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Crazy Corner Conundrum

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Hey party people oaf12 here and welcome to Suburban Gooners!

 

It’s been a while since I have blogged on Suburban Gooners, yet it feels as if we are in the same position as we always (well for a while now) have been……nearly there!

 

My main worry is that the ‘there’ in ‘nearly there’ is the one thing that is changing! Over the years it has been the league title, then the top 2 or, at worst 3, but sadly now it is 4th and while I am still hopeful, even that target is looking rather challenging right now!

 

I’m not going to go into the who is or isn’t to blame – that has been done before, several million times. What I will say is that it certainly isn’t as black & white as simply being Wenger’s fault. Whilst he certainly isn’t blameless, I feel the main problems are higher up the chain. I would welcome David Dein back with open arms and as long as we didn’t ‘overspend’ I would also welcome a hungrier owner or at least one that seemed to care.

 

Anyway, enough of that rubbish, let’s get back to today’s topic and discuss our defensive corner policy. Again, I am not going to talk about why and whether we should or shouldn’t use zonal marking as that has been ‘done to death’. What I want to chat about is the fact that it drives me insane that we bring EVERY single player back to defend corners……

wtf

 

At first you may think “but oaf surely this is a good thing as it sures up our defence” but I would have to disagree! I really can’t see how, if anything I would argue the players probably get in each other’s way and play ‘the blame game’ when something goes wrong.

 

Also, I don’t know about you but if I were a goalkeeper (I have been, wow!!), I would feel more confident of collecting a ball within an area that doesn’t contain 20 players! By remoiving even 1, 2 or 3 it will create more space for Szczesny to manoeuvre, crazy huh!?!

 

My main concern however, is how much this limits us and invites yet more pressure. On the odd occasion a cleared ball may fall to, say, Theo on the edge of our box when cleared – this happened in the Newcastle game. Like lightening he carries the ball forward to launch a counter attack, so fast in fact that you start to remember how we used to play, how we used to be able to soak up pressure and then pounce!

 

Sadly, that is not the case anymore though is it? What actually happens, again as in the Newcastle game, is that the opposition have enough players back to crowd us out and we lose possession.

 

That is the odd occasion……

 

What usually happens is that when we clear the ball, all of our players are in or around our box so there is nowhere for the ball to go other than into the possession of the opposite team. Usually an opposing player picks it up and has enough time, as there is nobody there to hassle him, to look up and pick a pass / cross back into the danger zone.

 

Corner

 

It also invites the opposition to push more men forward, why not if there is nobody to mark! This is Sunday league stuff – if they (the oppo) have one striker forward you leave 2 defenders back, but if they have no strikers then you have a licence to push more men forward for the corner.

 

I’m not saying leave Giroud forward, he is good in the air so should come back but leave someone mobile, quick and maybe not as strong in the air up top. There will still be enough defenders and it will give us an outlet rather than blindly giving the ball away.

 

Imagine defending against Theo, or the Ox or Podolski at that matter, on the halfway line while your team have a corner. If that ball gets cleared over your head you know you are in trouble! Especially if one of the others are on the edge of the box to carry the ball or link up play too.

 

At the moment when we concede a corner our only target is to defend. With an outlet we could use (cleared) corners to our advantage – we cannot do this with the current set up.

 

To me this is obvious, simple, stuff and needs looking at ASAP.

 

What do you think Gooners? Are my points valid or talking nonsense?

 

Would be great to get your views in the comments below.

 

Cheers all

 

oaf out

Fanuary – another last one…..

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Morning all.

There’s not really a lot going on at the moment, as we count down to Sunday’s crucial game against Man City. Le Boss might poke his head around the door at the press centre in London Colney, but that’s probably it. He knows he’ll be asked about player availability, transfers and Theo, so nothing new at all I suspect.

With that in mind, I thought I’d re-post a blog on Fanuary that good olde Oaf12 did last week, but unfortunately we were poor in our communication and I posted something shortly thereafter. So let me hand him the floor and tell us who he wants to see with the remaining window days ticking down. Take it away Steve…

Hey party people oaf12 here!

So with all the excitement around the Fanuary series it seems mine was missed – queue the world’s smallest violin :(

The sad truth is that it was actually rejected the the evil bendtnersnettercousin who decided that it didn’t contain enough detail, which was fine. However, he also decided not to bother telling me…….pure evil I tell you!!

Anyway enough of him and back to me, you and the second final Fanuary :)

Enjoy.

Do you honestly think we are going to sign a number of players in January despite similar promises in previous seasons?

Really unsure about this one…..I’m usually very positive but I find it hard to see us signing a quantity of players after (by our standards) such a busy summer.

I know to us fans there are a few areas that obviously need strengthening / back up but what is so gloriously obvious to us isn’t always picked up by the boss – like the fact that Gervinho really isn’t a striker!

As usual we aren’t any the wiser with Wenger saying things like “Can I say we will be active? Yes. Can I say this will be concrete? No.” or statements about his main priority being getting Theo to sign before looking elsewhere – for all we know this night not happen until the end of the month, if at all.

I will remain hopeful though; let’s hope it pays off…..

Do you feel Wenger needs to buy a ‘big’ player in January in order to make a statement to the fans or just make the right acquisitions?

