Arsenal vs Tottenham

A solid beating of Tottenham always brings tremendous joy to any Arsenal supporter! So, today was definitely an enjoyable day for all Arsenal fans. Does this win solve all the problems that we have? NO. Does this win change the fact that at times we are absolutely clueless defensively? NO. Does this win mean that Wenger has finally realized that he needs to change his tactics and squad rotation? Most likely not.

Overall i felt that with the exception of the first 10 min of the game, we were the better team hands down. But the way we got scored on both times was absolutely pathetic. Saha's goal was a fucking joke as far as the position of our defenders. Nobody knew who they were supposed to cover and Saha had miles of space even if he got lucky with the finish. There were a few more times where our defenders were clearly out of position. Especially in the first half, our pressing of the ball was so naive and panicked: two guys would run straight up at the Tottenham player with the ball, this way freeing someone else who had loads of space to work with. I am glad we were pressing the ball but we have to do it more efficiently than what we did in that first half.

Once Tottenham scored, we woke up and took control of the game. We actually created some chances with Van Persie missing a good chance and Friedel making a great save on Rosicky's header. The penalty for their second goal was again a result of our bad defending, but we responded with a great goal from Sagna. The build up for that goal was great and his header excellent. Too bad that until that goal, Sagna had his normal crossing ratio in full effect: 1 good cross out of every 5 he tries. Robin's goal soon after was pure class, great control of the ball and great shot. I thought the best player on the pitch in the first half was Arteta. He was pretty much everywhere, very active and into the game. He was pressing hard and tackling people all over the pitch. Gave some great passes, most notably the pass to Sagna for the first goal. 

We started well in the second half as well. I thought Redknap made a mistake by leaving Adebayor on the pitch the whole game. Even though he scored, he is slow and didn't pose any threat even on high balls. I thought someone faster like Defoe or Lennon would have given us many more problems. Anyway, i thought the goal Rosicky scored was vital. It gave us even more belief that we can win this game and kind of deflated Tottenham completely. It was a great build up for the goal and Rosicky's finish was world class! I am really happy for him because he is a player who has been playing well but never got over that hump of scoring important goals for us like he used to do for Borussia Dortmund. If Arteta was the best player on the pitch in the first half, Rosicky was the best player in the second. He was all over the midfield, giving great passes and trying to create chances. His pass to Robin was vital in Walcott's first goal.

In a way i am happy for Walcott as well, because he was struggling for a long time in the past few weeks. You could see in the first half, that he was lacking confidence big time. He misplayed at least 4,5 passes, didn't look comfortable at all. Missed a great chance when he ran past the Tottenham defense and instead of cutting inside toward the center and shooting the ball, he tried to go right and passed to RVP to no avail. I thought he would be subbed at half time and i would have approved that substitution. Luckily for him and for my fantasy team, he stayed on and scored two nice goals. You can see that he is comfortable when he has space to work with and can run past people and shoot at goal. That's why i feel it's Wenger responsibility to adjust his position when we play teams who sit back and defend and do not give us any space. In those games he should play Walcott as a striker and Van Persie right behind him, this way giving him a chance to out run central defenders and be a constant threat with his pace instead of putting him on the wing where he is completely lost and runs out of ideas.

Our defense was much better in the second half, specifically Vermaelen. He was out of position more than once in the first half and had a big fault in the build up to Tottenham's first goal. Second half he won pretty much every high ball and played much, much better. I thought Gibbs was pretty good except for the dive he decided to take in the first half in hopes of winning a penalty. Koscielny was solid as well. I am also glad Jenkinson is back, that kid plays with a lot of heart and has a wayyy better cross than Sagna, that's for sure :).

I have to give props to Wenger for trying to change things by starting Benayoun together with Rosicky, Walcott, Song and Arteta. Even though Benayoun was not exceptional, he did bring us more security and control of the ball in the middle of the pitch. The question is, why didn't he try this earlier in the season? The guy has been sitting on the bench for most of the campaign.

