Manchester City vs Arsenal 1-1

I got up this morning a bit early so i can see the Liverpool vs Manchester United game. Boy, did i regret that. There is nothing more that i hate, than seeing a United team that is playing shitty being helped by the refs and handed a victory. It's absolutely disgusting. 

Luckily for me and my nerves, Mike Dean (who is also a douche bag and has ruined plenty of games)  had a decent performance at our game. He could have given a few more yellow cards but after the pathetic refereeing at Anfield maybe it was better he let the game go a bit.

I feel that i am pretty honest when i give my opinion about our players and their performances each game. So i did admit that last week Gervinho played much better against Southampton than he did the previous few games. But today he was back to his usual idiotic/selfish style and i have no clue why he stayed on the field until the 89min! He, single handedly, prevented us from winning today. The ball he got from Ramsey in the 15th minute was so good that 100% of most players will at least have a shot at goal and 60% to 70% of decent forwards/wingers will score. He couldn't even control the ball to have a shot. And that's not why i am mad at him, i am sure even the greatest players have had moments where they lose control of the ball. What pisses me off is that he made so many runs and had the ball so many times, and 90% of the time all he wanted to do is dribble and try to get by people. So many fucking times! Look up and pass the ball! Look up and shoot at goal! Do whatever the fuck you want, just don't do the same stupid dribbling every single time. And when you lose the ball, which he did plenty of times, get back and defend! At times he just chills in midfield without getting back and helping people to press on the ball. At least twice, him and Ramsey ran into each other. And to top it off, after a decent move to open some space for himself, he couldn't even hit the target in the 89th min! I realize that he has speed and that makes him really dangerious when he gets space, but his brain is the size of a peanut. He either has to learn to share the ball or he should be benched and replaced with someone who is more of a team player.

Overall i thought we played a very solid game. The first half we were definitely the better team and with a bit more luck and better execution we should have been ahead instead of City. The midfield players were exceptional the first 45 min. We had a lot of possession, we were controlling the game with quick passes and good build up game. Then we conceded a silly goal. Mannone could have definitely done better but i also feel the zone marking we did on corners today left us a bit vulnerable. When you don't cover man to man, you have 5,6 guys getting a head start to run and jump which is tough to defend. Maybe a mixture between zone marking and having at least 2 or 3 of our players covering their best ball headers would be a better idea. The goal stunned us a bit and in the second half we didn't start very well. The link between the midfield and the defense was breaking down and City had a few counters where they could have done much better and maybe score again. Towards the end of the second half though, we started controlling things again and got a deserved equalizer.

Koscielny came in for Vermaelen and had a great game. Besides scoring, he was very sharp throughout the whole game and looked just like he did most of last season. It will be interesting to see if Wenger will try to give him more playing time, especially after Mertesacker had another solid game. The full backs were good again, Jenkinson had a very good game both offensively and defensively. Gibbs was less active on the wing than the last few games but that was partially due to Gervinho dribbling forever on the left and not passing the ball to anyone. Mannone had the blunder for their goal but other than that he made some great saves.

Diaby had a phenomenal first half, it seemed that he was everywhere. His technique is so good for a big guy that sometimes he gets carried away and gives away the ball at bad situations. On Tuesday against Montpellier, he slipped while dribbling in our own penalty area and we got super lucky not to get scored on. Same thing happened today in the 53rd min, when he lost the ball because of too much dribbling and City had a great chance to score a second goal. He got a bit tired in the second half and disappeared a bit but if he stays healthy he can be very dominant in midfield. Cazorla just like Diaby was awesome in the first half and then was on and off in the second. Regardless, his work rate and passes were priceless, and he was very unlucky not to score after a great shot in the 81st min. Arteta was also great today, did the majority of the dirty work in the back. Ramsey had a good game. Gave a phenomenal pass to Gervinho in the 15th min, and was involved in  most of our attacks during the game. Defensively he has to do much better, a lot of times he strolls back when we lose the ball instead of quickly getting back and pressing.  

