Arsenal vs Wolverhampton

Aaaaand another frustrating result. At a time where both Liverpool and Chelsea dropped points and we could break into the top four with a win, we decided we don't like to make things easy for ourselves and got a shitty result. I don't think the performance was bad (except defensively), but i prefer a shitty performance with a good result - like last week at Villa. Until we can consistently deliver wins regardless if we are playing good or not, the title that we have been waiting for, for a while now, looks pretty far away. I am not saying we have a shot at the title this year (that would be more than naive on my part - top 4 would be a great achievement) i am speaking about winning the title in general.

I thought overall we played a decent game. We scored a very nice goal early: the pass from Benayoun was great and the finish from Gervinho was very good as well. We dominated possession and everything looked pretty good except when we had to defend. The defense looked shaky the whole first half. Every time they attacked i had the feeling we can get scored on. And it wasn't our usual "not pressing the ball" stupidity, we just looked vulnerable and unorganized. Djourou was fucking horrible. He did make a good stop on a one vs one situation with Jarvis but that was in the 36th min. Before that he looked like a clown at least 3 times and we got lucky we didn't get scored on. The goal we gave away was also fucking terrible. Didn't clear the ball properly and then no one closed down Hunt fast enough. I know we had a dose of bad luck but we didn't look solid in the back the whole first half.

The problem with the goal is that it changed the whole complexion of the game. Instead of Wolves having to push forward and open up spaces for us, they just defended the whole second half and we kept missing chances. Hennessey had a great game, i will give him that. But if we can't beat a 10 man Wolves team at home, we don't deserve to be higher up the table. The only comforting thing for me is that we at least created some good chances. We have had games when teams defend deep and we can't create a goal scoring chance for like 20 mins. Today that was not the case.

Vermaelen and Koscielny were both very good (i am getting used to writing this and it feels great). Thomas got a stupid yellow card but the ref was being a bitch. Mertesacker also had a good game, had a great block in the 5 min, almost scored in the second half and overall he is starting to find his game in the last few matches. Djourou was fucking horrible as i mentioned earlier. He is just clumsy, and seems to have good athletic skills with no football IQ. Got abused by Jarvis a few times in a row in the first half. On one of them he didn't even stretch his leg to try to block his pass, he just stood there watching. The only times he looks good is when he tries to charge forward but even then his passing is pretty bad. I am sorry i am bashing on the guy but i just never feel comfortable when he is playing. The real question is, if 3 of the 4 defenders played pretty good, why is our defense still shaky? Because we had other situations when Djourou was not involved and we still didn't look solid. For me, it comes down to better communication and better defending as a unit. We need to get better defensively, and i don't care if people think i am being too harsh.

Song for once had a bad game. Missed a lot of passes - 2 of them back heels; could have easily seen red instead of yellow ( i thought Wenger subbing him out of the game was a good move); overall did not have a good game at all. I can give him a pass though because he is one of our best performers week in and week out and he is allowed to have one or two bad games. Benayoun was pretty good. Gave a great pass for the first goal, was active most of the time that he played. He didn't do much more to remember besides that pass but i will have him play over Arshavin any day. Rosicky was good. Not great but good. He was very active the whole 90 minutes; put the ball on Mertesacker's head for the chance that Hennessey saved. He also missed some passes but he was always a threat throughout the game. Arteta was decent, didn't do too much but he wasn't being a liability either. Just kind of a quiet game for him. Ramsey and Arshavin didn't do much off the bench, except that shot that Arshavin kicked close to the left goal post.

Gervinho scored a great goal. He was always active on the flank. Sometimes he overuses his move towards the corner line and that makes him a bit one dimensional but he had a good game and always a threat with his pace. Robin did not have a good day. Had a good chance in the 15th min on the counter attack but he rushed his shot. I am guessing the goal scoring record is on his mind a little bit. Had other chances throughout the game but Hennessey also did very well to block a few. Chamakh didn't contribute much except clashing heads with RVP.

So to sum it up, another frustrating result. Decent offensive performance; not so hot defensively; and a bit of bad luck and good goalkeeping on Wolves part. Bottom line: we need to get better and get results against QPR and Fulham, otherwise Europa League next year is a very realistic scenario.    

