Tottenham vs Arsenal

Ok, first i have to be honest and admit to you that because i got absolutely hammered last night i missed the first half today. I did watch the second though and we had some good moments and some bad ones. Unfortunately for us the bad ones proved decisive. I don't want to blame Szczesny for the goal even though it was his fault and he should have saved that shot, but he has saved us on so many occasions this season that i won't put any blame on him. Even in this game he made a great save when he was left one on one against Adebayor,so instead of blaming him we have to keep improving our shaky defense. Not to mention Almunia made mistakes like this one for 3 years non stop and still started every game.

Sagna breaking a bone in his foot is a very bad news for us. They are saying he will be out for around 3 months and that's the last thing we needed right now. He was one of the few consistent performers in the back and now besides Jenkinson we have no one else to cover at right back. The first 10 min of the second half we started great, pushed Tottenham in their own half and barely let them see the ball. Once we scored that goal we should have just kept putting pressure on them. Instead, we let them back in and made some bad mistakes in the back. I have never seen Ramsey so sloppy with the ball. He missed at least 5 or 6 passes and they were missed by a lot too. If we don't count the goal, very disappointing performance by him and he is one of my favorite players. Gervihno sucked ass from what i saw, and he also missed a great chance in the first half which i saw in the highlights. I would prefer if Wenger lets Benayoun start a few games and leaves Gervinho on the bench so he gets his shit together.

As i mentioned the defending was not good, we gave them too many chances and some of them came from nothing. We basically created the chance for them by making mistakes in the back. Arshavin didn't do much after he came on. Walcott wasn't very good either. Benayoun as well didn't make any impact. I would have liked to see Frimpong starting this game instead of Coquelin even though Coquelin didn't play bad or anything. I just feel Frimpong has that toughness about him that you need in those type of derby's.  

So to sum it up: it was another disappointing result for us. We didn't play that bad, created some chances but didn't take them. The bottom line is: we have to start fucking winning. Simple as that. We need to have a run of 4,5 games where we win them in a row, so this team can gain confidence and become consistent. The way we are playing right now is not good enough not just to win the title but not good enough to be in the top 4.

Arsenal vs Bolton

So we finally got a good win. Don't get me wrong, it's obvious Bolton going down to 10 man helped a lot but overall as a performance both offensively and defensively this was our first good match of the season. The defense looked shaky the first 10 min and if it wasn't for Szczesny's great save we would have been 1-0 down. If "good old" Almunia was our goalie, that ball goes in. After the first 10 min, we took control of the game and Arteta had a "Fabregas" like through ball and this is the 2nd week in a row when Gervinho should have passed the ball and we would have scored. He is either fucking unaware that Van Persie was next to him or he just doesn't care which pisses me off. Not to mention even if he doesn't want to pass the ball he should score, not kick it in Jaskeelainen's hands.

Arteta was very sharp again, his passing is really intelligent. And this game he didn't disappear in the second half like he did against Blackburn. Ramsey had a really good game as well, gave a good pass to Van Persie for the first goal, and was solid throughout the whole game. Song was his solid self and scored a great goal. I thought Walcott had a really good game even though he should have scored at least twice. The red card was a bit questionable because the contact was minimal but we have seen those given a lot of times so i don't really care if it was a red or not. That situation just shows you how much more dangerous Walcott is when he is on top of the attack. There are no central defenders in this league that can keep up with his pace. The sooner Wenger realizes that and starts playing him on top of the attack the better Walcott will play and produce for us. Gervinho did not have a great game and as i mention cost us a goal for a second week in a row.

Sagna was solid as usual. Mertesacker looked good even though you can see he doesn't have the speed. Koscielny was alright but i never feel relaxed when this guy is in our line up. Today he actually looked a bit more decisive and made some good tackles but if you read this blog you know i don't think the guy is good enough. Until he proves me wrong with CONSISTENT performance against good teams i am not a believer. I thought Gibbs had a good game as well. Made a very important close down on Eagles when Bolton had their best chance of the second half, if that was someone else with less speed Eagles would have been one on one with Szczesny. So overall with the exception of the first 10 min, the defense looked ok. But let's not kid ourselves: we played against 10 men for 35 mins and this was against Bolton who are not a powerhouse upfront anyway. 

                                                       
I left Robin Van Persie for last because the guy deserves to have his own paragraph after his 100th goal for the club today. He scored 2 great goals and was close on 2 more occasions. He finally got some good deliveries and took advantage of them. We all know he is a phenomenal player who just needs to stay healthy. Congrats to him and i hope he stays in Arsenal until he retires. If he does and is healthy, he will break some records before he is done.

Good win today, but right now we need consistency more than ever. Let's hope we can show a good performance next week and spank a Totennham team that is playing well. Go Gunners!!!

