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What’s the fucking point. Why support a team that won’t support itself? Why even bother. Abject for sure. But, and I’m sure others won’t see it this way, so unnecessary. After the first half it really did not have to be that way. It started as a game of two penalties – one given and one not. And then devolved based on one enforced substitution. And then finished off by a bunch of German traitors. Normally you’d be in a strong position if you went to war with a couple of Germans on your side. But not today. Today those Germans essentially played for the other team.

Bayern were good. Even in the first half we could not put two passes together. The team selection was debatable but not so bad. Starting Ospina was not completely surprising. Seeing Gibbs at left back was plausible. Seeing Theo on the bench was encouraging. The team selection could not explain why we could not put two passes together the entire first half.

Alexis turned up for a big game. He worked tirelessly – even though most stuff did not come off. Ox, again, put in a decent shift. Aside that is, from his brain fart at the end. Really, what was he thinking. Or, maybe, he wasn’t. 0B1 worked really hard in defense but could not figure out how to pass the ball to a teammate.

Coq and Chaka were overrun in midfield. For their first goal Coq should never have shown Robbin the inside. Doesn’t he know that’s why Robbin plays on the right so he can cut in. And it must have been nice for Ozil to have just a pleasant view of that goal. In the second half there were a couple of times when, in similar positions, Ozil dropped back and closed up the space Robbin was occupying.

We started the second half reasonably. But once Koz went off we went to shit. Hell hath no fury than a pairing of Big Ears and Mustafa. This pairing was our entire undoing – with a little help from Ospina. Gibbs should have closed down the cross from Lamb but Mustafa was out muscled and Ospina lost his footing. But that was only 2-1. From thereon in it was self-destruction.

Mustafa was more concerned with shouting at his defenders than marking a man. Too often he had been caught out making tackles too far up the pitch but here he was focused on the wrong issues. It was a lovely flick by the big Pole but Mustafa had failed to notice his man slide past him.

Then for their next goal rather than attack the ball in the area Mustafa let the ball bounce and then failed to properly clear the ball. He let the fucking ball bounce in the penalty area. Let me say that again. He let the ball bounce in the penalty area. What the fuck was he thinking. Or was he. And then we were slow to come and out close them down. Sure they had a deflection or two.

Essentially, we imploded as soon as Koz went off. When we looked for some additional leadership from Mustafa what we got instead was an abject abdication of responsibility.

OK, that’s one Nazi eviscerated. Now let’s move onto the other. What the fuck has happened to Ozil. Martians have invaded the earth and have decided to invade this partial German and turn him into a fully-fledged England international. Over-rated and underachieving. His body language throughout the entire game was that of a pouting teenager just after being jilted by his girlfriend (to be clear, this is not something I have any experience with). What a contrast to our other big star. Alexis worked his arse off. The other one sat on his arse. Aside from the first goal where he stood and watched, there was barely any involvement – oh, aside from that tepid shot towards the end of the first half. Funnily enough (though not so funny as sad) we had a couple of chances to go ahead towards the end of the first half.

In many ways this was worse than Chelski. Bayern, I’m sorry, are not as good. We gave this one to them. We imploded. We caved in. We lay down and let them walk over us. We bottled it. How can we have the only two Germans you would not want to go into battle with alongside you. Maybe they were spies sent into our team via some cunning plan by those nasty Huns. We nearly had more Germans on the team than they had.

But even at 3-1 down the game was not lost. This was just the first leg. So why the fuck would you take of the Coq and expose yet further the weak spine of your team to Bayern? Why not send on a defender take off Ozil and lock down the game until the second leg. That move made no sense. And it was this move that removed any chance of us recovering in the second leg. We’re not Barcelona. We can’t score 4 goals without conceding. So let’s add AW into the list of our deficient Germans (he was born so close to their border – which tends to move around every war or two). Could he not see how poor and vulnerable our defense was? Why would you not take of Ozil and bring on Elneny? Why shove Ox into that position.

And here’s who we can’t blame. BigEars. He did fine. He worked hard. But was let down by his partner. This was just a clear German conspiracy. This was pay back for WWII and 1966. There can be no other explanation. It can’t be, can it, that these two players (and our manager) just plain suck balls?

What a joke. Performances (or lack thereof) like this are just fuel to the fire of the anti-AW crowd. It both feeds their narrative and adds to the army of people screaming for change. At some point it becomes self-fulfilling. The atmosphere will be so toxic; the air will be so polluted with venom that AW will walk away come the end of the season. That’s not to say he should not leave. But I hate the fact that the anti-Aw crowd will see this as a victory for Arsenal. How is that even conceivable. Today was utterly depressing. But not predictable. I would never have predicted this after the first half. We’d absorbed their domination. I would have taken a 2-1 or 3-1 lose. But, to be so weak, to be so careless. To be so shorn of on the field leadership. To be bereft of a spine. That’s the killer. Where was Coq, where was Chaka? Where was our midfield? As has been said. Who the fuck knows. And AW surely does not either. He’s fucked you know that. Enjoy his last few months. In years to come people will recognize this (not today mind you) as our golden period. We are about to step off from the edge of the cliff. Enjoy the journey (down).

What a shitty time to support this team. This is what it must be like to support all those other teams that never win anything or ever qualify for the UCL.

Who do I blame for this mess? Donald Trump. It’s clear. Ever since he became President our season has imploded. It’s clear there’s some alt-right conspiracy to undermine AW and Arsenal. Have you not noticed how all our left footed players now underperform (along with those that are right-footed as well). I, personally, hold President Trump responsible. I hear he even used a crocked pen to impair Carzolas Achilles tendon. OK, phew, at least now we know why.

Now for 10 days of nothingy-ness. To be followed by a manager-changing visit to Anfield. You can hear the hounds circling that game.

-LB7

Three points.  A minor miracle but not much of an achievement. That was very much like the continuation of my visits to the dentist. Valuable though the victory was there was little in the way of enjoyment or satisfaction.

Today we started pretty much how we finished. Disjointed, slow with a lack of cohesion.  It was surprising and disappointing to see the way we started the game. As in, it looked remarkably similar to how we played against Watford and other such games. There was little pace or swift movement in our game. Hull weren’t so bad. And we were barely better. What’s so striking though is how pedestrian we look. Too many players have lost their mojo.

Team selection was not what I was hoping for. Theo did not deserve to start and proved again that since he’s injury he’s not back at the races. And Hector is still part Bellend. Since his ankle injury he’s yet to rediscover his game. He’s an improvement on BigEars when we play the weaker teams. But the right hand side of our team is missing. It’s as though AW will play the exact same formation and players until we finally click – assuming we ever do. If I was Perez I’d be steaming quite a bit.

