Stoke City vs Arsenal

Nothing new today. Typical game between us and Stoke: a lot of physical play; shit load of crosses and throw ins from them; goal from a cross for them; both teams battling for possession all game long with us having the majority of it. I feel that the day we can come in here and beat Stoke comfortably, will be the day where i know our team is really good.

The Britannia stadium is always been a tough place to come and play, not only for us but for any of the top teams. Today was no different. We actually started the game pretty well with Benayoun and Van persie both missing great chances. Our passing looked sharp but next thing you know, a cross from the left and Crouch scores...I felt Szczesny could have done a bit better. He didn't even dive, almost as if he wasn't expecting the ball to go in. Our response to Stoke's goal was good and the goal we scored was brilliantly worked. Good couple of passes on the left, great cross from Rosicky and an easy tap in for RVP. It was important for us to score quickly after them because otherwise they would have defended deep and try to catch us on the counter. 

The rest of the game was back and forward. We had way more possession than them overall but they had spells where they put us under pressure as well. Gervinho missed a great chance in the 21st min when Sagna gave a great cross and all Gervinho had to do was tap it in with his head but he got too scared of colliding with the keeper and pussed out! He had another shitty game today and even though he showed good pace on a few occasions and was active in the first half, his finishing was god awful: hit the ball in the stands at least 3 times when he was trying to shoot. Simply put: he was not good enough. Ramsey was in the same boat. Another poor performance by him. He has abilities but right now he is playing shit. Last week in the second half of the Chelsea game, he showed some signs of starting to play better but today he was back to playing poorly. He continues to make dumb decisions like playing back hills and so on at the wrong moments.

Benayoun was decent, very active in the beginning; had a great chance in the 6th min and i feel he should have done better and scored. He continued to look for the ball and tried to create chances in the first half. In the second, he faded away and the one thing that bothers me, is that sometimes he doesn't come back and help the rest of the team to press on the ball. He takes breaks from time to time and just watches everyone else run. Benayoun also blatantly dove for a penalty. I saw Arsene make a big deal about the penalty claim but when i saw the replay, that was a clear dive and they should not have even complained about it.  

Rosikcy was out best midfielder today. Gave a great pass to RVP for the goal and was very active the whole game. He almost gave him another great ball in the first half but slipped and ended up hitting it too close to Begovic. Song was solid, had to do more defensive work today so he didn't go forward as much. Should have shot at the last minute of the game instead of trying to pass the ball but he had a decent game. Robin was good as well. Scored a nice goal and gave some great passes in the first half. In the second he disappeared a bit but so did the rest of the team. Sagna, Koscielny and Vermaelen all had a good game. Had to fight all game long with the aerial presence of Crouch and a big amount of balls being crossed constantly into our box. We did better than normally in dealing with those, even though right at the end of the game we could have gotten punished. Delap had everyone scrambling in our penalty area after a long throw in the 91st minute. And then Sagna allowed Walters ( i think) to pass him easily on the left, and he should have done better and scored.

Gibbs was the defender that i was most disappointed with today. He likes helping the team to press on the ball and sometimes he forgets he has responsibilities in the back. In the 41st minute Benayoun was pressing someone from Stoke in the midfield; Gibbs rushed to help and after a couple of quick passes Stoke has two players vs two in front of our penalty area because Gibbs had no one to cover behind him. He also gave a really bad back pass in the 52nd minute and thank god Szczesny was alert! I like Gibbs and his pace and athleticism but he has to be a bit smarter and use his skills better.

So at the end a draw was probably a fair result. We definitely didn't create enough chances especially in the second half to feel that we should have won the game. And Stoke had some chances of their own as well. The good news is that Newcastle got hammered at Wigan and this point we won today can be very useful. Our faith is in our hands now! If we can win our next two games, 3rd place is ours!! C'mon You Gunners!!!