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3 Point’s, Top of the League…Roll on Partizan

Evening all.

3 Massive points on Saturday. Big enough to take us top of the premier league. From the help of Chelsea of course!

Like many, I have re-watched the game and picked up on one or two smaller points. Starting with the defence. Johan Djoruou was solid throughout the game after coming on for the injured Koshcienly, in what can only be described as a bizarre moment of madness!

First of all he bumps into his team-mate but then plucks up the determination to try and block the on-coming shot from the Fulham attacker, Which led to the goal.
You can see why the referee didn’t blow straight away. Mainly because LK6 didn’t fall over straight away clinching his face.

Back onto Johan Djourou though, As i was saying…he did a fantastic job in the Arsenal defence. Winning headers, Tackling, and leading the back-line. He’s really grasped his chances well so far this season and re installed the faith Wenger has shown in him over the years!
You can make a good case for him to be starting alongside Vermaelen when the commanding central defender returns (Which could be against Chelsea near New Year according to the Mirror HERE)

Onto the Other end of the pitch. The guy everyone is talking about. . . Samir Nasri

What can I say? Two superb moments of footballing brilliance, Quick feet, Cool head, Silky footwork and daring attitude was all on show. It was that good, it even got praise of that Twat Alan hansen on the much watched… BBC’s Match of the Day!
Samir Nasri is currently in his third season since joining the Club. He’s in the form of his life, Scoring goals, Setting them up, added pace to his game, and you can say…one of the form midfielder’s in the World right now (Yes, That Much!)

Slight concern though? He was a slight injury doubt before the game with a knee problem, but he passed and started.
However, after his first goal, he was seen hobbling about, No news as yet from Arsenal on the extent of the injury but for Arsenal’s sake…lets hope he is fit for Manchester Utd away a week tomorrow!
I’m not to concerned over the game on Wednesday night, So im expecting to see Samir on the bench if he’s passed fit.

We should hear some news tomorrow!

This brings me on to the game in mid-week. Partizan belgrade. Arsenal must win really. We have done a great job of Fucking this group up by loosing to Shaktar and then Braga so we find ourselves looking at second position then the much likely possibility of facing Real Madrid in the round of 16!
If theres any chance of Arsenal finishing first in the group, we must hope Braga pull of a shock result away to Shaktar and obviously, An Arsenal victory, here at the Emirates!

A reminder to all who’s reading… Arsenal v Partizan will be on ITV 1 at 7:30 PM UK Time! So we can all endure the tense, fantastic, thrilling, nervous, blood-boiling game that is………..Arsenal football club!

(In all good humour off course!)

So thats it for now, got an interesting post coming up on Tuesday on the subject of Nicklas Bendtner and his future at the club but for now…. Take care and thank you

!VAMOS!

Lewis!

(Quick EDIT – Thoughts goes to the Arsenal defender, Who’s currently on loan at Juventus… Armand Traore…His father has died this week and Armand has returned to france on compassionate leave. We’re with you Armand!)

Some positive thought’s please? + Villa Away

Hello all.  its been some time since I last fired a BLOG post. I would say its been down to the lack of time, However its mostly been down to the huge negativity surrounding Arsenal in the recent weeks . BUT, no fear… I’m here to spread some positive thought’s ahead of tomorrows lunchtime kick off.

The last thing you guys want to read is me dabbing on about how lacklustre we were against the scum down the road + Braga on Tuesday night.
So I wont be doing that. Instead, I’m Here to talk about the Villa away game and hopefully stuffing you all with some confidence in the team and getting pumped up for tomorrow.

Mission Start:

Tomorrow’s game presents Arsenal with a huge chance to get back to winning ways. More importantly giving something back to the fans after ”Them Games”. Aston Villa is a tricky place to go, BOTH Chelsea and Manchester UTD have failed to win there this Season, you would even argue both should of lost with Villa missing a 1v1 late on against Chelsea and then putting themselves two nil up against Manchester.

Villa Park

So winning tomorrow will not only be a huge 3 points, And a confidence boost mentally…but also a psychological effect on the rest of the league. Winning where the other two main competitors haven’t is a big thing in my eyes.

