Time To Plan For Next Season?

This is something I've been sitting on for a while. And today United went nine points clear while we cant seem to win even when we play well (a la Spurs).

Season over?

Well in the context of the title race, it is. Over, gone, finished. For us anyway. Even if we see a late collapse from Manchester United, Chelsea are in poll position to take advantage, and the win against West Ham this evening confirmed that.

On top of that, our next three games are terrible. We face a Bolton side tomorrow that will be looking to put a shocking F.A. Cup semi-final display behind them. Then we play United at home and Stoke away. Nine points from those three on our form? Chances are slim and none of that happening.

Even the Aston Villa and Fulham games seem like chores now. So is it time to freshen up the first team a bit?

Maybe Wenger should give the likes of Henderson a game and maybe even Emmanuel Frimpong. I mean we're heading for another calamitous finish to the season as it is. And make no qualms about it, one win from six in the league is a disaster for Arsenal F.C. So Wenger has every right to consider mixing it up a bit.

Because he needs to attempt something to stop the rot. And I think a few new faces in the line-up would freshen things up and go towards getting some form back. Frimpong and Henderson would be more than motivated to impress and subsequently attract a few nice offers for loans next season. If they played well enough they might replace a few players like Rosicky and Denilson in the first-team squad next season. It'll be interesting to see his line-up because Wilshere looks very tired and Diaby is unlikely to make it due to a calf injury.

In my opinion the highest we'll finish this season is second. It's a heartbreaking reality from a few months ago but that's where we are. Every time United left the door ajar, WE shut it in our own faces.

We're not a bad team but we are a team that has a taste for being the bridesmaid. That's what Wenger needs to address this summer. Add 'winning' to the ingredients of the squad along with more pace and I think the problem would be solved.

Tomorrow we face a Bolton team that got smashed last Sunday. They can react two ways: go out tomorrow nervy at the back and terrified of getting another thrashing against a team who, on its day, would have no problems tapping in a few goals against them. Or they could go out motivated towards making amends for what happened a week ago. The latter is the most likely.

The match is at Bolton which will suit both teams. But Arsenal have shown no evidence of being capable of winning against a decent team in recent weeks. Another draw looks on the cards. And that's not being masochistic but our run does speak for itself. I think we should go into the game looking to enjoy how we play and not expecting any kind of result. At least then we can't be too disappointed.

N.B. It'll be interesting to see how Gary Cahill, you know the man who will fix all of Arsenal's defensive problems because he's tall and English, performs tomorrow (providing he plays). Any decent performance will surely spark a quantity of 'reports' that Arsenal are in for him. So he's someone worth looking out for just for that.

A Disastrous Result

Arsenal 0 Blackburn 0

Our title chances are officially out of our hands.We're now relying on United dropping points and us winning all our matches.

There's actually more chance of us drawing all our matches. There was no drive in this team today, they didn't have it in them to grind out the win.

I said I was feeling complacent looking ahead to this match. Maybe the players were too. But the fact is Blackburn wanted that draw far more than we wanted the win. You only need to look at Olssen's performance, not one player in our team can say he matched his drive and enthusiasm today.

This Arsenal team was faced with four major tests of their nerve this season and they've failed every one of them. United in the F.A. Cup was a shambles, Sunderland at home was bottled, we practically threw the match away to West Brom and today when we needed to win, our attack was toothless.

The blame can only go with the players. You say the manager buys them but he can only bring them to the pitch, he can't make them put the ball in the net.

Whether it's a culmination of bad luck or bad attitudes on everyone's part is impossible to judge. But this team is now on life-support battling for every breath in this title challenge.

One more result like this will pull the plug.

(Insert April Fool's Pun Here)

Blackburn have been uninteresting this year. They're where they should be. And a cumulation of two points in their last six games in the league shows that they are struggling at the bottom. They'll be there or thereabouts in the race for the drop and they only have one weapon that could damage us in Samba. Although Hoilett looks decent too.

The international break has been very kind to us. I can't actually remember a break that's ended where we've had more players fit than we did before it. Fabregas, Walcott and Song all return which is a massive boost. Van Persie's scare mid-week seems nothing more than that so he should be fit too.

So I think the team will be Almunia, Sagna, Koscielny, Squillaci, Clichy, Song, Wilshere, Fabregas, Walcott, Nasri, Van Persie.

That's our strongest possible front-eight. That much of the team is world-class. Those players would get into any matchday squad in the world. The other three is where the worries lie. Koscielny and Squillaci appear to be very decent centre-backs, individually. Collectively, they just can't seem to click, hopefully they'll get it together soon.