I don’t think it would hurt, yet I don’t think it is a necessity. I would have included Cazorla & Podolski as big players and I think that’s the level I would like to see us look at more – i.e. not Messi / Ronaldo level but still top class players. I would have definitely included Huntelaar within this level but he has signed a new deal at Schalke now :(

I know it’s not likely but a signing like Lewandowski or Cavani would be one hell of a statement and would be a great boost to the team. It would be a nice middle finger to players such as RvP and Nasri too.

The only negative would be that if they performed we would then need to worry about how long we keep them for, not a nice thought but unfortunately a reality at the moment!

Which position needs the most strengthening and which player would you sign to improve this area of the team?

I would say up top and cover out wide. Regardless of results and how we have been playing the stats are positive towards the number of goals we concede; we are just missing that clinical player up top to finish the job for us. Could this be Theo? Maybe – but should we put our eggs in a basket that may potentially be gone before too long, I’m not sure.

I’m also puzzled as to why Giroud seems to be playing fewer games since he looked like he had hit a bit of form….

I would have LOVED to see Huntelaar come in for two reasons 1) He is pretty damn clinical and is used to being the focal point up top 2) He doesn’t seen to like van Loser (as my son calls him).

With him out of the picture one of the two I mention above would be nice. I can’t see this happening though so let’s hope we pull another gem from somewhere…..hmmmm. We should have snapped up Ba.

Squad wise we need a keeper (I don’t even want to think about an injury to Szczesny right now some decent back up / competition like Butland, or us making it worse by him playing with one like last season), a left back (would love to see Baines come in but Shaw at Southampton has also impressed but the my hinder Meade) due to Gibbs’ fitness record and maybe some steel in midfield. I don’t have anyone in mind for this so can only point you in the direction of Ben’s post as he clearly has a preferred choice here.

I’d like to see Eisfeld get some game time too though.

Are we still in a situation of where we need to sell before we can buy?

I don’t think so but that’s probably not the view from the club. It would be good to get some of the players off the wage bull to make room for some of the above – unfortunately I would probably include Diaby is this.

It looks likely that Chamakh, Squilacci and Djourou may be out which is good for both them and their careers but also for our wage bill.

With Diaby my main concern is his injury record. Every time he comes back seems to coincide with a transfer window and he is hailed as ‘a new signing’ he then plays one good/great game out of 5 but is worshiped for this before getting injured for a few months just as the transfer window shuts.

We cannot rely on this and must sign reliable players and see his (and possible Rosicky) fitness as a bonus as and when it happens.

Saying that, knowing our luck, should these players leave they will probably never have an injury again and go on to play consistently for another team.

Do we need to sign replacements for potential summer outgoings in this transfer window?

Yes, without a doubt! Theo has actually been a bright light so for this season. We’ll need to replace him should he go and the sooner that is done the better. I’m sure that if he stays one extra man in the squad won’t derail the whole team.

Squad players (Chamakh and co) always need replacing but hopefully with more quality so that we can actually use them. Bringing Gervinho on or rotating him as a starter is really hindering us at the moment. His form at Lille and some of his early form shows he is obviously capable but at the moment he can’t even kick a ball cleanly – kind of important for a footballer – and constantly just runs into defenders. A decent winger to replace him and having the Ox (to remove some pressure) as back up would make a real difference.

Sagna is still one of the best right backs about (despite recent strange form) so if he heads off young Jenks will need some help and ideally another potential mentor. The French right back Debuchy impressed at the Euros and if he was willing to go to Newcastle…..

Would you like to add anything?

It’s been such a frustrating season so far as I had such high hopes for this team as on paper we look very good.

I don’t think major surgery is required (I seem to find myself saying that every year) but wouldn’t say it will be a simple key-hole job either.

We need to stop putting blind faith in players such as Diaby and also need to be harsher when assessing ability / form. Gervinho gets 90 mins when he is less effective up front than Mertersaker would be – this needs to stop.

I know I have focussed on our attack more than the defence but for me a strong attack really does help the defence. They are out under less pressure and there is always a focal point, conceding a goal isn’t as soul destroying and actually if you look at our (1st choice) defenders individually there are plenty worse players out there but not piles of better ones.

We also need to stop paying the mid-tier of players so much money so that clubs aren’t put off by their wages. We seem to have this the wrong way round – our worst players can’t find new clubs as their wages are too high, yet our best players could go to Liverpool and get more money.

Seems odd to me…..

Thanks all, until next time.

oaf out

Gervhino strikes: A better season in store for him?

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Another day, another ‘down to the bare bones’ Harry Redknapp style post where content for Arsenal is think on the ground and nothing really happens and……wait a sec….

Pre-season has begun! Woo-hoo!

But before we all get too excited, let’s temper the inevitable euphoria of some actual football by admitting that the Markus Liebherr memorial cup was quite far removed from what we will actually see come mid August when the strongest possible first team available will line up at the Emirates against Southampton. A ‘youthful’ side was named for the competition, which included fourth choice centre back Johan Djourou captain the side and eventually lift the trophy. Arsenal beat Anderlecht in their first forty-five minutes and drew with Southampton in their second forty-five. So actually, all we really saw of Arsenal was one whole match. The goalscorers were a returning Henri Lansbury and Gervhino who, by all accounts finished superbly cutting inside from the left hand side. Careful though gooners: remember last year against Cologne when he bagged two very impressive goals which resulted in Arsenal fans expectations sky-rocketing with Twitter exploding into a ball of hyperbole with noises from gooners everywhere expecting to see the new Robert Pires  gliding along the left flank during the upcoming season.

