Unlike previous campaigns, I have much more confidence in this Arsenal to hold on to a lead, the usual heart-in-mouth feeling at corners or freekicks have abated this season. I’m in no way saying we don’t have problems in defence, but it surely has improved. What have not and has probably gotten worse is our ability to score goals.

Gervihno. When has a player ever been so good and so bad at the same time. I’m talking about in the same play go beautifully past 2 or 3 players and the being scared to take a friggin’ shot. How many time do we see this guy look to pass instead of shooting the ball. I know some may claim that this is an “Arsenal” trait, I know that they are told to look for the pass, but I highly doubt that when the shot is on Wenger tells them don’t take it.

Theo. As for yesterday’s game I’ve read that he was very ill at Christmas and lost a lot of weight and strength. Still not at 100% he was asked to play against Fulham, OK. So what is the excuse for a 6% chance conversion, 6 bloody percent, and I’m hearing shit about wanting to be a striker! What kind of striker wastes 94% of chances, more than 9 in 10? Walcott does a lot of good things, and has improved tremendously this season, but 6%?

So that’s our main forwards. I’m not even going to bother with Arshavin, or Rosický. What I’d like to see is some contribution from Ramsey, Song, and Arteta . Maybe I’m expecting too much when I say that 7 goals is not enough from the midfield trio. Song and Arteta get less chances, but when is Ramsey going to learn to shoot? he has the timing to get into the box at the right time but severely lacking is the composure(6%) to get a shot on target.

Of course when referees fail to give blatant penalties, award fouls against your for non existent infringements, and your defence consists of 3 centre backs and a midfielder then chances are things will hardly go your way. Making it even more important to put away chances when they arrive, that way you have a cushion for when things inevitably go against you.

That is all.

However Arsenal would not be Arsenal if the fans weren’t put through the wringer time and time again. This time it was through squandering chances when they presented themselves. So what can we take away from what is an excruciating 2 points down the drain?

1. We shouldn’t blame the ref.

Calls for penalties, fouls against us going unpunished, being punished for no infringements it may be that these things affect our game. However the fact remains that as a team looking to be in the top for we shouldn’t be looking for excuses for failing to beat Wolves at home.

The referee was poor and he did let the game get away from him, but Stuart Attwell shouldn’t be scapegoat for what was us not being able to put 2 goals past Hennessy.

As for the red card, I hate to harp on this, but hopefully the day will come when the English football family will realise that you don’t need to break someone’s leg for a tackle to be worthy of a card. Simply that the tackler is in danger of injuring his opponent

2. We need to take chances.

Consider this. Over the course of the season so far, we have created just 4 more chances than Manchester did. Yet they have scored 13 more goals. We need to improve our chance conversion by a massive 40% to match them.

The simple fact is that we need a bit of sang froid in front of goal, and non was lacking more on this day than Robin van Persie. I am sure that getting those 2 goals to make equal Shearer’s record was playing on his mind. A player who is usually so calm with such an immaculate touch was rushed hasty and had the touch of electrons with the same charge.

The score 1-0 when Gervihno played RVP in the Wolves defender slipped, but in his haste to get that goal Van Persie tried the one-time shot not realising that he had time to compose himself for a better chance.

On the topic of taking chances…

3. What do we call Rosický’s right peg?

At least RVP isn’t afraid to take a shot with his chocolate leg when he has to. Rosický on the other hand absolutely refuses to touch the ball with his left, the guy would rather cross with the outside of his right foot than use his left.

I love Rosický, and I would like nothing more for him to get back to his pre injuries form. Yet I cannot forgive him for passing up a simple scoring chance just because it’s on the wrong foot, that’s just wrong. Take the shot, if you miss fine, but you don’t pass it up for lack of culture.

It’s time we christen that left leg of Rosa… any suggestions?

4. Way too much dependence on crossing.

Time was Arsenal would hardly ever cross the ball, whether it was a last minute desperation or not the ball would go out and the winger would most likely cut in. That lack of crossing was roundly criticized and in some circumstances rightly so.

The problem I find with crossing is that it’s a very low percentage play—23.9% accurate premier league, 22.9% Europe—nearly 4 out of 5 crosses are a waste of possession. Against Wolves we managed to give away possession 19 times by way of the cross.

You as me, we would be better off keeping the ball on those 19 occasions.

5. Fullback vs FULLBACK.

Being shunted into the fullback position from central defence is not a simple ask. It’s hard to be critical of the job done by Djourou, Koscielny, and Vermaelen in a position neither are suited. The fullback position is extremely specialised these days.

You must be extremely fit and efficient, effective both in attack and in defense. A proper fullback provide a numerical advantage in attack and good service from the flanks, but more importantly, they force the opposing wide players deep into their own defensive third. Crucially this is what we are lacking from our fill in fullbacks.

Take a look at that image. Jenkinson operates so much in the oppositions defensive third the game becomes much wider, compare and contrast with Djourou. In the Manchester City Arsenal report Zonal Marking noted that

neither of their[Arsenal] full-backs was comfortable on the ball and capable of stretching the play to provide overlaps. In fact, with both sets of full-backs contributing little to the game in the attacking phase of play, the game was quite narrow overall.

Not only does our game becomes narrow, it becomes a much easier defensive proposition for the opponent. The return of our fullbacks cannot come soon enough.

When I heard the news that we signed him on loan, I don’t think there was an Arsenal fan who was happier than I was. Yes he is older than the norm for an Arsenal player, a bit lightweight, and he surely wouldn’t be a starter.

Yossi provides the winning edge.

What he is is a skillful player that can really boost a team coming of the bench against more tired legs. What he did last night was typical of the super sub role. Coming of the bench to secure a win against Aston Villa with an atypical Arsenal header from a corner has made a few more Gooners change their mind about the little Israeli.

Arshavin would have been the one fulfilling that role, with an injection of skill, penetration and the odd bit of magic to crack a hard defence allied with the nous to keep a small lead safe and control the game when needed. Alas the Russian, for whatever reason can offer us none of what’s needed, even Rosickỳ offers us much more from the bench.

I have to agree with the popular sentiment that it’s time for Arshavin and Arsenal to part ways. No one can say we didn’t give him a chance, and as for that silly idea that he is played out of position I ask where did he play for Zenith, and when he lit up the Euro’s where was he playing?

Sadly Arshavin has proven what I said in the run up to him signing for us

Andrei is good but he also comes with a lot of baggage that is not really conducive to the atmosphere in the club right now. The Russian is on high wages, and is renowned for his parting and playboy lifestyle.

Early remarks about his tax situation had alarms bells ringing, as much as I would put down his form to money or lack thereof, there is the nagging feeling that he just doesn’t enjoy being in England. It may be a bit to restricted for the maverick that is Arshavin.

Observations about the game.

Just as we deserved more from the game against Manchester City, we surely deserved less from the Aston Villa game. That’s the nature of the game. We were at least equal to the league leaders when we played them yet we lost.

Last night Aston Villa was better than us, yet we win. Football is all about fine margins and last night the margin was in our favour. That margin could have been even greater had it not been for the usual incompetent Premier League refereeing.

Frimpong is not an adequate replacement for Song Billong. I get the character sometimes a club need someone like Frimpong, a joker in the pack, a fan favorite etc.

Take away the brand and you have a young player with a lot to learn on the pitch, if he can work on his game and improve year on year as Song has done the I’ll be fine. However at this point in time I’d go with the more, er, experienced Coquelin—Ok I’ve always liked Coquelin, but he is, more experienced—.

