Arsenal vs Manchester City 1-1

So, i haven't had time or desire to post since the last two games with Chelsea and Swansea. Needless to say there wasn't much to post about anyway. Against Chelsea it looked like Wenger did not learn anything from the Liverpool beat down we suffered in February. A common theme in all these bad losses that we had this year against the top teams, was how we conceded goals: one of our midfield players makes a bad pass or losses possession of the ball = quick counter = goal for the opposition. The first three goals we conceded against Chelsea were all started by giveaways in midfield. Sometimes it's Arteta (who i feel is the biggest liability in our midfield), sometimes it's Cazorla, sometimes Oxlade and today was Podolski. It doesn't really matter who the player that gives the ball away is, what is important is that we are not prepared for it and teams punish us over and over.

Today's game compared to our last few showings was OK. I felt that we had chances to win the game (especially Podolski's shot being blocked by Hart's leg was very unlucky). We still looked vulnerable, but at least we played a bit smarter than other times. When Gibbs saw how much pace and quickness Navas has in the first 10 minutes, he stopped going forward as much and dropped back a bit, so he can control the Spaniard. The rest of the game i though Kieran did an awesome job defending Navas's runs. But he made and ADJUSTMENT! Something we haven't done very well all season long. In the big losses that we suffered this year against Chelsea, Liverpool and City, the cause was the same: we never adjusted our playing style! There was no plan B. So when you don't make an adjustment you get punished. That's where i feel Arsene has struggled for years, he is not tactically flexible. We have to suffer big defeats over and over, before something changes.

Anyway, today we got a decent result. It would have been much better if we had won the game, but we needed a response and we did play some good spells of football. I though Cazorla was very good and always threatening going forward. Rosicky was also dangerous even though he had some reckless challenges. As i mentioned, Gibbs adjusted well after the first 10 minutes, Sagna delivered some great crosses from the right side, there was one that should have been converted for sure. Vermaelen and Mertesacker were solid for the most part, i think the Belgium is someone who we should NOT let leave if we want to be a team challenging for a title in the upcoming seasons. He should be given more game time and rotated with Koscielny, instead being a bench warmer. Flamini had a good game and was everywhere on the pitch. If anything, he looked more like an attacking midfielder then a defensive one. He also scored a nice goal. Podolski had a decent game, but missed a great chance to win it for us. Giroud was his usual self - working hard and winning a lot of high balls, but not a lot of end product from him. He also loveeees laying on the ground and making faces every time he gets tackled. I felt Oxlade should have come in a bit earlier if we really wanted to push and try to win this game.

I left good old Arteta for last because i finally decided to record a typical giveaway that he does at least ONCE EVERY single game! I am not blaming him for lack of pace or the strength needed to fight off challenges - i blame Wenger for putting him as a defensive midfielder when he lacks the attributes needed to be one!     

Since he brought Kallstrom as a defensive midfielder, i hope we will see him play instead of Arteta for a few games and decide if he is a better alternative. Until then, expect more clips like the one above.

With the FA Cup being our only realistic chance of silverware i do hope we can at least keep fourth place, the game against Everton next week will be huge in deciding that. Let's hope we show up ready to play! C'mon You Gunners!

Tottenham vs Arsenal 0-1

Huge win today! Doing the double over Spurs in one season is extremely enjoyable! (Triple if you count the FA Cup:)!! I am not going to lie, for the first 65 minutes of the game today i was screaming at the TV and pulling my hair: #1) we should have scored two more goals on the counter and put the game away #2) Tottenham could have scored at least 3 themselves!

I know it was a strange game simply because Rosicky decided to score the prettiest goal of his Arsenal career in the 2nd minute of the contest! Obviously, scoring that early changed our mindset and we sat back a lot more than we probably would have otherwise. But for large periods of the first 65 minutes, i didn't think we belonged in a title fight: we weren't pressing enough and we allowed too much space for the Spurs players to operate in. On top of that Oxlade wasn't able to score (or at least pass to Podolski) during a lightning counter attack. I felt that this is a Spurs team really shaky at the back and we couldn't take advantage of that, or at least put them under more pressure! 

