Win Marred By Wilshere's Loss

Wilshere Will Be Badly Missed

It was a resolute performance for the 1-0 win from Arsenal yesterday. We were able to cling on to the one goal lead ,especially when we were under immense pressure in the second half after we lost Jenkinson to a red card. The win was more important as it meant we are still in the race for a top four finish after Spurs had earlier won their match against Newcastle.

We witnessed some excellent football in the first half from Arsenal. Wilshere and Cazorla were involved in most of the attacking threats that we had against Sunderland. The only downside in the first half was that we could not score more goals when maybe we should have because the slim lead placed us under immense pressure in the second half. The second half did not start well. We lost Wilshere, our main man, on 50 minutes to injury. And then Jenkinson got sent off for a second yellow following a rash challenge. We had to play the last half an hour with ten men and just about hung on for the win. We missed very good chances to go up 2 or 3 goals up and had to thank Szczesny and Sagna for helping us keep a clean sheet.

The good thing to come out of the match is that we were resilient as a team and were hard to break down even after being reduced to ten men. But the biggest loss is undoubtedly Wilshere. He will be a big, big loss. He has been such an influential player for Arsenal. I wonder how we will cope with his loss. His loss could be season defining for Arsenal, such is the importance of this player. Lets just hope we perform well without him and pray for his quick recovery.

After the match, our players were looked extremely tired and fatigued.Our next opponents are Blackburn at home in an FA cup tie on Saturday, which means our players will get some well deserved rest. Thank god we don't have Champions League match this week!

Ba's Gone As The Eve of The Transfer Window Is Upon Us

Demba Ba is In Talks With Chelsea

So, we are finally there. The eve of the New Year 2013(HAPPY NEW YEAR EVERYONE!) and most exciting of transfer windows approaches. Not that transfer windows were not exciting before. But the Manager himself has come out and claimed that this transfer window will be busy for Arsenal, which is not something you heard from him recently.Who goes in, who goes out, to Arsenal, from Arsenal, to the Premier League, from the Premier League....fans love the transfer window(if your club does not lose its best players!).
Arsenal have been linked with quite a few names this time around, like always. But as Arsene himself claimed, Arsenal would only be looking at "exceptional talent". Llorente,Holtby,David Villa, Demba Ba among others would perfectly fit the tag of "exceptional talent" and are apparently available for transfers if rumors are to be believed. Demba Ba is however holding talks for a move to Chelsea. He would have been a good addition to our squad given his proven abilities in the EPL and his price tag (7.5mil Pounds). But, it seems he is destined for a move to Chelsea, although you never know unless he actually completes the move.
Arsene, after the game against Newcastle claimed that Arsenal are not "short" in forward area. So, it could be an indication that he would go for a mid-fielder and/or someone to play in the back four, especially the left back position where we are desperately short on numbers and quality.
We can speculate all we want, but the transfer window always throws up quite a few surprises. Brace yourself, because there will be more than a few this time around. 

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.