Archive for the ‘Match Reports’ Category

Fog is horrible.

Well, fog is something that you don’t really care for, don’t really have a clue why people fuss about it or why it even exists. That is, until you get stuck at an airport for 6 hours waiting for a 40 minute flight from Paris to London… Apart from a horrible time shift from landing at 9pm to landing at 3am, it’s not the best use of your time… Missing the evening slot at home to watch Match of the Day and write my Sunday evening blog post was the major loss… so as things stand, I still haven’t seen the highlights! Work today and ATP tennis at the o2 tonight, makes me wonder when I will be able to see the match…

But, in my absence, Arsenal managed to secure a fifth successive win to make it 15 points out of 15… which takes us to level on points with Chelsea, Liverpool and Sp*rs – which in all fairness, I couldn’t see happening after our incredibly bad start to the season.

Our line up was “the usual”, with the only difference being Koscielny to right back and Mertersacker to centre back.

Szcznesy

Koscielny – Mertersacker – Vermaelen – Santos

Arteta – Song

Walcott – Ramsey – Gervinho

Van Persie

The game itself, was open and it was an individual mistake from Mertersacker that allowed Norwich to go ahead, when he misjudged the flight of the ball and failed to clear his lines. That issue aside, he had a decent game. But for us, we have a level of confidence and the mercurial Gervinho was the culprit who missed loads of chances… but created two for Van Persie to score, taking the Ducthman’s tally to a million goals this season… but more vitally, the three points were ours!

Last week, Robin Van Persie was full of praise for Theo Walcott and this week, post Norwich, Theo has been talking about the captain and the synergy between the two players:

“We just love playing together. Over the past few years I have had my injuries and he has had his so we have not been able to sustain a run of games together.  But this year you can see signs that we just know where each other is going to be on the pitch. To be honest it makes it is easier for both of us. Robin is one of the best strikers in the world right now and a great leader too. But then the whole team is gelling now. On the second goal you could see there was a lot of movement not just with the ball but without it. We were creating space for players and a lot of us are in form at the moment. And of course it is easier when we are winning. If we want to climb up the table then, no disrespect to Norwich, but we should be coming to places like this and winning,” he said. “I did not think we deserved to be 1-0 down but they closed us down well. It was important to get the goal back before half time and we played some beautiful football.”

We have three home games next – Dortmund on Wednesday and Fulham on Saturday. Personally, I don’t care about the Carling Cup – despite the insistence that it could be our only chance of winning a trophy… we can’t compete in four competitions – we found that out gruesomely last season. We need to concentrate on the league, the Champions league and the FA Cup… so the third game, Man City at home in the Carling Cup can be one for the kids.

Dortmund on Wednesday and Fulham on Saturday are two games that we just must take maximum points from. The destiny of both those competitions is still in our hands…

Til tomorrow, adiós…

Our fourth successive win in the Premier League has seen us rise up the table, and despite our awful start to the season, we now sit on 19 points – on par with Liverpool – with the same number of games played. The top 7 in the table is now the top 7 and there is clear daylight between 7th (us) and 8th in Aston Villa. The top 7 will most likely remain the top 7 until the end of the season, and the key thing is to maintain our current run, and slowly but surely overtake Liverpool, Sp*rs and Chelsea.

Arsenal 3 – 0 West Brom

A clean sheet, three goals, and some decent football – a good day in the office.

The starting line up was as predicted:

Szcznesy

Jenkinson – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Santos

Arteta – Song

Walcott – Ramsey – Gervinho

Van Persie

With a bench of Fabianski, Djourou, Mertersacker, Rosicky, Arshavin, Benayoun, Park

Having not watched the game at the ground yesterday, my initials thoughts were based on the little mini synposis’ that I was getting from my phone was that our game was very average and that it wasn’t the “fluid” Arsenal we know… but then, when I got home and watched Match of The Day… it was a different story – we played well, we were fluent, we created chances, and best of all, we scored them!

Our first goal came through Van Persie (who else?), a player in extreme form. Part of the build up showed our quick passing and incisive play, when Walcott was set through from the right and shot well, with the keeper saving, but the ball parrying out – to who, to Van Persie, who swept it into the back of the net – how many goals has RvP scored now? It’s hard to keep track… it’s something like 32 goals in 31 games in all competitions in 2011… but it’s 10 goals in 10 games this season, which puts him top of the goalscoring charts.

And the Dutchman was pivotal in the general play and set another up before half time – this time for the club vice captain, Thomas Vermaelen. Some good build up play saw a lot of players forward and Van Persie’s cut back eventually came back to Thomas Vermaelen, who finished like a forward, a sweet left footed striker – 2-0 to the Arsenal.