The ‘big thing’ however – a win tomorrow will put us top of the league. Be it for a matter of hours, it doesn’t matter… Top of the league, is Top of the league…Not Second, or Third!

Question remains… Can we win tomorrow?

It’s a big  test…Losing two games in a row will kick the stuffing out of any team, but losing to ”Them lot down the road” in the way we did would demolish the team’s confidence.

Na Na Na Samir Nasri!

Cesc Fabregas is out after being ”risked” in the Braga game, (*If you follow me on Twitter…you would know that I slated the boss for playing Cesc. He had doubts over his fitness prior kick off, so why even take the risk?*) Stone cold facts remain, He is out and we must look onwards and upwards without him. Please step up Samir Nasri + Tomas Rosicky!
Now We all know Aston Villa play on the Counter, Using the pace on the wings. Gerard Houllier will be looking to exploit the weaknesses in this Arsenal rearguard by mainly attacking the flanks. We’ve all seen Gael Clichy crumble into mistakes recently and i would put my mortgage  on it that Villa will use that to their advantage.

The most important thing for Arsenal is one the most simplest ideas any average joe could come up with….STAY WISE defensively and DONT concede the first goal. Villa isnt a team where you can put 3/4 goals past them, Loosing the first goal will be a huge blow, We will push out, they will sit back, soak it up…hit us the counter with the long balls. We’ve seen it happen in recent years, Most notable…the game at the Emirates in which they won.
Correct me if im wrong but we havent won at Villa park in a good 2/3 season’s. Last year was based on a fairly dull 0-0 draw and the year before, a 2-2 dramatic match in which they scored very late on to clinch a last gasp point.

Let’s get the first goal, Stay good at the back, Win the midfield battle and im pretty confident we can bring the bacon back to North London in time for Wigan!

Come on Arsenal!

So, Tactics covered… Moving on to Fans confidence! (Yes, Thats right… YOU GUYS!)

I have read all sorts of hate in the recent week about this Arsenal team, I’ve seen people call for Wenger’s head, Robin Van Persie to be Sold, Fabregas to have the armband stripped from him, Bundles of players to be sold and even abusive comments tweeted at certain members of the Arsenal team on Twitter!

I know, As fans… we are all entitled to our opinion’s…After all, we pay the huge prices for match day tickets, we put our time on the line by watching the team, we go down the pub and be humiliated by fellow fans after losing to spurs but there is one thing we should never forget. We are not just fans. Who clap and eat prawn sandwiches… WE are SUPPORTERS of Arsenal Football Club. The team is not going to get nowhere if its own fans are like a tramp of chips after we lose a single game!

* CUE The patriotic Music and the National Flag waving*

We, Must Simply support this TEAM, we are all in it together, right up till may! We know this team has the quality, but this mental barrier must go. So with our help…. Lets make it go! Get this team rolling onto winning trophies, Which we all know…has been far to bloody long since our last one! Come on you Gooners!

Tomorrow is a good place to start!

Thank you

VICTORIA CONCORDIA CRESCIT

3 Points in mid-week, Everton away next – Pre Match Thought’s

Hello ladies and Gent’s, Good win mid-week ey? Looking forward to the Everton game? Any concern’s? Excitement?

Let me take you through my thoughts ahead of the game on Sunday + some reaction to the Wolves game. Read on!

Seen lots and lots of Arsenal blog’s this week talking about the wolves game and mainly highlighting M.Chamakh+ L.Fabianski!
However, I’m more interested in the performance of  two other players. Sebastien Squillaci + Johan Djourou were pretty much class on Wednesday night. Hardly put a foot wrong all game. If it came to dealing with long balls in to the box, Corner’s or Throw ins… Both were pretty much on Song (Excuse the pun) in dealing with them.

Johan has been a little ”iffy” at the back in one or two games recently but for me, he’s got better and better, Game by game. You can make a similar case for Squillaci. I was reading comments over the net that he’s just another Silvestre: Old, Slow, Error prone, Not good enough?

Sebastien Squillaci

Well let me tell you this, He’s been far from that, in fact… you could argue are best defender this season. He’s really lead the backline in experience, strength, Power. His standout performance for me was the game up at Sunderland. LK + SS were extremely solid throughout the game…up until 5 min’s into stoppage time that is!