Francis filled in at Right Back and had to pass a stern test from N’Zogbia, before finding his feet and settling in the position. Our lack of fullback is severely restricting our attack especially now that the attacking thrust depends largely on the wingers.

Wingers who now have to concentrate more on supporting the fullbacks instead of the other way around. The return of any of our fullbacks cannot come soon enough. Hopefully we can hold out until then.

And with that, I say Au revoir. Please leave your thoughts in the comments section below, you should also stay in touch by following @wengerball on twitter.

It didn’t start very well though, Moses looked to test Szcsęsny early on and Jordi Gomez looked sure to give Wigan the league but Santos was able to deflect the shot wide. However as much as Wigan started well, we were creating chances, the signs were there that we’d be able to get goals.

For some reason Wigan dropped deep and our midfield was afforded enough space to be dangerous. Eventually Arteta was allowed to pick up the ball just outside the centre circle, freely waltz to within shooting range of the Wigan goal and let fly.

A an opening goal is always a welcome relief — Although I was a little ticked off with Al Habsi for letting what seems and easy enough shot to handle but that was short lived when I remembered that I had swapped the Wigan keeper for Tim Krul in my fantasy team — and with that goal I though it would be an opportune time to take a toilet break, lo and behold when I re-emerged we had 2 goals, new striker Vermaelen was the scorer.

Usually this is the point where we — Fans as well as players — all start losing our nerves. Thing is, this is not your Arsenal of last season, you know the one who would go to pieces with a 2 goal lead. This is a more mature, more resilient and more collective Arsenal that is comfortable defending a lead. It was just a matter of staying focused and picking off Wigan when the opportunity presents.

We did exactly what was called for, we controlled the rest of the game through impeccable possession and passing football. Racking up 487 passes at a rate of 90% after the second goal — before that the passing rate was 82%. Unlike previous seasons at no time did I feel nervous or was worried about the the opposition coming back into it.

A mature, collective performance. The key word in Arsène Wenger’s post match interview was collective. Seldom can a team win games without playing as a collective and Arsenal’s 3rd goal the epitome of a collective, one scored after a 33 passes culminating into RVP’s strike being parried into Gervinho’s path for the score.

It felt that another 90 minutes would pass without a Van Persie goal, but Theo made sure that his skipper got that goal. Staying on his feet when he could have easily gone down, cutting back to RvP when he could have gone for the goal is more proof of the collective spirit on display by the team.

Individually this Arsenal team does not look better than any of the previous six seasons, but there is this sense that collectively — I promise I won’t use that word again — they are much more than the sum of the parts.

RvP, Walcott, Ramsey, Koscielny and Arteta have all clocked over 1100 premier league minutes so far this season, with Song and Gervinho not that far behind. Having topped the group we are in a position to rest players against Olympiacos next Tuesday.

For now we enjoy the rest of the weekend and look forward to the second string getting a run out against the Greeks. Thanks for stopping by, remember to leave your comments in the section below or @wengerball on twitter.

μέχρι την επόμενη φορά

This time, whether there’s been a change in attitude, or was the quality of performance on display, or the cost of opposition, this time does not feel as bad as the others.

We’ve been knocked out in the past by, Burnley, Spurs, thrashed by City away, bullied by stoke, and had our hearts ripped out by Brimingham at Wembley, but this time it feels different.

Fans left the Emirates with a positive feeling, a sense of pride, proud of the young-1 men who showed that they can perform with the best of them, proud of the older-2 heads who instilled a sense of calm, and assurance.

It shows that there is still life left in the old youth project, we also learned that the backup in some positions are not as bad as we thought, most of all it shows that there a togetherness and a fight in this Arsenal team and shows there is a “team” in this team.

Not that there isn’t anything to worry about though. The bluntness of our attack is something of a bother. Neither Chamakh or Park gave us any hint that the reliance on Robin van Persie can be abated with confidence. Sergio Aguero showed what a quality striker looked like, seizing on his only real chance to give City the win.

While Arshavin’s cameo—the less said the better.

More an more it’s likely that there will be a foray in the January transfer market to sharpen our attack. The problem lies in the availability of good attacking stock during that period. The better players surely won’t be released by their respective teams.

The best we can hope for is that a good but unsettled striker can be found. There has been talk of Podolski being the top target for that role. A well respected striker in the Bundesliga that has indicated his preference to move to new pastures. If that happens then it will go some way to alleviating the pressure on monsiuer van Persie.

Nasri eventually asked to be denched…I mean benched

Where we seem to have good options is in the center of midfield. If Coquelin or Frimpong—who made it his personal duty to make Nasri know what we think of him— can replicate their performance on a consistent basis then there is not much to worry about in the case of Song or Arteta being absent.

Defensively we already have ample backup, yet the left back position is one of some concern. Miquel played there against City but he is not a left back, in fact it may have been his 1st game in that position. His lack of experience showed earlier on in the game with Johnson getting the better of him in the early exchanges.

To his credit though he improved as the game wore on, to the point where he had the upper hand on the opposition and was quite comfortable until his substitution in the 80th minute.

So the Carling Cup has ended the opportunity for fringe players to get a run out. Some may move out on loan, and while the player of Coquelin would benefit from being farmed out it’s more likely that one of he and Frimpong will be kept back to relieve the current centre midfielders.

We all wish that we could beat moneybags City  but we didn’t. and the focus must be reset to moving up the premier league table. Wigan is up next and it is imperative that we get all 3 points from that encounter.

Thanks for stopping by, please leave your thoughts in the comments section below or @wengerball on twitter. Until next time… Forward.

It ended with a win but for a long period it did look like it would be “one of those days”. Arsenal created enough chances in the 1st 15 minutes to be up 3-0 yet it was Norwich City who opened the scoring.

Mertesacker would be the villain of the piece, but there is an argument for a foul on Morison. The German could — and should — have acted more decisively, but too often in the Premier League players get away with foul play. One hand on your shoulder and the other around your neck would pretty much impede the progress of any but the strongest players.

In any case a hefty boot would have done the job, a simple action that Per failed to perform ultimately cost us a goal. Fingers will be pointed to a soft Arsenal defence, but apart from that one lapse the defence did their job quite well.

The defence wasn’t what would keep us from beating Norwich City. It was the finishing coupled with that pesky Russell Martin, who seemed to find himself in the way of every goal-bound Arsenal shot.

Norwich’s cause was also helped by the wasteful Gervihno. The Ivorian is quite adept at getting into dangerous positions, but his erratic finishing must improve in order to take the scoring weight off Van Persie. Gervais at one point rounded the Norwich keeper yet contrived to pass the ball straight back into his hands.

Gervihno rounds the keeper... or has he?

Even when we got the opening goal Gervinho’s wasteful exorbitance was in the forefront. Walcott — My man of the match, his best game in a long time — hit a low ball across the face of goal Gervihno was in line to score, yet instead of tapping the ball in he tried to do a fancy flick which he completely missed only for Van Persie to show him how it’s done.

Arsenal second goal was also a case of RvP showing Gervais — who had earlier fluffed a 1 on 1 chance —  how a world class player should score a goal when one v one with the goalie. We all know how much RvP is in the zone right now, what I am worried about is how much we rely on the Dutchman.

Robin is on par with Messi, Ronaldo, and Gomez in terms of scoring in the league. The startling thing is that he has scored 52% of Arsenal’s league goals. Compared to Ronaldo(33%) or Messi(42%), that is quite a worrying stat especially when you take Van Persie’s fitness record into consideration.