Van Persie’s overall play was very good. He plays a free role, to a degree, which allows him to come deep when he needs to and get involved in the build up. Our third was another assist from Van Persie, who found Arteta marauding into the box – a sweet cut back and a great finish from the Spaniard…

The manager spoke after the game and was keen to stress the importance of the controlled manner of our performance:

Overall it was a controlled performance where we had complete domination of the game. It was a good pace in the first half – in the second it was a little bit off -  but we were never really in trouble. We are getting stronger and overall it is a positive afternoon. We scored five goals last week, three goals today and didn’t concede.

It was also very important to score some goals and try and get our goal difference back to positive figures:

Yes. We put ourselves with a good handicap with the 8-2 [defeat] at Manchester United! It’s good but I was not used to seeing that before. It was a shock every time I saw minus in front of our goal difference. We know that can make a difference at the end of the season. Not only is it the first time we have had a positive goal difference but if you look at the teams above us there is not much difference – they are plus two or four maybe. That is catchable.

It’s good to see the catch in fortunes – after the Blackburn result, I really didn’t see how we were going to get better, and how we were going to get back into our stride. But we have done. We have done remarkably well to pick up our form. Our next four games are winnable games…

• Norwich (away)
• Fulham (home)
• Wigan (away)
• Everton (home)

Another 4 victories out of the above, and we will be in the top four, for sure….

We’ve now been interrupted by the International break and if it’s any time for any manager to fake any injury for any country for any player…. now is the time, Arsene is the  manager, Van Persie is the player…

Til tomorrow…

7th in the table, 2 points behind Liverpool, on the way up the table. Nice. Before I start my match report of our game, I’d like to just confirm that we have won six of our last seven games. For any Man United fans reading this blog, then just to re-iterate, that we have 1-6 of our last seven games…. I couldn’t resist that joke!

Arsenal 3 – 1 Stoke

With games coming thick and fast, Arsene decided to rest Robin Van Persie for the game, Maroune Chamakh replacing him in the starting line up. Gervinho took Arshavin’s place and Ramsey taking Rosicky’s place. With Jenkinson & Sagna out injured, Johan Djourou took control of right back, for an eleven that looked like this:

Szcznesy

Djourou – Mertersacker – Koscielny – Santos

Song – Arteta

Walcott – Ramsey – Gervinho

Chamakh

With a bench of Fabianski, Frimpong, Rosicky, Benayoun, Arshavin, Park, Van Persie.

The game was an interesting one – the two teams had an obvious dislike for each other – managers, players and fans – and it was always going to be a feisty affair. Stoke came to defend and “nick a point”, and for most of the game, they stayed deep and kept their shape. Ramsey, Arteta and Song played most of their game in the opposition half and it was of those probing patient games. Our goal came when the excellent Gervinho darted in the middle of the Stoke defence and Ramsey lofted a ball over into his path. The Ivorian finished well with his left foot and put us 1-0 up. Despite their defensive stance, Stoke were always dangerous – and especially with set pieces and especially through the annoying tall Peter Crouch – and it was he who eventually equalised after a bit of pinballs in our area…

1-1, 25 minutes to go – queue man of the moment, Robin Van Persie. Substitute appearance replacing the very much not in form Maroune Chamakh, and before we knew it, we were 3-1 up – massive credit goes to Gervinho for his work rate and his runs around the box. First, he popped up on the right and edged past the Stoke defender to square into Van Persie whose back post to near post run was superb, and the Dutch International scored from short range. A sense of relief around the stadium and shortly afterwards, Gervinho popped up on the left, Arshavin (as a sub for the shockingly bad Walcott), slipped the ball into his bath – and the Ivorian squared for Van Persie again and then it was 3-1 to the Arsenal…

Arsene summed up the performance and summarised it quite well.

We had a solid team performance where you could see that the team improves defensively, especially against a team that is challenging like Stoke. We looked much more solid defensively and we had a good start to the game until they equalised. Then I felt we became a bit nervous and we needed half time to calm down and then come back. The second half basically was all us, especially after the first 15 minutes, and then the problem was to score goals. Van Persie can do that better than many people and he did it when he came on. Overall it was a good, spirited performance and the crowd feels that this team wants to do well because they stood behind the team again and that is very positive. They feel that the team is ready to put effort in. Of course Robin with the two goals deserves a massive credit but I feel Gervinho as well had a very lively game, a very influential game.

There is a feeling of over-reliance on Van Persie, but when you have a striker who scores and scores and scores, you’ll tend to play him as much as possible. I’m sure he’ll be rested for tomorrow’s game, and I’m sure we’ll see a mix of Chamakh, Park and Oxlade around the striking berths… Two other players who were immense were Alex Song and Gervinho, both were very on top of their game.

