Match Preview: Arsenal v West Ham
Not as tasty as next week's derby
A year ago, this tie might have been something to look forward to. But a year removed from a run for a spot in the EUROPA cup, Gianfranco Zola’s side are a shell of their former selves. As in form Arsenal visit Upton Park it sets up to be a case of David versus Goliath for sure.
West Ham seem to be one of those clubs that when you are not playing them, you can get behind or at least they used to be. Right now they seem like a train wreck. The side haven’t won since opening day, a 2-0 win over Wolves. The club is beset with financial issues and is selling off talented players to make up for budgetary shortfalls. Additionally, there is some noise that the club could be bought by a consortium of fans, financed from money in the US. As if that weren’t enough, reports are that Napoli have asked Zola and two of his assistants to quit the club and come manage back in Serie A.
Zola tried to set up a club that did it right. He focused on the youth devleopment system. Nurturing talent within the system and bringing them to the team when ready. He’s also a manager to admire because while his club languish in the relegation zone, the former Chelsea and West Ham man refuses to compromise his managerial principles in order to win. He likes a flowing, passing system, and cites Arsene Wenger as one of his favourite managers and one his system is slightly patterned after. Zola has gone so far to say that he would rather change jobs than change his principles.
“Arsène Wenger is a manager I look up to very much, because of the way he plays and the fact he works with young players. That fits in with the project we are trying to do here.
“Mostly I like his strength of character. He has been through some difficult moments but he never changes his philosophy, always playing attacking football.”
“The situation is difficult because I care about his club and to see us in this position hurts me. When I was a player it was easier to get on with your job, but as manager you have more responsibility.”
Sad to say the situation at Upton Park plays into the Gunners hands. The Gunners are coming off a lackluster performance against AZ Alkmaar in the Champion’s League. They will want to show that they have the mental fortitude to put such performances behind them and capture wins after losses. The Gunners as they are in the league come in firing on all cylinders looking for the fifth straight league win. They lead the league in goals scored with 27 in their last 8 and are 5 clear of the next team.
On the negative side this week is that Tomas Rosicky who Arsene was calling 50:50 on Tuesday is not on the squad. He is suffering from a knee problem. There isn’t a blog or article out there that hopes that this a minor injury and that he features in the side for the North London Derby next week. Given his history with injuries you’d forgive this Arsenal fan if he wasn’t overly optimistic. Additionally, the side will be without Nasri who while playing in the reserves still is not match fit. Djourou, Denilson andWalcott are all out.
However, to be fair an balanced, there are some players returning to the squad he should add to the fire power of the team. Nicholas Bendtner who suffered from a slight groin injury during the international break returns and Crozillian wonder striker Eduardo is also set to return. Admittedly during last week’s league match against at Birmingham there was some concern that we were thin in our striker area with Dudu and Nicky B out. Also with Walcott going down, had another striker gotten seriously hurt last week, there would’ve been some serious issues.
Going into this match, Arsenal also find themselves with a serious goal keeper controversy. All three keepers are back. Vito Mannone who looked real shaky during the Champion’s league tie has been stellar during league play. Manuel Almunia has been suffering the last two matches on the bench while Lukasz Fabianksi returns from his injury. Fabianski has some time before all three should be considered to play but Almunia is likely to be fuming that he hasn’t seen action yet. However, this is not an action without some sort of precedence. Jens Lehmann was once benched with an “illness” and was forced to watch and motivate himself to get back on the squad. Given Almunia’s horrid start to the season (only 53% of shots saved), it is likely that Wenger could keep the Spaniard out a little longer until he is hungry enough to play out of his head.
This match also is a good match to have prior to next week’s North London Derby against Spurs. And given the fact that Spurs have lost and Villa drew during this weekend’s matches, Arsenal can move into third with a win. A win also keeps City in either 4th or 5th place depending on how they finish against Fulham. The great thing about this is that should that all play out, Arsenal will be 3rd with a game in hand to Chelsea, Man United and Spurs.
Arsene Wenger came out during the AGM this week and said the team will win silverware this year. If the Premiership is one of them, then this game is a must win.
How it should play out?
