Swansea vs Arsenal

I am so pissed off and disappointed, i don't know if i should start with the positives first, just to get in a better mood. The only positives from this game were a few players who played really well unlike the rest of the team. Ignasi Miquel had a great game. I have been saying for a long time that this kid looks like a very good player and today he absolutely proved it. Considering the awful fucking defending in all of Swansea's goals, Miquel actually played very well. He was very active on the left and did not stop playing hard until the end of the game. He had some great long passes and also some very good through balls. He was one of the few bright spots for us today. Koscielny is another one that played his heart out. The third goal was a little bit his fault because he slowed down and allowed Graham to shoot, but considering that the whole defense was asleep for that goal, i can't really blame him. The rest of the game he was very solid and active, his work rate was unreal - he even got close to scoring at the end.

Now to the negatives. I have been bitching at Wenger to play Benayoun more but today he didn't show with anything that he deserves to start. He had one great pass to RVP who should have scored but other than that i was very disappointed with his performance. Arshavin doesn't even deserve me wasting my time talking about him. He had a great pass for the first goal and after that one big ZERO. You can't be a player of his quality and be so poor at giving effort. Fucking horrible. Theo Walcott who is one of my favorite players was also really bad the whole game. Scored a great goal but other than that was very poor. Every time he got the ball he would end up running around and look predictable. No creativity whatsoever. Ramsey is also one of my favorites but he had a bad game as well. Gave away the penalty and lost the ball for Swansea's second goal. Those are two very big mistakes in a game like this, when we are not playing well and never really looked threatening going forward.

 Swansea completely outplayed us when it comes down to pressing on the ball, those guys were all over our center backs in our own half of the pitch. And that was all game long. And we on the other hand, never really pressed them hard enough until the last 20 min of the game. I am so tired of talking about our inability to press properly that i am not going to talk about it today. Our midfield was so sloppy with passing today i was losing my mind. Both of Swansea's 2nd and 3rd goals came after our mistakes in midfield.

Mertesacker had a tough game. I know he was sick all week that's why i give him props for trying to tough it out but he didn't play well. Djourou was up and down. Started not very convincingly but got much better as the game progressed. Gave a great ball to Walcott for the 2nd goal and made some good defensive stops in the second half. Song was another player besides Miquel and Koscielny who played well. He had very few mistakes in his passing and was trying hard to create something offensively. Rosicky and Oxlade-Chamberlain gave us a bit of a spark but not much more. Henry didn't do much but you can't expect him to turn around the game. Everyone else needs to play good and he can just complement the rest of the team. Van Persie scored a great goal but missed a good chance a bit later and didn't do much the rest of the game.

Mertesacker had a tough game. I know he was sick all week that's why i give him props for trying to tough it out but he didn't play well. Djourou was up and down. Started not very convincingly but got much better as the game progressed. Gave a great ball to Walcott for the 2nd goal and made some good defensive stops in the second half. Song was another player besides Miquel and Koscielny who played well. He had very few mistakes in his passing and was trying hard to create something offensively. Rosicky and Oxlade-Chamberlain gave us a bit of a spark but not much more. Henry didn't do much but you can't expect him to turn around the game. Everyone else needs to play good and he can just complement the rest of the team. Van Persie scored a great goal but missed a good chance a bit later and didn't do much the rest of the game.

The bottom line is that Swansea outplayed us in every aspect of the game. We didn't look motivated, didn't look hungry. Guys who had a chance to step up and make a claim that they should be starting, played really poorly. If we keep this up, Europa League is our destination for next season and even that might be stretching it. Wenger better learn quickly how to get his team motivated for a game because Man U next week could get embarrassing.

Arsenal vs QPR and Fulham vs Arsenal

Sorry i haven't written about the last two games that we played but i didn't have a chance to watch the QPR game at all and saw just parts of the Fulham game. For the QPR game, all i am going to say is that we got a result and that Neil Warnock is a pussy: i saw his post match comments about Van Persie and he made me laugh. Instead of worrying about his team's shitty form he is bitching about Robin being too rough on defenders. I am glad he actually got fired yesterday and he will not bore me anymore with his stupidity.