Manchester City vs Arsenal

I am tired. I am tired of repeating the same shit over and over. I am tired of watching the same mistakes being repeated over and over. I don't even know how many times i have written in this blog about our inability to press the opposite team properly when they have the ball. And from the look of things i am going to be writing about it many more times in the future. Because it never changes! We have some games where we do a decent job pressing on the ball but eventually we always come back to fucking it up whenever we need it the most. If it wasn't for Man City's inability to take their chances, we could have lost 5-0, or 5-1 today. And the worst part about it is that because we lost "only" 1-0, we get the fake impression that we had a good game. I can listen to Wenger's after match interviews a million times and nothing changes there either: "We showed great spirit, good maturity, but we were a bit unlucky, we have a lot players injured etc...". But the truth is, that no matter who is on the field, pressing the balls is not rocket fucking science: you pressure the person with the ball while your teammates try to cover the other players around you. You DO NOT stand a few feet away from the person with the ball and just wait for them to make a pass, because when you do that, they are under no pressure and eventually they find the open man. Well guess what? I guess it is rocket science for Wenger and Co because we have had this problem for years!!!

Now, was the ref a fucking douche bag? Yes. Did he give some absolutely retarded yellow cards against us? Yes. Should we have gotten a penalty for handball from Richards? Yes. But that still doesn't change the fact that we weren't good enough and we should have lost this game by a big margin.  

I am also really tired of seeing the same pointless substitutions over and over. What has Arshavin done in the last 2 months to suggest that he will eventually play well? He is terrible at giving defensive effort; offensively he hasn't been even close to what he was when we first bought him; and most of all what impact did he have on the game after he came on? NO impact! And as soon as i saw him come in, i knew this was basically a pointless move. Did Walcott have a great game? Not even close. But is Arshavin the guy who is going to change the game for us? No fucking chance. But with Wenger, his stubbornness has brought him so much success in the past that he is just NOT willing to change and adapt. Why not put in the game players who are hungry and have desire to win? Players who even if they are not playing well, they will put maximum effort until the last whistle. I would much rather see Frimpong, Benayoun or Rosicky come in the game than watch Arshavin's first 3 passes who were 50 feet off target. Chamakh is the same story. He is not as lazy as Arshavin but he is just not good enough in the system that we play. Until we learn how to press the ball and until Wenger starts playing the players that want it the most no matter their age or stature, we, the fans will keep getting disappointed over and over and over...

 As far as the game, i already spoke about inability to press and contain City. I thought offensively we had some chances. We also had spells in the game where we controlled the ball pretty well but we weren't sharp enough in the final third. Szczesny had a great game. Saved us more than once. Koscielny and Vermaelen were both very good. With a little bit more luck, Vermaelen could have brought us a point that we didn't deserve. Mertesacker was ok, but he keeps making mistakes when players are physical with him. Considering how big he is, you expect HIM to be the physically intimidating person. But a lot of times, like today when Balotelli almost scored, Mertesacker was way too soft in our own penalty area. Djourou was his usual clumsy self, i never feel confident when he is on the pitch. Gave so many bad passes today.

I thought Arteta was very good. Showed great effort and desire. Didn't create much offensively but was all over the field trying to control the game. Ramsey was average. The one good chance he had when RVP shot the ball in the first half and it came to his foot, Ramsey decided to take a touch instead of just shooting straight away. At times he also over used his dribbling, spinning around like a drunk person instead of passing the ball faster. Walcott was not good either but the service to him was poor all game long. He had one good shot in the second half but other than that not a great day for him. Even defensively he has had better games. Song had a decent game. Worked really hard, but also made some mistakes - gave away the ball to Aguero in our penalty area and it was a miracle Aguero didn't score. Song was also booked because Silva dived like a pussy. There was contact but not that serious.

Van Persie was also average. Had a few good chances where you would expect him to do better. He never stopped trying though but he had opportunities to pass the ball in the first half and we could have had a real chance to score, instead he was keen on shooting himself. You can't blame him for that with the form that he has been in, but today the better option was to pass. I thought Gervinho was our most dangerous guy. Had some great runs, gave some good passes and never stopped moving the whole game. I wish our offense was more on the same page because we created some chances but never looked like we have that final pass.

