Talk about stealing one. As soon as I saw the lineup I instantly thought of last year and our ineptitude in games that we should have won. Watching this one instantly had me thinking of previous games we gave away during our last campaign… we almost did in this one too. And yet, we pulled it out. That is what championship caliber teams do. They win games ugly and by any means possible. It feels great to pull this one out going into a bit of league break (although I would like nothing more than to kick the shit out of tater totts this weekend). Anyways, we really looked short handed in this one even though we have midfield and, to some extent, back line depth. The injury bug has crept up and we find ourselves seriously shorthanded in terms of strikers now. This game sees us through with one less holding goal scorer. But we got the win and in some ways that is all that matters.

We came into this one missing Gibbs, Ozil, Rambo and Giroud. Given that all four of those guys play a huge role in our attacking scheme you had to have some sense that this one could prove tight. Thankfully, Cardiff looked equally inept and the lack of quality in their side kept them mostly at bay. They never gave us too much a scare and the stats showed that this was a game more about missed chances then scared tactics. That said, Cardiff came in not having a single thing to lose and ready to give us a fight. Hell, playing at the Emirates isn’t what playing at Highbury used to be like. You can get away with wins these days much more easily as the corporate stadium doesn’t quite give the home field advantage that we used to enjoy (or so I am told given that I am a Yank, have never graced the grounds of either Arsenal venue and have only read about both experiences by die hard, long time supporters-but I’m not too far off here given the difference in watching games elsewhere).

All things aside, there were some positives to take from this one. First, Jack played much, much better. He had better movement and set up some great bursts of attacking opportunities that just didn’t quite end in the back of the net. Poldi started, and played, a large chunk of minutes (nice to see given he apparently has never been able to play a full 90 minutes in his life eh Wenger?). Our defense (Nacho Libre played extremely well) held tough to seal off another shutout. Our “major” loss was Bendtner after he contributed the ice-breaker goal (I swear, only that guy could get injured on a goal scoring play but damn if I wasn’t happy with the top knot idiot). Walcott sealed the victory off tight as can be and I don’t care how, when, or by what means, it is always good when Theo is scoring.

Here is the thing, I really like Poldi in our lineup. He has an awesome leg and plays great off others. But the guy is not an out and out striker for Arsene’s system. Poldi plays best off a guy like Giroud or Bendtner. He makes his magic when they occupy the mid and he unabashedly crashes through with a Thor-ish bolt of goal scoring lightning. Poldi doesn’t hold up well and he generally isn’t known for his creative impact or dribbling skills. Putting him up top without the right service is only going to see him frustrated and absent. I argued last season that he was best used up top with/alongside Giroud; not in place of him. I don’t believe this year is any different but now we find ourselves incredibly thin up top and he really is the only serviceable replacement if Giroud needs a rest (January window anyone?).

It seems like each week I end up telling my wife: “Arsenal game today. Really important game. Have to win.” She always responds with, “Aren’t they all important and don’t they have to win all of them?” Seems like that is truly turning out to be the case here. Arsenal sit atop the leader board but when 5 points separate us from first to fourth every game really does end up being important and a must win. Not exactly the best feeling given that the pressure will continue to mount as the season trucks on. However, given what this crew has gone through the last few years and fighting for each and every spot… well, you have to like our chances. And games like this show me we have what it takes to pull this one out in the long run.

Until next time Gooners.

Things have been damn cold here in the great NW. As I sit here in my Arsenal beanie, enjoying the match from earlier today, the temp outside reads 14* F. Yeah. A bit chilly. Love it though. We already got our first snow (a dusting really) on Monday. Another reason for moving back “home”.

Weather aside, it has been an absolute pleasure getting to watch our boys this year. Regardless of the lack of writing on my part, there hasn’t been a weekend that has gone by that I still didn’t find the time to garb up in my gear, parade my child around town in his and watch The Arsenal continue their push toward another Champion’s League qualification and tightening our hold on the title. 

I suppose the long time fans can’t be too surprised. They enjoyed the bigger, glory years. The seamless football dominance and towering figures enshrined on the Emirates walls. I will admit I am jealous. But knowing so much Arsenal “defeat” (if you can call consistent Champions League qualification that) has made this year an absolute joy to take in. Cap it all off with Ozil facilitating the beautiful style of play that got me hooked on soccer, Rambo literally playing out of his mind and Giroud taking that next step in his hold up play… boy, it’s just been rich.

