No Greek Tragedy As Saint Ox and Santos Lead The Way

Greetings fellow Gooners!

Well, nobody can say that Arsene Wenger doesn’t know how to pull off a surprise or two after that match, can they?!

The inclusions of Oxlade-Chamberlain, Santos and Chamakh were, I have to say, all shocks when the team sheets were announced. The Ox was not the worrying kind of shock in the slightest after he showed against Shrewsbury that he has both the game and the maturity to play in the first XI, but I felt that Wenger would leave it longer before “blooding” him nonetheless, at least until a dead rubber match came up at the end of the group stage. Santos and Chamakh were bigger surprises and, if I am honest, worrying ones to lesser and greater degrees. Surprises aside, Song partnered Mertesacker as expected, filling in at centre-back in the absence of no less than three first XI players in that position which also gave Frimpong the opportunity to continue his steep learning curve in the defensive midfield role.

As if to repay the faith shown in them, two of those surprises, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Santos, got us off to an absolute flier with a goal apiece on 8 and 20 minutes respectively. Oxlade-Chamberlain, after already showing some nice touches, passes and a clean pair of heels to their right-back, chested the ball down to himself on the edge of the penalty area, moved inside his marker who actually got a touch only for the ball to bounce kindly back into the feet of the ex-Southampton man who continued into the box before placing a precise finish through his markers legs into the bottom right hand corner to become the youngest ever English player to score in the Champions League, taking that title from a certain Theo Walcott!

A fantastic start and one that would get even better 12 minutes later when, after good work down the left, Santos crossed the ball to Chamakh in the six-yard box. The Morroccan international didn’t actually get to the ball as it was stolen off his toes by a good challenge from his marker, but it found its way back out to Santos who took a step inside the defender and beat the keeper at his near post. A touch of luck in the build-up to both goals, but it is about time we got a little of that and it was certainly nothing less than both players deserved for their determination alone.

The 12 minutes between the two goals were not entirely without incident. Four minutes after taking the lead, Chamakh, a lonely and hapless looking figure yet again I am sad to say, really should have at least tested the goalkeeper when a corner found him at the far post, but his header from only a few yards out went well wide. Two minutes later and Arteta was called into defensive action, clearing off the line after Djebbour got himself free at the back post from a corner. The rebound fell to him again but he could only manage to hit the side-netting with his follow up. In truth the Algerian really should have scored at the second attempt but all credit to Arteta for an heroic stop.

So, 2-0 up, playing some reasonably tidy football, passing fairly well and it began to look like it was just a matter of how many at this point. On 27 minutes the game was turned on its head in a typical Arsenal self-destructing style. A short corner on the left hand side caught us napping in the box and the overall fairly impressive David Fuster was given the freedom of North London and, with all the time to pick his spot, headed the ball into the net from about 10 yards out. A shocking piece of defending from the 9 Arsenal players in the penalty area and one that I hope Wenger will be ramming down their throats prior to the game against the titleless for over 50 years on Sunday.

A minute later Djebbour tested Szczesny with a rasping shot that the once again excellent “Pole between the poles” did well to tip over showing those reflexes that are threatening to make him an Arsenal legend!

The rest of the half was a story told many times over the past couple of seasons. Poor passing in midfield, mainly from Frimpong, and a seeming inablity to hold the ball up front, mainly the fault of Chamakh, neither of whom had games to remember, saw Olympiacos threatening more and more, albeit mostly on the counter-attack. If not for more excellent goalkeeping from Szczesny and some wonderful reading of the game coupled with some great tackling from the ever-improving Mertesacker, we could well have gone in for the half-time break staring down the barrel of 2-2 or worse. The Grek side could have been forgiven for feeling that they should have found that parity at least.

With Wenger banished to the stands for his final game of his absurd suspension, Pat Rice must again take a reasonable amount of credit for whatever he said during his half-time talk, with the start of the second half seeing us play a much more compact game with less space between the defence and the midfield and the wayward passing apparently also dealt with.

On 50 minutes Oxlade-Chamberlain was released by a nice pass in a rare moment of quality from Chamakh, the young winger getting in behind the full-back Holebas, who, after spending the entire game doing little else but kick any Arsenal player he could find, had finally been booked a minute earlier and was thus unable to kick, tug, drag or barge the flying winger. Bearing down on goal The Ox took what was, in my opinion, one touch too many giving Costanzo in the Olympiacos goal time to settle himself, narrow the angle and beat out the eventual shot. A good save was needed nevertheless and the young man once again justified Wenger’s decision to pick him.

A few minutes later saw Holebas blatantly shove Oxlade-Chamberlain in the back after good work on the wing from the eventual Man of the Match winner. The referee, who up until now had been nothing short of pedantic in his constant use of his whistle, quite simply bottled the decision, waved play on and incredibly the left-back stayed on the pitch. The touch of luck we had enjoyed for the two goals deserting us again. Had he gone, as he should have done, the game would have been the better part of dead and buried, As it transpired, there was still some nail-biting life in it yet.

On 64 minutes Olympiacos captain and right-back Torosidis, their best player on the night, unleashed a curling left-footed effort from the edge of the penalty area that crashed against the bar. I think that, had it been the couple of inches lower needed for it to go in, Szczesny had it covered, but I have to admit to being relieved that we didn’t have to find out for certain!

3 minutes later and Pat Rice made the first of three changes, taking off Oxlade-Chamberlain to a standing ovation and introducing Aaron Ramsey. I said in the pre-match article that the excellent direct passing we saw from Ramsey against Bolton could play a big factor in the result of tonight’s match, and his introduction almost immediately showed us what we had been missing as he released Arshavin on two occasions, the first of which drew a decent save and the second resulting in a cynical barge from Fuster, rightfully earning himself a booking in the process. A good substitution at exactly the right moment from the assistant manager and it was not his last.

On 70 minutes Chamakh was put out of his misery, as were the majority of the Arsenal fans, and our newest centurion, Robin Van Persie, was brought on. The two Olympiacos centre-backs, Mellberg and Marcano, who had looked so comfortable shepherding Chamakh around, suddenly looked stretched due to the intelligent running and general menace of the Dutchman. Preoccupied with him the again excellent and incredibly hard-working Arteta found a lot more space in midfield and used it to great effect to slow the game down and ensure that we kept much better possession of the ball thus helping to tick down the clock.

Again, a good tactical decision from Pat Rice. I know that there are a few out there who think that he should have left the club in the summer and are already celebrating the fact that he will probably retire at the end of this season, but I believe that his role at the club is very much an unsung one and, after 41 years of the last 45 spent serving our fine club and with all of the knowledge and experience that time has surely brought him, he will leave behind a very large pair of shoes to fill. Tonight his experience showed once again and, should we win a trophy this season, I think that his should be the first hands to touch it in deference to his great service.

On 83 minutes, after a period of about ten minutes that saw Olympiacos threaten on a few occasions down our right side, Mr Rice once again made the necessary change and took off Arshavin, who had a quiet game overall, and bring on Kieran Gibbs to play more as a left midfielder than a left winger as the Russian does. The danger was immediately snuffed out and it was just a case of running down the clock and getting the three points that were needed above all else.

Whilst Olympiacos certainly played their part in this match and at times played some neat attacking football which saw them threaten to spoil the night from our point of view, the pairing of Mertesacker and Song looked as solid a partnership as Arsenal have seen at centre-back for quite some time, certainly in the absence of Vermaelen, and all credit to them for rarely looking troubled, showing good reading of the game and in the case of Mertesacker in particular, stepping out at just the right times to put in some great challenges to close the door on attacks before they got a chance to do any real damage.

