Burnley 1 - Arsenal 1: Arsenal are scared and don't have balls.

Ahhh, just as we thought we were ready to show we really wanted the championship, we go and drop 2 points away from home. I won't write a lot on what happened last night, it was clear we needed 3 points, and whilst we took advantage of last weekend, this week we haven't and we have given 2 points basically to the leaders.

If we cannot cope with such a crucial point of the season, there is no hope for us winning the championship, you cannot say 1 point is good because Burnley beat Man Utd there, who cares, Man Utd beat us, so we have to win there, we need 3 points, 1 point does nothing for us.

What also irritates me is that the players never stood up and showed they wanted 3 points. Fabregas did, but he probably realised the others didn't and walked off with injury, awful mentality from the players. Champions always give their best, always force the issue, always go for a win, always find a way to win. Sadly we never.

8 points behind Chelsea, we better concentrate on Aston Villa for now, they are hot on our heels right now, if we aren't careful, they could cause us trouble again. We need to finish 3rd to ensure automatic qualification to the CL, that gives us an extra week or two off next summer (already talking about that, how sad for us fans).

As for player ratings, they all sucked apart from Fabregas who showed lots of quality before his injury, the type of form that commands a transfer war in the summer. Whoever fights that war will win as the rest of the players tonight never wanted a win. The worst offenders, Almunia, what a joke of a performance, he can't even kick the ball properly, and Walcott, if England take him to the World Cup and start him, they will get no goals created from him, he shouldn't be at any World Cup anytime soon until he can shoot or has more tricks.

Hull, oh well, lets hope for the best, and hope others drop points as well.

Liverpool 1 - Arsenal 2: Arshavin is a super Sniper.

Back in business, well the result means we are, not so sure about the first half. On a weekend where Man Utd and Chelsea dropped points, anything less than 3 points today would have been a failure, and know what, it seems Wenger was able to transmit this to his players who came back for a change, more of the same please.

During World War II, there were many snipers aka designated marksmen to kill the Axis soldiers, one has been shown in English media with Jude Law in Enemy At The Gates, as Vasiliy Zaytzev. The one least known but very deadly was Ivan Sidorenko who had a confirmed 500 kills. Arshavin is following in this rich tradition, Liverpool can't handle his accuracy, his goal was so precise, no goal keeper would have had a chance, not Banks, not Zoff, not Kahn, not Buffon, and surely not Reina.

The first half really sucked and had me cursing the television at the under performance of the whole team. Liverpool had more desire to win, and knowing we needed 3 points, this for me was unacceptable, and with stories of Wenger losing his cool, he must have thought so too. We need to stop such silly performances, I don't care who the opposition is, because there is no footballing talent reason for our players to not do well in every game, at the very least, they should run and show determination and not look feeble and accept mediocrity.

Even though the team as a unit won, there are still major problems that need to be fixed immediately. Almunia is struggling, and may need to be put out of his misery soon, he is costing us goals and points, what the hell was he thinking of yesterday? There was another thing that made me angry, he threw the ball straight at Liverpool when he had Vermaelen as a short option but he went long, ridiculous.

Sagna crosses, if there is no one in the box, even if it is a nice cross, it is a bad cross because it is giving the ball away. Do you really expect Arshavin to get a header vs Agger? Get real, don't cross if there is no real chance of a conversion. Walcott sucked again, even if he was there for the Johnson goal, he added no value at all. He needs to work harder and add more to his game, not just his speed is good enough, we need a real footballer, not a sprinter.

Player Ratings:

Almunia 2: Cost us a goal, gave the ball away cheaply as well. Routine Save from Torres though.

Sagna 5: Solid in defence again, but crosses still leave a lot to be desired.

Gallas 3: Horror show, he needs a breather. Caught cold in midfield when Torres shot at Almunia, gave away a potential penalty, poor set piece marking, oh boy.

Vermaelen 4: Better than Gallas, but still not the rock we need, how many chances did Liverpool have in the first half, waaaaay too many.