Of course it did not materialise and expectation quickly turned to disappointment. Perhaps it is the desperation of Arsenal fans as a collective to see the team feel ‘complete’ in all positions. When a player moves on, or their influence begins to wane like Arshavin’s had the season before last, the need to have a replacement that is an instant success becomes borderline obsessive. The more experienced fans – and I by no means count myself as one of those – know that when you have a young player, or a player from overseas, they need time to adjust to the Premier League and the English way of life. Just think of how far Koscienly came last season. I don’t know about you, but I still have to fend off lazy comments from non-Arsenal fans calling Koscienly a shocking defender, lightweight and alike. Away from Arsenal, before Cristiano Ronaldo became the player he is today, ‘expert pundits’ like Waddle and Hansen said he had no end product. I don’t want to start raising expectation for the upcoming season in terms of Gervhino, but the finish yesterday was certainly one of a composed player, perhaps one a little more settled and ready to improve on last season.

The good thing is, regardless of whether Gervhino is successful next season or not, we have options in that position. Podolski, Rosicky and even Oxlade-Chamberlain have all showed that they are capable of playing just off the striker out wide, so hopefully we can look to ‘mixing it up’ a bit this year. We shall see.

I haven’t watched all the highlights from the game yet, but it was good to see Lansbury on the scoresheet. I think Arsene would have probably expected Lansbury to play more of a role last year at West Ham, but when you have a belligerent chump like Sam Allardyce in charge, Lansbury was on a hiding to nothing from a start. It’s a shame really, because if he’d have played a regular part, we could be looking at him as a potential option for the first team. However, I doubt we’ll see much of Lansbury this season and I am starting to wonder if his Arsenal career could be ebbing away from him as well.

Not really a lot more happening today. Some rubbish about Robin van Persie house hunting up north, but that smacks of “2+2= 2,679,923″ if you ask me. I think there might have been a few pictures emanating from the area should that have been true.

Anyway, have a good one, enjoy your Sunday.

Is that the sound of momentum?

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Morning you fabulous people. I’m sure you’re all waking up to a lovely day today, irrespective of the weather. For gooners everywhere, tis a grand Sunday after a great victory yesterday.

We travelled to Anfield off the back of a thrilling victory against our arch rivals last weekend and ploughed head first into another very tough match against a team with aspirations of a top four finish. Liverpool were also coming off the back of a morale boosting cup final victory and so their confidence will have been just as high as ours. As the team sheets were read out on the radio before the match yesterday, we were boosted by the knowledge that the Liverpool side playing against us would have to cope with the absence of Glen Johnson, Stephen Gerrard and the injured Daniel Agger. As we drove from the Management’s family home pre-kick off I couldn’t help but muse that this is a similar situation that we found ourselves in when the Scousers visited the Emirates earlier in the season, albeit theirs was a scaled down equivalent – many of their first team players were still available. But the absence of a few key ones, plus Bellamy on the bench, meant for a happy man pre-kick off.

As the first half wore on the happiness turned to frustration, as Liverpool edged us in pretty much all elements of the match. Apart from a good save by Reina from Theo Walcott within the first ten minutes, the Liverpool goalkeeper was a spectator, which was certainly more than you could say about our young stopper in between the sticks. Wojcech Szcsceny had clearly decided he needed a double helping of his Weetabix before the game started, because he was in fine and commanding form, denying Liverpool on numerous occasions and most certainly keeping us in the game. Of course we are Arsenal, which means there is a cast iron guarantee that one of two things will happen – we get unlucky, or we shoot ourselves in the foot. Of course, both happened in that first half. Even the heroics of the young Pole couldn’t stop that.

After around 18 minutes of sustained pressure, the world’s biggest reprobate Luis Suarez decided he wanted to add ‘diver’ to his list of ongoing unfavorable personality traits. Working hard to get through the Arsenal defence with a neat one-two, he shifted the ball past Sczsceny and decided to swan dive over the youngster to try to get his side in front. The only thing that was worse than his blatant cheating in my mind was the fact that Sky have tried to exonerate him by claiming that there was contact. Even if he was tickled on the shin by Wojcech, there is no way there was enough contact to warrant his movement. It was a dive. Plain and simple. Thankfully however, the Pole was doing his best Gandalf impression and told penalty taker Kuyt “YOU SHALL NOT PASS” saving first from the penalty, and then from the rebound. Brilliant stuff.

Suarez

Suarez attempts a triple pike with a twist

 Liverpool were ahead shortly after however, through that other cast iron Arsenal guarantee: Lady luck being unfaithful. As Gibbs got lost further up the field, Liverpool broke, finding Henderson on the right hand side, who put a low cross into the box for Koscienly to slice into his own net. It was pretty basic stuff and the Frenchman will be disappointed with the end result.

Liverpool pressed for a second and possibly should have had it when Suarez hit the post first, then Kuyt flicked the ball past Scz only for it to trickle against the inside of the far post from a Downing cross. In boxing terms, we were on the ropes. But in keeping with the boxing analogy, we have a sucker punch in us. A real good one too. He’s called Robin Van Persie. On 31 minutes Sagna found the Dutchman with a great cross and in got beyond Carragher to head us level. At half time we were level and as Wenger pointed out afterwards, we probably should have been a couple down.