I did a blog post not long ago talking about Dropping points when we dont play well, We seen it happen against Newcastle but i thought the way we ”Nicked” them points on Wednesday night is what we need to see more off!
Maybe a little harsh in saying we didnt play well, because in all honesty, Wolves were really good for 90 mins. We pretty much stole them point’s, Thanks to M.Chamakh and more importantly… Fabianski who made several class stops to deny wolves.

Looking ahead to the Everton game this weekend, It’s going to be a cracking game i feel, I like Everton, D.Moyes does a brilliant job up there and when Everton are clicking, their such a handful to keep in check.
We all know what players + Dangers they have in their ‘Arsenal’ (Again, Excuse the corny Pun). Tim Cahill is a brilliant player and one which could fit pretty much into any decent side around Europe. Arteta, an extremely technical gifted player.  Some fans was moaning at Wenger 1/2 seasons back to splash the cash and buy him!
I was going to do a good piece on a certain danger man for Everton, Which was going to be  Marouane Fellaini. But due him THANKFULLY getting sent off in the last game, he sits this one out!

Instead, Im going to do the good old Arsenal way and big up our strike force going into this one. Robin Van Persie has had a good week or two in training and will be available. Theo walcott, Nicklas Bendtner are both back.
M.Chamakh leading the line maybe with Andrey Arshavin who is in good form i feel. Came on at Newcastle and did Okay and thought he was a handful against Wolves the other night! On top of all that, in-form and player of the season (So far) Samir Nasri and next to him, a little player called Cesc Fabregas.

Robin Van Persie

On the game itself, i really do feel its going to be decent football match. Everton will look to get forward and we all know what  Arsenal can do. Arsenal can win this game without a doubt, I think they will. Mindful of set-pieces, a clean sheet up at Everton is a Brilliant add on bonus! In terms of the Title race, things could hot up even more. Manchester Utd face a tricky tie which could see them draw (In my opinion) which would make Le Arsenal in Second place (Stating the obvious)

Last bit on  todays blog. Would love to know your thoughts on buying another central defender in January. IF, And a big IF… Thomas Vermaelen is out for a good few months… What would YOU do? Buy another defender for cover? Keep faith in Djourou ? Or even think about using Song in the centre of defence?
Let me know in the comments or via Twitter (Link to my Twitter page) because its an interesting point. The injury to Thomas is worrying. Mr.Wengers response doesnt heap tons of faith on to the matter either – ”Mystery”

Last shout, Dont forget to tune into Arsenal TV Online Fans Forums tonight from 8:15. It’s a great watch + you get to see the legend that is Akhil from Hounslow + others! = Value for Money?

Enjoy your weekend, 3 points to the Arsenal on order please!

Cheers, Lewis

Pressure now on for a performance!

 

Mid-Week Discussion!

A Good week then? Arsenal comfortably beat Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday night with some delightful goals and we saw the return of Theo Walcott and Nicklas Bendtner (On Saturday).
Emotion was also involved, Eduardo Da Silva had one of best comeback’s a former Arsenal player can receive at the Emirates from the Fans, He capped it off with a clinical strike which led to cheers from both Shakhtar + Arsenal fans!

Slightly other matters away from Arsenal, Spurs lost 4-3 to Inter Milan and Manchester UTD are crying over Wayne Rooney’s future.

So surely, With all this good news…Bad news would most certainly come?

Well. Here it is. There has been a lot of question’s being asked around the fitness and real extent of Thomas Vermaelen’s injury. From something minor has turned into ‘Another 3 weeks” – ”Another 10 days” – ”Not quite ready”
So what is the situation? Well ‘reports’ on the world wide internet today suggest he could be out all the way up till Next Year(Or even miss, Rest of the season)

Tommy V - Missing

If so, can Arsenal manage without him? Who will slot into his place? – With the injury to Laurent Koscielny it doesn’t leave much choice to Mr.Wenger and his staff. Johan Djourou has done a solid job at the back so far but as always, can he stay fit for a good run of games. Sebastien Squillaci has been solid so far bar one or two Minor mistakes and is quite capable of playing week in week out in my eyes.

