Minor blip: Arsenal drop points to Fulham's bald army

Well we didn't expect that. Last evening's performance was an aberration, a departure from the norm, a game to be forgotten and hopefully in the big scheme of things, the dropped two points will average out. Arsenal looked lethargic at the start and overall showed little desire to take the game to Fulham in the first half. To cut the supply line to Robin, Martin Jol resorted to a packed midfield. With Ramsey having one of those days, it meant that we spent a lot of time passing the ball around in our half of the pitch. Any tempo whatsoever in the game was due to Santos' and Theo's runs on either flank. Arshavin remained anonymous and his profligacy on the pitch was exasperating. He has bundles of talent and nobody has ever doubted that. But whenever he's on the pitch, we can see that his heart is not in it. Yesterday when Shava was about to take a corner, he remembered that now Arteta is the assigned guy and very reluctantly put the ball at the spot for him. I feel for Shava who is clearly unhappy over his drop in the Arsenal ranks. I'm a big fan of him, he's an awesome guy off the pitch too but I think he needs few good one-on-one sessions with Arsene where he can open up and discuss his issues. If there's a guy who can revive him, Arsene is that guy.

Despite our lack of zeal, we created decent chances and Ramsey should have done better when Theo laid a perfect ball only for him to shoot skyward. By this time, that uneasy feeling crept up inside but it was difficult to spot the channel from where Fulham could score a goal. Sticking to our principle of making our life difficult, a defensive mixup led to a Vermaelen own goal. Theo could be blamed for not tracking the run of Riise who led to the confusion in the area. But even in that case, our defence should have dealt with it. Vermaelen had an average game until the time he surged forward to place his face at the end of another brilliant Theo cross which resulted in the equaliser. From villain to hero. The goal came about only after the much needed substitutions: Gervinho, Diaby and yes, Chamakh. The tempo of the game was instantly raised and passing was crisper. Gervinho and Theo made numerous forays in the Fulham area and we were rewarded for our effort with Vermaelen's goal.

The last 10 minutes saw us pushing for the winner but Fulham's time wasting tactics, throughout the match, made it difficult to come by. They were helped by Mike Dean who paid no notice to Mark Schwarzer's multiple delayed goal kicks. He deserved at least a yellow. But in a game where Dean ignored any foul on a Arsenal player you wouldn't expect him to notice anything wrong in deliberate time wasting. It's now 10 games on the trot when we have dropped points with Mike Dean as the referee. And what's with Fulham's hairline, starting from Jol to Bobby Zamora, there are bald galore, they're a disgusting team to watch (I like Gerv's hairdo).

Coming back to football, Arsene needs to find the right combination for his team B because there will be frequent personnel rotations running till New Year. Carling Cup QF will allow him another evening of experiment and I hope that our players prove Le Boss right the next time.

Everything remains the same, Robin scores, Arsenal wins

I must admit that it was the most hellish Interlull I've endured in recent times. It almost felt like the summer break. But as they say, patience is always rewarded and it was indeed by Arsenal. After being away for two weeks, it was expected that there will be lack of coordination in the team but there was no dearth of attacking intent. Robin could have scored as early as the first minute when he scoffed a chance from Theo's cross. Norwich City has been lauded by critics for their desire to play football and it was evident on the pitch yesterday. The game was open from the word go and before Norwich scored, Arsenal was murdering them. If it wasn't for Russell Martin's positional sense, Arsenal would have been 2-3 goals up in the first quarter of the match. His acrobatic clearance off the line from Theo's shot was some top class defending. But when Gervinho missed a one-on-one with Ruddy, I started to get a bad feeling that all the missed chances would come back to bite us in the arse. Steve Morison confirmed it when he caught our "big friendly German" (too friendly this time) off guard and muscled him off the ball to score Norwich's only goal of the game.

