Scroll down to the bottom of this blog entry for a complete Star Sports highlight package including all goals, Arsenal’s million missed chances and Arsene Wenger’s PG interview.

You need to shoot in order to score. Somebody tell that to our strikers, playing pretty and passing shots up from 8 yards out will only end up with you looking like a fool. There are many reasons we lost but that is the one that sticks out the most, when you put together series of meaningful passes that beg for a shot in the end and it never comes, it makes it look like Arsenal are either a) scared to shoot b) scared to miss. Either the case, the result is that we don’t end up scoring.

Let’s get to Arsene Wenger leaving Henry on the bench for later. The first half consisted entirely of Arsenal going forward thanks to Freddie Ljunberg and two of our backs, Toure and Clichy. The best of our chances were generated when we attacked from the wings rather than relying on Fabregas to break down the defense down the middle. The finishing in the first half was poor, Adebayor had a golden chance early on but he tried to control the ball from 3 yards out instead of one-timing it, the keeper recovered after Adebayor’s first touch let him down.

Adebayor had another chance when he had a free header but shot it wide, and later it was Adebayor who beat Alex down the left and crossed in for Fabregas’s shot to be blocked, Baptista had a chance but shot it over the bar. Here’s what tells me that a striker has no confidence: Fabregas is making a run and leaves it for Baptista, all you have to do is shoot and you’ll at least hit the target but what does Baptista do? He tries to pass it back and Fabregas along with everybody watching in attendance and television isn’t expecting that pass. A chance gone to waste. I just highlighted one but there were many.

Alex OG 1-0

So after Arsenal get very lucky and Alex who was having a great game in controlling Adeabyor, shot one in his own net. After that Arsenal blitzed PSV to no end and at this point everyone expected Arsenal to score again. We should’ve gone up 2-0 when Adeabyor was in a one-on-one breakaway with just the goalie to beat but he shot it straight at the goalie when anywhere else would’ve done. Choosing power over a little finesse cost us a 2-0 lead. Moments later, Fabregas has a free shot from just inside the area and he shoots it hight, Fabregas really is the last guy I expect to score, especially from that distance. As great as he is a passer, he needs to improve and take chances like these. Arsenal were very lucky to even things up and got even luckier when Denilson stopped Farfan in his tracks, easily could’ve been a penalty. Arsenal toned down their frenetic pace after Henry came in and the Frenchman threatened immediately with a low serving shot which the goalie had some trouble with. An Henry free kick was also saved by a diving goalie.

But Alex was about to redeem himself, after Hleb unnecessarily committed a foul right near the left corner, the freekick in was headed home by Alex. It appeared that Jens Lehmann wanted to catch the ball but was blocked off by a couple players, including one of his own. The header was a free one and glanced in. Arsenal, who were poor all season defending set pieces, came undone by something entirely expected because of lack of concentration. I was shocked and all those missed chances were now going to come back to haunt us. Now needing two goals in the final few minutes, the Gunners were done. Lack of finishing and lack of concentration on key set plays, something that’s been missing all year long, fittingly comes back to hurt us. Gunner fans will argue that we deserve to win this game based on possession and shots, but no, that’s not the case. We deserved to lose because we didn’t take care of our chances.

Alex 1-1

Why Arsene Wenger chose to rest Thierry Henry for the first half is puzzling. Either he’s fit to play or he’s not. Which one is it? The strategy of “let’s see if we really need him and only put him in if we do” doesn’t make any sense. Maybe if Henry played the first half, maybe he could’ve finished just one of those chances that went begging. It’s hard to even accept this but Wenger did not put field the strongest possible side in the first half and that my very well have cost us the game. We can point to individual plays like Adebayor’s missed chances and Fabregas’ strike over the bar but from a managerial perspective, it’s inexcusable for Wenger to not put pressure on PSV from the outset by bringing in Henry.

Freddie Ljunberg was impressive today, he was coming forward down the left side and was at the short end of the stick when it came to the officiating, he was getting called for fouls for no reason at all. Even though Arsenal let them off the hook, give PSV credit, they had a plan and stuck to it. PSV inserted pace into the lineup in the form of Jefferson Farfan and despite losing Kone to injury, made Arsenal work at the defensive end. When they needed a goal, they stepped up strong and took their only chance. Kolo Toure and Gael Clichy deserve credit for their forward runs in the first half and Clichy has shown that the he’s the best we’ve got at his position. Kolo fired the only real shot of the first half when he came forward from the right, almost beat the keeper. It’s sad when you end up relying on your backs to create your chances for you.

Every time Arsenal won a corner, I wish they hadn’t. Although the own-goal by Alex came from a corner, the Gunners have had almost no success creating anything from corners, it’s almost better to just play the ball in on the side and take it from there. Fabregas is the last person who should be taking them as he’s always too low on them and today was no different.

