Man Utd 1 - Arsenal 0.

Arsenal have lost their first match of the season losing 1-0 to the English Champions. Compared to the second match loss in the Champions League, there was a big improvement, and today, there was a clear building from the 0-0 at the end of last season. So where did the team go wrong?

1. Failure to manage the match. Arsenal went 1-0 up, and poured forward for a second without abandon. Arsenal were the team in command, and as a team in command, they should have forced Man Utd to work hard to come back into the contest and earn their goals. Instead, they gave Man Utd cheap chances, and as champions, they took them. Arsenal should have killed the game early, they never managed the game in their favour, and the balance swung the other way. Utd went 2-1 up, became more compact in midfield, forcing Arsenal to work and they played on the break, good managing of the match.

2. Response. Arsenal failed to find the resources to respond to going behind, and this meant they could not get back into the contest. Champions find a way to get back into a game, I don't think we gave every single ounce possible to get the result.


Ratings:

Almunia 4: Needless penalty to give away, could have reacted a bit better to the Diaby goal.

Sagna 4: Still needs to work on crossing, on accuracy and necessity of them, either way, it gives possession away.

Gallas 6: Proving again he is a defenders defender.

Vermaelen 6: A good acquisition thus far, good reading, good passing.

Clichy 4: Bad crossing like Sagna, needs to refine his game more.

Song-Billong 5: Did good defensive work, although he could have used his good passing to more use to create more openings.

Denilson 4: Moved around, never created or looked like leading a charge to make the difference. Steady though.

Diaby 4: He never played to his high potential, ignore the own goal, he looked a bit fatigued until that goal where he tried to make ammends. We are still waiting for him to arrive, he has the capacity, just not done it.

Eboue 4: Steady, but not ready to make the difference in a key position that should yield goals.

Arshavin 3: Good goal, but nothing more, way off form, he needs to put himself at the disposal of the collective. He is good, but not good enough to be a passenger which he is at the moment, especially since we know he can help the team make the difference.

Van Persie 5: No goals yet, lots of work, but needs to be a killer in front of goal, and to take more chances, you don't score if you don't shoot enough.

Make Hay While The Sun Shines.

For nearly 8 months of this calendar year, the trainer, and board have been asked to seriously evaluate the deficiencies in the team and invest in new players. However since June, Arsenal have sold Adebayor and Toure for £40m, while bringing in only Thomas Vermaelen for £10m. This is not what many supporters including myself had in mind for this summer.

However once the season has started, and your team has scored 12 goals in 3 games and only let in 2, all is 'forgotten'. It was not long ago since the team had a disaster end to the season after bad play and squad status, and only after Vermaelen has come into the starting line up and a better balance and playing to the squads strengths have the supporters forgotten about the last 9 months.

The truth is the squad still needs to be augmented. We all know that Arsenal always have players injured at any one time, 7 players at the moment, what is to guarantee that that list will not grow? However even discounting injuries, we have sold a defender and not replaced him, we have lost a striker who scored 24% of our league goals in the last two seasons and not replaced him. These are significant gaps that have been 'erased' by the destruction of Everton and Portsmouth, will they be exposed when the teams points ratio falls as it will throughout the season? Is that the time to then bring up these issues?

If we analyse our Champions List squad list, we have 3 slots still available for acquisitions, and if we do not prepare for when the rain comes, we will only have ourselves to blame. Adapting to the Arsenal ethos takes some time, even for the best players, only addressing these issues in January may be too late where every point is vital in the Premier League these days. For my money, I'd still like to see a central defender capable of pushing both Gallas and Vermaelen for a spot, I'd like to see another striker come in to replace Adebayor, and possibly another genuine wide player if Wenger intends on pursuing with an expansive wide counter attacking style. Central midfield as yet is the least of our worries, we have 7 players all ready to play there, and if we continue with the attitude of collective play, and if Denilson-Diaby-Song are all struck down,we can deploy Djourou there.

Please Arsenal, don't set yourselves for a needless fall, make hay while the sun shines.

6-1 win, Real or Fake?

6-1, what can I say? I never thought we'd score so many goals, well done to the team and to the trainer for a good start to the season. We scored two goals off set pieces (Gallas and Vermaelen), two from the skipper Fabregas, a curling effort by Denilson, and a poachers goal by Eduardo after Arshavins shot hit the post. We took all the opportunities that came our way, that is very positive.

However, I find it hard how to view this result, it is a one off for sure, but Everton were so bad than we were so good, they plain and simple looked off colour, even the trainer alluded to them 'not having the high physical energy' they usually do. Defensively, Vermaelen and Gallas look a good fit, they seem to take their defensive work very seriously, which is good to see, they held a good and consistent defensive line. The full backs still need to improve their attacking play, Clichy is not yet at top rhythm.

The midfield was our most dominant feature, as a collective they played very well, Song-Billong, Denilson and Fabregas were really on their bit, and played a good game as a unit. The attacking trio up front were okay, but were not 'killers', we will need them to fire soon in a big way if this new formation is to make the difference.

The negatives, call me a cynic, but still no clean sheet, we need to be switched on for 95mins, 1 goal given up breeds bad habits, especially a goal that Everton did not deserve, also the reaction of the players to it shows they never took the task of keeping a clean sheet seriously enough. We let up too many easy goals last campaign, we must not accept this.

We also need to be more compact in midfield, strangle the opposition of possession, Everton created chances they did not deserve. Finally, why chase 6 goals and play full tempo for 95mins? We don't have a winter break, the game was dead at 3-0, why not keep the ball and conserve energy? If we do this in every game, we will be worn out by January, we all saw Barcelona were jaded in January/February, and they had a winter break in a less combative league, we need to play with our heads, 3 points is all we need, not goals galore, when Rosicky returns, he will tell the players to calm down, conserve energy.

Next up Celtic Park, lets hope for a favourable result.

Phoney War is nearly over.

The Emirates Cup has come and gone, and we have regained the title we relinquished last year. It has been some decent workouts, some facets of the team are improving, some still show clear flaws that if they aren't rectified, will haunt the team at the business end of the season.

The use of 3 central midfielders is something i have personally always prefered in a 4-3-1-2 or 4-3-2-1, precisely because the bulk of our best players are comfortable in central midfield, they are not then asked to perform roles like playing on the flank which reduce their effectiveness. The midfield 3 so far has been decent, i won't praise it more until we show we can maintain it over a period of time without getting scared of our opponents.

In attacking motions, it means the ball is worked around well, however in defensive motions, there is big trouble, sat in the Directors Box yesterday, we come under pressure so easily, attacking teams are able to fly at our defence easily, and you wonder why at least one of the 3 players does not try eliminate this, preferably all 3 will make haste to prevent any pressure on the defence. This needs major refinements yet still, if it cannot be solved internally, then maybe externally will be a starting point.

The defence still showed they are not capable of keeping clean sheets, the goal we allowed Atletico to score was bad defending, and the second half against Rangers was comical to be kind. we assume Vermaelen is a quality starter, we still need a quality backup player, Silvestre-Djourou-Song Billong should not be first in line, last season showed all it took was 1 injury to Gallas for the floodgates to open.

Also a special mention for Wilshere, what a talent he is, but expectations must be reduced, i am not sure he is ready to be the player we rely on to make the difference, defenders in a competitive arena will wear him down physically to reduce his impact, we need to wait another 2 seasons at least before the team can count on him to make the difference.