Arsenal (1) – (3) Aston Villa
Giroud 6′
The Emirates Stadium, London
Barclays Premier League

It’s the morning after the night before and I am still absolutely furious.

What can you say about that? Before kick off this was an game that on paper we should have won comfortably – we were at home, against Aston Villa who struggled last season and even though we had a few injuries we had the quality in the line-up to really pick up the 3 points.

But what followed once the first whistle was blown quickly turned into a shambles.

I’m trying not to overreact but the emotions are still raw. So I’ll try and be as honest as I can about the match.

First of all, the referee was poor. Not that was an excuse for the poor performance and defeat, but it did make a difference. The first penalty decision was correct – Szczesny was far too reckless and got nowhere near the ball when Agbonlahor was sent tumbling and there is absolutely no argument with that decision. The second penalty decision however was incorrect. Alan Shearer may have the luxury of multiple action replays and slow motion but in real time, it was never a penalty. Technically it was a penalty but there’s no way in real time that the referee could have been 110% Koscielny didn’t connect with the ball first. Even the linesman didn’t give it. I try to base decisions on what the referee saw (and not action replays show) and I can’t see how he could have given that decision.

Then the Koscielny sending off. It was a reckless swipe but he didn’t connect with Weimann and for me it wasn’t even a booking even if there was a touch. The referee was far too eager to dish out the second yellow and he made a lot of mistakes in the match.

But would it have mattered? We can only speculate. The fact was Arsenal were sloppy, lethargic and didn’t deserve to win the game. Aston Villa may have parked the bus but they were decisive, direct and deserved all 3 points.

And that is indisputable.

And if we weren’t injury ravaged enough before the game, we managed to pick up even more injuries yesterday as well. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Bacary Sagna and Kieran Gibbs all picked up injuries and it is unclear how Tomas Rosicky and Jack Wilshere will be for next week. There are also concerns about Aaron Ramsey after he picked up a kick on his ankle.

And with Laurent Koscielny about to be suspended, we really are working with a threadbare squad.

If that wasn’t frustrating enough, Arsene Wenger said after the game after being asked why no money had been spent:

“I can return your question. Could we have won the game with the players that were on the pitch today? That’s for me the real question. And I say yes. After that, if we do not spend the money, it’s because we do not find the players.

“I’m not the only one to work on that. We are a team who work on that. We are ready to buy the players if we find that the players are good enough for us. That’s all we can tell you.”

Well clearly the players on the pitch couldn’t win the game could they Arsene?

You could ask the same question after we lost to Blackburn Rovers in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup last season at home? And how about when we lost to Bradford City in the Capital One Cup as well?

This is turning into one pathetic joke.

We don’t have any new additions to the squad, we’re making the same old stupid defensive mistakes (what happened to the solid form we had in the last 10 games of last season), the fans are increasingly frustrated and the players we do have aren’t performing at the level they should be.

After a decent pre-season, why did we look so lethargic against Aston Villa?

If anyone can explain why we are in this almighty mess, please enlighten me.

The post-match interview with Jack Wilshere was devastating to watch. Clearly upset, he urged the fans to back the team and see how they do over the next few months. But he, more than anyone, knows the disappointment all the Arsenal fans feel. He mentioned fans paying to see the team and it’s obvious that Arsene Wenger has let the club down. When you see Jack Wilshere desperate for quality players to come to Arsenal to make them real competitors then you feel for the kid, you really do. He deserves to be playing in a top quality team that can seriously compete for honours.

The only positive we can take from this, is that Arsene Wenger might get his finger out and actually make a fucking signing.

If Aston Villa can rip us apart in our own back yard, then what are Fenerbahce capable of?

It’s too scary to even think about.

It was always going to be a nervous last day of the season and boy was it. Things couldn’t have been more closer as the afternoon went on and I don’t know about you but that was probably the most nerve-racking Arsenal match I have ever watched.

The first goal in the match was always going to be decisive, especially as Arsenal seemed to play “with the hand-brake on” as Arsene would call it. In the first half, things were pretty even and in all honesty, Newcastle probably looked the more likely to break the deadlock.

It was 0-0 at half time and that was the score at White Hart Lane. I did wonder if Tottenham were playing mind games and giving Arsenal a false sense of security, maybe putting into our minds that a draw would be enough. Unlikely I know, but when under stress and nerves then I thought anything would be possible.

Then on 52 minutes, the vital moment came. Sagna did well to win a freekick on the right hand side, Walcott delivered and the ball bounced to Koscielny who smashed in from close range. In a game of few chances, it was a massive, massive goal and no-one else on the pitch deserved it more than Koscielny. To say he was immense was an understatement – he was colossal.