So we had plenty of chances in the first half – most care of careless passing by Hull – and yet we found ways to miss the target without even testing their goalkeeper. Poor old Alexis. Sure he scored two goals. But he could and should have had three goals before he got his first one. And as for Ozil. Unfortunately, he was somewhat shit today. He missed chances in the first half and then mimic Theo by disappearing for long stretches of the game. In fact, both he and Alexis contrived to give the ball away today with errant passes. And Alexis has this nasty habit of doing to when he’s in passion running back in the direction of our goal. And Bellend landed one deep into the terraces when it would have been easier to hit the target.

Ox was one of our better players today. It’s funny to think that he’s the one player that has performed above expectations in this savage week or two. Of course, your great author identified Ox as the primary weak spot. That, naturally, was a typo  I had meant to say it was every other player that was the week spot. When he was shifted back out to right wing he subsequently disappeared form the game. That right-hand side is turning into our Bermuda Triangle – where are vanish into. It’s amazing that Ozil has found a way to disappear without getting pulled into that region.

OB1 was pretty good today. He had some energy and imagination. But our Coq seems to have shriveled up lately. He seems positionally lost alongside Ox. On many occasions he was the playing further up field. And that meant that our central defenders yet again had too few options ahead of them when they were bringing the ball up.

It will be interesting to see what AW does now that Chakas’ suspension is over. My hope and strong preference is that he starts on the bench. I would not bring him right back into the team. I know we need to rest Coq and Ox but it would send him the wrong message. For BM play the same midfield and then let Elneny play against Mighty Sutton.

Overall, we were lucky today. It’s funny how we’re starting to get penalties. And don’t we need them. That and a jammy handball.

Not that Hull created many chances. But we looked pretty uncertain. One penalty away from a single point. There’s a fragility to this team. There’s a lack of identify. And, after the last two games, most noticeably, there’s a lack of confidence.

As has been previously noted, these aren’t the games that will dictate our season. It’s the game against the top 6 that will. And I saw nothing today to give me confidence that the outcomes against those teams will be any different to last week.

We now have three weeks until we head up north to Anfield. Let’s hope we can find some form before then. But I’m not so hopeful.

For extra reading, I wanted to comment on the knee-jerk reaction of our own fans to our predicament. We lost two games in a row. And we’ve looked shit for a few weeks. Please see how this happens to other teams – i.e. Liverpool. But it’s amazing to see how certain fans pile onto any disappointment with such abandon and glee. They bring their agenda of AW hatred to the table at the expense of the club, team and (possible0 success. They are, quite frankly, morons and ignoramuses. They have no idea what they are talking about. And when change does come – and it’s inevitable that it’s coming – they will be the first ones to complain most loudly (because, for sure they have to complain loudly) that we’ve chosen the wrong replacement manager. How they would have pick Manager X. And, maybe, then they will, just maybe, lament their responsibility for ushering our most successful, longest serving manager too hastily to the exit. And, as readers of this blog will now, their leader in chief seems to be that biggest of pricks. The largest of prats. The most annoying of wankers. That’s right –  Pre Menstrual (Piers Morgan for those new readers). It occurs to me there are parallels between Piers Morgan and a certain other loud mouth, obnoxious, egotistical, bullying, uninformed and unqualified well known individual. And that leads me to the realization that Piers Mogan is the Donald Trump of Arsenal supporters. God help us all.

– LB7

This was a game of two headers. From one they got a goal and we lost our right–back. And from the second header our new right-back could not score. Two defensive players in similar positions. They scored and we did not.

So evidentially we’re not human and we don’t have a backbone. Ouch. This was just too depressing to watch. And, trust, me it’s even more to have to blog about. If it were not for my legion of avid world-wide followers demanding my assessment I would not take on this painful and arduous task. But, I console myself in thinking of the greater good here. And, for my reader, I’m happy to make this required sacrifice. BTW, if you want any more feeble attempts at humour you should stop reading now. That was its peak. From here on in, it’s all drab and serious and, oh I know, depressing. Trust me when I say this is not a happy posting. If you’ve come here looking to be entertained, trust me, you’ve come to the wrong place.

Let’s not be fooled. Chelski were the far superior team. They played as a unit; they played like they knew where each other would be. They defended en mass and attacked en mass. Even in the first half it was clear we could be overrun. We could not maintain possession. We actually started the game reasonably well with a high press and that lead to an Ob1 shot and deflection. But then it all fell apart pretty quickly. And though that first goal was not quite fair based on the balance of play it was clear that we were in for a long afternoon. They just dominated. We were disjointed. They are a superior team.

However, that does not fully explain the result. It’s not always the case that the better team wins. But it requires the other team to work extra hard. And today, like Tuesday, we lacked intensity. We lost our shape and were too exposed. We always looked at risk of letting goals in. And there was no attacking threat from us. Sure, we had a couple of chance at the end of the first half; Ozil in particular should have done better, but there was no cohesion in our movement. We seemed to, quite literally, hit a blue brick wall. There was very little creativity. It’s not often you could say that about Arsenal. But today they perfectly played Alexis. He continued to dribble too much and loose the ball. He did not have a single shot or header at goal (let alone on target).

What does this all mean? Fuck knows. How we finish for this season was not (or should not) have been driven by this result. But it was the way in which we lost that was so disheartening. The lack of fight. The underperformance of our star players. Too many of our key players were absent. This was the worst I’ve seen Alexis play. Ozil was absent. On performances like this the argument to pay them their increased wage demands looks like misplaced.

Compare the contribution of Hazard and Costa to Alexis and Ozil. Not that anyone in the league could be compared to Hazard. Sure, our midfield was absent and weak but Hazard was flat out outstanding.

This meant that the other players were under way more pressure. Whenever the Ox or Coq received the ball they were under immediate pressure. They had few options ahead of them and would often get out muscled and then Chelski would break on the counter-attack. Funnily enough, I thought Ox was pretty good in midfield today. Sure, he lost the ball every now and then – in fact, one instance was eerily similar to when we lost here 6 nil – but he worked hard and was not so much of a liability. Unfortunately, the same can’t be said of Coq. Today, when we needed him most, and when he’s up against Konti, he underperformed. Aside from getting brushed off the ball by Hazard leading into that second goal, he too often left the backline exposed. He was too slow into the tackle and did not seem to read the game quickly enough. Maybe times they just passed around him (literally).