In terms of the defence, apart from the terrible lapse of concentration that led to their goal and a couple of occasions where Sagna was uncharacteristically caught in possession, Szczesny had little bellowing to do at those in front of him and yet the general criticism coming from the media and “those who shall not be pleased” is of continuing defensive weakness. Whilst we may not have the best defence on earth right now and they may not have been devastatingly impressive tonight, I do think it is fair to say that they were not anything like as bad as is being claimed in some areas and the general direction they are going in is the right one.

With regard to Chamakh, I am at a loss as to what Wenger can do with him next. Chosen ahead of Park, probably in the hope that he may pick up a goal and the confidence boost that goes with that, from the moment his early header went wide he looked totally bereft of any confidence at all. His touch was heavy for most of the evening, his shooting and heading poor, his distribution presenting countless gifts to the Greeks putting us under pressure from the counter-attacking opportunities these provided and generally looking like the hole large enough to actually swallow him up would have taken the stadium with it. Aside from the one good pass to The Ox, nothing went right for him and he became a more and more tragic figure until his exit on 70 minutes. That said, he never hid and never stopped running and, should January see him move on, I for one hope that he finds better fortune elsewhere.

Many a critic has questioned our ability to “win ugly” and yet now we have done just that people want champagne football again! Tonight was no walk in the park, but it was never going to be and the most important thing was the three points. That was achieved and we can now look forward to getting a few players back from injury for the match against the Spuds on Sunday whilst Ramsey and Van Persie got a decent enough rest tonight too. All in all a good night’s work and the corner-turning continues.

And on that note I bid you farewell.

Come on you Spud Peeling Goooonnnneeeerrrrrsssss!

Indian Summer or Greek Salad?

Greetings fellow Gooners!

Next up, Olimpiacos, who despite being a relatively well known Greek side, appear to have less internet column inches or video minutes devoted to them than chipmunks that look a bit “tasty”, or is that a hamster and who really cares anyway?!

So, given the wealth of information regarding the most successful club in Greek history, sporting a trophy cabinet containing no less than 38 league titles, 24 Greek cups and 4 Greek Super Cups, it appears that focusing on our part ot be played in this match is my only real escape route!

Unfortunately, with the number of injuries alone that we are carrying, there is sufficient there to cover the blankest of pages! The list of casualties is again starting to make it look like opening a private hospital may have been a better choice than a shiny new stadium!

Those not avaialable for selection include:

Walcott – Knee
Koscienlny – Ankle
Gervinho – Muscle
Squillaci – Calf
Wilshere – Ankle
Djourou – Muscle
Benyoun – Muscle
Vermaelen – Ankle
Diaby – Ankle

Incredibly our brand new centurion, Rip-Roaring Rocking Reliant Robin, is STILL fit and, with the list above, we are certainly going to need him to continue in his rich vein of form. In terms of a starting XI, a lot of the “selection headaches” that Arsene Wenger surely cannot wait to experience, are currently not even enough to warrant a junior aspirin! Of the players that are available and competing for a place, I expect that Gibbs will continue to get the nod over Santos as he played in the defence that presided over that rarest of occurences at the Emirates of late, a clean sheet! Rosicky, if he is at a sufficient level of match fitness will probably win the battle to “partner” Van Persie leaving the bench-warming to Park and Arteta will probably get moved out to the right being preferred to Oxlade-Chamberlain.

The one big issue is who will partner Mertesacker in the centre of defence, as we currently have 3 centrebacks out injured. The obvious choice would be to put Song in there and throw Frimpong into the defensive midfield berth although there is a slim chance that Wenger could surprise us and go with either Sagna in the centre and Jenkinson at right back or even bring in young Ignasi Miquel. In truth, it may well be a little early for Miquel in general and the careful and necessary “rehabilitation” of Jenkinson after the Manchester debacle will probably continue so I think that Song will start in what could well turn out to be a crucial match once the dust settles on this Champions League group.

So, I think the line-up will look something like this:

All in all, not a bad side, and further proof that the squad is not as lacking in depth as some quarters would have you believe. That said, we cannot afford to “expect the win” as some are also claiming. Whilst there isn’t a huge amount of interesting informtion regarding the Greek champions, I can tell you that a number of their players in the forward positions can and do score goals regularly and, if we give them too much space or switch off for even a second, we could be severely punished. I can also tell you that Olof Mellberg, the ex-Aston Villa centre-back, is currrently enjoying some good reviews in a defence that is not going to give away too many freebies. Add to this the fact that they were beaten by Marseille at home last week and it is safe to say that they will not be coming to London to make up the numbers as they look to rebuild their Champions League campaign. The obvious defenciency in their team is a general lack of particularly mobile players, especially in central midfield and defence, so if we can get our passing game going we may see them fade quite dramatically the last third of the match.

In terms of our own game-plan, well, that should be fairly straightorward. We will need Song to sit tight in defence, playing as close to Mertesacker as Koscielny did against Bolton and Frimpong will need to do the same job that Song has been doing in terms of breaking up the attacks before they get too close to our penalty box, a job which young Alex appears to be growing into with every passing game and all credit to him for sticking at it and becoming the player that many believed he would never be after a difficult start to his Arsenal career. We will also need Ramsey to pick up where he left off on Saturday during which match he finally started to show glimpses of him ability to produce some delightful defence-splitting passes to go with him phenomenal work-rate.

The real worry for me is that our side also lacks a little pace. To counter this we will need not only a continuation of that direct passing, so effective against Bolton at the weekend, but we will also need to see Arteta and Arshavin getting forward quickly and making runs in behind the defence to providing the outlets for those passes as were Gervinho and, more impressively, Walcott on Saturday.

A little confidence in the defence could go a long way and we can but hope that the clean sheet we kept inspired the defence to put in a few extra hours on the training pitch over the past few days to continue to practice the things that are clearly helping them to go in the right direction.

In terms of a scorline prediction, I will go with the same result that I thought we would see against Bolton, 2-0. Above all I think that a level of patience will be required, both on the pitch and off of it. The Greeks are not going to be throwing caution to the wind and leaving huge holes in their defence and the last thing our players need will be to start feeling the pressure cascading down from the stands. Olimpiacos surely realise this and will undoubtedly set out to stifle our attacking game and maybe even sneak one on the counter. As I eluded to earlier, I believe that the last 20 minutes of this match is where it will be truly decided and the fans will need to understand that and stay behind the team, even if, Dennis forbid, we find ourselves a goal down going into the final third of the match. Should we find ourselves a goal up, the need to calm things down and concentrate on keeping the ball for long periods to wear down the Greek legs will be of massive importance. Three points is the target and another clean sheet would also be nice. Of least importance is the attractiveness of the football that gets us to those targets so let’s just get behind the boys and stay behind them right up until the final whistle.

With the injury list that we have, a twelfth man could be more decisive than ever.

Bad Medicine

The tabloids and some sections of the fanbase have chosen to draw their swords over the Jack Wilshere injury situation, claiming that the Arsenal medical team have “again” bungled a players care. I have to say that I do not agree with this opinion. The decision to let Jack wear the medical boot and to see if the injury would heal naturally was taken to give Jack every chance of recovering without having to have surgery at such a young age. A risk that obviously hasn’t paid off, but I think it was a risk worth taking and all of the absurd conspiracy theories flying around in the wake of this are becoming more and more absurd by the minute.

I think that it is safe to say that “those who shall not be pleased” will do anything to find a way to criticise the club right now, but claims that Jack failed a dope test and the FA are enforcing a period of time off rather than an official ban is about as low and ludicrous as this whole absurd saga can possibly get…Isn’t it?

