Arsenal vs Bolton

Arsenal Wigan Highlight

Arsenal with a mountain to climb

The last few weeks has been depressing and very frustrating, the season that looked to be heading in the right direction seemed to have been derailed by a couple of moments of madness by Almunia and Diaby against United and then Clichy against City. That meant we came away from the city of Manchester with nothing to show for all the effort. The Premier League table doesnt look pretty at the moment, Arsenal sit in 9th place, 9 points behind Chelsea.

Arsenal have to start winning games to get back in the mix and we cant afford to lose any more games because there is a limit to the number of games you can lose and still have a shot at the title. The one positive is the fixture list has been tough, away trips to Goodison and two trips to Manchester was never going to be easy. What made it frustrating was Arsenal still played well enough to pick up some points against the two Manchester teams or even win those two games. The good thing is Arsenal are playing well this season and it is only a matter of time before they start picking up points.

Winning games doesn't come by just playing well, the team has to defend better. Arsenal have only kept one clean sheet this season, one clean sheet in seven games is not going to get the job done. Individually Gallas, Vermaelen and Sagna had looked solid until the Man City game but Gael Clichy has looked shaky and exposed the rest of the defence in the City game.I also question the team defending, some of the goals Arsenal conceded against City were shocking from a team stand point. The decision to switch to a 4-3-3 formation was a brilliant one defensively but players still have to put in their shift in midfield when Arsenal do not have the ball.

The goalkeeping position was one I was uncomfortable with coming into the season. I felt Almunia was questionable as first choice but as long as we had a solid second choice, he would at least stay motivated. Unfortunately he had no competition with Fabianski more of an understudy rather than somebody fighting to take his place and Wenger promoted the young Italian Goalkeeper to third choice. I suspect Wenger was forced to drop Almunia because of his sloppy start to the season but I am uncomfortable with Mannone in goal against Wigan.

I dont wish to talk about Adebayor today, according to Wenger that case is closed and I agree with him. Arsenal have to look forward to teams ahead of them rather than dwelling on Adebayor. Wenger also claims the Manchester defeats strenghtened the teams belief, I wont believe it until they show it on the pitch. He sees the Wigan game as a good opportunity to start making up the points and I agree with him. Arsenal have a mountain to climb and they have to win against Wigan to get back in the title race.

Arsenal need to focus on the prize

I have not posted anything for over a week because I really didnt see anything worth talking about. There is so much off the ball stuff going on but very little relating to actual football. UEFA suspended Eduardo (which I supported initially) but came out a few days later and said that the Eduardo incident was a one off which further infuriated Arsenal fans. Then there was Rooney going to ground to win debatable penalties all over the place and the English media's reaction to it which was very biased but that is to be expected anyway. Diving is a big problem in football but making one player a scapegoat or the media demonizing a few players is not going to solve the problem. FIFA have to make it formal that players can be punished retrospectively for diving but more importantly introduce video technology during games so that referees can at least review incidents and make the right decision.

Now on to football, aren't the international's such a huge bore? However I think this one came at the right time. I felt the nature of Arsenal's defeat to Manchester United was very bad and things could spiral out of control if the team didnt get their acts together and get the result out of their system as soon as possible. In my opinion Arsenal are better than Manchester United this season and they have a genuine chance of winning the league title. The team has had a brilliant start to the season even with the defeat to United and the negativity surrounding the Eduardo incident. This is not the time to get caught up in all this nonsense, Arsenal need to focus on the prize. It is five long years without the premier league title but I think this team is just about ripe to win the title this season.

I was very disappointed that Arsene Wenger didnt strengthen the team before the close of the transfer window. I found it rather ironic that a week after the transfer window closed it was announced that Djourou got injured and had to do a surgery that would keep him out for six months. However it is not time to press the panic button yet, as long as Gallas and Vermaelen stay injury free, Arsenal would be fine but that is a big ask. On a positive note, Theo Walcott would be back after the break and it looks like Thomas Rosciky should be fit for the next league game after declaring himself fit to play for Czech republic. Nasri should also be very close to returning to the first team action.

while the players were away on international break, Arsene Wenger talked about the 4-3-3 formation and how it has liberated Cesc Fabregas and he compared him to Frank Lampard. I personally think that there is more to Cesc Fabregas game than Frank Lampard. It is a compliment that Cesc is compared to such a prolific goal scorer like Lampard but Cesc is a more rounded football than Lampard. Cesc is more of a passer than goal scorer and in that sense I think Cesc is more like Bergkamp than Lampard. Speaking to the media this week, Cesc Fabregas talked about how Arsenal would not be bullied this season but he also talked about Arsenal winning a trophy this season and his link to Barcelona. Do you sense any hidden messages there?

