Sunday, November 7, 2010

No Way In Hell.

Arsenal 0 Newcastle 1

That was our worst performance in years. Forget West Brom because we had one player perform on that day. But today, there was no one. And Fabregas lead the shit brigade that was this Arsenal team.

They were useless. Couldn't pass. Couldn't shoot. Couldn't defend. Not one Arsenal player did anything of note in the whole game. Our best moment was Walcott hitting the crossbar from an impossible angle, after that there wasn't one decent chance created.

The goal was an indictment of the Arsenal defense. Fabianski comes out when there is no need and the defenders stare with their tongues out as Carroll jumps unmarked and ploughs the ball into the empty net.

Wenger brought on Arshavin and Van Persie to try and save things but the problems we had couldn't be solved with strikers. Our midfield was a joke. Song and Fabregas gave the ball away time and again. Wilshere, god love him, was physically out of his depth and kept quiet throughout. But the worry at the moment is Fabregas. Last week against West Ham he was poor and today he was even worse. Every pass forward he made was wrong. In truth Wenger should have showed some bottle and taken him off. For anyone. Even Djourou would have made a better go of it. He was truely that bad.

I'm not going to pull the wool over anyone's eyes and say:

'It was only one match.'

'We're still in it.'

We're not, it's over, we're out. Unless Chelsea and Manchester United implode, I mean literally collapse inwards, we will not win the league. The most we'll get is third. And even that will be a struggle if Man City find form.

It's a sad moment in our history. We have a team of players more concerned with their next club or their next international friendly than playing for Arsenal. Our players and Wenger failed us today.

The Toon.

Newcastle will come today with one thing in mind: spoil. I'd be surprised if Andy Caroll is partnered by Ameobi today because Newcastle will leave themselves very open in midfield. So I expect a five-man midfield from them with the likes of Alan Smith and Joey barton asked to 'disrupt' our passing movements.

But, in reality, there isn't much they'll be able to do if we come out and play with full commitment. Fabregas will dominate and the likes of Walcott and Nasri will support him and should rip their backline to shreads.

I say 'should' because there is an uncertainty about how this team will come out and play. In our last two games, we've been average at best and if we don't lift the performances, a long day is in store. But I think with Fabregas back in the side, it's unlikely to happen.

Next on my agenda is the Van Persie call-up. It's a farce and I'm fuming about it. The Dutch coach, Van Marwijk, says he talked to our striker and then decided to call him up. If this is the truth then what the fuck is Van Persie playing at? He's been out for over two months while on our wage-bill and he has the cuntishness to declare himself fit for a pointless friendly. For me, it's the height of disrespect for Arsenal Football Club and he really should know better.

In other news, I read a few headlines about Wenger's 'affair' with some French rapper and that there was a club statement over it. In truth, I don't really care about it. The one thing I would say is that it's a shit excuse for a bad performance today.

I like the sound of 3-0. It's a pretty recurrent scoreline in this fixture and I think Walcott will continue his good run of goalscoring. Chelsea play Liverpool at Anfield today and despite their horrendous form the Scousers might pull one out of the bag. So, by tonight, there could possibly be only two points between us and Chelsea despite their far superior start to the season. Sound!