Author Archives: Michael Roberts

Didn’t You Just Know That Arsenal Would Win Today? (w/ Player Ratings)

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Arsenal (2) – (1) Manchester United
Nasri (22′, 48′)
The Emirates Stadium, London

I haven’t really been taking in much Arsenal news really. There’s always going to be a lot of hype about who will play, what injuries we have and all the boring talk from the players about how much this game means. We know what it means, we’ve all been watching these massive games for years now.

So I thought the only way to enjoy the game (and not get caught up in the negativity during the build up) was to just avoid the press and just sit down and watch the match.

And what a match.

The news before kick off was that Adebayor and Van Persie were injured, so Bendtner would be starting with Abou Diaby playing in behind. Adebayor’s touch can sometimes be hit and miss, so I was more than happy for the Dane to play against United – his touch is far better and he always looks to play in other team-mates. And we know that on his day Diaby has excellent ball retention.

Arsenal started very sloppily and a pass back from Silvestre in the opening 30 seconds was short and Almunia had to pick up the ball in his own area, giving United an indirect freekick inside the box. Luckily they couldn’t take advantage and after that Arsenal really upped their game.

The game was wide open, with both sides trying to score the opener.

But it was the little Frenchman Samir Nasri that made the first real impact on the game.

A freekick from Fabregas on the right hand side was headed away by Berbatov, and the ball came out to Nasri on the edge of the box. He controlled the ball well with his first touch and lashed a left-footed effort towards the crowded United goal and into the net. Replays showed it took a nick off Gary Neville but it was a well-taken shot and if you don’t buy a ticket you can’t win the lottery.

The frenetic pace continued throughout the first half, with Nicklas Bendtner missing two excellent chances from fantastic crosses by Gael Clichy and Samir Nasri.

United had their chances too, with Rooney blasting over from a Ronaldo lay off and Berbatov was just offside from a Rooney shot which Almunia saved. Ji-Sung Park also had a left-footed chance saved well by Almunia who looked more confident after the criticism during the last couple of weeks.

There was also a penalty claim from United when the ball appeared to hit Clichy’s arm from a Rooney cross, but in all honesty I thought that would have been harsh to give. The clumsy challenge on Berbatov by Denilson was more of a penalty in my opinion.

You just felt that with the nature of the game Arsenal needed that second goal just before the break to calm things down but the Nasri did the next best thing.

Continuing the high tempo from the first half, we came out of the blocks in the second period and some excellent build up play from Fabregas saw Nasri through on goal who then emphatically smashed the ball passed Edwin Van Der Sar.

Arsenal were 2-0 up!

Then the real tension began. Would Arsenal collapse like they did against Spurs? Would they have the bottle and kill the game off?

Well the early signs weren’t great.

United had nothing to lose and really piled on the pressure. And Gael Clichy’s wild challenge on Ronaldo minutes after Nasri’s second goal was worrying. And Denilson’s inability to hold onto the ball gifted United possession time and time again.

And for about 15 minutes Arsenal were really under the cosh.

Ronaldo somehow beat about 4 men and ran into the heart of the penalty area, but luckily could only shoot straight at Almunia from the byline. Rooney also had a header which went down the keepers throat. And from a United corner, Almunia sustained a head injury from a Michael Carrick swipe which saw him come off a few minutes later, replaced by Fabianski.

With about 20 minutes left, Ryan Giggs came on for Anderson, and Alex Song replaced Theo Walcott.

And from a excellent Arsenal break, Samir Nasri was hauled down by Nemanja Vidic for a clear penalty. Replays showed that referee Howard Webb didn’t have the best angle to see it and if anyone should have awarded it, it should have been the linesman. But it was the same official that didn’t give one to United so I guess he evened things out.

The last few minutes were madness in all honesty, with either side capable of scoring the next goal. Tactics, formations and positions seemed to be irrelevant as United chased a goal that could get them back into the game.

To his credit, Fabianski was aggressive and came out at every opportunity to make his presence felt.

