Swansea vs Arsenal 1-2

Another good day for the Gunners nation! I can easily get used to this :) ! Look, there is no doubt that there are a lot of things we can improve on, but the simple fact is that this team is finding ways to win and looks much tougher mentally then any of the teams we have had in the last few years. They play with confidence and belief and you can't teach those, you either have them or you don't.

There were times during the game today, when Swansea were dominating possession and preventing us from imposing our style of play (another big reason i am a huge admirer of Michael Laudrup), but we never looked panicked or rattled. We limited them to very few chances in the first half and towards the end of it, we were starting to look more like ourselves with Giroud missing a great chance, just before halftime. That confidence and calmness is what stands out to me the most so far this season. We waited for our time to come and then hit Swansea hard with two quick goals, which could have been three, if Ozil had scored his chance. 

What puzzles me though, is how our passing style disappears as soon as we have to protect a lead. It's in our DNA to look for quick counter attacks when a team is pressing us hard, but once we go two goals up on a team, i expect us to just start passing the ball around and frustrate them, instead of continuing to look for quick counters and giving the ball back to the opposition. The last twenty minutes of the Swansea game were a perfect example of that: we gave them the ball and simply defended - for the most part, very well. But every time they missed a chance or we won the ball, we immediately tried to run a counter or just boot the ball up field. The more we did that, the more possession they got and eventually created a good enough chance to score. Don't get me wrong, i thought our defensive display today was very solid. I just feel that with our passing skills, instead of booting the ball forward, or looking for a counter, we should simply pass the ball around and make the other team expand energy and patience to chase us around.  

We still recorded a tremendous victory. The games like today are the ones we need to win - when our main rivals are losing or drawing, we are collecting points. We are going to need all the points we can get because we will have a very tough stretch of games in November and December when we play back to back some of the top teams in the league. The more points we can get now, the better it will be for us. It's a very long season, but we have definitely made a promising start and i think this team looks good enough to keep going!

Some quick notes on things that i noticed:

- Some of our passing moving forward today was sublime: very accurate passes done in very high speeds without losing composure or awareness of where your teammates are. Both goals were great examples of that!

- The defense was very good for long periods of the game. Some tremendous challenges from Gibbs and Koscielny. Mertesacker was solid in the air too, and even though he could have done a bit better when Swansea scored, it wasn't all his fault - Bony gave a great pass.

- Ozil's vision and passing are unreal. He needs to improve the physical aspect of his game though, he got bullied of the ball more than once today.

- Szczesny had a great game and looked very comfortable coming out and catching crosses in the box. He just needs to stay grounded and keep working and not get too cocky after a few good games.

- Gnarby is starting to settle in and is showing some great qualities. After a quiet first half, he bursted through the middle and set up a great chance for Giroud at the end of those first 45 minutes. He then showed great composure in scoring his first goal in the Premier League. He is strong physically and not afraid to go into a challenge. If he keeps working hard, the future looks bright for him.

- Ramsey continued his hot run, it seems that he is always at the right spot and his scoring boots have been ON since the beginning of the season!

Seeing Arsenal on top of the table is something i have been waiting for a long time, i want to see them stay there until May and if we stay healthy and keep performing well, this team looks good enough to achieve it. C'mon You Gunners!!!

Arsenal vs Stoke City 3-1

I am not going to lie, beating Stoke City in an ugly game with three goals - all from set pieces - brings me great satisfaction! All these years of dealing with these clowns and all they did was play physical and score on us from a set piece, today was the ultimate revenge in that regard: we didn't play that great, we weren't completely outplaying them, but we scored three goals, all of which, were almost out of the blue.

The game itself wasn't great. Even under Hughes, Stoke were their usual rough and physical team. They definitely pass the ball more than they used to, but when it comes to pressing, they are not shy to foul you.  We started well with an early goal from Ramsey who scored after the keeper had blocked Ozil's free kick into his path. After the goal not much was going on, until the 26th minute when Gibbs had pushed too high up the pitch and lost the ball, a quick counter followed and Cameron was able to score after a scramble in our penalty area. After Stoke's goal we tried to create some chances, but the only memorable one was a blocked shot from Giroud after a great through ball by Ozil. Then out of the blue we scored another goal. Ozil took a corner kick and Mertesacker headed the ball in. Not much more happened until the end of the half.

In the second half, Stoke had a lot more possession than i would have liked. We definitely didn't dominate the game and at times out defense was opened up pretty badly. Luckily we managed to score another goal from a set piece: Ozil crossed a free kick into the penalty area and Sagna (out of all people) lobed the keeper with a nice header. We were able to close the game out without conceding more goals and now we sit top of the table!

