The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly. Arsenal v Udinese Wrap Up

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way  – The opening paragraph of A Tale of Two Cities

Well, I don’t think I have any nails left do you? What an adventure that match was. I am not sure even now what to make of it. It started so brightly and ended with a feeling of “WTF just happened here?”

Heading in to the match, it was hailed as make or break time for Arsene Wenger and his charges. The hopes for continued Champion’s League adventures hinged on the successful outcome of last night’s match. If they were to draw or lose, the doom and gloom brigade would surely be out in force saying that Wenger had lost the plot and that he should be gone. A win, and surely the AKB lovers would be out saying everything is fine. From what I’ve seen there is a little of everything but for the most part people are looking at this objectively.

The Good

Besides the win, the good has to be that given intense pressure from a good opponent, Arsenal did not crumble. Last season a match like this where we were bending and bending would’ve surely led to either a draw or loss.  While some shots were getting through and there were a couple of nervy moments, the team as a whole did not collapse. The bent, but they did not break.

Thomas Vermaelen looked as stout as I remember him. He was everywhere and did everything. When Gibbs went off injured he moved to left back as Johann Djourou slotted into the center back position. For the 10 minutes he got to play there it took advantage of his offensive ability and his keen ball handling skills. When Djourou went off with his own thigh injury, he went right back to the central position and commanded the back. The effectiveness of the tandem of TV5 and the constantly improving Koscielny cannot be understated. They are growing together (no this does not mean I think we are safe at CB).

Again, every time that Szczesny is on the pitch, he keeps proving why I like him. He simply is as effective a goal keeper we’ve had since Lehmann was in between the sticks. I am going to go off on a limb two games into the season and say he is a better GK option than United’s De Gea. Hell there were long range shots last night that De Gea likely wouldn’t save given his penchant for letting in the long shot. But Szczesny is ours and he just gets better. He likely will make some more mistakes here and there but he is so far better than anything of recent memory. I can’t even remember who they were.

Theo came to play. I was so happy to see that Theo is finally beginning to understand how to use his speed. Before Udinese took off their left back, Theo and Bac were having their way with the left side of Udinese’s defence. They didn’t have a suitable answer for Walcott’s speed.  It was why he was in the right place at the right time in the 4th minute for the Cesc-like cross from Ramsey that proved to be the game’s decider.

Other notable performances were Gervinho who despite having issues with his shot, really is showing how direct a threat he can be. If he finds his shooting touch he will give people fits. Jenkinson and Frimpong each started looking nervy and made some early mistakes that could’ve cost us. But as they settled, they came into their game they and performed admirably. There was some good movement in the end from Frimpong where he beat out some Udinese defenders. It was a nice combination of speed and skill. Nice to see from the lad.

The Bad

It was hardly a convincing performance wasn’t it.  For all of our possession, we gave up too many chances. We let them in and kept them close. It was good that we didn’t collapse because frankly it could’ve been ugly had we.

Di Natale is everything they say he is. I like him. I really do. It was a shame he didn’t have the support he kept screaming for. Had he gotten it, it might have been a different outcome.

I’ve been hearing of Arsenal going to a more pressure oriented defence but I didn’t see that much last night. I saw an Arsenal team, specifically in the midfield that gave too much space to Udinese. This allowed them to move forward on the counter quite easily and with the space they had, they almost made us pay.

I am not thrilled by a midfield of Rosicky, Ramsey and Song. Rosicky is not good enough any more. While he isn’t awful he doesn’t give us anything. His passing is off, his speed is “meh” and frankly he’s just plain past it. We didn’t sell him I think because we don’t/didn’t have an understanding of what was going on in our midfield. To me a fresh Jack and Rambo are a good combination and have a good understanding with each other. Until Jack comes back we may be deficient.

Also, I would like to formally announce that I no longer have Marouane Chamakh’s back. Sure he is good at holding the ball up but whatever happened in Vegas – his ability stayed there. At this point I am crying for Bendy to stay and Makh to go. And that says alot because everyone here knows I think Bendy is not our striker answer. The problem is neither is Chamakh.

The Ugly

It wouldn’t be an Arsenal season without questions about injuries. And yesterday we were chock full of them.  First Gibbs goes off at the half after hyper-extending his thigh. Then his replacement Johann Djourou does exactly the same thing. Additionally, our back up LB, Traore was injured in Monday night’s reserve match. Sagna moved to left back and Jenkinson slotted in on the right but it will do little to make anyone feel at ease. Especially with Liverpool, a return CL leg and United coming up.

Also good thing we got the early score. Because of our lack of creativity though some fans may have had a false hope. With Cesc gone, Nasri likely gone and Jack visiting the hospital ward, Rosicky is not the answer. Either move Arshavin there or get someone in who can do the deed because we are showing ourselves to be woefully inadequate there.

Get ‘er done.

Some final thoughts

I said I was going to remain bullish on Arsenal in spite of the onslaught of negativity surrounding the club. So I wil leave the wrap up with this – We won. We won ugly. We won a game that maybe we should’nt have won. We won 1-0  in a match we eeked out. It was reminiscent of another time. Maybe that is the destiny for this season’s Arsenal. I don’t know. I don’t care. What I care about are wins – I will take them any way I can get them.

All we need now is an away goal. I see Udinese scoring at home but not 3. A single away goal puts this tie away for Arsenal. With Van Persie back off his suspension and a fresh Gervinho we should be able to get the goal we need.

Samir Nasri

Not sure how many of you saw the You Tube video with Arsenal fans singing the Nasri chant with a new twist. Instead of singing his praises they chanted he was a C U Next Tuesday.  Well, in this day and age it was a video that was seen by the player and he took to twitter to say this:

I heard what the fans were singing about me on saturday and it is really disrespectful because i’m still a arsenal player- @Nanas08 – Nasri’s official twitter account

Then yesterday shortly after the match all the major press outlets were carrying a story that quoted Nasri as saying the following on his Facebook page:

It’s nearly done. But I will leave with bitterness and anger in my
heart.

“I am proud for having played with the Gunners.

“I’ve been very disappointed by the supporters last weekend.

“I am still an Arsenal player but I will certainly leave very soon.

Of course you can imagine that Arsenal fans jumped all over this. They were screaming for the Frenchmen’s head. Except there was a little problem. Last night Nasri took to twitter again with this to say:

Just to make things clear i dont have a facebook so i never said i was leaving with bitterness the guy who said that use a fake account – @Nanas08 – Nasri’s official twitter account

It brings into question the whole validity of the coverage of the team. Did someone make up the Nasri account? Did Nasri realize he had made a dreadful error in judgement and back track? Either way, no one is looking especially guilt free right now and it is only make this a circus unto itself.

The press are hungry for a story and if this story is not true then it only adds fuel to the fire that the journalists are stoking the flames of discontent at Arsenal. If it’s true then Arsenal need to remove a player who clearly cannot handle being under the scrutiny of the fans and doesn’t want to be on this team.

If he has a problem with what the fans are going to say, then he will have a bigger issue playing for another team. Ask Adebayor. Fans are going to be fans and they will praise and chastise players. The down side to social media outlets like twitter is that even as great as the access is, it doesn’t given the personality the filter they might enjoy with a regular press handler. The fact of the matter is this –  it is probably better that Nasri not say anything in any outlet and let the executives handle this transfer deal.