Arsenal Throw Away More Points & Lay Off Arsene

Welcome all,

Well its been another week of listening to critics, be it journalists, pundits or our own pessimistic fans. You get used to it after a while but the absurd things some people come up with can really bug me. When I read other blogs and people's opinions on Twitter its frightening to see the amount of people who think Wenger's time may be up as Arsenal boss. I understand the last few years have been difficult but stand back for a moment and have some common sense. Do you know how many clubs who used to be looked upon as major forces would kill to be us now. Leeds United were once a side were once a team that challenged for the Premier League, now you ask any guy what they are in and he wouldn't know. Liverpool have had a sticky patch, the list goes on and I can assure you there are big clubs now who will be a shadow of their present selves in a couple of years.

My point is, we may not have achieved the success we should have recently but I'm still grateful that trophies are expected of us. We could be in a worse state. The financial challenge which came with transferring from Highbury to the Emirates was handled brilliantly and the boss played a big part in that. He could have easily added to the debt and gone out and signed a few players for over £20m but he opted to work with what he had and boy has he done a magnificent job. Obviously he is a man that has his flaws like anyone else but I honestly don't think there is another manager that could have handled this club like Arsene has, in fact I know there isn't anyone out there.

The critisism he gets is out of order. I'm sorry but come on people, does this man who made Arsenal deserve to be insulted just because he sticks to his old methods. Call him stubborn but he, like all of us, wants whats best for this club at the end of the day and I'm sure he'll fill up that trophy cabinet once more. If you think his time is up then fair enough but no need to bitch about it 24-7 and question everything he does. Honestly, who knows better, Arsene Wenger, a man who has three Premier League titles to his name (plus a lot more) or a few fans on Twitter who can only brag about the amount of followers they have? Hmmm its a tough one but the former gets the nod for me.

Anyway, enough about that, he's the boss and all you loyal fans will stick by him till the end. Now this weekend was pretty shitty wouldn't you agree? Its been a while since us Arsenal fans have been able to relax and watch our side cruise to a victory. At the moment we're not even doing things the hard way, we're not doing them at all! The injury to Djourou has obviously unsettled our defence but there is more than enough experience in there to cope. Sagna and Clichy have been in quite a few title races now, Koscielny has been magnificent and is learning every week while Squillaci has played in almost every top league in Europe plus has several France caps to his name. The lack of height amongst those four is a bit concerning though. Our defending from set-pieces has always been dodgy but being forced to play a partnership made up of two guys who are barely six foot could prove rather difficult espeically from set-pieces. And its not like we make up for this lack of height in other areas of the pitch. Apart from Chamakh and Diaby we have a relatively small squad.

This weakness was exposed inside three minutes at the Hawthorns. Stephen Reid stole free from Aaron Ramsey and berried a header past the helpless Almunia. Ramsey should have made up for his poor marking by scoring soon after. Robin Van Persie's header came back off the bar and fell to the Welshmen six hards out but his left footed shot was straight at Carson. It was a typically frustrating Arsenal performance. We were seeing plenty of the ball but it was like there was a lack of urgency. At half-time the boss made a change bringing on Chamakh for Denilson who was terrible to say the least.

Before we even got a chance to settle West Brom almsost went 2-0 up. Chris Brunt latched onto Marek Cech's cross but his shot hit the side netting. Another warning sign for Arsenal. There didn't seem to be much of an improvement compared to the 1st half so Wenger gambled and threw on Bendtner in place of Ramsey. Having Arshavin, Nasri, Chamakh, Bendtner and RVP in the same side, well you might say its a bit suicidal but we were desperate for goals in this particular case.

However, we would suffer one hell of a setback. A seemingly harmless long ball saw Almunia needlessly come rushing out of his goal which somewhat confused the hell out of Squillaci leaving Odemwingie to nick the ball between the two of them and slot home Albion's second. Our title hopes had been dealt a major blow but there was time to repair some of the damage. That we did, Chamakh picked up the ball on the edge of the box, played it in to Arshavin who was just inside the box, he took a touch with his right foot and then smashed the ball past Carson with his left. Definately a contender for goal of the month, a magnificent strike, exactly the type of individual brilliance we needed to claw us back in the game.

Twenty minutes from time we equalised and it was that man again Arshavin who was at the heart of the move. He took on two defender before delivering a looping cross which Bendtner knocked back across goal, the ball got stuck between Meite's feet and RVP forced him into scoring an own goal. The comeback was complete but we still needed the win.

Substitute Marc-Antoine Fortune nearly put the Baggies back in front only for a superb block from Squillaci. We piled the pressure on them for the remainder of the game but there would be no breakthrough and the result would be made even more sickening when United nicked a late goal against Bolton to give them a 1-0 win and send them five points clear of us, although we still have a game in hand. I'm grateful that we came away with a point considering we were 2-0 down but these types of situations have happened too often. We start games sloppily and it takes conceding a goal to wake us up. Its not good enough if you want to win the league. You have to go out there and do everything you can to score straight from the off. If you don't you will be punished, that's the way the Premier League is.

Here are my player ratings:

Almunia: 4 - That error could cost us the league title, I don't want to heap critisism on the man but its the truth.
Sagna: 6 - Good and bad.
Squillaci: 6 - Hugely important tackles towards the end.
Koscielny: 7 - Wholehearted performance.
Clichy: 7 - Got forward well and delivered some great crosses.
Denilson: 5 - Shocking display and taken off at half-time.
Wilshere: 8 - The rating speaks for itself.
Ramsey: 6 - Should have scored in the first half and poor marking for the goal. Will improve with games though.
Nasri: 7 - Ran the show in the second half.
Arshavin: 7 Brilliant goal, really got us going.
Van Persie: 7 - Did really well to force Meite into scoring an og.
Subs:
Chamakh: 7 - Gave us a breath of fresh air and enabled us to try something different.
Bendtner: 6 - Did well for the second goal.

Now there's the international break. Our next league game against Blackburn isn't for another two weeks so some of the players can relax while other go away on international duty to pick up some injuries. (Heh just joking). I've heard Cesc, Theo and Song will spend the two weeks working on their fitness ahead of the game against Blackburn which is great news. Hopefully they will return for that game, it would be a massive boost. Anyway, I think I've written enough for one night plus my eyes are shutting.
Keep the faith Gooners, till next time.