Chelsea 3-5 Arsenal: Gunners Gunning Onwards

Arsenal Celebrate in front of fans (guardian.co.uk)

1 – 0 Lampard (15)
1 – 1 van Persie (36)
2 – 1 Terry (45)
2 – 2 Santos (48)
2 – 3 Walcott (55)
3 – 3 Mata (80)
3 – 4 van Persie (85)
3 – 5 van Persie (90)

What a game of football!!! If you had offered me a 3-3 draw in the 80^th minute, I would have bitten your hand off. But no, thats not the Arsenal way. We had to do it the difficult way, coming from behind 3 times before eventually killing Chelsea off.

However good the final result, I must say that the defending on the day, from both sides was a joke. I don’t really care for Chelsea’s defensive weaknesses, only to the extent that we capitalised on them. I’m concerned with our own. First Terry tapped in a corner just before half time. The marking from Arsenal, Mertesacker and Djourou in particular was worrying me. Santos too did not cover himself in glory.

In the first 9 minutes, Chelsea had 3 very good chances that they wasted. On 11 minutes, Walcott skipped past Cole and delivered a peach of a ball to Gervinho in the Chelsea box. All Gervinho had to do was tap into the net. He missed. Two minutes later, Walcott again placed a clever ball at the far post. All Van Persie had to do was poke it on target and it would have been a goal. He placed it over the bar.

By this time, I was thinking we are going to regret the chances we missed and so it was. In the 15^th minute, Juan Mata easily evaded Santos on our left flank and crossed into our area. Mertesacker missed his header and Lampard, who sneaked in between Mertesacker and Koscielny headed low into the net. 1-0 Chelsea.

Lampard scores for Chelsea (Guardian.co.uk)

You could see that we were shaken, but unlike before, we didn’t feel sorry for ourselves but went after Chelsea. We started to come back into the game, but we were not closing Chelsea in midfield. Both teams were threatening to score every time attacks were launched. It was such an open game.

Midway through the first half, I thought to myself if we keep our defence tight, we can beat Chelsea today. They were as shaky as we were defensively.We allowed them too much time and space to pick their runners. Mata, Sturridge, Torres and Cole were tormenting Santos and Djourou on our wings.

Gervinho did what Gervinho does best. He ran through the Chelsea defence and credit to Ramsey for picking him out with that pass. Gervinho unselfishly passed sideways to Van Persie to tap into an open net. 1-1. Chelsea were rocked. To their credit, they started to come at us more and just before half time, they won a corner.

I thought, here comes another Arsenal defensive howler and it was. John Terry tapped in unmarked in the middle of our box. 2-1 in favour of Chelsea.

They say conceding before half time is always bad as it gives momentum to the other side. Well, not to Chelsea. Whatever Arsene said to the team and put up their arses worked. Arsenal came out all guns blazing, closing Chelsea in midfield and in the forward areas. Ramsey and Gervinho were all over the place, chasing runners, intercepting balls and setting up counter attacks. Within 3 minutes of the restart, Santos found space on the left, he received a ball from Song, ran at the Chelsea goal and fired between Cech’s legs. 2-2 the score.

7 minutes later, Walcott, who was winning his duels with Cole on our right flank, made a chump of Ashley Cole. He drove at him, was tripped, the ball rolled onwards, Walcott did not wait for the whistle for a foul but got up and produced a sublime piece of skill to run past Terry and Ivanovic. He fired a hard shot early at Cech’s near post. 2-3 to the Arsenal.

Stamford Bridge was shocked. The Arsenal fans were on cloud nine. I could not contain myself. I was by now jumping up and down with joy. For the next 20 minutes, the game was a tense affair. You got the sense that Chelsea would score but equally you sensed that Arsenal would score too. We had several opportunities to kill them off on the counter attack but we could not pick out Theo who was open on the right with a ball over the top. Gervinho too failed to clip a ball over for Ramsey to run clear at the Chelsea goal.