Alex Song was captain for the day, and he looked very much energised by the role. The defensive midfielder commented on his captaincy and said:

I am very proud. If somebody had said to me six or seven years ago that I would be captain for Arsenal I would never believe them. But today I am very happy because I can show to the boss that I am one of the leaders in the team – we have many players who can do the job. We conceded stupid goals at the start of the season but now we are stronger at the back. That is why we need to improve every week. We saw today that a free-kick [cost us] and that was basic defending. It is very good for us to be stronger and try to defend together. That is what we did in the second half and we took our opportunities. It will come in time.

6 wins out of the last 7… we move quickly to tomorrows game against Bolton and then the big one against Chelsea on Sunday…

Let the games role on…

A great end to a cagey night out in Marseille…. without a doubt… super sub Aaron Ramsey scored a 92nd minute winner to give us all the three points, and considering it’s an away game in the Champions League, considering Marseille had a real go at us, considering a point away is a good result, the win is just awesome! I can’t remember the last time that we were on the end of a last minute winner… and it feels good!! I do remember that game, when Henry scored from an Eboue cross, as we beat Man United 2-1 at home after going 1-0 down… ah, the memories…

Apologies for lack of blog yesterday – I’ve been convinced to go snowboarding with @Tottz82 and co in December this year, and yesterday was the compulsory purchasing day of ski and snowboarding apparel…

I’ll be back again tomorrow with my take on Arsene’s pre match press conference, but a quick word on Koscielny – he was absolutely outstanding against Marseille – very commanding across the back and he and Mertersacker look like they’re getting to know each other very well.

Arsene singled him out for praise and commented on what he thought was a man of the match performance:

“I believe he was certainly Man of the Match in that game. You saw in that game what we want from Laurent – he was commanding and playing with authority. That is something that has come out of the game last night. When he had the ball he was calm, he read the game well and got in front of the strikers to save many dangerous situations. I would say he was surprised coming from France at the physical intensity of the game here but he has got that now and I think he is very commanding. He had a very good game against Sunderland and again in Marseille. I always thought he would become a great central defender. He is getting there.”

After posting this one, I am already starting the next post, so it will be with you tomorrow morning sharpish!

3 Points In The League

3 points are three points. Against Sunderland, we made it much harder than it should have been, but in the end, the moment of magic from Robin Van Persie won us the game. I’ve been overly critical of Robin’s ability at free kicks, but when you see him do that, it’s clear he has the quality and considering Arteta, Walcott and Santos had taken the worst three free kicks of the weekend before RvP stepped up, it’s surprising that the captain wasn’t at the helm for all of the previous ones. I’m sure he’ll be back to first choice free kick taker now. But at least there are options, even though not great ones…

Talking about Theo, I was again confused by his display on the weekend. He looks like he doesn’t know what to do a lot of the time. When he gets the ball, it’s… “er… run? cross… er? what do I do?…”, and considering the time he has been with us, you have to wonder why he is still so inconsistent. Stats will tell us that he has scored and assisted a few, but in games like the one against Sunderland, surely his possession play – i.e. giving the ball away a lot – is a problem.

With Arshavin starting to resemble some sort of form now, should he be rewarded with Theo’s place now? Gervinho, The Arsh & Van Persie?

Van Persie has been in super great form and there is a genuine worry about where we would be if he got injured. Arsene praised him highly after his performance against Sunderland:

“Well, he scored two goals. I think you have to analyse the game a little bit to see how important he is. The first goal was a good display of the team and the second chance he made the difference just because of his skill, which was exceptional.”

Perhaps we are over-reacting – Van Persie plays now as he is the best striker, but if injured, the likes of Gervinho, Park & Chamakh will obviously have to play in that role. Because we haven’t seen a lot of them, it’s obviously harder for us to understand the depth we have. But with the number of games we have in the next two weeks, I’m sure we’ll see more of all of them…

Champions League Preview

Many people say the Champions League should only be for Champions – but surely then it would have only five decent teams in it, right? The Champions of England, Spain, Italy, France & Germany… But tomorrow, we take on Marseille, away, and they have become a serious contender in European football. They current top the group on six points, having beaten both Dortmund and Olympiakos. We really have to play to the best our our ability to beat them and to be totally honest, our away form has been very worrying this season. It’s strange how football works – last year, our away form was incredible as a season, but this season, it’s been the opposite. Udinese aside, we’ve failed to win any away games this season and lost the last three on the bounce…

Marseille will be a tricky place, but the returning and impressive Rosicky was keen to stress that we are going for the jugular.