Podolski didn't have a lot of chances except one in the first half, when Gervinho (shockingly) passed the ball to him around the penalty spot but unfortunately it was on his right foot and he hit the stands. The thing i like about him is that he is a very hard worker even when he doesn't get a lot of chances. He always chases people and comes back and helps defensively. I don't think Wenger should have taken him out. Talking about substitutions, The Professor waited way too long to make a change (well known fact about him). I also think he took off the wrong people. Gervinho should have been the first man to go after his clueless display and i would have taken out Ramsey instead of Diaby. To be honest even though Walcott is also clueless on the wing sometimes i would have liked to see him start instead of Gervinho today. He has the same if not better speed and unless Wenger is freezing him out because of his contract issues he should start some games. Not to mentioned he wouldn't have missed the 15th min chance Gervinho did, that's his favorite spot to score goals from.

So at the end, we will take a draw but i feel we deserved more and we are definitely capable of more. I hope Wenger learns his lesson and saves Gervinho for the games against the shitty teams because his decision making is obviously not good enough against the big boys. I would love for us to whoop Chelsea next week. C'mon You Gunners!!!!

Arsenal vs Southampton 6-1

Great win today! I thought we would have a tougher time with Southampton but once we got the break with the first goal, it looked like we can steamroll them, as it happened. Scoring early at home is very important for us because then we can control and open up the game which is when we are at our best.

I was also very happy that Wenger made some changes ahead of the Champions League trip on Tuesday. I wasn't too excited seeing Gervinho starting, but he had his best game of the season thus rewarding Wenger's faith in him. He still had some stupid mistakes but compared to previous games, he was much smarter with the ball and tried to combine more with his teammates instead of just doing his usual goal line run. He did a good job scoring the third goal, those 100% goal scoring chances are sometimes tough to convert and he did a good job of making it 3-0. Coquelin starting was good to see, he needs some games because he is a pretty good player. I hope Wenger will make some more changes for the Montpellier game because Gibbs has been known for getting injured, so has Jenkinson. Santos could play left back and maybe Coquelin slotting at right back so Jenkinson can rest. I would also love to see Koscielny start, he needs some games to get back in rhythm. In reality, i doubt that Wenger will reshuffle the defense except maybe for Koscielny.

The defense had another solid performance. If it wasn't for Szczesny's stupidity they could have probably kept another clean sheet. We had periods of pulling back in our own half but compared to past years our pressing of the ball is so much better! I noticed it even in the 72min when the score was already 5-1 and we could have easily sat back and relaxed but i am guessing Bould is trying to create a culture of proper defending for 90 min and so far he is doing a great job! Mertesacker is getting better and better, i didn't see too many times today when he got bullied, which would happen in other games. So he is finally starting to play more physical and use his size. Vermaelen also had a good game and almost scored just before the 6th goal. Both Jenkinson and Gibbs were good, the latter having a big impact on both own goals.  The only negative was Szczesny's performance. Maybe he was a bit rusty but not only he basically handed Southampton their goal, he also had horrible kicks in the 65th and 69th mins which led to counters for the Saints in each occasion. He better step up his game or Mannone will gladly take his place.

The midfield was great today. Cazorla was involved in everything we tried to do and the reason i like him so much and i think he is even better than Fabregas is that he keeps things so simple. Short passes, great control and he is able to make the right pass/decision 90% of the time. He didn't score today but was involved in almost every attack we had. Arteta was very good as well. Gave a great pass to Gervinho for his 1st goal; and was controlling the midfield together with Cazorla. Oxlade-Chamberlain was invincible for big periods of the first half. He would do something positive and then disappear for 10 mins. He needs to be constantly involved and look for opportunities to attack people. He definitely played better in the second half with a few good shots at goal and some good combinations. Podolski had a good game. It was his great hustle that set up the first goal. He scored a great goal from a free kick and was combining very well with Gibbs on the left flank.

Both Ramsey and Walcott came in and played well. I want to single out Ramsey because i always bash him when he comes in and is very sloppy. Today he had a positive impact on the game and pretty much made Gervinho's second goal with his good run and shot. Giroud didn't have much of an impact but he also didn't have many chances today. To sum it up, we got a great result today against a team who will start winning because they have some quality. I also saw some changes in the starting line up from Wenger which is good to see and a lot of goals which is great for our confidence. I am expecting a good performance in France and then a huge game next Sunday at Manchester City. If we can get a win there, a lot of people will start taking us more seriously. C'mon You Gunners!!!