And so it was. On 80 minutes, Santos gave the ball away with a very poor pass. To his credit, he tried to retrieve the ball but was fouled by Lukaku. The ball was passed to Mata outside our area. There was no Arsenal midfielder or defender closing him down. He fired. 3-3 the score. I thought Chezny could have done better.

Now the game was at a point where the next goal wins the match. Both teams probed, but Arsenal looked the more dangerous. And with 5 minutes to go, Malouda played a bad back pass to Terry, the ball went behind Terry, who slipped and fell face down on the turf, and found Van Persie who had anticipated the pass. He was clear on goal with just the keeper to beat. There could only be one outcome. 3-4 to the Arsenal.

Van Persie scores in empty net (Guardian.co.uk)

Chelsea pushed forward to find an equaliser, Arsenal squandered more chances to kill them off on the counter and eventually, we did kill them off and my word!! We counter-attacked, Van Persie was on the left, the ball was played to him, he controlled and fired a ferocious shot at Cech’s near post. Cech put out a hand at it but couldn’t stop the net bulging. 3-5 to the Arsenal.

By this time I was on cloud 19 and a half. I yelped and danced and fisted the air and screamed and danced some more. My 4 year old nephew who had passed out besides me at kick-off woke up alarmed.

I grabbed a Windhoek Drought from my fridge and gulped it. It tasted even better than at kick off. I helped myself to a few more…

Players celebrating with fans (Arsenal.com)

You could see what it meant to the players too. They went and danced in front of the Arsenal fans as if a cup had been won. I was really touched by the emotions at that moment.

Now, coming back down to earth, this result to me means little on its own but is just another step in the right direction. We should not get carried away because there is still a lot of work to do with this team. We are still very naïve defensively and our attack is not yet very efficient, but we are getting there.

Lets take it a game at a time and see where we end up. Next up is Manchester City in the Carling cup quarter finals at the Emirates. Lets beat them and remind them that we are still THE ARSENAL!!

Onwards marches the Arsenal!!

Arsenal 2-1 Bolton: Thoughts...

Park: Our new no.9 looking good

       Arsenal 2  -  1Bolton
Arshavin (53)     Muamba (47)
       Park (56)

I missed the game on Tuesday night because *whispers* Supersport Sport decided to air the Manchester vs an unknown team instead.. ahem...

Seriously though, go read match report and a good arseblog. Whilst you are there, check out also Yogi's Warrior's take on the game and the club here.

I must say that I like the look of Arshavin at the moment. He is really finding his form. He looks hungry, dangerous and he is finding the net. I think we should play 4-4-2 more often and play Arshavin behind the main striker. Thats where we'll get the best out of him. In a 4-3-3, he tends to be ineffective playing on the left, but maybe that will change as he finds his form...

Robin Van Persie needs somebody to help him with scoring goals in the league. Park looks good, based on what I saw of the highlights. He seems to be a natural goal scorer, always looking for an opportunity to put the ball in the net. The dilemma for Wenger is this, unless the team start killing games off early, the other players like Park and Miyaichi will find it hard to get league games. They'll only come in when there are injuries...

TV is Back!!

Vermaelen is back. He was taken off with cramp on 85 minutes. Now, with Koscielny in form and Mertesacker doing well, does the manager take out one of the two for Vermaelen? Good as he is, I'd say lets not rush him into the team for Chelsea's match. He could suffer another setback and it may actually ruin our on-going central defensive partnership. And going into such a big match, defence should be the last thing thats tempered with, unless its to improve a potentially shaky position, such as... ahem... Djourou at right back... ahem.

Diaby in action (Courtesy www.Zimbio.com)

I cant wait for Diaby to return and I sincerely hope that he is past his injury nightmares. Diaby, on his day, is quite breathtaking. He can battle, he can dribble, he can pass, he can run with the ball, he can shoot the ball, he can head the ball, he can grab Joey Barton by the neck... quite honestly, Diaby is the closest thing to Vieira or a certain cunt that once played for United called Roy Keane. Of course Diaby is not a cunt, but you get what I'm saying rite? Diaby's return will give us some much needed competition and strength in midfield.