Part of this was because we did not seem to play as a team. We seemed disjointed. Each player seemed too far away from the other player. It’s painful to watch us be so clearly out-manned. Today did not so much exposure our weaknesses but rather our limitations. Maybe that’s the same thing. I’m too pissed off to quibble. Either way this was all just a little predictable. This was our chance to reclaim our season. But this was different from Tuesday’s spineless defeat to a poor team. Today we were second best. We are not a championship winning team. We have too many weak links. Aside from the underperforming players we lack the cohesion of a team. That’s pretty damming. We looked disorganized. Our marking was poor. We gave the ball away too easily. Against other teams we might be able to get away with this but not Chelski (or, I fear, Sp*rs).

It’s not clear there’s much point in dissecting our players but as part of the therapy of writing this blog I need to divest myself of my anger so bear with me. If I had to start with our poorest players aside from our two stars – though it should be note that Ozil was better than Alexis – we need to consider Mustafa. We’ve frequently seen that his distribution is poor. But today he found new ways to consistently give the ball away. He continued to put us under pressure. He was plain awful. I know he’s new to the team and he’s only 24 years old. But he was a big, brown pile of shit today. Alongside him Koz had one of his poorer games. He also lost out (twice) to Hazard during that second goal. But was also at fault for the cross coming in for the first goal. When we needed a big performance from him instead we got that of a mouse.

Close behind Mustafa, but because he was not actually watching, not that far behind, was Theo. How irrelevant was he? No contribution nor presence. He was absent without reason. His passing was shit and his touch was shit. He reverted back to last years invisible performances (or, as he was against Watford). When DW23 came on, within the first minute he’d beaten his man and earned a booking for them. Wellbeck did more in 30 seconds that Theo had done in the last two games. How can that be? Theo will now be consigned to the bench (I hope). If it were not for his 3 goals against Southampton we could argue that he’s not back to full fitness. Our supersub Giroud came on he lost every challenge and, until the typical consolation goal, was utterly useless.

Ob1 was not involved when he played out left but, again, when he moved into midfield, got more involved and was behind any improvement we saw once we went 2-0 done. Of course, that was largely driven by Chelski taking their foot off the gas. Against a more demanding team they would have reengaged if needed.  But Ob1 and Ox can’t protect the backline. And today nor could Coq. So we have to add him to the catalogue of players that sucked today. It’s not often our Coq sucks but there you go.

The irony is that those players that were either out of position or the likely weaknesses were not our problem today. I have no problem with Ox, Ob1 or even Gabriel. Today it was a failure to perform as a cohesive team and the failure of the senior, star players – Alexis, Ozil, Theo and Mustafa. And we could add Cech. What the hell was that 3^rd (but irrelevant) goal about? I’m not sure he made more than 1 save today.

We were never going to win the league. Today was just final confirmation of that. But, as in previous years, the focus now moves onto our manager. And Alexis. I fear performances like this might bring about the end for both of them. Both bear responsibility. Alexis will look around this team and realize it’s far away from winning anything. How long will he want to be part of this? And Wenger? Now the usual wankey fans will be up in arms. But this time they have evidence to support their case.

We can still – care of Liverpool – end up in the top 4. But it’s the belief and spirit that’s missing. Today demonstrated – and I can’t believe I’m about to write this – that we need to swap out our Coq. We need to go fully trans-gender and remove our Coq. Konti showed what we need. It also demonstrated that Ozil is not worth as much as he thinks he is. And nor is Alexis.

Where does this leave us? Fuck knows. The even more worrying aspect is unlike Tuesday when the issue was attitude and preparation, today it was team organization and actual ability. It’s not the end of the world. That’s schedule for later in the season. If we reproduce this at Liverpool and, most importantly, Shit Hart Lane, then it will be. So, we have plenty of time to prepare for these events. Pace yourself. Don’t burn yourself out in anger. At least Chelski are unquestionably a superior team. We are no match for them. Full stop. And it’s not clear others are. Though Hull will be interesting now given their revival. What is it with Italian managers. Italy produce the most boring football and most boring teams. But they seem to have managers that know how to get the best out of teams. And, unfortunately that leads us right back to AW…….

-LB7

 

 

 

 

Are we mammals? Are we human? Do we have a vertebrate?

Saturday will confirm our suspicions. Injuries or not, how we withstand the predictable onslaught from Chelsea post our abject abdication on Tuesday will tell us all we need to know about Arsenal.

We could lose this game and still, come the end of the season, end up with a top 4 position. That’s not the point. (or no point). What is the point is our infamous mentality. Are we willing to fight for a point (or more)? Or will we be run over. If the later then I fear we will lose a lot of our fans and that will not bode well for AW. And I’m not interested in a “courageous” performance where we lose 1-0. Or we give up an unlucky goal in the last minute to lose. Anyway, I think I’ve made my point.

We are still more than capable of having a successful season – top 4, F.A.Cup run and progress in the CL. But the issue here is more about the attitude and appetite of this team. Is it capable of fighting through adversity. And I don’t mean against a Burnley or Bournemouth. We should and will be judged in our performances against the other top 6 teams. Playing Chelski, Sp*rs and Liverpool away might not determine whether we make the top 4 but will tell us fans whether this team has a backbone.

The last time we started the Ox in midfield at Chelski we got hammered. It was AW’s 1,000 game. I’m not convinced the OX is ready for Kanti and Automatic but we have little choice. At least though, without AR8 it will be less predictable. I’m sure we’ll get positional challenged in the midfield. The Ox will have to concentrate for the entire game and I’m not sure he’s capable of that. Unlike Tuesday (and Saturday) he’ll have to restrict those long balls – there were too many against Watford. This game will tell us a ton about his future. This is what he’s been pinning for. Now we’ll see if he’s ready. To be fair – see, I’m such a nice person – it’s a little tough on the Ox; he’s had very few opportunities to play this position and now he’s thrown in against the best team in the EPL against the strongest midfield in the EPL. But then, this was the only way he was ever going to get this type of opportunity. If he (a la Ar8) comes off injured after 20 minutes that will tell us a lot. Can he fight through and stay out there for 90 minutes?

How will Koz and Mustafa cope with Costa. It will be very physical and bruising. Will these two be up for the inevitable fight? Given the presence of Hazard you’d imagine that Bellend will be back in the team. Let’s hope we get the original Hector and not his more recent imposter.

We know Alexis will be fully committed. Alongside him our delicate Giroud is unlikely to play. At least that means we’ll have more speed and movement (assuming we have the ball at our feet). So that should mean Theo will start with DW to come on later. He was (and by no means the only one) very indifferent against that powerhouse Watford team. Let’s hope he’s rediscovered his mo-jo. I’d actually like to see Perez out there but, again, I think he’ll come off the bench at some point. This is Ozil’s chance to assert himself in a big game (aside from the odd world cup final).  With our weakened midfield I’m sure we’ll see him drop back further to pick up the ball. I don’t mind that. But I do worry about both him and Alexis dribbling around the half-way line and losing possession. That would be a super soft way to give up a goal. Look how one single thrown-in resulted in the 2^nd goal against the world- beating Watford team.