Liverpool vs Arsenal 0-2

 Big win for us today!! Very needed win as well, because now everyone can shut the fuck up about who will score goals for us and so on. The team will also be able to get ready for Southampton with less pressure on them compared to after a draw or a loss today. I thought we were the better team throughout the game. We had good possession spells and we controlled the game for big parts of it. Created some good chances and more importantly we finally took advantage of them!

Defensively the third consecutive clean sheet is great but today we had bad defensive mistakes that could have been punished. Mertesacker for one, got beat by that fucking diver Suarez as early as the 6th minute and his lack of pace was badly exposed. Thank god later in the game Vermaelen started to guard Suarez and was able to better keep up with him. We also had a bunch of bad defensive passes that all led to dangerous counters. For big parts of the game we were pressing pretty good and we kept Liverpool under control but there were spells in the second half between the 50th and 60th min and then towards the end of the game where we stopped pressing and allowed them to create chances. Sometimes the front people would press but no one else would follow and big gaps would open up in the middle of the field. To be honest, Liverpool had a tough time pressing constantly as well and that allowed us to create some chances. The reason i am bringing this up even though we didn't concede a goal is because pressing is so crucial if you want to limit the other team's chances. A great example is the Southampton vs Man U game today. I was ready to celebrate the 2nd consecutive away loss of these shitheads and then Southampton just invited them in their own half and let them pass the ball around until they lost 2-3. RVP scoring a hat trick didn't improve my mood either...

I like that Jenkinson keeps things simple but sometimes when he is under pressure and has to pass the ball, he panics a bit and that leads to mistakes. He needs to get used to passing the ball under stress without allowing it to affect him. Mannone was solid today, even though he had a tough time with some high balls during the game. He did have some good saves as well though, especially the shot from Shelvey towards the end. I thought Diaby had a great game, he was one of our best players out there, especially in the first half and the beginning of the second. He got tired towards the end but the way he played today makes me wish he can just stay healthy. He reminds me of Viera with his size and has a good touch on the ball. The other guy who was vital today was Cazorla. As i predicted in the last few posts he is becoming a key figure in our team with his vision and passes. He can also shoot the ball well and we saw a confirmation of that today. His only negative is the lack of effort sometimes. I see him giving up on pressing people when he is tired. Oxlade-Chamberlain on the other hand was disappointing. He is too individual and continually tries to out run and out smart people instead of passing to his team mates when they are in a better position than him. He has alot of energy and desire but he has to channel it the right way.

But the most disappointing guy today was hands down Olivier Giroud. Unless i am missing something, this guy couldn't do anything right today. He looked slow as fuck, had many heavy first touches and a tough time controlling the ball. And most importantly: had 3 very, very, very good chances to score a goal and couldn't even hit the target. Fuck man, it's like watching Bendtner all over again except Bendtner would score once in a blue moon and he cost us way less than this guy. Let's hope i am wrong but right now, i don't see too much to be excited about him. Not just that but Wenger didn't even sub him. I guess he was pleased with his performance...I thought towards the end of the game he should have put Wallcott on his spot, because Liverpool were starting to push forward and we could have used Theo's pace for counters. Anyway, the one person i am happy Wenger didn't use is Gervinho, i was tired of watching his clueless repetitive runs on the flanks with no end product. 

And let's not forget Podolski. Great goal from him. Typical shot with his left foot, we will see a lot of these types of goals from him: on the left, good through ball, he scores diagonally on the keeper. He gave a great pass for Cazorla's goal too. So, a hint of excitement for our new signings (except Giroud ofcourse). They are finally starting to deliver and in the case of Cazorla and Podolski it was just a matter of time. Giroud will be a question mark for now, hopefully he will improve fast. Let's pray for no injures during the international break and for a decisive win at home vs Southampton, who for big parts of the game today completely outplayed Man U, so we have to be careful with them and get it done!C'mon You Gunners!

Stoke City vs Arsenal 0-0

Mixed feelings about the result today. I am very pleased with the clean sheet we got at a place where we always have trouble keeping one. At the same time we needed to win today. We are playing Liverpool away next week and you know it will be hard to get points there as well.