Come on Gooners! Let’s at least try to remember that, at the end of the season, should a trophy find its way into the trophy cabinet and a queue of players forms at Wenger’s door ready to sign their contract extensions, the vast majority of us will be as happy as pigs in poo, claiming to a man that we always knew Arsene would turn it around! Of course, there will be a section, an underwhelming minority, that will be unhappy that they didn’t get to set the manager on fire at the end of the season. For the moment the transfer window is closed, Arsene is the man in the job and changing that right now would surely be a foolish move and the best thing that we can do is to stop the bickering and bleating and just get behind the team.

January will be here soon and, with Tevez reportedly likely to never play for Manchester City again, I am sure that we will have to deal the tabloids spewing out enough Van Persie to Citeh stories to last a lifetime. The last thing we need is to go into that period with players feeling like there is nothing they can do to please the fans. It would just be an added incentive for them to leave and all the blood that the media sharks would need to smell to get the fires burning under this story alone.

You Go Girl(s)!

Arsenal Ladies did the club proud, yet again, by securing an historic treble adding the Continental Cup to their Super League and FA Cup successes beating Birmingham 4-1 on Sunday. Goals from Ellen White and Jaybe Ludlow before half-time and a brace from Ladies Legend Rachel Yankey proving enough to beat Birmingham into the runners-up position as they already did in the inaugural Womens Super League.

Congratulations Ladies and good luck with your Champions League match against FC Bobruchanka of Belarusia on Thursday.

And on that note, I bid you farewell and look forward to being able to write nice shiny positive things after the game today!

Come on you Injury Ravaged Greek Bubble Bursting Gooooonnnnneeeerrrrsssss!

From 17th Best To 17th Best!

Greetings fellow Gooners!

I know, you expected something directly after the game against Bolton on Saturday and your hearts were broken when I chose not to write a single word on the topic until now!

The main reason for this is that for the last match report I broke the “golden rule of sports blogging” and wrote whilst I was angry which led me to decide that it was probably just a much a sin to write when I was happy too! In truth, the things I would have splurged onto the page on Saturday would have been much more effusive and unbridled than they will be now and so I believe that this was a good decision, standing accused as I am regards being an Arsene Wenger sycophant, which I am not, but you cannot convince anybody of anything in cyberspace these days!

Also, there are a lot of other things going on surrounding the club at the moment that I felt needed to develop before any reaction and counter-reaction could be brought to bear in a considered manner.

An understandably nervy crowd, given that we started the day in 17th position in the Premier League, one place above Bolton and having conceded a goal more than them, were treated to the news that a certain Mr. Cahill would not be joining us and, I am sure, a breath of relief could be felt all around North London! Not, you understand, because he is the best centre-back in the world and nobody scores against him when he plays, far from it in fact if you look at the stats for the Bolton defence since he has been a regular fixture in it, but because we have a wonderful habit of allowing the most ironic and usually painful coincidences to take place, right when we don’t need it…And Saturday we simply did NOT need a match-winning performance from a player that we have been and continue to be constantly linked with just to prove that “those who shall not be pleased” were right all along and Wenger must go now for signing that rubbishy German twit!

Whilst the Bolton team-sheet sported an early Christmas surprise, the Arsenal team sheet revealed no great surprises. In fact, it was exactly the team that I predicted would start with Gibbs getting the nod over Santos after his excellent performance midweek and Walcott getting the nod over Oxlade-Chamberlain even though The Ox can feel a little aggrieved having put in a performance every bit as deserving of another start as Gibbs.

The fact that the first half was, regardless of your allegiances, one of the drabbest affairs I can remember since the days of George Graham would normally have been worrying, a little bit frightening and a touch depressing even, but not in this case. In fact it was 45 minutes of exactly what we needed. No histrionics, no ridiculous giving away of constant free kicks in dangerous areas, no over-elaborate passing game, no failed offside traps, no own-goals, no penalties and no red cards…A complete success!

In reality, we started a little nervously and the best chance of the half fell to Bolton’s Pratley in the 3rd minute. His volley was matched by a great flying save by “the Pole between the poles” to tip the ball away. Three minutes later and a swift attack saw Gervinho through against the seemingly always impressive against Arsenal Jaaskelainen (I am sure you said the same about Paul Robinson after the Blackburn game and you were right then too! -ed), but a poor touch gave the Bolton keeper the extra yard he needed to collect the ball and clear the danger. Only three minutes later and Van Persie had two attempts in one attack, the first of which required a smart save and the second, after a neat lay-off from the once again industriously impressive Arteta, sailed wide of the post.

Half an hour of basically nothing in particular was to follow until the almost impossible almost happened! Walcott struck from some way out only for the ball to rebound out to Koscielny on the edge of the area. His volley, struck as sweetly as any striker would have been proud of, sailed just wide of the target. His first goal for Arsenal came in this fixture last year and I think we could be forgiven for thinking that given his recent run of luck, including 8-2 thrashings and own goals, he may just have deserved a moment of joy and lighting striking twice. Alas, it was not to be.

This was the beginning of a period of ten or so minutes of Arsenal domination culminating in an effort for Van Persie being blocked by Wheater when he looked certain to score and Walcott cracking a long distance effort that whistled by the outside of the post with Jaaskelainen rooted to the spot able to play nothing more than the role of spectator.

The half-time whistle sounded and an all too familiar feeling was starting to seep in. The majority of possession, few clear-cut chances and no goals. Please no, not again!

However, Arsene Wenger must have said something to the players, Pat Rice put something in their half-time oranges or maybe even David Dein payed a visit to the dressing room?! Whatever it was, the results were plain to see. Almost from the moment the whistle signalled the resumption of play, there was a different purpose about the side. Gervinho and Walcott were both pushed out wider dragging their respective markers with them thus giving Van Persie some much needed space to pick up the ball deep and use his wide range of passing. Arteta had clearly been told to get closer to Van Persie and so we had, in effect, a 4-2-4 when we had the ball.

Ramsey and Song were also both pushed slightly further forward to break down the midfield play of Bolton earlier and Koscienly spent most of the second half doing a great and generally unsung job of stepping up to break up any moves that managed to get by the midfield before they got the chance to trouble the defence. I want to say at this point that, without question, this was his best game for some time without Vermaelen at his side and one can only hope that it brings with it some much needed confidence before the Champions League match against Olimpiakos and the Premier League game against the small club from North London.

The nerve-settling, thank Dennis we can breathe a little again, much needed breakthrough came after only 2 minutes of the second half had been played. A fairly rash tackle in the centre of the park on Gervinho saw the ball break loose to the advancing Ramsey and Mark Clattenburg, who had a good game all round, allowed the advantage. Ramsey carried it about 20 yards before passing to Van Persie who, on the edge of the box with his back to goal and a defender either side of him looked certain to pass it back to the Welshman who had continued his run into the box. What actually happened was a moment of sheer beauty that Dennis himself would have been proud of and may not have even attempted with the easy pass to Ramsey ready and waiting. He turned to his right, leaving one of his markers lonely and cold in the centre, span around the edge of the penalty area bringing the ball onto his left foot and, with the defender just throwing out a leg to block and Jaaskelainen covering at his near post, Robin found the only gap that left young Ramsey with nothing else to say except for “Well done captain!” as opposed to “Oi, I was free in the box you greedy fecker!” as he may have said had that gap not been so expertly exploited by a striker so in form it is actually a little bit scary!

The relief inside the stadium was only equalled by that on the pitch as the fear of another fan and media roasting suddenly melted away.