“It must be our aim to win the group, especially after what happened to us last year when we were not top of the group. In the last three games we messed up. Marseille are a direct contender for us who would like to qualify from the group as well. It’s a big game and we want to be successful there. It looks like it will be between us, Dortmund and Marseille so it will be a vital game for us.”

Whereas Arsene highlighted their impressive Champions League start at the expense of their league form… ahem…

“Marseille is a good team but they are under pressure a little bit like we are in the league because they didn’t start as strong as they would have expected. That puts more pressure on you. They have done well in the Champions League, certainly, because it is a competition where there is a bit less expectation and they are less under pressure. They are a quality team.”

No doubt, they are a quality team… and it’s another big away test for us. If we can produce a good performance, it may have a positive affect on the rest of our season.

After his mid-season break, our beloved Tottz is back tomorrow for his latest digest… til then…

Here we are again, another blog by yours truly and another match to review… This time around its The Arsenal are at home to League two Shrewsbury in the 3rd round of the Carling Cup. Arsenal are not on a good run from any angle we lookat it. We’re shipping goals, showing no backbone and lacking the cutting edge up front to finish teams off. The sad fact is I could have written that line at anytime during the past 2 seasons and it would have rung true. So when are we going to see a change?

Gazidis was interviewed by the press yesterday and comforted many on the financial state of the club but warned that we could not compete against the Manchester clubs when it comes to their transfer dealings. But didn’t we move into a new stadium to compete financially against Man Utd at least? I agree we can’t compete against the billions City have at their disposal but we’re not asking the club to do this. The transfer aims for the majority of the fans I’ve spoken to over the summer was to buy suitable replacements for players about to depart and enhance the squad in area’s we’ve struggled in. The fact is we left it until the last minute and this has had a direct impact on our start to the season. I’m not here to argue if the 7 players signed this summer were right or wrong, time will answer that, but I am very confident having those players on the plane to China would have allowed them to settle in quicker and set the team up for the season start.

Gazidis also talking about Wenger.

“He is not broken. He did not suddenly become a bad manager or out of touch with the game. It is complete nonsense. “[Sacking him] is a route we are not going to go down.”

It seems the board are fully aware of the unrest out there and are directly responding to this by backing the manager. In my opinion, rightly so. Wenger has been more than just a first team coach for Arsenal Football Club over the last 14years; he has taken this into a new era and set the bar extremely high. This is a debate for other time, but for me, Wenger has earned the right to implement corrective action and turn things around. The pressure is truly on and it’s now down to him not to spoil his own legacy.

Back to the game… I’m actually at the game so instead of writing a retrospective blog at 1130pm at night half asleep, I’m going to give you a blow by blow feed as the action unfolds from the game. It’s something new but who knows it could work… Here we go;

Team for the night is;

Fabianski – Jennikson – Djourou – Miquel – Gibbs – Frimpong – Coquelin – Benayoun – AOC – Park – Chamakh

6min – double oooh! Chamakh goes close twice but great saves by the keeper!

13min – My word, they’re through on goal, player shoots, fabianski let’s it run through like he knows its going wide and it hits the post. Poor (or very good!) judgement.

14min  Arsenal aren’t doing well, Shrews fans are oleing their passes. Embarassing.

17min – Goal 1-0 Shrewsbury. A cross from our right and a simple unmarked header. Oh dear. Looks like Djourou left his man unmarked

29mins – They almost score again, this time directly from a corner. Arsenal are all over the place at the back. I fancy them to score again. When we get into their box no one wants to shoot. Sound familiar?

34min – Goal Arsenal 1-1. Cross comes into the box from Jenkinson and Gibbs, yes Gibbs header sneaks into the bottom corner. Keeper should have saved but it’s his first goal for the club. Phew!

Half time – Arsenal at it again. Defensively sloppy, hanging on but somehow level. When you play Arsenal you know you’ll have chances to score and Shrewsbury should have had 3. Not impressed.

49min – AOC goes close twice. One run beats 3 players in close proximity and the next is a shot which doesn’t quite make it. He’s not shy to attack, good stuff and encouraging.

60mins -GOAL! 2-1 Arsenal.  Shooooot! He does and scores! AOC picks it up and pops one in from 25yards under the keeper. He’s deserved that, top player.

68mins – AOC running the show, another run and a shot well saved by the keeper. I like him already.

79th min – GOAL! 3-1 Arsenal.  Ozyakup wins the tussle with the defender on the byline and pulls it back for Yossi who eventually tucks it away. Game over now surely?

90th min – AOC is replaced by Aneke and get a deserved standing ovation for a fantastic 2nd half and a great goal.