The positives today were our defense and the limited amount of chances we gave Stoke to score. For a second week in a row, we looked solid defensively, and with one exception at the end of the game, City almost had not chances to score. Vermaelen and Mertesacker had a very good game. Won a lot of high balls, and didn't allow Crouch and co to bully them in the air. I am pleased that Mertesacker has been looking solid so far in the season. My only wish for him is to get a bit tougher during contact. For a guy his size there were more than 2 or 3 times today where he went down quite easily holding his head like someone punched him in the face. He has to get tougher! I thought Jenkinson had a better game than last week's. He made less mistakes in his passes and didn't look as nervous and rushed to get rid of the ball. I also like his toughness when taking on people. Gibbs did well as well, had a slight scare when Pennant went down asking for a penalty but there was limited contact. 

In midfield and attack similarly to last week, we weren't very effective. A lot of passing but not a lot of clear chances. I was a bit disappointed by Cazorla. He looked bright and lively in the first half and as the match progressed, he went away. His passing wasn't as creative today and he seemed confused as to what is the best way to unlock Stoke's defense. I am still expecting big things from him, today just wasn't his best day. Diaby was solid throughout. Did a lot of work defensively and helping out with the high balls; and was working hard up the pitch as well. I thought Arteta was our best player. In the first half he was playing deep and was doing a lot of hard work to cover for the front midfielders. And in the second half as Cazorla was less active, Arteta was pushing forward and trying to create something. He had a great chance in the 72min where he hesitated how exactly to shoot the ball and ended up hitting it in the stands. I would have loved to see him hit that ball hard and straight and see what happens. Regardless, he was the guy who didn't stop running for 90+ mins.

On the other hand Gervinho was absolutely awful today. His only strength is his runs on the flanks even though he never passes the ball well at the end of them, today he didn't even have that. He was pretty much invisible (not in a good way) the whole match. The one time he had a good chance in the 37th min, he did the move he ALWAYS does: run with the ball towards the goal kick line and fuck up the cross. It's the second week of the season and i can already predict where he is going with the ball EVERY single time! Not to mention he has chances to do a good pass early in his runs but he always wants to keep running with the fucking ball. He had an even better chance in the 50th min but his shot was way wide. I thought Podolski was better than the Sunderland game. At times his timing with the other guys is a bit off but he will get there. He is very feisty at times and i like that! The guy is a competitor and wants to win. And i guarantee you that when he gets on the same page with Cazorla and co, this guy will score goals and give assists. He is also quite fast and not afraid to take on people. Giroud had a good game overall. He worked hard most of it and was helpful in the air. I give props to Wenger for putting him in, i am pretty sure he wanted to start him because of his size. The one thing that annoyed me though, is that i caught him more than 4,5 times walking around and whining to the officials instead of helping his teammates to press on the ball. Hopefully in the future he will focus more on that, than complaining to the refs. He had a great effort towards the end of the game and almost scored a spectacular goal but he could have also crossed the ball to Ramsey.

The Professor was fucking late with his substitutions just like in the past. I thought he got rid of that habit last season when he was making them earlier, but today he waited until the 70th min to make any. Gervinho should have been subbed at the latest in the 60th min and Walcott should have been in. When he did came in, Theo looked lively and dangerous but didn't have much time for anything. Same with Oxlade, who looked a bit too eager to make an impact instead of keeping a cool head. Ramsey almost cost us a goal with his sloppiness again! I talk about this every blog post, that he is too casual with the ball when he comes in, and Stoke almost scored on us at the end of the game when he lost the ball in midfield and Walters (i believe) was through on goal! Aaron did have a few good runs up front and a decent shot wide and i will give him credit for those but that's about it.

To some it up, so far this season we look great defensively for a change but we are not creating enough offensively. And i don't care if RVP was still with us, we didn't create almost anything that was a 100% goal scoring chance. A lot of pressure and possession, huge amount of corners but no end product. We have to be sharper and quicker when attacking and at first glance of goal, we have to shoot the fucking ball! We need a win next week, C'mon You Gunners!      

Arsenal vs Sunderland 0-0

The new Premier League season is here and I am back! I meant to write a post a few weeks ago and give a review of our summer transfers but never found time for it. I will just kill two birds with one stone now.