But given the form Robin is in, there was no doubt that we'll soon equalize. It was once again Theo-Robin combination which provided the much needed relief for Arsenal. Norwich's left-back had a torrid time against Theo and when Theo went past him the nth time, he produced a peach of a cross which Robin coolly tapped in. He saved Gervinho the blushes after the Ivorian had tried and missed with a fancy back heel on that cross. After the goal we dropped our game which made Arsene give his steely eyed stare at the HT. In the second half, it was more the same but with a much more composed central defense. Vermalean and Mertesacker were confident in their clearance whenever Norwich tried the aerial trickery. Except for Santos, our defense looked calm and solid. Song and Arteta who kept giving away the ball in the first half, also checked their enthusiasm and provided a better second half performance. Santos should be thankful to Song because he always covered him whenever he forgot to track back from his sorties. Our second goal came courtesy of a half-foul on Ramsey when Song collected the spillover and sprayed the ball for Robin who controlled it delightfully and chipped it past the onrushing goalkeeper. The goal could be used a lesson in the finishing school of the strikers. In a desperate attempt to come back on level terms, Norwich deployed Grant Holt. The "forward" used his shambolic free-kick winning skills to rob us off two points, but our solid defense kept him in control till the end.

Theo produced a consistent performance which will silence his critics. He was a constant thorn in Norwich's left side, out-sprinted their fullback many times and produced quality crosses. He deserved a goal but was denied twice, first by Martin and the other time by the crossbar. Gervinho had an off day at the office and if he had worn his scoring boots, the scoreline would have looked different. Robin now has 31 goals and need just 6 more to break Shearer's record of the most premier league goals in a calendar year. It's all good when Robin is scoring for us, but right now we're over-reliant on him and others should step-up to share the scoring responsibilities. Unbeaten in last five premier league games, we're carrying some serious momentum. If we can continue this form till New Year, we will be there in the top three. Let's keep it rolling and keep cheering for the Gunners. 

Spirit, mental strength and the handbrake

Yesterday was unbelievable, it was the most memorable victory in recent Arsenal history. Chelsea has been a thorn in our side for last few seasons but the last afternoon's thrashing has compensated for many of those painful memories. We're by far the better team but unlike the most of other times we were on the winning side. The game was all the more special because we came back from a goal down twice and went on to win the game in a comprehensive manner. It was a team performance of the highest order, the resolution and self-belief of the players was evident. There were brilliant individual performances which provided the platform for the team to excel together.

Chelsea's classless chairman provided extra motivation before the match when he asked his charges "to beat the crap of Arsenal." I guess Bruce Buck hasn't been following football lately otherwise he wouldn't have made such a comment looking at Robin's red hot form. Right from the word go, it was clear that it will be an open match and none of the team was too concerned about proper defending. But when it comes to attacking relentlessly, Arsenal had the better firepower in the form of Robin, Gervinho, Theo and resurgent Ramsey. After initial scare of first 5 minutes, Arsenal tightened the noose only for Gervinho and Robin to loosen the grip. The relief had an immediate impact as Chelsea scored via Fat Frank's fat head after some poopy defending combo of Santos and Mertesacker. The oil money has resulted in such hubris that Chelsea believed they could shut up shop against free flowing, coming back-to-terms Arsenal side. Ramsey's brilliant slit open the Chavscum defense allowing Gervinho to cross for our captain to score the simplest of goals. Again the defensive lapses resulted in a clear goal scoring opportunity, only for JT's BFF Sturridge to spurn it wide. May be he got intimidated by the big Pole in front of our goal. Escaping another close offside call, we were not so lucky when Mertesacker's lack of decision making provided a glimmer of hope for Terry to salvage some pride. He beat Per on a corner kick for the ball to roll into our goal and made the scoreline a glum 2-1 at HT.

But looking at our players disappearing in the tunnel, the determination and their hunger to win was palpable. We immediately pounced on them after the restart. Santos who had a shocker in the first half equalized through a well worked goal. It was enough to send the Gunners flying and Theo gave the advantage when his strike beat Cech on the near post. There was a flurry of chances on either end and parity was restored only after a brilliant strike from Mata. Santos lost the ball but then was blocked by Lukaku when he tried to get it back which allowed Mata enough space and time to drill a long range effort. Given the nature of the game, a scoreline of 3-3 was not enough for Arsenal who pushed forward in search of a winner. It arrived when Terry slipped to cover a poor back pass from Malouda. Robin was at hand to deliver the deadly blow when he rounded Cech to slot the ball coolly in an open goal. Our captain completed his hat-trick when we caught Chelsea on counter-attack. Van Persie's strike was so vicious that in spite of Cech's effort the ball flew in taking a deflection off his palm.

