A very good morning to you all from a very wet and cloudy Kanye.
First of all, let me say this to my colleagues who are all Manc-ies: Phuthego, Lebidile, Kereng, Diteko, Magwamba and any other Manc-ies out there: KISS MY ARSEnal.
Right now that we have got that out of the way, let us talk fooball.
I caught the flu so unfortunately I couldn't enjoy my Windhoek Draught that I bought on Saturday specifically for this game. Instead I had to endure the sight of my two Manc-ies United mates drink the beers while I drank hot, plain water. On top of that, we lost the game, I mean could the weekend have been any worse?
Yesterday saw us lose 3 league games in a row, something which we haven't done in about 5 years. The game also highlighted the differences between Arsenal and Manc-ies United and why the Manc-ies have won trophy after trophy while we have lost good player after good player.
Robin Van Persie scored his customary goal per game. The team let in their customary "1+ whatever Van Persie scores up the other end" goals per game, giving us the now customary 1 goal deficit per 90 minutes of football. If I was Van Persie, I would be wondering what the fuck do I have to do to win a medal? At 28, Van Persie only has about 4 years more at the top and he will want to win something before has has to retire. His best chance of winning a trophy is to sign for another team...
Manchester United marked better than us, their work rate in all areas of the pitch was better than us. They did not give us space on the wings to ping in cross after cross. Even if they had, honestly, this Arsenal team is toothless on the flanks. Our wing play is generally poor and even on the few occassions when we ping in a good cross, we never have players in the box waiting to head the ball because they are slow to get into the box...
Arsenal were lively in the opening exchanges. Oxlade-Chamberlain started in place of the hapless Arshavin on the left of our attack. He dribbled his was into the United box in the second minute and cut the ball back across goal but there was nobody there to tuck it in.
He would continue to be our most dangerous forward. He switched flanks and went on the right in the 25th minute. He dribbled past Evra, passed to Theo in the United box and Theo blasted high and wide. Theo was really being his usual poor self. His passing was awful, at one stage his passed the ball out into touch then went on to shout at Chamberlain. The youngster just looked at him? a penny for his thoughts at that very moment...
Arsenal continued to press but towards half time, United's maturity started to show and they began to dominate proceedings. They were finding a lot of space on our right, where Djourou, being the central defender that he is, was being exposed by Nani. He was allowing Nani too much room to run at him, pick a pass or cross into our area.
It would prove to be costly because in first half injury time, that cunt who fucked his brother's bitch called Giggs found space from that flank and crossed to the far post where Valencia, being another cunt, headed the Manc-ies into the lead. I thought Vermaelen could have done much better. To his credit, he was generally solid all game long, except for that moment.
I was not impressed with our midfield performance up to that point. We lacked quality, organisation, movement, vision and any penetration. We were passing the ball side ways, generally not causing the Manc-ies any problem with our possession, whereas they looked more dangerous whenever they attacked. Rosicky had to pick up his game. Ramsey was his usual self: very busy and good work-rate but lacking efficiency and threat. Walcott was generally anonymous and Van Persie was isolated up front.
In a game of this magnitude, in front of the home fans, we did not look hungry nor angry enough for the 3 points. We lacked fight and bite, our movement off the ball was very poor, a frequent trait these days. The team was booed at half time. The two Manc-ies whom I had the misfortune of watching the game with (seeing as we lost eventually) were enjoying themselves, gulping more and more of the beers- which I had sponsored.
In the second half, Arsenal came to life a bit more than in the first half. Shortly after the restart, a slip from Chris Smalling was not punished. Rosicky dispossessed him of the ball, ran into the United area, squared to Van Persie , who skipped to his left and with the goal at his mercy, he opted to blast wide when he should have just calmly placed to ball into the open goal. Now, I know van Persie eventually equalised, but it is moments such as those that change games. Had he scored that chance, I think the game would have ended differently.