Let's get the big pink elephant out of the rom first: Robin Van Persie. This will be the last time i write about him because he is no longer playing for Arsenal and i am tired of listening to the moaning of everyone! I am not gong to lie, selling him to Man U was very painful for me to experience and no matter how many great moments he has given us, i will never forgive him for going there. To me, that move just takes him out of the discussion of being an Arsenal great/legend. Everyone is blaming Arsene for selling him but in reality when someone does not want to renew their contract and wants to leave, it's silly to think you can keep them and they will be 100% commited to the club in that last year of their contract. So, i think selling him for 24 million was great business considering he is 29 and has had only one injury free season. Now what everyone needs to do is stop talking about Van Persie and focus on the players we have. p.s. Man U gave him 250K weekly salary which to me is absurd. I agree with Wenger when he says that one day this salary bubble will bust.

On the flip side: all these roumours, which might be confirmed by the end of this week, that we will sell Alex Song to Barcelona are something that i really dislike. If Wenger let's this happen it will be a big mistake on his part! Even though he keeps repeating that we have so many midfielders, we all know that Song brought toughness and some unexpected touch that none of the current crop has. The only guys i might compare to being as tough as him are Frimpong and Wilshere and they are both still injured. Song has three years left on his contract and hasn't requested a move. For us to sell him now will be just stupid and Wenger won't have the excuse that "we were forced to sell".

The last paragraph before analyzing the match today is about the players who came in this summer. We saw a glimpse of them today and i think we bought some good players. Cazorla will be an absolute stud and we already saw that today: great touch on the ball with both legs, good vision about the game and good movement. I think it's just a matter of time before he becomes one of our most important players! Podolski and Giroud will need some time before we can really judge them. I think Podolski will be solid and Giroud is a bit of a question mark. He had a really bad miss today which could have won the game for us, let's hope that won't affect his confidence and he will turn in a good season. I would have loved it if we had bought one good defender as well. Right now we only have Jenkinson at right back, unless you consider slotting Yennaris or Coquelin there. Hopefully we will be able to sell the clowns Djourou, Bendtner, Arshavin and Squillaci and bring another good defender in.

Now to the game today. Obviously a dissapointing result, no question about that but a lot of positives as well. I think first and most importantly the defense was solid, especially in the second half. The first half we got caught a few times with through balls and Sunderland had some chances but in the second half we shut them down completely. Our pressing on the ball was very good throughout the whole game and that was refreshng to see. I realy believe that if we can be solid defensivelly, we will have a good season. Let's hope today was a step in that direction.

Offensivelly, we need to play better. Many times we would run out of ideas and just pass the ball around instead being decisive and trying to play one touch football. Sunderland were defending great thoughout the game, and i gve them credit but we could have been more creative up front. Gervinho had a solid game as far as his movement and good runs on both wings but at times his decision making still sucks. Too many times he tries to just dribble past defenders when after his initial burst there are open players he can pass the ball to. In a way, he reminds me of Theo when he starts running with the ball and doesn't make great decisions with it. Talking about Theo, he didn't have a good game, was lost for big parts of it. Same for Podolski, he wasn't on the same page with the rest of the team but i think with some more time they will get better. Cazorla was our best player, even though he missed some passes, he was the brains when we moved forward and created the best chance of the day which Giroud somehow managed to miss. Diaby did ok, but it was apparent that he needs more matches under his belt. Arteta was solid as usual and was doing a lot of the defensive duties that Song used to do.

Vermaelen and Mertesacker both had a decent game, even though as i mentioned earlier they got beat by through balls a few times in the first half. I was happy to see Mertesacker have a solid game, because we will need all of our defenders playing well for the long season ahead. Gibbs was good as well, recovered decisively the few times Sunderland had breaks on his flank. Jenkinson dissapointed me a bit. His crosses weren't very good and last year i bragged so much that he crosses better than Sagna. He had trouble controlling the ball a lot of times, and spent portions of the game way up on the wing without recovering fast enough to the defensive side of the pitch. Ramsey and Arshavin were very dissapointing and mostly because of their carelessness with the ball!! Both of them lost the ball in the middle of the pitch more than once and mainly because they were too casual with it. If you are a subtitute and the coach gives you the chance to come in and impact the game, you can't be lazy and careless with the ball.

