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| Arsenal 1-0 QPR |
Winning is never a bad thing, especially when you are as desperate as we have been in the last two weeks to turn things around. On Saturday, we literally stole 3 points from QPR. Did we deserve the win? Maybe, Was it a clear goal? Not really, it was actually offside. I'm I complaining? Hell no!
At the time, there was such a scramble for the ball that it was not clear whether is was offside or not, infact it only became an issue after the television replays.
This was a game we just had to get 3 points. After Arsene Wenger's comments (again!) that Champions League qualification is more important.... I got the feeling many an Arsenal fan had sharpened their pitch forks and machetes to do Wenger if we didn't win.
As it is, the pitch forks and machetes have been temporarily withdrawn, until Old Trafford at least.
I missed most of the first half, by the time I arrived and sat down to watch the match, the game had gone 42 minutes. I was surprised to see Jack Wilshere playing, I thought that maybe an injury had happened during the first half, only to learn that he had indeed started the game. Huh!
I don't know whether Jack is so good or the rest of our midfield is out of form so much so that he looked our best creative player in the first half (from the highlights I saw). He had a shot on target, was driving forward a lot, was exchanging passes and generally looking to make something happen.
There was a point at the start of the second half where QPR seemed to have decided that they could take the game to us and actually win. They started to attack us down our left flank. It is worrying the ease with which we seem to get hit on the counter... There was a free kick given after just outside the QPR box that was taken by Arteta so poorly it resulted in a quick counter attack from which we nearly conceded.
Olivier Giroud didn't get any supply, until Theo Walcott and Andrey Arshavin came on. Arshavin, the forgotten man, came on after a bad looking ankle injury to African Brother Gervinho (ABG). Arshavin provided the cross which lead to the goal, after a goal-mouth scramble.
I must say Theo too brought something different to our attack, he seemed to be trying to ping in early crosses from the right, something which we don't do often enough.
I was happy to see Bacary Sagna back. He was solid as ever, he too needs a few games to get back to his best. Carl Jenkinson is hard done by Sagna's return, but we need our best players at the moment. His turn will come.
The one player I feel is off the boil is Podolski. He seems to have lost his mojo in Germany. I noted how Giroud took a free kick, which would normally be taken by Podolski's left foot. Needless to say it was off-target.
On the whole, the team played better than in the last two defeats, but questions still remain about our attacking prowess and defending. QPR could have scored in injury time after some cunt run through challenges from Arteta and Vermaelen only to be denied by Mannone. Had he scored there, it would have felt like a loss and those pronged forks and machetes would have been out on Wenger.
Credit to the team for winning ugly. QPR were hard-done by the goal in fairness, but that other cunt who scythed Vermaelen and got red-carded allowed us more space on the wings with which to hurt them.
I don't like to see any team hard-done by a decision, case in point - Chelsea vs Mancies United. But considering where Mark Hughes used to play... nuh, I'll take 3 controversial points off him any day.
COYG!
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