Wilshere (www.zimbio.com)

Don't forget about a certain Jack Wilshere to return next year... Traditionally, Arsenal always start the league very strongly then finish it in style- very limp.

Perhaps, like a fine wine, this season we'll finish stronger than the past few seasons... Maturity cannot be an issue any more. We have Van Persie, Arshavin, Arteta, Benayoun, Mertesacker, Vermaelen, Diaby, Park, Chamakh, Koscielny, Chezny, Fabianski, Djourou, Walcott, Gervinho, Song, Wilshere. All are established professionals for club and country (except Arteta for Spain). So, we have no excuse but to fight our way up the league. I don't expect us to win it, but I dont expect us to be a midtable team. uh uh. No way.

The results are coming good. We are not playing at our very best, but crucially we are racking in the points. Who knows, 7 games from now, if results keep going our way, we may just be in touch with the league leaders...

But I wont get my hopes too high. Just that 4th spot which Newcastle are keeping warm for us will do for now... After that, I will re-adjust my sights.

Upwards guns the Arsenal!!!

Arsenal 3- 1 Stoke: Gunning Upwards

Gervinho- Man of the Match

Match report and highlights here.

Well, well, well, Take a look at the Barclays Premier League Table today and you will notice that it is starting to look right. Arsenal are sneaking up the table slowly and if we win at Chelsea next week... well...

I must say, I missed most of the match yesterday, I had to work... *sobs*... I caught the last 20 minutes or so of the game only. But from what I saw, I was very pleased. The beer even tasted better!!

Arshavin came on for Walcott and immediately played well, he was really causing Pubis and his men a lot of trouble.  He was instrumental in the 3 goal (82nd minute), releasing Gervinho with a through ball on the left wing. Gervinho dated towards goal, but cut the ball back for RVP who squized it through the keeper and a couple of defenders to make it 3-1 and game over.

RVP: Happy Man at Happy Club

Before that, Gervinho dated down the right wing, cut the ball back across the goal for RVP to prod home between the keeper and the post. That was a very difficult feat but then this is RVP we are talking about...2-1 to Arsenal in the 72nd minute.

And Gervinho himself scored the type of goal we used to score only in the days of a certain Fabregas.... Ramsey did a Fabregas and clipped the ball over the packed Stoke defence for Gervinho to chest and fire home... 1-0 to the Arsenal in the 28th minute.

In the 34th minute the ref gave a soft free kick just outside our box. Our defence, decided that the Stoke cunt out on the right was no threat to us. The ball was crossed to that same cunt, he headed it into our penalty box, another cunt headed it back across goal for Crouch to prod home on the line. 1-1 the score. How Stoke managed to play ping-pong and score unchallenged in our box, only the team know....

Our defence... Apart from the 1 goal, I don't remember seeing any other highlights of Stoke threatening our goal... We played well enough to keep them at  bay and we don't look so jittery at set-pieces and throws....

Our midfield... is keeping the ball better. I particularly enjoyed the Ole's after we scored the third goal. We didn't panic, just passed the ball around, humiliating Stoke and letting them know that the game was up.

Our strike force... Gervinho is doing ok. Theo is luke warm. Arshavin is looking lively coming from the bench so I guess Theo might up his game if he got some time on the bench... RVP is doing what he does best- scoring goals. It's time for Chamakh and Park to come to the party. That goes for our midfield...

We are not playing at our best, but we are improving.

I don't know about you, but after seeing United get 6 up their arse from that oily bunch of Citeh, it made me enjoy our win even more!!