Arsenal do create a lot of chances, but we need someone other than RvP to convert them. hopefully we will cross that bridge when it arrives.

In the meantime we enjoy our run and look forward to the Champions League clash with Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday.

Thanks for stopping by, please leave you comments in the form below. You can also follow @wengerball on twitter.

Plus tard.

The fact remains that this is three more points in a season that was supposed to finally put the nails in the Arsenal coffin. One where we were to drop out of the top four or even completely out of any European competition. Yet Arsenal are 3 points better off this season compared to the same fixtures of the last.

Last season a similarly poor West Brom side put us to the sword inflicting a severe wound in our title aspirations with a 2-3 reverse in the same fixture. A game that featured Gaël Clichy and that Nasri fellow. This was the type of game that no matter the opposition it still takes discipline to win. A discipline that was severely lacking last season but which is slowly coming to the fore this time around.

Being able to dispatch West Brom with such ease will no doubt add to the ever growing confidence of the team, bouyed by the last premier league outing it is not hard to see what a good run of results can do for a team’s mentality.

Passes are more incisive, players making runs where a few months ago they would have hesitated, same for passes. Defensively the team is more aware of their responsibility, and with the ever improving Jenkinson — Another impressive performance by the young man. Always full of energy, the best crossing in the team and not too shabby defensively either. —  the back five is now a bit more respectable. Vermaelen back from injury means the Centre Back position is a bit of a positive headache for Monsieur Wenger.

Thomas Vermaelen is the type of player that does well against teams like West Brom but his forays forward can also be a liability in other matches. That’s where Mertesacker will come in, games where a calm head, experience, and a better ability to read the game is needed.

The helter-skelter pace of most premier league games will take some getting used to by the German, Although he has showed that he can manage, he has still to adjust to the pacing of the Premier League. No doubt that Per is up to the task, the good thing is that fitness has now afforded us the opportunity to be patient.

One thing that I’m not sure about is the attitude of the manager towards winning the title. I understand that he is wary of putting too much pressure on the team. He has put himself at fault for last seasons collapse, by telling the players the could win everything.

This time around he is saying that we are too far being to contemplate a title challenge, yet he himself has won titles in the past whilst being even further behind. Maybe it is more to do with the strength of the current leader rather than the weakness of his own team.

Not only do we have to win points but we have to depend on City to drop quite a few, and that does not seem likely at the moment. However what we can do is keep winning.

There won’t be any Arsenal football for the next 2 weeks, let’s all hope that everyone returns fit from their international excursions.

That’s my lot for today. Thanks for stopping by, please leave your thoughts in the comments section below or @wengerball on twitter. Until next time… Forward.

Described as everything from fatigued to atrocious it shows that there is always something to pick apart, you can never please everyone. We did not produce the goals, but we did create a few chances.

Ramsey, who was paying pennence for that last minute winner at the Stade Velodrome, could not capitalise on the chances that fell to him. Park is obviously no Van Persie, Gervinho and Walcott looked sluggish.

I am pleased however. Pleased that we are top of a difficult group, and winning that group a a fate that is entirely in our hands.

A win against Olympiacos and we are in the knockout stages, if we’re lucky and Marsielles drop any points against Dortmund we will be group winners.

I am pleased with the attitude shown by our team. We might have been emotionally tired from the weekend highs. Passes might have gone astray, but I saw players encouraging each other. I saw players protecting their teammates. I saw players putting in the effort.
No one was coasting, they were disappointed in the result, some were disappointed with their own below par performance, but I saw a team out there. To bad we didn’t win.

It’s strange that we are getting such flak from last night, yet I thought we played better than in the away game. It’s one of those cases of the result shaping the analysis.

Marsielles was so much better this time around, and barring a poor touch from Gervinho the Stade Velodrome result would have been the same.

I am pleased for Mertesacker, who was on his game last night. Hardly put a foot wrong and won everything in the air. At least his bad game was one which we managed to win.

I am pleased that Vermaelen played a full 90 minutes at high intensity without an adverse reaction. Wenger is able to rest him for the weekend, more so if he is called up for Belgium.

We are in a situation where we don’t have to rush back players in desperation. It bodes well for the overall fitness of the squad.

Oh yes, a clean sheet. Something that is not associated with this Arsenal’s defence. Only 5 clean sheets this season says it all. We just don’t do clean sheets, last night was a minor miracle.

Sergeant Jenkinson—who doesn’t look it but really is a glass half full type of guy—looked at the positives. Saying:

“Defensively we were solid and although they did break a few times they did not really have many clear-cut opportunities. So defensively it was a good display by us and I think we will build on that now. I think you have got to take the positives. Obviously, Marseille are a good side and we have not lost – 0-0 is not a bad result. So, in my eyes, the glass is half full. At the end of the day, we have kept our unbeaten run going.”

Wojtek “Cruyff-turn-in-your-box” Szczęsny was also happy with his defence:

We kept a clean sheet, which is all you can ask of a back four. They did well today but I’ve been training with them for a long time and I see the qualities. We looked really solid today; the spirit is really positive in the team. We are very confident going into every single game. There were some tired legs but you expect that. It is hard to play a big game every three days. And at the moment, every game for us is massive.

If you want to whinge about not scoring, go ahead, but I’ll stick with a positive outlook today. Thanks for stopping by, please leave your thoughts in the comments section below or @wengerball on twitter. Until next time… Forward.

The assumption is that Vermaelen will partner Mertesacker in the long run, however as far as I am concerned it will be Koscielny in the driver seat with others fighting for a game.

This morning I had intended to write more about Koscielny’s rise from Lique 1 to 1st choice at The Arsenal, however in my feed reader I saw that @dstonearsenal wrote an excellent piece on that topic, so I’m just going to add a few words about the man who according to the esteemed Mr. Redknapp had finally “arrived” in the 3-5 win against Chelsea.

As Darius Stone wrote, the first thing that fans use to judge a player is the nonsensical notion of equating transfer fee to quality. So Koscielny instantly fails in this regard with his £8.4m fee paling in comparison to top class defenders. I find it unbelievable than anyone would think that way.

The fact is the transfer fee has more to do with how much one party is willing to sell at and how mush the other is willing to pay. It has more to do with the particular needs of a club and that of a player. It has more to do with vanity than reality. It has more to do with timing.

It has little to do with quality. Anelka went from £500,000 to £22.3m and everything in between, yet his quality was consistent throughout. What does that say? We’re not comparing different players or positions. The same player was traded for:

• £500,000 —Arsenal —Games per goal(2.83)
• £22,300,000 —Real Madrid —Games per goal(9.5)
• £20,000,000 —PSG —Games per goal(3.9)
• £12,000,000 —Manchester City —Games per goal(2.4)
• £7,000,000 —Fenerbahçe —Games per goal(2.8)
• £8,000,000 —Bolton —Games per goal(2.5)
• £15,000,000 —Chelsea —Games per goal(3.24)

What does this show? Transfer fee is a lottery. The performance of a player has nothing to do with his transfer fee.

More than the transfer fee, the judgement on Koscielny’s quality is gratuitously skewed because of a few relatively high profile errors. No matter that he has kept an untold number of strikers quiet, or he as the best timing of tackles, recovery pace, or positioning. He will always be shit in people’s eyes because of that Carling Cup Final.

That is a classic human failing otherwise known as cognitive biases. In particular a Negativity bias – the tendency to pay more attention and give more weight to negative than positive experiences or other kinds of information.