Final whistle , 3-1 to the Arsenal.

Ok that wasn’t a vintage Carling Cup performance but it’s a win that will give a lot of these players much needed confidence.

Stand out players for me were Oxlade Chamberlain and Coquelain, who also look quite alike from row 27. Le Coq works tirelessly, breaking up play, winning tackles and takes the ball forward with confidence.

A new star is born? Maybe. AOC is a real prospect and tonight was evidence to why Wenger agreed to shell out 12m upfront for him. He takes players on, beats them with ease and can pick out the final ball and when the crowd wanted him to ‘shooooot’ he was more than happy to. His goal was an opportunist effort which completely shocked the keeper. Theo better watch out. Seriously.

At the back the problems still remain. Fabianski did not command his box and Djourou seems to have forgotten how to play football let alone defend. He is a man very low on confidence and relied on Miquel to bail him out of some tight spots.

At the end of the day it’s a win. We next invite Bolton to the Arsenal then Olympiacos. 2 more similar results will allow us to build.

I hope you enjoyed today’s blog, different format but hopefully as informative!

Enjoy your day.

Feel free to follow me on twitter @ Tottz82, feedback welcome.

Last night saw the return of the Champions League ‘proper’ and a very tough game was first up for us, Ze German champions Borussia Dortmund. By some crazy method of UEFA calculations, we drew Dortmund in pot 4. So the German Champions were actually meant to represent the weakest team in the group, they were far from that.

Dev’s predicted line up was close… but not quite right. Arsenal lined up with the expected back four and strike force but with Benyaoun preferred instead of Frimpong. A bold move from Le boss who went for ball retention and experience over a more defensively minded player.

Szcznesy

Sagna – Mertersacker – Koscielny – Gibbs

Benyaoun – Song

Walcott – Arteta – Gervinho

Van Persie

The pre-match atmosphere was simply amazing, while only watching on the box, you could tell why they call it the ‘wall of sound’ at Dortmund. When the teams lined up RVP couldn’t help but take a look round in awe… jealous Robin? I was!!

As soon as the game started, Arsenal were under the cosh. Dortmund were buoyed by the deafening partisan crowd and they took the game to Arsenal, ready to exploit any sloppiness and hesitation. A number of chances came and went with our offside trap completely non existent and Sagna having to make a goal line clearance. For me, Song was isolated. Every time the ball came near him he had at least two players around him and was being forced into mistakes. Arsenal’s first chance of note came from our best offensive player in the opening exchanges, Gervinho. Gervinho seems to have the knack of just popping up in the box at the right time and his opportunist close range shot was saved by up the upright keeper.

Arsenal grew in confidence as the game went on and after a couple of decent chances from Theo and RVP, Arsenal took an unlikely lead through RVP. An under hit pass was fantastically read by RVP who slid in to knock it to Theo. Theo took a couple steps forward and took two defenders out with a delicious through ball to RVP, who curled it round the keeper from the edge of the box with his right foot. Yes, his chocolate leg. 1 nil to the Arsenal on the 42^nd.

The aim of the second half  was simple, don’t let them repeat their first half chances again because they will score. To be fair, we didn’t. Arsenal struggled to get the ball from Dortmund for long periods but we had tightened up and were not conceding possession in vital area’s easily.

We did have to call upon Szcz a number of times to make a couple of world class point blanks saves but this keeper takes them in his stride. How many times have you watched Cech, Van der sar or Reina make a save look easy? Szcz will save up points by making his job look easy.

Our only real chance of the second half fell to Gervinho who admirably (or stupidly) stayed on his feet after being slightly tripped but couldn’t get his shot away when one on one with the keeper. We haven’t had a chance to watch much of Gervinho this season but the guy is a threat. He’s got pace to burn, great ball control but has the ability to lose possession cheaply if he tries to be too clever. He will improve.

Unfortunately our luck didn’t hold out and in the 88^th minute, Arsenal fell victim to another ‘goal of the season’ contender. As Arsenal cleared a corner, the ball fell to Perisic who hit an amazing dipping left foot volley that flew straight into the top corner with Szcz a spectator.

The final score, 1-1. A good point at the noisy German champions.

For the first 30mins Arsenal rode their luck and then some. But this was to be expected from an exciting young team who have been starved of Champions league action for a number of years.

The players who stood out for me were Sagna, Koscielney and Song. Sagna is the best right back in the country, no arguments. Always reliable and a warrior in his approach to the game. Last ditch tackles and goals line clearances helped rescue us during tough periods.

Koscienly showed against Barcelona at home last season he is a ‘footballing defender’. He doesn’t love the rough and tumble of some premiership games but when he plays against a footballing team his ability to read the game and break up play is fantastic. I really thought he had a great game.