Blackburn vs Arsenal

Laurent Koscielny is not good enough to play for Arsenal. I am sorry if this sounds a bit harsh but i have been watching the guy for over an year now and i am convinced he just can't get the job done. This by no means excuses the rest of our defense but Koscielny slipped and gave away 3 balls in the first half that could have been costly mistakes and we just got lucky that Blackburn didn't capitalize. How the fuck do you slip 3 times and give away the ball? Once, i can understand but 3 times?? When i watch him play, it seems to me the game is too fast for him. He can't make a decision fast enough and be decisive, instead half of the time you see him hesitate and look unsure of what to do. I am going to say it again: If Wenger has any balls he should start playing Miquel instead of him.
                                                 
Now, the rest of the defense was also comical for a Premiership team. Mertesacker didn't have a good game but he works hard and still plays with confidence and calmness. He just needs to get used to the speed of the English game. Santos didn't look great. Was way behind the line for the Yakubu equalizer. But he also hasn't played much lately and even more, he hasn't play for Arsenal at all. So i am going to give him at least half an year before i create an opinion about him. He looks skilled and probably will turn out to be a good option on the left. Sagna was the only one who had a clue what was going on in the back but got injured. Djourou has been playing shitty as a central back, imagine as a right back! He got abused a few times by Hoillet but he tried hard and i give him credit for that. The problem is that he is also not good enough, unless he improves tremendously.

Wow, i finally have something positive to say about our attacking game! Saturday was the first time this season, where we looked really dangerous going forward. (Everybody relax, i am talking first half only). Maybe the fact that Blackburn's defense is not the greatest helped us a bit, but both goals that we scored in the first half were after some great passing moves. We also missed at least 3 or 4 good chances to score more. Especially the chance at the end of the half where Gervihno should have passed the ball to Van Persie and we would have been up 3-1 for sure. Instead he opted to shoot and fucked it up.

Now i have to mention two people that i regularly bash on here: 1) Sagna made two good crosses in the first half!!! One high and one low which Gervihno blew. But i give Sagna props when they are due, it's not every day when he can actually execute some dangerous crosses. 2)Arshavin's first half performance finally reminded me of how he can play, today was his best performance in quite a while.


Arteta looked great in the first half, was very active and made some terrific passes. And then in the second half he just disappeared. I don't know if he got tired but i expected much more from him in the second half than what he showed. Gervihno had a really good game and a really bad game at the same time. Really good, because he scored a great goal; he was very active on the wing and overall played a good game. Really bad because if he had made a few good passes instead of shooting the ball we could have been up 4-1 by half time and then no matter how shitty our defense is i think the game would have ended with a different scoreline.  I would have liked to see Benayoun in the game at some point because i think he can give us some sharpness up front. Chamakh scored a good goal, he needs to do that more often :).

The crazy part about this whole game is, that even with our horrific defending we could have easily equalized at the end if Mertesacker or Walcott had taken their chances. I really hope that we are going to get it together defensively and start playing decent football. Imagine how little faith i have in our defensive abilities if i picked Vorn instead of Szczechny for my fantasy team. And unfortunately i was right. My brother in law said it best while giving me shit about our game the other night: right now our team talk about defense should be: "Guys, this is our goal and over there is their goal. We have to score in their goal, not ours. Got it?" Sadly this sounds like a pretty good advice.

Arsenal vs Swansea

Well, we got a win. It was ugly but a much needed win. However our performance was far from good. We looked extremely nervous defensively at the end of the game. Thank god Sagna made some crucial tackles and saved us from conceding. Koscielny had a decent game for his standards but in critical situations he panics and lacks that calm and confidence needed to be a solid center back. I remember a situation towards the end of the game when Gibbs went in front of him to try to stop a player, and Koscielny was just standing there instead of immediately switching positions and covering on the left. He looked afraid to make a decision and adapt to the situation. I like Ignasi Miquel much more than him and I wish Wenger had the balls to play Miquel with Mertesacker and let Koscielny and Djourou play for the Carling Cup or some other shitty tournament. Gibbs had a solid game but his problem has always been his durability not his skills. I think Mertesacker looked really good and solid. Nothing flashy, but you can see he has confidence and EXPERIENCE. He might not be the fastest guy out there but if we had him and Vermaelen the last few seasons, we could have actually won something. Szczechny made a great save in the beginning of the game and looked solid throughout until the last 10 min when I guess the whole defense decided to be shaky at the same time. We got really lucky when Szczechny tried to punch the ball and missed it and then Graham couldn’t put in the back of the net. So defensively we need to improve a lot but I like Mertesacker’s first game.