Another form of cognitive bias that Koscielny suffers from is the Von Restorff effect – the tendency for an item that “stands out like a sore thumb” to be more likely to be remembered than other items.

An all action player who put in 1 or 2 crunching tackles in a game but not much else is held in higher regard than one who times and wins 5 or 6 interceptions. Yet it should be obvious that an interception is more valuable than the type of tackle that is more often than not a foul. Even when it is not a foul you’re hardly in a position to do anything with the ball if you’re lucky enough to win the ball.

I keep hearing that Laurent is error prone, when the truth is again linked to the Wembley final. An event that sticks out like a sore thumb, and one that is out of the ordinary for the defender. An own goal against Blackburn caused the old error prone line to resurface. Yet the fact that these errors stick out so much should lead one to conclude that he is infact not error prone and these events are extreme cases.

This is the same stick used to beat Arshavin with, using a 4 goal performance at Liverpool as the benchmark. Expecting him to put in that type of performance on a regular basis is foolish, it may never happen again. The benchmark for Arshavin is an assist every other game or a goal every 3-4 games, sadly every time he fails to score 4 it’s another poor performance—madness.

These cognitive biases are present in everyone, the trick is to acknowledge their existence and ask yourself  “am I being biased here?” Obviously as football fans we will have our tinted spectacles on and it’s fine as long as we realise that those specs are indeed on.

Others will have you believe that Arsenal is a one man team, or as an esteemed hack put it:

“Arsenal is one Robin van Persie injury away from mid-table mediocrity”

You see, Van Persie wins the ball, dribbles, to the byline, cuts it back to himself, and finishes it. He may be good, but he’s not that good. I’d venture to say that without Gervinho we would not have won yesterday. It seems that as things didn’t go as the narrative demanded, the media had to come up with something else.  — Anything apart from what is actually happening.

Slowly the confidence is returning.

Having watch the match in it’s entirety this morning, the body language, movement and attitude of players seems to point to more belief in themselves. At the very least it looks better that it was a few weeks ago. One of our biggest problems at the start of the season was the inability to make incisive passes. Through balls was a rarity, players making runs in behind the defence almost ever happened, creativity was in a trough.

Ramsey in particular is finding his mojo. That pass for the opening goal would never have happened on month ago. Whether it’s getting the goal against Marsielles, playing well for his country during the international break, or simply just a the result of a few wins, his confidence is noticeably better and the creative and incisive passing is coming back.

Gervinho Showing what he can offer.

I think some of us were worried as Gervinho haven’t been the all action goal scoring hero we might have hoped for. Although that was never what he was going to be, — Yet — there was the expectation that he would shoulder some of the goal-scoring burden currently being carried by Van Persie.

While all eyes may be on van Persie at the moment, Gervinho did score the opening goal and was the one who assisted the 2 RvP goals. While 2 premier league goals so far may look a low return for the Ivorian, factor in the 4 assists in his 6 premier league games and you’ll see that he is quietly getting the job done.

Koscienly is first choice.

I have always been a huge fan of Laurent. He has made a few faux pas in his Arsenal career, but I’ve never doubted his quality. What has hindered him more than ever is a lack of a consistent partner at centre back. From Vermaelen to Miquel, injuries and suspensions, koscielny has never been afforded the luxury of developing an understanding with his partner at the back.

I have not checked the stats, but I would not at all be surprised if this six game run with Mertesacker is the longest Koscielny has gone playing with the same partner at the back. What are seeing is a confident player who is hitting some great form, and there are not many in the Premier League who is better then him.

The assumption is that Vermaelen will partner Mertesacker in the long run, however as far as I am concerned it will be Koscielny in the driver seat with others fighting for a game.

Bring on Bolton in the Carling Cup, I would expect heavy rotation and an Arsenal win… Forward

Injuries and the upcoming North London Derby(NLD)  meant that the side put out by Pat Rice would be a shadow of our best 11. Song at Centre Back, The Ox™ in for Walcott, Andrew Saint continues to get settled in, and Rusty Rosický the stand in captain.

Wholesale changes often means a lack of cohesion and a bit of caution, fortunately for The Arsenal and early goal by Oxlaide-Chamberlain settled the nerves, and when Andre Santos netted the second it looked like it would be one of those high scoring Champions League night.

To the credit of Olympiacos they didn’t retreat into their shell, but woke up and took the game to Arsenal. It seems news of our vulnerability on set pieces has spread far and wide and the Greek champions sought to take advantage of said vulnerability.

Their goal came from a quick short corner which caught the arsenal defence snoozing, Oxlaide-Chamberlain was left 2 on 1 and Olympiacos scored from a relatively free header. The scoreline wasn’t unfair, no, it indeed was unfair as the Greeks had more chances to score and were it not for their profligacy and a bit of alert defending from Arteta the scoreline would be in favour of Olympiacos.

Fuster scores, catching Arsenal asleep at the back

The second half turned out to be a more controlled affair. Whether it was coaches instructions, or simply player caution, there were no more goals to come. Although at the time gooners may have been wracked with nerves over a slender lead, in reality we were well in control throughout the second half.

In the 66^th minute Torossidis hit the bar with a thumping shot that seemed to take Szczęsny by surprise. It was a warning, one which we did well to heed. As it stood that was the last shot Olymipiacos had on goal. We did create a few chances in the last 20 minutes but the score stood at 2-1.

The scoreline made it feel uncomfortable, but I dare say it was not down to what we were seeing on the pitch. A combination of negativity and confirmation bias towards our defence made what turned out to be a relatively easy win feel much worse than reality.

The Good

The result, don’t say it loudly but that is our third win in a row although it doesn’t feel that way it’s another step towards the confidence levels that we need to sustain a good run in any competition. Arsène remarked that confidence is easy to lose and slow to regain, as it proves he is right, but we’re getting there —of that I’m confident—.

Alex Dimitri Song Billong can provide as much sorrow as he gives joy, when he is on song it is a joy to behold. The guy can be so calm, so calculating, if only he can keep his form going for a sustained period.

This season is a African Nations Cup tournament if he were to jet off to Africa he’d be sorely missed, thankfully it will take a minor miracle for Cameroon to qualify.

The Bad

Their goal was one that gave more ammunition to the Arsenal needs a defensive coach agenda. A player left in a 2 on 1 situation while the defence is getting organised, not realising the kick is already taken. By the time Arsenal realised what was happening the goal had already been scored.

Lack of concentration, switching off, not paying attention, call it what you will, but is was bad.

The Ugly

Andrey Arshavin — Walking around, playing bad passes then standing there like it’s someone else’s fault, he was shit. Although he had a ten minute spell when it looked like he had suddenly realised there was a game to be played. Amazingly the stats showed that he had covered the most ground at half time—yes you read that right.

That’s not the worst though. What’s really ugly is the way he looks at the bench with those sad puppy dog eyes pleading to be taken off. At least he gets on the pitch, unlike …

What now?

As far as the Champions League is concerned the next 2 matches against Marsielle is crucial for qualification. The good thing is that we can’t take our foot off the gas as we did in previous campaigns. Seeing Marsielle beat both Dortmund and Olympiacos by scoring 3 goals means at the very least our defence will be tested.

Funny thing is that Marsielle can’t buy a win in Ligue 1 — so far they’ve played 8 and won 1— yet they are looking so good in Champions League. We will have to be on the ball against them.

