Aston Villa Feels Important

I don't know how many will agree with me, but Sunday's defeat to Manchester City just didn't feel that bad. Maybe it's because it's nearly Christmas, maybe it was because it was a significantly better defeat than our last trip to Manchester. Whatever it was, I just didn't feel as gutted on Sunday evening as I usually do after a defeat. I suppose it goes back to what I said before the match about us being underdogs.

Further mitigation came from the fact that we not only have no fit full backs, we also lost Djourou mid-match. Miquel came on and there was a reshuffling at the back, but City's goal came not long after. I blamed Koscielny at the time, as he gave Balotelli far too much space down our right, but I suppose it's only natural that he would be drawn into his natural position in the centre. If we are to blame anyone, it should be that clown Phil Dowd. The habitually-useless tubber failed to give what I thought were two pretty evident penalties, Micah Richards' handball, which was admittedly arguable, and the very obvious foul on Ramsey in the box. If that sounds like bitter excuses, that's because it certainly is. We didn't deserve a win, but I think a point would have been pretty fair.

As it was, though, we lost, Spurs, City, United and Liverpool won. Chelsea drew (ha) but still gained a point on us. My fear now is that, because the City defeat didn't feel as painful as some of our others this season, we will take for granted that we will get back on track against Villa and continue our rebuilding. That is a dangerous assumption. I know that Villa are dire, and that they have no forwards. I know that watching them play at the moment is akin to watching a pay-per-view paint-drying marathon. But make no mistake, to keep this top-four push going, we need three points tonight. Spurs and Chelsea play each other tomorrow. so one or both of them will be losing points. Only three points tonight will do, otherwise we will go into tomorrow four or five points behind Spurs and two games out of hand. Not a position I fancy at Christmas.

So, whilst I am glad that the loss against Man City was not the kind of loss we suffered twice earlier this season- namely the confidence-sapping, month-ruining disasters of United and Blackburn- I hope that we can ensure it is just a blip in a run of form that was beginning to look really impressive. That starts against McLeish's yawn-inspiring bore-circus tonight, and continues on Boxing Day.

In other news, we drew AC Milan, as everyone knew we would. Anyone surprised? The gloss of coming top of the group is certainly lessened when you come up against a team that came second only because they were in a group with Barcelona. Milan are a great team. We will have to see if we can do what we've done in the San Siro the last two times we've had the pleasure of visiting. More on that nearer the time. For now, let's focus on collectively asking Santa for three points tonight, and hopefully a foul-ridden goalless draw between Spurs and Chelsea tomorrow.

Until then,
Joe

Round-Up and General Ranting

As I’m back in the swing of things, I thought I’d write a quick summary of the state of the Premier League, in light of the games that we have seen take place over the last weekend. We’ve all now played 15 games (well, except for teams whose fan bases are formed of trainer-stealing criminals who decided to break up the dreariness of their summer with a spot of rioting) and so the table is starting to settle into the shape that it will maintain until May.

Firstly, a look at the relegation zone. My birthday wish, which sadly is going ungranted, was that Stoke ‘Football’ Club would be relegated. I put the word ‘football’ in inverted commas for obvious reasons. They are a football club in name alone. A better moniker might be ‘The Stoke Association for Woefully Untalented Cloggers Who Can Throw a Ball Quite a Long Way’, or SAWUCWCTBQLW. Apparently, this was considered but wouldn’t fit on the badge. Sadly, SAWUCWCTBQLW are well away from danger, so the bottom of the table is made up of Wigan, Blackburn and Bolton. Good riddance to bad rubbish. Some snobbish types will tell you that they want Wigan to stay up because they ‘play good football’. No they don’t, they’re shit. They play football on the ground, which I suppose is admirable, but with a group of players who are seriously ill-equipped for the task. The only problem with them going down is that it means Wolves will probably stay up. I’m not sure why, but I hate Wolves. I also hate Blackburn and Bolton, the other two seemingly-doomed clubs. It may seem irrational, but consider this: both have been managed by Sam Allardyce. That man immediately makes me dislike any club. I have genuinely woken up at night sweating from a dream that he became manager of Arsenal and set about selling any players that could use both their left and right feet. Worrying.

Skipping over the rest of the dross that makes up about 70% of this league, it’s the top 6 where it gets interesting. I’m not just saying that because I’m an Arsenal fan. Look at the teams in between 7^th (Newcastle) and 17^th (Wolves). All achingly mediocre. Villa? Meh. Everton? Yawn. Newcastle, to be fair, have played some entertaining stuff this year, as have Swansea on the very few occasions I’ve seen them play. A few exceptions aside, this league really is average below 6^th place. Maybe I’m just in a mood because I remembered my Sam Allardyce nightmare. Shudder.