The man of the match for me was Alex Song. During the first half he was breaking up play but trying to be too clever and guilty of losing the ball cheaply. In the second half, Song was the ultimate defensive midfielder.  See it, intercept it and pass it, nice and simple. The crowd were getting agitated and frustrated every time he won a tackle; music to Arsenal’s ears. We need to Song to keep it simple yet effective more often. There are too many times where he has taken the ball too far up the field only to lose it thus leaving us exposed.

We picked up a good point today and our confidence will continue to grow. Next up Blackburn away, a completely different challenge to say the least!

(Feedback welcome on twitter – @Tottz82)

Ladies and Gentleman; we’re back in business! (Sort of!)

Typing a few hours after the Swansea game, the dark clouds that have hovered over Arsenal football club for the past few weeks have started to part. Today’s game against a newly promoted Swansea brought a much needed win that will start to settle nerves and self confidence after the debacle of Old Trafford.

The pre-match atmosphere was upbeat, five new signings and two weeks to forget about previous games meant there was a sense of a chance to ‘start again’, 105 points still to play for.

The starting line up saw two new debutants in Arteta and Mertesacker. The rest of the line up was as expected with Frimpong picked as the holding midfielder and a fit for now Gibbs preferred over Santos.

Team; Szcz – Gibbs – Mertesacker –Koscielny – Sagna;  Frimpong – Ramsey – Arteta ;  Arshavin – RVP – Walcott.

The game started in positive fashion; Arteta straight into action setting up Ramsey who never found his balance to shoot on target. Theo, when put through, had a shot which was partially saved by the keepers arse and then fantastically cleared off the line by some guy in white who somehow survived a hefty collision with the post.

However as always when you play Arsenal, you will be presented with chances and Swansea’s main chance of the half was presented on a plate to them. With no pressure on the cross came and Mertsacker was outmanoeuvred to the ball by the Swansea striker on the stretch which brought about a world-class save from the Pole in our goal.

Arsenal’s winning goal came about in cruelly comical fashion. Theo tried to get away a shot from the edge of the box, it deflected up off a defender and Vorm ran to the right of the box to collect the ball. Within 2 seconds, the ball was in the back of the net. I needed the help of the jumbotron (are they still called jumbrotrons?) to understand what happened. The keeper tried to roll the ball out to a team mate further up the pitch but instead rolled it straight into the back of a team mate nearer. Arshavin, who obviously hadn’t tracked back, gleefully accepted the gift and hit the net from a fairly acute angle.

The second half was extremely nervy from Arsenal. Swansea didn’t have two banks of four anymore they wanted to press Arsenal and look for a goal. Swansea hit the bar from free kick and we struggled to get on the ball at all for period. Chamakh created and almost converted a header but the keeper saved well. There was still one heart stopping moment left for us all to survive. A corner to Swansea in the 92nd min, the ball flashed in and Szcz had a rare flapping moment, the ball was loose and somehow it was scooped over the bar from 5 yards out. A real let off.

The final whistle brought a deafening sigh of relief. 1-0 to the Arsenal

The boss seemed to agree;

“I think we started quite well but slowly the nerves took over. You could see in the second half that we just wanted to get over the line and we didn’t make a mistake.”

It wasn’t a vintage performance by any means (tough first blog!) but we now need to build on this. I’m struggling to pick out players who overly impressed but Arteta, Ramsey and Sagna put in solid performances. Szcz saved us early on and commanded his box well, even throwing in a cheeky Cruyff turn in the first half. Ok, his flap at the end could have given away 2 points but for a player who conceded 8 in his last game, today was a moral boasting clean sheet.

For me the question marks for today are around Gibbs, Arshavin and Theo. Gibbs was constantly out of position and easily beaten by Dyer. He did well not to score an own goal in the first half but that left side is still a worry for me. Add to this the poor tracking back and work rate from Arshavin, Gibbs was left exposed. As for Theo, if I say he had ‘one of those games’, I probably don’t need to say much more.

I actually was very impressive with Swansea. Very organised in their defensive set up and when they got hold of the ball they rarely gave it away cheaply. They are clearly lacking a proper striker to reward their hard work. I know Afobe is very much in Wenger’s plan this season but if he is sent out on loan in the Premiership, Swansea wouldn’t be a bad set up. Brendan Roger’s, who sadly missed the game today due the passing of his father, is an intelligent manager who respects ‘proper’ football.