The Fulham game i saw about 40 min out of the 90min. The result we got vs QPR was basically wasted after the loss against Fulham. It's true that Djourou's red card was harsh but we conceded form a set piece (what's new) and then another shitty goal at the end. I don't care if you have 10 man on the field, the bottom line is that both goals were a result of our shitty defending: we couldn't clear the ball properly, gave them a second chance at goal and got punished. Instead of gaining ground on Chelsea we are behind them again and the fight for 4th place will be long and tough.

I don't know if i will be able to see the Leeds game (i usually post only for Premier League games anyway) but i will definitely post after the Swansea game. Let's hope we put a few good performances in a row! Go Gunners!

Arsenal vs Wolverhampton

Aaaaand another frustrating result. At a time where both Liverpool and Chelsea dropped points and we could break into the top four with a win, we decided we don't like to make things easy for ourselves and got a shitty result. I don't think the performance was bad (except defensively), but i prefer a shitty performance with a good result - like last week at Villa. Until we can consistently deliver wins regardless if we are playing good or not, the title that we have been waiting for, for a while now, looks pretty far away. I am not saying we have a shot at the title this year (that would be more than naive on my part - top 4 would be a great achievement) i am speaking about winning the title in general.

I thought overall we played a decent game. We scored a very nice goal early: the pass from Benayoun was great and the finish from Gervinho was very good as well. We dominated possession and everything looked pretty good except when we had to defend. The defense looked shaky the whole first half. Every time they attacked i had the feeling we can get scored on. And it wasn't our usual "not pressing the ball" stupidity, we just looked vulnerable and unorganized. Djourou was fucking horrible. He did make a good stop on a one vs one situation with Jarvis but that was in the 36th min. Before that he looked like a clown at least 3 times and we got lucky we didn't get scored on. The goal we gave away was also fucking terrible. Didn't clear the ball properly and then no one closed down Hunt fast enough. I know we had a dose of bad luck but we didn't look solid in the back the whole first half.

The problem with the goal is that it changed the whole complexion of the game. Instead of Wolves having to push forward and open up spaces for us, they just defended the whole second half and we kept missing chances. Hennessey had a great game, i will give him that. But if we can't beat a 10 man Wolves team at home, we don't deserve to be higher up the table. The only comforting thing for me is that we at least created some good chances. We have had games when teams defend deep and we can't create a goal scoring chance for like 20 mins. Today that was not the case.

Vermaelen and Koscielny were both very good (i am getting used to writing this and it feels great). Thomas got a stupid yellow card but the ref was being a bitch. Mertesacker also had a good game, had a great block in the 5 min, almost scored in the second half and overall he is starting to find his game in the last few matches. Djourou was fucking horrible as i mentioned earlier. He is just clumsy, and seems to have good athletic skills with no football IQ. Got abused by Jarvis a few times in a row in the first half. On one of them he didn't even stretch his leg to try to block his pass, he just stood there watching. The only times he looks good is when he tries to charge forward but even then his passing is pretty bad. I am sorry i am bashing on the guy but i just never feel comfortable when he is playing. The real question is, if 3 of the 4 defenders played pretty good, why is our defense still shaky? Because we had other situations when Djourou was not involved and we still didn't look solid. For me, it comes down to better communication and better defending as a unit. We need to get better defensively, and i don't care if people think i am being too harsh.

Song for once had a bad game. Missed a lot of passes - 2 of them back heels; could have easily seen red instead of yellow ( i thought Wenger subbing him out of the game was a good move); overall did not have a good game at all. I can give him a pass though because he is one of our best performers week in and week out and he is allowed to have one or two bad games. Benayoun was pretty good. Gave a great pass for the first goal, was active most of the time that he played. He didn't do much more to remember besides that pass but i will have him play over Arshavin any day. Rosicky was good. Not great but good. He was very active the whole 90 minutes; put the ball on Mertesacker's head for the chance that Hennessey saved. He also missed some passes but he was always a threat throughout the game. Arteta was decent, didn't do too much but he wasn't being a liability either. Just kind of a quiet game for him. Ramsey and Arshavin didn't do much off the bench, except that shot that Arshavin kicked close to the left goal post.