But to their credit, everyone settled down around the 70th minute and we kind of closed shop at the back. The last 20 minutes of the game i felt that we were defending very calmly with the exception of the constant booting of the ball up field, instead of stringing a few passes together. Wenger actually made good substitutions considering how thin our bench is and we were able to close the game out!

I have been mentioning this a lot lately, but i still feel that Arteta continues to struggle big time in the middle of the pitch. For playing such an important holding role his speed is a huge concern, i would play him a bit higher up the pitch because when he loses the ball deep in our half, he just can't recover. I wonder if Kallstrom will be a better alternative if he is fit enough? Oxlade continued his excellent play even though he was asked to play a bit further back today. His speed allowed him to burst forward whenever he had the opportunity and he had chances to double our advantage on more than one occasion. Hopefully his finishing will be sharper next time. Rosicky was outstanding and his goal was unreal! The guy is capable of shots like that, it was great that today his aim was spot on! Cazorla was lively throughout the whole game and even though he had some uncharacteristic giveaways, he had a solid performance.   

The back four were outstanding today! Mertesacker won pretty much every high ball in our penalty area and almost scored on the other end! One of his best performances in an Arsenal shirt. Sagna was also outstanding. He had to deal with the speedy Rose the whole game and to be honest, i feel that he wore him out, because towards the end of the game Rose was not flying forward as much. Gibbs and Koscielny were also very solid and Koscielny blocked what looked like a sure goal after Szczesny had a sloppy attempt on the ball. Other than the mentioned casual mistake that Szczesny made, he also had a good game.

Podolski worked hard all game and had Oxlade rolled the ball to him in the first half, he would have had a tap in goal. Surprisingly though, he was out of gas in the 70th minute and Wenger did well to sub him. I don't know if he is not a 100% because he was a sub for a long period of the season but he has to bring his fitness level up, so he can last 90 minutes! Giroud was almost invincible for long periods of the game, but to his credit in the last 15 minutes when we were booting everything up field, he won a ton of high balls and won us a lot of extra seconds.

All in all, a tremendously important result for us because it leaves us in the title race!!! We definitely need a better performance against Chelsea next week, but hopefully the team gets a lot of confidence from this win and steps it up. If we play with more purpose going forward and do a better job of taking our chances we can pull off a result at Stamford Bridge! But if we allow them too much space and time on the ball like we gave Tottenham today, we will have a tough time getting a result there. C'mon You Gunners!!!

Bayern Munich vs Arsenal 1-1

The miraculous away win we needed today did not happen. In all honesty, Bayern were the better the team and controlled the game from start to finish. What really impressed me is how high up the pitch they press and force you to give the ball away, thus controlling the possession and the game. I wish good old Wenger would apply press like this, but that will never happen. Our pressing is always a bit chaotic and inefficient with some players not covering their responsibilities. We did a good job of not conceding in the first half, but except for a couple of really good runs from Oxlade, we were constantly under pressure and had a tough time getting the ball out of our own half.

Once they scored in the second half, you knew it was all over. I am glad Podolski scored a nice goal (even though his push on Lahm was probably a foul) and we at least got a draw, but the reality is that we were outplayed. One of my biggest regrets is that we never tried to sign Guardiola when he left Barca. He would have been the perfect coach for us and Wenger could have passed the torch to him.

It has been obvious this season that Arteta definetely struggles against quick passing teams. He is just a step behind and is forced to foul with sliding tackles. Flamini on the other hand is a bit faster but his pressing is god awful - his favorite position is 5 feet away from the player, with hands on his quads and just pointing to other defenders where to cover - never closing the distance to the player with the ball. We need a solid presence in the middle of the pitch for next season! 
Oxlade has to be a starter in every game we play from now until the end of the season!!! He is the only guy with enough pace and dribbling ability who can cause chaos in the opposing teams defenses. He gives the ball away cheaply at times, but he makes up for it with effort and tracking back.