The good news is that there will be no Mike Dean. This time it will be Martin Atkinson.

I don’t go into the game (not that I’ll be playing) optimistically but I at least expect us to show some fight. Some backbone.

-LB7

I fucking knew it. I go to all the trouble to re-design the website for my millions of followers. I spared no expense. Brought in the best minds to work on this. Go through an official launch. And what happens? Fucking Ramsey decides to resurrect the ghost of Arteta. It was like watching Arteta versus West Brom. There’s something about the #8 shirt. It’s cursed. Or rather, the players given that shirt are cursed (though I think that might be the same thing – I just confused myself). Anyway, the only question for today is the following? Would you be prepared to sacrifice 3 (winnable) points in exchange for another Ramsey injuring that could sideline him for a month (or longer, if we’re lucky)? I wouldn’t. Only because there’s a chance it might just turn out to be a minor injury.

Whereas we’ve played a game of two halves too often this season and frequently gotten away with it. Today our hens came home to roost (whatever that means). We finally got caught out. You can’t give a team a two-goal lead and expect to always be able to recover. The second half was an entirely different affair. But, my oh my that first half blew. In fact, it was that first 20 minutes or so. We looked like the walking dead. What is it with this team? There was no passion, no interest, no commitment. The entire team looked dazed and confused. Even disinterested. They could not string any passes together. Nothing. Horribly reminiscent of Bournemouth and other such outings. How can this be? As has been said many times it’s clearly a mental thing. But that can’t explain why it repeats.

So, what more can be said on that first half? In the first few minutes on the half way line Giroud went for a ball and hardly stretched out before the Watford player got there first. He then proceeded to watch and meander around the pitch. He’s had plenty of time off but, again, he reproduced his performance from the first 70 v Bournemouth. I start on him only because that was the first thing I noticed. Thereafter, it became apparent that AR8 was back to his fine best. Always taking too many touches and being too slow on the ball. He was not the only one that sucked but, hey, I must focus on someone. AR8 turns Coq into a mini-Coq. They have no chemistry or interplay. Overall we were too slow, too passive, insipid and a complete embarrassment.

In that first half Watford had more urgency and more shots on goal. In fact, I don’t know that Gomes (that world renowned goalkeeper) had a shot to save. They could easily have gone in more than 2 goals up. They had a couple of other chances that they should have taken. We were truly beyond abysmal.

The only silver lining was that once AR8 departed things started to look up. But his two contributions were two goals but both generously for them. The first was an unfortunate deflection after a needless Mustafa foul but the second was just pure AR8. Missing the throw-in and then ambling back as they counter-attacked. You just can’t lose the ball there (well, evidentially, you can).

There were sequences in the first half when lost everything single challenge we went into. It started outside of their penalty box. First Alexis, then as they got to the half-way line Ox lost a tackle and finally Mustafa got beaten in a tackle. This was endemic of the first half. Unfortunately, though, as hard as he worked, Alexis first touch was non-existent for the entire game. And he continued to over-dribble. Ozil was not present in the first half. And OB1 was still in the changing room. No wonder we were pulled apart.

Why does it take a half-time talk to shake things up? Why is there no-one on the field who can shake things up? And how can it be that a team consistently comes out unprepared to commit to a game. As I’ve said many times, as much as I love the guy this stops at AW’s feet. This is exactly his responsibility. It’s groundhog day.

The second half, predictably was more like a regular performance. I hoped for that but did not expect half time changes. AW never does that. But this one was warranted if not demanded. Pulling of Giroud and adding in Theo. Overall, Theo had too many chances to score that he squandered. And there were periods where I forgot he was on the pitch. But we were much better with this configuration. We found some of our speed and movement. Ob1 rediscovered his game on the left hand side. We started to click. I assumed we’d score but I also assumed we’d at least recover for a tie if not pull out a win. But that’s what the past has indicated and we know that is no indication of the future. (does that even make sense?). But it seemed like we lost our rhythm after out first goal. We had the momentum until then. We continued to make changes. The Ox continued his good form from Saturday. Let’s just hope he’s not also picked up he’s regular injury. It became clear that Coq was unnecessary so we pulled off our Coq. And, again, Perez, was a great addition and nearly scored a Poldolski like goal but instead nearly broke the bar. If we could have added Bellend that might have helped but we did not need 4 at the back. And BigEars is not our best outright attacking full-back. But we had more chances and should have gained a point. It was there for us. But, it’s our own fault for that first 20 minutes – and having AR8 on the field.

I don’t care that other teams around us dropped points. That’s an unfair comparison – some of these teams are getting their harder games out of the way whereas we’ve still got tough away games to play (please see this upcoming Saturday) and that’s why we needed to win today.

I can’t quite figure out why I’m not more angry. I fear it’s because I’ve been conditioned to this type of performance and it’s so typical to come after our F.A.Cup performance. It could also be because I was in utter shock as to the abysmal way we started the game. And that vacant look on the players face after the first goal went in. That first 20 minutes was unforgivable.

Lets just hope Ox is fit and Ramsey isn’t. Chelski will out play and out muscle us this Saturday given half a chance. We have the ability to compete. But as a professional football team they have to be prepared for each and every game. This team has demonstrated that they have mental strength – even today, in the second half – they reacted well (which is the least we can expect). It’s not that that’s in question. It’s their attitude and expectations. Did they come into this game thinking it would be a cake walk? Were they basking in their own reflected glory from 5-0 on Saturday? Either way there needs to be a campaign to retire the #8 shirt. And preferably with the current occupant still in it.

– LB7

p.s. welcome to the newly designed website. If you’re still reading this post – congratulations. And if you’d like you can now subscribe to all the posts on this most wonderful site. Never live in fear that you’ll miss any of these scintillating reviews or commentaries. Sleep easy at night knowing that you’re email box will soon be filled with yet more trash.

You got to love the F.A. Cup. And you have to love games like this. We cut through them so easily. So much pace and one touch and two-touch football. No-one dwelling on the ball. Quick passes. Did I mention that AR8 was not playing.

As the game lined up I figure this was Arsenal Reserves versus Arsenal Future XI. It’s a nice way to see the best youth players Southampton have on offer for us to buy at some point. This year I was a little disappointed. The only one that looked decent was Sims. Their defender Stephens – who was great against Liverpool – was crap today. Just goes to show how easy it is to look good against Liverpool. Just ask Wolves.