With 5 minutes left, Arsene made his last substitution which was Kolo Toure for Diaby. I thought the best change would have been to take off Denilson since Diaby was always a threat going forward.

Then it happened again. We conceded a goal in the final minute of the game.

Arsenal seemed to be coping (although my heart wasn’t) with United and seeing the game out, but a fantastic left-footed volley by Rafael went just inside the far post.

And the fourth official indicated 6 minutes of injury time.

From then on it was just a daze.

Bendtner had a chance to kill off the game, as Arsenal broke on the counter attack in a mad finally few minutes, but Arsenal held out and defeated the Premier League Champions.

I’ve only just recovered from that game – it has to be one of the best games this season. Both sides deserve a lot of credit for going for it and entertainment-wise it was fantastic. Not sure I can cope with many more games like this this season though!

And didn’t you just know Arsenal would win today?

Every time we get written off Arsenal step up and rarely let us down. And this result is even more impressive with the fact that players like Adebayor, Van Persie, Eduardo and Rosicky weren’t even involved.

Player Ratings

Manuel Almunia: 8/10
Looked much better today. He was positive from defensive positions and his bravery from the United corner summed up his performance.

Bacary Sagna: 8/10
You’ve heard it a million times, but he was solid yet again. Up and down the touchline throughout the match and kept Ji-Sung Park quite for large periods. Almost did two jobs with the below-par performance of Theo Walcott.

William Gallas: 9/10
Made some really vital interceptions at key moments and couldn’t have played much better. Kept Berbatov quiet and an all-round excellent performance.

Mikael Silvestre: 8/10
Played well alongside Gallas, and obviously upped his game against his old club.

Gael Clichy: 7/10
Linked up well with Samir Nasri and defended well in the most part against Ronaldo. Switched off when Ronaldo had a big chance at the far post, but was up and down the pitch as usual.

Theo Walcott: 6/10
Couldn’t get into the pace of the game, and was sporadic throughout. Always a tough game to play in and Evra didn’t give the young lad much space to play.

Denilson: 7/10
Defended well at times but almost seemed too complacent on the ball when playing out of defence. Not his style to punt the ball away but sometimes his short passes from the back gifted United possession and put the pressure back onto Arsenal.

Cesc Fabregas: 8/10
Ran the team again and had a massive hand in both of Arsenal’s goals. Seemed to tire near the end but that’s expected when he covered as much ground as he did. Looks much better with a haircut too.

Samir Nasri: 9/10
Brilliant performance. Dangerous, fearless and never afraid to shoot. For all our possession, we needed someone to hit the net and Nasri obliged. Great goals and finished both excellently. First game against Manchester United and he didn’t disappoint – superb temperament and to play like that against the Premier League Champions is sensational. Well done son.

Abou Diaby: 8/10
Linked up well with Cesc, Denilson and Nasri throughout and played with confidence.

Nicklas Bendtner: 7/10
Did well at times but squandered several chances to score at important times of the game. Made some well timed runs and caused Ferdinand and Vidic problems. Tired near the end of the second half but ran for the team throughout the 90 minutes.

Alexandre Song: 6/10 (Replaced Walcott on 77′)
Alarm bells started ringing when he came on (a la Spurs) but to his credit got stuck in and made some decent tackles.

Lukasz Fabianski: 7/10 (Replaced Almunia on 78′)
Played the best part of 20 minutes and did well. Came out for everything and relieved the United pressure.

Kolo Toure: 6/10 (Replaced Diaby on 85′)
Played on the right wing and didn’t really have a chance to influence things.

So Where Did It All Go Wrong For Arsenal?

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Well the Stoke defeat leaves more questions than answers, and gives Arsenal their 3rd loss of the season. We only lost 3 games in the whole of last years campaign and didn’t win the league, so only a miracle will see us lift the trophy come May.

