A partisan performance, practically robbery!

Tuesday night was good for a few things. Firstly it blew away the cobwebs growing over the players following the inept performance against the Boing Boing Baggies. They needed a result. Confidence should be high leading into this weekends game and that can only be a good thing.

Secondly it gave Fabianski another chance to prove himself and I think he aquitted himself well, faultless for the penalty, his penalty save and the following block from Iliev was class and will give him plenty of confidence. Now Wenger is faced with a dilemma, Almunia or Fabianski. He cannot doubt that Fab is in better form following tuesday, but his past performances against Chelski have left much to be desired. Still, selection headaches are part of the job and I don't intend to second-guess Wenger, many have tried and failed.

Thirdly, we will never see the goals scored against Partisan in the prem, because most of the attacking football followed the same formula, Song > Arshavin/Wilshire who burst forward into space and pass to Wilshire/Arshavin and try and create a goal scoring opportunity for each other. Wilshire and Arshavin have a good understanding already. Arshavin can see that its a player he can trust with the ball, someone who will give it back when he needs it. Another ally amongst those that aren't good enough to play with. Premier league midfielders would get tighter than Partisan and make it tougher to make these combinations.

Arshavin, Wilshire, Fabregas, Ramsey, Rosicky, Nasri are on the same wavelength. Chamakh is getting there, he's already making the right runs, Rosicky's cross to pick him out against Partisan was an awesome, curving, undefendable ball right onto his bonce.

Something worth mentioning, (putting my stat hat on) 9 games in (all comps) and Arshavin has scored 5, Chamakh 4, Nasri 4, Walcott 4, Fabregas 3, Vela 3, and 5 others have a single goal.

Thats 28 goals in 10 games, an average of 2.8 goals per game.

Going forwards, we are better than we have been for a long time. Defensively is a different kettle of fish. Potentially we have a very good defence. Just too many new ingredients being added to the recipe at any one time. Squillaci has done well, Koscielny has done well. We need to consider our centre backs haven't played much together and they're both Premier League newbies. We need Vermaelen back for this weekend or I fear we'll get mugged by Chelski.

Fingers crossed for the Arsenal medical team, for the training this week to proceed without incident and Fabregas and Vermaelen to return this weekend.

Til then gooners

WG

Technorati : Arsenal, Arshavin, Partizan Belgrade, Song, Wilshire
Del.icio.us : Arsenal, Arshavin, Partizan Belgrade, Song, Wilshire
Zooomr : Arsenal, Arshavin, Partizan Belgrade, Song, Wilshire
Flickr : Arsenal, Arshavin, Partizan Belgrade, Song, Wilshire

Lift up rug, sweep previous result under it and pray..

..that next time we turn up and don't bother playing our rivals do the same.

I'm not going to bang on about the result on saturday. It was laughable. I've mentioned the lack of heroes in our team, Nasri apart we looked lost, without leadership, guile, craft and desire.

Optimistically looking forwards, it appears Almungo has injured his arm in the process of creating/saving the penalty. Which means Wookie Flappianski is between the sticks tomorrow night.

Honestly, I hope he has a stormer, it will do his confidence good and maybe Almungo will be benched at the weekend. I dont think Al is the worst goalkeeper in the world, but neither were the likes of Manninger, Shaaban, Taylor but all were judged not good enough and Almungo is in that category also.

I expect a different attitude to the team tomorrow..they're always more up for Europe than the Prem. So no predo but I expect a convincing win.

Til tomorrow Gooners

WG

Technorati : Alex Manninger, Arsenal, Fabianski, Manuel Almunia, Rami Shaaban, Samir Nasri, Stuart Taylor, West Bromwich Albion
Del.icio.us : Alex Manninger, Arsenal, Fabianski, Manuel Almunia, Rami Shaaban, Samir Nasri, Stuart Taylor, West Bromwich Albion
Zooomr : Alex Manninger, Arsenal, Fabianski, Manuel Almunia, Rami Shaaban, Samir Nasri, Stuart Taylor, West Bromwich Albion
Flickr : Alex Manninger, Arsenal, Fabianski, Manuel Almunia, Rami Shaaban, Samir Nasri, Stuart Taylor, West Bromwich Albion

Bolton dreams, Spud-i-like and bragging about Braga

What a catch up this has been. Firstly, lets hit the results;

Bolton (A) 1:4

Braga (H) 6:0

Sunderland (A) 1:1

Spuds (A) 1:4

Frankly, I'll take those results with a smile, with the exception of Sunderland we have consistently outplayed and outscored our opponents. From what I have seen from the available highlights it appears we're looking very fluid at the moment. Squillaci seems to have fitted in well, as with Koscielny.

Jack Wilshire is back to his effective best, busying himself about creating chances and enjoying himself, its great to see and even if we lost Fab4 to his Barca DNA then I think with Wilshire and Rambo we've got two guys that can step up.

I think Chamakh deserves a mention, he's led the line well for us this season already and he's a very strong asset in the air. Vela also seems to be finishing better, but again I'm relying on highlights here guys.

So, looking forwards to this arvo and West Brom, it should be a walkthrough game this, play it by numbers and the result will follow. I hope the players put down another marker and score heavily again, goal difference is important and its a fear factor too. Noone wants to get done 4-5 to nil, so it will be a physic mind trick to them, I'd always back us to open up a team thats playing defensive this season..I think we have so many options that we can get past their parked buses.

Anyway, I'll end this now and look forward to the West Brom game. Predo, 4:0 to the Arsenal

WG

Well in my absence, it appears all is relatively well in the world

Hi all, apologies for the lack of posts, I've been in Egypt for two weeks and I've had an awesome time.

It appears in my absence, Arsenal have done well, I'll write a bit more later because there's lots to discuss, but for now....

I need to shower and get on with the ridiculous amount of unpacking.

Til later gooners!!

WG

Well it had to backfire sometime!

It seems the "wait til the last second of the transfer window" tactics of our financially astute manager has failed.

Let's get one thing straight, I know we will concede less goals than last season. I can just feel it. Regardless who is between the sticks. I've never been sold on Almunia and I don't think he's the guy to take us forwards, but he's not awful! Get some perspective, he's not Ricardo, Massimo Taibi or god help us Rami Shabaan (remember him?).

I think we seem to forget sometimes that we are arsenal supporters, passionate, money spending fans and whilst we are able to have our opinions it shouldn't ever affect our core belief in the team. It shouldn't allow us to waver in our support for every player in the shirt, whether we rate them or not.

Three games in and there is far too much negativity flying about. Some of you guys want to play sunday league to learn about playing football, how difficult it can be to get a result, even if you are far superior to your oppositon.

I think Arsenal have dropped the ball in not replacing Almunia, but from disaster comes heroes. We might see a new Almunia, or we might even see Fabianski. Whoever picks up the gloves, its our job as supporters and Arsenal fans to get behind them. There's pressure enough without your own fans giving it to you too.

Yours, will full honesty

WG