And so the table is starting to look proper. Lets take it a game at a time. 29 League games to go is a very long way. Diaby and Vermaelen are but a few weeks away and lets hope they are past their nightmares of injuries. Twil take a bit of time for them to get match fit, but hey, the squad is only getting stronger....

Upwards guns the Arsenal!!!

Marseille 0-1 Arsenal : Gunners stan the French

Ramsey fires Arsenal to glory in the 92nd minute

Match report and video here.

Ramsey scored in the 92^nd minute last night to snatch a vital 3 points for Arsenal. You have to feel a bit sorry for Marseille, conceding a goal at the death like that with no time to recover is an extremely painful experience. But then again, the game ain’t over till the final whistle blows...

If that had been Arsenal conceding a goal like that, I together with the majority of the Arsenal world would have gone to town on the mental frailties and poor defensive discipline of Arsenal. But hell, we didn’t concede a goal. Maybe our luck is starting to change, finally.

As a contest, the game was very disappointing. I kept dosing throughout the game!! In the first half, Marseille were pressing Arsenal high up the pitch, denying us time and space on the ball. They were attacking at speed and in numbers, with Loic Remy nearly giving them a goal in the first half. But after about 15 minutes, Arsenal started to calm down and played better as the game went on.

Arsenal too had chances in the first half. Van Persie’s header was cleared off the line. Before that, a clear handball by a Marseille defender should have resulted in a penalty for Arsenal, but the ref and his assistants chose to ignore it.

In the second half, Marseille looked tired and out of ideas. Arsenal had more ball possession and looked like the home team. I stopped fearing losing the game when Remy and Gonzalez were substituted for Marseille. A draw nil-nil draw looked most likely.

 In the final 15 minutes of the game, Arsenal were looking the more likely to score. Gervinho and Ramsey came on for Theo and Arshavin and really added some thrust to our attack.

Koscielny & Ramsey run away to celebrate

With 92 minutes on the clock, Djourou, who had come in as a substitute for the very decent on the night Jenkinson, ran down our right flank, delivered a decent cross which Gervinho couldn’t control. It found Ramsey unmarked at the far post. He controlled, fired. 1 nil to the Arsenal!! I couldn’t contain myself!!

Overall, I thought we played well. We were not convincing by any stretch of the imagination, but then they say quality sides win even when they don’t play well. So between playing well and getting 3 points, I take the 3 points thank you.

Half-full stadium but Arsenal fans are global

Fair play to Marseille, I thought the game was played in good spirit. But I couldn’t help noticing that half the stadium was empty!!! For a club like Marseille? Maybe Wenger is right when he says there is a football financial crisis looming...

We are top of our group and if we get 6 points from our remaining 3 games, we should qualify top of our group I reckon.

I won’t bother to dwell on our weaknesses, or try to highlight player performances. Frankly they were all average. But for once I’ll revel in the 3 points that I never saw us getting in France.

Onward crawls the Arsenal!!

Marseille vs Arsenal Preview: Arsenal are a Happy Club



Gervinho- talking the talk

Tonight sees us square up against Marseille in France. At stake are three points that will surely decide who wins this group, all things being equal.

Football is all about psychology, or "mental strength" or "confidence". Thats why a perfectly talented group of players (such as Arsenal) can struggle against lesser opposition (such as *ahem* Spurs).

Seriously though, Marseille are a very good team and should be the strongest challenge for Arsenal away from home in the group stages. Gervinho is talking the talk, but not actually promising anything. Waiting until after the game then say (if we lose):

" It was a good game, I thought we played well... but we shall learn from this..."
or if we win or draw:

" We knew that we could get a result... we are very strong... united... we're a happy club..."

Meanwhile Aaron Ramsey says our midfield will get better... eh... naturally Mr. Ramsey, you are still growing and so learning. i'd be concerned if you had said otherwise, but there you go.

Marseille are a very strong attacking outfit. Players to watch out for are Andre Ayew (son of former Ghana and African great Abedi 'Pele' Ayew), Loic Remy and midfield Maestro Lucho Gonzalez. But we can't go into a game marking only 3 men, the other 8 men will punish us.