So to sum it up: even though it wasn't all doom and gloom, i can't say that i feel good about our performance today. Just not good enough. And with AC Milan as an opponent in the Champions League this season can quickly turn trophy-less again, if we don't start playing better.

Arsenal vs Everton

I guess it was only fitting that it took a superb goal from Robin to bring a much needed win for us, on a special day like today: 125 years of Arsenal Football Club!!! I can't say that i was enjoying the score being so close but i am starting to like the fact that on a day like today after missing so many chances we are still able to pull out a 1-0 victory, when in years passed we would find a way to fuck up that scoreline.

I thought we started the game pretty well. Had numerous chances in the first 30 minutes and we should have been at least 2 or 3-0 up. In the second minute Gervinho made a great run on the left and if Ramsey was able to give him a softer pass, we could have been 1-0 up already. In the 14th min we should have gone ahead for sure: Walcott got released on the right with a great ball and instead of taking a shot himself he decided to pass the ball. I thought he should have shot himself but even if he was going to pass, he should have tried to pass the ball to Ramsey who was in front of the Everton defender not to Gervinho who was behind both of them! Then we blew two more great opportunities in the 28-29th minute when both Ramsey and Gervinho should have scored. I felt our passing was pretty sharp and we were creating good opportunities. Everton had their spells of possession but didn't create too many clear chances for themselves.

The frustrating part is that when we are not able to score on teams early (especially after creating good scoring opportunities), we allow them to settle down and a lot of times they get lucky scoring a goal and the game goes down the shitter. That's why the deeper the game went in the second half with the score being 0-0, i felt it would get harder and harder for us to score. Everton had a good spell of possession around the 60th -65th min and they looked comfortable in the game. But then Song made a great pass and Robin scored a fucking stunner! That guy is just unstoppable because he wasn't doing much for most of the game and then all of sudden produces this finish! We needed that goal badly and i am sure Wenger was relieved he didn't have to put Arshavin in the game. I was relieved too because i am tired of watching the Russian walk around and do nothing. We closed the game out even though there were some nervy moments at the end. The two Everton subs McAleny and Gueye both had good chances to score, especially McAleny.

I thought defensively we were decent. Can't say we were great, but good enough for the most part. Djourou on the right had an ok game. Mertesacker was solid except that one weak header at the end of the game which allowed McAleny to almost score with a great shot. Koscielny and Vermaelen were both very good. Vermaelen had a great clearance in the second half under pressure from Cahill.  I hope Thomas is alright after that elbow he took from Fellaini. Miquel subbed in and played with confidence, i think he should be playing more often and i have said that many times.

Arteta was very good. Not very flashy but got a lot of work done, he has been playing deeper together with Song and i like that he is willing to work defensively. Song had a quiet first half but in the second half he was one of our best players. Gave unreal pass to Van Persie; and then he was pretty much everywhere for the rest of the game.Ramsey had a solid game overall. He had a great chance to score and he has been really close to scoring for most of the season. I have a feeling that once he scores, the floodgates will open and he will score much more. As good as he is in passing the ball, today he had numerous times when he could have done better. The ball to Gervinho in the 2nd min, if passed properly is almost a sure goal. Then he had a few passes where guys were obviously offside. He has to either pass it earlier, or hold the ball. Other than that i have no complaints, he is one of my favorite guys to watch. Walcott was great today! I do think he should have scored or passed better on some ocassions. But he was a constant threat; made so many good runs; had a great shot blocked by Howard in the second half; and did a tremendous job of getting back and helping defensively when needed.

Gervinho continued his good play from recent weeks. He always looks dangerous on the wing. He wasn't as noticable in the second half but had another solid game. And for Robin, what can you say? As i mentioned earlier he didn't look great for most of the game but then he scored a goal like that...Pure class! I think we have really benefited of him and Walcott being injury free (knock on wood) for a long period of time. I don't remember the last time they had so many games in a row with both of them being on the pitch at the same time. Obviously Wenger is doing a better job managing their workload-especially Robin's.

Good way for us to celebrate the 125th anniversary with a win! Let's hope we can keep it going in a very tough game at City next week! Go Gunners!!!