Afternoon everyone,
It has been a while now since I've been able to deliver good news to you all through my blog. Unfortunately that is not my fault, it is of course down to our recent performances and the poor results that have come with them. Yesterday evening I was optimistic going into the game. I was sure we were going to see a response, the players were making all the right noises in their interviews and via their Twitter accounts. Also Braga weren't the most threatining team on paper and were sitting at 10th place in the Portugese league with something like one win in the last four games. Surely anything but a win was to be expected?
Going into the game all we needed was a point to ensure qualification. Arsene made seven changes to the side, Bendtner amongst those introduced to the team as expected. I was expecting a big performance from him after recent statements. The home support wasn't exactly what you'd call hostile and I was hoping that would work to our young sides advantage. We tried to come out of the blocks early on, Walcott giving the Braga full-back plenty to think about in the opening few minutes with his dazzling runs but too often he failed to produce a good cross. Kieron Gibbs was another who looked bright early on as he got forward at will. The fresh legs looked to bring a refreshed look to the side.
Braga had a chance of their own when Moises headed well over despite being unmarked, a reminder of our frailties when defending set-pieces. Our first real opening came when Bendtner received a pass from Walcott, played Cesc into a decent position but the Spaniard fired well over. We were awarded a couple of free-kicks just outside the Braga box butonly Cesc's dinking effort worked the keeper. The chance of the half fell to Theo when he was played through by Cesc but he just couldn't get the ball around the keeper. It was the best chance of the half and you feel he could have just chipped it over him. That was the last piece of real action of a dier half of football. Despite having the better of the play we were very poor, sloppy passing and so on. The only positive was the defence who were forcing Braga to shoot from distance.
The second half began and you could tell almost straight away we didn't look like upping the tempo. We threatened to score first however when Walcott's free-kick avaded the wall but it wouldn't come down in time. Braga should have opened the scoring when Squillaci's attempted clearance fell to Aguiar only for his left-footed strike to flash inches wide of Fabianski's post. The warning signs were there, failure to wake up and score could result in us fucking this up badly. Our plans weren't helped when Cesc pulled up with a hamastring injury and was forced off, I'll come back to this but he was replaced by Nasri. Shortly after the ineffective Bendter was taken off for Chamakh and Vela came on for Theo. We needed a fresh look going forward because nothing was coming off.
Shortly after, the substitutions combined as Chamakh's knock down fell to Vela who rounded the defender only to be taken out of it. Blatant penalty and when the referee blew the whistle you couldn't think of anything other than a peno. Instead the blind bat gave a free-kick to Braga and to rub salt in the wounds he booked Vela for diving. It was a truly awful decision, unexplainable, espeically with the extra officials. There was no excuse, they had to have seen it. Moments later Eboue was lamped, this time at the half-way line which the referee SPOTTED. *Claps*. Sadly however, he didn't get back up and looks to have strained a knee ligament which will keep him out for a few weeks. At this stage everything was going against us, we couldn't even replace Eboue as we had used all of our substitutions.
Then our bad luck was compounded. A long punt from a Braga defender evaded Denilson and our centre-backs to find Matheus who finished calmy passed Fabianski. We then poured forward desperately looking for an equaliser but Braga caught us on the counter again. Denilson's challenge was shrugged off, the ball found its way to Matheus again who was surrounded by four players but still managed to get a shot away and found the back of the net in extraordinary style. We were well beaten at this stage, there was no time for a comeback.
You can't help but point to the referee in this case. I know there was no excuse for that horrific display but you have to look at the penalty he denied us. I'm sick of looking at it on tv from all angles, no matter what way you see it, the defender clearly took Vela out and you could argue he should have been sent off as Vela was through on goal. Nothing we can do about it now though, the damage has been done and it leaves us going into the final game needing a win. Some people are saying thank God it's Partizan we're playing but the truth is we're in no position to make these statements. At the moment we're struggling to score, never mind win games playing well. I'm sick of hearing the same people talk shit everyday thinking they know the solution to our problems. "Sack Arsene", "Sell the whole team", "Spend money" is all you hear. It appears the solution to all our problems is to sell players who make half an error these days and replace them with £50m signings. Those people need to wake up and smell the coffee. I can't see anybody leaving in January and players will only come in depending on the injury situation then.
I know its hard to get behind the team at a time like this but we as supporters have to. They aren't going to bounce back on their own. Any team struggles when their fans are on their back or as in our case, don't even sing at home games. It's going to take a massive effort from everyone to get this club back on track. We're only two points off the top but we could well be further behind. We haven't been punished for our mistakes but its only a matter of time if we don't wake up.
The Fabregas injury is worrying, initially Arsene said a couple of weeks in his interview. It's a blow but it's also a sign that something needs to be done about it. I knows he pulled his other hamstring but still, something has to be done about this ongoing problem. It has been bothering him since the start of the season and the boy deserves to play without sorrying whether or not his hamstring is going to pull up. If it requires an operation then so be it. As long as we get a Cesc at 100% then I'm happy.
Almost forgot about the player ratings last night:
Fabianski: 6 - Had nothing to do besides the goals.
Eboue: 6 - Tried to create but couldn't.
Squillaci: 6 - People will blame him for the goals but those are fans that haven't a clue, decent display.
Djourou: 7 - My man of the match. Won every battle and gave his all, deserves a run in the team now.
Gibbs: 6 - Started brightly but faded.
Denilson: 6 - Gave 100% but still can't track back.
Wilshere: 6 - Another who gave his all but nothing came off for him.
Fabregas: 6 - Not fully fit, needs a break to be honest.
Rosicky: 6 - Tried but failed to make major impact.
Walcott: 6 - No end product, not his best night.
Bendtner: 5 - Failed to back up his recent talking up of himself.
Subs:
Nasri: 6 - Couldn't do much.
Chamakh: 6 - Made bigger impact than Bendtner did all game.
Vela: 6 - Should have had a penalty, unlucky.
I would love to talk more but I'm still feeling down after last night and not really looking forward to Saturday. We've got to keep the faith though, till next time people.
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