Arsenal 1-1 Wolves; More Dropped Points

Some habits are had to break and our old habit of not converting possession dominance into taken chances reared its ugly head again this evening and Wolves’ steward, Wayne Hennessey played a blinder of a match with several good stops.  Even with a man advantage for the final quarter of an hour plus stoppage time couldn’t see Arsenal win and we stumbled home to a 1-1 draw.

With 4 changes to the lineup, we started the game very well and dominated the opening half hour apart from a few Wolves forays forward on the counter.  Gervinho scored only 8 minutes in on a nice, swift counter attack with Benayoun and Rosicky combining well in the initial build up.

Yossi Benayoun started extremely well before petering out in the second half but he was good enough with his touch and passing that I’d like to see him get a little run in the starting eleven.

van Persie was busy but at the same time “quiet” as he looked to be pressing a bit too much to get a record goal.  He had one terrific freekick that was saved equally terrifically by Hennessey and pushed over for a corner.

We actually defended pretty well again I thought, though Wolves did look a little dangerous on the corner all evening long but this current back four of all centerbacks has performed admirably.  Vermaelen looks very dangerous at left back and again popped up here and there in the box at times and nearly snatched a goal on a couple of occasions.

Wolves’ goal came late in the first half following a corner where we failed to clear the lines completely.  Wolves had fortuitously won the initial corner following an obligatory defensive lapse by us.  The corner was initially cleared out of the box but following a bit of ping-pong the ball found Steven Fletcher and he headed back across goal and inside the far post from close range.  The goal came at a time when typically we should’ve been up 2-0 but had failed to turn our possession into chances.

In the second half, the game tightened up and we looked a bit lazy on the ball to me despite us getting several shooting opportunities both form open play and set pieces.  Even with a full man advantage for the final 15 minutes following Serbian Nenad Miljas’ sending off on a meaty challenge on Mikel Arteta, we couldn’t find a breakthrough despite near constant pressure on Wolves at times.  This included several very good stops by Welshman Wayne Hennessey between the sticks for Wolves, most notable on Per Mertesacker on a close range header, on Thomas Vermaelen from point blank near the 6-yard box and on Robin van Persie with a shot from the left where Hennessey saved the effort with his right foot while falling away to his left.  Hennessey was certainly the overall Man of the Match.

So, yet again, we drop a chance to move into the Top 4 and remain in 5th place a point behind Chel$ki.  Our next match is on New Year’s Eve against Space Hitler and QPR.

Player Ratings
Wojciech Szczesny (6.5); didn’t have to do much and couldn’t really be at fault on Wolves’ goal as the ball ricocheted around the area and Fletcher’s header was very well placed

Johann Djourou (6.5); defended well but going forward was a bit weak

Per Mertesacker (6.5); Per defended well, having a really good block on Matt Jarvis and at the other end nearly scored on a corner but for a terrific Wayne Hennessey save

Laurent Koscielny (6.5); also defended well and strayed forward near the end like Kolo Toure used to do at times

Thomas Vermaelen (6.5); The Verminator played well and looks to really enjoy the freedom of movement he gets at left back.  Nearly scored late in the match but was denied by Hennessey with a point-blank effort

Tomas Rosicky (5.5); Rosicky looked rusty and his choice of passing in the final third was not to my liking

Alexandre Song (5); Song was probably the most guilty of being lazy in possession and twice turned the ball over attempting cheeky backheels.  Nearly got sent off in the second half with a scissors tackle when he was clearly aggravated for not getting a foul moments before.  Was substituted minutes later to avoid a sending off.

Mikel Arteta (6.5); Arteta did his usual, tidy passing game with nothing spectacular but nothing poor.  Did have a weak effort on a freekick

Yossi Benayoun (6.5); Yossi started brilliantly and assisted on Gervinho’s goal.  Pressured the Wolves defense on a couple of occasions forcing turnovers deep in their own half but unfortunately Yossi lost steam in the second half and was substituted for Arshavin just past the hour.

Robin van Persie (6); Typical industrious movement popping up all over the place but his efforts on goal were fairly average apart from a freekick that was brilliantly saved by Hennessey and another shot from close range that was saved well.

Gervinho (6.5);  Scored our goal but once again, his decision making and choice of passes in the final third was a bit lacking, in my opinion.  If the Ivorian can put it all together he will be an extremely good player.

Subs
Andrei Arshavin (5.5) ;  Came on for Benayoun in the 63rd minute.  Didn’t really do all that much useful apart from lashing a snap shot narrowly wide late on.

Aaron Ramsey (6); Ramsey popped up here and there allowing Arteta to drop a little deeper.  Ramsey nearly crafted a goal scoring chance when he forced Wolves into a turnover but his cutback pass was deflected before finding RvP to shoot over.

Marouane Chamakh (n.r.); Didn’t really do anything other than bang heads with Robin van Persie on a corner and in the process, received a cut on the back of his head that needed attention on the sidelines.