So, the drama that will most occupy us, as Arsenal fans, this season, is the four teams fighting for the two spaces below the Manchester clubs. Some are predicting that Tottenham might be able to make a title challenge, or overtake United in second. 'Win their game in hand and they are two points behind United,' these misguided fools mumble. Don’t make me laugh. A Spurs title bid looks about as likely at the moment as an Andy Carroll hattrick. They will soon hit their first hurdle, be it injuries, suspensions, or a bad run of form brought about by Del Boy’s upcoming trip at the expense of Her Majesty. They’ll soon be looking about, trying not to be overtaken by the rest of us also-rans.

This weekend was a good one for Arsenal, in the sense that our three points made sure that Spurs’ dropped points at Stoke didn’t go unpunished. For anyone who didn’t see the match, can I suggest you see the highlights? Well worth a look. Spurs were absolutely robbed by a hilariously bad refereeing performance. I would have sent Chris Foy a letter of congratulations, except for the fact that the main beneficiaries of his incompetence were Stoke, and I refuse to celebrate Stoke victories. Man United’s simple win against Norwich means the only other team we gained on was Man City, and I don’t want to countenance us catching them up when we’re this far behind. I know I have just shot down Spurs’ chances of catching either of the Manchester clubs, but I don’t see it as impossible that we should overtake United. Unlikely, but stranger things have happened. I think we’re more likely to do it than Spurs.

Finally, a congratulations to United and City for their well-deserved qualification for the Europa League. When faced with a group like United’s, containing the likes of FC Basel, Benfica, and Otelul Galati, it was always going to be tough to get into the Europa League, but United just managed to shade Galati into third place, meaning they will have the chance to cement their place among Europe’s elite. Teams like PAOK Salonika, Red Bull Salzburg, FC Metalist Kharkiv, and the Mighty Stoke City Football Club stand in their way, so best of luck to them.

Reading through, I realise that wasn’t a coherent analysis or summary so much as it was a simple way of allowing me to express my disdain for Blackburn, Bolton, Wolves, Sam Allardyce, the Premier League in general, Chris Foy, Manchester United, Andy Carroll, Harry Redknapp, and lest we forget, the wonderful Stoke City.

Until tomorrow, when I’ll have a summary of our inevitable draw with AC Milan.

Joe

Follow me on Twitter @joeblogsarsenal

The Long-Awaited Return of the Blog

A wise man once told me that the blogosphere waits for no man. I have seen that this is true. In recent weeks I have had to put this blog on hold as the real world has intervened. Deadlines and work have all got in the way of what some have described as my true calling in life- writing occasional musings on a team of men paid to kick a ball into a net. The wise man’s prophecy came true. As soon as I stopped writing regularly, ratings went on a downward curve steeper than the profits of Pukka Pies when Frank Lampard instigated his New Year’s resolution. Luckily, with deadlines met and Christmas approaching, I’m back and better than ever. Or at least, no more ill-informed and misguided than previously.

Since I last posted here, we have played two matches, losing to Olympiacos and beating Everton. Certainly, both matches deserve posts of their own but I won’t bother as they were both some time ago now. I’m a forward-thinking kind of guy. Suffice to say that the Olympiacos game was sort of embarrassing, and the Everton game was sort of brilliant. I love 1-0 wins: the sensation when the final whistle goes makes the previous however-many minutes of agony almost worthwhile. I think it is fair to say that a hard-fought, ‘ugly’ win like Saturday’s can sometimes be more enjoyable than delivering a thrashing. Hmm, unless that thrashing is delivered at the home of your foulest rivals, and involves scoring 5 goals, a heroic hat-trick, and your rival’s beloved captain plunging to the floor in despair as the world’s deadliest goal-scorer glides away effortlessly, carrying both the ball and his foe’s dignity. In cases like that, thrashings are more fun.

The purpose of this post is not to comment on what I have missed, though, but on our current position and what we can expect over the festive period. Firstly, there is the matter of Manchester City at the weekend. Whilst I always want Chelsea to lose, I did at least see the benefit of their beating City on Monday, namely that the Invincibles will not  be matched for another year. I’m not sure if that feat gets enough coverage. If it had been a Ferguson side, members of the press and public would be queuing up to get commemorations of the feat tattooed on various parts of the body. As it is, the anti-Wenger media like to wash over the fact that the man achieved arguably the greatest accomplishment possible in football. Did you know it’s been 6 years since we last won a trophy? Where was I, my paranoia has sidetracked me?

