Manchester United vs Arsenal

I am going to be very brief today for two reasons:

1) I am too busy drinking and relaxing on my vacation

2) There is nothing to say about the match today: we were straight up PATHETIC defensivelly. Traore is a joke and i have been saying this for a while. Koscielny and Djourou are just not good enough. We need to buy players. 

           

Arsenal vs Liverpool

Well, when it rains it pours, right? I actually think today we played a really good game until the sending off of Frimpong. We were wayyyyyy better defensively than we were against Udinese. And just for the record, i am tired of hearing people talk about the Udinese game and how we kept a clean sheet so the defense must have played well. We got lucky not to get scored on in the Udinese game! We were very poor defensively, had huge gaps in the back and they missed tons of chances. So that clean sheet was more lucky than deserved. Today on the other hand i thought we looked really solid in the back regardless of the fact that we lost the game.

Now, just for the record: Frimpong is a stud!!! He was a little too pumped up (which is normal at 19) for the game and that's why he got two unnecessary yellow cards, but the kid can play. Showed so much desire; made some great runs through the middle; was all over the midfield for most of the game and he is not scared to take a shot. He also has good control over the ball and doesn't panic.

Miguel also had a good game. He was really unlucky for the own goal of Ramsey, other than that i think he looked great. Same goes for Jenkinson: he covers a lot of ground; definitely has a better cross than Sagna (who doesn't); and overall didn't make many mistakes. Gotta give props to Sagna for playing left back as well. He ran his usual mileage but did a great job considering the left side is not his favorite spot to be.

                                                          
Vermaelen was his usual great self! I can't say enough about him. He won almost every ball against Carroll and he is half his size. Made some great interceptions, went forward a few times and had a good shot a bit wide from the goal. I don't want to even think what our defense will look like without him. He is also one of the best leaders on the team.

The first 20 minutes we didn't look that good, Liverpool were all over the pitch, pressing and making us miss a lot of passes. After that i think we settled down, had a few good attacks, Nasri and Frimpong had good runs that finished with shots at goal. I thought between the 20th until the sending off of Frimpong we played better than Liverpool. The one thing that still bothers me and i have mentioned this millions of times, we still can't press properly. So many times today, either we are not pressing as a team and certain players are just pressing by themselves; or we will press but when we get to a few feet from the opposing players we will stop and wait for them to pass instead of closing them down and really put pressure on them.

Offensively we are still missing that final pass. Van Persie had only one good chance and that was after a foul by Arshavin that wasn't called. The rest of the game he didn't see the ball much. At least today players were shooting the ball more than usual and i like that. Much better than playing "1001 nights" (a.k.a passing the ball forever until we fuck it up). The two guys i was really disappointed with were Walcott and Arshavin. I am already used to Arshavin playing shit almost every game. He probably made around 88 mistakes today. Gave away the ball; missed his final pass; had one good cross for the whole game and that was it. Ran a lot at times (surprising for him) but ran with no purpose and usually after he lost another ball. Walcott on the other hand is usually playing well but today he was nowhere to be seen. Didn't have his usual  breakout runs on the right; almost had no chances and his crosses were not on target. Very poor performance by him. Ramsey didn't have a great game either. Was very unlucky on the own goal but overall didn't create much. The one thing he always has is effort though and i give him credit for that.

So, what's the verdict on Arsene? I think the one thing that we saw today was that the young guys have the quality that he is talking about. But that doesn't change the fact that they are all YOUNG! Great example is the red card of Frimpong today. If that was a more experienced player, he probably doesn't get sent off today. So even though i agree with Wenger that he has quality in his young guys, he HAS to realize that he needs to buy some players that can help those young guys and guide them instead of counting on 18,19,20 years old players to win important matches for him. To be a great team you have to have the mix between experience and youth. Jose Enrique is a guy we could have bought from Newcastle and he would have been a good fit for us. Instead, Liverpool bought him and not only he had a great game against us today, Wenger had to use Sagna as a left back. You still think we don't need to buy anyone Arsene? So, i am really hoping we somehow squeeze past Udinese on Wednesday and after that we buy some players!!!

GO GUNNERS! 

