Arsenal win against Olympiacos

Having seen the total number of shots you guys know what was happening out there. The Olympiacos goalkeeper was excellant and defying his age with his performance. Rosicky, Arshavin, Van Persie, Fabregas and many others tested his with their best but never passed him until Eduardo came on as substitute for Rosicky and created that chance for Van Persie to take and Fabregas setup Arshavin with an offside goal.

Greece side had formiddable defences in olden days but those days are a by-gone era. Looks like goalkeeping was taking centrestage there. Arsenal played very good attacking football today. Looked great as an attacking force. Midfield play was not that great eventhough as usual Song stood tall cutting off passes and making that defence feel cushioned. Diaby was substituted with Vela after 70mins and it was a wise move. Eventhough we were playing attacking football Diaby was losing the ball very badly. Arsenal should be looking to play him more in centre roll than left or right forward. Eboue started in the Right Back position and the rest of the defence remained the same. It was good to see the co-ordination between Fabregas, Arshavin and Rosicky. Can't wait more to see the young injured Gunner Nasri playing with them to tear off defences across the world. Ramsey came in for Van Persie in the dying minutes and by that time the Arsenal were in full control of the match with 2-0 up.

There was no great performances by any individuals whereas it was a collective team effort. Clichy had a comparatively bad game. He was beaten in few occassions and also he was not marking his man to his best ability. Clichy might be a good wing back but as a marking defender in 4-3-3 where the attack will be mostly through the centre he is not effective. He needs to make those runs through the line quite often but cannot compromise with quality defending. This would be some area for Arsene Wenger to work on in near future. The arising Don in Arsenal camp "Don Vito" continued his good show with couple of good diving saves and positioning. This chap is going to give Almunia hard time getting back to team if this continues.

Vermaelen and Gallas defended well. Vermaelen had few chances in set pieces which was not taken. Van Persie's corner and freekicks seems to be searching for Vermaelen while coming whereever he was. Arsenal still has scope of improvement in their set-pieces. Being an attacking team Arsenal will surely get lots of freekicks around the area. If we train well on set pieces and become a deadly force on dead balls then the opponents will be even scared to foul us. This will be an added advantage. Let's see how the game goes as season progresses.

Bad news for Gunners camp and fans alike is the Brazilian playmaker Denilson is out for 2 months due to a back injury. Bendtner also walked off safe after a car crash(Aston Martin Black). We would see Arsene Wenger with more armour down his Arsenal this weekend with Bendtner and once again fit Walcott in race for a starting place in the match against Blackburn Rovers. Hope Bendtner doesn't crash again(Only fun intended). Nasri is expected to be fit by mid of next month which will give Wenger with more attacking options.

Gunners lucky to get a win at Craven Cottage

This London Derby was a spectacular one to watch. All praise for Fulham for their attacking display and wonderful midfield play. Arsenal started off with the normal line-up with Arshavin-Robin Van Persie and Bendtner spearheading the attack. To be frank there was hardly any attack from Arsenal side. Arsenal holded the possession compared to Fulham. But was not at all able to capitalize on the ball. Van Persie was lucky to score the lone goal from a beautiful pass by Fabregas.

Everything went wrong to Arsenal today but lucky to getaway with a win. Fabregas and Arshavin were pathetic with and without the ball. Diaby lost possession to Fulham players very often. Song had been consistant through out the new season and he kept his place well. One player who stood out and made this win possible for Arsenal is non other than Vito Mannone. He gave a surprise to Arsenal fans with his great display of goalkeeping. This guy looks like is upto something. Almunia and Fabianski will have some competition which might also allow them to get better. Arsenal was busy defending the ball and the kind of display is pathetic compared to any Champions League team.

Arsenal looks like they needed to take off Diaby from today's lineup but Wenger never went for it. Instead he took off Arshavin and brought in Rosicky who did a decent job compared to others. The other player to get substituted was Van Persie and in came Eboue who had couple of chances to finish of the Fulham rush with a goal himself but as usual he missed it. Bendtner looked like he was in this match all of his own and never ever thought of passing the ball to any player when he is near the goal. This is not Arsenal way of playing. Balls were given off cheaply and never ever looked like passing well. Arsenal needs to have better training before their next match or else they will suffer a defeat in Champions league next week.

To be fair to the Gunners, it could also be that one off day when things are not going your way. Very strange to see Arsenal winning inspite of all these issues. Strange since I have hardly seen Arsenal winning a match when they are not in control of the match.