The difference is though, Unlike last year, i have faith in all of our defender’s. We have 4 real top quality CB’s in the team and no longer have the likes of Senderos,Silvestre on our books.

Upwards and onwards to the other end of the pitch, the place where Mr.Wenger has got option’s, Nicklas Bendtner, Theo Walcott are all back. Currently on fire, Midfielder Samir Nasri, Good form Thomas Rosicky. Not forgetting Andrey Arshavin and Mr.Chamakh!

A whole range of options for Sunday’s game at Manchester City. For me, No matter who starts in the front 3,
I feel we can do some massive damage to a weak Man City defence.

I say a ‘Weak Man City Defence’ because in my opinion they are. I’m not convinced of Kolo Toure and Lescott at times. The worst part is their full backs. With a team like Arsenal, Probably the best Attacking team in England, There are goals to be scored!

Be sure to look out for my Pre-match post on the Manchester City game on Saturday! Injury news + Team news plus Wengers Press Conference comments all thrown in!

Jay Jay

A Good few weeks back i started my Player Focus, In where i would do a good piece on a certain player i think needs/deserves some credit. This week, its Jay Emmanuel Thomas.

This guy is just immense, In pre-season (Austria) he looked a real handful upfront, knocking the ball past his man, beating him with pace,power + strength. Got a nifty shot on him and some silky skills/Footwork.
He seems to score every game in the Reserve league and impressed on his loan spell last season.

So why isnt this guy in the first team more often? Well, It’s most likely down to lack of experience and age. He made the starting 11 last season in the FA Cup up at Stoke but didnt impress, He just didnt get in the game.
He came of the bench at Stamford Bridge a few weeks back and in all honesty, Didnt have much time to even touch the ball.

‘Recently’ However, He bagged a Hat-Trick in the behind closed doors, Reserve game  v West Ham. He just looked such a dominating figure on the pitch! Defenders didnt know how to deal with him.

I really hope he starts in the Newcaslte Carling Cup game and puts on a show, He needs to have a big First team game to force him into the Premier League matchday squad ect…

Be sure to keep an eye on him in reserve games and most deffo check out next week’s Carling Cup Fixture in which, Hopefully he’l play.

So that’s it for this week Gooners, Mid-Week Arsenal chatter all in one Blog post. Special mention to Akhil who’s recently put up his new blogging site. It’s pretty Awesome so go check it out and Subscribe!  Click here to go + for future references, Look under ”Links” on the right hand side.

Right, Enjoy the rest of the week. Friday Fans forum tomorrow, City on Sunday. Oh and the F1 Grand Prix = Brilliant.

Cheers all,

Lewis

 

Post Birmingham thoughts + mid-week Champion’s League

Good evening fellow Arsenal fans. Been quite some time since i last posted on the Blog. Mainly because of the international break.
Arsenal saved us all from boredom and insanity by hosting Birmingham city at the Emirates in the returning Premier League, a must win game some pin-pointed it and rightly so.

Overall the game kicked up some massive talking points, mainly the Jack Wilshere sending off deep into Stoppage time and the Chamakh penalty incident. The question was, A dive or not a dive? You all have your own opinions on the matter, and mine is simple… it was a dive.
He clearly goes down before contact is made. Lets not forget though, this isn’t the first time Chamakh has won us a penalty, in fact, he’s won us several. Key thing, at least 3 of them have been ‘Dodgy’

Chamakh celebrates Arsenal's second

Wengers words were correct though, he’s won us games and been very important at score-lines such as 1-1/0-0 ect.

Before i get on to Jack’s sending off, i would like to mention the Second goal which involved both Chamakh and Wilshere. The control from jack and the little pas to chamakh was pure brilliance and i very nice finish from the big man up front. Great goal.

Well, Probably the most controversial incident was the Wilshere tackle on Zigic. Straight red, no Arguments, no complaints from neither player or manager. So why is it controversial? Well, Arsenal have been grabbing the back pages with all this tackling nonsense so its funny how we are shoved into the lime light because of this tackle.