A quick word on the atmosphere today. We started loud and proud, making sure the team knew we were there for them. The noise levels fell the more nervy the game got but for the final 20mins the home crowd took a leaf out of the away day Gooners book. ‘We love you Arsenal we do…’ rang out non stop from behind the goal and to the corners. If that’s the chant we use instead audible sighs and groans, then lets do it. We’re still up against it this season and we know it, so instead of getting on the players and manager’s back, lets support them through making a fucking racket.

Other goals were scored elsewhere but I really don’t care today. Right now it’s all about The Arsenal and getting the The Arsenal back on track.

If you miss the highlights or want to see things again then check out…  http://arsenalist.com/.

Lastly, I’d like to quickly send a big thank you to Dev for inviting me to share my Arsenal views on World of Arsenal. I know he has a proud Gooner following so I hope you enjoy reading my drivel. Feedback and opinions are welcome on twitter, @Tottz82.

Have yourself a great Sunday.

Ps; What do you think of Tottenham…?

Today is a massive game, a game if we win would be absolutely amazing – but a win is looking unlikely, simply because of the great degree of personnel unavailable… Not to be negative, but away at Old Trafford with our best team ever is hard, so with the likes of Miquel, Jenkinson and Coquelin all brought into the first team squad, we’re obviously very young…

As a quick reminder, Alex Song, Emmanuel Frimpong and Gervinho are all suspended for this game, whilst at least one centre back, most likely Vermaelen will also miss the game, and perhaps another in Djourou too…

My predicted line up if the two centre backs don’t make it is…

Szcznesy

Jenkinson – Miquel – Koscielny – Sagna

Coquelin – Ramsey

Walcott – Rosicky – Arshavin

Van Persie

Quite far away from our main team, but nevertheless, whatever team that we put out, it will be a team to compete, and we have to get behind the team 100%. (And yes, with the exception of Van Persie and Sagna, this could easily have been a Carling Cup side of a couple of years ag0)…

I’ll update this post when the teams are announced, so stay tuned, and COME ON YOU GOONERS….!!

In the last couple of weeks, as an Arsenal fan, it’s been bad news after bad news, selling a player and then selling a player and of course, injuries and injuries… so, having only scored one goal so far prior to this game, there was a lot of crisis talk and a lot of negativity surrounding the game…

The boss announced the line up and we saw Jenkinson, Frimpong and Gervinho all start with Arshavin and Rosicky on the bench, youth chosen ahead of experience:

Szcznesy

Jenkinson – Djourou – Vermaelen – Sagna

Frimpong – Song

Walcott – Ramsey – Gervinho

Van Persie

The bench was quite thin, with Fabianski, Miquel, Traore, Rosicky, Oxlade, Arshavin, Chamakh

The Goals

Udinese went ahead the very busy and active Di Natale, who was a thorn in our side all night – in between Vermaelen and Djourou, he looped a header into the back of the net over the keeper. The game was 1-0 to Udinese at half time and we knew we needed a BIG second half. Rosicky for Frimpong saw a change in attacking onus and we levelled after Gervinho’s sublime dribbling down the left squared for Van Persie in the middle. And we went ahead when Walcott raced clear of the defence and slotted home from the left, Henryesque… at 2-1 to us, Udinese needed 3 and you couldn’t see them doing that!

And hat’s off to Szcznesy for a sublime penalty save in the 2nd half, something you have to find and watch!

Plus Points

Gervinho was outstanding and showed why Arsene brought him to the club – he is a Nasri replacement, for sure… and he will only get better for us. Theo is looking more like a complete player, dropping deep, playing around the pitch – playing more sensible and ranging his play. Alex Song was very good, giving 100% and dominating the midfield and of course, a shout out to Sagna, who shows if you are good, you can play anywhere on the pitch!

The Manager

The manager spoke after the game:

Yes, of course, because it was a massive game for us. I heard it enough yesterday in the press conferences to be convinced of it. We responded in a very positive way, even after being down 1-0. We had a fantastic second half and created chance after chance. I am very happy because we kept our composure when we were down 1-0. We kept dominating and playing the football we want to play.

And also highlighted the performance of Gervinho:

He was always dangerous. I told you yesterday, and many times, that he will be a big player for us. Sometimes the quality of the player is linked with the transfer amount and it is not always the case

The Draw

The draw will be held later today and we’re in pot one. Each group will consist of a team from each pot… here are the four pots…

Pot one – Manchester United, Barcelona, Chelsea, Bayern Munich, Arsenal, Real Madrid, Porto, Inter Milan.

Pot two – Shakhtar Donetsk, Lyon, Villarreal, AC Milan, Valencia, Marseille, CSKA Moscow, Benfica.

Pot three – Zenit St Petersburg, Man City, Olympiakos, Ajax, Bayer Leverkusen, BATE Borisov, Basle, Lille.