If there is an area in our game that really concerns me, it's the defense. We continue to allow teams to pass the ball freely in our half of the pitch without pressing enough as a team. On many occasions today, our defense was beaten, but Stoke didn't have the personnel or the final ball to finish the job and score. I know you can't be perfect in the back and not allow any chances, but we have to be much better than we currently are. Gibbs had an OK game. If he has a weakness in his game, it's his eagerness to always go high up the pitch in an effort to press the opposing players, but when he gets beat and no one is covering  behind him it puts us in tough situations. He did that at least twice in the first half and on one of those occasions we got scored on. He played better in the second half and had some timely interventions. Mertesacker was pretty good today. He scored an important goal which gave us some breathing space and he was alert and on time in most of his tackles. Koscielny did OK as well. He wasn't rock solid, but he didn't make too many mistakes either.  Sagna scored a great goal and was very active on the right side.

Our midfield wasn't great today. Except for Ozil and Flamini, who i thought had a pretty good game everyone else was average. Ramsey scored a nice goal, but his performance was nowhere near close to his quality of the last few games. I think Wenger has to manage him smartly so he does not burn out from playing too many games. Wilshere was pretty active throughout the game and was fouled quite a bit. He had some really good moments but is yet to start impacting the games with decisive passes or goals. Flamini continues to make me happy every time i see him on the pitch. He is playing very solid football and is key for us in his defensive role. Ozil obviously had the three assists, but he also had some great passes throughout the game. I enjoy how fluent and effortless his movement is and i was quite surprised when i heard the TV commentators stating that he didn't play that well.

Giroud had a blank game, but that was bound to happen at some point. He still played pretty well, had some shots blocked and won a lot of high balls. He was constantly getting fouled throughout the game and i was getting worried that he will lose his nerves and do something silly. Luckily, he didn't. Gnarby, came in for Walcott who had some sort of a pelvic injury, and played pretty well in his first start for the club. He looked very comfortable with the ball in his feet and didn't show any nervousness. He didn't create too many chances, but had a few good moments during the game. For a young guy, i thought he did well. It was great seeing Arteta back on the pitch, hopefully he will get some playing time in the Capital One game during the week.

So great result for us today. With Liverpool chocking at home, we are now top of the table at least until next week. I feel that the team is grinding out results when needed and we look strong offensively. With the likes of Rosicky, Arteta, Cazorla, Podolski and Chamberlain after they get back from their injures, our midfield and attack looks very impressive. My worry is that defensively we are not as strong as i would like us to be, but if we stay injury free at center back we should have enough cover with Jenkinson, Monreal and Vermaelen. I would like to see most of this guys start against West Brom on Wednesday, so we have some fresh bodies for the visit of Swansea on Saturday. C'mon You Gunners!    

Sunderland vs Arsenal 1-3

What a nerve wrecking game today! My mood changed from joy, to anger and then back to joy in the matter of 30 minutes. I guess that happens during most of our games anyway, but i felt this game should have been done and dusted in our favor by the end of the first half! That's why when Sunderland leveled i was so pissed, i wanted to break something. We did well to win at the end, but not without some edgy moments.

The game started pretty even, but slowly we took control and started putting Sunderland under pressure. We didn't have many chances, until the 11th minute, when a great long ball by Gibbs to Ozil, allowed the German to run on the left and he gave a nice pass to Giroud who had a great one time finish! After we scored, we stayed in complete control of the game and created and missed a chance after chance! First Ozil gave a phenomenal pass to Theo who had only Westwood to beat but got his shot blocked; Walcott was the guilty party again towards the end of the half, when he had another shot blocked by Westwood and then missed an open header wide of the goal. When we went into half time only 1-0 up, i was fuming, because you know that when you don't finish a team off when you have the chance, things can get complicated later on.

Just as expected, Sunderland got a goal back pretty much out of the blue, after a very clumsy challenge from Koscielny. Gardner took the penalty well and all of a sudden, a game we completely dominated was tied at 1-1 with the Sunderland crowd going nuts! It took is 15 minutes to recover from this goal. We looked shaky at the back and Sunderland were all of a sudden, all over us. Thankfully we didn't concede another goal (Fletcher got one disallowed) and around the 60th minute we started to get back to our football by dominating possession. We put Sunderland under quite a bit of pressure and eventually Ramsey scored a brilliant volley after a great cross by Jenkinson!