So, tough start for us but some good signs from this team. If we start clicking offensivelly and we stay strong defensivelly we will have a good year regardless of what people think. We do need a good result next week in Stoke though, and we all know it's hard for us to play there, so let's hope it will be our first positive step of the season followed by many more! C'mon you Gunners!!!

West Brom vs Arsenal 2-3

Marton Fulop. He is the guy we should be thanking for third place and Champions League qualification next year. I wish i could write an Arsenal player's name instead of Fulop's but there is no question in my mind that we didn't do enough to win today and the only reason we did, is Marton Fulop's horrible performance. It may sound harsh but we were poor again today. And before i continue, let me throw one stat at you: 0. That's how many saves Fulop had today according to the official statistics of the game. Which means we had no shots on goal that he had to save.

We had another great start just like we did against Norwich. Fulop had his first but not last horrible mistake of the game. Yossi was alert and took advantage of it so we were ahead after 4 minutes. And then just like we did against Norwich we had a horrible spell of 20 minutes where we didn't do anything worth mentioning. 10 seconds after we scored, Fortune was in our penalty area forcing Szczesny into a great save. Then came West Brom's first goal which was definitely offside, but Szczesny was also very indecisive to close Long down. 4 minutes later Koscielny defended a high ball very poorly and just like that it was 2-1 for West Brom. The frustrating part is that for the first 20 minutes of the game we did not create any goal scoring chances. After their second goal we started applying some pressure but still didn't create any real opportunities. Santos's goal came after a bad giveaway by West Brom and a good strike, but Fulop probably should have done better. Until the end of the half nothing really happened, Gervinho had some good runs on the right but once he would reach the penalty area he had no idea what to do, and would eventually get his pass blocked or would lose the ball while dribbling.

The second half was not much different than the first. Walcott came in and Gervinho continued his good runs with terrible end products, this time on the left side. Then Fulop came to the rescue again! Corner kick taken by RVP, Fulop miss punched the ball right to Koscielny who scored. What ensued after that was 40 minutes of us playing anything but Arsenal football. We couldn't keep possession of the ball, and more importantly didn't press much on the ball either. Our counter attacks execution was very poor. We had a few counters where we would get people forward and the last pass would be a complete mess. The end product of all this was 40 minutes where West Brom kept opening our defense up and kept missing chances, while i was biting my nails and wondering when we were going to concede. I am sure that if they were fighting for survival and had a bit more motivation we would have conceded at least one more goal today. Somehow we didn't and got a great result but nothing more than that.   

I think Wenger got the substitutions spot on today.  Rosicky was almost invincible, and replacing him with Walcott at half time was a good move. Changing Gervinho with Gibbs was also smart. By the 68th minute even the West Brom fans knew that if Gervinho made a good run, his end product would be shit, so no one was worried. Coquelin didn't do anything worth mentioning. Benayoun was definitely our best midfielder. Scored a goal and even though he had spells where he disappeared for a bit, he was all over the pitch, running his socks off. In the 78th minute gave a great pass to Van Persie as well. Song was decent, not great but not poor.

The defense sucked, so none of them did that great except Santos, obviously because of his goal. Gibbs had a very important sliding block in the 91st minute and i give him props for that. But in the 81 minute and 44 seconds ( i really wish someone has taped the game and can go to that exact moment) hit the pause button and look where Gibbs is. Mulumbu gets the ball in the middle of the pitch, Gibbs leaves his position and runs straight at him. In the middle of the fucking center circle!! And he is our LEFT back. Mulumbu chips the ball above him and Billy Jones breaks down the LEFT side where Gibbs is supposed to be!!! With a bit better executions that could be a goal for the opposing team almost every time. With the technology today, our COACHES should be able to watch the game, pause it, tell Gibbs to come to the office and ask him what the fuck was he thinking. And then he should tell them that it's obvious that no one in Arsenal FC has explained to him how to properly defend. Or what his responsibilities are. I am not picking on him, this is just an example. I can probably find hundreds of situations like this one, when one of our defenders is not doing the right thing, or is not where he is supposed to be.  I am not trying to make a big deal of this one situation, but it definitely shows that we are bad defensively. And that starts with COACHES! I really have been saying for years that we do not defend properly. I can count on the fingers of my hand the games this year where i felt that we are playing good defense and we are doing the right things: pressing the ball; being disciplined; communicating well. I really hope that Steve Bould knows his shit and will improve the way we defend. I am actually praying, not just hoping!!!