Ah yes, the Manchester City match. Abramovich’s deprived paupers showed in ‘El Cashico’ that City can be beaten. I won’t be all that nervous on Sunday morning. We’re the underdogs, after all. If we lose, it’s more or less to be expected. It’s not like we ever get beaten that badly in Manchester anyway, ahem. If we win, it will be something of a coup and we would start to be seen as a team that can actually do something this year. The media (back to them) might start treating us as a team that has taken 22 of the last 24 points available to us. Did you know we had quite a poor start to the season? My paranoia pills seem to be wearing off. The reality is that the media have already woken up to the fact that this Arsenal team that they wrote off is actually beginning to look decent. Luckily, our star player is involved in some contract wrangling, so the hacks have got their Christmas present.

After the Manchester City match, and I hate to write it, our next few matches look winnable. Villa away, QPR and Wolves at home, Fulham away. I won’t put a number on it but if we take a certain amount of points from those games, and you know roughly what number that is, we will be in good shape going into the new year. Look at the table. We are only 2 points behind Chelsea, who are in third. I don’t think that a push for third is out of the question. Neither Spurs nor Chelsea fully convince me (as football teams, not as individuals, the nature of whom I am fully convinced.) Spurs are Spurs, and Chelsea have reverted to the tactic of giving it to Drogba and allowing him to plough his way through defences. When he goes to the ACN in January (has he retired from international football or was that a bizarrely-specific dream?) they will perhaps have to return to the method that saw John Terry exposed for the lumbering playground defender that he is. Maybe I’m clutching at straws, but I feel that their position is far from secure. As for Spurs, they look good now (Stoke hilarity aside) but soon their manager will be doing time and their current goal-threat, GreedyBarnDoor, will soon do his usual, and simply stop being good for a while. What then? Having Donkey Kong racing up the left wing is no good if his crosses are being met by Roman Pavlyuchenko.

So, all in all, Sunday aside, I’m pretty confident. Of course, there’s every opportunity for things to go wrong, but that’s football.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a bit of analysis of other recent results. For example, Stoke-Tottenham, a game that had me wishing there was a way both teams could lose a football match.

Until then,

Joe

Follow me on Twitter @joeblogsarsenal

Wigan 0-4 Arsenal: 4 Goals, 4 Goalscorers

We've got to be very happy with that win. Away from home, any win is great, but to score 4 and keep a clean sheet is even better. Before we get carried away though, Wigan were truly awful. Really poor. Apart from a decent opening spell where they were actually playing like a team who needs points, they really provided nothing. I'm not complaining. This straighforward win gives us as many points as the inspiring demolition of Chelsea or the hard-fought win against Sunderland, and if there's one thing that puts me in a good mood, it's points.

Prior to the game I was nervous. I am quite a nervous fan naturally, but I was particularly so considering we were playing against a Wigan team who had scored just 12 goals so far this season and were bottom of a league table containing Blackburn and Wolves. The reason for my anxiety was this: most people had accepted the Fulham draw and the Man City loss. In the former we seemed tired, and the performance was decent enough, in the latter we played excellently and lost to a great counter-attacking goal against an expensively-assembled super-team. However, any sign of a poor result today would  have really thrown our momentum, which, as we know, takes a great deal of time to build up and not long to lose. A failure to win at Wigan would have meant a failure to win in our last three games, and the more pessimistic of us would have started to recognise that sinking feeling that we suffered pretty much continually from March to October.

I needn't have worried. As it is, we have now taken 19 of the last 21 points available to us. We've conceded 2 goals in our last 4 league games. Van Persie has now scored more goals this year than the number of times Theo Walcott says 'you know' in the average interview. With Newcastle's loss earlier, we have overtaken them and moved into 5th place. Momentum is maintained.

The actual match itself needn't be dissected in too much detail. For those who didn't see it, apart from the opening quarter of an hour, we were in complete control. Van Persie was fantastic, showing that he can dictate a game as well as just score goals. He really can only be compared with the very best players in the world at the moment. Wonderful to watch, and I for one hope Wenger gets a new contract out over Christmas and asks the Dutchman to name his own price. At any other big club he would be earning more than he is now, so I hope Wenger sees the prudence in spending big in this case.


Arteta also impressed. The opening goal aside (which the keeper would have saved but for a momentary attack of Gomes syndrome), Arteta did what he has been doing all season for Arsenal: linking the play between defence and attack, keeping the ball moving, keeping momentum going. He's not a fancy player, although he does have the talent to be. For Arsenal he plays a different game to what he did for Everton, where his role was more forward-thinking and glamorous. It's hard to put your finger on exactly what he does that makes him so impressive at the moment. I think it's because he does the simple things right almost all of the time. He is coming to symbolise this Arsenal team's habit of performing better than the sum of their parts.