The movement was everything it’s not been of late. Much of the impetus came from both Maitland-Niles-Any-Other-Names and Adelaide. They exuded composure on the ball and positional were excellent. This was clearly the best Adelaide has played for us. He looked like he’s a slightly bigger, more muscular version of Ob1.  Except that he’s touch was superior and passing was excellent. Maitland is not the physical presence of our Coq but on many occasions, he effectively covered and backtracked for our wankey full-backs. Both were very impressive today.

Bellend and Gibbs were our only disappointments today. For someone as experienced as Gibbs – and our captain – he looked very rusty on his return from injury. On a number of occasions he was easily disposed and/or pushed off the ball. And on most occasions Maitland was there to cover for him. In fact, in the first half, there was even one time when Theo was there to clear the ball out of the box. The version of Bellend we saw today was reminiscent of the Bournemouth one. Nearly every move he made was wrong – whether it was his passing or heading. He clearly needs time to rediscover his game.

A word or two on Ospina. Good. Great catches. Safe hands. There that’s it. Aside from his one moment where he went walkabout in the first half.

Our center halves were largely untroubled. Mustafa was solid and, to his credit, I can’t remember Holding having to do too much. If we can draw a lowly team in the next round that should be another opportunity for him to get 90 minutes – he deserves it.

Danny Fucking Welbeck. How resilient and persistent is he? Not really given his injury record. But it was good to see him back and making runs like he did today. Maitland played a simple direct, forward pass (please note Mr. AR8), Perez applied the Giroud like one-touch pass and DW finished with style. For the second it came care of one of many perceptive Ozil-like long forward passes from the Ox. DW’s first touch was not great but he recovered to slot it home. A few Theo like-goal indeed. Then not to be outdone Theo added 3 more. All were classic Theo. After yet another subtle pass from Perez, DW pulled it back for Theo to alertly pass it in. For Theo’s second The Ox reprise his pass for the first goal and for his third it was started by Maitland defending and Perez imitating Ox with the long pass. Perez really is a remarkable player in so many ways. Sure we paid 17m+ for him. But given his lack of playing time he (aside from his first match against Southampton) always finds a way to contribute. For someone we nominally signed as a forward he smoothly fits into a number of slots in our team and our style of play. As previously noted, he’s a faster version, more skillful version of Poldoski. He’s a left-footed player that’s superior to our previous Spanish import from 10+ years ago (Reyes). And this left-footer is not going to runway to ManU. His movement and passing were instrumental to our goals; he just has to improve his finishing. Either way, he will surely get more playing time as the season wears on. If I was Giroud, I’d be worried (but i’d also not enjoy being French).

Sure Southampton were pretty shit. But we’ve made much heavier going of worse teams. The balance of the team was entirely different to our “first” team. The difference is not just the platform that Maitland+Adelaide provided (along with Ox). It was dictated by Theo’s presence. I reckon this is what AW has been waiting for. This is the reason Giroud has been starting. With Theo on the right we have balance. Even though Bellend was shit the combination play with these two is way better – and the pace is electrifying. And, compared to previous years, Theo now actually defends, closes down players and works back in defense. In fact, the entire midfield worked harder to close down their players quick and put them under pressure.

Again, more F.A.Cup games will allow us to see more of Maitland. He could be interesting. Because against Preston – at right-back – he was rotten. Likewise with Adelaide – the more playing time for them the better. Both look at least a season away from being ready but there is real promise there.

How English were we today? Gibbs, Ox, Walcott, Welbeck, Holding, Maitland – 6 players; more than half the team. I’ve seen commentaries (from Arsenal and non-Arsenal fans) over the last few weeks moaning how we don’t have any English players in our team. Such utter bollocks. First off, who cares. Secondly, as AW says, if they are good enough they play irrespective of their passports. Of course, if you’re injured (Gibbs, Theo, DW, Ox) it’s hard to be selected for a game. People – including our own “fans” have it in for AW. They look to pick holes wherever they can. This is yet another example of artificially looking for a bogus issue – and then being plan wrong.

Today was a bright day for us. Healthy signs that our future – with AW – looks bright as we get to see what our more youthful players can do. And, of course, we have the pleasure of seeing the desperation of Alexis to get on the pitch when there is nothing left to play for.

So, fare-ye-well to January. A quite marvelous month for us after the trauma of late December. The future looks much rosier. We know that the well anticipated February/March meltdown is just waiting round the corner for us.

Now onto Tuesday when our ponderous midfield Welsh player will return. And, I know the world is waiting with great anticipation for the launch on the new, all-modern, all-signing and dancing new bradybergkampandbeyond website. The masses are hammering at the gates to get an early preview. It’s currently going through final reviews and sign-off by both management and our copyright lawyers. Once approved then the  media will be notified such that all and sundry can prepare themselves for the startling, eco-friendly, high-tech, green, website. It will be mobile friendly, allow readers to subscribe and also post comments. The excitement is unbearable.

– LB7

Lucky Arsenal? Never. But I’m going out to buy a lotto ticket. They say that good teams have to find ways to win games they don’t deserve; to eek out points. I think we’ve managed to tick that box. What an amazing outcome today. I feel slightly sorry for Burnley. They did not come and put up two defensive lines the way other teams have. Though maybe they should have. And don’t tell me the Premier League is boring and predictable either. This was a fascinating game where the referee was the deciding factor.

We started slowly and feared it would be like some of the previous games where we just decide to play one half. But after about 20 minutes we started to turn up the heat and through both half’s we had long periods of sustained pressure. We squeezed them into the final third and kept trying to kind delicate ways the thread the ball through. After all the heroics of previous weeks it was inevitable that Giroud would not be able to find the net. Alexis tried hard, as ever, but did not have his magic boots on. So it took a Mustafa delicate header for us to take the lead. It was deserved. We dominated and, as expected, speed up our ball movement in the second half. Also deserved was the red card. This was the perfect encapsulation, within a 10 second period, of the worst aspects of Chaka. A careless, simple, misplaced pass right to their player and immediately followed by a rash two-footed challenge. Their nameless player made a big deal and it was classic Jon Moss to give the inevitable red. It was, in truth, borderline. It was two footed but Chaka barely left the ground and hardly touched the guy. But you can’t go in for challenges like that. It was unnecessary and reckless. Just plain poor judgement. And, you’d have thought by now, he’d have realized that tackles like that get you sent off.

In case you don’t remember, I’m not a great fan of our midfield pairing. But hopefully we can appeal the red-card and get it transferred over to Ramsey in agreement for an increased suspension to 10 games. We loose Chaka for 4 games now. Without Carzola and Eleny we can’t handle any more injuries and we will miss Chaka against Chelski. I was hoping Ramsey would pick up his thigh injury before that. But now I’m not sure who we’d be able to play in that pairing. At least we get our Coq back into the team on a regular basis. But the balance with Ramsey and Chaka is not right.  I feel like i same the same thing each week with these two. The movement is too slow and predictable. They don’t drop off to take the ball off the defense. And then you end up with Mustafa giving the ball away too easily. Against teams like Burnley you can get away with it. But this season depends on the games against the top 6 – and against them, you can’t make mistakes like this (though I fear we will).