Next up is the NLD. According to prevailing thought we are going to Shite Hart Lane as underdogs. I keep hearing that they have a better team than ours, and they have put some great wins together. Footballing norms say Adebayor will score against us, but I am not sure that it is that simple.

Derby games are just that, a derby, and the form book is usually thrown out during those encounters. Fortunately we were able to rest some players and Harry has repeated hisSpurs will finish ahead of arsenal this season mantra, which is usually followed immediately by us spanking them. Look it up every time he says this they lose, it has happened the past 2 seasons.

Anyway that’s my lot for today, thanks for reading. Remember to leave your thoughts in the comment section and follow @wengerball on twitter.

The crowd was more behind the team now that there is a noticeable lack of confidence on the pitch. No one can accuse the Emirates crowd of the apathy of previous seasons. No more we sit back waiting to be entertained, we know that our support is needed now more than ever and that is manifested in a more boisterous crowd at The Emirates Stadium.

At halftime, with the score still 0-0, glimpses of wengerball was there but not having the luxury of a lead meant nerves remained frayed. Happily we didn’t have to wait long after the interval for the opening goal.

Van Persie did what he does and with a shimmy of his hips and a thwack from his trusty left peg the Emirates crowd breathed a collective sigh of relief. What a difference the goal made, we played with a swagger, passes were crisp, movement was delightful, and when David Wheater was sent off for denying Theo and obvious goalscoring opportunity we were finally in control of the game.

Bolton’s goal came under seige — 15 of Arsenal’s 27 shots on goal came after the 55^th minute — , the second goal was inevitable. We were however warned when a Bolton counter-attack was thwarted be the recovery pace of Gibbs, but these Bolton raids we few and far, far, in-between.

Robin van Persie scores 100 goals for Arsenal

Robin van Persie became the 17^th player to score 100 goals for The Arsenal when he expertly nudged home another — in what is becoming a regular combination, that has yielded 7 assists since January — low cross from Theo Walcott. Smiles broke out everywhere, a happiness that recently has been all too fleeting has returned, hopefully for a long-term visit.

The final goal came through Alexandre Dimitri Song Billong, who was excellent throughout. The midfielder was rated 8.8 by whoscored only Robin van Persie was rated higher at 9.7. Not just content at breaking up Bolton’s play, Song contributed by attempting and successfully making the most through passes, and creating joint most — together with Walcott and Arteta — scoring opportunities.

So in a day that started off with trepidation and anxiety ended with gooners full of repose and cheer after a good day on the pitch. 3-0 no other team has kept more clean sheets than Arsenal in the league so far.

Thanks for reading and please leave your thoughts in the comment section below. You can join @wengerball on twitter for up to the minute thoughts and opinion on all things Arsenal, ‘till next time.

The prevailing mood was contentment with the point, an acceptance that BVB were better on the night:

@arsenalvision
Proud of the boys tonight. Defended very well, worked hard but that strike was top draw. I would have taken a draw beforehand.
@Gooner_In_BCN
Draw away from home wiv team that never played together against German champs not bad. Helluva goal against. We will win this group IMO
@arseblog
Slightly cruel with the lateness of the goal but they deserved something, I guess. I’ll take 1-1.

Ivan Perišić scores a once in a lifetime goal? Or Arsenal concedes their usual screamer from a loose header.

There was a bit of lamentation on the way and time Dortmund equalised, most accepted that it was a once in a lifetime strike. The goalsocorer Ivan Perišić himself admitted that he’s never done that before, and probably never will again. Though some voices queried the lack of personnel defending the edge of the box, noting that we have a record of conceding that type of goal:

@benvenceremos
Not that scoreline flattered Borussia, but fuck me: Danny Rose, Toite, & now Peresic, all almost identical once in a lifetime heartsinkers!
@Sharpovic
So typical of us to concede those kind of goals, like the one from tiote vs newcastle last year.
@ArsenalColumn
Not to sound a pessimist but it’s an inevitability if Arsenal defend with all inside their box.
If there’s no one there for the second ball those kinds of opportunities are invited aren’t they?

The defence won praise, notably Szczesny, Koscielny and the second half Song, especially in light of the movement and work ethic of BVB. Whilst at the other end there is concern about the dullness and underwhelming mobility:

@binhaf
Meh. Kos and Song were outstanding in 2nd half. Szczesny awesome as usual, good defending from the boys. Non existent offensively.
@7amkickoff
Arsenal clearly set up conservatively, got the goal they wanted, and did very well to defend the lead. Great strike from Snake Perisic
@gwalcott14
Mertesacker was outstanding tonight. Not ever have I felt this safe with high balls. Song was MOTM though. Götze was brilliant for BVB
@henrywinter
Rarely seen Alex Song play as well as that 2nd half. Model of the modern defensive midfielder. Tackling, breaking up play etc.
@10akhil
I agree. [Song]stayed on his feet too. mature performance. thought Laurent Kosienly was superb too. Was everywhere.
@Marbina49
Sagna’s the best right back in the premier league, fuck anyone that tries to tell me otherwise. Such a consistent hard working player.

Outside of the game, we commented on UEFA’s treatment of Arsène, Barcelona’s Cesc effect and praise for the ref:

@littlemsgooner
how ridiculous for Arsene Wenger not to be allowed to go to the dressing room after the game is over UEFA = power crazy
@JamieDalton82
Barca starting to rack up the injuries – Sanchez out for 2 months – Iniesta now out for 1 month
@TheRSD
German press on The Ref. Error-free performance, saw little things big and small, also with a nice body language – how it’s done. true

There you have it, turns out that collating these tweets is a little more time consuming than it appears. Hover over the user names to follow or view more info on the publishers.

If you are unhappy with the publication of your tweet here, drop me a line and I’ll remove it. Thanks for reading, you can follow me on twitter at @wengerball, till next time.

We love you Arsenal

The opening goal came within the first 5 minutes, the sigh of relief in the stadium was noticeable. It also meant that a team notorious for letting leads slip would have 84 minutes to hold on to or improve on that slender margin. The question on fans minds was simple, would the defence hold out?

As it turned out that much maligned defence was, as at St. James’ Park, the best part of the team. Koscielny showed that he is massively underrated, Vermaelen was barking orders as befits the captain, Sagna was quietly efficient and Szczęsny commanding in his box. Jenkinson, who was clearly nervous, came through unscathed.

As positive as the defence was, the same could not be said for other areas of the pitch where the problems are stark. Although the defence bears the brunt of blame for our ails, it has always been the midfield who puts them under undue pressure and last night was no different.

Song, Ramsey and, Rosickỳ did not work as well as the could. Failure to keep possession meant Udinese could start there attacks halfway up the pitch. Passes were constantly miss-placed, first touches were nearly always heavy, movement was sluggish. Even when the midfield gained a semblance of control, that killer pass proved to be elusive.

It says something about our lack of control in the middle that the introduction of Frimpong brought with it some relief. Two fouls in the space of a few seconds was ominous, but once settle the youngster made us look much improved. We can be sure that far from another centre back, a midfield maestro is Arsenal’s most immediate requirement.

Upfront was a mixed bag Walcott the outstanding attacker, and were it not for an outstanding save from Handanovič he would have had a brace and we would be going to Italy with a 2 goal lead. Gervinho did everything but was time and again let down by his last action, whilst the less said about Chamackh the better. Although in defence of the Moroccan it was an improved performance, let’s leave it there.

