The Goon Blog

Although I don’t think we deserved anything as a result of our poor attacking display against Chelski, they were lucky/clinical. The trouble lies in our lack of fit strikers, I immediately thought it was a bad call to play Arshavin at Centre Forward instead of on the left wing again. Especially following the poor performance against Utd. We didn’t sign a striker and I don’t know why. Our injury list of strikers is 3 available 3 injured. Two are out and out wingers (Arshavin and Walcott) and the other is Bendtner, who was rubbish after coming on. As a result we didn’t attack as well as we can. In our defence Cech played one of his best games I have seen and their defence were very good. Every blog I have read has dismissed Arsenal as being very lightweight now, I don’t think we can win the league now but we should at least be able to push for second. We have now been absolutely slammed but we are still third, I expect better but it is still not as bad as it could be.

Villains – our own worst enemy.

Clichy – ran off the post for the first goal which Drogba then squeezed his shot in where he had been. Walcott – Not fit, shouldn’t be playing against the big teams when he isn’t even fit. Arshavin – Playing at centre forward poorly again, PUT HIM ON THE WING, also should have done better with our best chance of the game. No one else did anything of note that made it a good performance.

The fragility of our players

At the moment our biggest problem seems to be that we don’t have key players. They are either injured or have just returned from injury. 6 players are out at the moment, Clichy, Walcott, Fabregas, Diaby, Sol Campbell, Nasri, Wilshere, and Rosicky have all been riddled with injury this season (as well as those who are out injured), it seems like almost every player has been out injured for at least some time, except maybe Gallas who has apparently felt like he couldn’t finish some matches but played on anyway. If anyone has a solution or any idea why we are having so many injuries feel free to let me know, and of course Arsene Wenger and Colin Lewin.

Final note: Play well in the champions league Arsenal!

Hello everyone, just a quick shout out to the guys over at Gunner Talk. I know they’re working really hard to establish themselves on the net. They also have an innovative approach for Arsenal fans to share their views…

This is how Adam describes the site:

Gunner Talk’s goal is to be the video hub for Arsenal fans on the web. Gooners can have their shout before big home games when we’ll be outside the Emirates to film their views. Or they can video themselves and send us the YouTube link to embed.

We also have a daily blog, plus quizzes, polls, Arsenal music and diamond compilation videos of the likes of Bergkamp and Henry. The Red and White Army can also find us on Facebook.

Our latest video is Episode 5: http://gunnertalk.com/Gunner-Episodes.php

Our website: http://gunnertalk.com/

It felt like a horrific re-imagining of the European match last season, but this game was very different despite what sly sports commentators made out. If you look at the game on paper we had 18 attempts to their 11 (source: BBC website), we were just not clinical enough when it came to finishing and Arshavin had one of his worst games since joining. Their 1st goal really seemed to just drain the spirit we were putting into the match, another disappointing Almunia mistake, and his name went on the scoresheet for it this time. In all honesty, he should have stopped the  over-hit cross “magnificent lob”(Andy Gray Jan 21st 2010). Obviously the defenders on the wing did not do well enough, Clichy especially had another dodgy game as a result of only just returning from injury. The same problem always seems to arise when we play the big teams, our big name players don’t perform. Song, who I was glad to see come straight back into the side, was somehow having our best chances on goal. Where were our attackers? We had so many attacking players on, who all did so little. We miss the finishing of Van Persie now more than ever and I am surprised that we haven’t signed a striker. I don’t have much more to say on the match, we simply didn’t contend. We played one of our worst games, they played on of their best.

Poor Defence and ritual humiliation.

The defence should have done better for all the goals, for the second someone should have tracked Rooney’s run and Clichy should have closed down quicker and more decisively on the third. The worst part of it is that I had to watch it down the pub, the Utd fans at the end were not even cheering, they were just laughing – including a few who turned up just in time to see the last 15 minutes and gloat, how convenient for them. We had better put in a special performance against Chelsea or else….I am going to write some seriously angry stuff.

To anyone reading I’m not going to hit you with clichés, “Its only a game”, “It’s not a matter of life and death” etc. But I will say this, it’s not the end of the world.

Well I have put off writing this for as long as possible, we lost 3-1 to Stoke and are out of the FA cup (I had to type that quick so as it didn’t seem so painful, like removing a plaster) which I thought about a week ago we had a very good chance of winning. I hope it wasn’t complacency on Mr Wenger’s part that caused him to play the weaker side. We were our own worst enemies as for all three Stoke goals we defended very very poorly. I hoped we would have sussed the long throw by now at least. My other gripe is that certain players who I hoped more from have not performed, Carlos Vela for one, who I swear is getting worse each game and Theo Walcott, get back to full fitness please. The defence is not a combination I expect to see again and it is clear why Vermaelen and Gallas have played every Premier League game this season, they have no competition. Not even our superb captain could carry us aloft this time, Stoke played well and deserved to beat us. Our rubbish defence helped them though.

More time to concentrate on the Premiership and Champions League, we better put in decent efforts to win both. To aid this I would like to see Wenger sign an out-and-out Striker, even if it was just on loan. Cameroon went out of the Africa Cup Of Nations yesterday, hopefully Alex is already on his way home.