Ozil worked really hard today. He dropped deeper to pick up the ball. And all the good developments flowed through him. Giroud was off his game. And Ob1 came more into the game as it progressed. Unfortunately he’s part of the problem. When he’s playing out on the right wing we loose our width and shape. He wanders all over the pitch – which is where he starts the shine. This means our balance is off but he has more ways to open up the other team than, say, a Ramsey does. To be fair to Ramsey (which is a painful thing to do), both he and Ob1 would look like superior players if they played in that Ozil position. Ramsey does take up good positions in the opposition box – he just can’t find ways to actually hit the target. BTW, did I mention that his initial passes in the first half were awful. I wonder whether he’s our Jordan Henderson. I watched Henderson on Saturday. He was, as ever, truly boring and awful. It makes so much sense that England always pick him. All his passes went astray. And he’s always passing sideways and backwards. Sound familiar? I’d take AR8 over mechanical Henderson anytime though.

What a result today. Pre the sending off I thought we had the three points in the bag. And then Jon Moss intervenes. It’s not clear he got too much wrong. It’s just that he’s so fat and annoying to watch. And I can’t believe he gave us that (off-side) penalty with seconds to go. And then, without Carzola, to have Alexis take the penalty. You just knew it would be a dinky shot. If their goalie had watched his previous attempts he’d have just stood still. Anyway, at some point you have to give some credit to the team attitude and mentality. But how often can you dig yourself out of these wholes before you eventually fall into them?

With nearly everyone else dropping points this was a very good weekend for us. I don’t have aspirations of winning the league. Remaining in the top 4 has to be our objective. And before the usual wankers complain that that’s not good enough they should ask Chelski, Liverpool and ManU whether that would have been good enough for them last year and whether it will be this year. The competition is fierce and this will, as I’ve said, all depend on the head-to-head games.

– LB7

We were shit and they were shittier. I know I should be happy but there are too many parts of this team I don’t like. I know we won 4-0. I know we helped our goal difference. I know we kept a clean sheet. But I also know we are a weak team mentally waiting to be pulled apart.

Swansea had their chances. And the penalty decision ended up deciding the game. In real-time I was sure it was a penalty. In the lead up to the play you could see both Xhaka and Monreal fail to track their players – this was happening the entire first half. And prior to this Mike Jones should have given Dyer a yellow card. So you just knew it that because Jones had kept the card in his pocket after all those fouls on Monreal, that the first card would go to Arsenal. And there were a number of soft challenges where, for example, Ramsey won the ball but a free-kick was given. So it was obvious this was a penalty, right? I was convinced. And assumed that Koscleny picked up the first yellow. Only on third viewing did I appreciate that Ki intentionally dangled his leg out to induce a foul. How in the hell does a (shit) referee catch that in real-time. And therein the game was decided.

So, maybe the best player was Mike Jones? Nope. That would have been the Swansea back-line that decided they wanted to score all our goals. Thank you very much. And overall their defense was atrocious. In their box, all the deflections went our way. And we needed it. We started the game so slowly. Xhaka continues to be careless with the ball. Making simple mistakes on simple passes. Ramsey continues to frustrate. I don’t get his game. His passing is sideways and backwards. He takes too many touches and we loose momentum. Ob1 was ineffective (in the first half) and not involved enough in the game. And Mustafa continues to give the ball away because of his poor distribution. When an opposing coach figures out the best move is to close Mustafa down then we will concede more goals. Sure, I know we’ve not lost a game when he’s started but that’s just a statistical anomaly. These four players (Xhaka, Ramsey, Ob1 and Mustafa) impede our ability to build up play. We need our Coq back. And we should have seen Perez instead of Ob1.

The interesting thing about Ob1 is that his second half was so much superior to his first. As the game wore on he reverted to a more central role and then out to the left wing.  He was more direct and he instigated the moves that lead to most of our goals. When he is confident and takes the ball forward he is so much more impactful.

After the first half an hour it seemed we finally realized that we were supposed to actually play football. There was a little bit more urgency. But it was not until the second half that we truly imposed ourselves. Again. What is it with this mentality where we only play one half of a game. Against a half way decent team we’d be butchered. But thankfully this was woeful Swansea. I don’t care who’s their manager they will be in the Championship next year.

Where is Kieran Gibbs? We need a left-back to challenge Monreal. He looks really quite vulnerable to anyway who has pace. He fails to track back and inside when Koscleny covers out left for him. He just switches off. Maybe our non-league addition can give him competition.

Going into this game I thought it could be the most important game of the season. That was stupid obviously. But it was the type of match where we could have dropped points against a newly motivated team with a new manager. So I’m grateful for the points. But truly, they were shit. And this was them at home with a supportive crowd. They look dead and buried. Of course we at least know who their manager is. If we did not, then the camera man made sure we were aware of it at least once a minute. Now anyone who reads these reports (actually, does anyone – I doubt it) will know one of my favorite peeves is the awful camera work. I’ve resisted mentioning it for a long time but today felt like we found new lows. Between watching their manager and then various fans in the crowd, we were unable to actually watch the game. Compound this with the obligatory replays and I lost count of the number of times we weren’t able to actually watch the game. For many years now I have been thoroughly angered by this. It’s like they (some deep, dark malevolent soul) is trying to turn watching a game into a MTV music video (there, I just dated myself). Why can’t we just watch the fucking game? Also, why are they now insisting on close ups on all the players and the action. You loose depth perspective and can’t track the game or the players movements. I fear this is a trend that will only progressively deteriorate. My only  hope is that, at some point, we’ll get picture-in-picture.  Or get to choose which cameras we can follow. Or maybe we’ll all end up using virtual goggles. And then maybe we’ll be able to insert ourselves into the game avatar-like. I’d have to choose which player I’d want to be. Or, rather, who I’d never be. i.e. Ramsey.

Back to the game. It’s noticeable though how – and this is stating the blindingly obvious – that the same player that looks like shit in one position (i.e. Ramsey or Ob1) can look entirely different – and impressive – in another position (i.e. Ob1). Weird that.

Big Ears was not really exposed or tested today (unlike Monreal). That’s fine but we need Bellend back. Along with our Coq. I fear though that until Ramsey gets injured we’re going to be stuck with  his insufferable dallying on the ball and multi-touches. And then, maybe, someone can go looking for Theo. Maybe, once we attained the pinnacle of his career . that is, the coffee machine, he’s been missing. Maybe it’s a caffeine allergy. Let’s see if we can find Ramsey’s allergies.