                                        

In midfield and attack it was the same old story. “1001 nights” passing (those of you who read this blog know what that means: shit load of passes with no end product), with very few good chances and not a lot of creativity. Walcott looks lost on the right, he just runs out of ideas there. It’s almost like watching Bendtner when Wenger used to play him on the right but with more pace. Walcott will be much more effective on top of the attack and Van Persie on the left or behind him. Arshavin had a bit better game than his usual shitty form, but the goal was pure luck, I still give him props for not missing it. Especially since it was the only goal we managed to score. Arteta was pretty good, definitely lacks pace but he controls the ball very well and was moving it around. With a few more games under his belt he will hopefully create more chances for us. Frimpong was not as impressive as he was in the Liverpool game but he had some important tackles and I love his desire and passion. Ramsey tried hard all game but also didn’t produce much. I think he should be playing in a bit more attacking midfield position, this game he played more like a defensive midfielder. Van Persie had a decent game and did hit the bar, but we got used to much more from him last season. Even though he didn’t play much, I like Benayoun, he has good movement and always looks a threat. To be honest, I prefer that he plays instead of Arshavin and we use the Russian as a sub.

                                      

To sum it up, this team needs games to improve. The fact is that we don’t look that impressive defensively or offensively. The problem is that we need to keep winning and improve at the same time. That might be tough to do but Wenger brought it on himself by not doing his business early in the summer. The thing that I like is that we again have some depth. When Gervihno, Diaby, Vermaelen and Wilshere are available the squad is starting to look pretty solid and we are going to need it to compete on all fronts.

Manchester United vs Arsenal

I am going to be very brief today for two reasons:

1) I am too busy drinking and relaxing on my vacation

2) There is nothing to say about the match today: we were straight up PATHETIC defensivelly. Traore is a joke and i have been saying this for a while. Koscielny and Djourou are just not good enough. We need to buy players. 

           

Arsenal vs Liverpool

Well, when it rains it pours, right? I actually think today we played a really good game until the sending off of Frimpong. We were wayyyyyy better defensively than we were against Udinese. And just for the record, i am tired of hearing people talk about the Udinese game and how we kept a clean sheet so the defense must have played well. We got lucky not to get scored on in the Udinese game! We were very poor defensively, had huge gaps in the back and they missed tons of chances. So that clean sheet was more lucky than deserved. Today on the other hand i thought we looked really solid in the back regardless of the fact that we lost the game.

Now, just for the record: Frimpong is a stud!!! He was a little too pumped up (which is normal at 19) for the game and that's why he got two unnecessary yellow cards, but the kid can play. Showed so much desire; made some great runs through the middle; was all over the midfield for most of the game and he is not scared to take a shot. He also has good control over the ball and doesn't panic.

Miguel also had a good game. He was really unlucky for the own goal of Ramsey, other than that i think he looked great. Same goes for Jenkinson: he covers a lot of ground; definitely has a better cross than Sagna (who doesn't); and overall didn't make many mistakes. Gotta give props to Sagna for playing left back as well. He ran his usual mileage but did a great job considering the left side is not his favorite spot to be.

                                                          
Vermaelen was his usual great self! I can't say enough about him. He won almost every ball against Carroll and he is half his size. Made some great interceptions, went forward a few times and had a good shot a bit wide from the goal. I don't want to even think what our defense will look like without him. He is also one of the best leaders on the team.

The first 20 minutes we didn't look that good, Liverpool were all over the pitch, pressing and making us miss a lot of passes. After that i think we settled down, had a few good attacks, Nasri and Frimpong had good runs that finished with shots at goal. I thought between the 20th until the sending off of Frimpong we played better than Liverpool. The one thing that still bothers me and i have mentioned this millions of times, we still can't press properly. So many times today, either we are not pressing as a team and certain players are just pressing by themselves; or we will press but when we get to a few feet from the opposing players we will stop and wait for them to pass instead of closing them down and really put pressure on them.

Offensively we are still missing that final pass. Van Persie had only one good chance and that was after a foul by Arshavin that wasn't called. The rest of the game he didn't see the ball much. At least today players were shooting the ball more than usual and i like that. Much better than playing "1001 nights" (a.k.a passing the ball forever until we fuck it up). The two guys i was really disappointed with were Walcott and Arshavin. I am already used to Arshavin playing shit almost every game. He probably made around 88 mistakes today. Gave away the ball; missed his final pass; had one good cross for the whole game and that was it. Ran a lot at times (surprising for him) but ran with no purpose and usually after he lost another ball. Walcott on the other hand is usually playing well but today he was nowhere to be seen. Didn't have his usual  breakout runs on the right; almost had no chances and his crosses were not on target. Very poor performance by him. Ramsey didn't have a great game either. Was very unlucky on the own goal but overall didn't create much. The one thing he always has is effort though and i give him credit for that.