Here’s some facts that come to mind:

• We simply don’t shoot and all the criticism we get for playing “beautiful football” over “practical football” is often justified.
• Julio Baptista should not be brought back, he doesn’t know how to use his power and lacks finesse.
• Arsene Wenger made a mistake in not playing Henry in the first half, if the man is healthy, there’s no reason whey he can’t play the first half but play the second. Just don’t play him at all if he’s not ready. Kill off the anticipation.
• Emmanuel Adebayor is good but he should’ve put the Gunners up 2-0, his finish on the breakaway was extremely poor.
• The defensive substation of Diaby for Ljunberg didn’t work out.
• Injuries kept us from advancing the CL but even with the injuries, we had the squad to go past PSV, we just didn’t convert our chances.

What a disastrous season? No trophies from anywhere and all we have to look forward to is a fourth place finish in the league.

Star Sports Highlight Pack

With Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea advancing, Arsenal become the only English side to depart at the first knockout stage.  Arsenal join Lyon, Real Madrid and Inter Milan as the big clubs exiting early.  It’s lights out in The Champions League.

I’m been saying this for a while and sometimes when you win you don’t notice these things but the Raptors’ defense is abysmal. Granted Washington’s a good offensive team but the Raptors were shooting 60% at one point in the game and were still down by 20. How easy it is for teams to score on us is scary and it’s been a problem all season long but nothing has been done to correct this critical issue. All it takes to break down the Raptors is some PG penetration followed by two swing passes and then the offense can get any shot they want.

The rotations on defense were late all night as they have been for much of the season and when it came down to closing out shooters, nobody bothered. It was almost like they were hoping that Gilbert Arenas would miss the three rather than doing something about it. It sounds pretty arcane but it doesn’t matter how great of an offensive team you are if you can’t stop the other team. Transition defense is a whole another thing. Our big men get beat down the floor far two often and if their man doesn’t score, they do position themselves for a nice little offensive rebound - another glaring weakness. The Raptors got killed on the boards with Washington having almost double the defensive rebounds. Combine this with the their porous defense and its lights out.

How 7-footer Rasho Nesterovic had 0 defensive rebounds in 20 minutes (Chris Bosh had 1 in 34) is mind-boggling and further evidence that if we plan to make a defensive stand in the paint against anybody, he’s not the guy to lead it. Rasho at best will give you a good defensive game by moving his feet and using his size to his advantage but that occurs once in a blue moon. He’s not a guy who can cover for a guard when his man beats him and that happened too frequently tonight. For every time Bosh scored, Jameson scored on him and it wasn’t entirely Bosh’s fault, there was no help whatsoever on any play.

There was an absolute BS call in this game and another example of how easily the officials are influenced by the coaches and players. Antonio Daniels is on a break and Mo Pete goes for the ball, Daniels initiates the contact and goes down hard. It’s a foul, that’s it. But the way Daniels falls down prompts the Washington coaching staff to ask for a flagrant which hadn’t been called. What do the official do? They confer and grant a flagrant. Horrible officiating.

I wish I could say we lost this game because Anthony Parker was missing (thanks Bruce Bowen you sewer scum) but that’s not the case at all. Our defense was non-existent and our offense was so stagnant that we were forced to make one-on-one moves which ended up in forced shots. Our team isn’t designed for individual talent to come through via isolation moves and aside from Bosh - and even he struggles often - there isn’t anybody who can take his man without help. So much for the Raptors’ assist to turnover ratio, Calderon and Ford have both struggled creating chances for teammates and today was no different. But give credit to Washington, they had one single strategy - collapse on any move to the lane. It worked brilliantly, once the Raptors even attempted to come into the lane, the defense collapsed and forced tough decisions.

Washington was unstoppable and took advantage of every mismatch they found on the floor, starting with Gilbert Arenas and his quickness to Stevenson and his strength to Hayward and his length. The Wizards hit the boards hard, especially early, and it took the Raptors out of it. Early on the Raptors came up with several defensive stops but conceded the offensive rebounds which led to easy and self-esteem deflating scores. Their hot shooting kept them somewhat in the game but you can’t expect that to last all game, and it didn’t.

Juan Dixon was a nice little pickup, the guy is a player and will help this team down the stretch, we just need Mo Pete and Joey Graham to be a more consistent on the offensive end. Aside from a defensive post presence, I still think the personnel we have in place can do the job. We need a coach who can instill some consistency in this team, something Sam Mitchell has failed to do. The good news is that the Nets and Knicks both lost so the loss doesn’t hurt us too much in terms of the division race.

Here’s the Game in a Flash highlights courtesy Chasin from RealGM:

Here’s the RealGM post game thread.