In defence, playing three centre halfs seems to have made us quite solid. Again, this Wigan team was so poor that judging anything against them would be a bigger mistake than hiring Harry Redknapp as your accountant. I do feel, though, that when we get Sagna back we will have a back 5 of quality, experience (Szczesny aside), and discipline, with competition in all areas. Nice to see.

Overall we've got to be very happy with that result. It keeps momentum going that looked liable, after two 'meh' results, to wobble. We're now through our period of obviously 'winnable' games in the league, but looking over the Christmas calendar, there are points for the taking this month. We have now established the basis for a proper assault on fourth and beyond in the next few weeks.

Until tomorrow,
Joe

Follow me on Twitter @joeblogsarsenal

Arsenal 2-1 Borussia Dortmund: Job Done

So we won our penultimate game of the group stage, taking our points to 11. We're through to the last sixteen of the Champions League and Marseille's loss to Olympiakos means we top our group. Naturally, we will be playing AC Milan in the next round, while United will come second and play Apoel. Such is the way of this competition.

As for the game itself, not much needs to be said. We got the points, let's start looking ahead to the weekend. The first half was turgid anyway. The atmosphere at the ground was decent, mainly spurred on by the absolutely mental away support. There was one guy with an enormous drum that kept all 8,000 of them in perfect rhythm. I did wonder why, when I had a bottle of water confiscated at the entrance, he was allowed to bring in a large percussion instrument, but there you go. They also had a decent grasp of English- when we went 1-0 up I'm fairly certain they started chanting 'you only sing when you're winning.' If so, you can't help but be impressed by the fact that they chose to mock us in our own language.

The second half was better. Alex Song was very obviously the man of the match. Not only was his assist for the first goal sublime (look at his little touch to get through the two defenders), he also did his main job fantastically. He was everywhere, breaking up attacks, intercepting, generally playing what will soon be called the 'Alex Song role' very well. He even avoided his customary yellow card. Song has become an absolutely fundamental part of the way we play now, and his quality belies the idea that we are a one-man team. It's arguable, but I honestly think he is the best defensive midfielder in the league, especially when you take distribution into account.

I was also very happy to see Diaby. I've mentioned before that I'm a fan of his, and although he came on and did nothing for 8 minutes, it was good to see. I really hope that he can put his injury problems behind him, and start becoming the player I suspect he could be.

I won't go into much more detail on the game because it really was not about the performance, which wasn't great, just the points, which were. Our recent form makes for increasingly good reading as well, having now won 11 of our last 13 games. This is officially a 'run of good form'. The problem with those is that they end, so our next task will be to bounce back when that happens. However, no point worrying about that now.


In other good things that happened tonight, Chelsea lost, putting their qualification in some doubt. I still think they'll go through, but it's fun to watch them struggling. They've now lost four of their last seven games, and drawn one of the others. I hope Roman realises the value of rebuilding a young team with a new, young manager, and isn't impatient for quick fixes or in any way fickle. HA.

So that's that, another win, another three points, and another year in the last 16 of Europe's elite. We might as well start booking the flights to Milan now.


Until Saturday,
Joe


Follow me on Twitter @joeblogsarsenal

Another Weekend Round-Up

After a weekend of Premier League action wiped away the dreary memory of the international break, I'm going to round up the other results and see what they mean from an Arsenal perspective.

Manchester City impressed again, making short work of a previously-unbeaten Newcastle side. Silva didn't start, meaning Na$ri got to have a go at football. You may remember he used to play quite a bit, before rolling around in his salary, which he insists is paid in £5 notes, became his number-one hobby. One of the things that is really impressive about Man City's squad is the cost at which it was assembled. Nobody could accuse them of 'buying success' or 'distorting the market beyond normal economic rules' without themself being accused of 'being bitter' by the suddenly numerous legions of Man City fans. In all seriousness, they are scarily good, and my money is on them for the league. Newcastle, as I have pointed out previously, are about to be found out. Their position in the league table is an illusion as far as I'm concerned, and their next two league fixtures are against Man United and then Chelsea. Expect them to stall and descend rapidly down the table. The reason I am so sure? Alan Pardew.


Man United won again. I didn't watch the game, and I don't regret it because it sounds like United did what they usually do- won the game with minimal drama and not even too much exertion. I think they are the only team that will even be challenging Man City for the title, indeed it feels a little optimistic to be discussing them in a  post about the teams 'around us'.

