For all those that accuse my on being overly negative (I think justifiably so given recent results) I’ll satiate you by talking about our returning Czech maestro. Alongside Arshavin, RVP and Cesc, Tomas is one of our most technically gifted footballers

You try not to get too emotionally involved in your football team but sometimes it’s just impossible. Sometimes, you just take it on the chin, think ‘fuck it’ and move on. After watching the game yesterday, I felt terribly miserable and that hasn’t changed after waking up this morning…

What happens when your best isn’t good enough?

Ok. Arsenal weren’t at their ‘best’ yesterday. Far from it. But City weren’t better. Not by any stretch of the imagination and certainly not worthy of four goals. For large parts of the match Arsenal were the far better side and dictated the play. The first half was a poor affair and I think that had much to do with both teams trying to get back in the rhythm after the midweek internationals (Shay Given didn’t have a save to make). But the second half was a whole different ball game. Arsenal were dominant and looking very much like we would go on to win comfortably. City barely left their own half as the better football side were clearly showing their superiority. Then all of a sudden we were 4-1 down. As the 4th went in, I was in a state of bemusement. Just like two weeks back against United, Arsenal were the better side but lost. When you lose and play poorly, you put it down to a bad day at the office. When you lose – to your potential rivals no less – after being the better team, you have to be worried. Some might say you can take encouragement but I’m struggling see how that is possible now. It’s becoming an all too familiar story.

Adebayor

There’s been enough column inches dedicated to this man already so I’ll try and keep it as brief as I can. On his performance: Up until a point in the second half when he went on a fantastic mazy run that could have resulted in one of the goals of the season, I felt he was poor (naturally the goal galvanised him and shock, horror, he was actually tracking back and defending for them). Despite his goal, i’m still not at all disappointed that we got shot of him. I don’t think we are significantly worse off without him and we should have zero regrets about his departure. Yes, he scored but Arsenal have ALWAYS conceded goals against former players. From Nic Anelka to Paul Dickov to Kanu to Aliadaire, it was inevitable and no indication of whether we should have kept him/them or not. On his conduct: Whatever you think of him as player, there’s no denying that as a human being, the man is pure scum. Sniping at the Arsenal fans, the club and the players (most of which were outright lies) in the press is one thing but to go out on the pitch and deliberately (in my eyes at least) set out to hurt both Cesc and Robin just shows what kind of a ‘man’ he is. One one occasion he even cynically went in on his ‘brother’ Alex Song who was so angry that he lashed out and received a yellow card for his troubles. Then there was the celebration. Admittedly, we cant get on our high horse too much about it given that our very own Thierry Henry (a REAL Arsenal legend) did the exact same thing to Sp*rs way back when. But once again, it shows how much of a classless cunt he is. Fair enough if you are frustrated at the fans but his behaviour showed the utmost disrespect to Arsene Wenger. The man who found him, showed patience with him and ultimately, MADE him into the player that he is. His shameless ‘apology’ afterwards (clearly after having been told to by his manager) was so insincere I almost vomited in disgust. Mind you, I think he put more effort into that sprint than he did in his time for the gunners.

I hear now that the FA are ‘looking at’ his conduct. I doubt there would be much sympathy if he received a lengthy ban – nor if he snapped his cruciate ligament…. or involved in a car crash… I’m not sure if I’m joking or not here…

I honestly wish I could erase his history at Arsenal. I don’t want to have to remember that I ever cheered for this man. He’s dead to me.

Midfield

We have an abundance of attacking players but we cannot underestimate the importance of being about to win midfield battles. The Song and Denilson debates will rage on but there’s no denying that we struggled in this department against City. Nigel De Jong was the stand out best player in the first half and Gareth Barry was typically workmanlike for the whole 90. With Cesc not being at his best (a very generous assessment of his performance), we couldn’t get any sort of cohesion in this area. Fans have been beating the drum about the need for a strong, ball-winning midfield enforcer for well over a year now and it was games like yesterday that show that they have a point. As brilliant as Arsenal are in possession, we were sloppy/careless/nervous/clueless on the occasions when we lost the ball – hence the scoreline.