These guys need to be at their best to give arsenal a chance

I think we'll play our usual 4-5-1 with Van Persie leading the line. I can't decide whom I want to start between Theo and Arshavin. Arshavin looked lively at the weekend against Sunderland...

If I had to pick a team i'd go with;

                          Chezny
Jenkinson Metersacker Koscielny Santos
           Ramsey    Song      Arteta
     Gervinho               Arshavin
                 Van Persie

Theo and Chamakh can come on later to change the game, especially if we are behind.

We shall need to hold the ball for long periods and take our chances when they come. If we give the ball away cheaply (Mr. Ramsey!!) we'll be punished.

What about the score I hear you say, well, I predict a very competitive 2-2 draw. I wish I could say we'll win, but I dont feel it in me... lets hope the boys pleasantly surprise me.

Onwards crawls the Arsenal!!!!

Arsenal 2-1 Sunderland Hooray!! We won!!

Report Arsenal         2 - 1 Sunderland
            RVP (1,82)   2 - 1  Larsson

Arsenal are back with a certain RVP on fire!!

Thankfully the dreaded international break is over and we start on a good note- with a win. I do not for a moment suggest that we have turned a corner, but hey, there is little to celebrate at Arsenal these days so when we win, I sure as hell will make the most of it!!

We started the game very brightly, scored the opening goal within 30 seconds of the kick-off. Gervinho slipping a ball from the left across the sunderland goal for RVP to fire home with his chocolate leg. I'll have more of that Chocolate leg please.

For the next 20 minutes, we were comfortable, too comfortable for my liking. I thought we should have gone for the second goal to kill the game off early. And we did have the chances to score a second and even a third.  RVP struck the post with a delightful chip over the stranded Mignolet. But after 34 minutes, Larsson fired a brilliant free kick into the Arsenal goal. 1-1 the score. The nerves started returning, suddenly we didnt look so clever on and off the ball. Sunderland sensed this and started to play some football.

we came back in the second half, huffed and puffed and eventually started to find our confidence. After 60 monutes, the game started to open up more and we were finding space to attack but our movement in the final third was letting us down.

Eventually, with 8 minutes remaining, RVP fired a free kick into the net!! my word, did I jump and scream with delight. The wife, who was asleep, woke up alarmed!!

Sunderland had a goal rightly disallowed for offside after we scored the second. But you gotta be concerned. However, we calmed down, played some delay tactics, generally tried to keep ball and attack in equal measure.

Overall, we deserved the 3 points. Sunderland didn't really threaten our goal, except for the 2 or 3 chances that they had in the first half after they equalised. One was saved point blank range by Chezny. Thats the mark of a quality keeper. It is on moments like that that games change. And he changed it in our favour.

The Strike force- RVP is really a man on fire right now, I just wish the rest of the team were on his wave length. Gervinho is still looking useful, but could do better with his shooting. if he could keep his shots low, he would have scored yesterday. Theo had an average game, floating in and out of the game.

Defence- Apart from the free kick, I thought we defended well. Per Mertesacker looks calm and confident. Koscielny was his usual self- good. Jenkison had a moment of madness where he inexplicably lost the ball, but after that, he played better. Good lad. Gibbs played ok. Santos did well when he replaced Gibbs in the 54th minute.

Midfield- Song had a very good game. This boy has really come up in leaps and bounds and for me, except that RVP is in a world of his own, song is my man of the moment. Arteta does fine but doesn't really drive us forward. Rosicky played well but ran out of steam. Benayoun and especially Arshavin gave us some forward thrust. Arshavin I think must play centrally as an attacking midfielder. 

So, we are up to 10th in the league. Lets take it a game at a time. In the coming weeks, Diaby and Vermaelen will be coming back into the squad. This will only make our defence and midfield stronger. Lets keep grinding results like yesterday.