The second half didn’t see Liverpool put us under as much pressure as the first, but they were still a threat and always had me nervous. So when the added time board came up saying eight minutes I feared a last-minute Liverpool goal to break our hearts. And had they got it I don’t think many would have complained. However, having seen our team dominate games and get sucker punched enough time, perhaps we finally got to see what it looks like on the other side of the fence, as RvP volleyed home an exquisite finish from a ball over the top by Alex Song. He is getting a lovely little habit of popping up with assists at the moment. Lets hope it continues.

Job done. Six points from two games. And with Chelski being beaten at West Brom the day would have been perfect were it not for the two injuries – one from Arteta as Henderson (deliberately in my opinion) clashed with the Spaniard. He was stretched off with suspected concussion. Lets hope he’s back soon and its nothing serious. The other injury was to Abou ’Mr Glass’ Diaby who came on for Arteta only to hobble off with five minutes to go with a suspected hamstring. I have to say, it does look more and more likely that we will never see Diaby establish a regular position in the side and with the wage bill already as sky-high in the side as it is, we have to look at offloading him soon.

Another slightly saddening thing to see is the Theo Walcott conundrum. He was largely anonymous today and after a great second half on Sunday it would have been nice to see him have back-to-back stellar performances. But sadly his form is like his sprinting, in very short bursts deadly, but he just can’t do it enough.

RvP is something special though, isn’t he? At times he’s carried this team on his back single-handedly and once again yesterday he proved his importance. New deal please Arsenal. Come on guys and get it sorted. He has helped to craft out some form for us and dare I say it, perhaps even whisper it, but it looks like we’re finally building some momentum. I’ve said previously that we need to win a couple of ‘big games’ in a row and we’ve done that this last week or so. It’s vitally important we carry our momentum to Newcastle at home in just over a week and then Everton away a few weeks later.

So today we sit three points clear of chelski having played two much tougher games than them, and we’re on the coat tails of the spuds. Good stuff and making for a happy way to start the working week tomorrow.

Until then.

Back Our Boys!….Yes Arsene as well!

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To describe Wednesday in one word……dire !!

The expletives coming out of my household were very impressive….

A quite big statement to make, but that game was one my worst Arsenal experiences EVER….AND We have a lot recently… but it really hurt. I was slapped across the face with the reality of our ‘crapness’ (yes several slaps). We had nothing to offer…. No Leadership, No organisation, No attacking flair, No desire, No Nothing….Nada. Simply not good enough.

We have gone backwards massively this season….Last season we were two to three players off winning something…Anything. But this year, Six maybe Seven players :/

This is going to sound silly but BUT FOR F^%K SAKE ARSENAL SORT IT OUT !!

We are just going round and round in circles… But for a laugh let’s go over it again !!

  • Average squad who are over paid
  • A very stubborn manager
  • A board not willing to give Arsene any money?
  • Two billionaires fighting to own the club – for their egos.

oh and SOME fans who boo their own players when things aren’t going our way….. All adds up to a club spiralling down the drain.

The last six years have been nothing but a struggle for us as fans. The pain and anguish. The ridicule… BLAH! Arsenal why do you hurt us so. We Love you!!

One thing for sure – I am absolutely sick of people saying “Wenger needs to go”. Why?! Seriously what else could he have done ON WEDNESDAY NIGHT? Please let me know your opinions but with our current situation I think we need him to stabilise the ship….Yes you could say the ship he has helped sink, but Imagine if he goes go at the end of the season, we’d probably see:

  • RVP would go
  • Theo would go (personally I would pack his bags…BUT if we aren’t going to sign BETTER players we can’t afford *no pun intended* to lose any of the current bunch)
  • Real Madrid style youth transfers would disappear….
  • We would be left with a manager having to use Arsene’s players with no money ‘available’ for new additions…

Arsene DOES CARE about Arsenal F.C. Did you see him after the game? He looked like he was going to jump off a bridge. The man looked so despondent it was beyond belief. It was very refreshing, which sounds silly me saying this, but finally criticising his players and not passing the buck, he seems to be finally taking some ownership. Better late than never I suppose.

Maybe he/Arsenal needed this spanking to learn. I know it’s a silly way to do it but as long as we learn from this I think we can all agree it will be a good thing.

I think one of his major problems is that he isn’t questioned and is left up to his own devices. He must be questioned to keep him on his toes. The man isn’t untouchable he just needs some help. For whatever reason he has been given to much responsibility and it’s clearly effecting him now.

I think there is going to be some major changes at the club in the summer on both fronts. Only time will tell but lets hope we can finally move ‘FORWARD’.

Listening to some plonkers on TalkSport the morning after did cheer me up a little… saying Wenger has to go BLAH BLAH BLAH – they just don’t seem to think past the knee jerk reaction. Of corse we where a shambles and have been for a very long time BUT he has got us into the Champions League for the last 15 years on a shoe string budget PLAYING stylish football. Not many can hold their hands up to doing that. Who else would you have in charge of our club?? Please come forward and let The Suburban Gooner’s team know! My Vote is Arsene all day long.

All im saying is don’t push him out because he deserves so much more than that and you’d regret it….

