Things To Take Away From The Weekend…

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  1. Fabianski will always make errors sooner or later.
  2. Arsenal keep getting chances to make ground on Chelsea, but never seem to take them.
  3. Fabregas plays like he wants to be in Barcelona.
  4. The sad fact is we’ll be there or thereabouts, but dropping silly points like Newcastle and West Brom will end up costing us dearly and ultimately mean we won’t win the league.
  5. At home, we are incredibly wasteful. We usually make about 20 chance in a typical home game but only take around 2 or 3 of them.

If you want to add to this list you’re more than welcome.

I Am Just So Disappointed… (w/ Player Ratings)

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Chelsea (2) – (0) Arsenal
Stamford Bridge, London

I am so disappointed with the Chelsea match this afternoon.

Not with the players, not with the performance, not with the line-up or even the manager.

I am just so disappointed with the result.

Arsenal were just fantastic this afternoon and deserved so much more from the game.

As soon as the game kicked off, Arsenal went for it. Chamakh had a headed chance go just wide after 30 seconds and a few minutes later Arshavin cut inside and had a shot saved by Cech.

Then Koscielny had a golden chance to score with a header which he somehow placed over the bar from only a couple of yards.

Arsenal were dominating possession and the game and Cech was by far the busiest goalkeeper in the first hour of the game.

Arshavin had another goal-bound shot well saved by the Chelsea goalkeeper and Arsenal were playing well. We moved the ball around confidently, our movement was excellent and the only thing missing was the cutting edge.

I was shocked at how much Arsenal dominated the game. Arsenal were excellent all over the pitch – Sagna was up and down like a man possessed and made some really vital interceptions in defence. Laurent Koscielny and Sebastien Squillaci were solid at the back, keeping Drogba, Anelka and Malouda all relatively quiet.

In midfield, Wilshire was sublime. He moves the ball so well and his touch and vision are impeccable. He was spraying the ball wide with ease and really got into the heart of the Chelsea defence. Nasri was full of running and ideas and Song was confident at bringing the ball out of midfield and rarely lost the ball.

Abou Diaby was also impressive, playing just off Chamakh but Arshavin was hit and miss. The shots he had showed what the guy is capable of but he did lose the ball at times and things were just not coming off for him.

But for all that possession and play, Chelsea were just impossible to break down and were more clinical. That’s the bottom line.

Drogba’s goal had more than a touch of fortune, when his flick went in off the inside of the post.

Asshole was played in by Ramires and his cross was fizzed into Drogba, who intelligently improvised and Fabianski had no chance with that goal.

Arsenal still played with their free flowing football and Chelsea were happy to play on the break. Arsenal dominated possession and despite Chelsea’s solid defence and 2 holding midfielders Arsenal did make opportunities.

The only thing you could criticise about Arsenal’s performance was that they weren’t clinical enough.

Chamakh had 3 decent headed chances to score, and you just feel that if this game was in January then he would have buried them. He still has to get used to the team and there were a couple of times when he was played in but he just couldn’t read the pass, but that will come in time.

Games like this are decided on key moments and on Chelsea’s first goal, Arsene was particularly upset with the foul on Song (by Ramires) leading up to the goal. For me, I thought it was 50:50 but if Arsenal fan Jamie Redknapp is saying it’s a foul then maybe it was.

Then for me, the foul on Chamakh in the area when Cech needlessly came out was a penalty. The fact of the matter was Chamakh got to the ball first and Cech made contact, and was nowhere near winning the ball. So at 1-0 that’s a big moment in the match.

When Rosicky came, we at least had someone who was willing to shoot and with Arsenal having 13 attempts and only 3 on target (Arshavin twice and Rosicky) then you have to say Arsenal aren’t clinical enough. We made some real opportunities against Chelsea and the best fell to Marouane Chamakh, but it’s hard to be critical of him.

Arsenal were without Van Persie, Fabregas and even Bendtner, so you can excuse today and I’m certain with at least Fabregas or Van Persie, we would have scored this afternoon.

After the disappointing game against West Bromich Albion, all you can ask for is a performance and we got that today.

Player Ratings:

Lukasz Fabianski: 8/10
The spotlight was on Fabianski but had a decent game. Made a decent stop from Drogba in the first half, and had no chance with the first goal. Unlucky on the freekick as the wall literally crumbled in front of him. Although Anelka should have scored, Fabianski did well to force him wide and make his chance to score harder.

