Francis Coquelin hurts his knee and Arsenal's title pretensions are exposed. I've seen games in which the dominant team, the more talented team, lost in more inexplicable ways; DC United's defeat of Montreal springs to mind here. But this was pretty awful. Mikel Arteta will have to focus on his coaching career, because he's a liability out there for Arsenal this year. I love the guy, but this was a nightmare outing for him. Unfairly penalized for a perfectly good slide tackle that led to the first goal, he inadvertently netted for the Baggies trying to hustle back to atone for losing his man in the buildup. Then he got hurt and was replaced by Flamini, who actually was an improvement.
Where to start...OK, defense it is. All four starters were fit and played reasonably well, but we saw what happens when even a relatively poor offensive side attacks them without Coquelin in front of them. Compounding his loss, there were some uncharacteristically bad decisionmaking from the likes of Mert and Kos. The wingers all wanted to "help" on defense but the commitment was not there. When West Brom is down a goal, at whatever stage of the proceedings, they should lose, full stop. The ball should not be easily coughed up, and men should be marked. West Brom could have gotten more, too.
But let's place the blame where it really belongs here: missed opportunities. Campbell's stands out, of course, as does Cazorla's comical PK. (Tell the truth: did you expect him to make it? I didn't. It was just that kind of game.) But there were others for sure. Myhill didn't have to do anything an EPL keeper isn't expected to, because those missed opportunities sailed over the crossbar or dribbled into the path of a defender. I was happy Ozil got another assist, but that offensive display was shocking, against a hardworking but not particularly good defense.
What really sticks in my craw is that this game was a throwback to the Arsenal of the Fabregas era: soft and easily bullied. Tony Pulis always sends his guys out to kick Arsenal and dammit if it doesn't work. The referee wasn't calling the game tightly and it didn't hurt them--it hurt us. Even the ridiculous putting off of Cazorla on the PK went unpunished and it worked. This was a disheartening loss that could reverberate through the rest of the season, especially if Coq's injury is serious. The Gunners are better than this result, but you don't get points for that. Contrast this with Man U's earlier gritty performance in assuring three points from their game with Watford. They're just as injury-riddled as we are, but they took care of business against an inferior side. We did not. Wenger has to accept his responsibility for not preparing his side to hold a lead.
Three points punted away, and with it perhaps the season. There are too many good teams in the hunt this year for a soft Arsenal to outrun.
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