Arsenal are in my opinion the class of the league in terms of their attacking style. They’ve been potent in all expect the Fulham match where they were held to one goal. West Ham hasn’t won since opening day and to make matters worse Arsenal are 4-0 in their last four league matches against the Hammers. The last time West Ham scored against Arsenal was a 1-0 win in 2007. Arsenal are going to prove to much for Zola’s side and should net big early. If form holds for the Hammers they are allowing an average of 2 goals in the first half. Look for the more potent Gunners to best that and score 3 in the first half putting the game clearly out of reach.
Injuries:
Arsenal: Nasri, Rosicky, Denilson, Djourou & Walcott
West Ham: Dyer, Ashton, Boa Morte, Davenport
Starting XI:
Arsenal: Mannone, Gallas, Vermaelen, Clichy, Sagna, Song, Fabregas, Diaby, Arshavin, van Persie, Eboue
West Ham: Green, Faubert, Tomkins, Upson, Ilunga, Behrami, Kovac, Noble, Collison, Cole, Diamanti
Players to watch:
Arsenal: Robin Van Persie – the dutchman is simply on fire – goals in 4 out of 6 league matches. He is not hitting junk shots either they are clinical finishes. He will maintain that and score again.
West Ham: Carlton Cole, the striker has scored in their last three matches at home and in their last 4 all together.
Final Score:
Arsenal: 4
West Ham: 1
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We’ve had 4 disappointing results this season – 2 Manchester losses and now 2 draws we clearly could have won.
The common aspect of these set backs was the team selected by Arsene – not a lack of rotation.
In every case he has only selected 2 attacking players and stacked the other 4 attack/midfield positions with CM’s and FB/utility types. That’s negative and imbalanced and means over the course of a match the 2 attackers get fatigued and increasingly isolated. We saw that today. Some berate Arshavin, yet we surrounded him with non-offensive minded players. That meant Perse and Arshavin had it all to do, pathetic. We’re seeing you can’t just stick anyone in this formation and think they’ll do the job sufficiently. You need the right amount of natural venom and midfield verve. Hopefully Wenger will learn this lesson.
We have never done defence under Wenger so there is no merit in berating the team to be better at defending leads, IT WON’T HAPPEN. We defend by occupying the other team with offensive pressure. We have always done this. If we can’t do this, forget it.
Todays poor show wasn’t a rotation matter it was a selection matter. The players aren’t too tired. We just put out an ugly team.
As for Eboue, he has done fine at FB. He seems to be controlling his antics better. He has demonstrated a bit of contrition and humility. So I hope he continues in this vein. But, let his role be competing for FB.
One of the things we’re seeing is that immediately one or two poor results are offered up Wenger is pillored. Some fans have exhausted their tolerance for this approach and this young team. Unfair? Well, it is what it is. They no longer believe, they want the trophy he talks about.
An example of this is Myles Palmer from ANR. It almost seems as though he was waiting for the slip. He slags Song – which seems a case of framing a case to suit his own prejudice. After all, any one who can see the game yesterday and comes away feelng justified in focusing purely on Song’s contribution to the award of the penalty is hardly communicating a well-rounded opinion of his performance. Song was immense, again. Is it his fault the team lacked sufficient offensive threat to occupy West Ham for 90 mins? The fact he was s busy cleaning up in front of the defence (just as he was against AZ) is testimony to the inadequate contibution from the midfield/attack in front of him.
It had ZERO to do with Arshavin or VanPersie.
Leading 2-0 with 20-ish minutes to go?
Its about defending.
Teams that win titles, don’t blow 2 goal leads with 20 minutes left, to bottom dwelling teams.
We have no keeper.
and you might not agree, but fatique plays a role defensively.
That happens when the same players play over and over and over and over and over.
Then explain to me how do Chelsea lose to Wigan?
How does Man U lose to Burnley?
How do Man City who you seem to love these days – allow Stoke to score 2 goals in quick succession?
That is the nature of sport – yeah it’s a cliche – but any given day any team can beat another. It happens.
What will be important is that it doesn’t happen on a continuing basis.
Okaaaaaaaay.
Really sickening today.
To watch the stars line up for us with other results… Liverpool coming up big and saving their season (yes, keep counting them out, they are 6 points back in October)… and then going up 2-0 in the first half… and absolute pathetic performance in the 2nd half.
We choked. Again. Twice in a week, against mediocre to poor teams.
No excuses please.
Wenger, again trots out the same players. We are playing West Ham, not fecking Barcelona… can we please rotate a few fresh players in?
No, of course not.
Much like the AZ Alkmaar game, we choked… and coughed up a lead… that we had no business doing.