I've been thinking a lot about Almunia. No not in that way. But regarding his ability. As a shot-stopper he's as good as anyone. But his concentration is poor. So I think he'd be the kind of player that works well in a lower side that concedes a lot of shots on goal. But, in a team like Arsenal, a team who keeps the ball for long periods, he doesn't see much action. So he finds it extremely difficult to maintain his concentration. Meaning he does stupid things like he did at West Brom.

I'm not worrying about this match. As a fan, I must say that I feel quite complacent. I think if we show up and play our game, we'll win. I can imagine Walcott given these guys nightmares. It's going to be sweet seeing him scorching the wings again. I'll say 2-0 because I expect Blackburn to defend in numbers and to do everything possible to frustrate us. All going well with fitness tests, we should have our best attack on the pitch, so surely they'll have enough to break Blackburn down at least twice.

Also, the Emirates pitch has been shrunk to the Highbury dimensions. How making the pitch smaller helps us take defenders out of position is a bit of a mystery to me. So I'm really looking forward to seeing what difference it makes.

Let's win this one for Rocky!

Get Everyone Fit and It's All to Play For

W.B.A. 2 Arsenal 2

I've been debating this result in my head for the weekend, reading various pieces from other blogs and just trying to come to some conclusion about our chances in the league.

We're still in it. There's no real debating that. If we beat United and match their results as well as win our game in hand then we win the league. No matter what way you look at that much, you have to admit it's still more than possible.

But when you consider everything, our chances seem slim. Particularly when you look at the defence. When we play the likes of United and Spurs, who's going to stop Van der Vaart or even Hernadez? We simply don't have the backline to cope with top-class firepower. So if we're going to beat those teams then their attacks need to have an off-day. Even if we got Song back, I don't think that would be enough because there seems to be a fundemental problem with how we defend. In a funny way I think having Walcott back too will help this because he does his fair share of tracking back.

The other thing you wonder about is our attack. We look toothless to out it mildly. Nasri's form has completely evaporated and RVP seems to be getting scraps at the moment. Arshavin had one of his good days against West Brom but that won't be enough. So we need Fabregas and Walcott back in a big way. Particularly Walcott.

Why him? Well without him, we look like a really slow side. Nasri has a bit of pace but we have no one in attack who could seriously burn a player off unless Theo is in the starting line-up. His pace takes him into positions that other players simply can't get to on time. He makes Eboue's passes look as good as Fabregas'. Simply put, we need him fit and on-form because he gives us another dimension that other players in the squad don't offer. Obviously, Fabregas is crucial too because we haven't dominated in midfield since we lost him to injury but, in my opinion, Walcott is key.

The internatinal break could not have been better timed. Providing everyone comes back from their respective teams without an injury then we should go into the final part of the season with an almost fully-fit squad. I can't predict what will happen but I'm confident that we can do it.

Saying that though, if we get anymore howlers of the proportion that Almunia provided then we really don't stand a chance.

Need. To. Win

I was looking at the report I posted for the home game against W.B.A. Needless to say, I, like many fans, was angry after match.

I also said we could forget about the league title if we lost the next game to Chelsea... I really hope I'm wrong!

We'll start with the injuries. Vermaelen's season is over which is disappointing but looking at it, it was very optimistic of me to expect him to slot back into the team for the last few games and dominate everyone. Djourou is out for six weeks so I don't think we'll see his best again this season. Diaby has returned to his normal level of fitness (injured). And then Walcott, Song and Fabregas are out too.

At the time of writing, the team was announced:

Almunia, Sagna, Koscielny, Squillaci, Clichy, Wilshere, Denilson, Nasri, Ramsey, Arshavin, Van Persie

Ramsey!!!!!!!! In all seriousness though, I'd be surprised if he finished the match but I was afraid Rosicky would start in front of him today.

Also before I go into predictions, Arshavin has returned to best in the press as you'll find in the Daily Express (that's where I read it anyway). Sell him, Arsene.

As for the match, I'm nervous. West Brom have players capable of hurting us. They won't lie down and with Hodgson in charge, they'll defend stoutly and look to punish us on the break.

We need big performances from Wilshere, Nasri and Van Persie. It'd be unfair to expect too much from Ramsey and Denilson is lacking in confidence so as long as he doesn't make a major mistake, I'll be happy with him. Arshavin will be Arshavin. He'll either be lazy and give the ball away cheaply or he'll rip the West Brom backline to pieces. The former is the more plausible outcome nowadays.