The fact of the matter is though that deep inside, I think every Arsenal fan knew we were never going to win the league this season. Last year was our big chance to break the Manchester United/Chelsea hold on the title but a cruel twist of fate at Birmingham ended our hopes of winning it. I maintain that without the horrific tackle on Eduardo we would have lifted the Premier League trophy. Obviously, there was still football to play that season but without Eduardo breaking his leg in such a shocking fashion we would have beaten Birmingham that day and continued our excellent run of form.

But as you know after that match Gallas had his public strop, the team lost their way, we failed to win games afterwards and the rest is history.

And unfortunately our Premier League season has ended with 27 games remaining.

So where have Arsenal gone wrong?

The biggest problem Arsene Wenger will have is that over the last 3 seasons this new squad he has been building has progressively got better. The invincibles side has well and truly departed (apart from Toure) and last year we finished in 3rd with a massive 83 points. The season before we finished 4th with 68 points and the season before that you’ll remember we pipped Spurs to 4th with 67 points – and that was with an arduous Champions League Campaign throughout the season.

And last year it seemed like we had turned the corner.

We only finished 4 points away from eventual Champions Manchester United, and effectively a win at Old Trafford near the end of the season instead of a defeat would have been enough to win the league.

But this season we have got worse.

And I hate to say it, but the departures of experienced players like Alexander Hleb, Gilberto Silva and Mathieu Flamini have been major factors.

Hleb played over 130 times for Arsenal, Flamini racked up 153 appearances and Gilberto had 237 games under his belt. But apart from the experience of playing with Arsenal under Arsene Wenger, it was clear that Hleb and Flamini were very good friends with Cesc (as well as Rosicky) off the pitch as well as on it. The chemistry they had when playing together was evident and is it just a co-incidence that Fabregas isn’t playing at his best this season? Of course, Cesc hasn’t had a rest from his summer exploits with Spain but seeing your closest team-mates leave for clubs like Barcelona and AC Milan probably doesn’t help.

The last thing you want to do if you haven’t had a pre-season with your club is to have to learn how to play with a new midfield line-up.

The big question is are the replacements good enough?

Obviously Nasri is a quality player, but as with all new signings they need at least 6 months to really settle in. Theo Walcott has come into the side and really made the right sided position his own, and Eboue has shown this season that he is good enough to step up his performances from last season.

But what about in the middle? Are Denilson and Song really good enough to play alongside Cesc Fabregas?

And the captain situation has just compounded the problems.

You need a leader on the pitch if you want the best from the team but the appointment of William Gallas yet again this season either means he doesn’t think Cesc is old enough yet or he actually thinks Gallas is the best choice.

Granted, Gallas captained the team to their best Premier League points total since our title-winning season in 2004, but surely the complete display of immaturity at Birmingham last year (as well as the antics this season) would be enough for Arsene to pick someone else to lead the side.

It seems like faith in the moody Frenchman has hit an all-time low and the lack of fight or determination on the pitch – especially shown against Spurs – is just non-existent. It was clear that in the final minutes of that game the young team just didn’t care. At 4-2 up and with only minutes remaining you should be keeping the ball and not trying to score another goal. So when Spurs score to make it 4-3 Gallas should be heeding the warnings and rallying the troops, but what happens? We capitulate and give our nearest rivals a moral boosting point. And now look what Spurs did against Liverpool.

Giving away stupid points away this season has come from immaturity and complacency. Against Fulham it was just a general all round poor performance, but points dropped against Hull City and Spurs were from a lack of mental strength. Where is the ability to kill a game off? Where is the maturity to know that if you’re a goal ahead and can’t get another then keep hold of what you’ve got?

There are no excuses, especially when last season we had no problem winning games by closing out the game. Giving away two goals in the last few minutes of the match would have been unthinkable last year.

And questions have been raised about Manuel Almunia.

It’s fair to say that while he didn’t have the best games against Spurs and Stoke, but I have to say that over the last couple of seasons I have been really impressed with the Spaniard.