We had chances to bury the game. We had chances after West Ham scored. (VanPersie with a free-header)… We had chances with them a man down.
We choked a golden opportunity away in the league, and that is exactly why we are very unlikely to win shit again.
WINNERS don’t lose 2-0 leads to West Ham in the 2nd half, and if they do, they find a way to win the match.
No heart. Poor managing. No killer instinct. No match winners.
This combination spells … heartbreak for the supporters.
Wenger will watch the January window open and shut, feed us some bullshit about having the players he needs, and instead of Arsenal having a rock solid chance of winning the most open Premiership season in recent memory (if not ever)… we’ll watch games like the AZ Alkmaar and West Ham games and wonder what might have been.
I have high regards for Rosicky, but not having Rosicky in matches is not our problem.
We have experienced players like Cesc, Arshavin, and RvP who have to step up and
assume some leadership; take over the game and MAKE PLAYS.
We don’t have WINNERS.
We don’t have players with killer instinct. We don’t have depth. We don’t have a keeper. We don’t have anyone with that’s tough, mean, and mentally strong.
You can’t win without that… not in this league.
Sure, Arshavin, Rosicky, and van Persie are all experienced players. That doesn’t make them ruthless. The reality is neither of them have consistently displayed that venom necessary to kill off a team.
Rosicky brings an attitude that when the opponent is down, he’ll completely destroy their belief that they even had a chance on that day. He’ll be sure to crush their skulls or rip their hearts out.
Do you really believe it’s a coincidence that we’ve struggled to finish off games as soon as Tomas was unavailable? Even two seasons ago we had the same exact problem. When Rosicky was fit in the first half of the season, we had an incredibly comfortable lead in the table, winning the games we were supposed to win. But as soon as Rosicky was injured in the second half of the season, we started drawing matches and ended up finishing third. Maybe it is coincidence but I don’t believe that.
I thought the free kick given against Diaby was harsh. While I like Hines, he didn’t deserve the free kick he was awareded as he simply ran into Diaby. The man in the middle was less than stellar today.
I said it two seasons ago and I’ll say it again, we lost the title when we lost Rosicky. I remember two seasons ago, someone said that Rosicky’s goals weren’t significant because he didn’t have any game winning goals. While that might have been true, it was hardly relevant. What Tomas brings Arsenal is a player who truly knows how to finish a game. For me, it’s no coincidence that we were ahead and comfortable the past three games that Rosicky’s been out and yet struggled to finish off those games. In fact, we only finished off the Birmingham game very late.
Goalkeeper deja vu? I remember another number 24 getting his chance ahead of the number 1 a few seasons back. In a game against Bolton in January ’05, our number 24 blew his run in the team with some horrific goalkeeping. The #1 was promptly re-instated and went on to make history as a keeper. I think it’s safe to say that our #1 will get his job back next Saturday. I’m just hoping he, too, can make history with some fantastic goal keeping. Almunia has the talent and experience to be a much better keeper than he’s been this season. He just needs to appreciate how difficult it is to play football when you’ve got your head shoved up your ass. Hopefully, Wenger dropping Almunia will help him re-focus like it did for Lehmann.
When I talk about Rosicky finishing off a game, the one that comes most to mind is the game at the Emirates against Portsmouth. Senderos had just been sent off for a foul on Kanu. Portsmouth tried to step their game up but Rosicky just had the tenacity to refuse to lose that game. He completely took over and, single-handedly destroyed Portsmouth spirit and belief that they could come back. That’s a player with character, with heart. You can’t teach that. Henry did the same thing against Liverpool in the unbeaten season. Tomas is a winnner, dude. If you’re going to win a championship, you need a team that has a winner in it. Two seasons back, Rosicky was our winner. When we lost Rosicky, we found ourselves drawing games we should have won and eventually lost the title race. People talk about the talent of this guy or that one. We’ve got plenty in the talent department. We need a winner.
When Arsenal went 2-0 up, things were looking too easy. And my first reaction was oh-oh, they really need a third goal, otherwise…
I think the bad memories of giving up 2 goal leads in the past still has not gone, so regardless of the opposition, that is what I fear.
And up next…the lovely team against Arsenal fucked up the biggest 2 goal lead in recent history. Even though Diaby and Eboue never started that 4-4 game, they were all on the field when Arsenal did something only they can do…snatch a draw from the jaws of victory.
