Just shite. Yesterday’s game was a bit rough to watch (uninspiring?). Arsenal couldn’t string together much passing and every time we garnered some possession we couldn’t do much with it. Stoke are always a tough play for us; and they have been even tougher this year at home with some of the big boys. Yesterday was no different and as soon as I saw the hand ball by Kols I knew this one was over. Don’t get me wrong, we had a few decent chances but the continual grab ass, foot stomping, shin kicking way in which Stoke was allowed to play just threw us completely off our game (anyone else seeing a pattern with how to frustrate us this year?). It seemed like the Ref was just content to allow everything to play on when clearly there were a few missed yellows (the stomp on Giroud was just despicable).

I thought this one was an interesting side that we ran out there but after the first few minutes is quickly became obvious we were missing speed to link up with Rosicky (who I thought was easily our man of the match). It wasn’t until very late did we see The Ox come on and really start running at them (sad to Rosicky come off when that happened). With the way Stoke muffled us I wonder if Frenchy paid any attention to the fact that our best chances came on the counter (where we always seemed one man short from really making a difference).

After watching a bit I felt like we seriously misplayed our starting 11 in this one and hoped that speed was going to come on in the second half (and possibly an enforcer). To me, the subs should have been The Ox, Gnabry and Flamini on for Poldi, Wilshere and Arteta. Poldi actually had a decent chance early on (and was denied an opportunity later when Santi struck instead of laying off) but we needed wingers and some D to match up against what was going on with this game. Our counter lacked any pizzazz and given that we constantly got knocked off possession it seemed that the only answer to Stoke’s molesting was the run and gun. When that didn’t happen we saw witness to a hand ball that on replay looked more like uncontrolled body movement coupled with the luck a re-direct in mid-air (the image of Walters shoving Kols right after pretty much sums of this match).

We now find ourselves losing serious ground with plenty of teams waiting in the wings. Tater Totts keeps crawling up. Liverpuke keeps winning. City still has points to gain in had. And Blue balls still command the top spot. This could easily be one of those seasons where we barely hold on to 4th while only being a few points from 1st. Not a great feeling when the race is this tight and we start to drop points where we shouldn’t. That isn’t to say Stoke didn’t earn their win (admittedly they earned at least a share of a point) but we can’t be dropping points this late in the season. This is where we need to make the kind of run we have made in the last few years. The big difference? This time a run like the past could have us at the top rather than fighting for the last CL spot…

COYG.