Pot four – Borussia Dortmund, Trabzonspor, Dinamo Zagreb, Napoli, APOEL, Genk, Otelul Galati, Viktoria Plzen.

The hardest group would surely be Arsenal, Milan, Ajax, Dortmund… one thing to remember is that we can’t get Man City as teams from the same country are kept apart…

Til later, my friends…

And breathe…

Yesterday was a very important game for us and two things that we needed to do before the game: score and keep a clean sheet, we did. There were some fears before the game that Rosicky and Koscielny would miss the game – coupled with the plethora of suspensions and other injuries, left our squad thread bare… but both the aforementioned players were passed fit and we managed to field the following line-up:

Szcznesy

Sagna – Koscielny – Vermaelen – Gibbs

Ramsey – Song

Walcott – Rosicky – Gervinho

Chamakh

The bench was Fabianski, Djourou, Jenkinson, Frimpong, Arshavin, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Bendtner

The game was won by a good move just after 4 minutes, when Theo & Ramsey broke the defence, Ramsey going wide, and Sagna passing the ball into his path. Ramsey kept the ball under control and then swung the ball in for Walcott to volley into the back of the net. The goal was good and highly needed and it seemed to be the one thing we clung on to as Udinese came pouring forward in search of their equaliser. Personally I feel that we were lucky not to concede – but the luck was born out of sheer determination to keep a clean sheet – our defensive performance was amazing considering how badly positioned we were – Gervinho and Walcott did well tracking back, but not positionally – more in effort.

Defence

To not concede a goal was amazing – when I look back at the game and the number of chances Udinese, it’s incredible that they failed to score and that we kept a clean sheet. Sagna for me, was absolutely outstanding and the partnership of Koscielny and Vermaelen seems to be gelling a bit better. One thing to note was the injuries to both Gibbs and his replacement Djourou – both hamstring injuries – meaning both players will miss the Liverpool game. With Jenkinson having made his debut yesterday, he could be thrusted into the weekend game from the start.

Positive points

Walcott looked like he had more hunger – it was like he has realised his responsibility in the team. “I have to win games”, rather than “Robin or Cesc will win the game”… type of attitude, which is what we need out of him. His runs were good – his goal was good and we need him to stay injury free this season. Gervinho also looked lively and I’m sure he will contribute a lot this season. Ramsey was also very good throughout the game – but I was very excited with him when he moved up to the “Cesc role” and was playing just behind the striker – he seems to prefer a more attacking role – and when Jack returns, I can see him playing more in that position. Another positive point is the introduction of Frimpong who looks like a very decent player – early days I know, but with Song’s suspension, we’ll see what he is made of soon enough…

Negative points

Chamakh is not the replacement for Robin Van Persie we need – his overall play lacks conviction and it’s very worrying to have him slot in when Van Persie is unavailable. More worrying is the lack in strength in depth – if Song / Ramsey are injured, who will come in? Will Lansbury, Frimpong, Miyachi win us the league? Hell no…  Another negative point is the injuries to Gibbs and Djourou – with Squillaci out of favour and Traore also injured, we’ve got no other options – Eboue’s gone too, so no cover at all – we’ll have to play Sagna, Kos, Vermaelen and Jenkinson on the weekend – we have no other options.

I often wonder whether the suspensions to Gervinho and Song and injuries to Diaby, Wilshere, Djourou and Gibbs are like God telling Arsene to buy… but the manager never seems to take these signs and go into the market.

After the game, Walcott spoke and was keen to emphasis the importance of keeping a clean sheet:

“The most important thing was the clean sheet. Our defence was solid again, like at the weekend (against Newcastle), and it’s nice to get the goal. They are a very strong team and we will find it difficult over there but I believe, if we play the same kind of football, we can get a result.”

And Aaron Ramsey, who played well too, echoed Theo’s sentiments:

“It was important to keep a clean sheet tonight. They were good opposition and it was a difficult test for us, but we have come through it and we have scored a goal. But it is far from over yet, we have still got another game to go and hopefully we can finish the job off out there. We dropped off a bit in the second half and there were gaps appearing, but we did well. We dug in and gave absolutely everything tonight. We have done well to keep another clean sheet, that’s two in two games, so hopefully now we can continue that. We believe we are capable of going over there and getting a win.”

And if you look at the team and the circumstances, I am sure you’ll agree that it was a very good victory. One that was hard to achieve with a young squad missing a lot of players – no Wilshere, Nasri or Van Persie, a few injuries through out the game and a few youngsters in the fray too… Well done to the team… We’ve got the second leg next Wednesday – it’s very important for us to do well over there – it will be hard, but we’ve got to give everything.

Onwards and upwards my friends…