While I thought Lehmann was world class (I will always remember THAT save at Old Trafford and the one from Raul at Highbury) he had 6 years on Almunia who has still to improve. His temperament is excellent and he has shown in certain games he is capable of making simply fantastic saves. And of course, he doesn’t cause major problems by punching opponents when we defend corner kicks.

I guess the big question is are we actually in such a bad state, or are we still in the race?

After all, we’re only six points off the top spot and there’s a lot of football yet to be played.

I think the big problem is that watching Arsenal this season, there are worrying signs of weakness which you just don’t see in previous title-winning campaigns. Could you see the Arsenal teams of old with Vieira and Adams in the side capitulate like we did against Spurs? When you see your side literally throw away points then you can only fear the worst.

And the performances have been too inconsistent.

We smash teams like Fenerbahce, then lose to Fulham. And a typical sight we’ve seen this season are performances like the one at Sunderland and Stoke, where the team just don’t seem up for it. Maybe we’d be okay if we didn’t have to play teams that started with the letter ‘S’.

Our saving grace could be in the cup competitions, which could been a more realistic target this season.

The Halloween Frights Come Early As The Arsenal Self-Destruct (w/ Player Ratings)

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Arsenal (4) – (4) Tottenham Hotspur
Silvestre (37′), Gallas (46′), Adebayor (64′), Van Persie (68′)
The Emirates Stadium, London

Well first of all what a game.

David Bentley scored the opener with a stunning effort on 13 minutes, and that seemed to set the tone of the game. The ball was bouncing around in midfield and Bentley controlled the ball with his first touch and volleyed in a speculative effort from 43 yards with his second. While it was a fantastic piece of vision you really thought Almunia should have parried the ball wide rather than try and tip it over the bar when you see how low it dipped into the net.

From then on Spurs sat back and tried to get us on the break.

And as if to keep with the Halloween theme it was the Addams Family’s very own Gomes who seemed to continue his very own personal nightmare from crosses. As the Arsenal pressure mounted it took a corner from Van Persie to get the equaliser. His dipping cross was headed in by Silvestre after Gomes was in no mans land.

Then the second half saw Arsenal take the lead after only 50 seconds of the restart, again after a fantastic corner from Van Persie. William Gallas connected well with it and while Gomes got a hand on the ball it wasn’t strong enough to keep out the header.

With the game at 2-1, it took another 20 minutes before we saw another goal. In between though, Adebayor had a fantastic chance to score when he flashed his effort wide of the left post and Bentley had a low shot well saved by Almunia.

And then on 64 minutes the game burst into life.

A simply stunning through ball from Van Persie made it through to Nasri who found himself through on goal. His chipped effort beat Gomes but it took the finish from Adebayor to make sure it made it into the net. And with that you thought the game was over.

Like hell it was.

In a hectic period, Almunia made a howler from a Huddlestone effort when he pushed the ball straight to Darren Bent to score a simple tap in. Luckily Spurs were also in a generous mood as Alan Hutton passed the ball to Adebayor who played in Van Persie to emphatically smash the ball home.

4-2 and Arsenal were cruising, so Wenger brings off Walcott, Van Persie and Nasri to rest them for the weekend. Maybe they should have stayed on a little longer.

Because in the last 5 minutes Arsenal were all over the place.

Call it inexperience, call it poor concentration – the last few minutes of the game were unacceptable and really re-enforce the fact that this set of players isn’t up to mounting a real title challenge. What happened was just insane, and Arsene must be absolutely fuming.

On 89 minutes, Clichy dawdled on the ball and slipped letting in Jenas to run on goal. He waltzed through without anyone putting in a proper challenge and he curled the ball with his left foot into the corner.

Then when you thought Arsenal would have learnt their lesson, they just simply lost the plot. Instead of holding onto the ball they tried to pass it around and continually gave away possession. Then on 93 minutes, a shot from Modric deflected off Silvestre, and Lennon creeped in score the equaliser and make it 4-4.