Traore 5: Johnson never got much action, neither did Kuyt, so he did a decent job.

Song 6: This guy is a thoroughbred when the play is in front of him, his ball manipulation skills are on point, player of the season I think. Needs to work on gaining more speed though.

Fabregas 4: Bad passing, not much defensive work, not what we expect from him.

Denilson 5: Not visible, but effective, was the extra barrier required, especially in the second half.

Walcott N/A: That bad I won't grade him, won't waste any more words on him either.

Nasri 4: Cross for the Johnson goal, apart from that, he is no winger, he needs to be in midfield, not wide, please change it Wenger, this guy is the future of France and we are killing him.

Arshavin 6.5: Quiet first half, stunning goal, and done more than Eduardo and Vela have all season as a striker. One of the teams potential game changers.

Diaby 4: Not on long.


Trainer Rating

Wenger 5: He gets points for the half time rollicking, apart from that, he needs to read the game better, had Liverpool had luck and their shooting boots on, they would have been 3-0 at half time for sure. The continued deployment of Arshavin is good, but Walcott has no effect, he shouldn't be starting, I'd rather have Eduardo than Walcott, at least he has some vision, Walcott is just fast.

Liverpool vs Arsenal: Time To Test The Will of The Team

Simply put, this game is a MUST WIN. Man City have done Arsenal a very big favour in beating Chelsea, and to fully profit from that, we need to take 3 points from Anfield, something we haven't done for a very long time. Should Chelsea win against Everton today, that gap will be 11 points with us having 2 games in hand, I won't take us winning those matches for granted, the only thing that counts is the points on the board, not the points that may or may not come.

I do worry though, Liverpool are supposed to be having an awful season, but they are only 4 points behind us, a loss and draw and them winning, and we are where they are right now, so Liverpool are not as bad as people think.

What is impressive about them is they will have already devised a tactical plan for Arsenal, with or without Gerrard-Torres-Aquilani, they will know what they want to do and how to do it. I suspect they will isolate Fabregas from who ever our point striker is and that could be enough to shut us down unless we adjust things, as if the space between Fabregas and the striker is big, we have no one else who can step up.

This is also a big test for our mentality, we need to play our lives out for 98mins, we need to realise we need to WIN, 3 points is absolutely required and anything less is a failure. I hope Wenger transmits this to the players and he also ensures he reacts for a change, and not by throwing on Walcott and Vela to run around aimlessly, but for them to take shots from any range, or long balls so we can strike off those second balls they head out, passing will get us nowhere if we are behind.

Up the Arsenal.

No To Carlton Cole

I'm hearing many rumours and people wanting Carlton Cole.....what planet are you on? What do we need Carlton Cole for?

Arsenal need a player who can score first and foremost, now look at Cole's stats and tell me is a goal machine? We need a player who Arsene Wenger called 'a killer' after Man Utd laid the smack down in their 3-1 win last year. Carlton Cole is not a killer, so we don't need or want him.

Arsenal are supposed to be fighting for titles on 4 fronts, Carlton Cole isn't a player for titles, look at the strikers amassed at our competitors, Torres-Drogba-Rooney-Anelka-Barbatov, and we want to buy Carlton Cole? Are you serious? This guy has never scored more than 10 goals in a season?

He may be English, but the English player of high profile in our squad Walcott hasn't improved as we had hoped, so that shows don't just buy a player because he is English. Carlton Cole should go to Aston Villa and join Heskey, there is no place for him at Arsenal.

Wenger needs to get real, he needs to spend big cash, and if that means finding it by not renewing Rosicky's contract, so be it. To get the best, you need to pay for it,you sold Adebayor for peanuts in my view, £25m when other players were going for more like Gomez and Benzema, and you never spent that money, so you should have enough for Dzeko, or a double swoop of Oscar Cardozo and Andre-Pierre Gignac.

Arsenal 2 - Stoke City 0: Eureka, Arshavin can play centrally!!