Lets cheer up this morbid blog and talk about something we all love… TRANSFERS…. hooorarrrrrh I hear you cry.

Lets be positive for a second. IF we manage to get into the top four we could see a positive summer. Who would you like us to sign Ben? ahhh you guys!! My wish list…

Ben’s Wish List

  • Mario Gotze – 18-year-old Attacking midfielder plays for Dortmund
  • Siem De Jong – 23-year attacking midfielder plays for AJAX
  • Yann M’Villa – 21-year-old Defensive midfielder plays for Rennes
  • Jan Vortongen – 24-year-old Centre back plays for Ajax

A very unrealistic list but we need to show some intent. In my opinion these players could do it for us.

Cheers People apologies for the Rant just needed to vent. Get involved,let me know your feelings on the manager, the club and the players you want in and out. Cheers.

Be Happy
BEN

Please follow the Suburban Gooners team @BenLeeder , @chrishoward982 and @oaf12

Rumour Mill – Daniel Sturridge

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Hey party people, oaf12 here,

This is my second time writing for Suburban Gooners with hopefully many more to come.

The topic I have chosen for today is the ever changing rumour mill that constantly surrounds our club. This time focussing on Daniel Strurridge.

I read recently on one of the ‘We purposely made up a story with an intersting title so that you click on us’ sites that Mr Daniel Andre (yes Andre) Sturridge was getting rather concerned about being played out of position and would be seeking a move in the summer. It also suggested that a move across London to the Emirates may be on the cards.

I like Sturridge as a player, and have done since his younger days at Money Citeh. I was generally gutted when, as his contract had expired, he moved to Chelski in July 2009. As young Daniel was (and still is) under 24, and with the clubs unable to agree a fee, a tribunal decided that the transfer value would start at £3.5m with various appearance based add-ons which (including £1m for the first full England cap) have now all been met. Meaning the total value of the deal was £6.5m, plus Citeh get 15% of the transfer fee should he ever leave the Russians. (source – good old wiki).

I also remember thinking how (in my opinion) he had made the wrong move, I feel he was right to move from the blue side of Manchester as with all the money being pumped into the club his first team chances would have been slim at best, however the same could have been said about the blue side of London. This leads me to believe that money was a large decision maker, potentially even over football reasons, when deciding his destination.

Is Sturridge playing? Yes. Would he have been playing a lot earlier under le boss? Certainly, and the thought of Sturridge over the last fee years instead of Bendtner is an interesting one………

One of my Chelski friends asked me what I thought about the decision to send him on loan to Bolton. My answer was I was unhappy, as it meant they would get to see just how good he is, and with 8 goals in 12 games they certainly did.

So, do I think this is a likely transfer……..no, unfortunately not. My main reasons are the fact that although he isn’t playing down the centre (his preferred position I believe), he is playing. Plus Chelski still retain the ability to just throw money at a problem should it arise.

On the other hand, if we manage to hold on to fourth place and Chelsea miss out on Champions League who knows. It would certainly become more possible should we finally manage to get rid of some of our over paid (not even in the) squad players like Bendtner, Almunia and Denilson (aka the jogger). The issue when these players elect to go to one of the clubs that pay over the odds on wages is if it doesn’t work out the list of clubs willing, or even able, to match their salary is getting smaller by the day.

So my conclusion is, as with many of these rumours, as much as I would like it to happen……….I don’t think it will. I see the more likely outcome will see Sturridge offered a new contract giving him yet more oil money each week.

Thanks for your time Gooners, keep the faith, and lets hope we can at least finish above the Russians.

oaf out.

Arsenal: from frustration to salvation

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Morning fellow gooners,

Whilst I am not old enough to remember that Jimmy Greaves was a footballer (a plus given the teams he played for I think) I am old enough to remember his days as a pundit with Ian St John and his legendary catch phrase: it’s a funny old game.

When it comes to the FA cup it certainly seems to become more apt a sentence and for Arsenal it was the case yesterday. Because lets face it, if you look at our form going into this game, you have to say that describing the sport as ‘funny’ would not be one of the adjectives you would look for.

To use another footballing cliché, the game was also that “of two halves”, with the first half resulting in the team roundly booed off at half time for the second time in two weeks, followed by a redemption of the players within about 15 second half minutes.

The first half actually started quite brightly, like the United game. We had plenty of possession, we looked in control and we also tested Shay Given in the Villa goal a couple of times, the most notable being a stinging shot by Thomas Vermaelen after a free kick from about 30 yards out. The return of some key players (albeit on the bench) also made the atmosphere feel a little more upbeat than previous weeks, with Arteta, Henry and Sagna back on the bench, plus the once again composed Coquelin in at right back. After Djourou’s horrow show last week, this was good news all round. The Ox also started in his second game in a row.

So whilst the half ticked away we settled into our usual passing routine, but with one vital ingredient missing – final third cutting edge. Aaron Ramsey was not always at his best in the first half and Theo was once again disappointingly quiet, only once or twice getting the opportunity to stretch his legs, with one shot poorly off target. RvP was also quiet in the first half, as Villa did a good job of stifling the Dutchman and cutting off our attacking creativity by defending deep and asking a confidence shorn attack to try to break them down. They were here for a draw with the hope of a counter attack to see if they could snatch a win.