The goal was a big boost for us, but our midfield was getting a bit sloppy. Ozil made a few bad passes which led to counters for Sunderland. In one of them, Altidore out-muscled Sagna on the left, but luckily for us the referee blew his whistle and didn't give an advantage, otherwise the ball was already at the back of our net. I understand why Di Canio and the Sunderland players were frustrated, but if you watch the situation carefully, Atkinson blew his whistle way before Altidore got one vs one with Szczesny! That was a huge break for us, but we still struggled at the back until after a great move, we scored a third goal! Great one touch passing allowed Ramsey to be one vs one against Westwood and he didn't miss from there. At 3-1, the game was all but done, but Sunderland tried to score until the end and had some half chances.

The defense today was so-so. They went from having no work and looking very solid in the first half, to looking super shaky after they gave away a cheap penalty. Koscielny as i mentioned, had a very clumsy tackle when he fouled Johnson, other than that he played OK for the most part. Sagna was clearly out muscled by Altidore during that controversial decision in the second half, but then again Altidore is a huge guy and any defender would struggle with him. Jenkinson had a pretty good game, was very active and gave a great cross to Ramsey for our second goal. Gibbs was also solid most of the game, even though at times in the second half, there were some threatening runs on his side of the pitch. It was great to see Vermaelen back even if it was only for a few minutes! We are going to need all the bodies that we have, because Champions League football is starting next week and our squad is not that big right now.

Our midfield was strong today. As anticipated Ozil made his debut, there were reports that he was sick and his involvement was questionable but with the unavailability of Cazorla, he pretty much had to suck it up and play. He made instant impact with his assist for Giroud's goal. He looks like the player we expect him to be: good vision and movement, great passing skills. He gave Walcott a phenomenally weighted pass to get him alone against the keeper. Not many players have that touch and accuracy. Physically he struggled at times, especially in the second half when he gave away some cheap balls and got pushed around a bit, but he will get used to the physicality of the league and will be a huge player for us! Ramsey was obviously our best midfielder today. Not only did he score the two goals, but he was very active all over the pitch. Wilshere also had a strong game, i think he will really benefit from Ozil's presence because it will take some of the attention away from him. He is also a fucking straight up guy man, in the 84th minute, he cramped after a collision, he was about to ask for the doctor to come in and maybe waste some time, but he heard the crowd booing, so he sucked it up and got up and got on with the game. Not many players will do that, most of them would fucking act like they are injured even if they didn't cramp. Flamini was rock solid in his defensive role. This guy brings experience and passion with him and really throws himself out there. 

Walcott was the most disappointing of our midfielders. He wasted three really good opportunities to score and towards the end of the game either got tired, or just got lazy but there were a few moments where he didn't even bother chasing the Sunderland players with the ball only a few feet from him. Then in the 87th minute when Jenkinson broke away on a counter and delivered a cross from the right side, Theo was jogging towards the penalty area, not really trying to get in there and maybe get his head on the ball. For him to build on last season, he has to score when he has clear chances, especially when there are more than one or two.

Giroud was in top form again. Scored a very nice goal with a first touch shot, which looked much easier than it actually is. He also assisted for Ramsey's goal and is getting better at releasing players with one touch passes when he is being pressured by defenders. The only negative for him was that he jammed his knee when he tried to go back for a cross, considering we don't have too many options at striker right now, let's hope he is alright.

So, a great win for us! We need to get better at finishing teams off when we have their backs on the wall, but the good news is that this team looks resilient. We have a lot of players who are maturing and are ready to take responsibility on the pitch. Adding Ozil to the mix should increase our creativity even more. My only worry is that Wenger might overplay the squad. I really hope he rotates players and creates a good balance so we don't burn out this core 13-14 players that are available right now. Arsenal top of the table at least until Monday! What a pretty sight for my eyes! C'mon You Gunners!

Arsenal vs Tottenham 1-0

I know this post is a day late, but i wanted to wait and let the transfer madness finish so i can hopefully write about our new signings if we got any. Luckily for us, we did!

Let's start with the Tottenham game. I thought it was a pretty even game. There were moments when we definitely struggled at the back, but we also played some great attacking football and we could have scored at least two more goals if it wasn't for the fine play of Loris. What i really didn't like were the last 10 minutes of the game, when we were defending for our lives. Letting Tottenham cross ball after ball and just throwing bodies in our own penalty area instead of trying to press them up the pitch and prevent them from crossing the ball in the first place was very frustrating. I understand that playing with 6 defenders at the end, we were just trying to hang on, but a lot of times when you let a team cross enough balls in your penalty area, eventually they get lucky. Hopefully this was just an incident and it won't be the way we will defend every time we are up 1-0 and we are trying to close out a game.