The first of the two matches, the away fixture was dubbed that it would be a tough fixture and tough it was despite that, the score line seemed quite comfortable. Fabregas took the game to another level, if it hadn’t have been for him we may have struggled, then in the second half they came back into a game that we had been shutting them out from. Thankfully the second goal came at just the right time and sealed the deal. On another day Bolton quite easily could have scored, I know, “Matty Taylor” could have scored at least two but I like to think it was a bit of karma for kneeling on Fabby’s neck during the first half, which was seriously out of order. The inclusion of Eastmond was encouraging as he was an out and out defensive midfielder and did a good job. Traore was sloppy again and it was nice to see Clichy come back into the side.

The second game was all the more interesting and we made it hard for ourselves by letting them score, not one, but two very cheap goals. Cahill’s  finish was clinical for their first and then the penalty came, which was clearly a penalty and “Matty Taylor” scored it, much to my dismay. Clichy was at fault, for the first, but he picked his game up shortly after. We then really picked ourselves up which is brilliant to see and to come back from two nil down is pretty special. Fabregas again ran the show and he will obviously be pivotal to our title chances. Rosicky showed why Arsene kept faith during his long injury absence, what a great goal, the kind he always seems capable of scoring, they could be important, hopefully he will stay fit for the season. The second goal is a “contentious” one, as Gallas did clearly foul Davies, the referee hasn’t given it though and when a goal behind we are hardly going to play it into touch. Coyle is bitter about it, because we didn’t play it out. We didn’t play it out for the previous reason. On top of that Davies got back up and he played the rest of the game, he wasn’t injured (much/enough). One thing noticeable for all four goals is that they are all brilliant finishes, from four different players, we are still capable of scoring goals from multiple sources and continue to do so, we showed great determination to come back from behind, it is good to see Arshavin and Vermaelen scoring again too.

Captain Fabtastic

He absolutely stole the show in both games and is without doubt one of the very best midfielders not just in the Premiership, but the world. In my opinion if he can stay fit we can win the League. This second Bolton result puts us top, hopefully we are there to stay.

This coming week we face Bolton twice, first away then at home. These are two matches where I expect us to make up points, Bolton all though a decent team have had a shaky season and I hope we can capitalise on their recent loss of Megson and that Coyle will not have really settled yet. It is the kind of game where we hopefully won’t miss Alex Song as much as we did against Everton, as Bolton will not be so potent in their attacks. We are still struggling with mounting injuries and have signed only two players so far this window, Sol Campbell has signed, I am worried he is past his best but I assume Arsene knows what he is doing. Even if Sol is past his best he will still be better cover than Senderos, who I expect will leave if not now then in the summer. Aside from the signing of Sol we have signed 17-year old Bolivian midfielder Galido, another youngster. Really another youngster you ask? Yes, as ever Wenger is buying for the future and not for the present, we really could do with a decent finisher in my opinion as Vela is looking less promising every time I see him and Eduardo still not as good as I feel he could be, mainly due to confidence.

Following the elimination of Liverpool and ManUre from the FA Cup we surely have a real decent chance of winning it, the only threat left is Chelski unless some “magic of the cup” happens and we get knocked out by Forest Green Rovers. I think the “magic of the cup” is somewhat an over-hyped myth, put on by commentators and pundits to make cup matches more exciting. Liverpool and ManUre were simply eliminated because of their own complacency, the other teams greater will and a bit of bad luck. Knowing Arsenal we will draw Chelski in the semi-final again, but we’ll have to wait and see.

On top of the strikers shortage we can only wait to see if Wenger will sign. Personally  I’d take Carlton Cole but not for £9m which is what I have read in places, I have also read links with Huntelaar, who when I have seen him play in the past has seemed average at best. I have also heard links with Ruud Van Horseface, I am sure this cannot go ahead, there is no way I could start to like him, he has to (still) be one of the fans most hated players. There are also rumours of resigning Sol Campbell, I suspect that he is training with us is enough for tabloids to suspect we will re-sign him, which I hope we don’t – past his best, surely Arsene knows that, rumours are rife this time of year and you never know which are true and which are nonsense until the end of January.

One of our most improved players of the season and certainly a contender for my player of the season is Alex Song, he’s the guy you need in the holding midfield, he’s our new Gilberto but better and the Butch to Fabregas’ Sundance. The kind of player that you don’t necessarily notice all he does in aid of the team, yet because of him Vermaelen and Gallas have scored a lot of goals for central defenders this season, he immediately slots in to their position when they journey up field and this means they don’t have to track back as fast as they would usually. Like Gilberto he nips opposition attacks in the bud and if he doesn’t get the ball, he gets the man and usually avoids a yellow card, I sure am going to miss him when he’s playing in the African Nations Cup.

This brings me to the sad news of the Togo bus attack, I hope that no more events occur like this and that the Cup can be played out uninterrupted, it has already somewhat tarnished the whole tournament before it has begun. I feel that teams can’t just be pulled out as a result, it’s giving the attackers exactly what they want but I would understand if they did return to their clubs and abandon the tournament, and as much as I want Alex and Emanuel to return I hope they don’t have to.