Arsenal face Manchester City this weekend and a few of the old boys are set to return. Kolo has been made the captain of Manchester City and Adebayor has had a blistering start to his City career. This is one game that Arsenal just have to win but more about the city game in the Arsenal v City preview later this week.

Transfer Deadline Day

Today is the 31st of August and it is the last day to complete transfers. The countdown has started and although this year transfer activity has been somewhat subdued with the exception of Real Madrid and Man City, there can still be a lot of surprises at the very end.

Although Arsenal have had a brilliant start to the season, I still think Arsenal are short in a few areas especially defensively. We need a back up defensive midfielder and a central defender. A goalkeeper wouldn't go amiss with the shaky start Almunia has had to the season. Arsenal would need to sort out the situation with Senderos before the end of the transfer window although I would rather we keep Senderos and get rid of Silvestre.

Arsene Wenger last season compared the transfer deadline day to a game of poker. I hope he has some tricks up his sleeve to win the poker game. Last season we made a huge transfer coup landing Arshavin on deadline day, I hope today would be equally productive.

Arsenal lose to United

Arsenal looked to be cruising to victory against United until they hit the self destruct button. This has happened once too many times with Arsenal going in front against teams in the big 4 only to collapse late on in the game. It makes you wonder if Arsenal have the big game mentality. Arsenal were clearly better than United in the game, the players were in control of the game and then a couple of moments of madness and they trow away the game. I know it might seem reactive to this game but it makes you wonder if Arsene shouldnt add a character to the team before the transfer window closes.

The officiating was a farce in my opinion, Mike Dean handed out the most cards last season and gave away the most penalties. He was true to kind in this game dishing out yellow cards for fun to both sides. When it came to making the crucial penalty decisions, he denied Arsenal a clear cut penalty and gave United one on the other end. The last major decision he took was to send Arsene Wenger to the stand for a rather innocuous kick of a bottle at the touchline after Arsenal were rightly denied a goal in the dying minutes. I am very angry about the officiating but I am more angry that Arsenal lost a game they never should have lost in all honesty.

Wenger post game interview

Clash of the titans

Arsenal face United in an English premier league game at old trafford tomorrow. It would be the first meeting among the big 4 and it promises to be an exciting game. It is a chance for Arsenal to really put their marker down as challengers and at the same time put United to the sword. A win for Arsenal would put us 3 points ahead of United with one outstanding game.

It is hard to forget the embarrassment faced by Arsenal against United at home in the semi final of the champions league. Manchester United completely dominated and outclassed Arsenal in that game. I can still remember the silly comments by Evra after the game. All I can think of is revenge the last couple of days, it is time our boys show Manchester United that they are now men.

Tactically United controlled both games in the semi finals of the champions league. They cut Arsenal off in the midfield and attacked Arsenal with pace any time they won the ball. This United team however is a different team without Ronaldo. It is interesting to see if they can play the same type of speedy counter attacking game without Ronaldo. It is important that the Arsenal defenders control Rooney because he is really playing like a man with a point to prove this season. Thomas Vermaelen seems to be relishing the opportunity to face Rooney tomorrow.

On the injury front, there is a bit of bad news, Cesc Fabregas is not fit enough to travel to Old Trafford. The team would definitely miss the influence of their captain, he has been in excellent form to start the season and has been quietly pulling the strings from midfield. The other players would have to step up like they did against Celtic.

Now unto the controversial Eduardo situation, I have been a big supporter of retrospective punishment and I was in support of the suspension Dida received for this ridiculous play acting.

I think it would be hypocritical to oppose the suspension simply because it involves an Arsenal player. However similar punishment should be handed out to other players that dive in future or else Eduardo would end up being a scape goat.