It is becoming the theme of Arsenal’s season so far that we start of at full speed and over-run our opponents and look far superior, even against a team like Chelsea. But after gaining a reasonable lead we seem to sit back and invite our opponents to attack us and try to get back into the game.
We did exactly that again against Swansea yesterday, and again we let the Swans back in so much that we had to limp over the line in the end. We do seem to manage to hang on this season, unlike previous ones, but Wenger believes that this is something the team needs to work on.
Wenger said after the game: “I have some mixed feelings because it looked at some points comfortable and then it never was. We could never capitalise on the two-goal cushion but at least we got the three points,”
“I would say when we went two goals ahead we lost our focus and when you are playing a team who are down the bottom and trying to stay in the Premier League you can’t do that,”
“We finished with good solidarity and we made it over the line.”
One day though, we are going to sit back so much against the wrong team and they will get their revenge in the second half, after we seem to run out of steam.
But what is the reason for this? Are we just too complacent when we have a lead or do we use up so much energy in the first half that we just can’t keep up with the pace? Are we not as fit as our opponents who seem to fight to the end?
Perhaps once we are in front we should go in for the kill and build up a really unassailable lead before dropping our guard? Is there any way that Wenger can fix this problem?
Darren N