Instantly the infamous Arsenal “handbrake” was released. Less than a minute later Walcott released Van Persie with a defence-splitting pass only for Jussi to prove equal to the task, diving low to his right to deny the Arsenal skipper his 100th goal in the colours of our fine club. Don’t worry, he wasn’t to be denied that pleasure for much longer.

On 54 minutes another great through ball, this time from Ramsey, found Walcott bearing down on the penalty area and Wheater, somewhat inevitably being left behind, took the decision to attempt a sly shirt tug which was enough to give Walcott the chance to go down drawing the free-kick and the even more inevitable red card.

The attacking floodgates were well and truly opened at this point and a performance that Cesc and Na$ri would have been proud to have been part of took place. I have heard many suggest that it was easy as Bolton, down to 10 men, without their best defender and already 1-0 down were bound to fold. To that I say, quite simply, nutsacks! Nobody gave Arsenal any sympathy when a reserve team got murdered 8-2 by a Manchester United side that only had to think about shooting to see the ball end up in the back of the net so why should this be any different? In fact, I have seen so many games over the last couple of years where Arsenal really should have buried a game, failed to do so and then had to hear about how we are a bunch of useless, half-witted kids that cannot hold onto a lead and that Wenger has no tactical knowledge and in so many of those games the sending off would have seen Bolton lock the doors, grab one on the counter and slink out the back doors of the Emirates with a point whilst the fans screamed their disapproval at Wenger, the players, the board, the moon and the sun!

And that is, in essence, the biggest problem we have as a club right now. The division between the fans that I keep referring to causes the disenfranchised to be so determined to stay that way that they simply cannot hold their hands up and accept that sometimes, just sometimes, we seem to be going in the right direction.

Anyway, the old adage stays firm here, you can only beat what is put in front of you…and beat them we did!

Three minutes after the sending off saw Arteta drag his shot wide after a glorious pass from Van Persie that would have had any defence chasing its own shadow. Another three minutes later and Arteta brought another sharp save out of Jaaskelainen who, regardless of seeing his net bulge three times, could well have had a decent case for the Man of the Match award!

Then the inevitable happened…No, Bolton didn’t actually score, not THAT inevitable, but the increasing pressure at the other end of the pitch and the high lines that we were employing gave Bolton a good chance on the counter attack. A nice pass from Petrov found Eagles with a run on goal but Szczesny was not to be outdone by Jussi and got to the ball in time to snuff out the attack, in truth the only real attack that Bolton would muster in the second half.

After that it was truly one-way traffic with Bolton just trying to keep the scoreline respectable and on 63 minutes their hard-work was almost undone when Gervinho, after some nice work out wide, played the ball into Van Persie whose shot flew inches wide of the target. A minute later and the Dutchman directed a flying header that Jaaskelainen was equal to after a lovely floated cross from Walcott who, amazingly in my opinion, got a fair bit of stick after the game even though he was involved in almost every attacking move including getting an assist that you would believe from the general reaction never even happened. As I keep saying, this divide in the fans is not helping anybody and the quicker we can all get along and start supporting the players instead of fighting amongst ourselves, the better. I honestly believe that so many people have decided that Walcott is not good enough for Arsenal that he could spend the next ten games scoring a goal a game, notch up 20 assists, win eight Man of the Match awards and save four penalties and those same people would STILL be unhappy. In fact, I am starting to believe that there is a contingent in the fanbase at the moment that actually WANT Arsenal to fail so that they can be proved right. That is NOT why we are called SUPPORTERS. Think about that.

If I am honest, I believed that we were destined for some pretty terrible times when we lost 3 of our first XI in the summer and I voiced that opinion in many a forum. I have to say I am thrilled to bits that the players seem to be gradually putting the summer behind them and, with a little more help from some of the fans, I think that they could work through this process much more quickly. Only when they have had the chance to work together both on the training ground and on the pitch for a reasonable amount of time and gel as a team will we truly get a sense of where this new version of Wengerball is going and whether or not it is likely to be successful.

I digress…

5 minutes later and Van Persie AND Walcott got their just rewards. A delightful ball along the floor from around halfway by Ramsey split the difference between two defenders and released Walcott down the right. He left the two defenders for dead and cut into the penalty area. Continuing his run to the byline he sent in an inch-perfect cross to Van Persie who opened up his body and pushed a neat flick past the keeper thus securing his place in the Arsenal history books as the 17th player in our history to have scored 100 goals for the club.

And the first thing that he did after reaching this momentous milestone? Run over to the fans, ripping off his shirt to reveal an “I am the 17th Greatest” t-shirt underneath whilst taking all the plaudits?

No, he turned to Walcott and called him over to share in the praise being poured down from the stands. A true captain’s moment and proof that he is quickly growing into this new role as well as proving that the faith shown in him by Wenger through all his troubled times with injuries was indeed well placed. Class Robin, pure class.

Whilst that was obviously game over and I was quietly confident that my prediction of 2-0 was looking like a fairly safe bet now, a strange thing didn’t happen! Wenger did not take off two attacking players and bring on a centre-forward pretending to be a defensive winger and a defensive midfielder. Arsenal did not start aimlessly passing the ball to Bolton players. Our defence didn’t even thrash the ball into their own net! No, what actually happened was Arsenal continued to push forward effectively and stylishly, continuing in the manner that had been tearing open the Bolton defence for the better part of 40 minutes now.

On 73 minutes Ramsey saw his long range effort saved by Jaaskelainen and 2 minutes later Walcott got himself free after a great pass from Song only for Walcott to hesitate and give the Bolton keeper the chance to close down the angle. In truth, Walcott seemed to be trying to show the keeper to his bottom left whilst actually placing it in the bottom right in true Henry style, but by the time he made the decision he was too close to goal and a relatively simple save was all that was required to keep the score at 2-0.

13 minutes of total possession, and when I say total possession I mean passing the ball crisply and cleanly from one red shirt to another and rarely, if ever, giving it away and my 2-0 was looking golden! Then Song had to go and spoil it all in the 88th minute with a strike of the highest quality. The ever-involved Ramsey, another player who didn’t get anywhere near the credit that he deserved after the game, picked the ball up about 25 yards out, moved into 5 yards of space and passed out to the right hand side of the penalty area to the onrushing Sagna who, trying to return the favour, pulled it back to Ramsey to finish. The pass was a little too close to Ramsey and came with a little too much pace but found its way to Alex Song on the edge of the penalty area who controlled neatly, dragged the ball inside Pratley, took another touch and then curled the ball cleanly into the top right hand corner leaving Jaaskelainen with no chance whatsoever. A goal of the highest quality from a player who is improving with almost every game.

All in all a good afternoon’s work with some great individual performances, but, more importantly, a very tidy team performance. A clean sheet, three goals, a captain who led from the front, a defence that rarely looked troubled, no tactical disasters and, most importantly of all, three precious points that all the whinging and bleating of “those that shall not be pleased” can never take away from us.

Just what we needed! Now we need to turn this performance into a habit and that starts with a big game against the Greeks on Wednesday. More to come on that match tomorrow in the pre-match report!

Mass Exodus or Media Sexing Up?!

The tabloids had a field day when they realised that 4 Arsenal players ONLY have 2 years left on their contract! Yes, apparently Theo Walcott, Andre Arshavin, Thomas Vermaelen and Robin Van Persie are all leaving the first opportunity they get as is made clear by the fact that they have not signed contract extensions yet!

Oh dear, anything to generate a story with these buffoons!

Seriously, this is just a ludicrous effort to try and stir up a storm over nothing by the media, but that hasn’t stopped certain sections of the Arsenal fans groaning and claiming that the sky will soon fall in!