On that note, Jenkinson who i actually like a lot, also has a ton of work to do. He had some good runs and good crosses into the box today. But he also uses his hands way too much when chasing someone and trying to defend. Almost every time he had to fight for the ball with someone, his left hand was on them pushing and shoving. It's a bad habit to have especially when there is some space between him and the players he chasing. Because of that space the refs can see that he is pushing off and at a lot of places (Old Traford comes to mind) he can give away a penalty for shit like that. The second thing i noticed with him today was that he gets beat on the inside quite often. On at least 3 occasions he let the opposing player cut inside towards the goal and allowed them to shoot, instead of trying to close the inside and force them to the side line. Something he should be taught by his coaches not by some random fan writing his blog.
 

So when you add everything together, the only positive thing about the game today was the scoreline. In our last 5 games starting with the Wigan loss we have been very poor. To be competitive in this league and win a title (which is our main goal) we need to improve drastically. I could really say that the only game this year that i felt we played a complete game was the win vs Manchester City at home. They almost had no chances; we controlled the ball and subsequently the game; we created ton of chances and eventually scored as well. We had other good patches during the season, but in reality we are very very lucky to finish 3rd. When you look at Man City and the resources they have, they will be around for a while. Same with Man U, Liverpool and Chelsea. If we want to be the best team in the league, we need to IMPROVE!! We need to buy our players early in the summer and we need to bring in the right guys who are ready to contribute immediately.  We also need guys like Djourou, Squillaci, Almunia, Fabianski, Denilson, Diaby and so on to be sold. And we need to stop giving good salaries to average players like them. (Diaby is the exception because i think he is a good player but he is constantly injured). Unless you have proven yourself at this club you get a lower level salary and when you play well for a season or two you get a good contract. This way we don't have clowns like Almunia not even sitting on the bench but making 40,000 pounds a week.

Today was a rather long blog, but it's the end of the season so i should be cut some slack. We are in third place, we will play Champions League football next year and hopefully BETTER football next year!!!Let's hope for a injury free summer and C'mon You Gunners!!

Arsenal vs Norwich

The last time i remember being so frustrated watching an Arsenal game was last year in the Champions League against Farcelona, when we got robbed with a second yellow card given to Robin and we lost the game. Unfortunately, today my frustration was not caused by the referee but by our own shitty, shitty performance! I don't want to hear anything about penalties not given for us and so on because Norwich should have had a penalty of their own in the first half. The bottom line is that we were way to lethargic and casual for long periods of the game. It would have been very unjust if we put up a shitty effort and got a result today. I don't mind winning ugly matches but you can't expect to win matches with a lack of effort. 

We couldn't have asked for a better start. Yossi scored a great goal and you would think that is the perfect start for a comfortable home win. But for the next 45 minutes we got completely outplayed. We got pressed high in our own half by Norwich, the possession in the 20th minute was 53% to 47% for Norwich. We missed so many passes; players were not on the same page and we couldn't really get a flow offensively. Szczesny had a poor game for a second week in a row. He has to save the first goal. I don't care if you expect that shot or not, the ball was not hit hard enough to be a goal. And it was right at him as well. Defensively, today we were as poor as i have seen us play. Every time Norwich had a chance to counter we would end up with 3 (players) vs 3 (players) situations in front of our goal. Sometimes even 3 vs 2 for them. To me that's just lack of effort on part of the midfielders and the pretty much the whole team. At times it looked that players would switch off and be like "you guys take care of this situation at the back, we will take care of the attacking". Good teams play like a team and players don't take breaks because your team gets punished. As i mentioned earlier, Norwich should have had a penalty as well, when Koscielny pulled the shit out of Martin's shirt.