After that, it was the most nail-biting 40 minutes of my life. Tottenham were still level and the Twittersphere was hoping for a Sunderland draw – but I knew they would score eventually. When Sunderland needlessly got a man sent off, things looked even more ominous and sure enough, the one man team scored with, their one man, as Gareth Bale scored in the 90th minute.

Up until the 90th minute, I was a nervous wreck but when Bale scored it meant any mistake from us or brilliance from Newcastle would condemn us to 5th spot which would be disasterous. And when Theo Walcott waltzed through and hit the post, I almost broke down.

We had 4 minutes of injury time, could we hold on?

Fortunately we did, and the relief was such a release. Pure ecstasy for us, and pure anguish for them.

As far as I’m concerned, the post-mortem can start in the coming weeks. For now, we should enjoy making it into the Top Four, finishing above our North London rivals (who lets not forget, we 7 points clear of us only 10 games ago) and having the chance to play Champions League football next season.

And concentrating on the positives, our run of late has been outstanding. Whether by accident or design, we now have a defensive unit which is solid. Koscielny and Mertesacker are now a strong partnership, we have Gibbs and Monreal on the left and Sagna (who is likely to leave) and Jenkinson on the right. And that is something we can build on next season.

Our main problem this season has been scoring goals, and I’ll touch more on that in the upcoming season review.

Yesterday, as I’ve already mentioned. Koscielny was fantastic, and by far the Man of the Match. Podolski and Cazorla found it hard to get into their groove but tried, while Rosicky was trying to set the tempo by closing down at every opportunity. Ramsey again was full of running and desire but lacked that cutting edge that could have made a difference – a couple of times he had the chance to play Theo clean through but couldn’t execute the pass. Oxlade-Chamberlain did well I thought and linked the play well and the two fullbacks were solid and made some really vital interceptions. Szczesny didn’t really have much to do but did well well called upon.

So there we have it. 1-0 to the Arsenal and the chance to play Champions League football next season! I don’t know about you but this Monday morning is distinctively more enjoyable than usual!

Well as I predicted, it was a tense night.

Arsenal scored after 11 minutes through a Podolski header. Wigan’s defending was shocking but we were glad for the gift.

But after that, we did the same thing we did against QPR and put our foot off the pedal – and this time paid the price. Once we scored Wigan were the better team and the scored a well deserved equaliser. You can dispute the freekick however you want, it was a foul and we still had to defend the freekick, which we didn’t.

So at half time it was 1-1 and a draw was no good for any side.

A combination of poor defending from Wigan and a higher tempo from Arsenal saw us score 3 goals in quick succession but the 4-1 result is an unfair reflection on the match. We weren’t 3 goals better than Wigan and they deserve a lot of credit for their performance – at times we look vulnerable at the back.

And it’s important to note that the injury to McManaman changed the game.

The result is certainly the confidence boost we need, but we need to play much better if we’re going to get all 3 points against Newcastle. They will be more relaxed against us but will still want to put in a performance in their last home game of the season. And with the pressure off, they have nothing to lose.

Our job is simple. We need to win and nothing else matters. Sunday is our cup final. We always see drama and excitement on the last day of the season, so lets hope the drama isn’t us missing out on the Top 4 on the last day.

For Wigan, they couldn’t follow up their heroic FA Cup win with another miracle tonight, although they did come close. They looked dangerous at times tonight and after getting the equaliser, it was anyone’s game. They are a good team that play attractive football, and it’s a shame they’ve gone down – especially when there are plenty of other teams that play boring football and offer the Premier League very little. Hopefully, they will bounce back soon and I wish them all the best.

It was an open game, end to end and Arsenal had 60% possession.

People always say it’s not the amount of possession you have but what you do with it (well, teams that play negatively anyway) and Arsenal were punished for playing an attacking game.

Sp*rs, at home, played like the away team.

They have a small club mentality, which was summed up when Gareth Bale tried to waste time by the corner flag with 10 minutes to go.

The frustrating thing for me is the better team lost. Our play was more ambitious, but we didn’t have the cutting edge. We had the majority of possession, had the same amount of shots (as the away team), more blocked shots, more shots inside the area, won more tackles, won more balls in the air and had more corners. We made almost 200 more passes than they did and almost has twice as many crosses.

What lost it for us was some shambolic defending and no cutting edge.

When Ramsey was played in by Rosicky, he had so much time to pick his spot and score what would have been a well-deserved equaliser. But clinical finishing was never Ramsey’s game.

I thought Arsenal were excellent for most of the game, and showed a hell of a lot more ambition than the “home” team.