What a welcome result, and lets be honest, a wholly expected one, 2-0 win at home in the midst of the worst run this season where the team had had 3 losses on the trot domestically. Without the star striker Robin Van Persie, and the injury of Bendtner, two strikers were used before today, Eduardo and Vela. In those three games, both never looked like they knew what central striking was about, not able to make runs, not able to hold time and create space, they both played stinkers against Sunderland, Chelsea and Man City where the team scored a mighty 0 goals.

So, it seems Wenger has had his eureka moment, and tried the Russian dwarf Arshavin as the point man. Against giant defenders of Stoke, Arshavin who this week complained the team lacked anyone to hold the ball, walked the walk and showed Vela and Eduardo what can be done when you use your intelligence and try find solutions inside a game.

Whilst Vela and Eduardo kept doing the same things and had the same results, Arshavin would see what would work and keep doing it. The Stoke defenders sat deep and close to each other, so Arshavin dropped deep and looked for when they split their lines. He scored one goal with a combination with Fabregas, and had he had his shooting boots on, he would have scored another 2 certain goals.

Fabregas also found time to miss a penalty and let his head drop for the rest of the game. Ramsey made certain of the points with a late goal.

Still there are weaknesses, Sagna is still crossing to nobody, and the team always looks to attack, even when the opposition are regimented and showing no sign of breaking their ranks, so why attack and hope you get through? Be patient and draw the opposition out, especially if you have the goal, why press for more if the opposition are sitting deep and playing on the counter, let them come try get the ball, we have the players who can keep it, so they should keep it.

Player Ratings

Almunia 3: Suspect on crosses, sort it out.

Sagna 4: Crosses are useless, stop it please.

Gallas 5: Not much action, decent, although no need to keep charging up field.

Vermaelen 5: Same as Gallas on all fronts.

Traore 5: Decent attacking play, but needs work on defending, which is his primary duty.

Denilson 4: Not awful, but never helped in ball retention.

Fabregas 4: Many bad passes, although set up Arshavin.

Rosicky 2: Poor performance,looks tired, and is now injured for a month.

Nasri 5: So so, not able to do what he does best in finding killer passes.

Eboue 4: Not an attacker, shouldn't be playing there, no end product.

Arshavin 6: Showed the strikers how to play centrally, now show the same attitude in every game please, no time for sulking.


Trainer Rating

Wenger 5: Made the most of the players at his disposal, although why keep playing Eboue anywhere other than right back is a mistake, he has no end product. Also why use Rosicky who looked bad for the 45mins he played? Also he needs to be the voice of the team, tell them to retain the ball better and not over exert themselves, conservation of energy will be key, so many games are coming up and the players need as much energy as they can get.

Man City 3 - Arsenal 0. No One Takes Us Seriously Anymore.

As expected, the Carling Cup has been thrown away, in meek fashion I must add. Not only did the team lose, they played awfully as well. In 3 games, we have conceded 7 goals and scored 0, so much for spanking teams like Everton 6-1.....


The first goal, a catalogue of errors. Tevez took the ball from midfield, found a pass in-between Song-Billong and Eboue for Bellamay to exploit, Bellamy's cross was intercepted by Song-Billong who then passed out to Rosicky. Tevez was still hungry to chase Rosicky down, hustled the ball, played a one-two with Bellamy, then in 7 seconds, was able to waltz past Eboue-Song Billong-Silvestre before firing into the top corner. Wehere was the pressure, where was the tackle? There was none.


The second, Silvestre came forward with the ball, fed Merida who missed his pass to Rosicky, Richards fed Wright Phillips who ran on the outside of Silvestre, came inside, Silvestre simply backing off him and Wright Phillips smashed a shot into the far corner, Fabianski beaten again, 2-0.


The third, Ireland fed Bellamy who fired straight at Fabianski, Arsenal broke away with Rosicky who fed Merida. Merida lost the ball on the edge of the City box, Toure fed Ireland, Ireland swept it right to Bellamy who sped past a first Wilshere challenge, then sped past Billong-Song and Wilshere who bumped into each other, got into the box, squared right for Weiss to nip in ahead of Traore and make it 3-0.

