A bad day at the office

Going into this game Derby, on paper, were the worst team in the Premiership, sitting bottom with 6 points from twelve games. Wenger's selection of three forwards was perhaps an indication that we intended to go for the jugular and try to finish them off quickly. As it turned out The Rams put on one of the best team displays we've seen this season at Highbury, which put an end to our 100% winning streak.

Derby have always struggled to take points from Highbury but Saturday they were as close to winning it as they have been for 10 years. Keown, Silvinho and Lukic helped them in their endeavours with some decidedly unconvincing defending throughout the game; and in the absence of Adams and Seaman you've got to question Wenger's decision to further unbalance the side by playing Bergkamp, Henry and Wiltord from the outset. In the first half Derby sensed our vulnerability, and apart from Bergkamp's disallowed goal, took the lion share of the scoring opportunities. Rejuvenated by Seth Johnson's elevation to the full England squad, Todd's recent interventions and the return of a number of key players to fitness they played more like the side that finished a commendable 8th place last season, rather than the premiership whipping boys of this year. In fact last year Derby went 1-0 ahead through Dean Sturridge. But it was a day to remember for Henry who turned the fixture (and his own poor form) around with two great finishes courtesy of Overmars' defence splitting vision.

The weather this year seemed to particularly affect the accuracy of the finishing for both sides. Our high expectations of Thierry Henry made his poor composure in the box more apparent and was reminiscent of his form prior to November last year. Riggott, Delap, Burley, Christie and Seth Johnson should all be mentioned for taking advantage of our tactics in the first half. However, in the second when we had far more possession, their professional and tireless running thwarted some lightening fast attacks. Derby's 3-5-1-1 formation made it particularly difficult for Viera to make his telling passes and for Parlour to make his powerful runs down the flanks - and for that reason we were limited in attacking options.

Even the intervention of KANU couldn't break them down as he skipped past a second and third opponent only to be blocked by a fourth. As our final pass continually broke down because of the rain, wind and the odd Ram, it dawned on me what an impact Pires had made on the Arsenal team already this year. His dribbling and powerful running off the ball seemed to be the missing ingredient for unlocking Derby's defence, which became more entrenched as the weather worsened. Even Silvinho, who is clearly better in attack than defence, seemed to lose composure without Pires in front of him and allowed Delap to get the better of their duel on a number of occasions. And when all else failed to stop our attacks, Derby had Poom on hand to save very well.

He foiled Wiltord, Bergkamp, Henry and Ljungberg in the second half - most notably stopping Freddie as he had brilliantly hurdled Burley's and Riggott's challenges down the left. "We had a bad day…it can happen," said Arsene Wenger whilst complimenting Derby on their good one. It's just unfortunate that it coincides with the league leaders having a good one as well. On days when we lose hugely influential players like Adams and Pires, and have to play our ageing 3rd choice goalkeeper, we should field a far more familiar formation to combat a five-six man midfield. Tactically we got it wrong!