What went against the team was perhaps the bench-strength. Arsenal had Arshavin, Rosicky, Benayoun, Frimpong, Miquel, Chamakh and Almunia. On papers it is a strong bench, but we don’t play football on papers. Chamakh and Arshavin are going through the worst form of their lives. Arshavin had two glorious opportunities to score or to set a teammate, but ended up squandering both. Chamakh, apart from his hold-up play, is..well..useless at the moment. That’s where Arsenal lost the game. We didn’t have an impact player to come in and change the game for us. That we don’t have a single fit full-back is a different matter.

With Gervinho and Chamakh going to play in the Africa Cup of Nations in January, Arsenal must buy quality replacements. We are not only short in defence, we also need strikers to support the excellent Van Persie.

On Wednesday we play Villa, followed by a game against Wolverhampton at home. Must win games for us if we are to keep pace with the likes of Chelsea, Liverpool and Spurs.

Share/Save

Couple of days ago, Arsene Wenger gave an interview to French magazine L’Equipe, where he admitted that his youth project had failed. Takes a big man to admit failure and this proves that the man’s ego isn’t as big as people (including yours truly) make it out to be.

Arseblog News has the English transcript of the interview, in which Wenger was asked if he thought the project he had started had finally come to an end. To which he replied:  ”For the first time since I have been here, I lost young players who were reaching maturity. I suffered. Because it is painful to separate with key players who you have invested a lot in, it’s painful when the results are not good enough. We are fighting with clubs that have far superior means to us. We cannot account for the difference in the financial potential of clubs like Manchester City and ourselves.”

He went on to admit that the summer recruitment wasn’t planned, and compounding the woes was the injury to Wilshere, Vermaelen, Diaby etc. Although the youth project didn’t work out, although we came very close to winning something, I think Arsenal now have a much better chance to win silverware than before. In Arteta we have a creative player who can also be a scrapper.  The midfield suddenly has the steel that we missed. Defensively we look more assured. In Dos Santos we have a left-back who can score goals, something we have missed ever since Ashley Cole decided to move West.

Would I’ve liked if Cesc and Nasri had stayed? Definitely. But I’m more optimistic about our chances in a long time. Let’s beat Dortmund tonight. C’moon you Gunners!

Share/Save

Against Blackburn on Saturday, the defence capitulated once again and Arsenal, from a commanding position, ended up losing 4-3.  The Gunners had an excellent start and dominated proceedings and deservedly went ahead through Gervinho.  Arteta, Ramsey and Song dominated the midfield, allowing  Gervinho, Van Persie and Arshavin to do what they do best.  Arsenal went ahead in the 10th minute and it looked like they had the game well under their control.

In the 25th minute, however, a clever pass from Junior Hoillet between Mertesacker and Koscielny allowed Yakubu to sneak in and flick the ball past Wojciech Szczesny into the net.  At that point it looked like a mere ‘footballing accident’ as Arsenal still dominated and Arteta duly restored their advantage with a superb finish. The score remained 2-1 in Arsenal’s favour at halftime.

Blackburn again equalised in the 50th minute when Alex Song scored an own goal from a freekick. Buoyed by it, Blackburn pressed Arsenal up the pitch, bombarded the area with aerial balls and Arsenal cracked.

Panic set in amongst the players and 2-2 soon turned to 3-2 and then 4-2, with Koscielny scoring another own goal.  Chamakh managed to pull one back late in the 85th minute but it was too little too late.  Arsenal now lie in the 17th position with just 4 points from 5 games and a goal difference of -8, their worst start in 58 years.

At this point of time the manager has to do some serious thinking about what is going wrong with this team.  Why is i that Arsenal always have defensive problems? Some years back the fans complained that the likes of Senderos should be replaced and better defenders brought in.

Arsenal fans saw the likes of Toure, Gallas, Senderos and that Machester United reject go,Koscielny, Vermaelen and now Mertesacker come in…but the defence still leak goal. Why?

