If last weekend's match against Sunderland showed Arsenal at their attacking best, then today's match at Stoke was a far cry from those heady heights witnessed against the Black Cats.
After a cagey start fraught with misplaced passes, the first 20 minutes offered little to either set of fans, with perhaps the best chance falling to Stoke who executed a fast-paced counterattack following an Arsenal corner that was easily cleared. Walters was deemed offside however the effort had Szczesny scrambling across the goal line.
Stoke's Wilson then had a free header at the back post after he was left worryingly unmarked by a defense that seemed strangely ununified. Thankfully Wilson seemed caught in two minds, heading the ball straight at Sagna, Mertesacker making the eventual clearance.
It seemed as though Arsenal were frustrated due to their own erratic play and a referee who was quite happy to allow the now customary game of 'let's see who can kick Jack Wilshere the hardest' continue throughout the match. The physicality of the game spiralled as it played out. This was characterised by a frankly disgraceful decision by the referee who missed a clear sending off for Stoke's ..... when he stamped on Giroud's ankle, before bizarrely giving a free kick against Arsenal.
We had to wait until the 32nd minute for our first real chance, coming when Podolski was released with an incisive through ball. However the German, under pressure from the Stoke defense rushed the shot, failing to even hit the target.
The game was ultimately decided by an innocuous incident in which Koscielny was deemed to have handballed inside the penalty area. Whilst we can understand why this was given, as Koscielny's arms were raised, he was less than a yard from the ball and had virtually no time to move his hands out of the way. Yet another rigid rule which should be open to change given circumstance considering there was no intention on the part of the defender to handball.
This was a game decided by exceptionally poor refereeing. What is frustrating is that because the referee missed such a vast quantity of small, seemingly meaningless fouls and trips on our players none of them will be mentioned in the media. The game, mired in Stoke's reversion to Pulisesque tactics of aggression never got going and it was so obvious that Stoke were out there to intimidate, leaving the boot in time and time again. Yet when a referee has a poor game which favours the Gunners the clamour to highlight those poor decisions is so predictable to the point of hilarity.
Giroud fell to the ground, fouled for the umpteenth time yet the clock still only read 36 minutes played. Having been stamped on you would have expected the referee to brandish a red card for the offending player, yet to the incredulity of our striker the referee's arms indicated a foul had been given against the Frenchman, for what? There was no logic in that decision, it was made purely based on the sounds of the baying crowd and the notoriety of this fixture which portrays Stoke as a team for the English man's man and Arsenal as the soft foreigner. Football can be very difficult to referee - especially managing your subconscious prejudices - so we all understand when the more creative and optimistic side get the benefit of the doubt with some decisions. I was very happy to see that Stoke got this benefit throughout...
Stoke did expand the run of the game with their fair share of the possession. In the 41st minute Whelan forced a strong save from Szczesny, a low drive from the edge of box. But the half time whistle blew just as Rosicky seemed to be onto a promising break which happened to characterise the remainder of the match.
But perhaps we're looking at this from the wrong angle. I like to think that the highly scrupulous Stoke players felt Giroud had done himself, his fans and the team such a moral injustice of late, that they just had to express the due response in the way they know best: stamping it out. Like let's kick racism out of football, but let's also kick sexual moral corruption out, literally.
Despite the terrible officiating we were as a team sub-standard. Fast forwarding, what for me is the difference between Arsenal and some more competitive sides at times, a half with a lack of urgency and lack of resolve. We didn't fight tooth and nail. We were idling, waiting for the Arsenal clutch to bite. Sadly, it ended amongst other bouts, with Giroud being stamped on yet again, by one Charles Adams, the fine squire and personified messenger of justice. That mental image feels so right.
No it actually ended with Sanogo struggling to hit the target at the end of the most exciting bit of football of the match. Damn that was hard to watch.
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