Arsenal vs WBA

Arsenal takes on Wigan Athletic and Wins 4-0!

The team today looked as expected from Arsene Wenger. With Same back line consisting of Sagna, Gallas, Vermaelen and Clichy. Midfield with Fabregas, Song and Diaby. Frontline with Eduardo, Robin Van Persie and Eboue. Eboue had a good match after few weeks atleast. He made lot of instrumental runs forward and received a yellow card for handball. The possession was with Arsenal from the start of the match. Song once again controlled the match in the centre of the pitch.

The first goal came from Vermaelen with a great header of Van Persie's corner. Second goal was a surprise strike by Vermaelen with his superb left foot which banged the net like a meteor. Third goal came off Eboue from a good strike from Eduardo. The fourth and final goal was from the captain Fabregas from a Bendtner cross.

Bendtner, Rosicky and Ramsey came off the bench for Eduardo, Eboue and Diaby. All three were able to make good impact right away. Day seems to be bit bad for Robin Van Persie who missed quite a few good easy chances miss-timing the ball. Wigan played a very dangerous game by their players dedicated to foul young gunners. Arsenal stood strong with the body game of Wigan. We have seen lot of Arsenal team coming to defense when the opponents starts fouling but this one attacked with more vigour. Mannone the young goalkeeper of Arsenal had an ok match with very few chances to show his worth. The whole battle was in midfield with Song winning most of his tackles and also receiving a yellow card for a foul.

The 4-3-3 formation which Arsene Wenger was trying to employ this season is getting mixed results which makes it impossible to comment. Since the season has just started and there is long way to go, we will reserve the comments for later. Anyways the wingbacks in Clichy and Sagna is not that effective or used in the formation. Arsene Wenger can also decide on playing CB all around the back four and controlling the match with tight marking too. This will be funny to watch. We will be playing West Bromwich Albion on Tuesday for the Carling Cup. Hope to see more young gunners shine and make a contention for place for the next season.

Arsenal Lucky to win against Standard Liege

Standard Liege took an early lead of 2-0 as early as 85mins to go.
Arsenal was miserable in passing and was not able to find the rhythm until Bendtner's first goal just before the half time break. The first goal was a give away by Eduardo by trying a tricky pass while clearing a corner from Standard Liege. The second goal for the Belgian giants was a penalty induced by Gallas.

Goal one for Arsenal came from brilliant dribbling and move from Diaby which was netted by Bendtner between the goalkeeper's legs. It was a fantastic goal which kept the match alive for Arsenal. Later Vermaelen scored a goal which was seen as a hand ball from Song while collecting a freekick inside the box. Third goal which won the match for them was by Eduardo himself who had cheaply given away the first goal for Standard Liege.

Rosicky was the only player who had done well in the first half for Arsenal. He was winning balls and moving things. Whereas all others where struggling to get going. Mannone was the goalkeeper for Arsenal today and don't know whether Wenger should reconsider this option before the next match. Arsenal started off resting Van Persie, Walcott, Denilson, Arshavin and Almunia. The decision was seen as not effective during the first half of the game. Second half showed the immaturity of the Belgian side which gave away the goals and helped Arsenal to win. This was a close escape for Arsenal. Gunners played better in the second half still no good to be a threat to any team with this sort of sloppy game. The passing was going haywire and lack of threat upfront remains the problem of the season.

Fabregas is too engaged with his offensive duties that he is not coming back to his own half the way he used to play earlier. This is affecting Arsenal balance leaving Song only in the back to support defenders. The player Arsenal missed most today was Arshavin. The kind of goal threat he brings with him is highly respectable. Arsenal needs to improve the goal conversion rate. They had been creating chances all these years but very less becoming the real goal. Eboue was terrible with his passing, crossing and defending. He was later substituted with Sagna. Ramsey came off the bench to replace Rosicky and he made an immediate impact on the game. Ramsey played well for his 30mins on the match. He also had few shots on the goal. Wilshere also came on to play at 85th min for Eduardo.

Arsenal training before first European match

Manchester City Owns Arsenal!

Arsenal had started off well like everyother game. Fabregas controlled the whole game for Arsenal from start. We started off with Diaby, Van Persie and Bendtner up front. With regular midfield players in Fabregas, Song and Denilson. Arsene Wenger was forced to take off Denilson and Song from midfield towards the end of the game to give chance to Rosicky and Eduardo. Rosicky showed his worth by providing the assist for the first goal for Arsenal after the initial damage by Almunia by providing an own goal to Man City from a beautiful header by Richards on Barry's freekick.