None of these are bad players mind you. Djourou, Mertesacker and Vermaelen are regulars with their national teams and have enough experience. Then why do they look so disorganised when playing for Arsenal? Is it because Arsenal lack a proper defensive coach to impart his knowledge?

Arsenal do recognise where the problem lies and to be fair to them they are trying to rectify it. It’s just sad that their little experiment with zonal marking backfired badly against Blackburn.  Common sense dictates that while defending a corner, the tallest player should mark their tallest player.

Against Blackburn with this new system, Metesacker got drawn towards the front post, leaving the others to mark Christopher Samba.  Arsenal were lucky to concede just 4 goals because Samba came pretty close to scoring from corners on a couple of occasions.

Arsene Wenger is under tremendous pressure and it will take a Herculean effort to rescue the season. He must take it one step at a time, the first step is to sort out the defence.

Image Source: Arsenal.com

Share/Save

I am willing to accept that because we got full three points and because it was the first game after our last day buying spree. But from tonight — when the lads step out to face Borussia Dortmund — they will be assessed. The new boys will be judged on their performance and tonight’s performance will give us a hint of how the season is going to pan out for the club.

The game against Swansea saw Mikel Arteta and Per Mertesacker make their full debut. Arteta is a known commodity in the Premier League.  To be honest I wasn’t too excited initially because I wanted Arsenal to sign a ‘world class’ player. I was hoping for a Kaka or an Edin Hazard kind of signing. Perhaps even a Yoann Gourcuff.  But having played in the league for ages, I guess he brings with him experience in the middle of the park that we were lacking after Cesc’s departure.  Arteta has creative vision and can unlock defences. He is a bit of a scrapper too and is defensively more astute than Cesc was. The only drawback in my opinion is that he doesn’t move the ball forward quickly enough. But that should improve.

Per Mertesacker, the giant central defender, along with Philipp Lahm, is the most experienced defender in the German national team. Standing at 6’6″, he is very good in the air and provides a sort of aerial shield to the defence. Comfortable with the ball on his feet, Mertesacker is known for his clean tackles and has a very good record in terms of bookings received.  He had a good debut the other day against Swansea and looked quite calm and assured. One drawback, however, is his lack of pace that can be exploited by the quick forwards.  His strength and Vermaelen/Koscielny’s quickness should see Arsenal have a stronger defence than before.

Chu Young Park and   The captain of the South Korean national team is a tenacious striker with speed and agility as his main weapon.  He is comfortable with both feet and has an excellent technique. Although he comes from the French League where the pace of the game is considerably slower than the English game, Park is expected to adapt quickly and can turn out to be an astute signing by Wenger. Also, the South Korean is known for his excellent freekick technique.

On the other hand, the biggest strength of the Brazilian left-back Santos is his strength. Perhaps better known for his attacking abilities than his defending, dos Santos is more comfortable playing the ‘wing-back’  role than an out and out left-back.  He is expected to produce what Gael Clichy, despite his tremendous pace, failed to produce — quality crosses. Where Clichy failed, dos Santos is expected to excel. He also can chip in with goals from time to time, something which Arsenal haven’t had since Ashley Cole left for Chelsea.

With these signings, Arsenal now have the experience in the team that was lacking.  Now, it is time to push forward and rescue the season that began on such a disastrous note.  And that should start from tonight. Give a good fight, never give up and show who the real Arsenal are. C’moon!!

Update: Starting XI: Szczesny; Sagna; Mertesacker; Koscielny; Gibbs; Song; Arteta; Walcott; Benayoun; Gervinho; Van Persie.

Share/Save

Sure we were without Thomas Vermaelen, Bacary Sagna, Gervinho, Alex Song, Jack Wilshere  and Kieran Gibbs. Sure we played a young team, but so did United. In fact,the average age of the United side was younger.  In Van Persie, Walcott, Arshavin and Rosicky, we had experienced players in the park. Djourou and Laurent Koscienly in central defence are an experienced pair too.  But our defenders looked shaky, lacked confidence and there was hardly any communication between them or with the keeper. United had both their first-choice central defenders (Rio Ferdinand and Nemanja Vidic) injured, yet the likes of Jonny Evans, Chris Smalling, Phil Jones and Patrice Evra marshalled their lines superbly.