Gervinho scored a great goal. He was always active on the flank. Sometimes he overuses his move towards the corner line and that makes him a bit one dimensional but he had a good game and always a threat with his pace. Robin did not have a good day. Had a good chance in the 15th min on the counter attack but he rushed his shot. I am guessing the goal scoring record is on his mind a little bit. Had other chances throughout the game but Hennessey also did very well to block a few. Chamakh didn't contribute much except clashing heads with RVP.

So to sum it up, another frustrating result. Decent offensive performance; not so hot defensively; and a bit of bad luck and good goalkeeping on Wolves part. Bottom line: we need to get better and get results against QPR and Fulham, otherwise Europa League next year is a very realistic scenario.    

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.

Arsenal vs Everton

I guess it was only fitting that it took a superb goal from Robin to bring a much needed win for us, on a special day like today: 125 years of Arsenal Football Club!!! I can't say that i was enjoying the score being so close but i am starting to like the fact that on a day like today after missing so many chances we are still able to pull out a 1-0 victory, when in years passed we would find a way to fuck up that scoreline.

I thought we started the game pretty well. Had numerous chances in the first 30 minutes and we should have been at least 2 or 3-0 up. In the second minute Gervinho made a great run on the left and if Ramsey was able to give him a softer pass, we could have been 1-0 up already. In the 14th min we should have gone ahead for sure: Walcott got released on the right with a great ball and instead of taking a shot himself he decided to pass the ball. I thought he should have shot himself but even if he was going to pass, he should have tried to pass the ball to Ramsey who was in front of the Everton defender not to Gervinho who was behind both of them! Then we blew two more great opportunities in the 28-29th minute when both Ramsey and Gervinho should have scored. I felt our passing was pretty sharp and we were creating good opportunities. Everton had their spells of possession but didn't create too many clear chances for themselves.

The frustrating part is that when we are not able to score on teams early (especially after creating good scoring opportunities), we allow them to settle down and a lot of times they get lucky scoring a goal and the game goes down the shitter. That's why the deeper the game went in the second half with the score being 0-0, i felt it would get harder and harder for us to score. Everton had a good spell of possession around the 60th -65th min and they looked comfortable in the game. But then Song made a great pass and Robin scored a fucking stunner! That guy is just unstoppable because he wasn't doing much for most of the game and then all of sudden produces this finish! We needed that goal badly and i am sure Wenger was relieved he didn't have to put Arshavin in the game. I was relieved too because i am tired of watching the Russian walk around and do nothing. We closed the game out even though there were some nervy moments at the end. The two Everton subs McAleny and Gueye both had good chances to score, especially McAleny.

I thought defensively we were decent. Can't say we were great, but good enough for the most part. Djourou on the right had an ok game. Mertesacker was solid except that one weak header at the end of the game which allowed McAleny to almost score with a great shot. Koscielny and Vermaelen were both very good. Vermaelen had a great clearance in the second half under pressure from Cahill.  I hope Thomas is alright after that elbow he took from Fellaini. Miquel subbed in and played with confidence, i think he should be playing more often and i have said that many times.

Arteta was very good. Not very flashy but got a lot of work done, he has been playing deeper together with Song and i like that he is willing to work defensively. Song had a quiet first half but in the second half he was one of our best players. Gave unreal pass to Van Persie; and then he was pretty much everywhere for the rest of the game.Ramsey had a solid game overall. He had a great chance to score and he has been really close to scoring for most of the season. I have a feeling that once he scores, the floodgates will open and he will score much more. As good as he is in passing the ball, today he had numerous times when he could have done better. The ball to Gervinho in the 2nd min, if passed properly is almost a sure goal. Then he had a few passes where guys were obviously offside. He has to either pass it earlier, or hold the ball. Other than that i have no complaints, he is one of my favorite guys to watch. Walcott was great today! I do think he should have scored or passed better on some ocassions. But he was a constant threat; made so many good runs; had a great shot blocked by Howard in the second half; and did a tremendous job of getting back and helping defensively when needed.