In the meantime, the wait for all injuries to go away continues, just like it has done in seasons past.
DAG,
Whenever Arsenal draw or lose, you should consider shutting down the blog site for 24 hours, until emotions settle.
One aspect that has escaped our in depth discussion.
Through this match, WH has played 11 matches while Arsenal has played 15. Secondly, most of Arsenal’s
current starting line up play for their National teams – another 4 matches, taking match total to 19.
I would venture a similar comparison could be made with the AZ match. We look like tired puppies in
the last 30 minutes!
Lord Arsene should start to reconsider his managing philosophy and understand that weary bodies
are just that. At the end of the match, we lose our technical & tactical edge. Defensively, any mistakes
are magnified 10 fold vs striker errors.
Diaby could have been given a breather & Ramsey started. Anyone else could have played on the right
wing for Eboue and been more contributing.
If Arshavin can’t give us 90 minutes, then pull him off when he starts to malinger.
Anyway, the match is over. We’re all disappointed and rightly so. At the end of the match,
Wenger’s expression mirrored most of last season.
Interesting point about the number of matches played, and you might be on to something with how it affects our performance late in games.
Seriously, we talked about Wenger trotting out the same guys match in, match out… and he did it AGAIN today.
And the KOOL-AID posse’ remarked that we didn’t need squad rotation, that 3 games in a 8 days was no big deal, and that they didn’t like the players rotated.
!!!!!!!
???????
What exactly makes you think Wenger will change?
Top Ten Reasons We Didn’t Win (there are probably more)
1, Complacency
2, Lethargy
3, Ref gave a cheap free kick
4, Ref gave a cheap penalty
5, Fabregas very quiet
6, Diaby = Shit (again)
7, Mannone = Unconvincing
8, Green’s lucky, but effective save
9, We put Eduardo on too late
10,We put Bendtner on
(List courtesy of the blog She Wore A Yellow Ribbon)
I am trying to write a Match Review but my word selection is too colorful right now.
It was definitely a game where you thought if we didn’t get the third then there was a chance West Ham would equalize. We looked excellent in the first half and paltry in the 2nd.
What is equally as depressing is this – if this club ever learns to put clubs away winning the league will not be in doubt. Until then, well 2nd is all we can hope for.
5 more:
1. Diaby started
2. Eboue started
3. Eboue played up front.
4. Arshavin also very quiet.
5. West Ham wanted it badly… a lot more than our players did.
DAG, we shouldn’t be complaining too much about the penalty. Ref didn’t gave one against us when we played Blackburn.
We should have had one in the first half for the Upson handball.
We should have had one in the first half for the Upson handball. In my mind I was thinking, here is the balancing out. But it neever truly ends up in a balance does it?
Let’s take it easy though. We didn’t lose. And we’re keeping pace at the top. Hopefully the return of Nasri, Dudu and Rosicky will see better front-3 line-ups, i.e. not our friend Eboue (who is actually doing ok applying himself given he is a FB – just he needs to be used as such). In time Nasri may well compete with Diaby too for a midfield role. Allowing Diaby opportunity to consider a couple of areas in his game that need improvement ;-)
At this stage we’re ok. As always it’s how we respond to these stumbles that determines whether we have the right stuff this season.
Well that was was a stinker wasn’t it.
Diaby has a touch of calamity about him. He gave away a lot of free kicks today around the box – which is not intelligent. the first goal came from one of those – I even remember saying to myself when it happened “I wonder if we’ll pay for this?” and we did. Our GK contributed badly to the goal by diverting the ball into the box.
On the second goal, the PK looked soft but most of them are debatable depending on whether they’re for or against!
I really don’t like Eboue playing in the front 3. It’s not that he’s not applying himself, but he is NOT an effective attacking option. That means the team balance becomes skewed when he is picked in that role. For much of the second half of the game we became increasingly complacent – Arsene should have introduced someone/or two to refocus our purpose. As we know Arsene really is a tad hopeless with subs – perhaps one of the worst managers I’ve seen in that area.
We have never held on to leads well under Arsene so we need to go for the 3rd goal. We beat teams by killing them not grinding results. 3 goals will kill the game and often opens it up for a hiding. That is why I was disappointed with how we seemed to coast after going up by 2…..but then again we really do need to pick an effective front 3 – not Eboue, have I mentioned that? ;-)
There was a touch of last season in this performance.