Why can’t our defenders do that? Why is it that whenever there is a long ball to our final third we panic? Why is it that whenever a player takes on one of our defenders and runs at him with the ball, our defender invariably gets the man and not the ball in dangerous positions.  Perhaps something is very wrong with the way we coach our defenders.

We sold our two best players recently after wasting the entire summer.  Eventually Wenger and Ivan Gazidis had to give in and sell both Cesc Fabregas and Samir Nasri. But we wasted so much time in the affair that we now do not have their replacements and the transfer window shuts at 11pm GMT on August 31.  Wenger will have you believe that more than 20 people are burning the midnight oil trying to get the deals done. He will also tell you that Arsenal want ‘super quality’ players to improve the side.  And that is what is frustrating.  We all saw the quality of Juan Mata the other day and Arsenal did make enquiries about him. But Wenger decided he wasn’t ready to pay what Valencia wanted for him. This, after he knew all along that he must let Nasri go and that he was set to receive GBP 70 million from the sale of players this summer.  No one but Wenger and Gazidis are to be blamed for the situation we find ourselves in now, where the transfer window closes in two days and we are severely short of personnel.  As things stand right now, he must rely on reserve players to fill in those positions and going by the way United mauled us today, we are in big big trouble.

Today’s humiliation is a lesson for Wenger. He’ll do well to learn now or else he must go.  His youth policy, although successful in producing quality players, so far has failed its ultimate goal — win trophies. His grand scheme was to hold on to the young players, have them play together for years and forge an unbeatable fighting unit.  But for me that plan was never going to materialise because we somehow weren’t able to hold on to our players. He let Flamini go just when he and Cesc were developing perhaps the best midfield partnership in England. He persisted with Denilson, didn’t give enough chances to Bendtner, bought Chamakh to warm the bench. The list is endless.

Wenger needs to spend and spend big now.  The competition has become tougher now. It’s no longer the threat of United and Chelsea now. Manchester City look very dangerous, Liverpool have come back strongly and even the Spurs have improved a lot. If the situation continues, Arsenal could very well see themselves pushed down to fifth or sixth in the league.  The ball now is in Wenger’s court and it will be interesting to see if today’s humiliation has any positive effect on him. One surely hope it does….for Arsenal’s sake.

Share/Save

The major noteworthy point was the apparent lack of creativity in this Arsenal side.  We struggled last season without the injured Cesc Fabregas. Although Samir Nasri admirably took over the creative responsibility, both players are different, in that Cesc is more of a long passer while Nasri is a better dribbler and short passer.  There were a few occasions when we missed both of them and that’s when we struggled really badly.  And the same happened today.

None of the two were included in the squad (although Nasri did play for France in the recent international friendly) that travelled up north. Arsenal are set to lose both the players, with Cesc expected to join his boyhood club Barcelona and Nasri on the verge of joining Manchester City shortly.  Without these two, we lacked ideas.  Having seen his performances in the pre-season, I had hoped for a better performance from Gervinho, but perhaps it is unfair to expect too much too soon from him.

With Gervinho, Van Persie and Arshavin upfront, the creative responsibility was thrust on the young shoulders of Aaron Ramsey, with Song and Rosicky in support.  Ramsey is a confident player, very assured on the ball, the captain of the Wales national team.  But he is no Fabregas, at least not yet.

Arsenal as usual dominated possession from the whistle.  Gibbs and Arshavin combined well to feed Gervinho inside the box, but debut nerves meant fluffed his shot. Perhaps trying to impress his manager and the travelling fans, the Ivory Coast international was full of enterprise and created an opening for Van Persie in the 18th minute which the Dutchman put inches wide of the post.