Gervinho continued his good play from recent weeks. He always looks dangerous on the wing. He wasn't as noticable in the second half but had another solid game. And for Robin, what can you say? As i mentioned earlier he didn't look great for most of the game but then he scored a goal like that...Pure class! I think we have really benefited of him and Walcott being injury free (knock on wood) for a long period of time. I don't remember the last time they had so many games in a row with both of them being on the pitch at the same time. Obviously Wenger is doing a better job managing their workload-especially Robin's.

Good way for us to celebrate the 125th anniversary with a win! Let's hope we can keep it going in a very tough game at City next week! Go Gunners!!! 

Arsenal vs Fulham

First, i want to apologize for not posting after the Norwich game. I was celebrating my birthday so there was a lot of heavy drinking involved and i just didn't find time to write. I am a little pissed that i missed a chance to post after a win and now i have to do it, after a disappointing draw for us.

I think Wenger made a big mistake by not making more than the 2 changes he made to the team after the Champions League game on Wednesday. It was obvious that we were tired and we lacked sharpness. There should have been at least 4 or 5 fresh bodies to start the game and it's not like we don't have the quality on the bench. Guys like Benayoun, Frimpong, Oxlade-Chamberlain (even though he wasn't even on the bench), Rosicky. We should have given starts to those guys and if things were not working out, then make the 3 changes and put the guys from Wednesday for 30 min.

The first half i thought Fulham pressed us way better than we pressed them (what's new there) and we still had some great chances. Ramsey, who had a bad game (mainly because he missed so many passes and chances, not because a lack of effort), had a decent chance in the 7th minute and almost scored. Then in the 24th min, Wallcot had a great run down the right put the ball right at Ramsey's feet and he hit it in the fucking sky. I thought that was one of our best chances for the half. The rest of the half we didn't create much and Fulham actually had a great chance towards the end but Szczesny bailed us out. At the end of the first half the possession of the ball was 54% to 46% in favor of Fulham. Just another proof that they controlled the game.

Second half was a bit better. Van Persie started to wake up and had some chances. He was unlucky not to score when a Fulham defender cleared it off the line. We still did not look great though, we were lacking the urgency to create something and score. So when Fulham scored on us i thought there was no way we can score 2 goals back. I guess their goal woke us up because, we found some energy in our passing and went forward. Vermaelen is the man! That guy was very unlucky to score the own goal but didn't let it affect him and scored a great goal to equalize for us. I thought right around the time we scored and the 5,6 min after, we could have won the game. Fulham for some stupid reason panicked, and stopped pressing us whatsoever. We couldn't take advantage and score again, but considering the way we played throughout the game i think a draw is a fair result. I definitely wish we would have won because we need all the points we can get for the race for 4th place, but we didn't play well enough to do it.

I thought our defense was ok. More than once we allowed Fulham to pass the ball around instead of pressing them hard, but they didn't have too many chances to score. Mertesacker didn't make any mistakes today which is good for his confidence. Vermaelen was great as usual. The own goal was very unlucky situation, other than that he was tough and never allowed guys to receive the ball without putting them under a lot of pressure. Scored a great goal too. Santos did ok as well, he likes to go forward so much that i don't know if i should rate his runs on the wing or his defensive performance. Djourou did well. I am always nervous when people take him one vs one because he can be very clumsy at times, but today he did very well. Had a great block in the 5th min. Almost scored from a corner kick (I still can't believe Schwarzer saved that).

