Welcome back to reality (Analysing the North London Derby)

I was afraid this would happen sooner rather than later, and I’m not glad that it has during our precious day, the North London Derby. For me, we were poor. We attempted to play but we couldn’t, because tactically, we weren’t there.

The first ten minutes, we started brilliantly. Moved the ball around well and keep the game in control. It all fell apart after that. Arsenal started dominating in midfield, taking chances, and moved the ball around well. The crucial point could be the Eriksen chance, which I felt if gone in could change the pace of the game. Arsenal would’ve played more open then and made mistakes like we did.

The only players who performed extremely well for me last night were Dembele and Vlad. The others had been average.

The first goal was disappointing because Dawson clearly was running along with Walcott, who was already being marked by Vlad. The ball if played to Walcott would atleast need him to get two good touches to take a chance and Vlad could have cleared that away, thus leaving Dawson as an unnecessary marker.

The second goal was quite clearly a big mistake by Rose. Walker tired his best to get there, but he was a bit too late.

Another drawback was Adebayor, a player who has been a massive influence in the last few games was not there today. The Arsenal fans clearly turned down his confidence and he couldn’t produce anything. I felt he should’ve been substituted instead of Soldado and the substitution should’ve taken earlier. I even wouldn’t play Bentaleb, who had a decent match but the pressure could have effected too much. Instead, we could have played Holtby, would could put pressure into them and make them make mistakes around the midfield.

I am really happy with Tim so far but I’ve said this earlier, we need a Plan B. He needs to find that tactical side of the game which is very much needed in matches like these. The reason Wenger hasn’t won over Mourinho is the sole reason of tactics, in which Mourinho has the upper hand. AVB too led to a 1-0 defeat this season, which was a better performance for me than compared to today. We seemed more composed that day.

To beat teams like Arsenal, Chelsea and some other big clubs in Europe, we have to play in a tactical way, which Tim is missing. AVB over did that for us but Tim could balance it out because he loves the attackng play. I’ve noticed in all his interviews in charge till now, all he has ever said is that we’ll attack and keep the ball, if we lose it we try to get the ball back and start again. NO! THIS ISN’T GOING TO WORK ALWAYS! We were three times lucky, well two, to get away with it.

We have one more North London Derby this season. Let’s hope we get that in the bag!

COYS