Chamberlain continued to impress and with 20 minutes to go, Rosicky found him on the left, he drove forward, saw the diagonal run of Van Persie, passed to the Dutchman who did what he does in those situations. 1-1 the score. Arsenal were in the ascendancy.
The came a moment of madness from Wenger. He substituted Oxlade-Chamberlain for Arshavin. And brought on Park for Ramsey. Two players who everybody, except Arsene Wenger, know would have as much positive influence on the game as bringing a knife to a gun fight. The whole crowd booed the Arshavin substitution in particular. Even Robin Van Persie could be seen shouting "Noooo!" and flailing his arms in exasperation at the substitution.
We lost whatever forward impetus we had started to gain. United started to look more dangerous as the game became very open. Danny Welbeck, was finding space to run through on goal. He got behind our defence 4 times. Thankfully he is only a cunt; had that been Rooney, we would have conceded 4 goals.
And with ten minutes to go, Arshavin summed up his time at Arsenal thus far: poor and lazy marking saw Valencia run inside our box to find Welbeck whose shot found the back of the net.
We huffed and puffed in search of an equaliser but really, we were not good enough on the day and the better team won.
Afterwards, Arsene said on Sky that he was disapointed, but as well there were positives to be taken from the game. Positives? I hope he is talking about finally drawing a line on some of the players HE has bought.
On the issue of spending some fucking money, he says:
Spending the money is not the target, to buy good players is the target. We need our players back. People are not conscious that we miss 10 players. When you see what we created in the second half without [those injured] players, it is important to get the players back.Yes, injuries having taken their toll on our squad, but so too on United. The truth is that we have too many players in our team who are not performing. We would be better off with average players who put in a shift than with technically superior footballers who simply can't put in the graft.
Our speed of play is slow, the players generally look tired and laboured. Our off the ball movement is very poor, we can't keep the ball very well anymore, we are being out-played and out-thought by other teams game in and game out. Our manager is in denial that we are carrying too many passengers. He refuses to call a spade a spade and realise that some players are just not up to it at all.
Ultimately, these are his players and he is failing to get the best out of them. This is very worrying to me. When a manager cannot get his players to perform, always getting egg in the face something really needs to give. Either players get shipped out or the manager goes. The press conferences are becoming all too familiar after every game. We hear how we did not get the result we needed, yet it is clear that we have too many players who are simply getting fat salaries and not putting in a shift.
I think it is an insult to us as fans that half way through the season, we are talking about fourth place instead of challenging for the league. I have gone on record and said that I think Wenger has taken this club as far as he can go and I really love the man but it is in times like these when our deficiencies are exposed that you critically question whether the time to call time on his Arsenal career has come?
Let's face it, even when we are winning, the team is not really convincing. Yes, we are much better when the injured players return, but then the squad system works to cover you when you have injuries. Injuries are not exclusive to Arsenal and cannot therefore be used as an excuse for our losses. The other top teams cope better with injuries because they have better squad players and their players put in an honest day's work when called upon. The same cannot be said of many of our squad players.
Although our squad, when all players are fit, is better than it was in the past 3-4 seasons, our rivals have also strengthened their squads, perhaps much better than we have. This means that although we have improved on previous squads, we have lost ground to our rivals. We are regressing as a club yet we remain in denial.
Here is the plain truth;
(1) These players are either past their best or not good enough: Arshavin, Rosicky, Park, Chamakh, Theo, Benayoun, Squilaci, Vela, Bendtner, Almunia, Fabianksi.
(2) These players are too injury prone and therefore unreliable: Diaby, Gibbs, Rosicky.
(3) These players are not yet ready to play at the top level week in week out: Ramsey, Wilshere, Chamberlain, Yennaris, Frimpong, Coquelin, Theo.
(4) These players are frequently lazy when on the pitch: Arshavin, Theo, Rosicky, Djourou, Park, Diaby, Denilson, Vela, Bendtner.
The manager really needs to spend some fucking money otherwise I can bet my penis Robin Van Persie will leave the club in the summer.