Jack Wilshere, Sent off against Birmingham

Obviously it was complete mistake from jack and was born 100% out of frustration. Losing the ball seconds before? Elbow from Zigic on jack? All we know is, Jack reacted and in result, got sent off. Credit to him though for coming out and saying he has no complaints. Something which we dont see from many players in this league from time to time.

Just concentrating more on the football, i thought Fabianski was solid throughout and in honesty, has had three solid games in a row now, Neither goals at Stamford Bridge was his fault and he couldn’t really do much about Zigic’s headers Yesterday!
The question is though, When Manuel Almunia is back, do you stick with Fabianski or plod Almunia in? Let me know your thoughts on that in the commets!

In terms of man of the match for Arsenal, Abou Diaby wins it for me. He was pretty much on the money all day, really quick feet, tackling, direct running, beating his man…he was pretty much outstanding in the game. Credit to the lad. Hopefully he can stick at it and keep that form going into Tuesday nights game and next weekend against Manchester City.

 

That brings me onto the midweek game. Champions league returns and with that, Eduardo Da Silva is back on the Emirates Pitch!  If you are attending the game, please give him a warm welcome!

Eduardo, Back at the Emirates

On the game, its going to be interesting… Shacktar have very good quality, Srna is a threat from anywhere on the pitch and must be watched. I do fully expect an Arsenal victory but don’t expect a Braga like score-line.

I will have a pre-match blog post up on Tuesday, Will be discussing the opposition in full and who to look out for. So please look out for that!

Thats pretty much it for tonight gooners, a good 3 points, Chelsea and Man utd both dropped points and we saw the return of Nicklas Bendtner + Theo Walcott. Lets hope Cesc Fabregas, And Thomas Vermaellen both return to action this week!

Please feel free to leave comments below or hit me up on Twitter (www.Twitter.com/L3W1_UK)

Thanks a bunch!

Lewis

Chelsea on Sunday, International’s Looming…

Forgetting WBA, Moving on

Evening all. First off all i would like to apologise for the lack of a recent blog post. Couldnt bring myself to type one up this weekend and had to stay away from the internet until today. Couldn’t read rubbish about Arsenal for 48 hours so waited to put my little spin on it.

Im not going to sit here and let you read my opinions on why we lost, we all know why… The team didnt turn up. You cant blame a single player. So not going to ramble on about Almunia or Diaby/Eboue.

Hopefully it was just a bad day in the office but this is why i have such huge faith/confidence in the Chelsea game. Arsenal normally react extremely well after a huge loss like this and i wouldnt be surprised to see us beat chelsea.
I said after the Sunderland game , that kind of game will man up this Arsenal team… Add the WBA game on top of that. And That Arsenal team should now know they cannot go into a match in that frame of  mind or performance for Arsenal Football Club like that Again in their careers at the Emirates. Simple as that. They owe the fans, they owe the manager….but more importantly…they owe themselves for such a poor display.

What better way to forget all about it and  make sure that the last two games dont happen again this season.. what better way? They can start with beating Belgrade tomorrow night which is a hard tough game, But the biggest way is to beat Chelsea.
I think they can do it, And i think they will. Yes thats putting my neck out there and you can point your finger in my face if we loose but i think we’re going to get a result at the Bridge.
Nasri will continue his form, Arshavin will notice he has to up his tempo… Chamakh will be determined to stay on the Arsenal fan’s good books… Same with the defence.

Dont start having nightmares about the keeper as well. We must Support whoever is in goal for Arsenal Football Club. Yes we can all sit here and debate ”if only Seaman or Jens was here” all we like, but at the end of the day, our Number one is Manuel Almunia. Who lets not forget, has had a SOLID start to the season before WBA, and Kept us at 0-0 at HT in the weekend.
Yes you can point out it was his error on the second goal, But surely Koshcienly who has been in fine form, should of closed him down better. And also point out Clichy shouldn’t of got merked leading up to it.

But this is the thing…. WE CANNOT point out nobody. it was a team loss. It was the TEAMS Performance which lost us the game, Not Eboue’s, Not Almunia’s… Not Diaby.
Ive even read people slacking Denilson…. The kid didnt even set foot on the bloody field.

