Mistakes, Crosses and Leaders

As you watch the ever-reliable Arteta put Ruiz down clumsily inside the penalty box after a non-sensical turn with the ball, you wonder. You wonder what  the last goal against Arsenal was that wasn't from a defensive mistake or from a cross. And its hard to remember. Both the goals at Old Trafford, all three here, 3 of the five at Madejski Stadium, all have been our own mistakes or our inability to deal with crosses. Having a Mertesacker in Central defense hasn't helped us much in dealing with the crosses either. And mistakes, so many silly mistakes. From giving penalties to giving great assists to opposition strikers to giving own goals to giving soft goals, it has been hard for an Arsenal fan to see the ball at the feet of your own defense and not wonder about the latest mistake they are about to conjure up. And when your captain and your vice-captain are the ones making them, you feel they are not just some one-off chances.

Into the last minute as you watch Arteta stand over the ball that would define whether this contest against Fulham was one feircely fought or one despairingly lost, there is this aura around us, one that tells us Arteta is not going to finish it. We simply dont deserve it. Maybe, that was what was going through his mind too. The commentator compounds my belief as he points that probably Wenger himself had ideas other than that of a win when he so anxiously watched our world-class passer take that kick. And as you watch that feebly hit, ill-placed penalty go straight into the hands of Schwarzer, you know that the only way that would have been a penalty was if he stood just like Mannone did in the first half, ball watching, or he went the wrong way. The fate of the kick and the match wasn't decided by the shot Arteta hit, but by the Goalkeeper's choices. And that's when you know, our team didn't have, never had, any control on the match whatsoever.

And as you get out the slumber of what is another painful result against a mediocre team at home, you realize what is needed. A leader, one who can change a match. One who can bring the fate of the match back into our own hands. And maybe, one isn't enough. You cast your glances on the results elsewhere and find that one team has got yet another turn-around. This team, you realize, is full with able people with leadership qualities, people who could change the result of a match, and you wish for your on team to have one. A Berbatov, a Ronaldo, a Messi, an RVP, a Lambert. One who would step up to take that kick away from an off-color Arteta and finish it into the top-right corner.Not a Giroud who would let go of the chance to get a match-winning hat-trick (Nothing to take from his top-class performance though.).