Which brings me to the weekend's most enjoyable showpiece: Chelsea-Liverpool. Interestingly, Chelsea's loss means that they have now lost three of their last four games in the league, and have lost their last two at home. Let's all take a moment to enjoy that. Seeing John Terry sliding on his arse as Glen Johnson scored in the 86th minute really made my night. That result also means that, despite our worst start to the season since time began, we are now level on points with Chelsea. In fact, despite still being in seventh, we are only 3 points off of third.

Tottenham play tomorrow, and if they win they will move three points ahead of us, so let's all hope they don't. Annoyingly, they still have a game in hand after that, because the inhabitants of Tottenham decided in August that they didn't have enough trainers, and so set about destroying local shops. Still, a bird in the hand is worth two in the bush and all that; just because they have games in hand doesn't mean they will win them. They are still in a better position than us, and supposedly have a better squad, but I would feel very uncomfortable about that position if I were a Spurs fan. Although, if I were a Spurs fan, I would feel very uncomfortable with myself generally.


There you have it. A good weekend for us all round really. Along with three points for the Arsenal, we had Stoke losing, Chelsea losing and Newcastle losing. The latter is good from a footballing perspective, the former two are just good news for humanity in general.

Until next time,
Joe

Follow me on Twitter @joeblogsarsenal

Norwich 1-2 Arsenal: The Resurrection Continues

Firstly, it is great to have proper football back again. I was delighted to be watching Arsenal play this afternoon. 'Wow, look at the slickness of our passing', I mused to myself. 'Look at how not-injured van Persie was by the international break', I muttered. 'Look how solid our defence looks. There's Mertesacker, about to play a simple ball back to Szczesny. He's an experienced international footballer, this simple ball will be so simple', I murmured in the 16th minute. Ah.


It wouldn't be an Arsenal performance without an avoidable defensive blunder that leads to the opponents scoring from their first chance of the game, though, and that aside this was hugely enjoyable for a number of reasons. Rather than simply go through what happened in a game you probably watched yourself, I'm going to give you a handy list of reasons why this game was so enjoyable. Cut it out and put it in your wallet if you want:



1) Three points. Getting the obvious one out of the way first. This was a tricky win against a decent side. Only our second away win of the season, and much more difficult than that first one, this will stop commentators saying 'Arsenal have only won one away game so far this season', as they are liable to do ad nauseum. Three points draws us level with Spurs, who have two games in hand. They would do well to start looking over their shoulders.



2) It was hard-fought. Unlike our most recent league match, against West Brom, which was a walk in the park, this was tough. We weren't exactly under a lot of pressure,in fact, Mertesacker's gift was the only real chance I can remember them having. And, had we taken some more of our chances we could have had the game wrapped up with half an hour gone. But we didn't, so we didn't, and Norwich did not make our comeback easy. Any adversity overcome is going to be good for morale, which seems pretty high at the moment, and good for momentum. As the old adage has it, winning is a habit. A habit which we are, enjoyably, in at the moment.



3) Theo Walcott's performance. Take that Hansen. Theo has had a good season so far, and he was influential today. His assist for van Persie's first was from an excellent piece of work- using his pace to put the ball round Tierney and go the other way, a move he is trying quite a lot at the moment. The thing with Walcott is, even if you 'know' how to play against him, his pace is such that any ball behind the full-back will likely reach him. He still has his detractors but his statistics are becoming increasingly impressive.



4) Robin van Persie's ridiculous record grows even more ridiculous. His stats for the calendar year in the Premier Leagure are now played 29, scored 31. Those are franky silly numbers. I really, really don't want to jinx his run of form so all I'll say for now is that the fact that this man was overlooked for the Ballon d'Or nominations (which are based on calendar year) should be enough to bring down the corrupt, greedy, amoral black hole that is FIFA all on its own.*


5) The ending. With 15 minutes to go, I couldn't watch. So deeply ingrained in today's Arsenal fan is the imminent sense of self-destruction that a one goal-lead with a quarter of an hour to go seems almost worse than chasing the game. Forcing myself to look, I noticed something strange. The players weren't panicking. We didn't win a corner only to see all of our players, including Szczesny, sprinting into their penalty box. We were calm. Commentators call this tactic, of closing out a game by maintaing possession and calmness 'mature', and I suppose that's accurate. We did it well, not really allowing them any possession, except for the free kick in the 91st minute brought about by an outrageous dive. We brought on a substitute to waste time. Szczesny dawdled appropriately. It was good to see.


6) Stoke lost. This one is not relevant to our game per se, but, Stoke lost. Hopefully they'll get relegated.