To put this issue in some perspective, Manchester United have no fewer than 7 players whose contracts expire in LESS THAN ONE YEAR! Park, Giggs, Owen, Berbatov, Kuszczak, Gibson and O’Shea, but nobody appears to give a monkey’s, and rightly so. Contract extensions tend to get sorted out when there is time and, as much as it may not appear to have been obvious to the blinkered masses, the club was a little busy this summer with things like signing 10 players and loaning one, dealing with the Cesc, Na$ri and Clichy sales and the exit by way of sale, termination or loan of no fewer than 19 other players!

This has not stopped the media from already claiming that Citeh, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich are all ready to sign him in January for £30m!

Woah nelly…Hold on a minute…Citeh? Seriously?! Is there a player in the world that Citeh AREN’T going to buy?! They have Dzeko, Tevez, Aguero and Balotelli and tend to play with one striker! Why would Van Persie even think about going there even if he didleave?! It just wouldn’t make any sense. Captain, first name on the team sheet, scoring a goal about every game he plays in, enjoying his best run of form and his best run without injury for years. He just doesn’t strike me as somebody stupid enough to even consider giving that up to warm the bench for 9 games out of ten.

When actually asked for his opinion, days AFTER the media had already informed us that he would be leaving, he had this to say:

“Maybe I’ll leave it because the main thing for me is the team and that we play well.”

“I do believe you have to look for a right moment to sit down and speak about your own stuff.”

“It’s not only about me, it’s about the team. We are not talking now because we are so busy – we have games every three or four days.”

“I don’t think it’s clever to do that during the season.”

“I still have almost two years left here, so for the moment that’s fine. But I don’t know, we will have to look.”

“I’m happy with my contract, I’m good. That’s how it is, I can’t say much more. I can’t look into the future.”

Which all seems pretty sensible really!

Apparently nobody wanted to talk to any of the other three or indeed Johan Djourou whose contract also expires in two years time but the hacks took no notice of him! It’s almost as if running quotes from any of the others would not sell newspapers, isn’t it?!!

Lo-Jacked
Sad news today for Arsenal and England star Jack Wilshere as the club confirmed that, whilst his operation on his fractured ankle had gone well, they were expecting him to be out for up to four or five months.

“Jack Wilshere has this morning undergone ankle surgery at a central London hospital. It is envisaged that Jack’s rehabilitation will take a period of four to five months.”

“Under the care of two world-renowned surgeons, Jack has had the stress fracture of his right ankle repaired.

“The initial indications are that the surgery has been successful and Jack will now undergo a prolonged period of rehabilitation.”

I have to say that there were two things that realy amused me in that statement, saddening as it is. Firstly, that the club chose to emphasise the use of “two World-renowned surgeons”, either preparing for the inevitable backlash from the Bleaters in the Bleachers claiming that we hired in the same team that worked on Hargreaves at Manchester United in a bid to save £23.50 and secondly that they made it clear that he will be out for four to five months. This is amusing when you read Jack’s own “Tweet” on the topic…

“hopefully i will return to action around christmas time. i am in good hands! thanks for your support everyone!”

Hahaha! It appears that, with the benefit of hindsight, Arsenal Football Club may have learned a valuable lesson in predicting the return of injured players! Of course, it is already being spun as a huge conspiracy by “those that shall not be pleased”, but that is to be expected from them really!

Let’s just hope that Jack is as strong and determined a young man as he is a player and that he gets back in time to give us a great little stocking filler!

Get well soon Jack!

It’s Got To Be Per-fect

Arsene Wenger singled out Per Mertesacker for special words of praise after the defensive performance on Saturday saw him looking more settled and relaxed than in previous matches. In response, Mertesacker had this to say to the Arsenal website:

“We had a little bit more time [during the week] because of the Carling Cup match.”

“Some players had a little more rest and we trained a little harder, especially on the way we want to defend. It worked and on Saturday you saw we had a better defence. We were closer together.”

“After the four goals against Blackburn we lost a little bit of confidence but we were very proud of our performance on Saturday. We want to go on with this way of defending.”

“I want to do a good job, especially in the defence. That is my role. If the coach praises me then that is a great thing but I have to go on and keep on working. My performances can improve.”

Well said that man. I think that it is fair to say that after only a handful of appearances for the club and most of those in a defence desperately short of confidence, he is bedding in well. Time will tell whether Per can truly recapture the form that saw him called “the best central defender in Europe” a couple of years back, but, again, getting on his back every time he does make a mistake is not the way to help that process.

I must say that I cannot wait for TV5 to come back and to see the pair play together regularly. I think that with Sagna, TV5 and Mertesacker along with whoever is winning the right to play at left-back – the kind of competition for places that has been seriously lacking at the club for a long time now – we may even get to see a defence of outstanding quality and effectiveness.

In fact, speaking of competition for places, I think that the “battles” between Mertesacker and Koscielny, Santos and Gibbs, Ramsey, Arteta and Wilshere, Walcott and Oxlade-Chamberlain, Gervinho and Arshavin, Van Persie and Park and Benayoun and anybody in the midfield are not only healthy but something we have been desperately lacking since Wengerball 3 was broken up and I am genuinely excited for the possibilities that this holds for the coming months.

And on that note, I bid you farewell. I have a rum and coke, a full packet of black tobacco cigarettes made in the jungles of Peru and a pre-match report for a game against a Greek team that I know very little about to start researching and actually write!

Come on you All Leaving The Club In January Goooonnnneeerrrsssss!

Note To Self…

…never write anything when you are angry!

I took that advice from the great ‘Holic over at Goonerholic and I have tried to keep it in mind. Today, however, is different. Today I AM going to write whilst I am angry because if I didn’t I wouldn’t be writing again for a while!

Afternoon Gooners and welcome to yet another conversation about profligacy in front of goal, bad defending, poor refereeing and players that simply are not consistently good enough to wear the Arsenal shirt.

In real terms the awful mess we just made of that game is fairly meaningless. We are still in the process of gelling a new look side, new tactics, newish formation and even new partnerships. What this team clearly needs more than anything else is time. What they will very shortly find they have least of in the world is that very commodity.

5 games in, 13^th in the table, 14 goals conceded and sitting 8 points and a game in hand off the leaders and confidence is surely at an all-time low. These are troublesome times indeed.

Having started brightly, passing the ball around cleanly and getting a great goal on 10 minutes through Gervinho after a fabulous straight ball by Song that tore the Blackburn defence in two, we then dominated possession, keeping the ball well, Ramsey and Song in particular looking a class apart. Then, as is so often the case, totally against the run of play, we throw away a goal with poor defensive coverage and communication. After a little pinball on the edge of the box, the ball was picked up by the exciting Hoilett who played a fairly simple and even more predictable toe poke through to Yakubu, lurking on the edge of the box. A simple early touch by him and the pace on the ball took it wide of Szczesny and inside the far post.

A great finish by a seasoned pro, but in truth, he should never have been allowed anywhere near the goal. When Hoilett picked up the ball The Yak was between Koscielny and Mertesacker both left to right and front to back. Mertesacker had his back to him and was also the closest defender to Hoilett so obviously he stood his ground so as to close the space. Kos, who had actually shown some of that same intensity we saw against Dortmund until now, facing Yakubu signalled his awareness of the danger by pointing at him and obviously gesturing to the eyes n the back of Mertesacker’s head that he should follow the run. I have to say that I am unsure of what Kos was planning to occupy himself with had the big German engaged his psychic powers, managed to turn 180 degrees and make up the yard that Yakubu already had on him at that point as there was literally no other Blackburn player even close to the play.

In short, the combination of his decision to pass all responsibility to a player in a weaker position than him and a simple pass played to the only player Kos really needed to concern himself with was enough to give Yakubu an extra yard, presenting him with the opportunity to coolly slot the ball home. 25 minutes gone and it’s 1-1.

