PAPERING OVER THE CRACKS

The 7-5 win against Reading yesterday night in the Capital One cup was a delight for the neutrals and I dare say it pleased most Arsenal fans at the end of the day.To come back from 4-0 down was really some achievement.But, for me,it was a game one of those games that once again proved that Arsenal are not "there" yet,and sadly, for the 8th season in a row!My view on how Arsenal will perform this season is now more clear and it points at another trophy-less season,sadly.

As I have mentioned so many times in my posts,better defense equals more chances of winning trophies.How did our defense perform yesterday?The less said about it,the better.All the experts,pundits and fans were excited about how well our defense was organized in the first three games of the season which was credited to Steve Bould. We have conceded in every match after those games(except against QPR on Saturday). The "Steve Bould effect" was thrown out of the window yesterday.You might argue it was a reshuffled defense or a reshuffled team but infact,it is more worrying as it proves that defensive frailties resides to the core of Arsenal FC.The club must be built on a solid foundation of defense from the root-level, only then can it lay claim to titles as history has so clearly proven in the past in any league or at international level(or you have to be Brazil or Barcelona who can outscore any opponent and evidently,we cannot do that). Of course out manager wants us to play an attacking brand of football but that does not mean neglecting the defense completely.

If I am to be honest, I actually wanted Arsenal to concede more after it was 4-0 so that it would make the manager realize that we were having problems.But we did the "papering over the cracks" act and came out 7-5 winners.We have ruled ourselves out of being genuine title challengers from yesterday's match in my opinion.Sure Portsmouth won the FA cup and Birmingham  won the Carling Cup a few years ago but if Arsenal win a trophy this season, it would be hailed,as in the case of the aforementioned teams,a miracle!
  
 

CONCEDED

Yesterday's defeat against Norwich condemned Arsenal to their second defeat of the season.Yet, Arsenal are already 10 points behind the league leaders Chelsea.It is very early to state that Chelsea will win the league.However,it is almost certain that Arsenal will need a miracle to overtake Chelsea at the top.I don't think Arsenal were really one of the title contenders.Most experts expected the same specially after RVP left.But a few fans and experts did have some raised hopes after Arsenal had an encouraging start to the season.Not even the most optimistic of fans would expect Arsenal to challenge for the Premier League now.
It is now a race to finish in the top 4 for Arsenal from now on in my opinion.Maybe they can take a dig at other competitions(judging by yesterday's performance, a big maybe).

Some might think it is too early for making any predictions as such but Arsenal fans have just got to look at Arsenal's last 8 seasons.For me the main problem was conceding goals.Again and again we concede goals.A top team must be able to keep clean sheets.We had 3....then had nothing.That is just not acceptable.I have mentioned many times previously that if a team does not concede, it has every chance of winning a game;unless of course if you are Real Madrid or Barcelona who can outscore their opponents (yesterdays 5-4 win for Barcelona against Deportivo,what a game!).Manchester City too,managed to outscore West Brom and so did Manchester United who did it against Stoke.But the key difference here is that Arsenal do not have world class players aplenty in their squad like all the teams I just mentioned(you can't deny that,can you?).We do not have a player who can almost single-handedly propel their team to a win.(Messi scored thrice, Dzeko twice,Rooney twice;an they have done it consistently).Giroud or Gervinho or Wallcot are not at the same level, atleast not yet.It is a bitter pill to swallow but it is the truth.We must keep it tight at the back and then hope(yes...hope) we can score.

Our next game is against Shalke and I think it will be another banana skin after I saw Shalke beat Dortmund emphatically yesterday(I can just hope it is a clean sheet!).

MIND IT!

The human mind is programmed to support its "claims" no matter how fantastic(and often contradicting their own claims) the "claims" are. It has,like most of the things in this world,good and bad aspects.What is the good side and what is the bad side depends upon the perception of people and varies from person to person.What is "good" for one is likely to be "bad" for others.Where am I getting with this?A cousin of mine is a Liverpool fan and when Brendan Rodgers was appointed as the Liverpool manager,the first thing I remember him saying is (obviously excitedly so)"we are getting tiki-taka football at Anfield".That was obviously expected by many with reference to the type of football Rodgers was acclaimed for at Swansea last season.A few days ago,when two giants of world football in Barcelona and Real Madrid clashed,he said "Barcelona just pass the ball and that is it.It is so boring!".Oh the Human mind!

A news today has circulated that the ex-Arsenal player Hleb said that he learnt more from Wenger. Well if you play regularly at a club and don't get many games at another club even as a sub,it is obvious where you would be learning more from.

Another popular news in Arsenal blogs and forums at the moment is that Arsenal are readying an offer of 40m pounds for Falcao. Well,I do not know about that;but I do know that it will cost us 0 pounds to dream!

In other news,Wallcot and his agents are steel seeking to get a pay rise if a new deal is signed with Arsenal.

On this subject,Arsenal chairman Peter Hill-Wood commented "We have got our general overall wage structure and we are not prepared to break it for anybody". .Well obviously Mr.Peter,this is not applicable to Ivan Gazidis who received a pay rise to 2mil pounds and though not revealed entirely,I have a feeling, among the ones to receive a pay rise is a certain Peter Hill-Wood too.Is it ethically correct then to come out and claim that another person does not deserve a pay rise when you are receiving one yourself? Oh the Human mind!

BACK TO "ARSENAL" WAYS

I have never liked Arsenal conceding a goal.In fact,I would take a 0-0 draw any day for a 2-1 win!(well maybe not all the time!).I have always believed that for a team to win trophies, it must show solidity from the back(unless you are Barcelona or Real Madrid ofcourse).