The win couldn't have come at a better time. Arsenal is back in the mix and Arsene's critics have been silenced. It was a brilliant team performance, a hard-fought victory which make us believe that our team has finally turned the corner. The players have been criticized both by the fans and the media but yesterday's performance should help the fans unite and get behind our team without any bias. It was Robin's sheer class when he asked his teammates to celebrate with the traveling fans. It was a brilliant gesture by our captain who is leading the team by example. Next up is Olympique Marseille and irrespective of the task at hand, I'll get behind our team and support them to play without any handbrake on. 

When the going gets tough, we stop going

Spuds 2-1 The Arsenal

A friend once asked me why do I watch football when it makes me miserable and I told him that's the whole point. Easier said, it was another heartbreak in the North London Derby, another defensive nightmare at Shite Fart Lane. We had feared our inability to defend as a team and lack of understanding at the back, ultimately both together cost us the game. I was extremely nervous before the start and wanted Arsenal to avoid defeat at any cost because the vitriol from fans after a loss would be unbearable. I had hoped that in the wake of the battle of bragging rights, our players would step up their game and grind out a positive result but instead they rolled over.

The performance was out there to be witnessed by everyone. We bossed the possession (I hate to write this after every single game) but created fewer chances than Lillywhite scum. They were dangerous whenever they moved forward thanks to our hapless defense. But then one can't blame Song for the situation because he didn't cause injury to four of our center-backs. He played out of position and was better going forward when he created our goal for Ramsey. I was worried about Sagna after his midweek performance. Against Olympiacos he looked lethargic and a player in dire need of rest. With Spuds' pacey baboon-faced winger he found it difficult and paid a heavy price when he landed awkwardly in an aerial duel. One can't survive with a makeshift, out of sorts defense against top teams in the league. We were repeatedly exposed at the back and were saved an 8-2 proportion scoreline thanks to Chesney's terrific goalkeeping.

Ramsey cut a confused figure in our midfield where he was in an early Christmasy mood and gifted the ball uncountable times. He has had an up and down start to the season and whenever it has come to a crunch, Aaron has crumbled. His philosophy of running the ball in the goal will not work until there are 5 Barca-esque players in our team or when Wilshere is back. A more direct approach in front of the goal will do wonders for him. Like him, Gervinho had a game to forget where for majority of the first half he remained uninvolved. I agree it was more due to Tottenham's formation but real effort is always clearly visible. After the first half, it was heartening to see Arsene bring him in the center which helped us equalize. But soon after we lost the initiative. There was a period when Van der Twat was just ambling on the pitch and it was a real opportunity for us to pressurize the opposition and look for a winner. Instead we relaxed and let them come back into the game with Sandro. It would be overly ambitious to say that we deserved a point from the game but young Coquelin certainly didn't deserve to be on the losing side. He played spiritedly but was let down by his teammates. Similarly Robin wandered around the pitch aimlessly with little to no supply to him. The excitement of starting a season with Arsenal will now gradually transform into apprehension.

Nigel Winterburn on ESPN reaffirmed the knowledge that Arsene is the sole in-charge of training and drills. He mentioned that Pat Rice has very little to do with the playing methods or defensive homeworks so berating him for the amateurish defensive performances is unreasonable. The buck stops with Arsene and he has to take some concrete steps to bring life to this Arsenal defense. Chronic injuries (even Miquel was injured) and mediocre quality hasn't helped his cause but at this moment we need to build our game starting from the back. After what feels like a long time we have a world class goalkeeper but now his colleagues are letting him down. Our next game is with Sunderland at the Emirates and with a defense like ours, Bendtner would be looking forward to stick the knife in a little bit more. With players away on international duty, Arsene will have little time to work with them and so the break is not really beneficial. The only solution I can think of is to play defensively, stop the passing football and resort to long balls for scoring goals. It will never happen with Arsene but then nothing else is working. Things need to be shaken up at the club otherwise it will be curtains very soon for our season.