So, there it is. The emptiness of the last two weeks has lifted, football is back, and Arsenal have won 10 of our last 12 games. Super.

Follow me on Twitter @joeblogsarsenal

*Yes, I know it's voted for by journalists etc., but any excuse.

The International Break is to Football What Mick McCarthy is to Commentary

God, this is dull. The international break is a 'break' in the way that work is a lovely break from your holidays. This one has seemed particularly interminable- perhaps that's because for the first time in a while, Arsenal go into one of these enforced vacations on a reasonable run of form. In recent months, international breaks have taken our minds off of the bitter disappointments. This time, everyone is raring to go.

From an England point of view, it was fairly good news all round, I suppose. It is not fashionable these days to admit that you support England. There's an aspect of bitterness about it; it feels fundamentally wrong to support a team that the likes of John Terry and Cashley play for. The way I see it, though, is to ask why I should let that chest-thumping, pace-lacking, grass-eating ogre and his little money-grubbing mate ruin my right to support my national team? I consider it a bit like eating around the rotten part of an apple, except the apple is a deeply mediocre football team that I have a kind of genetic/patriotic compulsion to support.

Just because I can't resist the instinctive urge to boo wildly whenever John Terry appears on the screen doesn't mean that I can't support England. I enjoy it- many of my friends are fans of other clubs and these rare occasions are the only time when we are on the same side. This isn't sentimental- it just means that we can stop arguing about why each other's teams are useless and start agreeing on why England are useless.

Despite this, I can't get behind friendlies at this time of the football season. I can understand the need for play-offs, so that poor teams can sneak into the tournament (great). I can even understand that international managers need to see which players will fit where, who to take, etc. In fact I can't really formulate a cohesive argument against them to be honest, I just hate them. They seem to take forever, the matches are generally dull (see last night) and, more often than not, players come back broken, with nothing but a sheepish grin from the international manager responsible.

It seems at the moment that all of the finger-crossing and wood-touching this time around has paid off, and that none of our players will be returning on crutches or stretchers. Let's hope they stay in shape until Saturday lunchtime when we can finally put this dreary international break out of its misery with some meaningful football.

Until then,

Joe

follow me on twitter @joeblogsarsenal

5 Things I Don’t Want to See Happen This Season, but Probably Will.

After the roaring success* of ‘5 things I would like to see happen this season’, here comes my slightly more pessimistic attempt. Here it goes, the 5 things I don’t want to see happen this season, but probably will.

1-      Drawing Barcelona in the next round of the Champions League.

Let’s assume for the moment that we get through our group, but that we come second, which is currently perfectly feasible. Now, I enjoyed beating Barcelona at home last season as much as the next man. Football was made for nights like that one. It was brilliant, fantastic. But do you know what would be more brilliant and fantastic? Sneaking through to the semis without playing anyone good. I mean it. Imagine drawing Apoel in the round of 16, and then Trabzonspor in the quarters. It’s technically possible, and while that is the case I will be hoping for trips to Cyprus and Turkey come the spring. I know what the purists among you will be saying: ‘You’ve got to beat the best to be the best.’ Nope. You don’t. Look at Chelsea’s route to the final in 2008: they beat Olympiacos, Fenerbahçe and then Liverpool in extra time. Were it not for their diversity-loving captain’s hysterical penalty-bottling antics, they would have had their clammy paws on that giant trophy having beaten only one really decent team in Man United. Playing Barcelona is all well and good, and victory against better teams is more glorious. It’s also more unlikely, and I’m a percentage-playing kind of guy.

*Based on no statistics or ‘facts’.

2-      Tottenham finishing above us in the Premier League.

This feels weird. The last time we missed a St. Totteringham’s day was, if I’m not mistaken, 1995. A lot has changed since then: countries have been invaded, terrorism has reshaped the world forever, the global economy has gone into recession, Ashley Cole has single-handedly defeated slavery in football. In these worrying years, one thing has remained reassuringly constant- Spurs have been shit. Even in recent years when we haven’t been all that good, they have been worse, usually by a long way. Because of this, it feels odd to say that they are now favourites to finish ahead of us, but it’s true. Their starting eleven is (arguably) the equal or better of ours. They seem to have gelled. They also seem to have picked up the irritating habit of winning when they deserve to lose, whereas in the past they had perfected the amusing art of losing when they deserved to win.  Finishing behind Tottenham is not something I anticipate with any pleasure, but it might just happen this season. Don’t, however, underestimate the Spuds’ capacity for cocking up. There’s hope yet.

3-     A seemingly-unlikely yet somehow inevitable loss in February or March that derails an otherwise-promising season.