We can’t let the wheels fall off. It was a draw after all not a loss so that’s ok. Yet the manner of the result is undermining. Arsene and this team need confidence and that comes from getting results. I watched Arsene’s face at the end – not good. We don’t need him reverting to nonsense jibberish.
Perse is looking better and Song is a gem in the DM role.
I agree we needed Rosicky, that in itself is a tad of a worry.
As long as Eboue, Diaby play prominent roles, it’s best for your health not to watch Arsenal.
I actually stand back in astonishment that Diaby and Eboue manage to consistently display the concentration span of sleepy fish in every passage of play.
If they have the ball for more than five seconds or get it back again in a short space of time, forget it. Possession is being conceded one way or another.
I seem to remember it was just after Eboue decided to slash the ball into the side-netting instead of crossing that we conceded the first goal.
That’s what happens with multiple clowns in the side. One thing leads to another, which leads to another….
I know you like Song but he still has that dopey hang dog look about him. Really, really, stupid sticking his foot out like that for the penalty.
You’re right Song was caught out in the penalty area. That said, his all round contribution was excellent, yet again. His hang-dog look belies his effort which is excellent.
Yeah, we miss Rosicky, but put in Eduardo OR Bendtner OR Vela instead of Eboue are we have a FAR better balance and wont miss Rosicky that much.
It aint rocket science but Wenger doesnt get it.
I agree.
Kiwi, didn’t you volunteer to send Eboue to the airport in the summer? :)
Like I said above, we need LESS of those 2 and MORE of Walcott, Rosicky, Vela, Eduardo, and Nasri. Eboue and Diaby just don’t have what it takes to play Wengerball.
Playing Eboue at the back or in the MF is annoying, but playing him upfront?! Is Wenger out of his mind?
As for Diaby, he’s not quite good enough yet, and I’m still not sure if he ever will be- only time will tell.
But honestly, what the fuck does Vela have to do to get on Wenger’s good side? How does anyone end up on his good or bad sides? I can’t figure it out, and neither can Vela apparently.
It was always on the cards with Mannone. Against Fulham Mannone palmed everything back into danger.
I would make Szezhny number one. Fabianski is shit as well.
You honestly think Szezhny wouldn’t be shit? Get real.
He’s actually a good goal keeper, actually carries himself as someone with some sense of what the role requires.
The same cannot be said for the rest. Fabianski is just a clown with no presence or composure whatsoever. Mannone has weird idiosyncracies. And Almunia just looks and plays so lifelessly and gormlessly.
I dont think we can afford to waste time on another teenage keeper.
I am very suspicious of the Polish keeper. Afterall he learnt his trade here right under Wenger, and we ALL know Wenger doesnt like to correct his players errors. He lets them “sort it out themselves” LOOOL!
Lets just go out and BUY a keeper.
Exactly. Maybe he’s more talented than the other 3, but he’s still a teenager, and there’s no way he’d be more effective than any of them.
PS: Mannone and Almunia are EXACTLY the same people. Different names, ages and nationality sure, but as keepers there is absolutely NO difference whatsoever.
Sure Vito is a whippersnapper, but Arsenal is too FUCKING big to be waiting for a keeper to learn on the job. When you have a calamity defense, an inexperienced DM and retarded wingbacks like Clichy, Sagna and Eboue, you better INSURE yourself by having a SOLID keeper.
Almunia, Fabianski and Mannone are ALL junk keepers. The latter two might change, but Almunia is not redeemable.
We NEED TWO keepers in January. That is in addition to our need for a DM.
I don’t know what you have against Sagna. He’s reliable every game. And how is our defense a “calamity”? It’s not the best, sure, but our number of goals conceded is nothing to complain about- and you can’t attribute that to our keepers.
Sagna is good and our CB pair works very well together. I might rather see Gibbs get some time over Clichy but that’s about it.
They also lack depth, I’ll give you that, but the Back 4 we usually play with is no “calamity”- far from it.
So your argument here is that the wingbacks, CBs and GK are OK?
So why do we ALWAYS leak goals at the crunch?
Our defense has been a calamity all season. We have not had ONE match in which the defense was stable for 90 minutes.
Actually, if you look at what I said, I don’t think our GK’s (any of them) are that good, and I don’t think Clichy is all that good either. But the other three defensive starters are all very good.
