Our Fears Realized

Stay On The Fucking Post!

So in the end it was exactly as we thought it might be. Two careless goals have brought our title campaign to a grinding halt. While the result may be devastating, the manner in which we conceded advantage to our Russian friends was a far cry better than seven days previously. At home we rolled over and took it in the twins, but at the Bridge we dominated possession, probed and Arshavin had two gilt edged chances to tie the match. The best of the two came moments after Chelsea opened, Cesc floated in a ball between their defense. Arshavin volleyed from point blank range but found the foot of Cech instead of the goal. One could feel from that moment on we we're simply not going to score, thus it wasn't much of a surprise when we found the post later. Chelsea scored first off of a corner, a rather tame cross came in and Clichy inexplicably left the far post to deal with it. Needless to say he didn't get to it, it found its way to Drogba who slotted it in the space where Clichy would have been. Elementary mistakes are being made that have cost us dear, and most of them have come from Clichy. The man needs to be dropped and possibly sold, he has never convinced and clearly is on the wane. As we tried to find the equalizer Chelsea waited, sat deep, and kept the field narrow waiting to break. Drogba's second was pure comedy from a defending aspect. Never mind the fact that he strode unchallenged to the six yard box, he could have passed to the top of the box where a Chelsea man sat unmarked. Game over and season over on February 7th. Too bad really, had we come through this with some pride and points I would have tipped us for a nice charge to the summit. But as it stands we have to be concentrate on securing a Champions League spot as both Man City and Liverpool are now 5 points away from third.
There really isn't much to say, we have all summer to bitch and moan. Now we have to get behind the team and accentuate the positives. Consider 8 months ago all the pundits predicted we would struggle just to stay in the top 4. To be so bitterly disappointed with such a capitulation speaks well for this young team. I don't think anyone really thought we would be the last ones standing, but we're not far away. The difference this season has been the points lost on United and Chelsea, those margins can easily remedied in a year. This is Chelsea's year, probably their last considering how old they all are. We just have to bide our time and I have no doubt the title is in our imminent future. Just not this year.

Bring on those Scousers.

It's The End of The World

More of this please.

The end of the week seems to have brightened up a little as Chelsea failed to punish our inept display on Sunday with a victory at Hull. The draw puts them six points clear of us and still all to play for at Stamford Bridge. A victory would take us within touching distance and one would have to give us the advantage in the run in.
Hypothetical scenarios are nice to play around with in the mind but the fact remains that we are still without a match fit striker. Eduardo's injury has kept him out of the game, while questions remain over playing Bendtner after him being out for 3 months. That leaves us with the possiblity we will field a team similar to the one last weekend. If Manchester United could out muscle us on own patch, certainly Terry and Co will dispatch us with ease. In my mind Wenger has to take the gamble of playing Bendtner. The height will give us the option of going to the air if our slick passing is found wanting again. We'll be able to hold up the ball giving our rather talented midfielders the chance to weave their patterns we know they can. Most importantly it will give John Terry a bigger mental test. While Wenger refused to be drawn into the furor today regarding the sacking of Terry as the England captain, it would be foolish to assume it won't play a part. Pairing Terry with someone who will challenge every cross forces him to stay in the game, Arshavin up front will be a huge let off for the philanderer.
Elsewhere the team is fairly unchanged. Diaby has a minor chance of playing, I'd readily welcome him back over out of form Denilson. In the back we seem to have everyone fit and ready, hopefully the extra days off have given them a bit more energy than was on display against the Mancs. I have a suspicion that Manuel Almunia will play which would be a bit of a shame. If there was ever a man to be sacked from his job for poor performances its him. His flap at Nani's cross still irritates me and if he was sold to Leeds it would be too kind to him. Fabianski please!
Predictions? I'd rather not. Sunday is without a doubt the marker in which we can judge our season. Any defeat will be the end of it in terms of the title and I'm not sure this team can take any more of that.