– LB7

Again, it was a game of two halves. This feels like the story of our season. Another cliché which holds true is that the game is 20% talent and 80% mental. Or, in our case 20% talent and 60% mental. Our lack of the mental side of the game makes me go mental. What was that first half performance? There are so many aspects to scream out loud about. And yes, somehow, we found the capacity to win. Undeserved for sure. So, in the spirit of continued clichés, is the glass half empty or half full? We won. But we suck. It’s better than loosing. Does this mean that when we finally do click – i.e. do figure out how to play during both half’s of a game – then we’ll be unstoppable? I don’t know but I do know that we can’t go through an entire season like this. I have that (usual) fear of pending disaster.

As we’ve seen in some many games we started as though it was a training session. There was no drive, passion or energy. Sure Preston played well but we did our best to give them as much space as possible. We so rarely made an attempt to close them down. The goal came from Ramsey being schooled in midfield by their Everton loanee to be followed by Monreal ball-watching and letting his man get in behind him. After a few ricochets the balls in our net. Then for the balance of the half we proceeded to give them a few more chances. They should have gone in 2 nil up. Mustafa – as he’s done too often this season – made a dreadful attempt at a clever clearance on the edge of our area and handed them a great chance to score. In this instance Monreal was there to clear up the mess after Ospina got caught in no-mans land.

Players who had a chance to shine against lower opposition and thus lay a claim to the first team failed miserably. The Ox reverted to last years form. He rarely was able to beat his man and too often lost the ball. There was a brief period in the 2nd half when he actually came alive. But again, it just did not look like he was engaged in the game. Chaka found a way to not concede a penalty. But he also found ways to give the ball away and forget to close down the opposition. And then there’s our favourite Welshman. How insipid was he? For someone who used be his national captain it’s unfathomable as to how ineffective he can be. For the entire first half he slowly drifted around the pitch. He displayed no urgency and still attempted his stupid little back-heels. At some point he tried to twinkle toe his was into their net when a simple shot would have worked. Thankfully, that’s exactly what he did when the second half restarted. We began that half how we should have started the game. Maybe, just maybe, AW reminded the team that they were supposed to turn up. For the first 10 minutes of the 2nd half we dominated, closed them down and played with urgency. But then, gradually, we again lost our momentum. Though they did not create any chances we started to give away loose balls, forget to close them down and gave the ball back too easily. Though it was unlikely Preston would now win, it was depressing to see us revert back to type.

The only players to come out with any credit today were Perez and Ob1. Niles-Maitre-Dee was awful – poor old Carl watching that performance. Previously Niles had looked quite decent but today he had no clue. He must have been watching Bellends’ Tuesday performance. He got beaten so easily and his positional sense was awful; he dribbled in the wrong positions and lost his man often. Unfortunately, on the other side of the pitch Monreal again showed why we need Gibbs to find his fitness. He’s movement is too slow. Down the left hand side he’s runs are too few and his movement is too predictable. And his defending is too weak. It’s hard to fathom what’s happened to his game.

As for our two center half’s – they do not seem on the same page. We seemed unable to hold a back-line. Too often they were able to sit on the last man who was not in a line with the other defenders and therefore we could not get them offside. Some of this is leadership that we lack without Kosclieny but they are both internationals so they should know how to play the game. Mustafa needs more games. And he has to figure out his distribution. It sucks. He makes Toure-like passes whereas he should be finding our midfield players. Who, to be fair, we’re missing in-no-action.

Though we’re not going to buy anyone in this transfer window it’s a shame we can’t sell Ramsey and buy someone else. Though he got the first goal – see, that’s what happens when you do shot – overall his sideways play and too many touches does not fit our style. And his defending and tackling is flimsy at best. Against a decent team he will get ripped apart. The combination of Ramsey and Chaka is our weakest. But, for the next few weeks, we have no choice. And that sucks. We missing having our hard Coq and, of course, Santi as well. It’s more than likely though that Ramsey will pick up his regular thing/hamstring injury any game now.

Perez continues to make good runs. He’s a modern-day Podolski. He’s a Podolski who can defend. He’s a Podolski who can actually run. And he needs to get more time on the pitch. He’s earned it. As opposed to Ox. This was his opportunity and again he blew it. Without Theo to take his game time he should be asserting himself. But today he was very weak.

And Ob1 is schizophrenic. When he plays out wide he’s not involved enough in the game and can’t defend. But when he plays in the #10 role, he’s more dynamic and direct. Today he was the only one who tried to move the ball quickly through the final 1/3rd. Sure, he faded later in the game but he was a smaller version of Sanchez today – working and running.  But when Ozil returns he’s get pushed back wide.

We’ve lucked out twice this week now. And both times care of Giroud. Both games he was crap for the bulk of the game but still found a way to score really important goals. I hope the retards out there were satisfied on the appropriateness of his celebration. Talking about putting a spotlight on something so trivial and blowing it out of all proportion. Surely the story on Tuesday was our abysmal first 70 minutes (of which Giroud was a major contributor) not his homage to his scorpion celebration. But somehow that’s what dominated the discussion. How fucked up is that?

So, where does this leave us? We are now understrength in midfield. But worse, we’re understrength in our attitude. And that brings into question AW and his match preparation. How can this team start the game how it did today after it’s abysmal first 70 minutes against Bournemouth? How could that not be fresh in their minds? And then to start the 2nd half the way they did demonstrates that it is all mental. So, why this problem? We’ve seen it all year. Against Manu away, ManC away and Everton. I fear for the Swansea game. It’s big one for us. A full weeks rest and preparation against a team with a new manager. We can’t drop points in this one. But more importantly we have to play for the entire game. This, again, is down to AW. Watching those wankers grab 3 points on Wednesday demonstrated how committed they are. Just like Liverpool and Darth Vaders team. It’s not our talent that’s in question (well, not yet anyway). Where’s our consistent commitment? And why should we even be questioning it? I worry it comes back to the perennial question of on-field leadership and AW ability to suitably motivate this team. Today we were lucky. On Tuesday we were lucky. But luck runs out eventually whereas class is permanent – so they say. But unfortunately we’ve also shown that that is also intermittent.

Give me Theo. Give me Gibbs. Return the real Bellerin. And then, between now and the end of the season (which could be any week now) we have to find some consistency. And for that, I look to our master – AW. Let’s hope it starts in Wales.

