talkingOfArsenal.com

Unfortunately, the second half started as the first had ended, with Sevilla on the front foot and Arsenal looking a shadow of the team we've come to expect this season. Thankfully Le Boss saw fit to introduce Sagna to his natural position, and a better balance was restored immediately after the switch. Eboue needs to cut out his amateur dramatics for a number of reasons - the third most important reason being that it drags the rest of the team down - good players don't like to see their own player hit the deck rolling about like they've just been taken out by a sniper. The second most important reason he should give it up, is that it breaks up play, and in a way that affects Arsenal's slick pass and move game. It's bad enough having a whistle happy referee who blows at the slightest excuse, but having your own player disrupt our own play to feign injury is very counterproductive. But the most important reason why Eboue should stop feigning injury, is that just like the shepherd boy who kept crying...

Click to read more ...

A quick review of the first half during the break...

Fundamentally, it's a game between Sevilla's first team, and Arsenal's second team, and sometimes it shows. Eduardo's goal was delivered well by Bendtner, and taken as a cool typical strikers finish.

Senderos is obviously match unfit, and unfortunately his concentration went at a critical moment - what should have been a bread and butter clearance was scuffed, leading to Gilberto having to scramble the ball away. Unfortunately, the former captain's clearance was typical of a midfielder, and only served to lay up the ball for a Sevilla striker to finish superbly, somewhat against the run of play. I'm beginning to wonder how long Senderos will be at the club for now.

Aluminia could've saved Sevilla's second goal (if he'd anticipated it better), which came from a well taken set piece.

Wenger will have to give a rousing talk to the second-string team, if we're to take the top of the group. All in all, it will be a good test for our second string side.

Here's to hoping they pass the test.

Wierd how things work out. Israel achieve the impossible by beating Russia, and put England's fate back into our own hands. Then look what happens. I always thought the Croatia game was going to be more difficult than a lot of people appeared to be making out. Croatia are a very good side, who have beaten England once before, and who had every intention of coming out to play a game of football. Unfortunately, the England fans wound them up by booing their national anthem, and then their hosts only bothered to turn up in the second half, by which time Croatia were already 2-0 up. Much as I hate to admit it, and I've never taken a fancy to McLaren being head coach, the problem with English football goes much deeper that a simple managerial appointment, or even inappropriate team selections. Sure, Brian Barwick and the FA could've picked another manager instead of Steve McLaren. Sure, McLaren need not have selected Carson for last nights game. Sure, McLaren could've gone 4-4-2 to start off with. But simply blaming McLaren or even Barwick entirely for England not qualifying is simply...

Click to read more ...

How ironic it would be, if after the Herculean effort from Israel to defeat Abramovitch's Russian team, our very own Eduardo were to deliver the killer blow to England to swing things round the wrong way again. The optimism that permeates, now that Israel have done what England prayed for, almost appears to imply that the job is done. It isn't. Eduardo's Croatia, are a very talented team who have never lost at home in a competitive game (since they became recognised as an independent state). And if Croatia...

Click to read more ...

A few observations on last (Monday) nights game against Reading. The home teams game plan against Arsenal became pretty obvious within the first few minutes of the game, with all nine outfield players getting behind the ball. Leaving their one striker up front, against the dual powerhouses of both Toure and Gallas meant that Almunia had little to do all game. Having said that however, Reading did well not to concede until the 44th minute after Adebayor had come close in the first few minutes, and it was a credit to their defending and hassling that meant that at times, Arsenal looked like the team from last season who could...

Click to read more ...

So, I see the Wenger-does-not-do-English bashing has resumed after a somewhat short abatement. Frankly over the years, I've found this discussion to be not just blatantly wrong, but perversely absorbing simply because of the number of paradoxes and absurdities that it continuously throws up. The recent bout of Wenger-bashing started first with Jermaine Pennant bitterly claiming Arséne didn't pick him because he was English. Then more recently came Ferguson's quota system rants after Arsenal's deserved draw, followed hotly on the heels by Steve Coppell's weak attempt at mind games by offering up a thinly veiled dig at Wenger and his so-called foreign players. I find it hard to believe that either of these two managers have...

Click to read more ...

This season, unlike last season, instead of coming back from 1-0 to draw 1-1 against your Aston Villas and your Man Cities and your Newcastles and your Portsmouths, Arsenal are winning those sorts of games and instead coming back to draw against your Liverpool's and your Man Utd's. Arsenal have without doubt raised their game, and it shows. The next set of games which are mostly away from home will test the squad in a totally different way to the two games of the past week or so. The teams Arsenal play next are a mixture of teams with relegation potential, teams with European potential, and teams with top-four...

Click to read more ...

Talk about stating the blindingly obvious, but the last two seasons have been most frustrating as an Arsenal supporter. It was obvious that there was huge talent in the squad, and considering we'd done fairly well against the other title rivals, it was clear that aside from injuries, it was games against lower-table sides that had cost us the most points. Ignoring the clamour that we needed large doses of investment (which I for one never agreed with) it was also obvious that a few tweaks could fix those problems, and make this team's sum greater than it's parts. Arséne Wenger saw things in the light of the latter, and duly did little to change the squad over the summer transfer window. During those games when we were losing 1-0's and drawing 1-1's, something else was also patently clear...

Click to read more ...

Last Saturday's game between Arsenal and Man Utd had been billed as the first real showdown of the season with a history-making one billion worldwide television audience, and though it will not be seen as an all-time classic, there were various points in the game of high drama. I'm not going to provide a minute-by-minute match report, however I'd like to comment generally on the game as well as on a few specific incidents. It is a testament to Arsenal's technical prowess that probably for the first time this season, Man Utd set themselves up to hit us on the counter-attack - effectively they'd travelled to London to try and do the classic "smash and grab". This is a tacit admission that...

Click to read more ...

So, what happened to the Flamini of last season? What happened to the player who, for the few games he played, you could tally up a substantial ratio of passes straight to the opposition in the middle of the park? What happened to the player who was the butt of all the post-match jokes that he'd played in? I distinctly remember in the summer of 2007, many-a-Gooner rejoicing at the news that Flamini the Flop wanted showdown talks with Wenger The Boss, in a bid to request a transfer due to a lack of games. The groans of despair were palpable when some supporters learned that Le Boss had talked Le Flop into staying. What!? Please, please, please, not another season of misplaced passes, and running around like a...

Click to read more ...