I was actually contemplating the feelings of both Cesc and Vermalen after the Chelsea game and decided that they both must be feeling like shit. I think of both because they are fighters and have an un-paralleled winning mentality. That prompted me to share with you my analysis and observations of the last two games and the current Arsenal squad.

Almunia is no goalkeeper who inspires or has any confidence. Our defence (Eboue excepted) try everything before deciding to pass the ball back to him. Mentally and tactically this must weigh a lot on them. If we need proof; and if I am objective and un-biased, just compare Van der Sar’s cool-head and foot-passing skills to Almunia. Above all, Almunia’s facial expressions and body language are easily translated (at least by myslef) into “I should be warming the bench”.

In denfense, suddenly Sagna has become an average player – he is neither good nor bad, just average. It happens in football, but in order to achieve anything this season we have to have best performances week-in week-out. But this is not our biggest problem in denfense, it is rather the panic factor which I thought had disappeared with the departure of Toure. Gallas is panicking. I still can not decide whether it is Almunia who is contributing to the panick streak in Gallas or it is something acquired by Gallas due to his reduced mobility and reduced pace. Panick has to be eradicated from our defense if we wish to win anything. It is obvious that Gallas is leaving in the summer, I would say (the same I thought when Ture left) that it would be for the better of the team and defense. Clichy’s recent performances have been well analysed – he simply should not be starting until he acquires match fitness. Starting games is unfair to him, we all know that he is one of the best left backs in the world. I would pick Traore.

In the last two games, Song has suddenly become more offensive than defensive minded. This is not what Vieira did, and did it better than anybody else would ever be able to do. If against Manchester we conceeded two goals against the run of play from counter-attacks, then where are Wenger’s words to his holding mid-fielder and where is the application during the game with Chelsea if the words were spoken, understood and applied. A top club such as Arsenal can not loose two games in a row in a very similar fashion – it is un-thinkable. It of course happened and there must be something fundamentally wrong with the way we play the game. In comparison to Barcelona there are two things that we do not do well enough. Defend high up the pitch (in the opponents half) and keep the ball for longer periods arround the penaly box of the opponent. That has to be worked-out and should be our first line of defense.

Fabreags did not have a great game against Manchester and of course that has an impact on our game and everyone in the team. However, what I find worrying is that Nasri, Diaby, Denilson and maybe other players are happy to make the simpler pass to Fabregas instead of taking risks by trying a defense-splitting pass or even dribbling. We hardly have wingers in the team and of course the tactic is about the two full-backs providing the needed crosses. However, when the full-backs are out of form, as has been the case recently, the ball is hardly crossed and even when it is crossed there is no one in the receiving end. Which brings me to the question of “the striker”. Bendtner is no striker that I can count on. Did we all forget how he performed when he was fit and we had RVP in the team. Bendtner’s ball control is poor, he is unable to protect his ball and is weak in protecting the ball untill support arrives. His scoring record is questionnable. Eduardo is certainly unhappy, his facial expressions demonstrate his unhappiness. Which is understandable but does not solve “the striker” problem we have. I will not write about Vela because it is not yet time to write about him, he needs two more years at least. Wenger should have acted during the transfer window not only because we need a striker but also because we are wasting such a talent as Arshavin. Rosicky is no longer a threat to any team, he mostly plays side-ways and his game is televised with his body movements. His denfensive qualities are also very poor. Walcott has been unlucky with injurries and should not have started on Sunday – however he tracked back extremely well but that is not what we want to remember of Walcott’s game. He has to improve his first touch considerably if he wants to be back to his best.

It really hurts to see Arsenal play the way they have been but what hurts more is reading comments like those of Ballack which are designed to hurt. It is no longer entertainment it is rather torture. All this being said, I think we have top quality players and a team in Sagna, Vermalen, Clichy, Fabregas, Diaby, Song, Nasri, RVP, Walcott, Arshavin that we need to strengthen in the summer with a few players. I however still beleive in our season and that we might, just might, be able to come back. Or is that wishfull thinking?

For every 1 Gooner, there’s 50 Manure fans. So imagine how it’s like being 3-0 up when surrounded by hundreds of Manure fans screaming and shouting at you.

Wenger called his side ‘naive’ in the 2-0 defeat at Chelsea and says they could not match battle-hardened Blues.

He said: “Our average age is 23 years and Chelsea’s is 29 – I think that it showed in the decisive moments on the pitch. I think we were a bit naive on the first corner and then we got caught on the break.

“We have to give everything until the last second of the championship, whatever happens.

“We can’t have any regrets, and if Chelsea are better than us and win the title, or if it’s Manchester United, then we will congratulate them along with everyone else.

“But that’s not a reason for us to give up.

“We have to show the dignity of our ambitions and sometimes that means fighting until the end.”

http://www.tribalfootball.com/arsenal-boss-wenger-admits-he-cannot-win-kids-631211

But yeah, frustration and sarcasm, the two key components of the reaction any true Gooner after the Chelsea game I reckon. The sad thing is I believe we do have more quality than the top two. We are just prone to far more incompetence as well. If that continues to go unadressed then frustration will continue aplenty.

That’s enough doom and gloom from me. The CL is my favourite of the competitions and even though it looks beyond us it is a cup competition after all. Football can be a funny game, I’m looking forward to the Porto matches.

While I’m not saying that I wouldn’t like to see at least a couple of new ‘tough guys’ in the team, both in defense and attack, I have just read an article by Arsenal legend Lee Dixon which puts the blame for our manure & Chelski defeats squarely on poor, poor defending. How the players, whether it be Clichy or whoever, could possibly have left Drogba – of all people! unmarked on the far post for a tap in is beyond imagining. Just what was Clichy doing wandering about flapping his arms like a chicken? For Drogba’s second, again nobody went with him. He was left to receive the ball in space and time to evade Clichy’s desperate lunge with ease. It’s rubbish to leave a player like him unmarked. Clichy in fact has been absolutely terrible since his return from injury. A liability. This is a shame for a player who’s been Mr Reliable for so long.
As for the manure goals – well we all know what shockers they were – 2 goals gifted to them by a combination of dreadful defending and fumblingly indecisive goal keeping. Almunia is another liability. Is there currently a worse goal keeper in the Premier League?
My point in all this is that all this talk of wrong tactics, team’s too weak, too many kids, no plan B, Wenger’s lost the plot etc. etc. ~ is fair enough but it’s all basically just opinion. What we know for a fact is that we conceded early goals, in very important matches, due only to very poor defending – and if you do that against a top team, like Cheslski, who have an amazing defensive record, and manure then your chances of being able to get back into the game are always going to be slim.
To look at it another way – imagine if, in either of those games, Chelski or manure had allowed our attackers to simply run unopposed at their goal? Or their goal keeper had flapped the ball into his own net? Imagine if we’d been gifted two goals in the first half of each match. Do you think we couldn’t have run out winners? And everyone would be saying what a tactical genius AW is?
As others here have said the actual, tangible problem that needs to be addressed in the team is not some hypothetical lack of height, aggression, experience, will- to-win or whatever load of Michael Ballacks is being spouted today. It is how to defend.