Ozil's effort on the pitch continues to be a joke! I had such high hopes when we signed this guy, but i can't stand watching him dragging on the field. Just look at the video below and tell me if this guy is playing with any effort and desire?  

Not to mention, to see him sprinting is a miracle. If we are trying to press teams, forget about counting on him to close people down. Until he starts putting effort and desire on the pitch his place is on the bench:

I was actually impressed with Wenger subbing him at half time and i hope it was because the lack of effort, not because of the hamstring injury that he supposedly has.

We have only the FA Cup and Premier League left to focus on now with the FA Cup being our top priority. If we have to be realistic, we will have a tough time catching up Chelsea at the top considering the run of games we have coming up. Our team is just not good enough at the moment. I think with a few good performances we can stay in the mix until the end, but i don't see us pulling out the Premier League.

FA Cup on the other hand is our best chance for a trophy and if we don't win it, i don't think Wenger should come back. I am not saying Wigan, Hull and Sheffield are bad teams, but if we can't beat these guys to win a trophy, we might as well forget about winning one anytime soon. The pressure will definitely be on us, but these guys have to finally show some balls and perform.

Stoke City vs Arsenal 1-0

I am sure every Arsenal fan out there is furious right now. Not because we played terrible game or had an awful performance. Because we (the fans) have been dissapointed so many years in a row, that at some point you start losing faith that you will get over that hump. Games like today's game at Stoke, are the games you have to scrap out a result and do whatever you need to do, to get the three points.

We obviously weren't able to do that. The performance wasn't all bad. We were pressing well for most of the game (which is usually one of our problems), but we were lacking speed and burst up front. This is why i was so surprised that Oxlade-Chamberlain did not start today. You know Stoke's defense is very organized and you need some mobility and speed to break them down. Not only Oxlade didn't start, but Wenger waited until the 74th minute to put him in. For the 20 minutes he played, he created more chances than the whole team did for the first 75 mins!

This is where i feel we are a little short in having a chance to win the title this year: our coach does not have that "it" factor when it comes to picking the right players to win some tricky games.That douche bag Mourinho starts Schurrle today for the first time in forever and the guy scores a hat-trick. I am not saying that he is a genius or knew Schurrle will score 3 goals today, but it seems that he always chooses the right line ups to get him crucial wins. In our case, it was obvious that we will need some speed up front today, but Wenger leaves both Gnarby and Oxlade on the bench which are two of our faster players going forward.

The team made some bad decisions on the field as well. Cazorla blew our only meaningful chance in the first half by being greedy and taking a shot when he should have passed to Podolski who was in a much better position to score. Too many times we would isolate Sagna on the right and he would just cross the ball and Stoke's defense would deal with it easily. Only when Oxlade came in, did our attacks become more dangerous. Giroud was isolated for large periods up front and when he did get his feet on the ball, he didn't do much. Wilshere and Rosicky were trying hard but weren't very sharp in their passing. Cazorla was dissapointing.  

I do think the penalty decision was complete bullshit and Koscielny was unlucky to get a penalty for that, but you have to be able to deal with that and come back and win the game. Unfortunately for us, we couldn't and it really didn't seem that we had enough belief that we can score 2 goals in 15 minutes. Even a draw would have been a decent result considering the situation, but Sanogo missed a golden chance at the end created by - guess who- Oxlade.

On a side note: Charlie Adam is a piece of shit! He is a good player, but he consistently goes studs in at players and i have no clue how he always gets away with it! He stomped on Giroud today, he destroyed Bale's ankle a few years ago and recently he did the same to Paulinho (i know these tools are Spurs players but that's not the point). Someone should punish that fucker on video review or something.

Anyway, considering the games we have coming up, this is was a devastating result for us and i am afraid that we can easily go on a downward spiral and fall apart. We will definitely need all the mental strength and belief that we can muster. I am hoping this team will stay strong but i do feel that if we don't win anything this year, Wenger needs to go.