fatigue - Arsenal have played 20 games since Christmas, whereas Barcelona have played 17. La Liga is, without debate, a lot less competitive than the Premier League & English football and that extra physical battle takes its toll.
3. Personnel - Whilst Barcelona were indeed without their centre back pairing, their game does not rely on their defence and they had a full attacking armoury available at 100% fitness. Arsenal on the other hand had a clearly unfit Fabregas (who tweaked his hamstring apparently just 15 minutes into the match), were missing their only proper defensive midfielder, Alex Song, Theo Walcott (Arsenals biggest threat against the high lined Barcelona defence) and had a not fully fit Van Persie. Players like Rosicky and Diaby were fit but have not had much game time this season so suffered, Diaby making his first 90 minute appearance of the season I believe.
There should be a number 4 on there really, “Barcelona”, but that is not something that Arsenal can bemoan. Barcelona were relentless in their possession football, they passed the ball superbly throughout and whilst Arsenal had intended to soak up pressure I suspect even they thought Barcelona might occasionally misplace a pass or two, that just didn’t happen.