No Arsenal fan can pretend that they are not happy with the result, given the team we had out there few would have been brave to bet on a win for The Arsenal. Injuries are already a huge problem only 2 games into the season. We can only hope that the medical staff can get key members of the squad fit in time for the return leg.

Barring medical wizardry, a foray into the transfer market is imperative and that must happen sooner rather than later.

We defended heroically –as heroically as you can with that infamous backline–but barça simply was too good for The Arsenal last night.

It was always going to an uphill task, and when Robin van Persie got sent off that task went from uphill to monumental. The referee was well within his rights to book van Persie, but having the right to do so doesn’t preclude him from having some common sense and using that right in a more deserving situation.

Barça was superior against 11, RvP sending off ended any semblance of a contest.

Without the services of the flying dutchman we a left to rue what might have been. Yet, barça was always going to score and the remit was to restrict them to as little as possible while getting a sneaky way goal. A remit that Arsenal came close to fulfilling.

At 3-1 Barca still had to be wary of another Arsenal goal, and had it not been for a great tackle from Mascherano–or a poor first touch from Bendtner–it might have been Arsenal in the next round and that would have been a travesty.

As it stands we have to completely disregard last might amd get ourselves on the correct frame of mind for Saturday. I don’t subscribe to the notion that going out last night will be detrimental to the team. More than anything it should concentrate our energies to achieving the two remaining targets.

United ain’t no Barcelona.

Recent history has pointed to a week or two where Arsenal go from possibly winning everything to likely winning nought. The fear is that we are in the middle of repeating that history. I’m sure that just as we are aware of it the players are doubly so, and the are good enough to get past United.

Just as they are aware of the past they should learn from it, and I am still confident that this team is on the path to lifting silverware this season.

The champions league might have been great but the FA cup still has allure, winning the league and cup double is nothing to sniff  at. So forget about the past and look forward to a double winning season. We can do this

We easily get sucked into the media led illusion that we won’t win anything with our current defence, while blithely ignoring the profligacy we’ve shown time and time again in front of goal. Notwithstanding the poor refereeing, we would have won the game if not for our failure to convert chances.

There have been blunders at the back that have cost us games, even cost us a trophy this season. However it’s no good the defence to shut up shop only for the forwards not to score when the opportunity arises.

The reason why United are top of the league not because of their mighty defence. Do not be fooled they have conceded just as much as the soft underbelly of The Arsenal. The reason why they are up there is because they take their chances.

It’s very much the same as when van Persie is playing. We always look a better side because more often than not Robin van Persie will convert chances into goals. The dutch striker scores roughly 1 in 4 attempts while the rest of the team needs 7 shots to convert 1 goal.

Yesterday I tweeted that United has 5 more goals than us from 36 less shots, if we were as clinical as they were we’d have we’d have 69 goals as opposed to 57. Even if we were not top of the league at least we’d have a superior goal difference.

On Saturday the easy thing to do was to look at the mistakes made by the referee, the offside decision that never was did cost us. That goal would have had us 1 point behind Manchester United today.

I’d like to ask how many of us looked at that decision in real time and thought it was onside? It was so close that the only way the linesman could get that right is if he had been perfectly in line with Arshavin.

Instead of blaming the referee or linesman we should look at our own players. When Chamakh laid that cutback perfectly for Arshavin to score why did he put that it straight to the keeper when it was easier not to? Or why when presented with a clear header did Chamakh go for power over accuracy? Six inches better placed and we’d not be having this conversation.

In football it’s always easy to blame the ref or the manager, but the ones who should shoulder the blame are the individuals who make more mistakes than either manager or referee.

A point closer to the title

Despite my negative tone, I still think that it was a good weekend for The Arsenal. We have Dirk Kuyt and Livepool to thank for that, about time someone show United for the shit team that there are. Always scrapping by, fooling people into thinking that they are such a great team.

Those fuckers are like playing your little brother on FIFA, always gloating when he eeks out a win with some lucky rebound, or just waltzing right through your defender. The minute you start beating him, he chucks away the controller and decides he wants to play something else.—I digress.

Even if we were able to beat Sunderland, United might have beaten Liverpool and we would be 4 points behind instead of 3. In any case we still have to beat United when they visit us at the Emirates.

Tomorrow we face Barcelona and I’m not expecting anything out of this game. I’d be over the moon if we win, but I will not be unduly troubled if we were to lose at the Camp Nou. As long as it’s not a demoralising 5-0 defeat, I’d be happy to concentrate on the Premier League, which is a title that is more winnable.

Rvp takes his tally to 6 this season, that's starts and goals.

In the end he was tee’d up by Theo to get that third goal. It’s not just the goals that matter though, the joy van Persie plays with is a marked change from the guy that’s just recovering from injury. There’s no diffidence in his play, he simply goes out there and does what he knows he can do without a worry. Six goals in six games shows just that.

Another player on his way back from injury is Fàbregas. Earlier in the season he looked a player out of sorts. The media was quick to put that down to his mind being at Barcelona. The player himself cited niggling injuries and a worry over his hamstring as the reason for his below par performances. Now that Cesc is also getting over his world cup hangover we can looking forward to exquisite wengerball much like the combination for that second goal.

It’s not only Cesc and RvP, there has always been a bit of trepidation when it comes to the fixture congestion in January – February and whilst we are still in all 4 competitions fatigue can cause injury and injury has wrecked our seasons in the past few years. This time around the injury jinx has given us a little break —I am worried that by writing this I’ll piss off the injury gods, but here goes— and being able to rotate the squad keeps the fatigue monster at bay. The relative quiet in the physioroom bodes well for our title run in.

Having just had a look at the injury tables, I am surprised that we are 2^nd in term of the number of players injured. I am surprised by that. I keep hearing of teams blaming injuries —especially that moving-to-strattford lot— but the tables show exactly why you shouldn’t believe everything you hear, anyway I digress…

While there is a lot to be happy about, as an Arsenal fan there will always be the questions. What’s happening with the little Russian? Where’s that new Centre Back? Why do why wast so many chances? All legitimate questions, but I’d rather revel in the positive. So instead this morning I’m thinking, damn that pass from Song to Cesc for the penalty was lush, Arshavin still better than Rooney, man we create lots of chances, if we were to play Barça today we’d spank those fuckers.

Suffice to sat I’m feeling great this morning.

In other news, Arsenal sent scouts to the hearts Rangers game on Saturday, and although the scouts could be looking at any one of the 22 players on display, presumably they were there to watch Allan McGregor the 29 year old Rangers goalkeeper. Although they could have been looking at a Centre Back but who knows?

And finally apparently Arsène has admitted to having talks with a view to signing Southampton starlet Alexander Mark David Oxlade-Chamberlain, phew.

Sagna and Zabelta lock horns, may be a lot more to it than just frustration.

I’m not entirely sure that Manchester City came to play for a draw, what I am sure of is that they came to the Emirates in the knowledge that they are in fact inferior to The Arsenal and whatever happens the goal is not to lose. We can bemoan their tactics all we want, the reality is that they got what they came for will we go away two points worse off that we would have liked.

I have not gone all pessimistic and gloomy, it’s just that I don’t understand why City is getting so much flak for their approach to the game. As their boss admitted the superiority of Arsenal when he said:

“It is not important. I prefer to think about the point. When you play Arsenal and if Arsenal play better than you, then you must defend. This is football. Not every team can play like Arsenal.”

Our job was to break down their defence and get the goal we needed, and break them down we did, time and time again. Unfortunately we could not the the ball in the back of the net, even when we managed to beat their goalkeeper.