Bacary Sagna: 8/10
Fantastic energy and as usual was up and down the touchline throughout the 90 minutes. Made some really vital tackles and interceptions, particularly in the first half but was badly exposed for the first goal. Crossing wasn’t great once again.

Laurent Koscielny: 7/10
Cope with Drogba well for the most part but really should have given Arsenal the lead.

Sebastien Squillaci: 7/10
Played well alongside Koscielny but did make a complete howler to leave Fabianski exposed and give Anelka have a chance to score a killer goal.

Gael Clichy: 8/10
Like Sagna, was up and down the flank but his crossing was poor. Supported Arshavin well and had a couple of speculative shots from distance. Usually finds space to have a pop shot or two, maybe shooting is something he should practice?

Alexander Song: 8/10
Was up against a tough midfield of Mikel, Essien and Ramires but did well. Won the ball and distributed it well for most of the game and rarely lost possession.

Jack Wilshire: 9/10
Simply outstanding. For a man of his age, played with so much composure it was frightening. Never shirked a challenge and knocked the ball around with aplomb, and in the final third his deft touch and quick incisive passing was a joy to watch.

Abou Diaby: 7/10
Put in a performance when most didn’t think it was in him and looked much more comfortable further up the pitch. Linked play well and was unlucky with a deflected shot that could have gone anywhere.

Samir Nasri: 7/10
Tried to make things happen but the majority of his corners and set-pieces were poor. Linked up well with Diaby, Wilshire and Arshavin at times but found it difficult to really penetrate Chelsea.

Andrei Arshavin: 6/10
Glimpses of what he can do with two shots in the first half but lost the ball needlessly at times and was less influential as the game wore on.

Marouane Chamakh: 7/10
Had a tough job up against Alex and Terry and did well for the most part. Even though he failed to score, he managed to win quite a few headers against two of the strongest defenders in the air.

The Day After WBA: Anger Turns Into Frustration…

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What a terrible result eh? That certainly ruined my weekend.

But overall it was a crazy weekend in the Barclay’s Premier League. Chelsea lost to Manchester City, Manchester United dropped points against Bolton Wanderers, Liverpool drew, Tottenham lost and of course, probably the biggest shock of the weekend was Arsenal’s home defeat to recently-promoted West Bromich Albion.

And what can you say about it?

Views are split to whether it should be Manual Almunia or Arsene Wenger that takes the blame for the defeat. We all know that we need a top-class goalkeeper to really challenge at the top of the table but for whatever reason Arsene didn’t bring someone in. So you’re setting yourself up for possible shocks like yesterday.

The whole performance from everyone (besides Nasri, who has put in two stunning performances in the space of a week) was shambolic and however well West Brom played losing 3 goals without reply is something that should never happen at The Emirates.

And it really does say a lot when Almunia, who made some glaring mistakes was possibly one of our better players. His mistakes weren’t from a lack of effort, they came from the fact that he’s just not good enough.

If anger was the overriding feeling from yesterday, surely frustration is the biggest emotion from most Arsenal fans today.

As we look at the Premier League table today, we still sit in third place, one point behind a stuttering Manchester United and 4 points behind Chelsea. If we didn’t concede that last minute Darren Bent goal last week and actually tried against West Bromich Albion yesterday then we could have been top of the league on 16 points.

But one month into the new season we’re already playing catch up.

But it’s the same old story with Arsenal, we’re always talking about ifs and buts. If the last 5 seasons were about the ifs and buts then we’d have a Champions League and a couple of Premier League Titles, but the fact is it’s not. We don’t have the mental strength to seize an opportunity when it comes our way. We get so far but then hit a mental block.

I have mentioned this over the last few seasons and I’ll mention it again – Arsenal doesn’t have any winners, with the exception of Cesc Fabregas and Robin Van Persie. We don’t have players who know what it’s like to win, or get over the line. We have some players of exceptional quality and ability, but no winners.

That’s why Manchester United and Chelsea will always be there or thereabouts. They know what it’s like to grind out results over an entire season and push right till the end. That’s why mediocre players like Darren Fletcher, John Obi Mikel and Gary Neville are so vital to those teams – they know what it takes to win, see out games like Sunderland and get results.

Which begs the question why does Arsene persist in shipping out proven winners like Gilberto, Pires and Freddie so quickly once they hit their 30’s?

Paul Scholes, Ryan Giggs and Gary Neville have proven their worth over the last few seasons despite all touching 36 years of age. It doesn’t matter if they only play 15/20 games collectively their influence on the training ground and dressing room is far more important than the number of games they play.