You’re just overreacting. You say we haven’t had a single game where the defense was stable for the full 90… what about the 5 games where we shut out the opposition? And what team has a defense that never, ever makes a mistake. I swear, you wouldn’t be happy unless we went the entire season without allowing a goal in all competitions.
Is our defense perfect? No. Does it have enough depth? No. Do we have a solid keeper? No.
But are they a calamity? Please. They are far from it.
I think you dont understand what I mean by “calamity”. Think “calamity James” … not complete disaster.
My definition of a calamity player is one who though possessing the required skill set continues to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.
Apart from the keeper, I think they ALL have what it takes to do the job…. but they keep on getting “tragic” episodes of their own doing.
“Our defense has been a calamity all season.”
A bit reactionary – even for you Fred. These late goals are a direct result of our
attack having no energy & our midfield being overrun.
Arshavin get give us 90 minutes, RvP stops tracking back to support, & the team is handicapped by not having a true striker on the right wing.
Yeah, true, the attack and midfield was botched by Wenger.
Calamity might sound like a very strong word, but I use it as in “calamity James” not in the much stronger terms you might imagine.
Perfect headline over at Football365: “Complacency Costs The Braindeads Yet Again”
Wenger is the CLOWN of the day for starting Eboue in our 3 man attack.
I honestly, cant think of a greater tactical line up ATROCITY or bastardization.
Anytime Eboue AND Sagna are on the pitch together you know tragedy is just around the corner.
Whenever you are defending Eboue is up front, whenever you are attacking Eboue is behind. Meanwhile VELA can not even get a game. He didnt even make the bench.
Funnily enough, Wenger, when he gets his head out of the sand realizes who the albatross players are. Unfortunately removing them after the 80th minute is way too late.
Why Wenger started the same freaking team from midweek is beyond me. The team played like SHIT in midweek and cost us a win, they instead get the reward of STARTING the next away match. And what do they do? They play like shit and cost us another vital 3 points.
The team NEVER learns anything from their mistakes, and neither does Wenger. Infact Wenger seems quite slow. He is the kind of guy who after getting an electric shock, decides to touch the naked wire another 4 or 5 times, just to make sure it always gives a shock. Retarded!
I bet you that this same lineup will start against Spurs next weekend.
“Funnily enough, Wenger, when he gets his head out of the sand realizes who the albatross players are. Unfortunately removing them after the 80th minute is way too late.”
Does the same thing when it comes to buying and releasing players as well.
Always one player at a time, always one year too late as a player leaves at the same time.
Wash, rinse, repeat.
Right between our first and second goals, a mate and I were joking that that is basically 0-0, because of our inability to keep a clean sheet, and that we need another goal to take ‘the lead’ and another one to secure it. It’s almost as if we are going into games already a goal down.
Deja Vu!
Actually, the draw was another fair result – MAYBE WE’RE EVEN LUCKY. Thank you Mr. Gallas.
The front line is stale. Who is Arsene kidding by starting Eboue?
I think Eboue is a nice guy, but his starting upfront is a ALBATROSS to our attack.
Oh well, Arsene will come out a emphasize our good form through the match,
and say the PK was disputable.
Shambolic refereeing. And I’m not saying that just from our point of view, Parker’s red card was pretty soft as well.
I don’t think we were that bad at defending. A soft penalty and a non-free kick (poorly dealt with by Mannone, though when I thought about whether Almunia would have been better, I hesitated and considered the possibility he would have stayed rooted on his spot). Carlton Cole was an absolute beast today, but we didn’t give them too many clear cut chances.
The question has to be asked, why is it that Arsenal cannot be comfortable even with a 2 goal lead? It wasn’t because we were attacking, because we clearly weren’t. I can’t put my finger on it. We really need to find the problem (probably mental more than anything) and sort it out quick!! When the big games come around and more potent teams are besieging us, does anybody have confidence in us holding on to whatever we might have?
I’m happy that Diamanti didn;t start (but again, who knows, maybe he wouldn’t have been as energetic starting)…
At least Man U lost and Man C drew (and Spuds lost, that’s always good). We are still only 5 points off of Chelsea (the new leaders), with a game in hand. So it’s not that bad… yet.
But we have to turn this mini-slump around quick… remember last year how we fucked up against Spuds? I think that game is on ESPN2 next weekend, and I am looking forward to watching it in beautiful high definition. But if we mess up again, even a draw against our eternal enemies, it could put the team off track for awhile longer.