Clichy

I’m loathe to criticise Gael but he had, not for the first time, an absolute ‘mare at left back. I’m struggling to think of anything he did right. Caught out of position time and time again (Their second and third goals came from his side) and his attacking play was not much better. His crossing was aimless and his passing radar was clearly out of batteries. This inconsistency is becoming a far too… er, consistent. When Gael is on form he is the best left back in the league. But when he’s not, he can be truly awful. His inconsistency is almost like a microcosm of Arsenal over the past couple of years. It seems as though every time he makes an error it is a costly one and we get punished. Would it be worth giving Gibbs a couple of games over the next few weeks (the fixture list is looking quite kind. More on this in a bit) to show Gael that he cant continue to take his place in the team for granted? Almunia

The less said the better. Any doubts that I was being too harsh on him last week were put to bed yesterday. City had three shots on target but scored four goals. Apart from the lanky cunt’s header, I felt the other three were certainly saveable. Like Clichy, all Almunia’s errors seem to be costly ones. The only difference is that for our Spanish keeper, they seem to be far more frequent. While it seems to be the fashion to (rightly) take the piss out of Myles Palmer, he wrote a great piece on Friday about Shay Given being in goal for City and us having Manuel. We do have a goal-keeping problem the needs to be addressed sooner rather than later.

Rosicky

For all those that accuse my on being overly negative (I think justifiably so given recent results) I’ll satiate you by talking about our returning Czech maestro. Alongside Arshavin, RVP and Cesc, Tomas is one of our most technically gifted footballers. I hate it when Wenger trots out the old line that a return from injury is like a new signing (because it isn’t. What it is, is like a player coming back from injury funnily enough) but on this case, having been out for so long, I think it’s fair to say it does feel like having a brand new player. He took little time to show us what we’ve been missing over the last 20 months. His introduction for the once again totally ineffective Denilson added some much needed impetus to our attacking play. His passing was incisive and direct, he always seemed to find himself in space and capped off a fine cameo with a goal and an assist. People talk about selection dilemmas when everyone is fit but as far as I’m concerned, if Arshavin, RVP, Cesc and Rosicky are healthy, they should all be accommodated and start every game in the same way Thierry, Freddie, Pires and Vieria were automatically on the team sheet week in, week out. The rest can battle it out for the right to pla
y alongside them.

Man City

Every headline you read will be something along the lines of ‘statement of intent’, ‘passing the first real test’ etc etc. but for anyone who actually saw the full 90, there is still some way to go for them. They looked pretty deadly on the counter and the midfield is probably only second to Chelsea right now but I still don’t see anything beyond a ‘challenge’ for the top four places (£200 million to finish fourth? The crazy world of football, eh?). They’ve had all the breaks in their opening games and had Arsenal not been so unlucky/wasteful the complexion of the game would have been entirely different. I’m still convinced we’re a better team and that their bubble will eventually burst. After getting some stick from a Man City supporting mate, he readily admitted that he’s not getting too excited seeing as they were totally outplayed for much of the game.

The refereeing/officials/rules

It’s easy to blame the officials when things don’t go your way. Had we won (like we very well could/should have), Mark Clattenberg would barely get a mention for what can be described as the ultimate ‘homer’ performance. Apart from the aforementioned Adebayor incidents which should have seen him sent off before he had a chance to score, I don’t see how his incitement of the crowd which damn near caused a riot and saw a steward hospitalised as result, is unlikely to be punished any further because Clattenberg only decided to issue a yellow. There are rules and there is common sense. Adebayor’s actions could have led to a major incident and someone upstairs only deems this to be worth a caution? I may be only saying these with my red-tinted specs on but that is absolutely ridiculous. Then there was the stonewall penalty at 3-1 and the fact Richards was offside for the first goal but I don’t want to sound like I’m whinging too much…

What next?

Well, there is Standard Liege on Wednesday to begin our Champions League campaign and the scene of Eddie McGoldrick’s finest moment in an Arsenal shirt. Ian Selley also got on the scoresheet that day… ah, memories. This one in theory should be a formality. In the league, we have a run of five winnable games from which it is not unreasonable to expect 15 points from. We’ve lost half our league games so far this season and while with 34 games left it seems daft to suggest we are out of the title race, if we are to maintain premier league aspirations, we need to win the ‘easier’ games. Following Wigan, Blackburn and Birmingham at home and two London derbies against Fulham and West Ham, we should hopefully be back up amongst the league’s front runners. Arsenal are already 9 points off the pace and playing catch up at this early stage is not ideal especially given Wenger stressing the importance of a good start and Chelsea currently flying. Hopefully, yesterday’s result can serve as a wake up call ala Blackburn ’97, Charlton ’01 and Leeds ’03 and we can go on a long winning run to re-establish ourselves amongst the Elite.

Come on you gunners!