Well deserved draw!

Gunners were not near there worst form of the season, but was a significant loss of form seen. The not so early lead came to Arsenal when Arshavin pounced on a defensive error and setup Van Persie on the left for a clean strike who unselfishly inturn setup Fabregas for a clean shot on the right side of the post. AZ Alkmaar drew the match on the stoppage time's last minute and I would say it was a well deserved one. They played and protected the ball as gold with their own boots. I am not sure what the stats are but for a viewer it was all with Alkmaar except for few Arsenal passes. Arsenal was not able to play their normal game and wonderful work done by AZ Alkmaar coach on this regard.

Arsenal started with regular back four and had Song as midfield sweeper with Arshavin on left wing, Diaby and Fabregas and then Eboue. Van Persie was the front man for Arsenal. I always felt seeing todays team sheet, it was a wrong thing to do. We should have played our normal game with 4-3-3 and Vela/Wilshere should have started in front with Arshavin and Van Persie. But its all Boss's call we have to respect him. Ramsey came of for Eboue towards 80min and Vela for Van Persie. The best thing that AZ Alkmaar did and also the most sensible thing was not to give the ball to Arsenal in the starting minutes. This disabled Arsenal to settle down and inturn helped them to gain control. Clichy even though had quite a few good runs and passes but in defense he seemed ordinary. Vermaelen and Gallas played better than others. Song was very sloppy and Diaby contributed his usual meekish misses. Diaby had a good weekend last week which forced me to pick him as MOM for that match. But as expected from him he was inconsistent with his form.

There was no exceptional performers in todays match from Arsenal end. Arshavin played his normal game. Created few chances, took some shots and good link up with Fabregas. Cesc was very lazy today which affected the Arsenal game as a whole. Ramsey was played in the right wing of the midfield where he was miserable. Lad was not able to play his natural game. In Arsene we trust, so he should be having some planning trying out all these. We surely missed the creativity of Rosicky, Nasri, Eduardo and Bendtner today. Back in England Nasri played 58mins for reserves and setup the first goal for Arsenal Reserves. Coincidentally we drew the Arsenal reserves match too.

We should be marking this day as a black day for comparitively bigger teams in Champions league considering the following results.
Barcelona lost 1-2 to Rubin Kazan
Liverpool lost 1-2 to Lyon
Inter Milan drew 2-2 to Dynamo Kiev
Rangers lost 1-4 to Unirea Urziceni