"Little by little by hook or by crook"

Finally the dawn is upon us

Arsenal 2-1 Olympiacos 

Olympiacos is supposedly the weakest team in our Champions League group and before the game it was a popular notion that we will comfortably get past them. With raft of changes across the team, it was always going to be difficult for us to find rhythm in our passing. Song partnered BFG (Big Friendly German via Mr. Blogs) in our defence with the potato boy, Santos and Sagna on the side. Our new Brazilian had a game to forget against Blackburn and once again I was not particularly impressed with his defensive skills last night.

We started the game trying to find our footing but were easily broken down when tried to burst into the Greek side's defense. The first touch on the ball from Olympiacos resulted in a move from the left where we were lucky to not concede. It was not a pretty game in the first half much to the chagrin of Rosicky who looked completely out of sorts in the midfield. He was slow on the ball and made clumsy challenges all over the pitch. Arshavin was nowhere to be seen in the first half and most of the movement came via Oxman. His direct approach to the game is a whiff of fresh air for us fans who are frustrated with the overworked approach of Rosickys and Chamakhs to create or score goals. A peach of a pass from forward/midfielder/defender Song was deftly controlled by the youngster to lash past the goalkeeper for a fine finish and a European debut goal for Arsenal.

Olympiacos tried to open up the game immediately but were further punished in a counterattacking move when Chamakh was unable to put his boot at the end of a rolling Santos cross. Santos was on hand for the spillover and finished from a tight angle at the near post. It was the high point of the game for him as he misplaced his passes and was found short many a times for the remainder of the game. He looks more like a Brazilian winger currently deployed as a left back. Hope with time he can fine tune his radar and deliver on his defensive duties. Chamakh provided good link up play up front but was found wanting when he could have shot past the goalkeeper to make the scoreline 3-0.

We were made to pay for our naive defending when a short corner caught our defense flatfooted and Fuster was able to head the ball in from almost at the edge of the box. It was yet again an example of the lack of defensive understanding in the team. None of the player tried to prevent a short corner and Arshavin onlooked when Fuster was running in front of him to head the ball.

We were fortunate enough to not concede any more goals mainly due to our last ditch defending when Arteta cleared the ball off the line or due to Olympiacos' bad luck when Torosidis long range curling effort was denied by the woodwork. We looked short in our performance in the second half and barring a 10 minute renaissance period of Arshavin, we didn't have much to offer. The passing game didn't click yesterday which was understandable given the number of changes but few signs of complacency were visible. Sagna surprisingly looked off color and I'm worried about him for the upcoming game at WHL. He looked like a man desperately in need of rest. I hope he spends more time in the oxygen bubble until our trip to shiteland. It was a tricky game which didn't tell us anything new although it did showcase the attacking talent of Alex Oxlade Chamberlain. Song once again had a massive game playing out of position and now I begin to wonder how he would fare when played as a striker. I'm sure Songinho will fare well in that position too.

Our performance lacked solidity and discipline which will be required against an outfit much better than we have faced over the last three matches since Blackburn. The game on Sunday will feature Arsene on the touchline and hopefully he will be able to cajole our players to put in a good defensive shift. With Robin in flying form, we will be able to score goals against the Yids but it's our defense which still gives me nightmares. But until Sunday, I can enjoy our third win on the trot. I can see the sun rising on the horizon and it's about time for a bright Arsenal morning.

WDL or WWW

I thought I knew the feeling of pain well but last evening it turned out otherwise. The emotional trauma of last evening will not be forgotten for a long time. I was among the unlucky few who were not able to watch Arsenal beat Bolton 3-0. I missed Chesney's brilliant save early on. I missed Robin completing his magnificent century of goals for us and I missed Arsene celebrating with joy Song's wondrous goal. I missed the rousing chants of One Arsene Wenger from the "vocal majority" at the Emirates, I missed watching the men in Red and White play. I hope yesterday's painful experience will not be repeated in future.