Starting Off On the Wrong Foot

Arsenal 1
Manchester United 3

Vermaelen 80

Almunia OG 33
Rooney 37
Park 52


So perhaps it isn't the best time to start a blog in the wake of a calamitous defeat to your title rivals, but then again I've never been one for pragmatism. This afternoon (or morning where I am) Arsenal fans were treated to a lackluster display in which Manchester United managed out of nothing to score 3 goals. In almost a replay of the defeat at Old Trafford earlier in the season we contrived to give away the whole shop and then some. To my astonishment Vermaelen went from a broken leg to starting in a manner of days, which makes one suspect despite all of the reassurances from Wenger the true fitness of Campbell. In the absence of an actual striker we reverted to a 4-5-1 in which forced our Russian midget to lead the line against a much taller defense. Our 5 man midfield lacked both speed and width allowing Manchester to funnel us right down the middle and into the legs of a much physically stronger midfield of Carrick, Fletcher and Scholes. At the back Clichy's lack of match fitness and the overall fatigue evident from the other three produced problems of their own. Clichy's day was bad from the start as Nani skipped around him with ease in the opening minutes and so it came as no surprise that Nani inflicted the opening goal. Nani was forced wide and had picked up a second marker when out of nothing he flicked the ball over Clichy went past both men and almost to the end line where he strode unchallenged to the edge of the 6 yard box. His cross managed to evade Almunia who could only tamely slap the ball into the net. Bruised but not out we managed to press and win a corner as Gallas was well forward when Rooney won the ball and fed Nani who outpaced 3 defenders and returned the ball to the scouser who finished with ease. The Emirates went totally silent as the game had been lost in 5 minutes. After the second goal you could almost see the physical attitude of the team drop. Passes went astray, balls were not chased down and our lone man upfront was out muscled by a second string defense. The halftime cigarette and coffee led to quiet and hopeful self-assurances that an early goal would turn the game on its head. Our midfield would start pulling the possession we need and the midfield would find its legs and the runs that we clearly lacked. But Manchester United is not Bolton. The second half picked off where we had left it. 7 minutes in Park ran at us and we failed to put in a challenge, leaving him the easy task of slotting under our non-existent keeper. Denilson in particular was making the worst of it for much of the game so it came as no surprise that he was first subbed making way for Theo. A short waif for another, it was a perfect swap. Our shape and directness barely changed and when Theo did get out wide to cross, it was dreadful. (Holy hell the boy needs a lot of work!) Our height problem was finally addressed 72 minutes too late as Rosicky and Sagna made way for Nicklaus and Eboue. Bendtner was unable to warm up in time and his touch was off while Rooney made a mockery of Eboue several times. Thomas Managed to volley (!?) in a consolation just inside the box after a corner but that's as close as we got. We pressed and probably should have had another when Gallas found himself with a free header in the box but it wasn't enough. Three goals in 10 (15 with stoppages) minutes would have been too kind considering, and we failed to score again. We did however have enough time to give Rooney one more gilt edged chance but he mercifully slotted wide. Chris Foy blew the final whistle and the recriminations began.
Its rather hard not to get whipped up into some sort of republican style frenzy when you see your team loosen its grip on the title in such an abject fashion. To be so open to the simplicity of speed and the counter attack is a sobering reminder of the naivety of this young squad. Bossing Liverpool is one thing but as we have been shown multiple times in the last couple years this United team is clearly not from the same cloth.
So who do I blame? Wenger is first up for his insistence on playing people out of position. Arshavin is not a center forward, Nasri and Rosicky are not wingers, Denilson is not a defensive midfielder and Almunia is possibly the worst keeper Arsenal have had in the last 20 years. That said the team needed to work harder than it did, runners need to be picked up, tactical fouls have to be made. The natural density that comes from a five man midfield was absent in part to the in ability to win a header, when we did manage to clear our lines it fell to a United player and the cycle of pressure started all over. As much as it pains me to say we are missing Diaby as much as we are Van Persie.
Denilson is as poor as he has ever been, the malaise on display today has been in the making, the two games against Bolton Denilson was easily our worst player. It's not the poor passing, it is his lack of effort, but to fair he's played more games than anyone else in the last 18 months so maybe he's just tired. Whatever the case may be, I hope he's dropped for Sunday. The idea of him passing directly to Fat Frank Lampard who in turn belts one past our pasty Spanish keeper is all to real.
Eduardo will probably start which is good, it will hopefully push Arshavin back wide where he likes it and Nasri to the bench where he deservedly belongs. I admit I still have high hopes for the Frenchman but on current form he doesn't belong in the first team. If he can put in an injury free spring then perhaps he'll be in form for the start of next season, but I fear this year has already passed him by. I do think he's being played too far wide, all of the best performances I've seen have been playing just behind the strikers and running from a central position. Arshavin clearly doesn't have the fitness to run at defenders for an entire match and can't play with his back to goal. In the later parts of the second half you could see he was mentally out of the game and rather unhappy. Which to me questions why Bendtner was on the bench, his is custom built for slugging it out with a pair of center halves. I would have very much fancied his chances against Evans and Brown for the majority of the game. We provided a fair amount of crosses, but with a fat midget contesting them had no chance to the delight of United.
I'm fairly mixed about the defense. For the most part I feel they played well (Almunia aside), Gallas had a fairly good grip on Rooney and Vermaelen is immense in both boxes. I would argue its just the form of our outside backs. We all know what they are capable of but at the moment they just aren't performing. I can see Clichy and Vermaelen having problems but I just think that's down to them not having played together much. Almunia is simply the poorest keeper I have seen in quite some time. More than half the teams in the league have better keepers, Almunia was a gamble that needs to be scraped. If we lose on Sunday I think it would be the best to have Fabianski replace him and play the rest of the season as our #1.
So as the trip to Stamford Bridge now looms our title challenge is hanging by a thread just as it did in November. Coincidentally if we lost here we'll be 11 points behind again but crucially we'll have all of the big teams behind us. As this season has shown us the league has gotten a very tight and every week seems to spring a surprise so all isn't lost. Even if we do lose. Chelsea has the toughest run in, they play Villa, United, Tottenham, Liverpool all in the final seven weeks of the season. United on the other had have never convinced until recently and they still are overly reliant on the Liverpudlian Shrek, I have no doubts they will have a poor run. The table however does not lie and we are at the moment a distinct third. Will we look back at this time as a shock that gave us the impetus to reaffirm our credentials or the moment that we realized that 12 months haven't change anything at all. This time next week we'll be much closer to answering that.


Come on you Gooners!


SFGoon