– LB7

Belated happy new year to you my reader(s). I’ve been unable to post due to the demands of pre-transfer period scouting on behalf of Arsenal. AW himself requested that I help identify targets for this transfer window and subsequently I’ve been traveling the green fields of England searching for suitable upgrades (notice how I chose not to search for anyone in Wales). Anyway, unfortunately the best I could do was find a remarkable goalkeeper with immense potential but unfortunately he’s a midget and also injury prone.

I was able to enjoy the West Brom game (which was utterly unenjoyable) and the Crystal Palace romp care of our acrobatic Giroud. So, given that this is Arsenal I had that regularly impending sense of doom going into this match. And boy did this team not let me down.

The first 10 minutes or so we looked quite good given the team selection. But then we proceeded to be one of those teams we like to play against. That is, the team that gives up two goals in a few minutes. Both were horrendous mistakes. The first by Bellend and the second by Chakakhan.

So let’s start with Bellend. How fucking dreadful was he? He reached new lows today. Lows that even Santos or Jenkinson would have been embarrassed with. Utterly stank out the place. Not a single pass, move or run worked today. It was as though he’d been on the piss since new years eve and has not stopped. How he could get sucked out of position so easily for that first goal was amateurish – even when Ramsey pointed out the man he should be marking he still stayed focused on the player that was now being marked by Musafa. And then he proceeded to get skinned by a no-name left back. He looked more interested in his hairnet than in defending. Complete bollocks.  And that was just the start. His passing was off as were all his decisions. And then for their final goal – which could have been called a foul. In fact, though Michael Oliver had an outstanding game, the push on Bellend was not that dissimilar from Chakakhans that lead to the penalty. But Bellend has to be more physical. Fraiser, who is even smaller than Bellend, blew on him and he fell over. Pathetic. If we weren’t so far behind and already using two subs, I would have ripped the guy off the field and cut his balls of. BTW, in both these instances Cech did not exactly cover himself in glory.

Phew, ok, that’s Bellend dealt with for the moment. Chakakhan! What kind of fucking defending was that. The guy was running away form the goal. There was no need to make any sort of challenge. It was a clear penalty and completely unnecessary. Classic Arsenal self-destruction. All three of their goals were through our mistakes. That’s not to say Bournemouth did not play well. Even at the end, down to 10 men, they could have won the game. They found it very easy to rip apart our defense.  After their first goal they played the better football. As the crowd noted, why would Wilshire want to move from this team to ours?

The balance in our team was wrong. I was lucky enough to be joined by DB10 for this match. He duely noted that AW got the selection wrong today. We should have left Ob1 in the 10 spot. Starting Ramsey there was a waste. We had no fluency. Giroud was not in the game and we could not get the ball to Sanchez. Only when Coq got injured – and we seem to be replicating Rosicky hamstring injuries on various team members – Ramsey dropped back and Ob1 got more involved in the game. And, coincidentally, Ramsey also got more involved. He really is box to box and is wasted as a number 10.

It’s also worrying to see Koscleny go off – that’s the spine of our team now on the physios  workbench. If only we could put Bellend in there as well.

Anyway, we deserved to be 3-0 down and heading to oblivion. But then, against the odds we woke up. To be fair that does not include Sanchez, who was the only one working his arse off the entire game. But once Perez came on we looked a different team. The ball got feed to Sanchez more often and even the useless Monreal was able to support him. Did I mention that this is 3 games in a row where Monreal has been shit. He gets beaten way to easily. It’s so annoying that Gibbs had to bundle into that late tackle to pick up his obligatory injury. If he’d not have done that then I’m sure Gibbs would be starting. As it is he’s crowding out the injury room with the aforementioned players. And having Ox in front of Bellend meant we had a little more edge on the right hand side. And that’s where the first goal came from. A nice flick from Giround – who finally decided to participate in the game – and predatory Sanchez was there to finish it off.

And then we had the exquisite finish of Perez – very Podolski like (thanks FatBoy for that reminder). And finally the equalizer from Giroud – along with his wonderful celebration moves. We could still have won the game in the final minutes – which would have been very unfair on Bournemouth. But it’s a minor miracle that we could come out of this match with a point. At 3-0 down I’m sure we all thought we were dead and buried. I don’t believe Arsenal have even come back from a 3-0 deficit (at least not since the Premier League has been in existence). So that’s some achievement. It does show some character. And I was shouting, cheering and mighty relived at the end. But, again, we have to sort out the balance in the team. Ob1 can’t play right wing (notice that he had drifted right across the pitch when the play was switched for their first goal). I’m still concerned that with Giroud upfront we are too slow and static though he does keep scoring. Perez has now earned the right to start – his movement is dynamic and he can chase back and defend. And we need to get Sanchez more involved. Today he was our best player by a country mile. With all due respect to Ozil, Sanchez is our clear super-star. We must do everything to retain him. Today he was the heart and soul of the team. He is our one player that would walk (or, in his case, run) into every other top 5 PL team.

We now have a stupid F A Cup game. For this I would play Bellend as punishment. Don’t give him any rest. Then for the next league game I’d drop him – play Gabriel there (assuming Koscleny is fit). I hated everything about him today (like you could not tell). Most annoying (again as DB10 observed), was that given his shitty performance he should have tailored his movement and passes to minimize mistakes given that someone must have slipped him some kryptonite.

Do I think we can catch Chelski – hell no. Not a chance. But it’s a long season and others will drop points. My fear though is that this team is too fragile. When Bournemouth were high pressing us, we looked unable to play our game. Again, that’s because of the lack of balance in the team. We miss Santi – but that’s not going to change. And we need Chakahan to stop making unforced errors. Yes, he’s young (thanks FatBoy) but he’d still an international who should know better. We also missed TW14 today – who would have thought I’d say that last season. Hopefully he’s back soon. But, honestly, I don’t think this team is good enough to win the league. It’s definitely better than last year – but then so are the other 5 teams.  That’s also why the losses to Everton and ManCity are so frustrating. We should never have caved into either of them. But that’s an issue of leadership and backbone; which we are lacking.

There will be very thin margins come the end of the season. We might end up being grateful for the point today but we will certainly regret giving ManCity those 3 points.

And finally, let’s take a moment to discuss the referees. What the fuck is Mike Dean doing on the Premier League approved list. He killed the West Ham game yesterday. Absolutely unforgivable decision for that sending off. Compare that to Michael Oliver today. He let play continue and stayed out of the limelight. Dean has been our nemesis in the past and yesterday he was there to bail out ManU. Not that they need help with all their money. But they look shit and boring. A long way from winning the league. We are going to have to contend with Liverpool, ManC and Sp*rs for the top 4. Which means when we play away at two of these venues we can’t loose. How we play against the top 5 will determine our season. And the first one will be against Chelski on Feb 4th. Let’s hope we have some of our spine back by then.

– LB7