As I didn't see the game live but only Match of the Day, it looked like Ramsey also had a cracker of a game and Theo is still 50-50 in 1-on-1. The point to note was that Bolton didn't have any threat up ahead on the pitch after David Wheater was sent off for pulling back Theo. It's understandable that Owen Coyle couldn't afford to be ambitious after his team was reduced to 10 men but the lack of urgency to snatch even a point was surprising. It was different from the Blackburn game where Junior Hoilett and Yakubu created problems for us with minimal attacking. Our defense was not really tested yesterday but another theory could be that we have worked on our defensive issues and have improved. I would like to believe the second hypothesis and it will be tested over the next week when we play Olympiacos and Spuds. I hope we can keep the winning momentum and make it WWW and WDL

Déjà vu all over again

Blackburn 4-3 Arsenal

Opinion

Last time I wrote about our team was after the Swansea win. We were not utterly convincing in that match but we were solid enough to grind out a decent result. That conclusion was partially vindicated when we were able to come back with a point from our European adventure away at Borussia Dortmund. It appeared that Arsenal was finally on the rise after a disappointing start to the season on the back of an equally disappointing summer. But in the aftermath of our calamitous defeat at Ewood Park, one is forced to re-analyse the Champions League game and accept that we're just plain lucky in that fixture. We were spared the blushes by some poor finishing from the current Bundesliga champion. Yesterday we notched it up a level and displayed a shambolic defensive performance.

Blackburn has already been labelled relegation fodder by the English media and for a change, they're spot on. Before the match, Blackburn had been sitting right at the bottom of the league table with just one point from their game against Fulham. Their manager, Steve Kean was facing the wrath of the fans and the players for not doing enough to build the team for the season and the resulting poor results. To give the whole situation an ironic backdrop, there were even protests against him before the game. I'm quite sure that Steve Kean would have already cleared his desk because a defeat against Arsenal was a sure eventuality. Similarly, Arsenal too would have fancied their chances against an opposition whose back was against the wall. But somehow we managed to screw it up and handed Steve Kean a lifeline.

We had Gervinho and Arshavin starting for us. The Russian has gradually started to look like the player we had signed 3 years back. There was Robin who had scored 8 goals in 10 games against Blackburn, a thorn in their side. Ramsey and Artea were in the midfield backed up by Song. It was very much a full strength frontline for us. As we always play, we bossed the possession, created many chances. Gervinho opened his account for Arsenal and so did Arteta. But then we wasted a lot many chances too. Gervinho was at fault for a blatant non-goal when he was too selfish to lay the ball for Van Persie. But still there were no signs in the first half of the upcoming doom. Blackburn started the second half brighter than us and we buckled under minimal pressure. Koscielny and Song who had an amazing game against Dortmund might want to forget their errors yesterday. Both of them gave the ball cheaply far too many times. One could argue that the balance was disturbed because of Andre Santos who was making his debut. I'm very much with that argument but then he alone didn't cost us the game. Yes he played Yakubu onside for his first goal and then created a 50-50 situation with his positioning for Yak's second but it was a collective capitulation at the back which led to the result. We were frivolous and abysmal in our defending.

Arsene argued in his press conference later that the team is missing the defensive confidence after the Old Trafford defeat but I beg to differ. We made basic defensive errors. The own goal which came off Song from Blackburn's corner, we were zonal defending! What was that all about, I thought that it went out of the league with Rafa Benitez. And then in the leadup of the second goal, Djourou commited himself on the byline when there was no need of it. Our other players were tracking back and Djourou should have just stuck himself to the Blackburn runner. The performance will not help Santos' confidence who looks promising while attacking. It was his debut game and his initial nervousness was visible. His lack of awareness could be attributed to these facts but others should have done better. Mertesacker, it appears will take more time to form a partnership with Koscielny but then he let's his man go too easy for my liking.

The game once again revealed that we have compromised on the basics. If Arsene keeps addressing the wrong question, we will never find the correct answer. We need to go back to the whiteboard/training ground and learn the basics of defending again. The most worrying outcome of the game was that we played with almost our full team and were still overcome by a lowly Blackburn unit. The few positives which one could draw are the maiden goals for Gervinho and Arteta and a sublime header from the shy Moroccan. Hope the goal can bring some much required confidence to Chamakh. But in the end it was a pathetic performance from Arsenal and probably a harbinger of the things to come this season.

Funny takeaway

Two Arsenal own goals.