And depth? Well, it should be on the way with Walcott on the mend, Poldi close to game time and the Ox recuperating. Even our midfield has grown crowded with the stellar play of Rambo (quite nice having options for Wenger when it comes to cycling his players). The biggest difference for me this year has been the apparent confidence exuded by Arsenal. You could argue that the Ozil signing had a lot to do with that but I think that his arrival (and elevated type of play) really just put us over the top. This started last year for me when you saw a team stick it out, pull off an incredible run and develop the kind of understanding on the pitch that makes a manager’s job easy. 

Right. The match. As much as I despise seeing Bend-over on the pitch it was quite nice seeing Giroud get a well deserved rest. I really thought Ozil and Rambo would also see themselves on the bench (not to mention hoping that TV5 would garner a start) given the amount of minutes they have played this year. I guess that whole talk of give ’em some rest, long road ahead, lots of matches to be played yadda yadda yadda was a load. OR, it could be that Arsene wanted to see us secure the win early and then run out some of our other lads. 

Possession was off the charts to start. It almost looked WAY too easy. Much like you would expect a title team going up against a first year back, championship level team. BUT too many missed chances as well early on. The quick goal had me thinking Bend-over could see more than one goal in this one. But after Ozil’s strike was rebounded (gifted) to his feet and he couldn’t quite turn it in you knew that rustiness isn’t that easy to rub off. It is a bit sad that the expectation is so low that a single goal from Bend-over is considered over-achieving but it is what it is with that lad. 

Toward the end of the first half you could see things start to wear off a bit in the attacking prowess. Part of this could be the result of having Monreal and Jenks out there (they just haven’t received the minutes they need to add loads to the attack). Rambo, of course, almost lashed one in at the 32nd minute (really a beautiful strike and a better save). Really great to see that kind of confidence just oozing out of Rambo; the boy deserves it after all the doubters. 

It really has become something that Arsenal are putting together the kind of build up that they do in scoring goals. Reminiscent of Barca? A little bit… It becomes very apparent how much understanding there is between the players when you throw in someone who isn’t getting the regular minutes (looking at you Bend-over). Too often you see him a bit too out of position or not hustling with the sort of effort we have become accustomed to in Giroud. Hard to complain when he does find goal with that ugly noggin and ridiculous top knotty thing (is it supposed to help his arrow dynamics or something??). 

Nevertheless, another piece of evidence: The oh so beautiful touches between Rambo and Ozil in the second goal just after the start of the second half. Just a fantastic one-two followed by a clean, cool Ozil finish. No coincidence that Ramsey was, yet again, involved in another Arsenal goal (perfectly weighted pass to Jenks in the first has to count too). 

Later on, a bit of an odd change if you were looking to give a few some rest. Honestly, I would argue that Jack come on for Ozil or Rambo (just to give them some rest) vs. Rosicky. I can’t argue with the Walcott change; Bend-over was clearly tired and Walcott needs time to acclimate to the league speed and touch (have to like that his time also comes with Ozil and Rambo still on the pitch). I have a feeling that with some time the paring of Walcott and Ozil will also make a fairly lethal combo given his speed and Ozil’s placement. The options are enough to make this fan giddy once the team gets a few more pieces healthy. The final change of Arteta for Rambo was a welcome one, even if I had wished he gone off earlier. Either way, it’s nice to see quality come on for quality these days. 

Lastly, these are the games we have either dropped or allowed our opponent to get back into the match by allowing the equalizer. But this year is playing out a bit differently (at least right now) than the last few years. We are finally seeing these types of game through to the end and pulling out the 3 points we deserve. The confidence and authority with which Arsenal are playing against these types of teams is exactly what you could expect of a title team… whoa there, it’s still early… And it’s ARRRSENAL! ARSENAL FC! WE’RE BY FAR THE GREATEST TEAM THE WORLD HAS EVER SEEN… 

Nothing irked me more than watching the dutch skunk head one in that ended up being the difference maker. You could tell from the start that we were nervous and going to have a rough go of it with this one. There were plenty of bad passes, overplayed balls and in the end we let one slip away. Don’t get me wrong, we had our chances in the second half and surely 1-1 would have been a well earned point from shitty play but from the start this one did not look good for us. Truth is, Man Puke played their best game of the season and outside of our season opener this was one of our worst. All things aside, I take encouragement from that because we let points slip to a team that we know we can dominate (well then why the hell didn’t we?!). I would imagine the result is going to be much different when the pay us a visit later in the season.

