By Boris Mellor
February 4 2007

Arsenal did not have the best of first halves against Boro at the Riverside. But 0-0 at half time is satisfactory away from home, because it is a 90 minute game, and things can only get better in the second half.

Clearly Wenger was frustrated by Arsenal's first half performance, but what pissed him off wasn’t a lack of effort, but the lack of guile, even he has noticed that a good corner doesn’t take more effort than a bad one. A good pass takes no more effort than a bad one.

Football is complicated by the fact that it must be taken into account that the other side has eleven men. That may be stating the obvious, but in spite of that some fans insist on ignoring the blindingly obvious, so it still needs saying. It is hard to judge whether a team is failing to progress because they are playing poorly, or that the opposition is playing well.

Myth no 1 Boro had threatened to attack, but in fact they mainly pressed and defended well. They had three shots on target all game, and one of those was the penalty. How would Arsenal fans react if their team had only three shots on target at home?

Myth no 2 Lack of effort

Nonetheless for some fans their team should sprint to 3-0 in first ten minutes, and if they don’t then they are not trying; not because the opposition’s 11 men are preventing them. Now if football was purely a matter of effort then a lot of very poor teams would have won the Premiership. Why the team wakes up more lazy on some days than others is a mystery; no doubt Arsene is looking into it.

Now whatever the cause of the flat first half, and it doesn’t matter if we agree on the cause of that, Arsenal resumed the second half playing a far more flowing and intense game. But they forgot about the other eleven, who broke away and won a doubtful penalty. I say doubtful because the foul took place outside the area. Yes it was a sending off but not a pen. Senderos was not to blame because the team was suckered punched, he was the only one to get back, which is why he got sent off. It was because of gung ho attacking that the Gunners came a cropper. Now I don’t know about you but I thought the curse of PPV had struck, its one thing to be 1-0 down, or a man down, but both at the same time surely would be too much?

Myth no 3 The sending off galvanised Arsenal

No it didn’t, they were already galvanised, and indeed galvanisation caused the goal, too much attack, and no attention paid to defence. Indeed the first reaction was to rock on their heels and let Viduka have a great shot, fortunately Lehmann made a brilliant save, which lifted the team again.

Myth no 4 Lehmann was outside the area for throw that led to goal

Some of the "quality press" have reported this today without qualification. Now this is bollox, it doesn’t matter where Mad Jens was, it is where the ball was that counts, and the ball was in the area. Thankfully Riley got that right. What a wonderful goal!! Lehmann to Toure, Kolo to Adebayor, Manu knocks the ball down Henry controls it and passes it into far corner.

Myth 5 Not a typical Arsenal goal

Why not? Because it was direct and box to box in 10 seconds? Ah because Adebayor headed it. But it wasn’t some hopeful hoof, it was a great box to box goal reminiscent of the 98 team. Once Arsenal equalised they could have gone on to win, but had run out of time.

Myth no 6 Arsenal deserved no more than a draw

I don’t know what deserve has got to do with anything, the game is won by the team that scores the most goals, and the Gunners had far more chances than Boro. But a young English manager, and an English player at centre half so why not play up how wonderful Boro were. Just imagine if Arsenal lost a one goal lead when the opposition were down to ten men – they would be told they were crap. Indeed they were told they were crap when they "only beat Thun 2-1", when down to 10 men themselves.

Myth no 7 Boro a small team

Viduka looks quite big to me, as does Woodgate, oh you mean they should be rolled over like Man and Chelsea do? Hang on a moment, Boro beat Arsenal, Chelsea and Man U last season. This season they have beaten Chelsea already, they beat Bolton 5-1. They are unbeaten this year, and have a very good record at home – so how small are they exactly? As small as Southend (who beat a strong Man U team)? I don’t think so. They are a mid table team that are very strong at home. Man U do not always roll over mid table club away, indeed, like us they lost at West Ham. I hope our players show more respect to the opposition than some of our fans do.

Myth no 8 Wenger should have played Walcott

Yes Flamini is not a right winger, nor a great tackler, but he did enough harassing of players on the right side to boost Hoyte’s defending. Indeed it was when he and Hoyte went too far up field that the damage was done. You have to change tactics away from home. I like Walcott, but he adds nothing to defence. Ideally a fit Hleb would have played.

Myth no 9 (That’s enough myths. The Editor)

Will power not enough

So not Arsenal’s greatest performance, but great spirit to come back in difficult circumstances. So why wait until they are a goal down? I think its because we have no lock pickers or can openers in the team at present. Pires was a lock picker, and Freddy a can opener. Both could poach a first goal.

At present we have a team, of mainly, late goal scorers, the game has to stretch out before Henry or Adebayor score. When the opposition score they then stop pressing, they either attack too much (Blackburn 6-2), or go too deep (Man U and Boro) and Arsenal score. Being a goal down suits the Gunners style of play. Not satisfactory but that is what happens. That’s why not conceding, especially away from home is so important for the Gunners.

Final Myth Arsenal lack consistency

One defeat in last 11 league games, if you add the cup 1 in 16.

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