Arshavin was fucking awefull!!! Considering he hasn't been playing often lately, he should have taken this chance and try to prove himself, instead he showed very little effort throughout the game. Just jogging around; not chasing the ball after he loses it; didn't do much offensively either. The lack of effort is what drives me nuts the most. Ramsey had a shitty game but never stopped running, fighting and trying to create something. Arshavin was just hoping something good will happen with very little effort on his part. Arteta was too busy asking for fouls for half of the game. He didn't play bad but he didn't play great either. Song had a decent game but you could tell he wasn't fresh. Wallcott was on and off throughout the game but he was probably one of our best players. Set up Ramsey nicely in the first half. Crossed the ball very well for Vermaelen's goal. So even though he wasn't amazing he played a  very solid game. Van Persie was a bit off in the first half, and then missed some chances you expect him to do better with but he definitely played better in the second half and could have scored if it wasn't for Baird who blocked his shot of the goal line. Gervinho defintely gave us a spark of the bench. He created some chances and had one himself but didn't shoot well enough. Diaby didn't impress me much but he hasn't played for a while. Chamakh didn't play long enough, for me to have an opinion about his performance. 

So tough result for us today but let's hope we get some fresh legs ready the Carling Cup and get a good result vs City. C'mon you Gunners!

Arsenal vs West Bromwich

Today we finally got a complete performance from our boys! I think since the start of the season this was our best performance in all three phases of the game: defense, midfield and attack. Yes, yes, I do know that we played West Brom and it was at home but that hasn’t stopped us from turning in shitty performances in the past (remember last year?).

The defense overall was very solid today. Kosicelny and Vermaelen played very well together, and the good thing about them is that both have good speed. This way they cover and help each other nicely. They also make up in a way for the lack of speed of Santos, who also had a good game today.  The trade off with having those two being the central defending pair is that we lack height in the back but until Mertesacker catches up with the speed in the Premier League this is the better pairing. I still think Mertesacker will be good, he will just need some time, the same way it took Koscielny more than a season to start playing well. Another sign that the defense had a good game is that West Brom didn’t create  anything in the first 20 min. Their first real chance was in the 35^th min when Song tripped and fell and Jerome Thomas tried to get a penalty with minimal contact from Koscielny. We had a few shaky moments in the second half as well: Vermaelen had a great stop on Tchoyi when luckily for us he took too long to shoot and Thomas blocked his shot; and we also had one bad header defensively by Santos which could have cost us, but West Brom didn’t take advantage of it. So, defensively we got a clean sheet and a good performance. This is very exciting that we finally had a solid game in the back.

Vermaelen was great, scored a good goal and had another big chance when he missed with his header in the second half. Koscielny continued his solid play from the last 3,4 games. Santos was good as well, we didn’t see his lack of pace today, maybe because West Brom didn’t have a lot of quickness upfront until Tchoyi came in. Jenkinson was great as well and this is worth mentioning: he had at least 7 or 8 GREAT crosses today. His crossing is very, very good, I wish we had taken better advantage of it. 

The midfield played a good game today. Not as many chances as we sometimes create but good ball possession and we managed to score three goals. Song was a bit disappointing for his standards (which he has set very high), lost more balls than usual; missed a great chance to score as well; but even though he wasn’t great he was good and covered a lot of ground as he normally does. Ramsey had a very good game. Gave a phenomenal pass for the first goal, we had not really created anything that great before that pass. He completely opened the defense up and Walcott’s pace took care of the rest, Walcott should have scored but luckily RVP was there to tap it in. Ramsey almost scored himself as well, after a good pass by Gervinho. Gervinho was good too, I like that he has learned to pass the ball when someone else is in better position. Robin Van Persie didn’t have the type of game he had against Chelsea but he still scored, had an assist, and did what was required of him. Arteta was good, scored a very nice goal. He still lacks some pace when he tries to chase people down defensively but the good thing is that he is actually helping out in the back, which he didn’t always do in previous games. Walcott had an assist and some good runs but other than that I am disappointed with him. He always tries the same move on defenders and some of them know that he always tries to run to his right and cross the ball so they are prepared and don’t allow him to do it. He should definitely try to switch things up and start cutting in more, even if his left foot is not his favorite, otherwise he will keep making the same move over and over and not creating anything. Arshavin, Rosicky and Benayoun came in, when the game was pretty much over so I can’t really grade them.

So, a great day for the Gunners; finally a complete performance and things are starting to look really good for our boys! GO GUNNERS!!!