Arsenal 1-1 Fulham: Thoughts and Gary Speed

Santos & RVP showing some love, Arteta bemused

First and foremost, Afrogunner would like to send his condolences to the Family of Gary Speed. I cannot even begin to express my shock when I heard this terrible news. Gary speed was one of those players who was just synonymous with the Barclays English Premier League. A player who was a great credit to football and an even greater ambassdor of the Premier League. Whatever lead such a great man to end his life in this way, may God forgive and grant his soul peace in the yonder world. And may the family find peace and strength in the Lord. May Your Soul Rest in Peace Gary.

Now back to the football. I resisted the urge to post a blog immediately after the game, opting to calm down a little and not write a very emotional blog. But after waiting 48 hours, I'm not sure I won't be emotional, but hey, this is Afrogunner: Blogging objectively on Arsenal while lacking a little bit the sharpness...

What are my thoughts on the game I hear you ask? well, we stunk. Granted we were tired, but still, this was a game where we could have won, had we played at 50% of our ability. The game just needed a moment of magic from one our our attacking players. It needed somebody to just dribble past 3-4 Fulham players and make something happen. But over 90 minutes, the only player who really did anything of note offensively was Theo Walcott.

Vermaelen, scored a freak own goal and like all great players, he rose up to gain us a point. Van Persie was poor. Arshavin really isn't suited to our 4-3-3 system. He would thrive in a more traditional 4-4-2 system. So too Chamakh. Ramsey was the only player running around, trying to make things happen. Arteta was anonymous, in a game where we needed his talent to pick a pass, take a pop at goal, something... General Song did ok, you can't expect him to be possessed by the spirit of Ronaldinho in every game.

a game like that needed a fit Abou Diaby and Jack Wilshere and Gervinho; Players who can dribble past 2-3 players and make opportunities for others or run in on goal. Such players win you free kicks and the occasional penalty because they dribble their way into the 6 yard box. But it wasn't to be. Diaby came on and like an attacking player who hasn't played for over half a year, he did little really. Gervinho came on perhaps too little too late.

To their credit, Fulham closed us down well, held onto the ball well in spells and generally slowed the game down. This was their game plan and it work. Interviewed after the match, Danny Murphy, the Fulham captain said;

We didn't come here to park the bus as it were. We came here to play and we nearly beat them at their own game. In the Last few minutes we were holding on a little but that's to be expected from a good side such as Arsenal

With hindsight, I think a player such as Benayoun, who is a dribbler might have done something special to unlock Fulham. But...

So, two points dropped, but could have been worse. Don't they say that great teams a able to grind out results even when they don't play well? Didn't Arsenal not play well? Didn't Arsenal grind out a result? If Arsenal are not not a great team, based on this saying, then I don't know who is.

We have City coming to town in the Carling Cup on Tuesday. Let's come rested for that game otherwise we are getting knocked out of the Carling Cup.

Onwards march the Arsenal!!