THEY MIGHT NEED TO MAKE A SEQUEL to The Arsenal Stadium Mystery. The club’s new ground is impressive, but seems to act more as a boost to visiting teams than a fortress for Arsène Wenger’s side. “You are not dealing with the ghosts of the past when you come here,” Gareth Southgate, Middlesbrough’s manager, said. “You have got the chance to play on a fantastic stage and it’s something every player in my dressing-room was looking forward to.”
And Middlesbrough had a ghost to exorcise. They lost 7-0 last season at Highbury and although Arsenal made enough chances to repeat that scoreline, the visiting team’s back line, led by Jonathan Woodgate, held firm at least until Stewart Downing gave away a penalty.
Wenger accepts the Emirates Stadium, with its bigger pitch, poses a challenge. “We have to use the width better and be more penetrating from deep and be sharper in front of goal,” he said Thierry Henry, who equalised from the penalty spot after Downing had felled Emmanuel Eboué, argued that his team would feel the benefit of a bigger pitch if they could take the lead on it. “I don’t know if the new stadium is having an effect,” the France striker said. “It’s weird, but all the teams who have moved to new stadiums have struggled the first year. I just hope we won’t struggle that much.”
Arsenal did find it difficult to break down a five-man midfield and struggled to catch Mark Schwarzer, the Middlesbrough goalkeeper, off guard. Arsenal were keener to pass than shoot, much to the frustration of some of their supporters, and so intricate did their passing around the edge of the area become, that when they occasionally booted an almost aimless ball forward it was rather refreshing.
The most effective pass of the afternoon was courtesy, not of any Arsenal player, but from Jason Euell who split open the home side’s defence with a simple but well-judged ball that gave James Morrison the chance to place his shot neatly beyond Jens Lehmann. Thereafter, Middlesbrough were less adventurous and conceded the penalty soon after George Boateng was sent off for a second caution.
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“We have to find solutions to deal with teams who come here and sit back and, at the moment, we are not sharp enough to do it,” Wenger said. “We make the problem more complicated when we are 1-0 down.”
This is Arsenal’s worst start to a Premiership campaign. “The ingredients are there to do much better and there is huge potential in this side, but we are making life difficult for ourselves,” Wenger said. “We won’t always draw when the other team has only one shot on goal. It is terrible for us because we could not win it against a team with one shot on goal, but it is like that. I do not accuse Middlesbrough of negative tactics. We have to punish teams who do it and, at the moment, we are not capable of doing that.”
Middlesbrough have to prove they are capable of lifting their game against not just the top sides. They have taken four points off Chelsea and Arsenal, but lost to Reading and Portsmouth. “Our attitude has to be no different for any of the teams we play,” Southgate said.
Southgate has emerged as a thoughtful and calm manager but promised that Woodgate would “get a kick up the backside from me” if he allows himself to be led astray off the field.
“He’s coming into a family. I want our club to be a family and I very much want to treat the players as adults,” the former England defender said. “They are going to get an arm round their shoulder, but they are going to get guidance as well as coaching. I just sense with Jonathan that’s not a conversation (about behaviour) I need to have with him because I think he’s been to Spain, experienced a different culture, trained and worked with some of the greatest players in the world and he knows what’s required to make it to the top. He’s got an opportunity to do that because he’s got the ability.”
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THE DEBUTS
WILLIAM GALLAS: He wore Dennis Bergkamp’s No 10 shirt while, back at his former club, Chelsea fans were reading accusations about his threats to play poorly that were reiterated in the match programme. “For me, the past is the past,” Gallas said. “They have said something about me, but I do not mind. I am just focused about my future and my future is with Arsenal.”
Perhaps aware that more is expected from a defender with the No 10 on his back, Gallas became more attacking as the game progressed and produced a strike from 20 yards that swerved just over the bar.
JONATHAN WOODGATE: The Middlesbrough fans greeted every interception he made with the song “He’s coming home, Woodgate’s coming home.” The defender said: “It was a good feeling to hear the fans singing my name. The pace of the game is a lot quicker than in Spain, but I thought I dealt with it all right.”
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Gareth Southgate called Woodgate’s performance “awesome”. “It was a fantastic coup to get him and the pleasing thing for me was that he had the character to stay in there. He must have been shattered by the end, but he stuck with it and dug in for the team.”