I thought our defense had some very shaky moments, especially on both wings in the first half and overall towards the end of the game. We did however, keep a clean sheet and won a very important game, so i have to give them some credit as well.Szczesny had a very good game. He made some important stops and he was decisive and on time when coming out to catch crosses. He needs to keep his level up for the whole season. Jenkinson started a bit slow. Chadli beat him more than once on the left wing, but luckily for us Spurs couldn't convert. Eventually, Carl settled in and Chadli didn't do much the last 60 minutes of the game. Gibbs was in a similar situation in the first half. Townsend was making some great runs on the right wing and had some dangerous shots on goal. Gibbs didn't help himself much because at times he was pressing way too high up the pitch and leaving big spaces for Townsend to run at. Eventually he also settled down and closed down his side for the reminder of the game. Mertesacker was very solid the whole game. He made a very important block on Soldado's shot after Townsend had set him up in the 12th minute. He also won A LOT of headers throughout the game. Koscielny was also very solid. At times his tackling was a bit rough, but he made sure to let Soldado know that he was in for a tough afternoon.   

Our midfield play in this game was at times breath-taking. Some of the passing and the movement in our attacks were great. The goal itself was a good example: after some great passing and quick transition, we got a nice cross and a great finish. After the goal, in the span of 7 minutes we had three more chances to score with Cazorla's sublime through ball to Walcott being the best one. In the second half we weren't as active going forward but we were dangerous on the counter attacks. I thought Cazorla was our best midfielder. He was passing the ball great and always seemed in control. He created numerous chances for Theo, Giroud and Ramsey and was close to scoring with some good free kicks in the beginning of the game. Ramsey was up and down throughout the game. At times, he was brilliant: he created chances and was battling for the ball like no other. But he also missed some good chances to score and gave away A LOT of balls. I have written down in my notes, at least 4 times when he lost the ball in bad positions. This is the only part of his game that he needs to be more consistent with. Regardless, he put in another great performance and he is becoming even more important for this team. I thought Rosicky was solid but nothing more. He has a bad habit of conceding silly fouls and got a yellow after a needless tackle. He showed his experience though, by toning down his aggressiveness after that and he made sure he didn't get another booking. That's something that Wilshere should take example of. Speaking of Wilshere, i felt he wasn't his normal self. I don't know if it was the stomach bug that he supposedly had, but he didn't have the commanding presence that we are used to seeing from him. I am just glad he is not injured and let's hope that would be the case after the international break too.   

The man who replaced him - Flamini is the type of player that we definetely needed this season (and in seasons passed). He is your typical defensive midfielder and it was good to see him back in an Arsenal shirt! He is not the most imposing player physically, but he is very energetic and determined. He got a yellow for being a bit too aggressive after he came on, but the rest of the game he was solid.

Our forwards had a good game. I thought Theo was very good. He made some great runs on the wing. With one of them, he set up Giroud for the goal. He also kept switching positions and making runs through the middle which created problems for Tottenham's defense and he was unlucky not to score in this game. Giroud continued his great play this season with another important goal from a very tight angle. He has been playing with a lot of confidence and i hope he will keep scoring and playing well.

And finally, to our transfer activity on deadline day. We made only two signings, but one of them is definitely a top class player! Signing Mesut Ozil from real Madrid for 42 million pounds is a lot, but he has the class that we are looking for and i think that he will quickly become one of our main players. He has a lot of experience having played for Real Madrid over 150 times and having won the Spanish Cup, the Spanish Super Cup and the La Liga. He is also a German international with 47 caps for his country. I definitely think that he is a great addition to this team and hopefully he will prove that, by playing well for us.

Our second signing was goalkeeper Emiliano Viviano from Palermo. To be honest i had never heard of the guy, but he has 6 caps for Italy so he must be decent. He is definitely better than Fabianski, because Flappi  is a joke. I think Viviano's arrival will also motivate Szczesny to not have any let downs like he did last year, because he can lose his starting position.

I would have liked to see us get another central defender and maybe another defensive midfielder in this transfer window. Especially another central defender. Vermaelen will hopefully be back to full fitness soon, but he is the only other true central defender that we have. If Mertesacker or Koscielny get injured, we will be in trouble. And with only 3 central defenders, even if we rotate them, there are still too many competitions that we are involved in, so those 3 guys will have to play a lot of minutes. Flamini does gives us some cover in the defensive midfield area but someone like Gareth Barry would have been perfect for us with his experience. Anyway, for now i will just enjoy the fact that we got Ozil and hope that we stay healthy this season! Let's see if we can keep rolling, with a good win at Sunderland! C'mon You Gunners!