So, this was a great win for us but it doesn't change our situation much. We are still very very vulnerable defensively; we struggle with teams who don't give us space; Wenger's rotation policy is non existent with a few exceptions here and there; and tactically Wenger still doesn't always put the players in the best positions for them to be successful. But today was a win that we should all enjoy! We played some great football and got a result. Did i mentioned we spanked Spurs in the process :))? Another big game vs Liverpool next week, let's hope for another good performance! C'mon You Gunners!!

p.s. I normally don't write about our non Premier League games, but i just have to mention that players like Djourou should NOT be in this team, let alone give them contract extensions!!! This clumsy clown makes around 50,000 pounds a week! That has to be a sick joke. And we just gave him a contract extension??? Squillaci makes around 60,000 a week??? We have other examples like Vela, Bendtner, Fabianski and Denilson all making between 40,000 and 60,000 per week. Those guys, especially Fabianski and Denilson should not be making more than 15,000 a week. So, the bottom line is that we pay average to high wages to players who are absolutely not good enough to receive even minimum wages. And then we can't reward our best players with higher wages because we pay so much to bench warmers. Look at how much  Man U's Danny Wellbeck makes - 15,000 a week! Obviously now that he plays more regularly they will probably give him a new and improved contract but the fact is that until you prove yourself at Man U  you get minimal salary. Now compare that to Djourou's salary, a guy who not only is not good enough but he doesn't even play unless someone is injured. And Wenger rewards his clumsiness with a new contract, wtf.   

Sunderland vs Arsenal

Much needed win today! It wasn't pretty and it didn't look like we will get a win but fortunately for us we got it done. The game itself was pretty boring until the last 20 minutes. Sunderland decided that they will play with 10 man in their own half and see if we can get through. To their credit, they were very organized and pressed us non stop for 90 minutes. Which doesn't change the fact that we need to get better at creating chances and scoring when teams play us like this.

Except for the first 12 minutes in the first half when we had some very sloppy mistakes in our passing which allowed them to attack, Sunderland didn't create anything and were happy to sit back and watch us suffer. I am pretty sure we didn't create even one clear chance to score in the first half. Second half was pretty much the same scenario: a lot of possession for us but no chances to score. Then around the 62nd min they had a few corners and free kicks in a row where we looked absolutely clueless how to defend and Szczesny had to bail us out. We stack the box and then when we clear the ball there is no one around to block shots that are coming from outside the penalty area. We gotta do better than that! And then they scored out of the blue and i was fucking fuming. Not so much at Mertesacker because he probably tore something, otherwise he wouldn't have fallen like that. But i was pissed that Sunderland were up 1 having created pretty much nothing for the whole game. Not to mention with the way we were playing i thought that there is no way we were going to score 2 goals. So when Ramsey scored it was justice. It was a lucky goal in the sense that it came out of nowhere but that's how Sunderland scored too, so it was only fair. I am also happy for Ramsey because he hasn't been playing well recently. 

And then would you believe it: Arshavin out of all people gave a great ball to Henry and we were up 2-1. Henry can still score goals and i was ecstatic that we won the game but he is such a cocky bitch that he pisses me off. I give him credit for being at the right place and finishing the ball nicely but the rest of the time he was on the pitch, he was just jogging and not doing anything. So after he scored, instead of digging in and pressing defensively, he is mocking Martin O"Neil and then booming the ball 50 yards down the pitch instead of keeping possession and helping us close the game out. I remember back in the day when we sold him, i was quite happy because his ego at the time was bigger than the team and today we saw a bit of that again.

I thought Rosicky was the man of the match. Great work rate and had some great passes. He was one of the few guys that were close to creating something offensively. Walcott had another bad game and he continues to be lost on the wing especially when he has no space to work with. Oxlade didn't have a great game but you can't expect him to be great in every game.

I have to give credit to Wenger for his substitutions today. All 3 guys that came in had a huge impact on the game even if there was luck involved. Now, the big challenge for Wenger is to show me that he is learning from his mistakes: he better make at least 3 or 4 changes for the Milan game on Wednesday. Rotating the team has never been his strength and has always been something that makes me fume. I remember last year he kept the exact same team that played in the Champions League on Wednesday for a Premier League game on Sunday, and after the game he said "we were tired", no shit Sherlok! So i hope i see guys like Coquelin, Benayoun, and even stupid Arshavin start against Milan. The annoying sir Alex is a great example for squad rotations: he always shuffles his team based on what he decides for the specific game. An example is Hernandez who scored an important goals vs Chelsea but that didn't mean he was starting today.