Upwards crawls the Arsenal!! 

Tottenham 2-1 Arsenal; Arsenal Fighting Relegation

To be perfectly honest, I didn't fancy our chances before the game at Whitehart Lane before the game. I looked at our team for the day and on paper, compared to Tottenham, I thought, "How did we get here?"

You see, up until a few seasons ago, Tottenham never struck any fear in my heart whenever we faced them. Lately, I get the jitters before any game. Gone are the days when the Arsenal team struct fear in the hearts and boots of opponents before the ball was kicked.

When the game kicked off, I thought we did ok but the longer it went, I couldnt see us getting a point. Our defenders played well, its just the players ahead of them who were not helping. If you have as poor a midifeld and attacking performance display as ours on Sunday, your defence will struggle.

Midfield is our weakness
Aaron Ramsey had an absolute stinker of a match. apart from the goal he scored, he couldnt get anything done right throughout the whole match. I thought he would be substituted at half time. He gave the ball away carelessly, even when he wasnt under pressure. Thus was disrupting our momentum and cohesion. It was also leading to spates of counter-attacks by Tottenham when he gave the ball away.

Mikel Arteta is really worrying me. He is ok. And thats all. We need something more than OK. Abou Diaby, on his day, is a far better midfielder than Arteta. And at his age, is there really any room for improvement? I doubt.
Coquelin played very well, he broke up several attacks, won the ball cleanly and gave it to the players who are supposed to attack. They failed dismally.
Our attacking play is stale
We have become all too predictable. We lack penetration and proper wing play. We lack speed and movement in the final third. Gervinho and Theo didn't do enough for me on the wings. They didnt run and make crosses, they didn't run the channels. Instead we were constricted inwards thus reducing our threat on the wings. Gervinho missed a sitter in the first half. Theo fired a couple of shots wide. when your attacking players are on such poor form at this level, you know you are screwed. Van Persie was absent for long spells, isolated and failing to drop deep to influence the game.
Arshavin seems to be to us what Hleb is to Barcelona. So much promise but nothing really doing.

The manager can't get the best out of the team
The most worrying thing for me is that our squad quality is not that bad. But the fact that the manager is failing to get the best out of the massive potential we have. That we cannot adapt our tactics to conquer our opponents. It was clear Ramsey was having a bad day yesterday. Why didnt Benayoun get a chance earlier? perhaps our midfield might have played a bit better with him and Arteta on the day. Van Persie, Theo and Gervinho should have dropped deeper to help more seeing as our midfield was struggling terribly on the day.

There is a mental frailty in this team
 With 20 minutes left to play, a goal down and we didnt pepper their goal with shots nor crosses. Mertesacker went upfield in a attempt to do a Chris Samba in the final minutes of the game, but we still played side-ways tippy-tappy on the centre circle. Nobody taking responsibility by driving the ball forwards, every player taking to easy option of making a 10 yard pass when a more direct route was necessary.

That shows that there is a fundamental mental weakness in this team. That can only be changed by the manager and his coaching staff.

We are still failing to turn that proverbial corner, instead we keep on the same straight. I'm sure when the league resumes in 2 weeks time, we shall once again be told that our season starts "now".

We are fighting relegation
Unfortunately, the season started 7 games ago. We are averaging 1 point per game. Thats relegation standard. Does Arsene still know? He said we played with the handbrake on. Well Arsene, take the fucking handbrake off the team. Only you know what and where that handbrake is. You put it there so take it the fuck off.

We are fighting relegation this season.

I am now counting the months before Robin Van Persie leaves Arsenal.
I really want to believe that Arsene is the man to take the club forward, but I hate that niggly feeling I keep getting telling me that, sadly, he may have taken the club as far as he can go.

Until then, I continue to languish in the love I have for my Arsenal.
Tick... tock... tick... tock... Mr. Arsene Wenger....