They got what they wanted. Twice. For the first opportunity it was once again a ball swung in from our left, from a corner this week as opposed to open play, that led to the first goal. As the ball was floated to the back post, no Arsenal defenders dealt with it and Richard Dunne raised above everyone else to nod the ball home. The second goal, in an almost identical time slot as last week’s Valencia finish, came as the half time whistle was about to blow. From an Arsenal corner the ball broke, and as Darren Bent was sent racing through you feared the worse. The first shot was well saved by Fabianski, but Bent reacted the quickest and gave the Arsenal team a mountain to climb by slotting the ball home.

Cue half time. Cue the boos. Cue the Twitter outrage. I have to say I was angry that we had once again seemed to gift another result to a team that, let’s not forget, we abject at best against Spurs late last year. Whilst I am not a fully fledged member of the ‘Wenger Out’ club, I was starting to think that his time could be running out if we suffered another defeat and went out of the FA Cup.

But we come back to the old cliché and we still have a half to play. Whilst the fans were despondently tucking in to their overpriced beef and onion pies and ready salted Pringles, the team were in quiet contemplation, determined not to be beaten. So when the second half started we immediately saw a different Arsenal. Ramsey, Van Persie, Walcott all suddenly started to see more of the ball and were also become more direct, with a purpose and a mission to eradicate any recent memories of failure. If the game was to be salvaged it would take an early goal and we were to be rewarded with just that. A ball inside the box from a driving Oxlade-Chamberlain run was latched on to from Ramsey who knocked the ball beyond Dunne, who clattered into him. The ball did roll to Given but it was still a foul, so whilst the debate can roll on whether Ramsey was in control of the ball, there is no denying that had it been on any other area of the pitch no questions would have been asked. Robin Van Persie dispatched the penalty and we had about forty minutes (including added time) recover the deficit. We need only have waited another three minutes before we were level. A ball over the right hand side for Theo to run on to was latched on to by the nippy lad, and as he danced around Warnock and played the ball off Given, it fell to Ireland who kicked it against his shoulder. Back to 2-2 and suddenly a win was within our grasp. And it was just four minutes after the restart that the winning goal was found. A brilliantly direct attacking drive into the box by Koscienly found a reversal of roles as Bent went to ground to defend the ball. He missed with one part of his boot and caught Koscienly. The ref pointed to the spot and once again Van Persie sent the keeper the wrong way.

The remaining half an hour petered out with Villa trying to unlock our defence but we stood firm to get our names into the hat. Away to Middlesborough or Sunderland will be our next destination in round five.

Just before I sign off, a quick word on the booing and the situation. Yes you should always get behind the team, and yes booing doesn’t really achieve anything. But the booing is really the only way that fans can announce their displeasure. And lets face it, had we have lost this then there would not be many fans saying that Wenger knows what he is doing. Football is a game of fine margins and yesterday’s two halves reflected that. As I’ve said all along, I’m willing to see how far we go until the end of the season before I judge whether I think Wenger has had his time at the club, but until then, we need to stick together and see how far we can get.

Have a good day all.

Swansea review exclusive! New club motto

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Morning,

Let’s start Monday with some positives from the weekend shall we? It was my Fiancée’s birthday on Friday and we frequented a lovely Nepalese restaurant. Then we went to her folks on Saturday and were treated to a very nice pub dinner. Finally, yesterday I cooked a roast that was absolutely sumptuous (if I do say so myself) and we finished the night with a class episode of Sherlock on BBC1.

Now, on to the negatives, and I can exclusively reveal that there was a massive typing error when re-designing the new Arsenal crest and motif last year. The printers made a massive cock-up and featured the words ‘FORWARD’ on the club crest on the print run. What the club actually wanted was the words ‘SIDEWAYS AT BEST’.

Before the game yesterday I, and no doubt many of my blogging brothers and sisters, all stressed the need for three points away to a capable but ultimately beatable Swansea City side. The attitude had to be right but we were all hopeful that it would be, and mixed with application and ability the players would give three points to the away travelling gooners to chew on for the journey back along the M4 into England. What we got was none of the above.

I’ll go into the nuts and bolts of the result in a second, but before I do there was a few things I want to go into before I talk about the team’s performance. Last night I took to Twitter to have a look at the pain other Arsenal fans would be feeling and sense what the general mood was. I wasn’t expecting too much positivity and I certainly didn’t get it. But the behaviour of one fan in particular was deplorable. One so-called Arsenal ‘fan’ decided that a campaign of hatred and bile was going to be directed at Aaron Ramsey, calling for him to be killed or injured through varying ways. Now there are many fans that have called for players to be sold, or groaned every time a player plays for their club, perhaps because they just don’t rate him, but I am pretty sure that nobody I know has ever even said or thought that a player deserves that kind of deplorable behaviour targeted towards them. I hope the person in question is found out, thrown off Twitter, and criminal proceedings started against them.

My second point before I go into the team’s performance is that you simply cannot expect a team with the injury list that we have to win every game and there is no doubt that the injuries to key players (Sagna, Vermaelen, Gibbs, Santos, Arteta, Wilshere and Gervhino off at the ACN) has affected our team. Take that many of the best 11 players in a Premier League team and they will struggle. See Man Utd at home to Blackburn as an example.