This was not a case of we not doing enough, or not playing well enough. Citeh was battered, they came under wave after wave of attacks. Punch drunk they somehow survived the early onslaught, went into ultra defensive mode, rode their luck and somehow ended up with a point. Though we didn’t get the win, no one can say that we didn’t deserve it.

There was nothing wrong with our tactics, nor was there a problem with attitude, it was just one of those nights where a dynamic attack came up against an obdurate defence and could not breakthrough.

The entire team was on song, the passing was sharp, the movement was clever, the cohesiveness was ,erm cohesive? On the odd occasion, and by odd occasion I mean the three times, that City made a foray into our half the defence was up to the task.

Alex Song should be lauded for his performance. He had another game that shows just how good he really is. Calm and assured in defence smart and fleet in attack, if only he trusted his left foot enough to take that shot at the end of a silky run through City’s defence.

Another player who came out with reputation enhanced is Wilshere, knew that he was tenacious, we knew he has the skill and talent, we now know that despite is diminutive stature he has the strength and will to go up against the biggest and meanest of opponents. He has grown up, still only a teenager but plays a long way beyond his years.

Had we taken one of those early chances it would have been a lot different game, in the end frustrations boiled over and Sagna and Zabaleta got sent for a stag dance as the game drew to a conclusion.

It was a compelling battle between an obdurate defence and a potent offence, a clash of ideology, one playing to win versus another playing not to lose, a confrontation between lavish spending and frugal economics which ended in draw on the scoreboard, but we all know who was the real winner.

Tech-9 beaten by a preposterous Park header/deflection

So what happened?

Nothing really, both sides were shit, both contrived to give away the ball as often as they could without it looking too unprofessional, United simply edged it and 1-0 was no more or less than they deserved. Truth be told if that was between two mid-table teams we would be lamenting the shoddy football displayed last night. —no advert for the premier league that was.

United looked there for the taking, and Fergie tactics showed (rightly or not) that he was more concerned about not losing to Arsenal than going out for the win. Yet for all the talk about, learning lessons, maturity, mental strength and such, it was just that, talk. From the start you could sense the nervousness in the team, and once the passes started going astray, you knew it was going to be one of those nights.

Can The Arsenal win the league?

Of course we can, but unless we win one of those big games, unless we get through that mental block, what runners call the wall, we won’t win the title. In terms of talent, only Man. City can boast a stronger squad, however talent can only get you so far. I won’t say we don’t have that fabled mental strength, what we have is a mental block in those Chelsea, United games.

One win, one good win over either of those teams and you’ll see a marked change in the team, sadly we still await that win.

Was there anything good we can hang on to?

Szczeşny. Being handed a debut in one of the biggest games on the calendar, is not easy to handle. Szczęsny’s kicking showed signs of the nervoursness expected under that situation, overall he showed that there’s at least one player who’s bark matches his bite. Fabiański took his chance when Almunia got injured, and Wojciech did enough to underline his status as the future number 1.

Koscielny, was back to the player that got us excited in the early season. Dealt with Rooney competently and was excellent in the air, losing only once in the entire game. Squillaci wasn’t bad either.

We are still only 2 points behind the leaders, who have a tough match against Chelsea. Win at Stoke and any points dropped by United puts us back top on points. We are not there yet but the inconsistency of those around us allows us to write off that loss with no damage to the title aspiration —in numerical terms.

Conclusion

Five games have already been lost yet we are still second, we are fortunate in that we tend not to draw much. Losing half your games is always better than drawing all. The Arsenal has been able to bounce back quicky this term, as long as we can do that against the next team I can cope with last night’s defeat.

Samir Nasri adds another sublime goal to his upcoming DVD

This Arsenal will always do their best to keep fans on the edge of our seats, Wenger pretty much guaranteed a win over Partizan Belgrade, but the result wasn’t put to bed until the 73^rd minute, when Theo Walcott hit a sumptuous half volley into the back of the net.

Now thoughts turn to the round of sixteen, where there is a 50 percent chance of a meeting with one of the Spanish giants. As such much of the talk this morning revolves around the possibility of an Arsenal Barcelona rematch. Something which we are equal parts apprehensive and excited about.

Avoid Barça at all costs

The question now is whether it’s better to meet the Big teams earlier on in the draw or avoid as much as you can? I must say, I’m on the side of getting the big problems out of the way first except if it’s a Barça sized problem. In other words the only team I would be unduly worried about is Barcelona, as we can take on and overcome Real Madrid.

A lot can change between now and the middle of February, by that time we could be on our way to a Wembley final, leading the league by 15 points with a fit and healthy squad, whilst Barça lost Iniesta to injury, Xavi fatigued overworked and playing injured, and Messi out for the rest of the season due to long-term side effect of those growth enhancing hormones. So who knows?

The main thing is to have players fit for longer period than we’ve been accustomed to. In as much as we worry about some teams, no team would want to face Arsenal with a fully fit first squad. What most people seem to miss is that, we are where we are without the ubiquitous spine of the team in place. I shudder to think what would be said if we were getting results like Chelsea who are pretty much in the same situation we are in terms of injury.

Anyway we are through to the next round which doesn’t start until February 15^th , our next game is the most important one so it’s time to focus on the Man United match. It’s about time we put and end to their run of victories over us. The last time we beat them in Old Trafford was 2006, last season we should have won easily but for a freak own goal by Diaby and the obligatory Old Trafford penalty.

Samir Nasri turning Arsenal into a one man show.

Unlike the Chelsea or Manchester United who has a squad of top top players in all areas of the pitch, with Fàbregas out Arsenal are totally dependent on the form of Nasri to get point. And we all know that form is temporary but does he have the class?

Witness Fulham’s equaliser, have you ever seen to central defenders with such poor communication that they clash heads going or the same ball, comedy defending, that’s not a top-of-the-league defence more like a Sunday League defence. After the clash of heads Koscielny was staggering around like a drunkard instead of defending until the play is stopped. Would Carragher done that? I don’t think so!

We should look at how Chelsea or Man united defend, they don’t let in silly goals, they don’t throw away leads, they know how to defend. And even on the odd occasion that their defense is breached they have in van der Sar and Cech world class goalkeepers that win points, not make howlers and throw away points.

How can we expect to win the league with Flappyhandski, or Manuel the waiter, they are just accidents waiting to happen. Unless Wenger splashes the cash in January and get a proper goalkeeper like Shay Given we will always flatter to deceive.

18 Goals conceded in 16 games is definitely not championship winning form, you don’t see champions letting in so many goals. We need some strong leader to steady the team especially when the opposition scores. If we had someone like JT, a real leader of men, then maybe we would have a chance.

Whenever the opposition scores you can see the mental frailties of the team come to the fore. Heads go down, passes are misplaced, and you just know they are going to blow it. How many times you see it happen to us? Winning a game comfortably and once the opposition score we go on to drop valuable points, we’ve lost so many points from a winning position it’s laughable.

We still need a good holding midfielder to protect that dodgy defence because Song is not up to the task, and Denilson is not an Arsenal player. Again if Wenger wants to keep his job, then those issues MUST be sorted in the January transfer window.

Top of the league just because the competition has had more injuries than the Arsenal, once the other teams work out their fitness issues, once Lampard Terry and Essien are back (I know Terry and Essien played against Everton, but they still not fully fit) then we will see the proper tables. These teams(United, Chelsea, Man City) are playing well below their ability and have a lot of room for improvement, whereas we cannot play much better than we are right now. Once they start clicking then we will be in real trouble.

