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.