The next 15 minutes provided a couple of heart in mouth moments most notably when Samba got in at the back post and above Koscielny, to reach a corner that the defence should never have allowed to travel that far. In truth, had he not tried to head the ball whilst almost falling over backwards to get to it, his colleague (apologies, I forget who!) a yard behind him would surely have scored.

So, riding our luck as usual, a delightful pass from the very impressive Sagna found Ramsey in acres of space heading into the penalty area. Without so much as looking up, he cut the ball back to the penalty spot and Arteta arrived to score his first goal with a side-footed effort into the roof of the net against the same team against whom he scored his last goal for Everton.

2-1 and we could all be forgiven for thinking that normal service had been resumed and that the gelling process was well and truly underway given the remarkable understanding shown between Ramsey and his new team mate.

But that was just it, wasn’t it. Normal service indeed WAS resumed.

Enjoying almost total possession of the ball once again and creating good chances, Van Persie found himself on the end of a lovely chip over the defence from Arteta.Had it not been for the quick reactions of the seemingly always in form against Arsenal Paul Robinson, he would have found himself with a great goal scoring opportunity. Robinson got to the ball just in time to collect and shut down the danger.

Gervinho shot when a pass to the open Van Persie would have been a much better option, he also over hit a reasonably straightforward cross field pass to Arshavin when we were 3 against 2 on the counterattack and Kos found himself with a decent opportunity in space in the penalty area but his control let him down.

So, half-time, 2-1 and things were looking quite good for us on the whole as well as for my 3-1 prediction, although Kos was continuing to do a good job of making the entire defence look sloppy.

The second half begins and one had to wonder what had gone on in the dressing rooms at half-time that had created such differing responses from both teams. 3 minutes in and the frankly hopeless Arshavin almost played Yakubu in with a suicide pass across the front of the penalty area, saved by the quick thinking of Mertesacker who intercepted and cleared. A minute later and Arshavin was involved again. Incredibly running half the length of the pitch to track back, he threw out a leg at Rovers midfielder Lowe on the right hand side of the penalty area who willingly accepted the opportunity to pick up a free kick in a dangerous area.

What followed can only be described as a mixture of a laughably static defence and a fairly large slice of bad luck. Rochina flipped the ball into the six yard box with almost no pace on it and no obvious intention of reaching anyone in particular when all 5ft 11” of Gael Givet rose above the flatfooted 6ft 1“ Koscielny and his flick-on from the near post found a line of 6 unchallenged Arsenal players doing impersonations of statues as the ball dropped to the only one that did move! Unfortunately for the otherwise decent Song, his involuntary reaction was enough for his left thigh to nudge the ball into the bottom corner of the net. 50 minutes gone and we were all square again. 2-2.

Now, people will of course claim that this was a result of zonal and not man to man marking and use it as a reason to start screaming for Wenger’s head again. The truth of the matter is, the zonal marking actually did its job perfectly. Not a Blackburn player anywhere near the ball and a queue of Arsenal players with all the time in the world to hoof it clear, not forgetting that Kos should never have allowed to Givet have gotten the flick-on. But this is a rough time to be an Arsenal player and the general lack of confidence seems to put the fear of Dennis into almost everybody in a red shirt whenever the ball enters the penalty area.

54 minutes gone and disaster of a different kind strikes. Sagna, who got a knock in the first half, had to go off, to be replaced at right back by Djourou. I can only assume that Djourou made the bench ahead of Jenkinson because of his (in)ability to play both right back and centre half. Anyway, his introduction caused the defence to go from carrying one clown to carrying two! Caught out of position, Djourou left space for Hoilett to get in behind the defence, lovingly played onside by the yet again flat-footed Koscielny, but thankfully the “Pole between the Poles” was more than a match for his rasping shot and his outstretched hand was just enough to turn the ball away. Szczesny had a good game overall apart from one moment where he chose to go walkabout in the box for a ball he was never going to get to, but on that occasion his defence returned some of his recent favours and dug him out of it.

Djourou found himself again out of position and allowed Hoilett to get past him again. A fairly cynical but altogether necessary shirt tug later and the referee was asking for the correct spelling of his name. A fully deserved yellow card.

On 59 minutes another set piece and a never rains but it pours refereeing decision saw Yakubu, marginally offside, with a simple tap-in from 4 yards out. For the record, Kos was the man tugging on Yakubu’s shirt as he ran out of the six yard box in an attempt to spring the offside trap. Had Santos a step further forward Yakubu’s would have been clearly offside and given the linesman, who had a perfectly clear view, no choice but to raise his flag. In the end, neither of these things happened and the goal was allowed to stand regardless of the furious protestations of Mertesacker. 2-3 and the ghost of season’s past was clearly in attendance once again.

5 minutes later and Van Persie found himself on the end of the pass from Gervinho that he should have received in the first half but a combination of the tight angle Paul Robinson saw the keeper cover his angles well and beat the ball out. A minute later and the back to normal after playing well against Swansea Arshavin was replaced by Walcott who almost immediately threatened down the right hand side, drawing a cynical foul from Scott Dann who rightly received a yellow card for his troubles. In all honestly, that and a decent cross or two was about all Theo managed in half an hour of football, if you don’t count the fastest player at the club’s inability to actually run at defenders or his stunning ability to simply run into dead ends. I have to say, when Arshavin came off I was surprised that we didn’t switch to a 4-4-2 with Arteta moving out to the left, Gervinho staying out on the right and Ramsey and Song filling the central midfield positions thus giving Theo the chance to get into a central role.With Van Persie finding lots of time on the ball about 30 yards from goal for much of the game having somebody with lightning pace to play the ball up to would have made a lot of sense. Yet again we wonder if Wenger simply enjoys putting goal scorers on the wings and all but eliminating their chances of scoring.

On 68 minutes the almost inevitable happened. Blackburn, defending a corner (and defending it well I might add) cleared the ball to first half substitute Olssen on the right wing. Djourou came across and, with the Rovers defender on the touchline, 50 yards from goal and with little support  threw himself into a totally unnecessary sliding tackle, missing by some margin and allowing the full back to continue his run. Reaching the by-line and with two attackers in great positions, Olssen took the only possible option, ramming it across the face of goal for Koscielny to complete his perfect day and turn the ball into his own net. 4-2 and Rovers had a goal more than they had managed shots on target in the entire game!

For the record, Olssen was booked for his celebrations and, a few minutes later, after literally throwing himself to the ground with Aaron Ramsey almost a full yard away and the referee with a clear view, was lucky to get a free kick for the “foul” rather than the yellow card that the smirking little git should have received.

5 minutes and a lot of sloppy passing after the goal a header from Van Persie had Robinson scrambling to put the ball over the bar although it was never really in any doubt that he would get to it. A minute later and Chamakh, on as a substitute for Song, drew a fine save from Robinson although the whistle had correctly been blown for a push on a Blackburn defender.

Another five minutes of inconsistency in possession saw Arteta whip in a great cross for Van Persie who again saw his effort saved by Robinson. Before the next goal there was still time for Djourou to reach the ball down the right hand channel with a ridiculous amount of space and time only to slice his cross into the crowd halfway between the goal and the corner flag. Seriously, if this guy is EVER going to be good enough for the Arsenal, we are going to have to be relegated first. Hopeless.

Anyway, I promised another goal and another goal we got. An absolutely inch-perfect cross from Van Persie on the found Chamakh in between to Blackburn defenders but he still managed to get above them both and place a header into the back of the net to get himself on the score sheet for the first time since November 2010.