Robin Van Persie's goal showed the real power inside his boots. Lescott tried to foul his but he rose to the occassion and pushed on towards the right of Given for a beautiful goal. Later Arsenal showed lot of advances and which left the back four disturbed. Man City was able to grab 4 goals in total out of which 3 came through good counter attacking football. Man City was excellant in their counter attacks with Adebayor, Bellamy and Wright Phillips upfront.

De Jong and Barry controlled the game for them. There was few excellant attempts on Man City goal from Bendtner and Van Persie before the goal from Rosicky which came as a consolation for the poor display and also the loss. Rosicky was able to prove his worth and significance in the team with a little cameo. Gallas was always marking Adebayor tightly which actually held Man City back. Towards the later stages of the match when Gallas was going front too often left Adebayor unmarked and he exploited Arsenal defence with this advantage.

Overall performance from Arsenal side where good but point to be noted is when you go for the kill make sure your defence is still tight. As we have mentioned in our previous blog on the defensive problems, Clichy was terrible in defense and was never seen when needed. Please do read our blogs on Arsenal defensive issues and Why Arsenal is losing. We always want Arsenal to win but there are few things we need to correct before we claim that we are INVINCIBLES AGAIN.

Injury News from the Boss

Part II - What is stopping Arsenal from winning?

In our last edition of What is stopping Arsenal from winning?, we had discussed on the issues with our backline and defensive midfield. Let's see more on the attacking midfield options of Arsenal.

Attacking Midfield
Arsenal boasts of one of the best attacking midfield any football club can dream about. The likes of Fabregas, Nasri, Rosicky, Arshavin and Walcott raises few eyebrows in amusement. These are all world class players who can break any defensive traps in style. But why we are not still a formidable team? Guys its actually funny to remind you that most of the time most of our players would be injured. It had been very tough for Arsenal to find all our players fit and competing for the starting XI. Not sure whether this is a curse from some team we had defeated sometime back.

A special mentione needs to be made on Denilson and Diaby for holding on the attacking responsibilities and breaking the defenses for fun. In this season we haven't seen Nasri, Rosicky and Walcott yet. We Arsenalites always believes when all are there we will rock. But often forgets the fact that there is no state like that for us. I am not at all aware of what kind of training for fitness our team holds so don't want to comment on that. I saw how Nasri got injured and to me it was ridiculous. Its mere ill-luck that broke his leg. Poor Diaby how much he might be feeling sad for that.

Francesc Fabregas
Cesc is at his best when he is lying low with long balls and starting the movement from Arsenal end and later he is feary when he grabs the last pass to strike it in the back of the net for the same pass which he started back in his own half. He had been instrumental in counter attacks with his great vision and long passes. Early was deadly with Adebayor who is history in Arsenal now. Will look forward to see similar or more tougher bond with Bendtner in future.

Tomas Rosicky
Infact Arsenal had not seen much of him yet. He is very dangerous anywhere outside the box. If this guy is given space outside the box he don't care to pass the ball or enter the box. One of the best long range shots I have seen in Arsenal ranks. In recent past he had been highly prone to injuries and fighting hard to be fit. This guy is a very hard working player and hope to see more from him this season to enable Wenger to make a perfect squad.

Andrei Arshavin
Joined Arsenal ranks this year January but he had jelled with the team as if he had been playing for years. He is deadly inside the box, outside the box and has killer shots which no goalkeeper can even imagine. No wonder Almunia had been doing better now. Arshavin can single handedly break into defences with his speed and tricks. He is a very good dribbler of the ball and can be the next Bergkamp with the kind of tricks he has in his bag now. The only problem I found is that he is not at all good with Robin Van Persie. But very good with Bendtner and ok with Eduardo. Hope Arsene had noticed the samething.

Samir Nasri
Arsenal is yet to see his best. He is one of the best attacking midfielders in the world and at his age he is still growing. This guy has exceptionally good dribbling skills and very good at dead balls too. Arsenal should be able to utilize him for freekicks and corners going forward. Currently he is out for couple of weeks more due to a injury during pre-season training. One thing we noticed about Nasri is his skill to avoid tackles. That is commendable and tough to break down. He has good pace and growing every game.