My final point is that terrible refereeing decisions are now becoming the norm to such an extent that you fully expect every game between now and the end of the year to involve a penalty against us or a sending off or an incorrect offside decision going either way. Anybody who wants to play the ‘it all evens itself out’ or ‘the big teams get more decisions anyway’ wants to have a look at the following table that is run by a team of people who try to work out who has been shafted by referees this year. See us at the bottom? Don’t think that’s going to improve after this weekend’s result, do you?

The match itself started well enough. Before the game Alan Smith said on the commentary for Sky Sports that Andrei Arshavin needed a good game and within four minutes he had made an impact. Sliding a delicate pass to RvP who held from shooting until the perfect moment past Vorm, we were one up within five minutes. The perfect tonic and the perfect opening.

That was as good as the day got. We do definitely need to give Swansea some credit. They started to press high up the pitch, force errors from players like Song and Ramsey (both woeful) and kept winning the ball back. So when they got their equalizer on 16 minutes it was not exactly against the run of play. As Nathan Dyer turned well on the ball inside the box, he pushed out his leg and raked his studs along Aaron Ramsey’s shin. His theatrical fall to the floor was surprising and immediately I laughed and said ‘get up mate’. Unfortunately, Michael Oliver saw something that I doubt few others would have and gave a penalty. I saw something on twitter that asked – ‘what would have happened if Ramsey would have gone off with an injury? Could Oliver really have given a pen then?’ – I think the answer to that is a categorical ‘yes’. He is a terrible ref and showed it again yesterday.

The second half started but Arsenal didn’t and we were behind on 57 minutes. Aaron Ramsey lost possession about ten yards from our box and when Dyer was found on the right hand side of the D he made no mistake.

Swansea were ahead and it was twelve minutes of looking like nothing would go our way until the second equalizer. Johan Djourou, who had a terrible game as well, decided that he would be of use and slid in the otherwise anonymous Theo Walcott who chipped the ball over the keeper for 2-2. At this stage you hoped that we could kick on.

But this is Arsenal. We do ‘implosion’ better than everyone else. Almost straight from the kick off a simple ball over the top was not dealt with defensively and Danny Graham was in on goal to slot the ball past Sczscney. If I’m being brutal, the keeper didn’t exactly get his lines right and probably could have saved it, but like so many of our goals this season it didn’t really even need to come to him to have eradicated the mistakes.

So the match petered out to a 3-2 victory and not even the substitutions of Henry, Rosicky and Oxlad-Chamberlain could draw us back level for a third time. A hard defeat to take. Not just because it’s to a newly promoted team, but because of the manner in which we lost. I saw nothing of a ‘never say die’ attitude from the team and too many players were found wanting. Mertesacker wasn’t great, Miquel had a tough time and showed that he is clearly not ready for the first team – certainly not when he is out of position, Song and Ramsey were so dire it was tough to watch. A real shame for Rambo because he of all people, being a Cardiff lad, will have wanted to get one over on Swansea and perhaps he tried too hard.

Up front we had both Theo and Arshavin looking so anonymous at times I thought we’d already had two players sent off when I went for a quick comfort break.

That’s enough for today, but I’m going to continue to dissect this performance tomorrow as there are some fundamental problems with the team at the moment.

Leeds Preview: Let’s get it right first time this time

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Howdy all,

Post a little later today on-account of TFL being rubbish at generally everything they do and delaying my journey into work by about 20 minutes. Normally I like to arrive into work, do a little bit of blogging and then crack on with my other role in the heart of our fair nations capital. However, today’s post is being done via the old lunchtime 15 minute window so will probably be a quick and poorly written one. Apologies for any kind of errors that therefore creep in. Blame Bob Crow. Works for me.

Anyway, tonight we face Leeds United almost a year to the day that the Yorkshiremen travelled down to play us in last year’s third round FA Cup tie. Any repeat of last year’s awkward tie which was eventually navigated through via a replay at Elland Road. Last year we relied on a last-minute Cesc penalty so this year there will at least be no repetition in that sense!

However, we do have one certain French legend returning to his ‘home-from-home’ tonight and I think he’ll play some part. I think he will definitely play a part and the stadium will rise a little with the decibel level when it does happen. My only hope is that it doesn’t take Arsene until the 80th minute for it to happen. My guess is that after an hour Arsene will realise that Chamakh hasn’t touched the ball and he will be hauled off in favour of Titi. Let’s face it, we ain’t gonna see the forgotten Korean of football any time soon so Thierry might as well get on.

The team line up for tonight will be interesting. I can imagine we’ll see Chesney in goal, and we only have two fit centre backs that are available so the hand of Le Boss is being forced in that respect. However, our full backs appear to be drawing a few different conclusions from the blogosphere, as its unclear who is going to play and where. Apparently, via Jamie @ Young Guns Nico Yennaris trained with the first team yesterday, which would suggest he would play some part. Particularly when you see the official site featuring Nico in an interview when he talks about how he needs to step up to the mans game. I think he’ll come in at right back tonight. Which leaves us with the left back conundrum. Will he play Miquel at left-back or go for a bit more consistency and keep Le Coq in an unfavoured position? Personally, I’d like to see the Spaniard get the nod. He has impressed on the few occasions he has been on the pitch and I think he deserves a chance. I also think that Coquelin deserves a chance in his natural position. Every time I have seen him in that central midfield he has looked composed, good on the ball and comfortable when having to do the dirty work in making the tackle. I think he’s a bit further along in his development than Frimmy and so hopefully he’ll play. I’d like to see Rosicky and Benayoun partner him in the midfield trio. Yossi has impressed with his work effort and the pass he played for Gervhino to get the goal against Wolves shows that he has a good eye for a through ball as well so I hope both start tonight. Arteta has played a lot of games and so has Ramsey, so the idea of them having a mini winter break along with RvP would be great in terms of the game against Swansea on Sunday.