Squillaci Deal Finally Completed / New Goalkeeper?

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The worst kept secret of the week has finally been completed, and Sebastien Squillaci is now officially an Arsenal player. I’m sure you know all about him now from reading about him for the last couple of weeks, so I won’t bore you by repeating his vital statistics.

I will say one thing though, what is it with Arsene and centre-backs with difficult to spell surnames?

We had Thomas Vermaelen, which I can fortunately spell without Wikipedia anymore, and we’ve brought in Kos…  Koscielny and now Squillaci. Okay, it’s probably down to me being dyslexic but still…

It’s a welcome addition and we now have 4 quality central defenders, which can only be good. And I feel a lot more comfortable than I did last season on that front, when we had Senderos and Silvestre on our books.

So as far as I’m concerned that’s the defence sorted out. 4 central defenders, none of which are Silvestre, is great news. Now it’s only the goalkeeping situation that needs sorting out…

And no news on the Mark Schwarzer front.

I won’t get into Almunia and the argument whether he should be Arsenal’s number one. I’ve defended him enough over the last 5/6 seasons but enough is enough. He makes too many errors and the goalkeeping position is a hugely important one. In a game where confidence is king having a dodgy goalkeeper is having a major handicap.

The team on the whole has more confidence if they know the man behind the sticks is reliable.

But is the Australian the solution?

I’ve always thought he was a decent goalkeeper but I never really thought I would see him in an Arsenal shirt. Yes, he is experienced but you could say that about a lot of goalkeepers, like David James for instance. My point is Arsenal’s goalkeeping scouts aren’t exactly covering themselves in glory at the moment.

We did well to bring in Lehmann, but he was frozen out for Almunia. We really should have kept Jens a couple of more years and used that time to find a proper replacement. Now we’re stuck with 2 goalkeepers who make more errors than a Windows Vista Operating System.

Are we ever going to bring anyone good enough in? Wenger was fortunate to inherit one of the greatest goalkeepers to ever play in the Premier League, but since then we’ve missed out on players like Van Der Sar (an unbelievable bargain at £2 million).

Maybe our set-up just isn’t capable of spotting a decent keeper, because I’ve yet to be convinced about Schwarzer.

Theo Walcott Analysis / Squillaci Has Medical

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Well, Blackpool were hit for six weren’t they?

The biggest talking point of the weekend was the fantastic performance of Theo Walcott, and his well-deserved hattrick. More specifically, the seemingly unnecessary criticism of Walcott by Alan Hansen on Match of the Day.

Let me say first of all I thought Walcott was stunningly good, but let’s not forget that the kid is only 21. And as strange as it sounds, despite not being a stick on starter for Arsenal, he is more than good enough to be in the England squad and probably should be in the first eleven. But that’s another debate for another day.

Arsenal fans are taking exception to the “analysis” Hansen made of Walcott but I think people are taking things a little bit too much to heart. The main point he was making was that Walcott was a far better player when he is instinctive and doesn’t have time to think, which is a fair analysis. Walcott is devastating when at full speed, and in fact my favourite Walcott moments for Arsenal are in the build-ups to stunning counter attacks, like the Arshavin and Adebayor goals at Anfield. When he is on it, Walcott is breathtaking. And I would have to agree, when he’s a full pelt and doesn’t have to think he is brilliant.

The problem Theo has is when he has time and space and there are too many options available. That’s not necessary and criticism of him, and the part I did take exception to in Hansen’s analysis was that Walcott doesn’t have the ability or potential to progress. I personally believe that he does have the capability to improve in that area, and with Arsene Wenger (and his track record) guiding him the only way is up as far as I’m concerned.

The only frustrating thing about Theo’s performance for me was that I didn’t buy him for my Fantasy Football team!

And the latest news on the transfer front is that Sevilla’s Sebastien Squillaci is undergoing a medical at Arsenal.

I don’t know much about him, but apparently he’s rated at £6.5 million and he’s 30 years old, which on the face of it seems strange, considering Arsene’s policy on players over 30.

But then again, we did have William Gallas (33), Mikel Silvestre (33) and Sol Campbell (35) on the books last season so maybe that policy is changing slightly these days. Maybe Arsenal wants to integrate experience with the youth. £6.5 million does seem a lot for a 30 year old (I sound like Arsene now don’t I?) but Wenger’s track record in bringing in defenders has been good in recent seasons so hopefully he is the signing we’ve been waiting for on that front.

We just need a decent goalkeeper now…