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.

Follow me on Twitter @joeblogsarsenal

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
Follow me on Twitter @joeblogsarsenal

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