Anyway, great, great, great result for us today!!! Very important win because we have some really tough games coming up: Milan in Ch. League, Sunderland again for the FA Cup and then Tottenham and Liverpool back to back. So today's result is very important, we just need to keep it going. C'mon you Gunners!!!

Arsenal vs Blackburn

I can finally write a blog where i don't have to bitch non stop throughout the whole article! Today was probably our best performance this season and i am not saying that just because of the score line. Even before Blackburn went down to 10 man we played really well. They barely had any possession on the ball and if it wasn't for the free kick which they scored from, i don't think they had one dangerous attack. I also really like the way we responded after Blackburn scored, we scored two quick goals and both were from great attacks.    That's why i feel we played a really good game even before we were a man up. Once Givet got the red card, it was obvious we will put some goals on the board. The only thing in the second half that wasn't as good as in the first was our press on the ball, but considering the score line i will let it slip without complaining too much.

 The defense was solid throughout the game, i was really happy how we were closing down on the Blackburn players in the first half, they barely created any chances. I was really impressed with Coquelin, he is very mobile and his passing is great. He gave a great ball to Walcott to set up RVP's first goal and had other great moves on the right. I guess part of his good passing is because he normally plays as a midfielder, so you can definitely tell that the guy is good with the ball in his feet. I think he is more than capable to play both as a right back or midfield. Koscielny was very good except for the foul he gave up for Pedersen's goal. Vermaelen was solid as usual, got a unnecessary yellow card in the second half because of a few silly fouls. Mertesacker is playing better and better with each game. I think next season we will really see his true qualities.

The midfield had it's best game of the season. We created a lot of chances and took most of them. This was something that was missing the whole season up to now. Arteta was solid and scored a nice goal. Song gave some great passes for a few of our most dangerous attacks. Walcott finally had a really solid game. Had three assists and was very active on the wing. Rosicky was solid, couldn't get on the scoreboard but played a good game. Oxlade-Chamberlain was the guy who deserves a bit of special mention. I think this kid has the potential to be very, very good! He has great pace, very similar to Walcott's but his dribbling and control of the ball are much better than Theo's. He is physically stronger and also has better vision and good passing. I think Chamberlain will be like Wilshere last season: once he breaks into the first team it will be tough to get him out of there. Robin was great as he has been the whole season. He was at the right place for the first two goals, gave a great pass for Chamberlain's first goal and was pretty much lethal throughout the whole game.

I know we played against Blackburn today. I know they were down to 10 man. I know most Premier League tams have better defense than Blackburn's. But today i am just going to enjoy the way the team played and the win we got. First time all season we were defensively solid. We created a lot of chances up front and we took most of them. Basically today was the first complete game we had all season and i am very happy. We really needed a performance like this.

The last thing that i want to mention is that if the team gets healthy with all the new players settling in we can have pretty much two very strong teams. You would have Sagna, Coquelin and Jenkinson at right back. Koscielny, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Miquel at center back. Gibbs, Santos at left backs. Arteta, Rosicky, Ramsey, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Song, Wilshere, Walcott, Gervinho, Benayoun, Frimpong, Miyachi, Diaby (if he is ever healthy) and Arshavin (i hope we sell his lazy ass) as midfielders. The only spot we need to improve is the striker position. I don't think Chamakh is good enough and i don't know about Park yet because we can't see him play. It's a good problem to have but Wenger has to do a good job rotating the squad, something he has proved he can struggle with. Anyway if we can keep improving our performances we will have a really good team next season. And hopefully we can squeeze into the top four this year, because until i see us put a few good games in a row, i will still be saying "Europe League" next year :). p.s.I do believe we can get into the top four and i bet $20 on it, so i hope my boys will help me win some cash.