Player Ratings

Manuel Almuna: 5/10
Was out of sorts today. Could have done a lot better with Bentley’s pop shot and gifted Darren Bent of all people a simple tap in. Unlucky with the final equaliser but that summed up his day.

Bacary Sagna: 7/10
Solid as usual and can’t really be blamed for any of the goals.

Mikael Silvestre: 7/10
Did well to score his goal but looked shaky alongside Gallas at the back, but then again who doesn’t? Not the quickest player and got caught on a few occasions.

William Gallas: 7/10
Had his usual strop at full-time but did score a vital goal. Should probably concentrate on defending a bit more though.

Gael Clichy: 8/10
Once again was full of running and yet again put in a fantastic performance. Made a mistake to let in Jenas which opened up the floodgates.

Theo Walcott: 8/10
Caused Spurs all kinds of problems on the right and you could tell the dynamic of the game changed once he came off.

Denilson: 7/10
Popped the ball around well but seemed to struggle near the end.

Cesc Fabregas: 7/10
Put in another decent performance but hasn’t seemed to reached top gear since coming back from the European Championships.

Samir Nasri: 7/10
Looked bright at times but always on the periphery.

Robin Van Persie: 9/10
Arsenal’s best player by a mile. Lively, inventive and always a threat. Made Arsenal’s first two goals and scored a fantastic effort to seemingly kill off the match. The team lost their killer instinct once he game off.

Emmanuel Adebayor: 7/10
Never really in the game. Poor touch throughout and really should have scored more than the one goal after wasting a couple of decent opportunities.

The Hull City Defeat: One Day Later

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Arsenal (1) – (2) Hull City
Paul McShane OG (49′)
The Emirates Stadium, London

Arsene Wenger’s sobering interview after the game summed up how I felt after the match.

He was hugely disappointed with the commitment shown on the pitch, as was every Arsenal fan watching. We all hoped the Fulham game was a one off and the team would have learnt that substandard performances aren’t good enough to win games in the Premier League. But yesterday there was no desire yet again.

While it was a result that has shocked the Premier League, watching the game you knew that our lacklustre performance might cause us a problem. After all, we became unstuck at Fulham only weeks ago. All it takes is one piece of brilliance or a mistake to let the opposition back into the game and unfortunately for us both of those happened.

We saw Geovanni do it on the opening day of the season against Fulham, and he scored another fantastic strike to equalise last night. Then a mistake from William Gallas (yet again from a set-piece) gave Hull their winner.

The wonder strike coupled with amateurish defending was a trend which cursed The Emirates Stadium when we first moved in.

Teams would visit our new ground and sucker punch us with the opening goal. Aston Villa, Middlesbrough, Everton, Newcastle and Hamburg all did it, thanks to a combination of poor defending and a moment of brilliance.

So you weren’t shocked when Hull scored the winner.

Maybe the players just thought it would never happen. Our record at home is fantastic so what’s the likelihood Hull could actually nick a winner?

Usually though after seeing a performance like that I would be angry, but for some strange reason I wasn’t.

Everyone point is vital if you want to win the Premier League, and maybe that’s exactly why I wasn’t too upset. Maybe I don’t truly believe we can win the league this season.

People will say that it’s just a bad day at the office but you can see performances against Fulham and Hull happening time and time again this season. Put this result in perspective – Hull are only the second team to beat us at The Emirates in 3 seasons. And apparently Hull were 20-1 to win yesterday. You couldn’t get longer odds!

The problem is we’re far too hot and cold. We put in excellent performances against teams like Blackburn, Newcastle, FC Twente and Bolton Wanderers but stutter against Fulham and Hull City.

Arsene Wenger must be completely baffled, and I feel for him.

But what’s the problem? Is it inexperience, or is it misplaced faith in players like Adebayor – who was shockingly bad yesterday. Or maybe the squad isn’t good enough. I’m sure the debate will go on for months about what’s missing from this current Arsenal side.