Theo Walcott
No more a winger for Arsenal. This year Theo is hoping to play the central striker role which we feel is foolishness from him. There was one guy Wenger told to play as striker after his tenure as a left winger in 20yrs of age and his name was Thiery Henry. Not sure about Walcott yet. But he has good pace and dribbling skills. Needs to improve on his passing and finishing. He can run miles with the ball beating all but that is not football. He needs to work on his football skills along with the dribbling and runs. Once he improves his passing and finishing which is expected by the end of this year, you know what a deadly weapon Arsene will have in his Arsenal.

Denilson and Diaby
The two D's has been the revelation of the season with their extra-ordinary passing and marking. They had been able to fill the boots of Cesc when he was not playing in last couple of matches. What we need to look for is the consistency which Diaby had never shown. Hope he doesn't get injured this season again to spoil his chances in Arsenal. Denilson had been Wenger's favourite from last season and had been playing almost all the matches. He cannot be treated as a holding midfielder due to his tendency to go forward too often. Since he started the goal scoring for Arsenal this season, lets hope its a great season for him and Arsenal.

The kids to watch out for this season is Aaron Ramsey, Jack Wilshere and Fran Merida.
Arsene Wenger will be looking for growing these kids for the future of Arsenal without Fabregas and Arshavin.

Will continue on this topic with attacking options later.

Wenger on the International Fixtures!

Part I - What is stopping Arsenal from winning?

Guys this could be a blog with lot of things to debate on. To start with what is that our team lacks now? We often tend to get carried away with the goals we score and forget that there is something that is standing strong between Arsenal and the silverware. This is not just onething but quite a few. I would be mean if I don't admit that Arsene Wenger is the best person Arsenal can get with their limited spending policy and hefty loans.

1. Wing Backs
Arsenal often boasts of couple of the most terrific wing backs in the football now. But think about it guys. Who Sagna or Clichy or both? Its funny to even think of. Be frank with yourself and ask yourself how many times you have seen Sagna curling in a wonderful cross? I haven't seen many in all these years! Guys believe the fact you can't run away from it..its just not happening. Sagna is good at getting back to the Right Back role and tackling the ball from the opponents boots. He will never be considered as a threat going forward. Now let's get to the much talked about and respected Clichy...what's there in him that makes us love him? Its nothing but his speed. He is quick at his feet and can catch up with the best forwards in the world. Is he good at attacking and taking over the role of a perfect wing back. He is kind of ok? Yeah true...Kind off..He is not good at doing that. He is more comfortable in winning balls and running with the ball. Observe yourself before you consider my words. We have two prodigy's in bench named Traore and Gibbs. To be fair to them both are more attacking than Clichy but due to lack of experience they are terrible defensively. Both of them needs matches to grow and Arsene needs to decide whether to loan them off or give them more matches. My pick would be Traore for the future and Gibbs would be better off being a left midfielder.

2. Defensive Midfielder/Snatchers
Defensive Midfielders are often seen and respected as the people who control the game. They are always in a commanding position since they often get more possession compared other players if he is good at his job. If you take a look at the Arsenal teams which had been widely respected and feared in recent past you would know what was in there. People feared Henry or Bergkamp, but why? There was always a Viera, Ray Parlour, Edu, Gilberto Silva, Flamini and few others to snatch the ball from the opposition. This is the difference. Arsenal's backbone had been that defensive midfield which was damaged and destroyed by the greedy departure of few players. So what's the remedy? We can see a rejuvenated Alex Song doing well in that position. Cutting off passes, making that excellent long and short passes to control the game. But how often does he get forward? With Song eventhough he is good at his new role he is bad at going forward like all the greats before him. This could be later a disadvantage to us. I don't expect Song to have long runs with the ball or dribble past people but atleast he should keep a higher position. A territory somewhere in the center of the pitch. Denilson cannot be seen as a defensive midfielder since he tends to get forward too often more than what I mentioned above. Diaby is another option Wenger has who can control the game. But he is played as an offensive partner to strikers that he hardly gets any defensive duty. Other options Arsenal has includes Rosicky, Nasri, Walcott and Fabregas non of them will be played as a defensive player. So who can play that role? Imagine what will happen when Song gets injured or goes for African Nations cup? At sametime if Denilson gets injured where is Arsenal midfield? Who will hold the lines? We need to definetely spend on a defensive midfielder or help on of our defenders to step up and get converted to a defensive midfielder. The stature and physique helps Senderos to be one if at all Arsene permits.

Read more on Offensive Problems in our next blog.