Inexperience is not to blame (From St Albans & Harpenden Review)

Inexperience is not to blame

9:57pm Saturday 9th May 2009 in

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The Semi-Finals of the Champions League had it all this week. On Tuesday night Manchester United played Arsenal off the park to comfortably ease into the final while Chelsea had their place in the final snatched away with two minutes remaining by Barcelona on Wednesday.

In the first leg, Arsenal were fortunate to escape Old Trafford with just a 1-0 defeat to United, who totally dominated the first half and would have scored more goals had Arsenal keeper Manuel Almunia not been in outstanding form saving efforts from Carlos Tevez, Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo.

But Arsenal got back into the game in the second half, having plenty of possession but just not doing enough with it. Nevertheless, there was reason for optimism for the second leg on Tuesday.

Arsenal started the game brightly forcing an early corner and again controlling possession but after 11 minutes it was game over.

Ronaldo picked the ball up on the left side of the Arsenal penalty box and played the ball across the area. Kieran Gibbs, the 19 year old left back, at the most unfortunate of moments slipped allowing Ji-Sung Park to collect it and score.

The major theme of the season for Arsenal has been inexperience and once that goal went in, I knew that would be the topic that dominates discussions about Arsenal in the media for the rest of the week.

Gibbs slipped in the first leg but Arsenal was not punished by United. After the slip Gibbs went on to have a great game showing few glimpses of inexperience. But at the Emirates, his slip cost Arsenal dearly because they were now a goal down and had to score 3 goals to progress.

Gibbs is left footed and with most left footed players, they do everything they can to make sure that the ball is on their left foot to avoid having to use their right. How a professional footballer can have no confidence in his other foot is extraordinary but it is common with so many players.

As Ronaldo played the ball across, Gibbs was in a fine position to deal with the ball. He was in front of Park and had time to deal with the ball. But if Gibbs was going to clear the ball he was going to have to use his right foot. And this may have been why he slipped. His lack of confidence in his right foot made him doubt what the best way to deal with it was and with a wet surface he lost his sense of balance.

The media blamed the slip on inexperience and that simply isn’t the case. The theme of inexperience is used every time things go bad for Arsenal but that is not why Gibbs slipped. The slip could have happened to anyone. Perhaps it was the boots he was wearing because he did slip in the first leg as well. But when the media come out and say his inexperience caused him to slip, I just think that the media have no idea what emotions or thoughts go through a player’s head at critical moments and to simply blame mistakes on inexperience is poor journalism.

Inexperience certainly can’t be blamed for Almunia being beaten from a free kick by Ronaldo. Had the free kick been from 25 yards, then perhaps Almunia could have a defence. But this free kick was from 41 yards out and the angle was from a wide right position. Given the distance, it should allow for ample time to judge the pace and direction the ball is travelling.

But no. Almunia made a slight move to the far post, before realising the ball was coming towards the near post. But he was too late. The ball was past him and in the back net. For most people it was a fantastic free kick that Almunia didn’t have much chance with.

However, the replays clearly show that Almunia could and should have done a lot better. I’m no goalkeeping coach but I know that the key for a goalkeeper is positioning. With the ball 41 yards away, he should have realised that Ronaldo is never going to beat him from that distance at his far post because the ball would have to come across him to beat him and that should give him even more time to deal with it.

So you would think that he would narrow the gap to the near post and he did yet he still took a step to his far post. I think he had time to still come across to the near post but he did not move his feet quick enough and he did not stretch far enough leaving plenty of space for the ball to fly into.

You can’t accuse Almunia of inexperience because he has been the No1 keeper for the last two years and it would be tough to find many game defining mistakes which he has made but when it mattered most he let the team down. Arsenal was still recovering from going a goal down and they needed a period of stability and assurance from their experienced players. Almunia failed to provide this and it makes a mockery of his claims after the first leg when he said some of the players did not perform.

Arsenal were outplayed and never looked like winning but it is not as bad as some fans are making it out to be. If two or three signings can be made then there is no doubt that they win things next season because everything is set up for a period of dominance from Arsenal.

When the decision was made to buy a new stadium it was always going to have an impact on the money available to make signings. Therefore Wenger had to go out and find cheap young players which he can develop and turn into great players. That was the gamble taken and now fans want £100 million spent on changing the squad. There isn’t that kind of money at the Emirates and fans need to realise that. Buying young players allows Wenger to teach them his football philosophy and integrate them into the style of football that Arsenal play.

This has been proven when you watch the young players play in the Carling Cup and even more so when you watch the Under 18’s in the Youth Cup. They all play like the first team has been taught to play and no other team in the country can say that.

The potential is there and it will come right if fans can be just a little more patient.

The same can’t be said of Chelsea who have a lot of players over 30 and will soon need new players to replace them. One of those players was the main protagonist in the hostile and aggressive ending to their second leg match against Barcelona.

Didier Drogba had been substituted in the second half for what looked like an ankle injury. but when Barcelona scored their stoppage time equaliser he marched back on to the pitch to give the referee, who had had a difficult evening, a torrent of verbal abuse labelling him a ‘disgrace’ then in front of the television cameras a ‘f****** disgrace’.

Whatever the referee had done, he did not deserve the abuse he received. Emotions were high but it is still no defence for aggressively shouting at the referee and then deliberately swearing on live television.

Let’s hope UEFA throw the book at Drogba and teach him that if anyone’s actions were a disgrace, it was his.