If this really mini-slump, I fear the worst since Arsene’s team doesn’t always bounce back quickly.
Exactly.
Thinking about it. We need to get Clichy AWAY from that Spurs match.
He is a calamity waiting to happen.
which goal was Clichy responsible for?
The one Mannone fucked up, or the penalty conceded by Gallas?
I’m not sure if it has much to do with how we threw the last 2 games away, but both those games had Diaby and Eboue in.
We need LESS of those 2 and MORE of Walcott, Rosicky, Vela, Eduardo, and Nasri.
Oh how Rosicky would have controlled tempo.. At this stage, every minute of him playing is taken with the very real possibility that he’s not going to be around for the next. Missed him today.
I think Nasri in place of Diaby would help control the tempo of games much better.
Disagree with both of you about Diaby. He held his own.
Lets focus on why we only scored 2 goals…….(1 by Gallas)
I think Arshavin did really nothing, except one great through ball – in which RvP was off-side.
and
RvP had a header at the end that he should have put away!
scoring two goals is not “only”.
you want us to be scoring 3+ goals every game? thats silly.
“you want us to be scoring 3+ goals every game?”
Fred, those are your words / not mine.
Against WH we should have been more productive offensively.
You’re right our attack wasn’t clicking today, AA had an off game. Eboue I think did as well as could, but it isn’t good enough for our attack. He can beat a man so easily with that burst of pace he has but his final ball is sadly lacking.
I think what Fred is trying to say is that 2 goals, irregardless of where they came from, should be enough for the team to defend. The whole point of a second ‘cushioning’ goal is so that if we concede, we can still regain control of a game and be a goal up. I know momentum plays a part but when we concede one of a 2 goal lead the momentum shifts a bit too far in the other team’s favour.
That is two points thrown away. :(
Classic case of bottling by the king of bottlers.
Hands down, possibly the stupidest and most unintelligent squad Arsenal Football club have ever had.
Well done Arsene. Some achievement.
So much about Arsenal style. Still lacking mental strength :(
Whenever a team bottles a game, they pay us royalties.
Its how we pay for the stadium.
Football is a funny game isn’t it?
Prior to their win over us, Man City had a 100% win record, with Adebayor couldn’t stop scoring.
Following their win over us, they won once in 5 league matches since.
And following Adebayor celebrated his World Cup final-winning goal against us, he has yet to find the net since.
“World Cup final-winning goal”…
hahaha lmao! Classic!
The day is playing out exactly as I had hoped draw or loss for both ManC teams.
A win today puts us one point behind United and 3 behind Chelsea with a game in hand.
Man U. getting skewered by Pool was just bliss. Now we got everything to play for – two wins and we’re top of the league! Let’s do the Hammers 2-0. A goal each half. Van P. and – oh let’s say – Eboue.
On the mark. :)
Liverpool’s season continues to mirror Arsenal’s last one with a 2-0 home win over ManU. :)
So much so of the Man U style. 2-0 to Liverpool, take that Twelve-Man United.
Gameday chat is open:
http://www.youaremyarsenal.com/gamedaychat
Lineups announced: Exact same starting 11 as midweek. I’m confident.
Man Utd down 1-0 to a world class finish from Torres. Hopefully it’s a one off spirited performance from Liverpool. if not, then our kids can bring them back down to earth on wed.
Did Europe go into Daylight Savings Time a week earlier than us? I thought the match would be at 10:15 CT but it looks like it’ actually 11:15. I woke up an hour earlier than necessary…
Ye Same.. I get to sleep an hour later than I wuda liked..
The system purrs if Rosicky is fit, else it sort of limps along. Still very good to watch but not as good as it is when Mozart is fit. The trip to East London will be a little tighter than people expect though..plus its a derby so its not going to be easy…I go for a 1-2 away win.
DAG – kudos, a well crafted summary.
I’m concerned for Rosicky’s condition. His influence on the pitch is huge.
re: lackluster performance v. Alkmaar
If I’m managing the team, I would alter last week’s starting line up.
Drop Eboue and insert Eduardo on the left. (or include Bendtner OR Vela)
I don’t see any controversy in Goal. Almunia is not #1 for me, so I’m just
content to see Mannone or Fabianski get the start.
Tomorrow, I’m watching closely our energy and determination on the pitch.
I want to see players working hard (but smart) to put the game away in the
first 10 minutes.
3 points and no injuries!
Go Gunners!