Cue 10 minutes of all-out madness! Constant waves of attack were launched at the Blackburn penalty area resulting in Chamakh returning a cross from Walcott back across the six yard box only to find nobody there to tap it in, Mertesacker, now basically playing as a third centre forward, almost fulfilling my prediction of scoring today, heading an excellent cross from Santos over the bar when he really should have at least hit the target and Chamakh managing to miss a far easier header than the one for his goal after a cross in from the left corner of the penalty area by Walcott saw put his free header well wide of the target.

Theo was also denied a fairly decent late penalty claim. Well, I say decent. If Robinson coming flying out of his goal and sliding into Theo without even getting close to touching the ball isn’t as clear a penalty as you will see this week anywhere in football, I would be stunned.

The final whistle came after 95 minutes to end the mayhem and Arsenal found themselves on the wrong end of a 4-2 loss. The “fans” will be getting their knives out again, the back pages will think that the circus is back in town and the sports news channels will be harping on about our inability to perform simple defensive duties, our inability to convert good chances and our inability to hold onto a lead.

In all seriousness, I believe that we were a combination of let down by a combination of bad luck, a little bad refereeing, some horrible football by three players in particular, Kos and Djourou at the back and Arshavin nowhere in particular as usual but I also think that the problems for which we can take responsibility can and should be corrected over the next few weeks.

They better be or Wenger may find himself looking for work BEFORE Steve Kean.

Don’t Worry, It’s Only Blackburn Rovers!

Greetings fellow Gooners!

Just a quick one today due to:

a) My being phenomenally late due to some other commitments that the world forgot to warn me about until I had 40 minutes to get there including getting ready and travelling for 30 minutes and;

b) There isn’t a great deal to say that hasn’t been said a thousand and one times and thus that we don’t already know!

Today we play Blackburn Rovers in yet another no-win situation. What could be a potential banana skin for us is exactly that, win lose or draw.

You see, if we win, well, that is exactly how it should be and no special credit will be received. We are the mighty Arsenal FC and they are lowly Blackburn, bottom of the Premier League and in a general state of turmoil. Add to that the fact that their fans are planning a protest prior to kick-off, running an online petition and generally baying for the blood of their manager and of course we should run them out of their own ground.

Or maybe we will get a draw. Yes, that should get the boo-boys out of their prams! Obviously a draw at Ewood Park would not be the end of the world, let alone the end of any title aspirations the players and staff may still be harbouring, but it would not be the win that we should so obviously be getting.

Of course, there is another possibility. That unspeakable chance that we come away with nothing thus requiring the thrusting of Wenger out of the back window of the coach home to be left for dead somewhere on the M6 due to the obvious failure of his new look side (some 2 weeks old), his transfer policy of buying experienced players (some 2 weeks old), his obvious delight at selling 3 of our most prized assets after training and nurturing them almost from his own teat and, last but not least, the fact that he obviously hasn’t been able to manage the team since David Dein left.

In fact, let’s get to the truth of the matter;We all know that Dein was not just responsible for buying and selling players and running the entire executive branch of the club but he also took all of the training sessions, picked the team, wrote the match programme, read out the announcements on match day, played centre-forward in a Thierry Henry disguise, cooked all of the players meals and even washed their kits and cleaned their boots with his magical winning dust!

Ok, obviously I am being a touch facetious here…We all know that he can’t cook!

But seriously folks, as I pointed out prior to the Dortmund game, we are smack bang in the middle of a run of seriously winnable games against teams that we really should be beating. I hope that tomorrow sees us walk away with a healthy victory and I am plumping for a 3-1 to the Arsenal with Mertesacker getting his name on the scoreboard as well as putting n a cracking performance to quieten a few errant mouths that, after two perfectly decent performances in a row, seem to be suggesting that he is worse than Squillaci!

In terms of the line-up we welcome back Song, Gervinho and Jenkinson from suspension and may just see Ramsey on the bench depending on a late fitness test. Jack and TV5 are obviously still out, as are Diaby, Rosicky, Squillaci and Miyaichi. With the midweek exploits still fresh in the legs, I would expect Arshavin to replace Benayoun and I think that we may get a peek at Santos so as not to confuse Gibbs by him playing two games in a row and possibly even Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as I think that Theo may get a sit down for this one too.

So, the team may well look nothing like this:

Now, I have to say, that looks like a team with goals in it!

In other news:

Cesc claims NOT to have slammed our chances of winning any trophies ever again until the end of time, although anybody reading the comments section of my post on this topic will understand why I still have my doubts, regardless of how much Twittering he gets up to! Truth be told, I was furious yesterday and today I couldn’t really give a rats arse. There the much more important matter of actually winning a game rather than worrying about whether an ex-player thinks we will or not!

Manchester United are the latest club linked with a Middle East buyout, this time it is the Qatari royal family threatening the general wellbeing of football with a reported bid of £1.6bn. I don’t want to get too high up on my horse over this as, so far, it is appears to be rumour and counter-rumour. Not only that, but I cannot help but wonder how the likes of Chelsea, United and Citeh get a “Sugar Daddy” whilst we get the “Gingerbread Man”!

Wenger claims that his experiment with a zonal marking systemfor corners is working so far but nothing concrete has been decided regarding whether or not it is here to stay. Time will tell on that one, but, whilst we haven’t actually conceded from a corner yet this season, our goals conceded record so far leaves a lot to be desired to say the least and so one assumes that the experiment needs to show fruit in other areas too and fast if it to stand a chance. Personally I think that man to man marking at set pieces is too easy to break down for the attacking side unless you have very mobile defenders and so I hope that the lads get past the teething troubles as quickly as possible to give this new system a real chance.

Yossi Benayoun claims that his loan move was not the last minute shock that it appeared to be and that we were finalising the details about a week beforehand. All well and good, but it does beg the obvious question: If we knew we were signing him so long beforehand, how on earth did we end up taking him without a medical?!

Nicklas Bendtner is currently doing the media rounds with his latest Arsenal “revelation”. He claims he won’t be back unless he gets assurances of regular football from the club. First things first, we own you sunbeam and you will come back if we tell you too and you won’t if we don’t want you. Secondly, I hope that you keep your original promise of never coming back and good riddance too. Thirdly, shut your trap for two fecking minutes and give your arse a chance, would you! You might have been played desperately out of position, never really given a fighting chance to prove yourself and even been horribly misquoted over the whole “best player in the world” debacle (I hate to say it, but I saw the original of that interview and another subsequent interview and that “claim” was taken so out of context it was actually a disgrace to journalism, twice!) but has it never occurred to you that the fact that you spend more time talking about playing football than actually playing it might be riddled with all the clues you need?!?!

Still not convinced Nick? Well, try your own words for size:

“I have rented a good house and am probably going to spend most of my time there, as I did in London, and then spend time with my family when I am not playing football, so it’s going to be okay.”

Anybody else starting to think that he has literally zero friends in the entire world?!

And on that note, all that remains to be said is:

Come on you experienced Blackburn Rovers whipping Gooonnnneeerrrsssss!

 

Hate To Say I Told You So…

…but I did actually tell you so!

So, Borussia Dortmund, the champions of the Bundesliga, proved to be a tougher task than many gave them credit for, keeping possession for long periods, putting a lot of pressure on us when we finally did get the ball and contributing to an interesting game of football regardless of where your loyalties lie.