There were a couple of more chances which were wasted.  In the 76th minute Gervinho was felled inside the area. Joey Barton took issue with winger and after a brief clashed the Arsenal player was shown the red card.  This time, however, Arsenal managed to keep a clean sheet in the final few minutes and emerged with a single point.

But if this is how they play and they don’t improve, Arsenal are going to take a beating at the hands of Liverpool and Manchester United in the next two games.
From today’s evidence, Arsenal need a creative midfielder capable of unlocking the opposition’s defence with pinpoint passes. Ramsey and Wilshere are good players but they need to develop further under the tutelage of a more experienced player.  Should Arsene decide to sell Cesc and Nasri in the next few days, he should invest the money immediately to purchase a replacement or two. Otherwise this is going to be a long painful season.

Share/Save

However, to reach such a scenario, Arsenal must not only avoid a defeat tomorrow, they must win the match. The odds are heavily stacked against them. The Gunners were the last team to beat Chelsea at their home ground, when Robin van Persie scored both goals in the 2-1 victory. Since then Chelsea have remained unbeaten in 23 successive home league matches.  Chelsea have the best head-to-head record of the Big Four clubs this season, winning all three league matches without conceding a goal. Arsenal have the worst head-to-head record, losing three of their four matches and conceding nine goals. Didier Drogba, back from the Africa Cup of Nations, has scored 10 goals in his last nine matches against Arsenal in all competitions. The Gunners have only won two of their last 15 competitive games against Chelsea.

In spite of all the statistics, Arsenal can still go ahead and beat their title rivals.  The visitors must fight as a team and close down the Chelsea midfielders, deny them time and space to feed Didier Drogba. Above all, they must believe in their own capabilities, because on their day, this team can beat anybody in the world.

Commenting on the same, Manager Arsene Wenger said: “I know this team wants to do well. But because they haven’t won games against Chelsea or Manchester United yet they have made it harder in their head than it really is. When we get close to winning, we play with the hand brake.” Praising the team’s mental toughness, Wenger added, “But I know the team is mentally strong and dedicated. I see them everyday and I wouldn’t defend them if they didn’t have the right attitude. But they do have to find that final part to win the big games. ” “Last year, with the same team, we didn’t really lose big games. Before we went to Manchester United in the Champions League we didn’t lose a game between November and May. This year we have lost them but we have to bounce back quickly and show everyone how strong we are,” he said. Talking about the importance of tomorrow’s encounter, the Frenchman said: “I know how much the players need these kinds of wins to finish the development of the team. When you play at home in a big game you want to win. You end up frustrated because you know it’s not because the players don’t want it. It’s just because they miss the final push.”

Chelsea themselves have not been too strong in recent weeks. After pummeling Birmingham City, the Blues were held to a 1-1 draw by Hull City. They have also demonstrated a vulnerability to set pieces, which Arsenal must look to exploit.  They will go into the match without the services of Eduardo and Carlos Vela, while Abou Diaby will face a late fitness test.

Share/Save

Wojciech Szczesny Extends Loan With Brentford

Vito Mannone Signs Long Term Deal With Arsenal

Philippe Senderos Joins Everton Till The End Of The Season

Arsenal Exit FA Cup After Losing 1-3 To Stoke City

Share/Save

Share/Save

“It’s difficult because Chelsea defend well and attack on the break but I think we were very unfortunate to be 2-0 down at half-time. Then after the referee cancelled the goal nobody understands still why. What is he doing? I have watched it five times nobody touches Cech, he lets the ball down and we score, he cancels the goal. Then of course coming back I think that was a big turning point in the game today. I felt in the first 20 minutes with a better first touch and a bit more belief we could score,” he added.

The Frenchman added that his side were not out of the title chase yet. “I believe we are, we have nothing to be ashamed of with our performance today. I believe that it all went Chelsea’s way today and I was not especially impressed with what went on, on the pitch and they took their chances very well and they have, in Drogba an exceptional player. But it is down to us to come back into it. From what I have seen today of Chelsea they can drop points,” he said.

Share/Save