It’s happened before and one suspects it will happen again. Last year’s was particularly severe. The loss to Birmingham (good riddance, I am keenly looking for their results in the Championship this year in the hope that they stay down) in the Carling Cup led to the worst run of results of Wenger’s reign, a period of horrendous form that is only tentatively being reversed now, eight months later. On the morning of that match, we were in four competitions. Three weeks later, after losses in all three cups and a couple of draws in the league, we were out of all four. This season we should avoid Birmingham, but the spectre of that game will hang over us in the spring. I have a fear that one bad loss in February or March could lead to a collapse in form and confidence the like of which we seem to be repeating annually, at around the same time. A self-fulfilling prophecy of gloom.

4-      No players being signed in January.

I do not think the team is in need of a drastic overhaul. What we have at the moment is a good enough team to challenge for the top four, which I think we have a decent chance of making. But when did this become an acceptable goal for this football club? I am not accusing Wenger of complacency- the man’s desire to win is palpable. But I do think his unwillingness to spend in accordance with the prices of the modern football market, ludicrous as it is, means we risk being left behind. We are not as far off as detractors would have you believe; as recently as February we were genuinely involved in a title race. But we are not any longer. To rectify this we need to build on the decent run of form we are on currently and with a large helping of luck might stay on until Christmas, and sign some players. Experienced, talented players. As mentioned here, we will need a striker to come in if we want to remain/become a force in the league. Van Persie must be rotated. Gervinho will be going to the African Cup of Nations. It simply would not be prudent, in a football sense, or in a long-term economic sense, to gamble on the fitness and availability of the starting eleven. Nearer the time I will go into more detail on which positions and which players might do the trick (in case Arsene is reading) but for now, suffice to say that my fear is of a long, dissatisfactory January.

5-      Jack Wilshere failing to return.

I am crossing each of my fingers over the neighbouring finger just thinking about this one. It’s actually making it very difficult to type. We have often seen, most recently with Vermaelen, that we can’t exactly trust the announcements made by the club regarding return dates for injured players. When Wilshere first had his foot in a protective brace/cast thing it was a ‘precaution’. That was at the end of July. Since then various dates have been bandied about, but the current consensus seems to be that he could be back for the end of the year. I would rather not rush his return in any way- we are getting used to playing without him at the moment. If it takes an extra few weeks to be absolutely sure, so be it. However, my fear is that, like with Vermaelen last season, the date will just keep getting pushed further and further back until there is no sign of Jack at all for the remainder of the season. I think we miss what he brings to our midfield, a bit of forward-moving dynamism. This is the kind of luck on which seasons are made and destroyed, so I, like most Gooners, wish for a speedy (but in-no way rushed) return for Arsenal’s great white hope.

So there they are, the five things that I really don’t want to see happen this season, but probably will. If I could choose one to avoid most fervently, it would be the second one. I can cope with bad results, with crashing out of cups spectacularly, with dragging our feet in the transfer market. I can’t cope with finishing behind the Spuds. It is, after all, against the natural order of things.

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Round up from a Red Perspective

Just to put our weekend in perspective, I’ve done a quick round-up of the weekend’s other results and what they mean for us:

Firstly, both Manchester clubs took three points against lower-table opposition. Steve Bruce duly obliged SurAlex on his anniversary, gifting him his usual win in what was a real nothing match. Wes Brown was even nice enough to score for his old team. Predictable really. City made hard work of QPR but came away with the win. In my opinion they will win the title this year, and I do think, unless they come against one of the two Spanish clubs early on, that they will take some stopping in the Champions League as well. What is perhaps most worrying is the strength of their squad. They possess probably the best starting eleven in the country, and I would argue that they could field a second eleven that would be in the country’s top ten teams at least. Scary.

Realistically, the wins of these two are meaningless to Arsenal at the moment. Wenger has said it himself- we will not be catching up with them this season. In my most blindly optimistic moments I can see United faltering, they certainly don’t look like a team capable of beating us 8-2 at the moment. Perhaps we could catch them if they slip up in a big way, but a title challenge is off the cards.

Newcastle’s win, though it maintains their lead in front of us, is not necessarily a bad thing. Think about it. This is a team run by Alan Pardew. A man sacked by footballing behemoths West Ham, Charlton and Southampton. To repeat for emphasis- Alan Pardew. Surely, surely, they can’t keep this up? Soon, their spiral towards mid-table mediocrity will begin, and this will suddenly remove one competitor for the third and fourth spots. The longer they carry on their charade, the more we can quietly wait behind them, hopefully staying in a position to take advantage when the luck of this clown inevitably runs out.