So, what's the verdict on Arsene? I think the one thing that we saw today was that the young guys have the quality that he is talking about. But that doesn't change the fact that they are all YOUNG! Great example is the red card of Frimpong today. If that was a more experienced player, he probably doesn't get sent off today. So even though i agree with Wenger that he has quality in his young guys, he HAS to realize that he needs to buy some players that can help those young guys and guide them instead of counting on 18,19,20 years old players to win important matches for him. To be a great team you have to have the mix between experience and youth. Jose Enrique is a guy we could have bought from Newcastle and he would have been a good fit for us. Instead, Liverpool bought him and not only he had a great game against us today, Wenger had to use Sagna as a left back. You still think we don't need to buy anyone Arsene? So, i am really hoping we somehow squeeze past Udinese on Wednesday and after that we buy some players!!!

GO GUNNERS! 

Newcastle vs Arsenal

Joey Barton is a piece of shit. It's also our fault that we keep falling for his stupid provocations every year but that doesn't change the fact that Joey Barton is a piece of shit. He is a dirty player who is always looking to get under your skin by kicking, simulating and arguing with officials. Since he got a red card anyway, I wish Gervinho had actually punched him instead of that slap he gave him...

And can someone explain me how this is not a red card for Barton?

Anyway, enough about this stupid clown. The game itself wasn't that great. Very few good chances for either team. At least defensively we didn't look horrible. I am not saying we looked great but we weren't as shaky as we were many times last season. Having Vermaelen back makes such a huge difference it's scary. He had a great game, made some really crucial interceptions. Always looks composed and under control. You can't see him panic and that rubs off to the rest of our defense.That's why we need another center back of his quality so we don't hold our breath every time he goes down. Sagna played at his usual level, covering a lot of ground and flying all over the place. The only negative is that he is starting to act like Eboue every time he goes down. He did get fouled a few times but he was rolling around like they broke his leg or something. I thought Gibbs had a really good game, was solid in the back and made some good runs on the left.

We had a lot of possession throughout the game, but we were lacking that final pass. Too many missed passes in the final phase of the attack, not enough shooting when we get an opportunity to shoot. Basically there is a lot more that we need to do offensively. Pretty much every team in EPL plays us the same way Newcastle played us, they get back and wait for their chance to counter. Unless we get more creative in the final third it will be a looong season for all Arsenal fans. Heck, there was a point today when Sagna, making his usual run on the right, didn't even look to see if there is anyone in the penalty area, crossed the ball (surprisingly well) and there was not even one Arsenal player in the area! Not even one. So why the fuck are we crossing the ball then?

Van Persie wasn't as sharp as we are used to seeing him but to be fair he didn't get many good opportunities. I wasn't very impressed with Gervinho. Nothing to do with the red card, he just didn't look very threatening or creative. I am not criticizing him at all because it's his first season in England and it will take time for him to get used to the game they play here. I just think he wasn't very effective but so were most of our attacking players. Arshavin was the Arshavin we saw for most of last season: absolutely horrible defensively. He just drives me nuts when he is jogging close to our penalty area and letting players run past him, it almost looks like he has no clue how to defend properly or just doesn't care enough about defending. Not to mention he didn't do anything memorable offensively either.

Song had a really good game and a really bad game at the same time: he gives us that toughness, and does so much work in winning the ball back and controlling the defensive midfield. I think him and Vermaelen are almost irreplaceable for us. But he has to tendency to make some bad tackles and some of them are just stupid. He managed to foul 2 different players in the span of 45 seconds and get a silly booking. And then he stomped on Barton which should have been a red card, and i guarantee you the FA will punish him by video evidence. He is too important for us to make bad decisions like that. Rosicky had a solid game and was trying hard. Ramsey had a tougher time but i really like his desire and effort. He lost a few balls and you saw him immediately chase the player down trying to win the ball back unlike other players (cough, Arshavin, cough).

So overall, getting a point at Newcastle is not ideal but it's not bad. Not conceding a goal and not allowing too many chances is actually encouraging. The only problem is that when i look at our team right now i don't see the depth that we need to compete in all competitions. Offensively we don't look threatening/creative enough. We don't have a good back up for Gibbs on the left. Up front if Van Persie gets injured we have only Chamakh as a striker (that's assuming Bendtner is leaving). Eboue is set to be sold to Galatasaray. We have many players leaving and we have bought another 18 year old player. Doesn't look too impressive, does it?

Yesterday Arsene gave his usual lines about buying players: "We are not scared to spend money if we find the right player. But spending money is not the right target in itself. We want to find the right player and whether it is for £2 million or £20 million we will do it." Well guess what, if we want to stay in the top 4 ( i am not even talking about winning the title) Wenger better find the right players fast and we better spend some money!

p.s.Today was announced that Fabregas was sold to Farca and i am kind of relieved that the whole saga is over but i hope The Professor won't be a stubborn idiot and will buy more than 1 or 2 players in the next few weeks. Otherwise get ready for a lot of grumpy blog entries coming your way.