Newcastle vs Arsenal

Joey Barton is a piece of shit. It's also our fault that we keep falling for his stupid provocations every year but that doesn't change the fact that Joey Barton is a piece of shit. He is a dirty player who is always looking to get under your skin by kicking, simulating and arguing with officials. Since he got a red card anyway, I wish Gervinho had actually punched him instead of that slap he gave him...

And can someone explain me how this is not a red card for Barton?

Anyway, enough about this stupid clown. The game itself wasn't that great. Very few good chances for either team. At least defensively we didn't look horrible. I am not saying we looked great but we weren't as shaky as we were many times last season. Having Vermaelen back makes such a huge difference it's scary. He had a great game, made some really crucial interceptions. Always looks composed and under control. You can't see him panic and that rubs off to the rest of our defense.That's why we need another center back of his quality so we don't hold our breath every time he goes down. Sagna played at his usual level, covering a lot of ground and flying all over the place. The only negative is that he is starting to act like Eboue every time he goes down. He did get fouled a few times but he was rolling around like they broke his leg or something. I thought Gibbs had a really good game, was solid in the back and made some good runs on the left.

We had a lot of possession throughout the game, but we were lacking that final pass. Too many missed passes in the final phase of the attack, not enough shooting when we get an opportunity to shoot. Basically there is a lot more that we need to do offensively. Pretty much every team in EPL plays us the same way Newcastle played us, they get back and wait for their chance to counter. Unless we get more creative in the final third it will be a looong season for all Arsenal fans. Heck, there was a point today when Sagna, making his usual run on the right, didn't even look to see if there is anyone in the penalty area, crossed the ball (surprisingly well) and there was not even one Arsenal player in the area! Not even one. So why the fuck are we crossing the ball then?

Van Persie wasn't as sharp as we are used to seeing him but to be fair he didn't get many good opportunities. I wasn't very impressed with Gervinho. Nothing to do with the red card, he just didn't look very threatening or creative. I am not criticizing him at all because it's his first season in England and it will take time for him to get used to the game they play here. I just think he wasn't very effective but so were most of our attacking players. Arshavin was the Arshavin we saw for most of last season: absolutely horrible defensively. He just drives me nuts when he is jogging close to our penalty area and letting players run past him, it almost looks like he has no clue how to defend properly or just doesn't care enough about defending. Not to mention he didn't do anything memorable offensively either.

Song had a really good game and a really bad game at the same time: he gives us that toughness, and does so much work in winning the ball back and controlling the defensive midfield. I think him and Vermaelen are almost irreplaceable for us. But he has to tendency to make some bad tackles and some of them are just stupid. He managed to foul 2 different players in the span of 45 seconds and get a silly booking. And then he stomped on Barton which should have been a red card, and i guarantee you the FA will punish him by video evidence. He is too important for us to make bad decisions like that. Rosicky had a solid game and was trying hard. Ramsey had a tougher time but i really like his desire and effort. He lost a few balls and you saw him immediately chase the player down trying to win the ball back unlike other players (cough, Arshavin, cough).

So overall, getting a point at Newcastle is not ideal but it's not bad. Not conceding a goal and not allowing too many chances is actually encouraging. The only problem is that when i look at our team right now i don't see the depth that we need to compete in all competitions. Offensively we don't look threatening/creative enough. We don't have a good back up for Gibbs on the left. Up front if Van Persie gets injured we have only Chamakh as a striker (that's assuming Bendtner is leaving). Eboue is set to be sold to Galatasaray. We have many players leaving and we have bought another 18 year old player. Doesn't look too impressive, does it?

Yesterday Arsene gave his usual lines about buying players: "We are not scared to spend money if we find the right player. But spending money is not the right target in itself. We want to find the right player and whether it is for £2 million or £20 million we will do it." Well guess what, if we want to stay in the top 4 ( i am not even talking about winning the title) Wenger better find the right players fast and we better spend some money!

p.s.Today was announced that Fabregas was sold to Farca and i am kind of relieved that the whole saga is over but i hope The Professor won't be a stubborn idiot and will buy more than 1 or 2 players in the next few weeks. Otherwise get ready for a lot of grumpy blog entries coming your way.