Abramovich FC nabbed a win against doomed Blackburn. Another nothing game. Chelsea return to winning ways after their van Persie-inspired nightmare, but still they failed to convince. Blackburn are a truly turgid side this year, and the Russian’s toys made hard work of the points. In my moments of confidence, I think we can catch Chelsea, maybe beating them into third place. Better yet, perhaps they can be pushed out of the top four altogether. Not that Roman would notice- he’s got bigger things on his plate at the moment.

The outrageous nature of the Spuds’ victory is annoying. I see them as our closest competitor for the fourth spot, unfortunately. I do think it will be between us and them, as Liverpool seem to have stalled slightly. Their last four Premier League games have included three draws. One was against Man United, but the other two were against Swansea and Norwich. We are now equal on points with them after our worst start to a season since time began, and that included losing to them at home.

All in all, then, results didn’t tend to favour us this weekend, and the inept refereeing at the end of the Tottenham-Fulham game saw them maintain their lead in front of us. Swansea did us a favour though, and, we did all that we could do- namely, wrap up our three points.

Finally, could I just give a brief mention to Stoke? Pulis’ team of genetically-enhanced giants managed to concede 5 against a Bolton team that had scored 11 in their 10 previous matches. Round of applause to the cap-wearing, football-hating cretin.

Until next time,

 
Joe
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West Brom: Even Easier Than Chelsea

With 20 minutes gone, the possession statistics were Arsenal 75-25 West Brom. That this had hardly changed on the hour mark pretty much sums up the game. It was a stroll against a side that were actually far worse than I expected. Roy Hodgson is a decent manager, and West Brom have not looked as poor as they did today for most of the season. Perhaps, then, Arsenal should be commended for keeping them so quiet, and making the whole thing so routine?

Defensively, it can’t be a coincidence that the arrival of Vermaelen has coincided with two consecutive clean sheets for only the second time this season- the last time it happened was just before his injury in August. We looked totally solid today; Szczesny controlled his area when he needed to and Koscielny had another fine game. Jenkinson looks better going forward with every game. Would it be too much of a stretch to say he is the best crosser of the ball in our starting eleven? Certainly, very few balls that he puts in end up at the first man, which is more than can be said for various other players.

It would be remiss to dwell too long on the defensive performance today, though, because West Brom really were that poor, particularly in the first half. You certainly wouldn’t recognise them as the team that came to the Emirates last year and taught us a footballing lesson (the lesson: don’t play Manuel Almunia).

Moving forward to where we really shone, then, which was in the links between midfield and attack. The ball from Ramsey to Walcott for the opening goal, for example, was Xavi-esque. Just another hint at the player Ramsey is hopefully becoming. After a fairly poor start to the season, I am now delighted when I see his name on the teamsheet. Van Persie had another of those games where he racks up his ever-impressive statistics. Another goal, two more assists for the Dutchman. He’s making it look easy, and is rightly being hailed as the best player in the Premier League at the moment.

Overall, this is exactly what we wanted from the day. 3 points, 3 goals, 3 goal-scorers, a clean sheet, and no injuries. Simple. We don’t want to over-celebrate winning the supposedly simple games at home, but considering where we were 6 weeks ago I think it’s quite right that we should feel very pleased today. That was our 4^th win in the league in a row- I think it’s been two years since we’ve managed that. Pats on the back all round.

I’ll be back tomorrow with a look at the results of those around us in the league, and how they might affect us.

Oh, and if you like the blog, please follow me on twitter using that little link below, @joeblogsarsenal. I'm trying and failing to work out how to get the little twitter button thing that allows you to follow me with one click. If anyone knows how, leave a comment.

Until next time,

Joe

A Nice Cold Glass of Schadenfreude

As a magnanimous gentleman, could I please extend my congratulations to Tottenham Hotspur for their magnificent performance last night. Yes, the best team in North London lost, but it was by a mere one-goal margin and was to the famed Rubin Kazan, who are currently taking 6^th place in the esteemed Russian Premier League by storm.

Tottenham, bravely rotating their £213m squad, had to make do with a real paucity of talent: William Gallas, for example, has played in just one World Cup final! Roman Pavlyuchenko has a pathetic 45 caps at international level. In an act of true barrel-scraping, unknown youngster Jermain Defoe was even called into the team. It is testament to the fortitude and commitment of this group of players, North London’s finest, that the score was not in any way humiliating.

Tottenham have now played 4 of their group games in the Europa League (which Rafael Van der Vaart has described as Europe’s finest league), and are bravely clinging on to third place behind big-spending megaclubs Rubin Kazan and Panthessaloníkios Athlitikós.