I think the main problem this season now is that teams will face us knowing that while they may not have the talent to compete with us, as long as they put in 100% they will have a chance of getting something. We’ve given opposing teams belief that they can take us on and that’s bad news.

All teams like Fulham and Hull City have to do is be organised, committed and take the few chances when they come along. And Arsenal just don’t have any answers to that.

The worrying thing is that if a manager like Phil Brown (no disrespect, but he is hardly hugely experience in the Premier League) can work us out and execute a game plan with Hull City then God help us all.

The only saving grace is that even with their game in hand, Arsenal will still be above United in the table. But how long is that going to last I wonder?

Turmoil At Arsenal Football Club?

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Well, what a difference a few weeks make.

Only 3 weeks ago Arsenal lost away at Fulham. It was a gutless, pathetic performance from a team that showed no desire whatsoever. Things looked bleak since we had already lost a game with the Premier League season barely a week old.

Yet amazingly after 4 games we are 3rd in the table, only a solitary point behind leaders Chelsea and Liverpool.

Champions Manchester United currently sit 14th, albeit it with a game in hand. And the funny thing is that Team Manchester have to play Chelsea away on Sunday which could put a real dent in United’s title challenge if they lose. 2 defeats in 4 games could really make things interesting this early on in the season, psychologically if nothing else.

And our lovely neighbours have played 4 games and have only 1 point after Aston Villa beat them at home on Monday night. Sp*rs currently sit bottom of the league, without a win and have only succeeded in achieving their worst ever season in the Premier League.

Don’t you just love football? I do.

And just to make things that little bit sweeter this weekend saw Arsenal demolish Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park. Emmanuel Adebayor scored a perfect hattrick (left foot, right foot and head) despite not playing at the top of his game, Van Persie is showing the quality player he is with his scoring run and Theo Walcott finally looks like he’s got the confidence in his game Arsene Wenger has been waiting for.

The hattrick from Trio Walcott in midweek has done the kid the world of good, and it’s great to see he’s a typical Arsene player who is keeping his feet on the ground. When you watched him in games before you felt he lacked that killer instinct but that run for Van Persie’s goal was exceptional. Direct, powerful and deadly. We all knew he was capable of that and the early signs are that he could be a real player for us this season.

Best of luck to the lad.

I do have to say thought I almost threw up at the sight of c*nts like Ferdinand, Lampard and Terry hugging Walcott after he scored in midweek. They were retarded enough to really criticise a young, promising player a few years ago despite Theo not doing a single thing wrong. Did I mention they are c*nts?

And while things on the pitch are rosy, other clubs are in turmoil off it.

Alan Curbishley left West Ham United, KK departed Newcastle United and now it seems, Newcastle owner Mike Ashley has put the club up for sale.

He released an emotional statement, which said:

“My plan and my strategy for Newcastle is different. It has to be. Arsenal is the shining example in England of a sustainable business model. It takes time. It can’t be done overnight. Newcastle has therefore set up an extensive scouting system. We look for young players, for players in foreign leagues who everyone does not know about.

“We try and stay ahead of the competition. We search high and low looking for value, for potential that we can bring on and for players who will allow Newcastle to compete at the very highest level but who don’t cost the earth.”

Sad for Newcastle obviously but a nice compliment to Arsene Wenger and Arsenal and how we run our club.

I don’t claim to be an expert on the Newcastle situation but it’s amazing to see a football club in this position. And I don’t claim to know the ins and outs of Mike Ashley or what his background is, but for me to see fans protest against someone who paid over £250 million of his own money in only a year is strange. From his statement it’s clear he had the best interests of the club at heart but I suppose that’s not enough?

Most, if not all Arsenal fans understand Arsene’s whole philosophy at the club and what he wants to achieve, and it’s easy to take it for granted, especially in a league where money buys success.

I’ve already written numerous times what I think of Arsene and what he’s done for our club. You can read one of the pieces here.

So it seems like I need to sit down and eat some humble pie.