I think we'll win. I don't think it'll be comfortable with the way things have been going lately but I'll take a 2-1 where the winner goes in off the back of the West Brom 'keeper's head. I don't care about style, just the three points today please.

Mediocrity Must Go

The last time I blogged was the Braga game. After that, I lost interest for a bit.

But I'm back now to report on the end of the season. In layman terms, we're in a big hole. The backline has now been completely ravaged and there's a lot of players who aren't performing. Nasri's good run has come to an abrupt stop and Van Persie doesn't look fit. Add that to the Fabregas and Walcott injuries and we're looking a bit stretched to finding goals at the moment.

But none of those problems would bother me as much if it weren't for the total lack of effort shown by our other players. Denilson has taken three or four steps back in his development. Diaby looks like he's hit the ceiling regarding the improvements he can make as a player (although injuries and suspension have hampered him in recent weeks). Rosicky looks twice Giggs' age; he isn't scoring and he isn't creating so what else can he offer us? And the only words that come to mind when I think of Arshavin is: 'Not fit to wear the shirt.'

All of these need to be sold in the summer. They're not good enough. Rosicky and Arshavin are gone past it. And how much more football do people need to see Denilson and Diaby play before they cop on and realise that they're never going to make it? You might say that they're good as squad players but they don't have the required work ethic to fulfil this role either.

And that's something that is seriously wrong with this side. There is no willingness to hunt down the ball and win it back. Wilshere is the only player that I've seen do it consistently. The rest jog around and 'look busy'.

Look to the Nou Camp game last week. Barcelona didn't pass us off the pitch, they tackled us off of it. They chased and harried Arsenal and won the ball back at a canter. That is something that needs to be embedded in this team. It is crucial to any success in the future. This team will never win anything unless they are all prepared to put a shift in.

However, it's too late to fix those things now. That must all be filed away until the summer. And it isn't all doom and gloom either. We play West Brom away this weekend and then there's an international break. Beat them and we'll end the little slump we've hit and we'll enter the break on a high note. Plus when the team returns, it should have its two most important assets, in Walcott and Fabregas, back. Also Ramsey is back! And he looked good for the time he was on the pitch against United.

The Alex Song injury appears to be a mystery. He won't be back for the game on Saturday and whether he'll return after the interlull is unknown. We need him fit because we are incredibly short in the backs at the moment and there may come a game or two where he'll be playing CB.

Vermaelen is working to be fit for the last six games. And if you look on the Arsenal website there's a few crackers in those in which his services will be much appreciated. But that's ages away yet so don't get your hopes up.

Now time for some special treatment for some players. First of all, Jack Wilshere is our player of the season. Commitment, desire and serious ability. The man has been carrying the torch for the team in the last two weeks and while his efforts bore little fruit, it is still greatly appreciated.

The other man is Bendtner. In my last post, I gave him a rollicking and he's done nothing to lift himself from this rollicked state. He missed a sitter against Barce and now seems destined for a new club. Good riddens. His touch on the ball is as soft as a cinder block and he's fooling himself if he thinks he can become as great as he claims.

If have anymore thoughts, I'll post them during the week sometime but I hope to get in a proper match preview of the West Brom game. Until then.

Finger Ready For The Panic Button

Braga 2 Arsenal 0

I'm angry, but this is definitely a hangover from the disaster on Saturday. The goals were sloppy and it was amazing that we get caught on the counter-attack, at nil-nil, with ten men.

'How is it amazing?,' you say.

Well why is everyone pushing forward when all we need is a draw and we've been reduced to ten men because of Eboue's injury? I mean surely, when you don't 100% need to win with ten men, you should be defending. And it was only a long ball too! And why the fuck is our backline at the halfway line when we don't need to score!?

The Vela yellow card was ludicrous. It was a stonewall penalty and the ref, who was right in front of it, books him for diving. If we get that penalty and convert it the match is over. However that isn't an excuse for what happened after. We needed to be solid and it never looked like happening.

I want to pick out one player for criticism (a rollicking). Nicklas Bendtner bitched and moaned to the media about not getting his place in the team. Then when Wenger picks him, he does nothing. He was shite and looked like a man who has made up his mind on his future. He's a pathetic excuse for a professional footballer if thinks he can walk into this team. I mean, for fucksake, Chamakh came on and did more in twenty minutes than Bendtner did seventy! How can he expect to play in front of a player that actually looks bothered?

Villa away is a match that doesn't necessarily define our season but another defeat would be castastrophic for confidence. There's a lot of work to be done until then though so get cracking Arsene!