For their first 3 games of the season, Arsenal managed to keep as many clean sheets.They were being praised from all corners regarding their new found defensive solidity.Some even tipped them to challenge for the title after watching just 3 games!(which was ofcourse an overreaction).How things have changed.They started their old habit of conceding goals again after the 3 matches.So much so that they have not kept a clean sheet in any tournament after the first 3 matches!And the repercussions of conceding goals are clearly to be seen in the matches.The only match in which we looked comfortable conceding a goal was the one against Southampton.We had some luck in winning the other matches where we conceded while our luck ditched us against the matches against Manchester City(where we could and should have won easily) and against Chelsea(which ofcourse we lost).

When we were not conceding,you could see that all our players oozed confidence and they believed we could win.That is true for any team.As I have mentioned in my earlier post,any team that does not concede has every chance to win.But,if you analyze the matches in which we conceded, our players seemed more nervous and as a result, we gave chances to the opposition.

Personally,whenever Arsenal concede,I get nervous myself!I just can't take a goal!I start to get thoughts like "Ok. We might throw away this game here" "Here we go again!".These thoughts are mainly due to that dreaded night at the Emirates against Newcastle 2 seasons ago when we went from 4-0 up to drawing 4-4 and 8-2 defeat last season.Win or lose,I have always watched Arsenal matches till the final whistle.However, this season,I expect so much from Arsenal's defense that when we conceded a goal, I stopped watching the match altogether.I can't hold my nerves after we concede! It is in a way, too painful too watch.Please, Arsenal, do not concede....so that I can watch the full match.

CHIT-CHAT

Today is a very important day for Arsenal FC. An important player of our squad,Jack Wilshere is playing tonight for the Arsenal reserves after a 14 month injury layoff that saw him miss the entire season last year.

It will be some time before he makes the first team.But non the less, it is an important step towards making it to the first squad.His return is good news for Arsenal who could benefit from the return of the outstanding player.His return is now more important as Diaby is out injured and we need that "assured" type of player in our midfield like Wilshere who can dictate the pace of the came while also creating countless scoring opportunities.

Midfield however is not at the top list of my concerns because it is a position where we have surplus replacements, also rightly claimed by Le Boss.My main concern is the striker's position. I do not(sadly) see any player in that position at Arsenal who is capable of scoring 20+ goals this season.Even more worrying is the fact that there are 20+ goal scoring talents at clubs that have traditionally been labelled as clubs below Arsenal. Everton have Anichebe and Jelavich (maybe Fellaini too),Sunderland(Fletcher),Aston Villa(Darren Bent),Tottenham(Jermain Defoe,Adebayor and maybe GarethBale), Southampton(RickieLambert), Reading (Shane Long).A club like Arsenal must have a world class striker,I don't see one at the moment. Gervinho could surprise me and score 20+ but he seems to be scared too many times to score especially when it matters(misses against Man City and Chelsea this season).Giroud too seems totally lost at Arsenal.He is already a flop to me.He missed  two chances that could have given us 4 points.Although, I will add that this is his first season and he will take time to settle.Maybe next season he will do better.But I would suggest Arsenal fans not to expect many goals from him this season. Podolski is a great finisher no doubt, but the manager is playing him at the left where he will not get many opportunities to score.And who is our other option?Chamakh? I think the manager knows how "good" Chamakh is.So he would prefer to use a false striker maybe like Barcelona and more recently by Spain.This could be a good option but what we must realize is that WE ARE NO BARCELONA or SPAIN.Our other option,Wallcott is pacey but too "lean" to be a striker in the Premier League.

The way I see it, I think Arsene should mix the "false striker" and the traditional number 9 kind of play with Gervinho upfront and maybe Giroud once in a while.It will be more likely for us to get goals then....ofcourse, from one of our midfielder! 

THE AFTERMATH

I still feel drowsy from watching the late night match between Barcelona and Seville last night.What a match it was!Barcelona came back fro 2-1 down to defeat Seville 3-2 in the dying moments of the match.How I wished Arsenal could achieve the same feat earlier in the evening.But bygones are bygones.It is a new day and we have to move on.No use in complaining about "what could have been" or "what should have been."

So what position are we after yesterday's defeat?We are at 7th with 9 points.Chelsea are of course 1st with 16 points.Already, the gap is of 7 points!Second placed Everton(surprise!) are at 13 points. No need for us to panic just yet.Chelsea will eventually drop points.The table is not as much a concern to me as the Arsenal squad is at the moment.We lost "glass-ankled" Diaby yesterday.A pity really, he could have given so much to  our team.But it is evident that he is too injury-prone to be playing or for that matter staying at Arsenal in my opinion.Van Persie too was injury prone,he played at least 15-20 games per season.

Another concern for me is that the players looked so down at the final whistle yesterday.The media and the fans alike, before the match predicted the first loss of the season for Chelsea, which might have raised expectations in our players that they could(or maybe would) win the match.But, they were to be disappointed at the end of the day.This might also have had a negative effect on some of our players who seemed so confident before the match.I wonder if this will have longer impacts on our play?I hope it does not and hope the players will pick themselves up after the defeat.

After the match, Arsene said about the missed chance by Giroud at the death, "He should have scored." Well Giroud has been a total flop for me so far.I don't think the manager thinks he is a hit too.He did not start the last too match,did he?And not counting the minor chances,he missed two very important chances, one against Stoke to win the match and the one against Chelsea yesterday that would have given us a point.
Arsene does not and has not criticized his players in the past.But in case of Giroud, it seems even Le Boss is finding it hard to keep quite!Yet,I hope Giroud does well although I am not sure this season will be a season to remember for him in all honesty.