The second half started similar to the first: we were a bit more dangerous going forward but we kept getting caught on the break and we were lucky not to concede a third. A few key moments got stuck in my head:

1) in the 51st minute we get caught by a counter, Jackson from Norwich gets the ball in the middle of the pitch, Ramsey is right behind him, he chases him for a few yards and then slows down/quits. Jackson pushes up in our own half and we have him and Holt vs Vermaelen and Song (2 vs 2 again!). Quick change of direction = Vermaelen is on the ground and Jackson has a great scoring chance which luckily for us he shot right at Szczesny. This whole situation is preventable or at least reduced to being less of a scoring chance if Ramsey continues to chase Jackson and pressures him until he gets help. Instead i guess he feels that being down 2-1 vs Norwich at home is ok and decides to let Vermaelen and Song "handle this one". This one moments sums up our whole effort today: not good enough; not playing/defending as a team but rather as individuals.

2) 58th minute. Bad back pass by Vermaelen, Szczesny almost fucks up the clearance but somehow gets the ball to Gibbs who is on the left side, deep in our territory. Gibbs is immediately surrounded by 2 Norwich players and eventually loses possession. That's in the 58th minute, we are playing at home and we are losing 1-2!Again, something is wrong with this picture: we are fighting for 3rd place but Norwich are outplaying and out-hustling us at home!! Which begs the question, which team wants it more?

After the 60th minute we took control of the game and started creating chances. Norwich decided that they did their job and allowed us more time on the ball which proved to be a bad decision. We missed a few good chances but eventually RVP scored a great goal after a good pass from Song. That goal woke us up and we continued to press and create opportunities. The 2nd goal Robin scored was a bit lucky in the way the ball got to him but it was a well deserved goal to put us up 3-2. 

And this is when i still can't believe how naive we are. We decided that we did our job and Norwich will just lay down and accept defeat. They on the other hand, realized that not pressing us like they did for the first 60 minutes is a bad idea and started putting pressure on us. Coquelin had a bad back pass and Norwich almost took advantage of it. That should have been a warning sign. Then immediately after that Szczesny was shaky and spilled the ball from a regular cross. I guess even after this two warning signs, we still didn't realize that we will get scored on if we continue to defend like this. Howson gave a great pass to Morison and the only person back was Koscielny. I don't know why Vermaelen decided to play so high up the pitch in that situation considering that both Coquelin and Gibbs were further up the pitch and Holt and Morison were basically 2 vs 2 on him and Koscielny. Another bad defensive sequence led to a deserved punishment and i can't say i didn't see it coming. Regardless of the fact that we created at least 3 or 4 more goal scoring chances in the next 10 minutes or so. We didn't deserve to win today just because you can't be rewarded for playing hard 30 minutes out of 90. You can't be rewarded when you don't show desire and effort for 90 minutes.

It's still mind boggling to me, how can we not be motivated enough to put a strong 90 minute performance when we know our faith is in our own hands? I am not saying players didn't try hard. They didn't try hard as a TEAM. If you want to be a top 4 team in England, you have to be able to hold a lead for 10 minutes. Or at least make it hard on the other team to score. We didn't do either.

I do think we miss Arteta a lot. I don't think people realize how much defensive work he did and how well he controlled our pace when we had the ball. Ramsey was absolutely awful today and i can't believe how badly his form has dipped. He could have gotten a second yellow today; he can't organize anything offensively at the moment; and i think that influences him in the wrong way because he stops putting enough effort defensively. He should have been off at half time. Rosicky was our best midfielder today together with Song. Yossi scored a great goal and had another great chance to score with a header but for long periods of the game he was gone. Gervinho finally had a strong game. He made some great runs and gave some great passes for people to score. He was unlucky not to get an assist today. Oxlade was decent but needs more playing time. The defense was bad all around, i don't want to single out anyone. They were all bad. Robin seemed not into the game in the first half but exploded in the second.

I know this blog post is getting kind of long, but last thing i want to mention. Grant Holt today gave us a lot of problems just like Bobby Zamora did when we played QPR. His physical presence bothers both Koscielny and Vermaelen. For next season we will hopefully add another strong defender who can deal with players like that because even though tall, i don't think Mertesacker is physical enough to deal with guys like Holt and Zamora.

So unless we get really lucky, Europa League it is next year. Let's hope today's game does not turn out to be the game that Robin Van Persie decided that he will leave Arsenal. Everything was in our hands and now it's not anymore. We got no one but ourselves to blame.