Really a tough fought game over the weekend. After a truly brilliant win against Napoli, which saw another fantastic Ramsey performance and Ozil’s first ‘wow that was awesome’ goal, the team took a bit of a dip against a team high off their Man U away win (boy did Fergie read the writing on the wall or what?!). West Brom is not a team to take lightly and we knew we had a tough one ahead of us. Had we won, this post would be much different. After watching the DOMINATING performance mid week, I really figured we would take 3 away from Albion. After watching the pressure they put on us though, I was happy to see us walk away (literally) with no major (?) injuries and at least salvaging a point.

Up until the tie, I wanted to right a post about how this team is playing at one of those levels that has them not losing games but just taking them over when needed in order to pull out a win. I know what that is like. Back when I played baseball I was on a division team that rolled through tournaments to first place on a rather consistent basis (up until State… where we took 2nd). We would constantly get behind and then all of a sudden turn up the juice and walk away with a dominating win. It is a weird but exciting feeling. You are losing for most of the game but your confidence is so high that you know it doesn’t matter the score because you are just going to come back and win it all in the end. That is what I felt like I was watching during that Napoli game. All of a sudden Arsenal just jumped to a level and Napoli looked completely out gunned (yep, on purpose).

So, all things aside, I really felt like that was going to happen over the weekend. I wasn’t thrilled with our choice of lineup but I guess rotation is a must at some point. I like Jack but the lad just hasn’t been up to snuff for most of this short year. Outside of that goal (remember, he is not a goal scorer for us) I though he played a shitty first half. He just seems to get bullied of balls at times and loses his vision. I want to see him rise up and accept that if the entire team is healthy he may not be a straight starter and that means playing better, smarter, and faster football (see Ramsey as a recent example). That said, I was happy to see him step up in the second half and notch the equalizing goal; hopefully a start to something of the run King Ramsey has enjoyed recently.

Speaking of which, Ramsey ended up putting in a so-so game but he took a knock that had him out much earlier than I would imagine he would have liked. You have to wonder if that played a role in his play (hell yeah it did the lad basically had his leg shatter in pieces by the Orcs of Stoke City!!!). Here is hoping that the break (ouch, wrong word to use) will serve him well. Ahh, the break (sorry, did it again). This is where we could come back stronger or like thin mints. Bacary was a late scratch that could put his return a week later than the conclusion of the international break. And here I was thinking our backline was a potential area of depth with Monreal, Jenks, and TV5 all serviceable when needed.

The loss of Sagna doesn’t strip us of  our depth (ha! we have that?!)  but makes me a wee bit woozy in the event we lose another. Arteta looks back to health and of serviceable form. Flamini has been a beast so we have to be happy about that penny pinching signing at this point in the season. Wojciech made some incredible saves at WBA and it’s good to see him playing so well and so early in the season. Rosicky made another appearance and I’m glad to have him back. Happier still that he is left off international waters… er, rosters and so that means the time off should = health (at least theoretically). What seemed to kill us in the WBA game (at least IMHO) was pace. We lacked it. We need that speedy pace that compliments our possession game. When we don’t have it we tend to turn into a pass happy fest. And when lads give the ball away that space we enjoy so much turns into our weakness (yes, looking at you Jack). This was really a game that were we obviously missed Theo and the Ox in the lineup. Come to think of it, I believe even Gnabry could have made a difference in this one. And boy, I don’t know about the rest of you, but I almost shat myself when Bendtner stepped on the pitch. Had to have left a few new  shitmarks, i mean followers, wondering who the hell that fashionista was… World’s Greatest Striker my friends (extra thick sarcasm there folks). Enjoy the ride crazy boy. Oh man, I just shivered thinking of Giroud going down and having to start that boy…