In truth, aside from dropping Arshavin and replacing him with Benayoun, there were no real surprises in terms of the starting XI either. I have to admit that I did feel Wenger’s decision to drop Arshavin was a rather odd one though when considering the wisdom of selecting Benayoun over him. The reality was that Benayoun was starting his first game for us, away at the German champions, in the Champions League. A tough ask to say the least. It seemed all the more confusing considering that he could have been “blooded” at home, against newly-promoted Swansea, in the Premier League.  Additionally, and as I pointed out in the post-match report for Swansea, Arshavin was strangely impressive on Saturday and, in my opinion for the first time in a long time, genuinely deserved his place in the side. Maybe Wenger is using a kind of reverse psychology with him. You know, play badly for about 18 months whilst bitching about the club, the team, the manager and your fellow players and retain your place in the team week-in, week-out. Play well for the first time in 18 months and receive the full wrath of the boss and a good thorough benching!

To be totally honest, I thought that Benayoun was a better fit for a late throw of the dice should we be struggling to get a desperately needed goaland lacking a bit of legs and creative energy, but notfor the full 90 minutes. As it transpired, it wasn’t such a terrible idea on Wenger’s part. Admittedly Yossi looked a little lost for the opening 15 minutes of the match, struggling to find a way into the game. In fairness, a great deal of his game relies a lot on the quick-thinking and understanding between him and his teammates and with only 2 weeks gone by since he joined the club, it was unlikely that understanding would be entirely established as yet and so it appeared to be proving. Not being a tough tackler or a midfield boss by any means, the decision to play him must surely have been based upon his general work rate and, in hindsight, I think that Wenger got this one right. After about 15 or 20 minutes it was obvious that Yossi was ready, willing and able to run his socks off for the team and he did a great job of that if nothing else. Apart from the immense Alex Song and the “hectic” Arteta, he probably covered as much of the park as anybody else and broke down the flow of Dortmund’s play on more than one occasion. As for the aforementioned Song, I said in the pre-match report that he would need to have an outstanding game if we were to get anything out of this gamer and so it proved as he relentlessly pursued, harried and, for the most part, snuffed out the creative forces of Götze and Kagawa and provided the crucial first line of defence that proved so effective in protecting our centre back pairing.

The first half went pretty much the way one would expect against a team who love the ball, pass it well, attack in numbers and rarely give you a second to think when you do finally dispossess them. They had a LOT of the ball and created a few good chances which, on any other day may have seen us 2 or 3 down by half time. As it happened, a combination of hard work, riding our luck, a decent amount of profligacy on their part and some great goalkeeping by our resident “Pole between the Poles” proved enough to keep them out before the seeminglyimplausible happened. In the 43^rd minute Van Persie nicked the ball of a slow to react Kehl with a sliding tackle that Tony Adams would have been pleased with before getting up and continuing his run whilst the altogether more impressive than against Swansea Walcott picked up the ball, slotted the simplest but most perfectly timed ofdefence splitting straight pass into the path of Robin whomade no mistake with the finish, leaving Weidenfeller with no chanceas he calmly placed a curling shot to the keepers right. A finish reminiscent of Henry in many ways and Robin continues to impress and grow with each passing game. One can only imagine what we could have achieved over the past few seasons had he been fit more often.

In the time it takes to say “proper old smash and grab in Europe in the style of one of George Graham’s sides” the scoreboard said 1-0 to the Arsenal, the half-time whistle was blown and we looked like we might just be about to pull off an unlikely result.

The second half saw us getting a lot more possession and Dortmund creating far fewer chances. We still have to work on not giving away a raft of free kicks in and around the box, but thankfully Dortmund seemed hell bent on trying to knock down the wall rather than go over or around it and, when they did manage to get the ball into the danger area, our defence looked organised and solid. As the clock ticked down it became more and more obvious that it was going to take something special to break down a resilient and determined Arsenal, but as it proved, something special was exactly what was coming.

With a free kick lofted in from some way out, Gibbs showed real strength winning the header in the face of two onrushing attackers and clearing the ball out of the penalty area. Cue a moment of magic from Dortmund substitute Perisic as he lashed the ball on the volley over the defence and into the far right of the goal. In reality, and I am sure that most players would confirm this, this was a Hail Mary of a shot and 99 times out of 100 it flies over the bar, into one of the 15 or so players in the box, sails wide or straight into the arms of the keeper, but that is not to take away anything from the scorer to whom we must simply doff our hats and move on to the next game thankful to have gained a point in what should really be our toughest match in this group.

In terms of personal performances, Koscielny played with an intensity which I assume is finally being generated by the competition that finally exists for his place and it is actually becoming a joy to watch. He is still sloppy in terms of positioning at times but seems much more willing to put in the effort to retrieve the situation before it is too late.

Gibbs looked his normal self and, whilst the late introduction of Santos gave us a very short glimpse of what our left back position will most likely be filled with once the Brazilian is fully match fit, I am worried that Gibbs is our only other realistic choice at left back. He just doesn’t seem to have the defensive wherewithal to get his job done effectively and crosses as well as you would expect from an Arsenal full back. I personally don’t see what he brings to the team if I am completely honest.

Arteta was busy chasing down every blade of grass on the pitch, second only to Song in terms of work rate and industry. Sagna found himself at sea a couple of times but worked hard and saved the situation on each occasion.

Gervinho showed again what, after only 4 appearances, we have already come to expect of him, looking lively and potentially dangerous almost every time he got near the ball.

Szczesny was assured and commanding and, yet again, appears to be going from strength to strength in the Arsenal goal.

Mertesacker wobbled a couple of times but, in general, looked unhurried and unruffled when dealing with the majority of what Dortmund had to throw at him.

But, and I am sorry to harp on about this but it bears repeating, Song was EXACTLY what we needed him to be. He was energetic, industrious, organized, in position and entirely disruptive to the Dortmund cause. In my opinion he was our man of the match by a long chalk, in fact, he was probably the man of the match overall.

In terms of the group and qualification, Marseille pulling off their own slightly improved version of a European smash and grab with a 1-0 away to Olympiacos puts the underdogs at the top of the group and, in all honesty, we couldn’t have wished for a better result. As wide open as it was before kick-off, the hardest game in the group out of the way and a point in the bag, things look about as good as we could have hoped for after this first round and, given that I expect us to beat the Greeks and for Marseille to grab a sneaky draw at home to Dortmund in the next round, things may well look rosy in our European garden in a couple of weeks.

All in all a good night’s work, as good a result as we could have expected, a good performance and a wonder goal the only difference between winning and coming home with a point. This new team currently in a period of transition – and make no mistake it IS a new team and it IS in a period of transition – is starting to show a lot of the qualities that we have cried out for in the past few seasons: Drive, determination, guts and the will to win in any manner necessary. We may have lost the creative engine room of Cesc and, for three months every three years, Na$ri, but we have gained a few die for the cause blood and thunder players with a wealth of experience and, once they start to gel, I think we will see a tougher and more rounded side that we have not had since those heady days of The Invincibles.

For the relentlessly unhappy among us, this was not a case of Arsenal throwing away yet another win at the death, but more a case of going into the match with a game plan of snatch a goal and hang on defensively and, but for a moment of the highest quality and a slice of luck, we would have pulled it off.

Meanwhile, we will get a chance to see exactly what direction we really are going in in the shorter term with what would,in recent seasons at least, been considered potential banana skinswith Blackburn away, Bolton and Stoke at home and the home game against Olympiacos as well as a chance for “the kids” in our Carling Cup match at home to Shrewsbury. Get through that lot without losing a game and we can genuinely say that we are turning a corner. Get through that lot with 9 league points, 3 Champions League points and our name in the hat for the next round for the Carling Cup and we might even say we have turned that corner.

Time will tell and I for one will be there watching and enjoying this new stage in our fine club’s history.

Come On You Shiny New Look Goooonnnneeerrrrrssssss!!!

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