Go on celebrate being top of the league in December, but we all know that it’s premature. I will only be happy if we’re top of the league at the end of the season, there is a long time to go.

just in case it escaped you, this post is made up entirely of comments from cup half empty Arsenal fans around the interweb and on the airwaves. It is not a reflection of @wengerball position.

Although we did give Villa another bite at the cherry and was some apprehension, unlike the NLD Arsenal was able to get the 4^th goal to close the game. Wilshere nodding home a smart pass from Chamakh.

Tormentors in chief, Arshavin and Nasri celebrate their efforts for the goal.

I know some of us still panicked after Villa’s made it 2-3 but Chamakh’s goal at 1-2 gave me the confidence that we could always make it 4. Hopefully —and I say hopefully because we’ve all seen those false dawns— we can go on from there and make a real push for the top.

Who knows what would have happened had Aston Villa got the draw or a win. Arshavin says:

What would have happened? We would have been sitting on the bus to London looking at each other like frightened bunnies:)

Arshavin undoubtedly had his best game of the season so far for Arsenal thought he benefited from the midweek rest and it showed. His passing incisive as his running was nippy, the first goal a result of his quick feet and willingness to take the shot when it’s on.

Arsène had this to say about Arshavin’s performance.

He has been very sharp today I feel. I felt he was always dangerous. A good test is when you like a player to have the ball and you always like him to have the ball because you feet he could make the difference

The good

Besides the fact that nerves were held, and chances were taken. The best thing about the game was how our midfield was able to dominate without the participation of Fàbregas. This bodes well for the next few weeks, it’s the area of the park where we are most blessed and removing the captain simply gives us a different tempo in the middle.

The style is the same but we tend to move the ball a little bit quicker without Cesc. When Wenger deemed it necessary to go for more defensive in the middle we were able to bring in Denilson in the middle and send in Gibbs on the wing giving us a more defensive wing but keeping Villa honest with the pace of Gibbs.

The Bad

Letting Villa back in the game at 1-3 —not at 0-2 because that goal should never have been given— was buttock clenching. One of the problem I have with our defence is the time and space we give the opposition to take their shots at goal.

Somehow closing down the opponents in shooting range is not part of our make up, we always seem to give shooter time.

The Ugly

The media reaction to Arsenal. From MOTD spending time criticising Chamakh for wearing a snood, instead of explaining to use why Villa first goal was not chalked off —by the way didn’t Lawro notice any Villa players wearing snoods?—.

To the way any goal against Arsenal is put down to having a “soft underbelly” instead of looking at the real factors involved in those goals. Don’t believe me? I read 6 match reports this morning, 5 had the word “Arsenal” followed by “soft underbelly” and 1 had “offside” in the report.

Clichy Moment™

Although the 1st goal shouldn’t have counted, Clichy had one of his moments when he started to close down Clark then suddenly though better of it, or maybe he just didn’t think.

Conclusion

Good result for us, at a ground where both United and Chelsea dropped points. We can’t underestimate how much holding on for the win after a disastrous week is good for the confidence.

Next up Wigan in the Carling Cup, with many of the fringe players going off on loan the Carling Cup squad will surely be made up of first team squad members, and we might get to see the phenomenon that is Jay Emmanuel-Thomas.

Several factors contributed to the capitulation at the AXA Stadium last night, but the sadness of gooners this morning stems from the fact that we’ve seen it all before. The lack of cutting edge, the loss of concentration, the hopelessness in turning possession into goals. It seems to beat Arsenal teams simply have to give up possession, lull us into a false sense of security, and hit us on the break when that inevitable lack of concentration comes.

Of course that’s not really true, there are times when we will score lot’s, and there are times when we will defend well. It’s just a bit déjà vu, which can make it seem that it’s always that way.

The Good

The only thing good about the game itself is that it proved that Bendtner is all talk and no action. That display may just finally shut his mouth and get him to do some work. —Hopefully.

Another good thing —well not in terms of the game, but the group overall— is that qualification is in our hands. Win at home against Partizan and we are through. If Braga can get some confidence from their victory and go on beat Shakhtar then we could still win the group.

The Bad

Well… everything.

The Ugly

Injuries to Cesc Fàbregas and Eboué certainly falls into that category.

What was really ugly was the refereeing. Not that I’m blaming him for the loss, absolutely not. However it was pretty ugly. It seemed that Braga could foul with impunity whilst any hint of indiscretion by Arsenal was punished with a card.

I’ve never been infuriated with a referee as I was last night. Last night showed the uselessness of the additional assistant referees, at least 2 of the yellow cards that were patently wrong happened under the noses of those idiots. Maybe this referee and his team can take a game in the Scottish League this weekend to show them what bad refereeing really is like.

Conclusion

We were shit, but I don’t believe we are a shit team. We have good form away from home in the Premier League, although there may be trepidation amongst some of preceding the trip to Aston Villa the only thing we can do is get behind the team and give the the support that supporters are tasked with.

A win on Saturday and we will be top of the league —for a few hours at least.

So what happened?

Well If you were so inclined you’d believe that Spurs stunning turnaround was a result of a tactical master-stroke from ‘arry combined with a total collapse of Arsenal’s mental fortitude. While I would agree that Defoe gave them a different shape and changed the tone of the game as there were mental lapses by Arsenal, I would hesitate to call it a collapse nor would I call it tactical genius.

Try as they might the MOTD editors couldn’t show an example of how Defoe affected the game, showing him exploiting the space behind our high line. Instead all they could produce was examples of him trying to but not actually doing so. So that aspect of the tactical change was well handled by the defence.

Brought on to change the game Defoe’s contribution was —excluding the header to put Van der Vaart though— largely mythical. In 45 minutes he managed to touch the ball a total of 7 times, 3 good passes, 3 bad passes and that knock down. He also gave away 2 fouls.

It wasn’t tactics that made Defoe win that header against Clichy for the first goal. It wasn’t tactics that caused Cesc to put his hand up for that penalty, and a Kaboul goal from a 50 yard free kick certainly does not result from tactical acumen.

As for Arsenal, I said some time ago defending is not our forte so when we don’t capitalise on opportunities presented at the other end we become unstuck. Instead of being 2 goals up at half-time we should have been at least 3. Even after the first goal we were still in control of the game.

Koscienly missed free header from a few yards out, that would have killed off the spurs comeback. Chamakh was put through by Fàbregas and chose to check back —for the second time in the game— instead of going for goal. Far from it being capitulation I saw a team that didn’t make the most of the opportunities presented to them during the course of the match.

This was a culmination of too many mistakes at key moments in matches. Can it be put down to attitude? @YankeeGunner on twitter postulated that far from not caring, it’s possible that this team puts too much pressure on themselves to win, especially at home. Going by the home and away form it’s not a theory easily dismissed.

The home support does nothing to help the situation, and reports of home fans singing that song, using those words towards the manager is nothing short of criminal. The people should be ashamed of themselves. Instead of getting behind the team urging them forward, giving them inspiration, we get on their backs and shower them with abuse. How would you perform under those conditions?

Wherever the blame lies, it’s a consolation that the title contenders are not doing much better than us. Chelsea’s loss at Birmingham means we are no worse off than before the game started, one can only hope that we put that game behind us and go on to fulfil the promise of the talent we have on the pitch.

We knew that all it would end sometime, 17 years is a damn good run over your rivals.As much as it hurt in the end, we must admit, it was good while it lasted.