In attack I think Andrei will get another chance to show he still has that magic left in him. Chamakh will start in what could potentially (barring season-long injury to RvP – touching wood when I say that!) be his last start for the club, as he disappears off to the African Cup of Nations and when he gets back he’ll resume his place on the bench for the remainder of the season. On the right hand side of the attack we could see The Ox, which I would think it would be the least he deserves after his fine display against Man City in the Carling Cup.

In terms of our visitors, they have their own injury problems, with Patrick Kisnorbo now being out for the season. I was talking about the game to a Leeds supporting work colleague who said that up until a few days ago Leeds only had two fit centre halves and with Howson and Snodgrass out injured, I’m hoping it will be a tough night for the Leeds players that make the starting eleven. We know how tough it is dealing with injury problems with the squad we have, so to be in the Championship and be missing the players they are missing will make tonight a really tough test for Simon Grayson’s men.

It is for that reason that I think we’ll win by a few goals tonight. As always, it wouldn’t surprise me at all if we conceded, but I think we’ll be a couple of goals up by the time the inevitable lapse of concentration happens. I’m going for a 3-1 win with goals from Yossi, The Ox and maybe even Henry – you never know, he does like scoring against Leeds!

If we get through we’ll be up against an Aston Villa side at home on the weekend of 18th and 19th January, so I am hoping that come 10pm tonight we can look forward to that weekend.

Make your voice hoarse tonight if you’re going – I know I will.

Transfer stick or twist: difficult choice

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A very good morning to you all on what is another cold day here in the heart of our nations capital and home of by far the greatest team the world has ever seen.

A quick note for yesterdays game between Man Utd and Newcastle. A shock I must say, as United’s 3-0 slump at the hands of the Geordies meant a few things for Arsenal fans, namely:

  1. Spurs could go second if they beat Everton (*shudders at the thought*)
  2. Man Utd are falling apart with injuries the same as us
  3. The game at the end of the month against them will take on even more importance for both teams

I know people say you shouldn’t moan about injuries as they are part of the game, but the fact that the champions are struggling at the moment because of an abnormal number of injuries hits home how difficult it is when you don’t have a first 11 playing. That is something the Spuds have been able to do for most of the season. Anyway, on to all things Arsenal…

The dust has now well and truly settled and the defeat to Fulham has been consigned to the Premier League archives. Short of awarding us a retrospective three points on account of Fulham having a manager that looks more like he’s been plucked from a chickens arse, there is nothing we can do about the result. It was our sixth of the season and right now, with still a good four days before the team is back into action, there is still an air of doom and gloom amongst some of the Arsenal supporting mates I have. I think it might be catching, because over the last 48 hours I have been dissecting the fixture lists over the next few weeks and it makes for tough reading. What makes it worse is that the ‘orrible lot down the road are picking up skanky results game-by-game and slowly edging away from us. With their 1-0 win at home to West Brom they went six points clear of us with a game in hand, which is a home match against Everton. They have not been the best of travellers and you can’t really put your faith in a side like that. On top of this, they have managed to go through the whole season with minimal injuries to key players. In contrast, barring RvP (and I’m touching four different types of wood as I write this – makes typing quite hard…) we have had nearly all of our key players injured for a prolonged period of time. Injuries are part of the game, but you can’t help but think that Arsene must have stepped on three drains whilst walking under a ladder and dropping a hand mirror during the summer period last year.

Like I say, injuries are injuries and there is not a lot, as the boss says, you can do short of buying 10 players for each position. I agree with him to an extent, and hopefully the positive news from Sagna, Wilshere back in training and Vermaelen only a two to three-week absence (I know, I know, we’ve heard it before!) means that we’re starting to see the light at the end of the tunnel. From today we have a solid 10 days before we far off against another Premier League side and I just hope the next few days are peppered with good news on the injury front.

In some ways I sympathise for Wenger. He is in between a rock and a hard place on whether to stick or twist in terms of bringing in defensive cover. If he goes out and gets a full back and then Sagna and Vermaelen are both back for the United game on 21st Feb, then we’re paying the wages of a bench warmer. Wayne Bridge can stay on that plush leather seat on the sidelines in Middle Eastlands thank you very much. However, if he trusts the medical staff and brings nobody in, he could run the risk of that all too familiar ‘little setback’ and the January window will slam shut before he can rectify.

Personally, I think we have cover in Miquel and Le Coq for the FA cup game, but I’d be a little more concerned if those two were lining up against Swansea or Man Utd. Whatever the boss decides to do, we have to hope that the players there can do the business for us. We’re now getting to the sharp end of the season and we have crucial games against United and Spurs within the next month and a bit and we can’t afford to have any more slip ups. We already need to see a big collapse from Spurs (can’t see it happening) so lets just keep all our fingers and toes crossed and hope the players are truly united and up for the first as a team, as Theo’s recent interview on the main site suggests.

Until tomorrow goons.