What I find most frustrating was that a set piece is what ended up nipping us… The zonal/man marking scheme, or whatever we seem to employ, did us in once again. It really does make me wonder if there is a bit of lost confidence among the line when TV5 is out there. Now granted, he actually played pretty darn well and the back line had itself a decent game on the whole. But was it surprising that we let one in from a set piece? Well, after the way we have played this year, yes. Slip the BFG in for TV5 and maybe things end up different. Only then could I argue that it would be a bit of a surprise. BUT, given with the way we let so many of those types of goals slip through during our down periods last year? Nope. Not a suprise at all. It is equally frustrating that I was instantly reminded of our previous deficiencies… Let’s just hope that this isn’t the air belong let out of our title hopes balloon.

And that is why I am not going to sweat this a whole lot more than I already have. We have the next international break on our hands, a chance to get some more health and depth (and hopefully see the last of “the Greatest Striker to have ever played the game” on our bench). Much has changed this year and I have to say, going forward I am much more optimistic about our squad than what I saw from Man Puke. We have youth and many more midfield playmakers that gives me hope of brighter days ahead. You have to wonder how much this win means to the Moyes crowd too. You could almost see the steam released from his head when the skunk put them up a goal. Do I enjoy throwing the little devils a bone? Hell no. Would I have liked to see us run them in to the ground? All day long and then some. But I can’t complain about beating Liverpuke on one end, taking Dortmund to the house AT their stadium and then leaving a point on the table at united away. Things could have been much worse and at this point I could care less who we play so long as after each week we keep our hold on the top spot.

Until next time lads…

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…

Yes yes, I slacked. I know. Life gets busy, yadda yadda yadda. It happens. Deal with it peoples. What matters is I still watch the games and arbitrarily dress up my child in Arsenal gear… he is only 4… months old. Doesn’t matter. Start early I say (something Wenger has yet to learn in transfer dealings).
Well, it has been a good run/start. We have capitalized on our excitement with the Ozil signing and rushed out to a nice start. You can’t be too disappointed with 12 points from 5 games (boy that turd we dropped to Aston Villa really hurts now…). We sit atop the table early on and have even opened our Champions League up with a win. Aside from the fact that players keep dropping like hornets after gorging on meat we are sitting pretty (looking at you Theo).
We really have to be worried about our depth. We started a young-in because of a banged up Theo. Santi was another game-revealing scratch. Aside from that I am going completely bonkers over Ozil’s play and Ramsey acting out like a straight up beast! Seriously, Rambo is flat out playing like a stud right now. Multiple times throughout the game against Stoke I said aloud, “Damn Ramsey is looking good”. The lad is simply out-hustling other players and is quickly capitalizing on the lack of depth. At this point, I don’t see Wenger sitting him save for a brief respite spell or two. Until then, if he is healthy and rested keep marking that man as the little engine that could.
Now, we have to be a bit worried about pushing through the schedule. At this point, tater totts is the only reputable team we have beaten (aside from Marseille) and this Wednesday sees us up against West Brom in the Capital One Cup (oh boy, here is where depth would be nice). That game then gets followed up with a visit to Swansea Saturday and another quick turnaround with Napoli visiting us Tuesday for Champions League AND back at West Brom for the Saturday… Any serious knock to our starters really puts us in a bind and sees our youth getting shoved straight into the limelight. Four (4!) games between now and October 6 (2 weeks essentially, you could say we have 5 games in 2 weeks given we just played Sunday-and if you are one of those buggers that think the week starts on a Sunday and not a Monday; WTF is up with the Calendar anyway?).
Now, given my satellite coverage I welcome the addition of so many games to my DVR. However, I don’t welcome them to a thin lineup getting thinner by the week. Our one consolation is the apparent fitness of Arteta (Hey! Look! It’s like a new signing!) and his inclusion in the last game. I would be a whole hell of a lot happier to have Arteta, Santi, Rosicky, Diaby (Ha!) and Poldi back and featuring regularly (shit is this how other teams operate?!). Oh what a feeling it must be to have a full and healthy team.