But Arsene made big mistakes with the important decisions. Jenkinson was excellent today and why he was taken off is anyone’s guess. His defending was top class and his attacking play was fantastic too – his delivery from the wide-right position is top drawer and he should have stayed on. Jenkinson would have had a better chance of converting the opportunity Ramsey squandered.

And Podolski should have started wide on the left with Giroud up top and Walcott on the right. Podolski is no good when chasing a game and he is more effective when there’s a chance of playing on the break (which was not that often in the first half and then impossible when we went behind).

I think the best way to describe today’s game is that form is temporary, but class is permanent. The way they acted on the touchline and after the game was of a side which won a cup final and you could even see William Gallas was a bit embarrassed when he was coming on and Steffen Freund was giving “encouragement” as if they were about to win the world cup.

Gareth Bale was nowhere near this ridiculous “third best player in the world” tag every man and his dog have been harping on about for the last few months. He was hugely ineffective apart from the goal and didn’t contribute anything else. He didn’t give the Arsenal defence any problems and Wilshere was a far bigger influence than him. Before the game Bale had only scored 4 goals at home and 11 away, typifying the fact that Sp*rs play a negative football most effective on the break.

In the end, our defending was the reason we lost. Not our desire, effort or possession play. We gave it our best shot but gave ourselves a mountain to climb with a crazy 3 minutes where we lost our heads. But for the rest of the game we were the better side.

I predicted in my last post this afternoon that it would be 3-1 either way. My heart said it would be to Arsenal, but my head was saying Bayern. And that’s what ended up happening.

Arsenal started the game poorly and at this level, you can’t give a team like Bayern any head start. But after only 7 minutes, Bayern opened the scoring and grabbed a vital away goal through Kroos.

Then in typical Arsenal fashion, our shambolic defending gave Bayern another goal this time from a corner. Szczesny, just like against Blackburn, was again culpable with a extremely poor save gifting Mueller a tap in from a yard out. Szczesny talks the talk but too many times has cost Arsenal dearly. He palmed the shot against Blackburn into the danger area from Kazim-Richards to score and instead of getting the ball clear tonight he gave it straight to a Bayern player. When Almunia and Fabianski made mistakes Arsenal fans would by quick to late them, but for some strange reason the Pole is never questioned or criticised. He’s not good enough and Arsenal need to buy a decent goalkeeper as competition because Szczesny is in the comfort zone.

After that, Bayern played out the first half and as expected, Arsenal were fired up for the second half. But far too often, Arsenal are abysmal in the first 45 minutes and then “show character” to fight back in the second 45. But why can’t Arsenal get their act together from the start? There is something fundamentally wrong with how this Arsenal team set themselves out from the first whistle.

We nicked a goal through Podolski when Bayern failed to defend a corner (they must have caught “Arsenal-itis”) and we tried to get an equaliser.

Giroud and Rosicky came on to replace Ramsey and Podolski, and Theo went out wide. Within minutes, Rosicky did well to find Theo on the right and his fantastic cross found Giroud who shot straight at Neuer.

And when that happened, every single Arsenal fan knew what was going to happen next.

Too often, Giroud has the chance to make a massive difference in the game which ends up being vital to the result. Again, he missed the chance to score the equaliser, and give Arsenal a huge boost in the game, only to miss and what happens? Bayern go and score a sucker punch goal.

Arsenal conceded a goal that only Arsenal could concede. Ridiculous, and if you weren’t an Arsenal fan you’d probably laugh.

I like Giroud, but like many players at Arsenal he’s not good enough. That’s not his fault, he tries but the fact is the calibre of player we bring in these days isn’t as good as the players we sell. Would Van Persie has missed that? Actually, don’t answer that.

But the point is at the top top level, little things like that matter. A world class striker and a very good striker can be the difference in these games. Having a world class goalkeeper would definitely make a difference.

And how about the starting eleven?

How can any sane person start Theo Walcott up front? He is electric on the wing – we all know about his pace and his delivery has massively improved in recent seasons. And the fact is he can exploit his pace with more space out in the wide areas. That decision made things extremely difficult and had a big bearing on the potential result in my eyes.

Ramsey was off the pace. He gave it his best but unfortunately he wasn’t in the game tonight. Wilshere was excellent but he can’t do it all by himself. With a bit more luck, he may have nicked a goal but it’s too much to ask of one player.

Bayern Munich were clearly the superior side, and at times controlled the game comfortably. The biggest frustration is that Arsenal could have given themselves a much better chance tonight. They could have started Theo out wide and Giroud up top. They could have brought Rosicky on much earlier. The team and system that started the game gave Arsenal little hope and that’s how it turned out.

At least we can now concentrate on the only trophy that really matters – 4th place.