Arsene Wenger is correct, You win as a team, Loose as a team.

They have to come together as a team on Tuesday night and Sunday afternoon or they will fail themselves as individuals. Simple as that.

Gooners… Forget it, Chelsea, Utd, Spurs… All lost. Forget it. Was a horrible weekend for the top clubs.

Concentrate on tomorrow nights game, and the big game on Sunday.

Thats all you can do, There is no point being all down and gloomy because we lost to WBA, They played extremely well to be honest but thats besides the points… Forget it, Move on.

Come on Arsenal

And trust me, I feel a Strong Arsenal performance will happen at the Bridge,

I’l leave you with that thought of mine…

Player Focus + The Spurs Game

Evening all, Start of the week, Monday. Always a dull day but no fear, the Arsenal are back on the field of play tomorrow night and along with that, Comes my pre-match thought’s on ‘Everything Arsenal’

Main point of this blog is Player focus, Going to try and do piece on 1/2 players a week on who deserves some ‘Un-sung’ hero praise or acknowledgement. So for today, It’s Denilson.

Denny Denny Denny

Its always a special case with Denilson, He’s either loved by the Arsenal faithful or a constant threat to the Wum’s on online discussion forums. This case, it seems to be a good mixture.

I like denilson, i think he’s a real unique type of player in England, who just sits and spreads the ball around, keeps team the ticking. I cant remember Denilson having a bad game at all in 2010. Against Barcelona he was brilliant, And the most recent case… thought he handled himself extremely well up at Sunderland, Nearly getting himself on the golden score-sheet in the process.

I think he’s unfairly treated by the fans, He actually got quite a tough background story on him going back to Brazil. And that takes me on the international matter, Dont ask me how Liverpool’s LUCAS has got ahead of Denny time after time in the 25 man squad for certain games. Denilson is a much better player but Dunga doesnt see that. If im honest, i think he’s actually a good prospect for Brazil. He could be a decent team player for them, Sit with Melo when Gilberto retires ect and could be a key man. I really do. Thats why i hope we keep him and he comes on leaps and bounds this season.

I do agree though, in certain games… he’s not really the type of player you want at the time, (Up at Stoke for example maybe?) but looking ahead to tomorrow’s game, down the road at Shite Hart Lane (Excuse the Grammer). I would love to see him play alongside Tomas Rosicky or Afobe.

Now that bring’s me on to tomorrow’s night game down at Spurs. Im excited as i am for any Arsenal game and more importantly… a local fire Derby but it will be real interesting in terms of which kind of team is out for both teams really.
Will Arsenal go with a mix ect or/and will spurs change around?
There’s been a lot of talk about this Benik Afobe (Sorry if miss-spelled). And to be 100% honest with you, i haven’t seen him at all. Maybe one or two games for the reserves but apparently im one of few who havent seen him before.

(I know, Slap me on the wrist)

So i would love to see him play, just to see how the good the kid is. But there is one lad who i would LOVE to see starting, And thats the One and only Jay Thomas. Theres something about i like, It’s his build, almost Drogba and Adebayor combined and he’s even got a little pace to go with it. He can turn, he an do skills but most of all, The young lad has got a bloody good shot on him.

Jay Thomas

I would love to see the effect him and Vela upfront have on the spurs backline, in my opinion… Could cause havoc!

So with that in mind, im looking for a strong performance tomorrow night and hope we  really thrash the spurs (Dont we all wish that ey). I think we can, If spurs dont go with their first team, im confident we can do the business.
Will be a little concern about their drive and attitude if we go a goal down but im here to be proven wrong.

Overall, feeling good and looking forward to a game of football from some young talent.

Hoorah, Roll on tomorrow. Until then gooners, Cya

We must be Positive after this game + Match thought’s

Afternoon all. Going to get straight down to business today and head straight to the main talking points about yesterday’s game up at Sunderland. Also, Here to tell you that we ‘Must’ be positive after this result.

So, we draw 1-1, There’s a missed peno, a man sent off and a last minute goal. Sound’s like every Arsenal game right?