Horror show when analysed like that, then again some said we were unlucky, rubbish. This team has no mentality or desire and can't tackle. This isn't Pro Evo where the button X works as a tackle, you need to take the ball or the man, period, not let them go past you.

Also, Fabianski sucks, two of the goals are his fault, the first, he got his angles all wrong. He covered the near post which had a very small angle and Troare had it covered anyway, leaving over 85% of the goal to be aimed at for Tevez, easy stuff for Tevez.




The second goal, again he got his angle wrong, the direction that Wright Phillips was coming from, there was no way he could hit the near post as the anglewas too acute, instead Fabianski closed that post down leaving Wright Phillips over 85% of the goal to aim at, that is easy to do. Fabianski needs to go on loan, and maybe for 3 years to learn how to keep goal, these are elementary mistakes.



Player Ratings

Fabianski 3: One good save, hard to criticise the third goal, poor technique and intelligence for the first two goals.

Eboue 2: A senior player, lacked energy, lacked desire, and never defended. Unacceptable.

Song-Billong 3: What kind of a tackle was that for the first goal? And for the third, he bumped into his own player, and picked up a cheap yellow card so is banned for Stoke.

Silvestre 2: He was ASDA for Man City, every little helps. Gave them loads of chances, he MUST NOT play in the first team.

Traore 2: You see Weiss is bombing in and you relax, what did you expect him to do, pass the ball, he was coming to score, wake up please.

Eastmond 1: Out of his depth today, simple as that.

Rosicky 1: A senior player, and he was lethargic, never led the midfield, and cost the first goal. You are a hero of mine, but this was awful 'Dumpling'.

Ramsey 2: Invisible, no combination play, no leading, awful.

Merida 2: Cracked the bar, but gave the ball away twice and it was costly, created nothing either.

Wilshere 1: Created nothing, and for the third goal, let Bellamy run for 45m and never once put in a tackle, just jogged with him, what is that?

Vela 2: Never came to get the ball, never had any shots, another bad game.


Trainer Rating:

Wenger 2: I don't care about the hand shake, if he doesn't want to he doesn't have to, at least he won't be a hypocrite. What I have a problem with is his fielded a team of kids against a top team, he is paid to win games, and this team was never going to win. The formation was inept, the midfield was over run and he never changed it. His selection also ensured if we went behind, we never had the players to change the result with out of form players like Nasri-Walcott-Eduardo kept at home, why? What do we do in training if we don't work on where we are weak? We don't know how to defend, and if you can't defend, which is the easiest thing in the game, it makes it harder to score, and scoring is the hardest thing to do in the game.

Man City vs Arsenal, Carling Cup, Wenger and his 18.

Seeing the squad nomination list today for the away game at Man City reminds me of Leonidas and his 300. Leonidas was a man of honour, a man of glory, and he went down a path thinking it was right whilst knowing it would be his ultimate fall. How did he expect to contain a legion of continents with only 300 of his finest soldiers in the final stand at Thermopylae? The Persians had more weapons, more soldiers, and even if they were less skilled, the sheer numbers alone would make them win through intimidation.

Our squad today are lambs to the slaughter. We only have Rosicky, Song-Billong, Silvestre, Eboue who are players with experience and ready to take on the expensively assembled hoard of Man City. Where is Senderos? If he has been dropped, Wenger is playing a very dangerous game, we are 1 injury away from calling him to be on the bench, especially with Song-Billong going away at the end of the month, he needs as much match preparation as possible, this is bad management if he isn't injured or has a family problem.

Also, where are Nasri and Walcott? They need practice as they haven't played much and are regarded as first team players. Eduardo could do with a game too, to find his shooting boots.

One thing for certain, we will concede a goal, and when you know that, you know you may not win the game, I don't expect us to, and this is a trophy simply thrown away. What a shame for us Arsenal fans who pay top dollar, and for the travelling support too.