Home sweet home

Arsenal continued with a masterful display at home, ok not exactly masterful, but very solid. There was a gear that never got invoked. There was a control that was taken for granted. Birmingham made two attempts on goal and each could have gone in. One did. Last year, the other would have as well.

Almunia recovered from the most ghastly throat infection known to mankind. But the young Italian deservedly kept his place. Vito does seem to have problems with handling though. He is very good with reflex saves as he demonstrated later. But, he does not hold the ball enough on shots or crosses. In fact, for the first time, Arsene did not defend a player in a post match conference, when one of his players claimed a foul. It tells me two things- Not starting with Almunia means Arsene has lost all trust in the Spaniard. Vito is not filling him with confidence either. So, a goalkeeper coming in with Almunia being eased off may not be most bizarre transfer story, I can think of. I would really like an experienced keeper who could improve Fabianski and Vito. The talent is there in both the cases. Despite last year’s blunders, I feel Fabianski is a better keeper than Almunia.

Kieran Gibbs filled in well for Clichy. I would not fault him for the goal as well. He had some decent crosses in and supported the attack well. Playing Eboue, instead of Sagna, seems to be a strategy that Arsene is keen on using against lesser-park-the-bus teams at home. The former, due to his attacking instincts, transforms it into a flexible 3-6-1 or 3-5-2. He put in some decent crosses. What is good about Eboue is his no fear. He runs at defenders. He adds another dimension to the team, something, that is alien to people like Fabregas and Rosicky, who would rather play intelligent possession football. What Eboue does with this rash brand of football is he takes a defender/ midfielder with him, thus creating space. Diaby had a better game than usual. So, probably might not be advisable to play him the next game considering the law of averages. The others were consistent as usual. Van Persie seems very sharp with his finishes this season. He is playing like a proper centre forward. With Nasri coming back and Walcott looking sharp before getting injured, the likes of Eduardo/ Bendtner/ Vela might have to be content with time on the bench.

And, by the way, what a finish by Arshavin. No backlift. Just caresses the ball to the corner! What a joy!

The week seemed dodgy to me before the start for the rest of top four/ top five. Manchester United never like to play Bolton, but that was more during Fat Sam era. Villa away was going to be tough for Chelsea. Liverpool at home, was a competitive game for Sunderland. But the entire team (that Spanish lad and that English version of Pac man) of the away side was injured. Wigan away would be a tough fixture for the Sheikhs. Only Arsenal had a gimme-game and they had to win it.

The current situation suits us. We are technically one point behind Man U. But game in hand makes it look like four. It suits our young side. Not much pressure since the media foolishly talk about how Arsenal may get into top four. The fixture list is decent for Arsenal and we need a strong run till Christmas at least. This could be our year.

I am very irritated with the beach ball incident at Sunderland. Now, Liverpool will whimper about this for the next 47 years. How they would have won the title, if not for the red rubber ball. I can hear Rafa singing the Simon and Garfunkel classic-

I should have known you'd bid me farewell

There's a lesson to be learned from this and I learned it very well

Now, I know you're not the only starfish in the sea

If I never hear your name again, it's all the same to me

And I think it's gonna be alright

Yeah, the worst is over now

The mornin' sun is shinin' like a red rubber ball

Returneth of the swagger

As a mark of respect for the thirteenth anniversary of one of the greatest Arsenal legends, the men stepped up. They put in a performance worthy of the occasion and in a way it was unfortunate that on the day we only had Olympiakos in front of us since we would have blown away the Uniteds and Barcelonas of the world, in the mood that we were in. With important games like Blackburn, Sunderland etc. coming up, the team is hitting the right chords before a must win 12 pointer October. The manager already has an eye on the fixtures against Chelsea and Liverpool lined up after our fifth and sixth Champions league encounters. In an ideal world, we can cement the top spot or atleast qualification by the fourth game, thus having the luxury to reasonable rest players before the fixture.

Probably, the greatest highlight of the game was the delightful link up play between Cesc, Arshavin and Van Persie. They were playing in little triangles with constant interchanges. The rest of the premiership, beware! Arshavin has just got out of the slumber and there may be hell to pay. Rosicky provides a good stability to the midfield, something despite the lofty form of Bendtner and Eboue cannot bring to the table. At least not as of yet. I do not have anything against the latter two but Rosicky just brings an extra zip of class to the setup. Song was stable as usual. He has struck a good understanding with Cesc in the way both of them play off each other in the past few games.

Vito had nothing apart from a save off a corner to make. Another clean sheet. I hope Wenger sticks by his words, the ones he used while dropping Lehmann for two atrocious errors- He would not drop Almunia to just bring back Lehmann after some apparent ‘injury’ the latter had suffered. In the same token, i hope young Vito is not dropped for Almunia when the latter recovers from a throat infection from what seems like time immemorial. Almunia has been pretty average generally in his Arsenal career. He is not even average this year. The goal conceded against Celtic was avoidable. Manchester United scored two goals, with as much credit to Almunia as Giggs. Micah’s header was made to seem like a Crespo header in the City game.

A person whom i have always picked on and was disappointing- Probably disappointing is a harsh word. The entire crew was on the tone of Mozart and Diaby seemed to be singing John Denver. He slows down counter attacks, misplaces simple passes. He will cut through three defenders as if they were not there but then get confused on what to do next and get dispossessed in the silliest possible way. I really am looking forward to Nasri coming back to full fitness and taking Diaby’s place in the team. Wow! That would be a sumptuous midfield. Clichy is another one who has really not looked his usual part this season. He has never been the same after the Birmingham-gate scandal. A few games to the young Gibbs would really help the competitive spirit going.

I honestly do not expect Denilson to play any further role in the season. Generally, an Arsenal player out for two months never sees the light of day for the remainder of the season. Bendtner has done his stupid-gag-for-the-season by crashing his vehicle and costing his place in the squad. He will have a real struggle on his hands to get back into the team the way we played on Tuesday. So off till Saturday then. Hope fat Sam pays for some of his old Bolton days. A 5-0 to Arsenal would be just about fine.