We all know that Arsenal played poor yesterday, We didnt get hold of the ball and keep it, Certain players such as Jack Wilshere got caught on the ball time after time and Sunderland were just generally the better team. So surely it’s game’s like these where title contenders have to stand up and be counted. It’s these kind of games where Chelsea and Manchester Utd get dubbed ‘Champions Performance’. They are masters at scraping out a point or even three points despite playing poor.

So, What did we do yesterday? In my eyes, exactly that. We got a fluke goal, dug our heels in with some rigid tough determined defending and shut Sunderland out. We even made some chances to go 2-0, The song header, or the Chamakh chance which maybe a more ‘Premiership Ready’ player could of put in the net. I believe Arshavin had one or two efforts as well. The most notable though is the Tomas Rosicky Penalty, If he puts it in… We win three points. But good old Tommy blast’s over, and i mean ‘Blast’s it over.

So skipping ahead, to the goal. There has been this argument amongst Arsenal players about the referee’s lack of time keeping. Surely when this corner is cleared he should blow? Correct me if im wrong but when that Arsenal player headed clear the corner, the time was 4:26. The worst part about it, the Sunderland player has time to bring it down, roll it out from under his feet, then whip it in, So thats at least 10 secs on the ball… bringing the game time to 4:35.
We all know what happens, Ball bobbles around and they score.

However the Argument is though, Should the ref blown for full time. I think so, and rightly so, it was at least 20 secs after 4 mins, And yes… you can say it is ‘4 Mins Minimum’ but was there a goal in that 4 mins? was there a sub? was there an injury? NO. So what justifies an extra 30 odd seconds.
The Other side of the argument, ”You cant blow on an attack” – So why did the ref blow FT at the Everton game last week when they were 20 yards out from the utd goal?

Do you know what though, We can sit here all week and say the ref robbed us, (In this case, is true) but we simply cant, We have to look at the failed chances to go 2-0, That is the moral of the game, Take your chances.

So why am i telling you we must be positive i here you ask?

Well, Its simple. Our defence yesterday was brilliant, superb. I havent seen defending like that from an Arsenal team in a good 2/3 years. I know at times there was a one or two hairy moments, but laurent koscielny was absolutely superb. He did not loose one header, Every single time that ball got hoofed into our area… Laurent was there to head it back out. Lets not give all the credit to him though, Sebastien Squillaci was equally amazing with headers and clearing the ball. The full backs as well, Sagna and Clichy had solid games. Let’s not forget our Number one as well, Manuel Almunia was brilliant. You could hear him screaming on corners and he was calm on his catches and punches. Solid stuff manny.

The main thing though gooners, you have to look at the big picture. We have gone to Sunderland away.. put in one of our worst performances in the last 5 years, had a man sent off, lost our captain… nearly went 2-0 and so nearly came away with three points. All by the help of some determined, brilliant defending at the back.

This result should be filling us with Confidence for the season, Dont look at the table, there is 5 games gone. You can join the Chelsea hype train if you want but they haven’t had ONE test yet. West brom at home, Blackpool at home, Wigan away, West Ham away ect…
On the other hand, we have had Liverpool away, Blackburn away and Sunderland away. Three massive test’s and we have came away with 5 points, Could of been 7.

We have shown some gritty, determined defending in all three to be honest, the most notably in the Blackburn and yesterday’s game. That is only one thing…. a very good positive sign for the season to come.

We should also look at this timing of the game, I would understand the negative waves if this was a title race mid April game ect… but no, this was the 5th game of the season. And if anything, should now teach the players some vital..and i mean vital things for the Season to come.

1 – We Must learn to take our chances, Something which Chelsea do.

2 – We now know, And the players know, Defending like that Home+Away will win us three points.

(YES!, I know we conceded in the last minute, but it was bad luck, Simply bad luck on the clearance bouncing off Koscienly. But bar the goal, the defence was immense)

Gooners, there was a lesson learnt for them players yesterday, and its nothing but positive that it will wise them up even more for the season to come. That defensive performance has injected me with huge confidence in them and if we defend like that at the bridge, take our chances… why cant we go and a get a point or three there?

Stay Positive gooners,

Cheers